Mega Man (Super Smash Bros. series)

Mega Man  is a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series, debuting in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Mega Man debuts as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. While his proportions and movements are closely based on his NES appearance, his appearance possesses traits from his design in Mega Man Universe. His special moves in his moveset can be swapped out for some variations once they are unlocked.

Mega Man's playstyle is unique and unorthodox when compared to other fighters, having many projectiles in his moveset (his neutral attack, forward tilt, forward smash, neutral aerial, up aerial, Metal Blade, Crash Bomber and Leaf Shield are all projectiles). However, this only makes Mega Man's comboing ability better and more reliable, as his attacks can easily link into the other when used correctly, allowing Mega Man to easily rack up large amounts of damage on an opponent. His Metal Blade and Crash Bomber are considered to be two of the best projectiles in the game, as both have a wide variety of uses: Crash Bomber is a reliable mindgame tool that forces a punishable reaction out of the opponent: a defensive move (such as shielding or rolling), rushing Mega Man down in an attempt to give back the crash bomber, or simply taking the damage from its explosion. It also dishes out a good amount of shield damage and can combine well with the Metal Blade, forward smash, up aerial, and leaf shield for shield pressure. Metal Blades can string into a grab or dash attack, edgeguard, pressure shields, and even string into up tilt for a kill at higher percentages. Leaf Shield deprives the user of many of his options but in exchange he is granted four hitboxes around him and gives him the unique ability to attack while shielding or during invincibility frames, and it can also be used to gimp or interrupt recoveries of certain characters (such as Ness). When fired as a projectile, it also travels at a further range than any of his others and has high priority, it will outprioritize many other projectiles and continue moving. Complementing his heavy weight, Mega Man possesses an above average recovery in Rush Coil that makes him difficult to kill: it not only boosts him at a high distance, but has the unique quirk of allowing Mega Man to still use his double jump if he hasn't already and should Rush remain on-screen long enough, bouncing off of him can save the player if he gets meteor smashed.

Mega Man does have some notable flaws, however: While Mega Man has a good amount of attacks with good knockback, the majority of his kill moves are considered situational, difficult to set up, or and/or are easy to punish. As such, he has a more difficult time killing than other characters and it requires good reads to successfully finish off opponents. Characters that have a move that either reflects projectiles or can nullify them (such as Fox or Lady Palutena) can also prove to be an annoyance for him due to his over-reliance on projectiles to combo opponents and bait reactions and it can render his Forward Smash (one of his better kill moves) unreliable, though this can be worked around by firing the Mega Buster twice at a time, and most reflectors are punishable if baited and he can still grab them. Although Mega Man can effectively zone opponents at medium ranges with the Mega Buster, most of his other moves are fairly laggy or gimmicky and his only reliable tool in close range is his grab, and as such faster characters (such as Greninja or Captain Falcon) can bypass his zoning more easily and put work on him in closer ranges and due to his above average weight and falling speed, Mega Man is somewhat easy for these characters to combo once they get in, assuming that they have any combo potential.

All in all, and like in the original games, Mega Man excels at medium range, having little to no trouble to keep opponents at distance, though it can be risky for him to fight at close range. He has to use his fantastic projectiles at medium range and bait opponents so he can grab them to rack up damage, all while keeping his distance until the opponent is weak enough to finish it with one of his slow, yet powerful finishing moves.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Mega Man returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate along with all the past playable characters as part of this new game. Gameplay wise Mega Man is mostly the same as before, but due to the removal of the custom move system for the characters' special moves, the variations for all of Mega Man's special moves have been removed. In addition, his Mega Legends Final Smash has been updated to include both Proto Man and Bass as part of the attack. Unlike the previous game, Mega Man is no longer part of the starting roster and needs to be unlocked, since only the 8 starting characters from the original Super Smash Bros. will serve as the starting roster.

Unlocking criteria
To unlock Mega Man, the player must meet the following criteria
 * Mega Man is the 42nd character unlocked by playing VS matches.
 * Clear Classic Mode with Pikachu or anyone unlocked within Pikachu's Classic Mode, being the 4th character in it's unlock path.
 * Rescue Mega Man in World of Light.

Trivia

 * In his debut trailer, he fights against Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, and various other characters, and after holding his own, he proceeds to turn the tables via his Special Weapons system moveset.
 * He also appears in the trailer "Red, Yellow, and Blue", which, as implied by the title, he alongside Sonic the Hedgehog share the "blue" designation, while Mario represented "red", and Pac-Man, the subject of the trailer, represented yellow.
 * He appeared in the Ultimate Ridley reveal trailer, where he alongside Mario and Samus are exploring a dark mechanical area, but Mega Man got impaled by Ridley's tail. During this time, the death sound effect from the Mega Man series is briefly heard.