Wood Man

Wood Man (ウッドマン) is a combat Robot Master created by Doctor Albert Wily using a special coating material obtained from natural cypresses, his body being made almost completely out of wood, including some of his mechanisms. Because of this, Wood Man has great physical strength and resistance against physical blows, but is somewhat slow, and highly vulnerable to fire and cutting weaponry.

His weapon is the Leaf Shield, leaf-shaped electromagnetic pieces of metal, sharpened around the edges, that can be used to protect himself and attack enemies in different ways, including launching them in rings of four or eight, and summoning them down from the ceiling to fall down onto the player. Due to his flammable construction, his primary weakness is the Atomic Fire.

Wood Man is apparently one of Dr. Wily's favorite robots, due to his unique, resilient design, and according to the amount of times he has been called into action against Mega Man. It has been rumored however, that unless laminated or otherwise treated, Wood Man's wooden parts may eventually rot over time, which would mean replacement parts would be needed every once in a while. However, it was mentioned in his CD data that he also has a thin layer of metal underneath his wooden armor for extra protection.

It should be noted that in the Normal Mode from the English NES version of Mega Man 2, Wood Man (when he's not defended by the Leaf Shield) can be destroyed with one hit of the fully charged Atomic Fire.

Mega Man 2
Wood Man activates his Leaf Shield and throws four leaves to the ceiling. He then throws the shield and the four leaves float down to make it difficult dodge the shield. After that Wood Man is vulnerable and can be attacked.

Players can combine this strategy with the Atomic Fire which can defeat him in one charged shot (two on Difficult setting). Air Shooter is also a good option, as the three tornadoes can hit him for massive damage. Metal Blade is also a good option, but it can only damage Wood Man after he has thrown his shield. If using Crash Bomber against him, it should be used on his shield, so the explosion will score for multiple hits (a maximum of three hits).

Mega Man 3: Doc Robot
Wood Man has a cameo appearance in Mega Man 3 as data of the Doc Robot in Shadow Man's stage. The Doc Robot with his data is weak to Needle Cannon, Hard Knuckle and Search Snake. However, it is more recommended to defeat him with the Needle Cannon, as it deals high damage and many consecutive hits for low weapon cost.

Mega Man 8
He appears as a mini-boss in the Sega Saturn version of Mega Man 8, as a one-time boss in Search Man's stage. He grants Mega Man a Bolt (relocated in the PlayStation version) when defeated, making it the only mandatory Bolt in the game. He now jumps more than one time after throwing the shield. He is weak to the Astro Crush and Flame Sword, the latter one being more recommended due to its lower energy cost and dealing the same damage. Any of these weapons will pierce through his shield.

Super Adventure Rockman
Wood Man appears as the first boss of Episode Two. Here, it is revealed that after Mega Man obliterated Shadow Man at the end of the previous episode, that Wood Man was actually friends with him and had attempted to repair him, but was unable to do so. As a result, he is seen to be incredibly angry and vengeful towards Mega Man, vowing to kill him for what he did. However, he is defeated by Mega Man and Beat, later being revived by Doctor Wily and Ra Moon.

Mega Man 10
Wood Man makes a cameo appearance as data of the Weapons Archive and is weak to Triple Blade.

Stage enemies
Enemies in Wood Man's stage in Mega Man 2:
 * Atomic Chicken
 * Bubble Bat
 * Hot Dog
 * Mecha Monkey
 * Pipi
 * Robo-Rabbit

Enemies in Wood Man's stage in the Game Boy game Mega Man II:
 * Atomic Chicken
 * Bubble Bat
 * Cannon
 * Hot Dog
 * Needle Press
 * Neo Metall
 * Robo-Rabbit

Damage Data Charts
Amount of damage in units that Wood Man receives from each Special Weapon from Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 8.


 * For Atomic Fire, the first number is the standard shot; second is when it is charged more; third number is when it is fully charged.


 * For Mega Buster, the first number is damage done when the weapon is fired normally; the second number is damage done when the weapon is partially-charged; third number is damage done when the weapon is charged up.

Mega Man
Wood Man appeared in Episode 11 of the Mega Man animated series. In the cartoon, Wood Man's Leaf Shield takes the form of a large leaf-shaped shield made of treated metal, sharpened around the edges, and is wielded almost like a tennis racquet. He accompanied Doctor Wily, Cut Man and Guts Man to the titular island to assist them in the experimentation with the Stonebots.

Captain N: The Game Master
In Episode 20 of Captain N: The Game Master, Wood Man and other robots from Mega Man 2play soccer against the main characters. This version of Wood Man has a wooden shield on his left arm instead of the Leaf Shield, and his right arm is a blaster that can shoot vines.

Mega Man Megamix
In the story "Orders to Destroy R" from the manga Mega Man Megamix, Wood Man and his minions rescued Dr. Light's robots and try to convince them to join Dr. Wily. Elec Man and Ice Man went with him to the Wily Castle, but they only followed him to capture Wily, defeating Wood Man at the base.

In this manga, Wily developed Wood Man for combat in wooden areas, so he was designed with camouflage as a main feature. The Leaf Shield is an electromagnetic field that surrounds him with leaf-shaped units made of Ceramic Titanium, which are coated with a special substance that makes them impervious to all attacks.

Mega Man (Archie Comics)
Wood Man appears in Mega Man #9 as the first of Dr. Wily's new line of robot master Rock must fight, after being goaded into it by Quick Man. After fighting his way through Titanium Park, Mega Man enters Wood Man's domain and states that he isn't the Robot Master he was expecting. Wood Man says that he's 'supposed' to fight Mega Man first, and after briefly trying to reason with him with no success, the two fight and Mega Man is forced to destroy him, by shooting a charged Mega Buster shot at his head. Dr. Light says that he will try to re-build him when Dr. Wily is defeated.

Later on Wood Man and the other Robot Masters were reconstructed by Ra Moon in Lanfront Ruins.

Other appearances
Wood Man also appeared in the manga Rockman: Dr. Wily's Plot, Rockman World 2, Rockman 4Koma Great March.

Trivia

 * Wood Man is one of the Robot Masters mentioned in the online video エアーマンが倒せない (I Can't Defeat Airman). The song states that in order to beat Air Man, they try to obtain Wood Man's Leaf Shield, but they are also unable to defeat Wood Man as well.


 * Despite the Flame Sword from Mega Man 8 being both a bladed weapon and a fire weapon, it does significantly less damage than his previous weaknesses. He may have been better prepared. However, it is still arguably his greatest weakness to date, since the Flame Sword can pierce and burn up his leaves, rendering his attacks harmless.


 * Ironically, not only is Wood Man resistant to the Rolling Cutter, a weapon designed for cutting down trees, but Wood Man's Leaf Shield is the best weapon to use against Cut Man in Mega Man: The Power Battle.


 * Wood Man's theme in Mega Man: The Power Battle is a remix of Crash Man's stage theme.


 * Wood Man is the first Robot Master to have a body made of natural resources, though despite this, it is said that to prevent rotting and other natural occurrences, his body is coated in a thin layer of metal.


 * Interestingly enough, the Crash Bomber weapon can pass right through the shield, whereas his weakness, the Atomic Fire, can't pierce it at all even if fully charged.