Earth

Earth (地球) is the main setting and backdrop for the Mega Man franchise. It is the third planet from the Sun and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the world or by its Latin-language names, Tellus or Terra. Earth is home to millions of species, including humans. Both the mineral resources of the planet, as well as the products of the biosphere, contribute resources that are used to support a global human population. These inhabitants are grouped into about many independent sovereign states, which interact through diplomacy, travel, trade, and military action.

Original Mega Man universe
In the classic Mega Man series Earth has many similarities with the non-fictional Earth, but has much more advanced technology and, if Wily & Right's RockBoard: That's Paradise is taken as canon to any degree, different names for continents and/or nations. The whole planet and maps of it can be seen in many games, especially in the Stage Select Screens from Mega Man 8 and Mega Man X5 to Mega Man X8.

Mega Man series
In the 21st century, with the advancement of science, humans were able to create industrial humanoid robots to help with different tasks, and they coexist peacefully. However, in the first Mega Man game, the scientist Dr. Albert Wily plans to take over the world, and the foremost authority on robotics, Dr. Thomas Light, modifies the helper robot Rock into the super robot Mega Man (Rockman in Japan) to stop Wily, starting a series of battles between the two scientists and their creations.

Mega Man X series
Several years later, Dr. Thomas Light created a robot he named Mega Man X, which is able to think and make its own decisions. He was sealed after then because of the fear of how dangerous he can be to the world. After the discovery of X in the 22nd century, Dr. Cain created Reploids based off X's design. The world eventually turned into two great major factions: Reploids and humans. They lived mostly peacefully for a while. Unfortunately for Dr. Cain, Dr. Light’s greatest fear came true. The presence of Maverick Virus causes the new robots to rebel against humankind and became powerful enemies known as Mavericks, showing hostile actions against the world's peace. The group was eventually developed larger under the control of Sigma, whose first plot was stopped thanks to Maverick Hunters X and Zero.

However, that was only the start of what would later be known as the Maverick Wars, as Sigma would live on as a virus and continued leading attempts to destroy humanity, which included controlling the Reploid scientist Dr. Doppler and making the Repliforce fight against the Maverick Hunters in the Great Repliforce War.

Several months after the Repliforce war, Earth is at a peaceful time. The repair of the space colonies damaged during the war was almost complete, the only space colony remaining being the giant colony Eurasia located in a Lagrangian point. As it was quite old, it was planned to receive extensive renovation. However, one day someone had occupied Eurasia and took control of it, scattering a virus in the colony and using its artificial gravity systems to set it on a collision course towards Earth. Within 16 hours, Eurasia will crash and cause great destruction, in the worst case extinguishing all life from the planet. The Maverick Hunters plan on using the large particle cannon Enigma to destroy Eurasia before it happens. The Enigma cannon is somewhat old and needs to be upgraded. Signas, the Hunters' new commander, orders Mega Man X and his comrade Zero, as they race against time to collect the four parts necessary to upgrade the Enigma and stop Eurasia before it's too late. To make things worse, Sigma scattered the Sigma Virus all over the world and the parts needed are being protected by Mavericks.

From this point, the story diverges into different subplots:


 * Once X and Zero have recovered the initial four items required to use the Enigma, it is fired and can either succeed in destroying the space colony or fail and only destroy part of it.
 * If the Enigma fails, only part of Eurasia is destroyed, slightly changing its orbit and delaying the crash. Signas begins his next plan: launching a space shuttle (which is infected by the virus and the auto-pilot doesn't work) directly at the colony to destroy it. Again, four pieces must be collected to enhance it from the last four Mavericks, and after doing so the shuttle will launch with Zero as its pilot (as Zero mentions, he is the only competent pilot left).


 * Like the Enigma, the space shuttle can either succeed or fail.
 * If the shuttle succeeds, 86% of Eurasia is destroyed and Earth is no longer in danger. Zero contacts the Hunters from his escape pod to tell them he's okay and that he'll land soon. After Zero lands, the Hunters come to pick him up. Mega Man X6 shows that this is the scenario that happened, and however, the remains still caused large damage to Earth's surface, devastating its ecosystems and spreading pollution around the planet.
 * If the shuttle fails, only part of Eurasia is destroyed and it crashes on Earth. Zero becomes a Maverick.


 * If time runs out, Eurasia collides with Earth, and it barely survives. Zero becomes a Maverick.

In any scenario, Eurasia (either complete or only its remains) falls into Earth and the colony virus merges with the Sigma Virus, creating a new virus in the location of the collision in the point 11F5646. Alia detected the strange energy of the virus and dubbed it the Zero Virus due to its similarities with Zero. The Hunters go into Eurasia's remains to verify the virus. If Zero became a Maverick, X still feels as if he can save Zero, so X fights through the area to get to Zero and help him.

Upon entering the third Zero Space stage, X and Zero confront each other, the dialogue changing depending of the character currently used:
 * If the player is using X, he will confront Zero about the latter's rise in power, and plead with Zero to go back to the Hunter Base to get a check-up, which Zero stubbornly denies.


 * If the player is Zero, he will confront X and two Lifesavers (the Hunters' medical units) and will be labeled as a Maverick by the Lifesavers due to Zero's immunity to the Sigma Virus.


 * If Zero "awakened" with the virus, X confronts the "true" Zero, whose power had grown tremendously. X narrowly defeats Zero.

Either way, both X and Zero fight in a room where Dr. Wily's mark is displayed prominently in the background, and just as the fight is ending, the opponent uses Soul Body on the player to weaken him. They lie exhausted on the ground. Sigma appears out of nowhere intending to finish X off. Zero jumps in front of X's prone body and protects him from Sigma, claiming to know everything Sigma is trying to do.
 * If Zero is normal, he attacks Sigma with his Z-Buster and collapses from exhaustion.


 * If Zero became a Maverick, he returns to normal and sacrifices his life to save X.

Sigma concedes defeat and vanishes for the moment, saying he will be waiting. The Hunters then prepare for the final battle against Sigma.

Once in the final chamber, Sigma reveals that his entire plan hinged on awakening Zero from his "false self" and giving him his true power by infecting him with a massive amount of the Sigma Virus, scattering it around the Earth. But, as the amount was not enough to awaken him, he used the colony as a virus and let it land on the Earth. The Hunters fight Sigma, who loses and reveals his final body; a huge, unfinished battle body. Sigma tells X of an old man he met, with a seemingly undying hatred for X. If the player is Zero, Sigma tells him of the same man, who supposedly knows enough about Zero to be his own father (at this point, it is obvious that Sigma is referencing Dr. Wily). X and Zero fight Sigma's last body and defeat him, but Sigma has one last trick up his sleeve; he self-destructs, attempting to take both of them with him.

After the explosion, the extent of the damage is shown; Zero's body lies shattered on the ground, his lower torso and left arm apparently destroyed in the blast. X kneels down to pick up Zero's broken body and pleads with him not to die, not noticing Sigma's severed head charging a blast behind him. Sigma fires an energy blast at X, catching both him and Zero in the chest and creating a hole there. This blast seemingly jars Zero from death, as he smiles and blasts Sigma's head with his Z-Buster, finishing him for good. He lies on the ground and calls for X, noting that his friend's optimism at the thought of Zero living is what lead to his death.

In Zero's ending, he reflects on his life as a vision of him in his original body fighting the original Sigma (a fight referenced in a flashback in Mega Man X4) comes up. He assumes these visions are due to his power source running out and his memory unit malfunctioning as another vision, this time of a blurred Dr. Wily, comes into view. The focus shifts from the doctor to an incomplete Zero lying on a table, where Zero notes that the old man was creating a robot destroyer. A red and faded image of Iris then flashes through his mind, while Zero apologizes to her. He then makes a remark that it would be better for him to die, so as to restore the peace. Zero then tells X goodbye and passes away.

In X's ending, he is missing his lower torso and both arms after Sigma's explosion. A mysterious glowing figure (obviously being Dr. Light) appears and tells X to rest and relax. X is then repaired and returns to the Maverick Hunters. His ending has two varieties:
 * If Zero was normal, a scene three years after the final battle with Sigma is shown. Alia alerts the Maverick Hunters of a large Maverick rampaging in HORIE 2146 block, and X tells the three new Hunters nearby to move out. The final scene shows X holding Zero's Z-Saber, while one of the other Hunters remarks that X's eyes have changed and sharpened, more and more reflecting his former partner and friend, Zero. X then says that as long as he has Zero's saber, he can fight any enemy. This ending leads to Mega Man X6, which happens three weeks later instead of three years.


 * If Zero became a Maverick, the glowing hologram tells X to hold on for just a little longer and to forget all of his painful memories. The scene fades. One week later, X and two other Maverick Hunters are moving some things. One of the Hunters asks X if he remembers anything about what had happened the previous week, with X firmly stating that he doesn't remember anything about the battle. The other Hunter remarks that X is now a Special-A rank Hunter, the same as Zero, and explains to X that he and Zero worked together to defeat Sigma. X comments that he didn't forget Sigma's name; he remembers it clearly, and yet he has no memory of Zero. He assumes that whoever repaired him may have accidentally deleted the data (Dr. Light erased X's memories to ease the pain of fighting Zero and leading to his death). One of the Hunters says that it's a miracle X came out of the battle at all. The scene then shifts to the control center, with Signas, Alia, and Douglas. Signas remarks that it's indeed a miracle X came back and without so much as a scratch. Douglas mentions that it's still difficult to repair X and Zero's bodies since their internal workings are still a mystery. Alia says that she's not interested in miracles, and doubts most Reploids believe in them either. Douglas asks about X's memories of Zero, and Signas admits that even he doesn't know how it happened, be it an accident or purposeful. Alia mentions that there's a protection in X's systems now; X's body won't even accept data related to Zero, and even she couldn't program a protection that complicated. The final scene shifts back to X and the two Maverick Hunters, where X says that they need to work harder to achieve peace and that his secret dream is to build Elysium, a paradise for both humans and Reploids.

Three weeks after the crash of the Eurasia colony, the planet has been widely devastated, barely surviving the incident. Ruins, deserts and pollution are very common, and humanity has been forced to live underground to survive from the pollution. Reploids have been sent to the surface to attempt to make it livable once again. There was no trace of Mavericks for some days, and the Maverick Hunters help cleaning up the world. Gate, a Reploid scientist who was once a colleague of Alia, stumbles upon the crash site of Eurasia, finding something unusual. After that, Gate became mad and a strange set of Maverick outbreaks occurs, and when X is called to stop a giant Mechaniloid, he sees a purple-like figure that resembles Zero. Around the same time, a powerful Reploid named High Max appears and claims to be investigating the Zero Nightmare, and they fight. High Max, however, proves to be too strong and X cannot damage him with his X-Buster.

A Reploid scientist named Isoc makes an announcement saying that the ghost of Zero, Zero Nightmare, is behind the new Nightmare Phenomena. He sends eight Reploids to investigate areas with high jamming suspected to be infected by the Nightmare Virus to discover the mystery surrounding it and delete Zero's ghost, with High Max leading the mission. Isoc also ask for volunteers to help them. X goes off to the suspected areas to investigate the Nightmare, defeat the Mavericks, and rescue the Reploids that volunteered to help.

During his mission, X fights against the Zero Nightmare and finds the real Zero, who was believed to have been destroyed after the last encounter with Sigma. Signas is reluctant to ask Zero's help as he had just returned, but due to the crisis, Zero helps X in the mission.

After defeating the Mavericks, the Maverick Hunters discover Gate was behind the Nightmare Virus. Gate is impressed with the abilities of X and Zero, and challenges the Hunters to a duel, revealing them the location of his hidden laboratory. In his laboratory, Gate also reveals he was able to create the Nightmare and High Max by analyzing Zero's DNA, which he found in Eurasia's crash site. X and Zero defeat High Max and Gate; Isoc was later found unconscious in a similar way to the Erasure Incident (mentioned by Alia when playing as X). Upon Gate's defeat, Gate reveals he had revived Sigma. Sigma states that he didn't need his help to revive, attacks Gate and retreats. X and Zero rush to stop the partially-reconstructed Sigma and battle him, and although he was not fully complete, he puts up a good fight. In the end, the Hunters prove victorious, defeating Sigma and removing Gate's body from the wreckage of his lab to attempt to repair him.

After the Eurasia and Nightmare incidents that left the Earth's surface devastated, Reploids have worked diligently to clean up the world and make it habitable for humans once again, and is slowly recovering. However, Maverick crime is on a rise. The Maverick Hunters had weakened when X retired from the front lines to assume a support role and achieve more peaceful solutions. To take care of the rising crime, the group of vigilantes Red Alert was created under the command of Red. Initially, they only fought against Mavericks, but one day the group changed and began acting strange. One of their key members, Axl, noticed he was being used and goes AWOL. Red sends Mega Scorpio to take him back, but it is stopped with the help of Zero and Axl is taken to the Maverick Hunters headquarters. Red contacts them and issues a challenge - he released some of the Mavericks Red Alert has in custody to various locations around the globe, challenging them to see who can defeat more with Axl as the prize. In the end, it is revealed that Sigma is behind the change of Red Alert, having been drawn to Red Alert after realizing Axl's power. Once again, the Hunters face Sigma and he is defeated. Later, Axl attempts to officially join the Maverick Hunters, even with X's disapproval.

Some time later, humans have begun plans to migrate to the Moon as part of an initiative known as the "Jakob Project", which involves an orbital elevator built in the Galapagos Islands. One night while X is out on patrol, one of the elevators breaks off and comes crashing down to Earth. As X approaches the elevator, the doors open, revealing an entire army of Sigmas. Suddenly, a purple-haired Reploid arrives and introduces himself as Lumine, the director of the Jakob Project. He reveals the "Sigma army" isn't what it appears to be; instead, they are new generation Reploids created as part of the project who are immune from viruses and able to use DNA copy data to change their shapes and appearances to assist with space development.

Everything seems to be running smoothly until Vile returns and kidnaps Lumine, and Maverick uprisings happen all over the world. While battling the Mavericks, the Hunters pick up hints that Sigma has returned and is teasing a concept called "the new world". Eventually, Sigma is tracked to the Moon, where he unveils his ultimate plan: eradicate the "old generation" and re-populate it with his "children". He reveals all of the new generation Reploids contain a copy chip which possesses his DNA, meaning these 'virus-proof' Reploids are essentially copies of Sigma.

When Sigma is defeated, Lumine emerges from the shadows and congratulates the Hunters on finally destroying Sigma once and for all, before admitting he was manipulating Sigma in order to get his DNA and is behind the entire plot. Lumine gloats to the stunned Hunters that in order for evolution to take its course, he and the new generation Reploids must destroy both the humans and "obsolete" Reploids. After a massive struggle, Lumine is defeated, but he warns them that it is too late to stop what has already begun. As the Hunters ride back down the orbital elevator, Zero wonders if he no longer has to fight now that Sigma is gone for good, while X ponders Lumine's words on evolution. Zero tells X not to let his words get to him, as new generation Reploids becoming Sigma could hardly be called evolution. Furthermore, he tells X that even if they are destined to join the scrap heap when that evolution does comes about, they'll still have to fight, not only against the Mavericks, but against their own destinies as well.

Lumine's death and the news of him becoming Maverick resulted in ceasing production of new generation Reploids. However, due to the increasing need of advanced Reploids for space development, production resumed several years later, despite the objections of many.

Mega Man Zero series
Shortly after the end of the long lasting Maverick Wars, the Elf Wars occur, a four year long conflict that ended with approximately 90% of all Reploids and 60% of all humans dying. After the war, Maverick Hunters X and Zero have vanished from the view of the public and have become mere legends. Neo Arcadia is created as a paradise for humans, who live peacefully without worries. However, Neo Arcadia is in risk of facing an energy crisis. Unknown to the majority of the population, many Reploids are labelled Mavericks even when innocent to reduce energy comsuption, leading to the creation of a Resistance force in an attempt to save themselves from annihilation.

Ciel, a human scientist, by studying Cyber-elves, hopes to develop a new source of energy that she intends to use to bring peace. Until then, their fight continue. Ciel revives the ancient warrior Zero, who had been locked away for an unknown span of time. Zero finds himself facing the past when he battles Copy X, a duplicate of his historic partner, and leader of Neo Arcadia, the primary human government. The original X appears, in the form of a Cyber-elf. His body was sacrificed in an attempt to imprison the Dark Elf, the source of the Elf Wars. Now X serves primarily as a source of guidance. Meanwhile, Dr. Weil, a scientist banished from Neo Arcadia for instigating the Elf Wars using a Reploid known as Omega, returns with a vengeance to attempt to accomplish his goals once and for all. He takes over Neo Arcadia and makes prisoners out of the humans as much as he wages war against the Reploids. He and his plan was ultimately defeated with the heroic sacrifice of Zero.

Mega Man ZX series
After the fighting against Neo Arcadia came to an end, Ciel and her research team comes across the remains of Doctor Weil's core, also named it Model W. Model W began to turn members of Ciel's team into Mavericks. Dr. Ciel's fate is unknown, so Alouette, a young Reploid raised by Ciel, assumes command of the Guardians. A new law is created by the Legion, were Reploids must have lifespans and humans have mechanical parts integrated into their bodies, and now both are treated equally as humans, living together in harmony. One member of the Sage Trinity, Master Albert, created the Game of Destiny and made Mega Men fight against each other by using Biometal, and finally against Albert and Model W.

Mega Man Legends series
Several thousand years later, Earth (known as Terra outside Japan in the Mega Man Legends series) was covered by water, and humans now live on small landmasses. The original humans live on Elysium while bionic humans known as Carbons live on Terra. Before dying, The Master asked Mega Man Trigger to protect the Carbons and destroy the System, resulting in a series of battles that ended with Mega Man and Sera being sealed by Yuna for several years, and those events became legends. One day, the Digger Barrell Caskett found Mega Man Trigger sealed in a ruin and adopted him, naming him Mega Man Volnutt.

Of note, the map in Mega Man Legends 2 has 32 lines. As the Mega Man Legends series has the same unit of time as the classic series, those lines may not be for time zones like the Coordinated Universal Time, but a chart like the rhumbline network.

Mega Man Battle Network universe
Unlike the original series, the locations of the Earth from the Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force series use fictional names, but still share many similarities to the real life Earth.

Mega Man Battle Network series
In 200X, most people have a PET (PErsonal Terminal) with a NetNavi. Humans use the humanoid NetNavis housed in their PETs for general use as Operators, although some work with their Navis in a sport called NetBattling, where an Operator uses Battle Chips to give their Navis special abilities to fight with, such as giving a sword or bomb. The series is centered around young Lan Hikari and his Navi, MegaMan.EXE, who both love to Net battle, and their adventures in the world, such as participating in a tournament (third and fourth games), or stopping the Net-criminal organizations like World Three, Gospel and Nebula.

Mega Man Star Force series
200 years later, the Internet-based technology was replaced to an EM Wave-based technology, which created the Wave Road exists in the real world, EM Beings replace NetNavis, and no one uses a PET anymore. They're all invisible to the human's vision. With the use of three satellites, controlled by the Satellite Admins, the whole Earth is connected using the Sky Wave (and later the Astro Wave), which transcend to space (Outer Astro Wave) and other planets, such as Planet FM and Planet AM. The series centers around Geo Stelar, a young boy who lost his dad Kelvin Stelar in a space accident, and the fugitive AM-ian, Omega-Xis, who can change Geo's frequency in a way called EM Wave Change, who lost his father, fighting villains such as other FM-ians and other antagonists, such as Le Mu and Dealers and finally found him in Meteor G core.

Trivia

 * If Eurasia crashes on Earth Mega Man X5, the picture of Earth in the stage select screen will drastically change, showing how much damage it suffered. However, Earth has its original appearance in Mega Man X6 onward, showing that canonically the impact's damage was reduced by the efforts of the Maverick Hunters.
 * In Mega Man Legends, there is an old world map on Barrell Caskett's room that is different from the Earth shown in the classic and X series, but Mega Man Volnutt says it is different from the planet's current appearance.