Bass

Bass (フォルテ) is a Robot Master created by Dr. Wily sometime before or during the events of Mega Man 6. He first appeared as an intro-level boss in Mega Man 7. Bass has always had a vendetta against Mega Man, and holds a strong rivalry against him, most likely because Dr. Wily programmed him that way. His goal is to become the strongest robot ever made. Because of that, he is considered as the "anti-hero" of the series.

Mega Man 7
In this game, he pretends to be against Wily and be good to steal plans of the Super Adapter to create a similar function with Treble, to be able to fuse with him and fly. His weakness in Mega Man 7 is either your standard Mega Buster (because it's all you have at the time) or possibly the Rush Adaptor. Bass is the sub-boss of the first two Wily stages. Despite Bass having later shown to be rebellious against Wily, he does save Wily's life in the ending. Bass also appears as a playble character in the hidden two-player battle mode.

Mega Man: The Power Battle
The events of this game take place right after the events of Mega Man 7. Dr. Wily has ressurrected many Robot Masters from the previous games. Angry about their reserrection (due to the fact that he feels that they're standing in his way of defeating Mega Man), Bass temporarily teams up with Mega Man and Proto Man to stop them, and to prove to Dr. Wily once and for all, that he is the strongest, and doesn't need to make anymore "junk robots".

Mega Man 8
Bass is first seen at the very beginning of the game, alongside Treble, fighting against Mega Man and Rush. The battle was soon interrupted by Roll when she informed Mega Man about what was going on. However, Bass shows up later on, and fights against Mega Man in the third level of the Wily Tower. Although Mega Man warned him not to, Bass used Evil Energy to power up his attacks. As with all their previous battles, Bass is once again defeated.

Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
Taking place after the events of Mega Man 8, Bass is once again angry at Dr. Wily for reserrecting his previous Robot Masters, so once again, he teams up with Mega Man, Proto Man, as well as Duo, in order to stop them. In Bass' ending of Power Fighters, Dr. Wily says that when he was creating Bass, he also accidentally created "Bassnium" ("Forutenium" in Japanese), a very powerful energy, that he is studying to improve and create a robot that has more strength than Mega Man and Bass together. Bass says that a "girly-looking long-haired robot" like this would never defeat him. During Bass and Proto Man's ending (during the two-player cooperative mode), Bass tells Proto Man that his "mysterious behavior" bugs him, and that he's going to deal with him after he defeats Mega Man. Proto Man then responds, saying that they will never fight, because he'll never defeat Mega Man. During his cooperative ending with Mega Man, Bass decides to pick another fight with him, and once again, he is defeated.

Mega Man & Bass
Bass had turned against Wily in this game, though it's possible that Bass was unaware that King was under the employ of Wily. Bass gets angry when Dr. Wily creates more robots, as he believes he alone is strong enough to defeat Mega Man without Wily's interference. Bass was angry about the fact that King claimed to be the most powerful robot in the world, and so Bass embarks on yet another mission to destroy the Robot Masters (as well as King, himself) before Mega Man can, so that he could prove that he's the strongest. Bass, of course, does manage to defeat them (as well as Dr. Wily right afterwards), and demands an explantion as to why King was created. According to Dr. Wily, he was "testing [his] abilities". He then revealed that he was working on a second model of King, offering Bass a chance to team up with him, claiming that the two of them would be unbeatable. Before Bass could answer, Proto Man warps in and destroys the blueprints, ruining Dr. Wily's back-up plan. Proto Man then asks Bass if he would rather destroy Mega Man with his own power, and then goes on to give him another lecture about how he has "nothing to fight for", only for Bass to yell at him, telling him to get lost. Bass then claims that he "doesn't need a reason to fight", and that he will only fight to destroy Mega Man.

Mega Man 9
Although Bass didn't make a physical appearance in this game, he does, however, make a small cameo in the ending. His blueprints can be seen in the background, on Dr. Wily's computer. Supposedly (according to the booklet that came with the Rockman 9 Arranged Album), Bass was undergoing adjustments, and was being upgraded by Dr. Wily. .

Personality
Bass is presented as a very cocky and arrogant individual who believes that he's the strongest above all else. Bass thinks very highly of himself, labeling everyone else around him as inferior "junk robots". Aside from Mega Man, Bass happens to have an intense hatred for every other robot that was created by Dr. Wily (with the possible exception of Treble), since he feels that they're standing in the way of his goal to destroy Mega Man and become the strongest. Bass looks down on them, believing himself to be superior to them in every way, shape, and form. However, a notable aspect of his personality he showed in Mega Man & Bass was that he seemed to have some degree of respect for humans, since they created robots. Duo says that there is goodness in Bass (even going so far as to say that he has a "strong sense of justice"), which he ignored saying that he only wants to fight, claiming that his only concern is who the strongest is. There's a possiblity that Duo's claim of there being goodness in Bass is true, since he was able to use the Energy Capsules in Mega Man 8 without dying.

Despite being very powerful, Bass' faults that usually lead to his downfall are his arrogance and overconfidence. According to Proto Man, it's because he has "nothing to fight for". The reason that he's continuosly defeated by Mega Man, is because of his selfish motive and desire, which is simply to prove himself as the strongest, as opposed to Mega Man's desire to "fight for everyone's future" and bring peace to the world. There has also been a time where Bass has been shown to lack common sense, such as in Mega Man: Battle & Chase. He figured that if he could defeat Mega Man in a race, then it would prove that he's the strongest, not realizing from the very beginning that it would only prove who's the fastest.

Powers and Abilities
In Mega Man 7 and the arcade games, Bass plays very much like Mega Man, and the only real difference is that rather than Sliding, Bass can Air Dash. He has the capabilities of firing a (Albiet different colored) Charged shot, much like Mega Man. In Mega Man and Bass, Bass is rehauled to make his gameplay inherently different from Mega Man's. While Mega Man can slide to reach into smaller crevices for secrets, Bass can Dash and double jump. Bass's Buster was also modified to make him different from Mega Man, and instead of being able to charge, he fires weak (yet fast) shots repeatedly, in 1 of 7 directions.

Similar to Mega Man's ability to fuse with Rush, Bass can perform that ability, as well (with Treble, of course). In Mega Man 7, it had the exact same capabilities as the Super Adaptor; a jester booster and flying fist attack. However, unlike Mega Man, Bass, while in this form, still has the ability to fire a regular charged shot, as oppose to just the flying fist attack. In Mega Man 8, he gained quite a bit of new abilities, due to the fact that he used one of the Evil Energy capsules. He can fly as long as he wants, as well as being able to fire powerful laser beams. His super form also had a design change, although it's unknown whether or not this was because of the Evil Energy, of if the artists simply decided to redesign him that way (as they've also done with Roll). In Mega Man & Bass, he can use the Treble Boost to hover around, and his Buster Shots are considerably weaker than they were before.

Quotes

 * "You are as good as they say, Mega Man..."
 * "THIS is Mega Man?"
 * "I'm Bass, and he's Treble. We were trying to stop Dr. Wily while you were gone. I see now that you don't need our help..."
 * "You are much too weak to battle Wily."
 * "Damn! I was careless! I feel stupid to have been beaten so easily... Maybe I should give up and leave Wily to you!"
 * "Thanks. I'm glad that I have a friend like you..."
 * "You are far too weak, Mega Man. Wily may fear you, but I do not!"
 * "Ah, my wait is over! This time, the mighty Mega Man shall fall!"
 * "Why... Why can't I destroy him??"
 * "Now you know that I am the strongest. There is no need for you to make anymore junk robots."
 * "I underestimated him that time, but I will conquer him this time!"
 * "All you make is junk. Do what you want."
 * "Mega Man! Today, we'll finish this!"
 * "Shut up!"
 * "Wait! You can't leave yet!"
 * "Go ahead and run, coward! You will PAY for this insult..."
 * "Mega Man! You can't escape this time!"
 * "You're so naive! That will be your downfall! I'm not the same weakling anymore! I've got new powers!"
 * "Shut up! I'll defeat you! Come on, Treble!"
 * "Let's do this! I'll show you what REAL power is!"
 * "Feel it!"
 * "It's not over, yet!"
 * C...Curse you, Mega Man! I'll... I'll never give up!"
 * '"Because you always interfere with me! I could defeat Mega Man by myself with no problem. You should go crawl in a hole somewhere."
 * "This girly-looking long-haired robot will be the strongest? Don't make me laugh!"
 * "So, this is the robot they call King? What a joke. Everyone knows that I am the mightiest robot in the world! I'll show him who deserves to be called king!"

Data
Mega Man: Battle and Chase:
 * Vehicle: Treble Darkstar ("Gospel Darkstar" in Japan)
 * Body: Treble Body ("Gospel Body" in Japan)
 * Engine: Double Engine
 * Wing: Accl. Wing (Accel. Wing)
 * Tire: Almighty Tire

Mega Man and Bass CD data
A robot that Dr. Wily has created to be like Megaman. His final goal is to beat Megaman. "Get lost, loser!" Good point: Emulous Bad point: Vain as a peacock Like: Champion Dislike: Weak robot



Trivia

 * Although he's a recurring enemy of Mega Man, Bass never actually appears as a main stage boss. Instead, Mega Man always fights him as a mini-boss.
 * Bass is one of many of the characters who have music-inspired names.
 * The aforementioned abilities (rapid fire, multi-directional) of the Bass Buster is similar to the shooting abilities of the Mega Man X character, Axl.
 * This aforementioned gameplay difference in Bass makes stages easier for Bass, while making bosses harder. This is due to Bass's ability to utilize Dash jumps and Double jumps, but on Bosses, they take one hit and go into a flashing "invincibility" state, so Bass can only fire one weak shot at a time, while megaman can charge.
 * Despite Bass' small cameo in Mega Man 9, Treble was nowhere to be found.
 * Bass has a similar personality to Vile from the Mega Man X series. The two of them both have a rivalry with one of the Mega Mans, are both extremely cocky and arrogant, and only fight for the sake of themselves. However, Bass happens to be a lot more sane and less destructive than Vile is.
 * There has been a lot of controversy concerning the pronunciation of Bass' name. Due to the fact that his name was erroneously pronounced the same as the fish in Mega Man 8, this has led many people to believe that it's actually pronounced that way. However, because of the fact that many characters within the Mega Man series are named after musical terms (and because of the fact that his wolf is named after one), this further supports that fact the his name is actually prounounced, "base", like the guitar.
 * Roll apparently has a cruuush on Bass in the Rockman Megamix manga.