Mega Man 6

Mega Man 6, known in Japan as Rockman 6: Shijō Saidai no Tatakai!! (ロックマン6 史上最大の戦い!!), is the sixth game of the Mega Man series and last Mega Man game for NES/Famicom. It was released late in the life of the Famicom/NES, being released in 1993-94. The game introduced the idea of Rush combining with Mega Man to produce a combined form: Jet Mega Man and Power Mega Man.

Story
In the year 20XX, Mega Man managed to stop Dr. Wily and peace returned again. To counteract Dr. Wily's ambitions of world domination, the World Robot Alliance was organized. One year later, with the cooperation of scientists around the world and the financial backup of the X Foundation, robotics has made dramatic progress, and it was decided that a robot championship would be held.

When the First Annual Robot Tournament was about to begin, the mysterious leader of the X Foundation, Mr. X, announces that he took control of the robots participating and will conquer the world with them. Mega Man asks why he is doing it, and Mr. X reveals that he was manipulating Wily from the beginning, but now that he got eight of the world's most powerful robots, he no longer needs him and dares Mega Man to face his power. Mega Man then set out to stop this new enemy.

North American version
From the manual and opening scene

The most talented robot designers from across the globe have come to the 1st Annual Robot Tournament sponsored by the billionaire Mr. X. Traveling from several countries, the designers have brought their finest cybernetic creations to do battle in a series of tests to see which robot can claim the title of "The Most Powerful Robot In The World."

Nothing seems strange as the contest begins, but when the top eight robots enter the arena for the final event, the lights dim and the mysterious Mr. X appears...

"Ladies and Gentlemen,

''I wish to thank you all for coming to see the final event of my 1st Annual Robot Tournament. As you know, I have kept the final event of the tournament secret. This event will test the strength, skill and intelligence of each of these fine robots. In fact, it will also test the strength and skill of each one of you. That may seem strange, but I'm sure you will understand when I explain that the final test for these robots is to help me conquer the world!"''

"Please excuse me and my robots as we teleport out of here, but we have a lot of work to do. But don't worry, you'll see me again soon. Very soon!"

Mega Man: "Mr. X!! Why!?"

Mr. X: "It's time to tell you the truth. I have been manipulating that fool, Dr. Wily from the beginning. But now I no longer need Dr. Wily's help. Come and face my power, Mega Man!!"

Mega Man: "We'll stop you! Follow me, Rush!"

Fortress bosses
 Mr. X's Castle: 
 * 1) Rounder II
 * 2) Power Piston
 * 3) Metonger Z
 * 4) X Crusher

 Wily Castle :
 * 1) Mechazaurus
 * 2) Tank CSII
 * 3) Rematch with the Robot Masters
 * 4) Wily Machine 6 and Wily Capsule

Other media
The game was adapted in the Rockman 6 manga by Shigeto Ikehara and in the Mega Man Megamix manga story "The Greatest Enemy in History" by Hitoshi Ariga. In Mega Man Megamix, the Robot Masters are referred to as '''MXN. 041 through MXN. 048' because they were not created by Dr. Wily; rather, they were created by the finalists of the 1st Annual Robot Tournament'' held by Mr. X and taken control of during the tournament.

Archie Comics
Elements of the game made their way into the Mega Man series from Archie Comics prior to it going on indefinite hiatus. Some notable liberties were taken, such as introducing a creator character for Plant Man, Dr. Pedro Astil, and introducing the X Foundation, renamed the X Corporation at the conclusion of the Mega Man 3 adaptation. The latter concept notably featured Mr. X as a separate character from Dr. Wily and as a future version of Xander Payne, a character exclusive to the comics who became involved in time travel after being part of an anti-robot extremist group known as the Emerald Spears. A view of the events of Mega Man 6 in the series' final issue prior to the hiatus hinted as Xander's overthrow and Wily's seizure of his resources and alias. The X Corporation's resources also provide Wily with the means of laying the groundwork for other schemes, including the abduction of Kalinka Cossack leading into Mega Man 4.

Trivia

 * After the player defeats Mr. X in the NES version, there is a typo in his speech: "My scheme for world domination has faild!". This was later fixed in Anniversary Collection.


 * Capcom did not publish this game in North America when it was released due to a declining support of the NES. Nintendo obtained the rights to distribute the game themselves instead. In fact, Capcom's logo is nowhere to be found on the box of the American version of the game. The developer is only mentioned in the copyrights and trademarks in the bottom right hand corner of the box.
 * However as Capcom later published this game as part of Mega Man Legacy Collection, the "Licensed by Nintendo" disclaimer that was part of the original release was removed.


 * Mega Man 6 is the only NES Mega Man game not to be published in Europe, until it was released on the Virtual Console for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013, approximately 20 years after the game's original release.


 * The graphics data, information, and level layout styles of Mega Man 6 are very similar to Mega Man 5; many fans believe that it is merely a heavy edit of that game.


 * In the western releases, the music that plays during the first half of the opening sequence is different from the track in the Japanese version of the game; this is due to difference in text size between the two versions.


 * Mega Man 6 is one of the few Mega Man games not to feature Rush's trademark transformations (Jet, Marine, or Coil). Instead, he turns into equipment Mega Man can wear: one is a jet that allows Mega Man to have limited flying capabilities, and the other is a bulky armor that allows him to punch through certain blocks and armored enemies. Both prohibit Mega Man's ability to slide. Neither adaptor is available until a certain boss is defeated, marking this game as the first in which Mega Man does not start out with any Rush utilities. Part of the reason was that Mega Man 6 inherited, to some extent, the reduced difficulty of its forerunner, Mega Man 5.


 * There were a total of 200,000 boss character submissions, many of which were taken from overseas.
 * As Mega Man 6 was the only game with a boss contest held outside Japan, Wind Man and Knight Man are the only Robot Masters not to have been designed by a person from Japan.


 * The countries that the Robot Masters of the game came from are never revealed in-game, although the game manual says that three of them came from Japan (Yamato Man), Canada (Blizzard Man), and the United States (Tomahawk Man). The others are rumored to be from Brazil (Plant Man), England (Knight Man), Saudi Arabia (Flame Man), Greece (Centaur Man), and China (Wind Man).


 * Mega Man 6 is the first Mega Man game where Mega Man is shown speaking.


 * Mega Man 6 has the largest amount of split paths: 4 Robot Master stages feature them, and there are 2 in both Mr. X's and Dr. Wily's fortresses.


 * The serial numbers, names and Special Weapons of the Robot Masters in Mega Man 6 are all in numerical and alphabetical order.


 * The Robot Masters in Mega Man 6 are often grouped by fans as the "element" (Plant Man, Blizzard Man, Wind Man and Flame Man) and "warrior" (Knight Man, Yamato Man, Tomahawk Man and Centaur Man) Robot Masters.


 * All 4 Beat plates are located in the 4 "warriors" stages.


 * If the "warrior" Robot Masters are defeated, the color palette of the stage changes every time the player revisits their respective stages, regardless of whether the player obtained the Beat Plates or not.


 * The four "warrior" Robot Masters can be defeated a total of three times: the first if the player did not obtain the B.E.A.T. plates, second if the player returns and obtains them by defeating them a second time, and a third during the rematch in Wily Castle.


 * On the North American box art, the two Robot Masters shown (Wind Man and Knight Man) are the ones that were created by North Americans.


 * Mega Man 6 is the first, and thus far, only, game in the classic series to provide in-game stats of the Robot Masters; the last games to provide stats are the first three Mega Man X games. The Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force series would then adopt a similar stat system later on.


 * The Special Weapons of Mega Man 6 are considered by many to have the most practical applications of any. This not only results in a wide variety of options for playing the game, but also allows for decent show-offs. For example, every weapon but Centaur Flash can damage at least four bosses (most can damage all), and the boomerang and arcing projectile patterns of Knight Crusher and Silver Tomahawk, respectively, can ignore the shields of some enemies, while the Rush Power Adaptor adds a tenth weapon, creating a whole new series of tactics along with it. This large amount of strategies has added greatly to the replay value of the game in the eyes of critics.