Mega Man (Ruby-Spears)

Mega Man is a Japanese-American animated television series produced by Capcom, Ruby-Spears Productions, Ashi Productions, and Ocean Productions based on the video game series of the same name, and is the first animated series in the Mega Man franchise. It premiered on September 11, 1994 and ended on December 10, 1995 with 27 episodes. It was aired on many syndicated stations.

The rights to the series are currently owned by WildBrain.

Cast
(*Note: there is some speculation as to which voice actress played Roll and it is not 100% confirmed which episodes -if any - which Robyn Ross voiced Roll. Some fans have noticed a slight change to Roll's voice over the course of the show.
 * Ian James Corlett - Mega Man, Rush, Snake Man, Metal Man, Mr. Zero, Karate Bot, Chef Bot, Bobby's father (ep. 25), Rudy, Officer (ep. 1), Security Guard (ep. 2), Robo Officers (ep. 2), Officers (ep. 6), Chief (ep. 7), Security Chief (ep. 18), Robo Waiter (ep. 19)
 * Scott McNeil - Proto Man, Dr. Wily, Eddie, Drill Man, Mayor (ep. 14), Inspector Hedley, Chauffeur Bot (ep. 5), Guard (ep. 7), Driver (ep. 8), Robo Guards (ep. 9), Guards (ep. 10), Civil Defense Bot (ep. 10), Worker (ep. 12), Station Commander (ep. 12), Security Bot 1 (ep. 15), Guard Bot (ep. 17), Security Commander (ep. 18), Conductor Bot (ep. 19), Brainwashed adult (ep. 25), Security Guard (ep. 27)
 * Jim Byrnes - Dr. Light, Quick Man, Gravity Man, Top Man, Gyro Man (in disguise), Sigma, Mayor (ep. 18), Captain Lee, Secretary of Defense, Tina's father, Mr. Farage, Admiral Hayley, Mitchell Deacon, Governor (ep. 2), Tackle Bots 5 and 8 (ep. 14), Actor (ep. 16)
 * Terry Klassen - Cut Man, Bomb Man, Pharaoh Man, Elec Man, Ice Man, Air Man, Crash Man, Magnet Man, Shadow Man, Drill Man, Toad Man, Hard Man, Dive Man, Dust Man, Crystal Man, Star Man, Wave Man, Dr. Petto, Otto Raptor, Professor Hanson, Tarr, Brain Bot, Hotel Manager (ep. 6), Male Tourist (ep. 6), Computer (ep. 7, 16, 19), Scientist 1 (ep. 9), Construction workers (ep. 11), Painter Bot (ep. 14), Student Bot (ep. 14), Head Scientist (ep. 16), Security Bot 2 (ep. 15), Astronaut 2 (ep. 18), Civilian (ep. 20), Judge (ep. 25) (also dialogue director)
 * Robyn Ross - Roll, Bree Ricotta, Evelyn Ray, Herbert's wife, Female Tourist (ep. 6), Cheer Bots (ep. 14), Woman (ep. 27)
 * Garry Chalk - Guts Man, Bright Man, Dark Man, Ring Man, Gyro Man, Spark Man (later in episode), Needle Man, Heat Man, Stone Man, Mayor (ep. 1, 4, 27), Captain Evans, Morris, Mr. Rozenko, General Hawthorne, Lotos, Franken Bot, Robo Officers (ep. 2), Officer (ep. 3), Cop-Bot (ep. 9), MCC Commander (ep. 12), Tackle Bots 2, 4 and 7 (ep. 14), Sheriff (ep. 16), Captain (ep. 17), Driver (ep. 21), Astronaut 1 (ep. 18), Newscaster (ep. 22), University Professor (ep. 23)
 * Cathy Weseluck - Doris, Robobeautician (ep. 2)
 * Kathleen Barr - Bobby (ep. 7)
 * Richard Newman - Wood Man, Spark Mandrill
 * Tony Sampson - Gemini Man, Spark Man (earlier in episode)
 * Louise Valance - Janet, Mary's mother
 * Phil Hayes
 * Marcus Turner - Ramon
 * Shirley Milliner - Ms Lapierre, Ms Pendergast, Principal (ep. 7)
 * Kaitlyn Stewart - Annie
 * Michael Donovan - Mega Man X, Uncle Jet, Scientist 2 (ep. 9)
 * Jay Brazeau - Eugene Peister
 * Crystaleen O'Bray - Tina
 * Christopher Turner - Bobby (ep. 25, uncredited)
 * Venus Terzo - Funworld employee, Female park patrons (ep. 25, uncredited)
 * Lee Tockar - Vile (uncredited)

Promo

 * Before production began on the Mega Man cartoon, Capcom distributed a short five minute promotional VHS featuring animation and character designs similar to that of the games. The VHS was later sent out to several networks in an attempt to "sell the show." The promotional short can be seen on the right.
 * One clip from the cartoon promo was used by Capcom of Japan in the Mega Man 7 commercial.

Cancelled Projects

 * Before the Mega Man animation, Ashi Productions proposed a Rockman animation in Japan around 1992, but the project was not approved. Concepts for the show had Cut Man, Guts Man and Proto Man as major villains, suggesting that ideas for this show were later used in the Mega Man animation.
 * Reportedly, Marvel Comics had picked up the rights to produce a monthly series based on the Mega Man shows. However, the deal fell through when the show was cancelled by Capcom. This was reported on the popular fan site Mega Man Home Page, but the reference to the cancelled series has since been removed. The truth is still not known for sure.
 * Ruby-Spears once planned on doing a Mega Man X spin-off cartoon, but this never came to be due to the main show cancellation.

Music

 * The composers of the music heard on the Mega Man show and its main theme are from John Mitchell and Tom Keenlyside.
 * Background music from Mega Man was subsequently used by the Ocean Group in their dub of the Dragon Ball Z anime series and the Little Battlers Experience anime.

Home Video History

 * MegaManRubySpearsCompleteSeriesCover.jpegdes were released on VHS by Sony Wonder beginning in January 1995.
 * The entire series was released on 2 DVD sets by ADV Films in 2003. Both sets are now out-of-print. In 2009, ADV Films re-released the 1st half of the series, but was shut down in 2009.
 * Discotek Media released the entire series on September 30, 2014.
 * The PlayStation 2 version of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection contains "The Beginning", which is made available by the defeat of Astro Man in Mega Man 8.

Videos
Below is a rare television commercial, which contains some of the animated sequences from the original promo reel mentioned above. Also below is a video of Scott McNeil doing Proto Man, Dr. Wily, and Eddie's voices at a convention.

Trivia

 * In the 1993 promotional video, the announcer mistakenly refers to Elec Man as Bright Man.
 * A majority of the voice actors from the series also did regular work on Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Some specific ones include:
 * Ian James Corlett - Coconuts
 * Jim Byrnes - Coachnik
 * Kathleen Barr - Katella
 * Scott McNeil - MacHopper
 * Terry Klassen - Dr. Quark
 * Garry Chalk - Grounder and Captain Rescue (Dr. Robotnik in Sonic Underground)
 * Jay Brazeau - Spelunk
 * The Emerald Spears group in Archie Comics' Mega Man series is an allusion to Ruby Spears, the creators of the cartoon. The series also featured characters from this cartoon in its Short Circuits humor comics, notably having several of them appear in Mega Man #55.
 * One of the reasons for the show's cancellation is that Bandai had cut several toy lines because they were not meeting sales expectations and had supposedly been putting merchandising pressure on Capcom. There were more toys that were in production that were also scrapped as a result.
 * Dr. Wily was originally going to have a British accent, and Proto Man was to have been voiced by Ian James Corlett, Mega Man's voice actor, after Kaj-Erik Erikson was fired. Wily's design was also more faithful to the games, as was Proto Man's, but Bass and a third season were a rumor and the show was complete at 27 episodes.