Special Weapon

Special Weapons (特殊武器) are the weapons that some playable characters from the Mega Man series can obtain, generally by using the Weapon Copy System, also known as the Variable Weapon System. Those weapons usually are more powerful than the player's starting weapon or have additional functions, such as the ability to open paths or paralyze enemies. But unlike the character's main weapon, which has unlimited energy, Special Weapons use weapon energy. When a Special Weapon's energy is over, it must be recharged with certain items or by other means.

Mega Man and Mega Man X series
In the Mega Man and Mega Man X series, the player's character (Mega Man, Proto Man, Bass, Duo, Mega Man X, and Axl) obtain a Special Weapon from the bosses (Robot Masters or Maverick Reploids) they defeat. Most games contain 8 Special Weapons, each from a boss in the stage select screen. The amount of weapons may vary depending of the game, from 3 in the DOS Mega Man game to 11 in Mega Man 10 and 16 in Super Adventure Rockman. The Wily Tower mode from Mega Man: The Wily Wars contains the 22 Special Weapons from the first three Mega Man games, but the player can carry only 8 of them at a time.

The way a Special Weapon is obtained varies. In the first Mega Man game and in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, the boss drops an item containing his weapon. In games like Mega Man 2, Mega Man 7 and Mega Man & Bass, the player's character appears to absorb energy from his surroundings to obtain a Special Weapon. In Super Adventure Rockman, Mega Man is shown to obtain Special Weapons by taking a chip with data of the weapon from the defeated boss and equipping it in his Mega Buster. In Mega Man Xs opening, it is shown that X has a Variable Weapon System' in his X-Buster that allows him to obtain and use Special Weapons. In Mega Man X5 it is revealed that X obtains Special Weapons from the DNA program of defeated bosses.

Roll also uses Special Weapons in Marvel vs. Capcom, and Mega Man was shown obtaining and using a special weapon from the Wily Machine in Mega Man II, Onslaught's Magnetic Shockwave in Marvel vs. Capcom, and use more than one Special Weapon at the same time in other media. With the exception of Axl and Roll (alongside Mega Man, Proto Man, and Mega Man X in some media), the armor of all characters change color when equipped with a Special Weapon. With the use of Arm Parts, X can charge the attack of his weapons.

Although Zero obtains techniques instead of Special Weapons, a few abilities like Dark Hold and Guard Shell are identical to X's version. The only instance Zero actually uses Special Weapons is in Rockman X Mega Mission 2. Zero upgraded his buster into the Neo Buster by combining it with broken parts of the X-Buster, which was still infected by the Limited and allowed Zero to use weapons that X had obtained in the first three games. When using weapons, Zero's normal armor doesn't change color, but the Neo Buster and the Energy Armor change.

Mega Man Legends series
In the Mega Man Legends series, Roll Caskett can develop Special Weapons for Mega Man Volnutt's right arm by using objects he find in his adventures. Mega Man Volnutt can carry only one Special Weapon with him at a time, so he must talk with Roll to change his current weapon.

Roll can also improve the five abilities of each Special Weapon (Attack, Energy, Range, Rapid and Special) with the use of Zenny, strong weapons like the Active Buster and Shining Laser causing a greater amount of damage than it originally did or gaining infinite energy.

Other media
In Archie Comics' Mega Man comic series, Mega Man Megamix, Ruby-Spears' Mega Man animated series, and Mega Man: Upon a Star, Mega Man, Proto Man and X obtain Special Weapons by touching the target to download data of his weapon.

In the Rockman X manga, X obtains weapons by taking weapon chips from the defeated bosses. In Rockman X Mega Mission, the Limited allows X to use weapons he had obtained in the past even without their chips equipped in his buster.

Mega Man (cartoon)
Mega Man has an internal weapons converter that allows him to steal a Robot Master's power by touching him. The robot will be unable to use his weapon after this, and many of them attempt to run away from Mega Man if they are still functional, with only a few (Pharaoh Man and Crystal Man) attempting to fight without their power. Proto Man and Mega Man X also used this ability once to obtain the Super Arm and Search Snake, respectively.

Besides the weapons that can be obtained in the games, Mega Man also got the powers of Proto Man, Dark Man and the Mummy Bot, and once he used two Special Weapons (Gyro Attack and Spark Shock) at the same time. He was shown to be also able to obtain data from machines in the episode Robo-Spider, where he copies the Robo-Spider's electronic web.

Unlike the games, the character's armor don't change color when using a Special Weapon in the series. This is because it was believed the color change effect would have been too visually confusing in animation, instead adding an animated effect of Mega Man absorbing his opponent's power.



Mega Man (Archie Comics)
Mega Man's Weapon Copy System allows him to take information found within other robots' data chips, and emulate their special abilities. However, as the system works to adapt them to Mega Man's own limitations, not all weapon emulation is a perfect reproduction of the original abilities. A side-effect appears when Mega Man emulates a weapon. The specialized radiation emitted from the weapons provides a strange reaction with the Light Ceramical Titanium armor, leading to it appearing to change color.

When Mega Man copies the weapon data from a robot, he may also copy other types of data. In the story arc Let the Games Begin!, Dr. Light was able to find Dr. Wily's hideout by analyzing the data Mega Man obtained from the Robot Masters. In The Return of Dr. Wily, Dr. Wily made sure that when his eight Robot Masters had their weapons copied by Mega Man, he would also copy a virus into him. After downloading the virus from some Robot Masters, Dr. Light noticed Mega Man was acting strange and created an anti-virus as precaution and started to install it from Light Labs. However, the installation was interrupted after Mega Man defeated the last Robot Master, which made him fall under Dr. Wily's control and teleported him to his Wily Castle. He is later freed with the help of Dr. Light's Robot Masters, who hold him and finish installing the anti-virus.

Others
In the Rockman 5 manga, Mega Man uses a multi weapon attack.

Other main weapons

 * Zero's weaponry
 * Vile's weaponry
 * List of Mega Man X: Command Mission items
 * Biometal
 * Battle Chip
 * Battle Card

Misc

 * Classic Special Weapon Strength

Trivia

 * After defeating the Wily Capsule in the end of the Mega Man game for Game Gear, Mega Man acts in the same way he does when copying a weapon from a boss. However, unlike Mega Man II and Marvel vs. Capcom, he doesn't use any weapon afterwards.
 * As New Generation Reploid are able to copy the characteristics of any Reploid, they are also able to obtain Special Weapons. In Mega Man X8, Lumine uses the Special Weapons of all the eight bosses in her first form.
 * Also, the boss rematches have Guardroids instead of the original bosses. However, it is unknown if Guardroids are able to use Special Weapons in any form or only when they fully copy the character's form.
 * Similarly, the Copy Robot can use any weapon, but he only uses the same as the robot he is copying. For instance, if Mega Man equips the Thunder Beam, the Copy Robot will also use it.
 * Doc Robot can use the eight Special Weapons of the bosses from Mega Man 2, but it is unknown if the Doc Robot is a single robot able to use eight weapons of eight robots equipped with a single weapon.