Mega Man Timeline (Classic)

This is a comprehensive timeline for the classic Mega Man, Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero, Mega Man ZX, and Mega Man Legends series. All of these series occur in a timeline that deviates from the timeline seen in the Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force series, which are canon to one another but not the other series.

According to https://www.themmnetwork.com/blog/2010/06/20/canon-continuity-and-the-mega-man-franchise#:~:text=When%20Reeve%20created%20The%20Mega,of%20the%20Mega%20Man%20franchise.&text=Succinctly%20put%2C%20if%20it%20is,Capcom%2C%20it%20is%20also%20canon. anything licensed by capcom is canon

Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters are not part of the main continuity, being confirmed to take place in a "parallel world". The same is true for Mega Man X: Command Mission.

The Archie Comics Mega Man series, as well as other comics and animations, have no canon bearing on the official video game timeline as well, having their own timeline.

Mega Man timeline

 * 1) Mega Man series (20XX)
 * 2) Mega Man X series (21XX)
 * 3) Mega Man Zero series (a few centuries later)
 * 4) Mega Man ZX series (a century after the Zero series)
 * 5) Mega Man Legends series (several thousand years later)

20XX (classic Mega Man)

 * In their youth, Albert W. Wily and Thomas Light studied at the Robot Institute of Technology.


 * Dr. Wily made a prototype of the Double Gear System which pushed a robot to their absolute limits. His research is shut down due to its danger, and Dr. Light's research is select over his. As a result Wily ended his friendship with Light, starting a conflict that would last for several years.


 * After they graduated, Wily and Light became bitter rivals during their professional lives. Though Wily won many awards, he was consistently upstaged by Dr. Light, and this wounded his pride. Tired of always being one step behind Dr. Light, Wily would move to the Pacific Ocean to create a giant robot factory to secretly plot to take over the world.


 * At an unknown point, Dr. Light creates Proto Man, a prototype robot that was meant to think and feel on its own. It was later discovered that his energy core had a critical problem that would eventually make him stop functioning. Dr. Light planned to repair him. However, being independent and fearing that the repairs would change his character, he fled to protect his sense of identity.


 * Proto Man wandered the world alone. Before his energy reactor was completely depleted, Dr. Wily found him collapsed and made a temporarily repair by altering his power reactor from a solar to an atomic one, as well as making other modifications, turning him into a combat robot. Working on Proto Man's systems gave Wily greater knowledge in creating robots at the same level as Dr. Light, helping his future plans for world domination along.


 * Dr. Light pioneered robots that were able to communicate and understand at a near-human level as well as assisting humans with their advanced systems. With these revolutionary adventures of his, Dr. Light gained much recognition in the field of science, becoming known as the father of robotics. Among his creations were Rock and Roll, two peaceful robots with advanced A.I. created specifically to be Dr. Light's lab assistants.


 * April 18, 20XX, Dr. Light successfully refined the Ceratanium.


 * April 29, 08:23 PM, Dr. Light completed Cut Man.


 * May 19, 07:33 AM, Dr. Light completed Guts Man.


 * June 10, Dr. Light completed Ice Man.


 * July 12, Dr. Light completed Bomb Man and Fire Man.


 * August 6, 09:48 AM, Dr. Light completed Elec Man.


 * August 9, Dr. Light's six industrial robots, the Light Numbers, enter a safety assesment period, and Rock volunteered to mentor them. This is the cornerstone for Dr. Light's dream of robots that can coexist with humans. After spending some time together like a family, the six robots are delivered to their stations of duty on October 3. A farewell party is held on Dr. Light's Laboratory.


 * From October 23 to November 8, Dr. Light researches the Ceratanium and creates the Light Ceratanium Alloy, which is stronger and can accumulate solar energy.


 * December 3, 01:35 PM, the Light Numbers started attacking the city. In the next day Dr. Light discovers that they were modified to be stronger. On December 8 he discovers that Wily is behind the attacks.


 * On December 10, or May 25, Rock, containing a strong sense of justice, volunteers to be converted into a super robot capable of not only rescuing Dr. Light's creations, but stopping Dr. Wily in the process.


 * December 17, 09:35 AM, Dr. Light finishes Rock's converstion, turning him into Mega Man.


 * Mega Man events.


 * December 20, Mega Man defeated Dr. Wily and recovered the electronic brain chips from the six Light Numbers.


 * January 4, upon request from the police, Dr. Light analyzes a computer left at Albert's laboratory, but all its data was transfered somewhere. Wily's whereabouts are unknown.


 * January 25, when talking with Roll, Dr. Light has the idea to research about dogs. This would lead to the creation of Rush.


 * February 17, Dr. Light met Dr. Cossack for the first time at a science academy gathering.


 * March 7, reconstruction of the Light Numbers is underway, and they will have new electronic brains equipped with a new function to detect tampering.


 * Dr. Wily, ever since being defeated by Mega Man, has taken upon himself to build eight evil combat robots of his own, all with the specific purpose of taking down Mega Man.


 * Mega Man 2 events. On June 9, Dr. Light and Mega Man received a written challenge from Dr. Wily, telling them about his eight combat robots. Mega Man stops the eight robots and Dr. Wily.


 * Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge events, set at an unknown point between Mega Man 2 and Mega Man II. Wily revives four of the original Robot Masters and four of his own Robot Masters and sends a new “Mega Man Killer”, Enker, after Mega Man.


 * After his defeat, Dr. Wily had seen the errors of his ways and begins to help Dr. Light in creating a giant peacekeeping robot named "Gamma". During this, another set of eight Robot Masters in charge of mining the Energy Elements needed to power Gamma, suddeny start causing trouble across scattered planets and it's up to Mega Man to retrieve the Energy Elements and stop the new line Robot Masters, all while confronting a robot known as "Break Man" in the reaches of space.


 * Mega Man 3 events. After Mega Man recovers the Energy Elements, Dr. Wily steals Gamma on August 28. Mega Man goes to Wily's new base and stops Gamma, and Wily apparently perishes when the base collapses.


 * Mega Man II events, set between an unknown point between Mega Man 3 and Mega Man III, Dr. Wily invaded the Chronos Institute and stole the Time Skimmer and traveled into the future, arriving in a peaceful world, free of conflict, in which an older Wily had reformed and Mega Man had reverted back into a household robot. By conspiring with his future self, Dr. Wily kidnapped Mega Man and turned him into Quint before returning to the present.


 * Mega Man: The Wily Wars events, set at an unknown point after Mega Man 3. Wily created a time machine and used it to travel to the past.


 * Mega Man 4 events. One year after Gamma's destruction, a new threat emerged in the form of Dr. Cossack. A Russian scientist who wishes to prove his superiority over Dr. Light by sending his eight Robot Masters all across the world to wreck havoc. Unbeknownst to Mega Man, Dr. Wily had survived the events of their previous encounter and had bribed Dr. Cossack into doing his bidding by kidnapping his daughter Kalinka, which Proto Man later rescues.


 * Mega Man III events, set at an unknown point between Mega Man 4 and Mega Man IV. Wily returns with a new plan and a new Mega Man Killer, Punk.


 * Mega Man 5 events. Roughly two months after the defeat of Dr. Cossack, Proto Man seemingly kidnaps Dr. Light and has a set of his own evil Robot Masters. After defeating the eight Robot Masters, Mega Man begins to infiltrate Proto Man's base of operations. After a brief scuffling, the real Proto Man reveals himself and reveals that the Proto Man that kidnapped Dr. Light, along with the previous encounters Mega Man had with Proto Man throughout the adventure, were all fake and were actually a series of robots called "Dark Man" which were created by Dr. Wily.


 * Mega Man IV events. Wily stole robots from an exposition and also created a new Mega Man Killer, Ballade.


 * Mega Man V events. The Stardroids attack Earth.


 * Mega Man 6 events. Exactly one year following Mega Man 5, the First Annual Robot Tournament is held, where Robots Masters from all over the world compete to see who's the greatest. However, the head of the tournament, known as Mr. X had decided to reprogram the final eight Robot Masters of the tournament and use them to begin taking over the world. Mega Man, alongside his companions Rush and Beat, vow to stop Mr. X and his schemes for world domination. After traveling across the world and defeating the six evil Robot Masters, Mega Man traverses Mr. X's castle, only to find out that Mr. X was actually Dr. Wily in disguise. After going through Wily Castle 6, Mega Man defeats Dr. Wily once more and Dr. Wily is finally seen being captured and sentenced to prison for his crimes.


 * Mega Man 7 events. Set six months after the events of Mega Man 6, the world has seemingly finally achieved peace after Mega Man finally apprehended Dr. Wily for his evil schemes. However, Dr. Wily always knew that his plans would possibly end in failure and created a back-up plan. Dr. Wily secreted built four Robots Masters that were programmed to activate after no sign of Dr. Wily. When the city comes under attack by a Mad Grinder, Mega Man immediately suits up and shortly after arriving, he encounters a mysterious robot named "Bass" and his faithful companion "Treble". After a short fight between the two, Mega Man learns that Bass and Treble were supposedly also trying to stop Dr. Wily and after a brief conversation, Bass and Treble retreat. To help fight against this new threat, Mega Man is now capable of fusing with Rush, courtesy of the Super Adapter. After fighting against the four Robot Masters, Mega Man comes across an injured Bass in Shade Man's stage, with Mega Man telling him to head to Dr. Light's for repairs. But soon enough, it's learned that Bass was actually created by Dr. Wily and he had also taken the blueprints for the Super Adapter. After taking down another four Robot Masters, Mega Man begins entering Wily Castle 7. After fighting an upgraded version of Guts Man, titled "Guts Man G" and an upgraded version of Bass. Mega Man defeats Dr. Wily once again, Mega Man threatens to seemigly kill Dr. Wily. But Mega Man stops his actions completely when Dr. Wily reminds him that robots cannot harm a human being. Before Mega Man can respond, Bass interrupts to save Dr. Wily, while Mega Man leaves behind the burning fortress.


 * Mega Man 8 events. In space, Duo fights against a mysterious Evil Robot above the Earth’s atmosphere. The two clash and crash land on Dr. Wily’s island. Meanwhile Mega Man is seen fighting with Bass. After the fight, Dr. Light informs Mega Man that a meteorite has crash-landed on a deserted island. When Mega Man arrives, he finds out that the island is actually the new secret base for Dr. Wily, who manages to salvage the remains that he needs before Mega Man can get to it. Mega Man does however discover a damaged Duo inside the crater and leaves it for Dr. Light to inspect. After Mega Man fights off four new Robot Masters, Mega Man heads back to Dr. Light's lab with some energy samples he collected from the four Robot Masters, which is revealed to be Evil Energy. Meanwhile, Duo, who was recently repaired by Dr. Light and soon awakens. Observing the remains of the Evil Energy from the Evil Robot he faced earlier, he manages to flee with Mega Man chasing after him. Mega Man eventually manages to locate Duo and Wily Tower 8. After saving Mega Man from one of Dr. Wily's giant robotic creations, Duo introduces himself and also explains that he can't access Wily Tower 8 due to a barrier that blocks entrance. This causes Mega Man to hunt down the other four Robot Masters and extinguish the rest of the world's Evil Energy, as well destroying the barrier to Wily Tower. For the eighth time, Dr Wily is defeated, but before Mega Man can do anything, he is infected with Evil Energy and is warped outside the Wily Tower. Duo, after seeing the goodness and justice in his heart, cures Mega Man, therefore eradicating the last remnants of the Evil Energy on Earth and thanks the unconscious Mega Man for helping him in his mission to stop evil before taking his leave.


 * Mega Man & Bass events. A robot by the name of "King" has made a declaration that robots should rule supreme over humans. In addition to gathering an army of Robot Masters to start the rebellion, he kicks Dr. Wily out of his own castle and claims it as his own. This leads to both Mega Man and Bass temporally teaming up to deal with King, with the assistance of Proto Man.


 * Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chōsensha events, some time after Mega Man & Bass. A mysterious robot from the future that looks like Mega Man attacks Symphony City with six new robots. Mega Man and Bass set out to stop him, and find out he is a prototype of Quint that was discarded.


 * Mega Man 9 events. As the new law is established that robots should have lifespans to regulate the increasing number of robots, they are scrapped when their time is over. A select number of Robot Masters created by Dr. Light start wrecking havoc. However, Dr. Wily is quick to notify citizens that the recent rampage of robots was not his own doing, but Dr. Light's, seeing as the attacking robots are not only Dr. Light's designs but also a video of Dr. Light declaring planetary domination and Dr. Wily refusing to follow him. When Dr. Light is later arrested, Mega Man, who is later joined by Proto Man, vows to fight to prove his creator's innocence and expose Dr. Wily's true intentions.


 * Mega Man 10 events. A mysterious new virus named "Roboenza" has caused Robot Masters from all over the world to start attacking humans. Among the infected is Roll herself, which prompts Mega Man to get to the bottom of this and locate a cure. Just then, Dr. Wily crash lands on the scene, who explained that he was in the middle of working on a cure but was suddenly attacked by infected robots. Mega Man, who is later accompanied by Proto Man and Bass, make it their mission to recover Dr, Wily's medicine making machine and stop the infected robots from causing more destruction. Later on, Dr. Wily turns out to be the one who created the Roboenza virus and offers a cure only to those who are willing to work for him. Within time, Mega Man would contract Roboenza, but is almost immediately cured when Roll gives him a prototype cure. At the end, Dr. Wily is defeated, only to find out that he's caught a fever. Our heroes escort Dr. Wily to the nearest hospital where he predictably makes his escape, but leaves behind enough of the cure to restore the infected robots.


 * Mega Man 11 events.
 * Some time in the distant future, Dr. Wily arrives via the Time Skimmer and conspires with his older self to kidnap Rock, who has been turned back into a house robot, and turns him into Quint. Because Rock is still Mega Man during the events of Mega Man 11 and still in the present, it can be assumed this is the last known event with him to happen in the classic series.


 * Dr. Wily builds a prototype of Quint, Rockman Shadow, but abandons him after Quint is defeated by MegaMan in the past.


 * Rockman Shadow rebuilds and upgrades himself and devastates the world of his time before traveling back in time with the Dimensions.


 * September 18, 20XX, Dr. Light finished Mega Man X and leaves a message for future generations.


 * Dr. Wily created Zero.

21XX

 * Dr. Cain found Mega Man X in the ruins from Dr. Light's laboratory.


 * Reploids are created.


 * Maverick occurrences.


 * The Maverick Hunters are formed, with Sigma as leader.


 * Sigma finds Zero.


 * Sigma becomes a Maverick, starting the Maverick Wars.


 * Mega Man X events.


 * Mega Man X2 events.


 * Mega Man Xtreme events.


 * Dr. Doppler creates anti-virus. Dopple Town is created.


 * Mega Man X3 events.


 * Mega Man Xtreme 2 events. Laguz Island.


 * Mega Man X4 events.


 * Mega Man X5 events.


 * Mega Man X6 events.
 * Note: The time of Zero's sealing is ambiguous.


 * Mega Man X7 events.


 * Mega Man X8 events.

Elf Wars and Neo Arcadia

 * By analying Zero's mind, a scientist creates the Mother Elf. With this Cyber-elf, X is capable of putting an end to the Maverick Wars.


 * By analyzing Zero's body, Dr. Weil uses it to create Omega, a powerful Reploid.


 * Dr. Weil proposes Project Elpizo, a plan to combine the Mother Elf with Omega to exert control over all Reploids.


 * Dr. Weil places a curse on the Mother Elf, turning her into the Dark Elf, and created two copies of her, the Baby Elves.


 * The Elf Wars start, an extremely bloody series of battles that began soon after the end of the Maverick Wars, named for the use and exploitation of many Cyber-elves in the wars. By using the Dark Elf and the Baby Elves, Weil made Reploids go Maverick and fight each other on a grand scale.


 * Zero is given a new body to assist in the Elf Wars.


 * X and Zero defeated Omega and put an end to the Elf Wars. Though the war lasted for four years, the casualty rate was high, with 90% of the Reploids and 60% of the humans perishing.


 * Dr. Weil is made immortal and is exiled. Omega is sent to space.
 * Zero goes into stasis again.
 * X founds Neo Arcadia.


 * X seals the Dark Elf and his soul is separated from his body, becoming a Cyber-elf.


 * The Four Guardians are created.


 * Ciel creates Copy X.


 * Due to an energy crisis, Copy X starts disposing innocent Reploids.


 * Ciel forms rhe Resistance, but they are not able to stand against Neo Arcadia. Ciel then decides to search for the legendary Reploid Zero.


 * Mega Man Zero events, 100 years after the end of the Maverick Wars. Ciel finds Zero and he defeats Copy X.


 * Mega Man Zero 2 events. Operation Righteous Strike. Elpizo destroys X's body and frees the Dark Elf.


 * Mega Man Zero 3 events. Ciel finishes the Ciel System and gives a sample to Neo Arcadia. The spacecraft containing Omega falls on Earth. Dr. Weil takes control of Neo Arcadia. Omega is destroyed and the Dark Elf is free from her curse, becoming the Mother Elf again.


 * Mega Man Zero 4 events. As Neo Arcadia is now under the tyranny of Dr. Weil, humans are escaping to Area Zero. To avoid this, Weil forms Operation Ragnarok. Zero stops Dr. Weil.


 * Humans and Reploids start a new life in Area Zero.

Mega Man ZX

 * Albert


 * The Guardians found a fragment of Model W and started analyzing it.


 * Serpent betrays the Guardians and steals the Model W fragment, killing the involvement members to keep it secret, including their commander. After her death, Prairie becomes the new commander.


 * Vent/Aile survive a Maverick attack.


 * Vent/Aile join Giro Express.


 * Mega Man ZX events.


 * Mega Man ZX Advent events.

Mega Man Legends series

 * Elysium was created by the Ancients thousands of years before Mega Man Legends 2. A perfect world of eternal youth without disease, hunger, or war. The Mother Units Sera and Yuna were built to watch over and manage Elysium and Terra, respectively.


 * After living for 3000 years without hardship and pain and being the last human alive, the Master feels lonely and befriends the Purified Unit Mega Man Trigger. Sera noticed that the Master was sad and did her best to serve him and obey the system, but the harder she tried, the sadder he seemed, and she started growing jealous of Mega Man.


 * The Master requested Mega Man Trigger to take him to Terra to see the Carbons, despite knowing that he cannot survive long outside of Elysium. After comparing his long and sterile life with the Carbons, who were happy despite having short and difficult lives, in his final moments the Master requests Mega Man to destroy the Master System and delete all data from Elysium's Library to protect them.


 * Fulfill the Master's dying wish, Mega Man fought against the system. At first, Yuna fought against him with the rest, but as time went by, she slowly came to understand what he was trying to do, and tried to take a neutral position. Frustrated with Yuna's decision, Sera traveled to Terra herself to fight Mega Man.


 * Sera wasn't able to bring her full power outside of Elysium, and fought against Mega Man Trigger to a standstill, each expending all their energy. Yuna took that opportunity to seal both of them inside stasis fields.
 * Sera and Geetz are sealed in a place that would become known by the Carbons as Forbidden Island due to a storm surrounding the island and preventing the approach of ships. Yuna stayed on the island to watch the seal.
 * Mega Man Trigger's body was severely damaged, so he had to be reset to survive, which turned him into a baby and erased his memories. Sometime before, Mega Man transferred all his essential memories to Data to make sure Sera would never find the Master's genetic code. Mega Man and Data are sealed in the Nino Ruins.


 * A long time passed, and Yuna and Sera became legends amoung the Carbons, being considered goddesses in Calinca.


 * Two Diggers, Barrell Caskett and Verner Von Bluecher, discovered that there is an "eye" directly above the center of Forbidden Island's storm, where the wind velocity is relatively light, and use it as an entry point. Although they were able to land on the island, their ship was destroyed. Without a means to return home, they decided to explore the island, struggling against both Reaverbots and the weather. They managed to reach the center of the island at the limits of their endurance, seeing Sera's stasis field and noticing someone approaching before passing out. When they recovered, for their surprise they were on the outskirts of Yosyonke City. After that, several Diggers tried to reach Forbidden Island, but none returned.


 * Teisel Bonne is born.


 * Roll Caskett and Tron Bonne are born.


 * Barrell's daughter, Matilda Caskett, alongside her husband, Banner, decided to go on an expedition to Forbidden Island like he father did in the past. They never returned, and Barrell rises his granddaughter, Roll Caskett.
 * Yuna found Matilda dying and transferred some of her nanotechnology from her body to cure her. While she managed to save Matilda, she ended up using too many parts from her body, to the point she could no longer move, and borrowed Matilda's body until her own was restored.
 * Although injured, Banner managed to escape the island. He is found in Calinca and is treated by Maria, but he lost his memories, being called Joe.


 * While researching the dangerous Nino Ruins without the Guildmaster's permission, Barrell found Data and the baby Mega Man Trigger near the entrance. As he could not tell anyone about his discovery due to his unauthorized entry, he decided to rise the baby alongside his granddaughter. The baby is named Mega Man Volnutt.


 * Bon Bonne is born.


 * The Misadventures of Tron Bonne events. Teisel borrowed money from Lex Loath to build the Gesellschaft.


 * Mega Man Legends events. Kattelox Island.


 * Verner Von Bluecher used all his fortune to create the Sulphur-Bottom.


 * Mega Man Legends 2 events.


 * Roll and Tron work together to create a rocket to rescue Mega Man.

Trivia

 * In Mega Man II and Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chōsensha, an alternate possible timeline is shown: In this future, Dr. Wily travelled into the future and kidnapped Rock, who after believing the world was safe was converted back into a house robot. During this time, Dr. Wily also created a prototype of Quint, Rockman Shadow, but discarded him after Quint was defeated by Mega Man. Rockman Shadow would go on to complete and upgrade himself before destroying the world of his time searching out powerful opponents before traveling to the past to fight Mega Man and Bass. Because the Mega Man X series and every other series occurs without incident, it can be assumed that this timeline was somehow averted, though Mega Man still fights Quint and Rockman Shadow.