Mega Man 7

"In the year 20XX AD, the world cheered Mega Man when at long last he captured and imprisoned Dr. Wily. But... Dr. Wily always knew his schemes might end in failure and had planned for just such an occasion. Four robots had been hidden away and after six months without being contacted by Dr. Wily, they activate and begin searching for their master..."

- Intro for Mega Man 7

Mega Man 7, stylized as Mega Man VII on the title screen and known as Rockman 7: Shukumei no Taiketsu! (ロックマン7 宿命の対決!) in Japan, is the second game in the classic Mega Man series to be released on the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Additionally, this game introduced Auto as Dr. Light's lab assistant, who runs a shop where Mega Man can purchase items and upgrades in exchange for bolts/screws. However, it also introduced Bass and Treble, two major antagonists. This game also introduced the Super Adaptor which is a combination of the Rush Power and Jet adapters from Mega Man 6.

Overview
In the closing of Mega Man 6, Dr. Wily was put in jail. What Mega Man didn't know was that Dr. Wily had robots hidden somewhere is his lab. After six months without Dr. Wily's input, the robots would activate, and search for Dr. Wily.

The robots gave a city a surprising attack, looking for their master. Mega Man and Dr. Light watch the robots help Dr. Wily escape from a far distance. Mega Man goes out to stop Dr. Wily. Along the way, he encountered Bass, another humanoid robot, and Treble, his mean robotic wolf. They are also trying to stop Dr. Wily. The battle began...

Story (from the manual)
"The world's pulse raced with excitement! Everyone truly believed the conniving Dr. Wily had been stopped for good and imprisoned by the valiant Mega Man. Reporters jockeyed with cameramen for snapshots as the infamous Doctor hung his head while being dragged away in handcuffs. Dr. Wily would soon be behind bars. Or would he?

Dr. Wily was ready for anything. He had known his dastardly plans would end in failure some day, so after six months without contact his laboratory sprung to life. Monitors whirred into action, lights flashed and the lab control panel booted up. In no time four hidden robots emerged. The robots then began a rampage in search of their master. Wily had done it again. Nothing would get in their way!

The world's racing pulse turned to nervous fear as a city was pummeled. Wasn't Dr. Wily in jail? Why was this still happening. The four robots took no heed to the great robot creator named Dr. Light. Mega Man found Dr. Light and the canine cyborg Rush fallen in the streets.

"Dr. Light? Are you O.K.?" Mega Man shouted.

"Mega Man! We have no time," replied Dr. Light. "Dr. Wily is using his robots to cover up his escape. You must go! Follow his spaceship!!!"

Mega Man, Dr. Light and Rush looked on in horror as Dr. Wily's spaceship shot out of the prison. Dr. Wily was on the loose!"

Actual story
Six months after Dr. Wily's imprisonment, four robots that had been hidden away in his lab activated and began to wreak havoc in the city, using it as distraction to break Wily out of prison. Mega Man went to investigate and, upon his arrival, met up with the mysterious Bass and Treble, a robot and his dog who appeared to be after Wily as well.

After defeating the four Robot Masters, Mega Man returned to Dr. Light's Laboratory, only to find that Wily attacked the Robot Museum and stole a Guts Man. Then, four more Robot Masters attacked. In the attack, Bass was damaged (by Shade Man), so Mega Man sent him to Dr. Light for repairs. However, when he returned to the lab, it was badly damaged, and Dr. Wily appeared on the screen to mock them and reveal that Bass and Treble were his creations. Mega Man set out for Wily's lab to get his revenge.

In the end, he defeated Bass and Treble and crushed Wily, but when Wily begged once again, Mega Man debated internally whether or not he should kill Wily. Wily reminded Mega Man that robots must never harm humans, as it is against one of The Laws of Robotics. Before he could decide, however, Bass and Treble came and rescued Wily, with Bass quoting Joseph Addison: "He who hesitates is lost." Mega Man then leaves Wily's Castle and walks away as it explodes, with Bass and Treble looking on from a nearby cliff. Meanwhile, a shooting star streaks across the sky, setting the stage for Mega Man 8.

Bosses
Opening Stage bosses:
 * Mad Grinder
 * Bass

Robot Masters
Mid Stage boss:
 * Mash

Wily Castle bosses
Stage 1:
 * Mid boss: Bass
 * Main boss: Guts Man G

Stage 2:
 * Mid boss: Bass and Treble
 * Main boss: Gamerizer

Stage 3:
 * HannyaNED²

Stage 4:
 * Rematch with the eight Robot Masters
 * Wily Machine 7 and Wily Capsule

Codes
There is a code that allows the eight robot masters to be fought in any order, which is 1755-8187-6486-2322. However, this code does not work in the Mega Man Anniversary Collection edition. Also, the Museum stage doesn't appear after finishing four of the Robot Master stages, skipping the part where Mega Man witnesses Guts Man being stolen by Wily and the fight with Mash. It also skips the Intro stage, and starts the game right into the Stage Selection screen.

At the end of the credits, a 16-digit number appears at the bottom of the screen; "1415-5585-7823-6251". Inputting this number as a password starts the game at the final Dr. Wily stage with all weapons and items, including four Energy and Weapon tanks, four Beat Whistles, an S Tank, and 999 Bolts. The same code also grants access to the game's two-player mode, which is accessed by inputting the above password and holding L and R before and while pressing Start. In the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, the X and Y (or square and circle on PS2) buttons have to be held instead.

Versus Mode
The Versus Mode is a secret two-player fighting mode accessed with the code mentioned above. The players can choose either Mega Man or Bass. Both of them attack with their busters, which cause 1 point of damage, and it can be charged to cause 2 damage. Both can perform a faint warp for protection. Each of them has two special moves that cause 3 damage. When a character takes to much damage, he will be temporarily stunned, with a small DeluPipi rotating above his head.

Version differences

 * Although it is stated that Mega Man was in doubt whether or not he should kill Wily, Mega Man actually wanted to kill Wily in the English version of the game. But he did hesitate in the end, which led to Bass and Treble rescuing Wily. Some fans thought the English ending gave Mega Man more of a serious edge to his personality, since he is known as a pacifist, but other fans felt it was not in Mega Man's character and it led to an unexplainable ending that was the first cliffhanger in the series. Also, in the Japanese version when Dr. Wily reminds him that robots cannot harm humans, Mega Man pauses and doesn't say anything, rather than saying that he's "more than a robot", like in the English version. When he says he's more than a robot he still stops charging the buster, and he still talks slowly.
 * Roll or Auto may replace Dr. Light in the scenes explaining the abilities of the special weapon obtained, each with their own description.
 * The Japanese intro listed the previous six games with their release years.
 * The boss introduction scene has a small description of their stage in the Japanese version.


 * During the ending, there's a typo in Mega Man's speech. He says, "I gonna do what I should have done years ago!!!" This was not fixed in the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, but it was fixed in Mega Man Legacy Collection 2.
 * Despite being rated "K-A" (currently "E") by the ESRB, Bass utters "damn" in Shade Man's stage. However, in later collections, he says "darn".
 * Due to problems with emulating the SNES's Mode 7 capabilities, the closing movie animation is not shown in Mega Man Anniversary Collection. This was fixed in Legacy Collection 2.
 * In Legacy Collection 2, the references to Famicom and Game Boy at the start of Junk Man's stage were removed. This is simply because Legacy Collection 2 was only launched for the PS4, the Xbox One and PCs via Steam (that is, Nintendo's rivals), and it wouldn't reach the Nintendo Switch until May 2018 exclusively for the Nintendo eShop.

Other media
Mega Man 7 had a manga adaptation, and elements of the game made their way into Mega Man Gigamix and the Mega Man series from Archie Comics prior to it going on indefinite hiatus.

In the Archie Comics series, the Robot Masters made their early debut in the Worlds Collide crossover as part an army under Dr. Wily and Dr. Eggman. Auto also made his early debut in Mega Man #9. Bass made his first official appearance in Mega Man #20 as one of Mega Man’s foreshadowed events of the future and later made a cameo in Mega Man #55. The Super Adapter made its early debut in the Worlds Collide crossover where it bolstered Mega Man's energy reserves to allow him to confront Doctors' Wily and Eggman and although it wasn't created at the time, it also appeared in Worlds Unite.

Gallery
For this subject's image gallery, see: Mega Man 7/Gallery

Trivia

 * Rockman 7 was available for the Nintendo Power cartridge.
 * There's a typo in the intro sequence: Dr. Wily's last name is spelled Willy. This error remained uncorrected in all subsequent releases.


 * The stage select song of Mega Man 7 is very similar to the Mega Man 5 stage select, and is possibly a remix of it.
 * Similarly, the All Clear music appears to be a redone version of the Mega Man 3 version. The similarities are heightened in the fan-made Rockman 7 Famicom demake.
 * There is a fan-made 8-bit demake of the game called [Rockman 7 Famicom. This version lacks a shop, and in some places where the player is supposed to find new items, there are replacement items like the Energy Equalizer and Exit Parts. On the bright side, players can customize Mega Man's sprites by opening the file (final2) with an image editing software like Photoshop or Microsoft Paint.


 * The segment of the boss theme at the end of the loop sounds a lot like the first few seconds of the boss theme from Mega Man 3 after the intro is played.
 * Near the end of the Mega Man 7 title theme intro, a small sample of Mega Man 6's boss theme can be directly heard right before the end of the intro itself.
 * This is the second Classic Mega Man game to have an opening theme's music referencing the ending theme of the prior game, Mega Man 6. Mega Man 2 was the first one.


 * Mega Man 7 is the only Mega Man game to have two shield-like weapons: Junk Shield and Scorch Wheel. It is also the only game in the classic series to have more than one chargeable special weapon, those two being the Wild Coil and Noise Crush.


 * The Japanese box art picture from this game is used for the loading screen in the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, but flipped horizontally.
 * When the player enters a wrong password, a sound that sounds similar to the horns of the large trucks in Nitro Man's stage is played.
 * The password system used in this game is similar to the one used in Mega Man X.
 * Excluding the Mega Man game for DOS, Mega Man 7 is the first classic Mega Man game with an opening stage.
 * At the beginning of the stage, Auto accidentally gives Mega Man a Met helmet before his regular one.
 * Mega Man 7 is the first classic Mega Man game where each Wily Stage has its own unique theme music. This would continue until Mega Man 11.
 * This may have been inspired by Mega Man X, released one year prior, in which each of the stages in Sigma's base also have their own unique themes.
 * There were a total of 220,000 submissions in the boss character contest for this game.
 * During the original production of Mega Man 7, it only took Capcom's development team three months to complete the game.