Mega Man (original series)

The Mega Man series, known as Rockman (ロックマン) in Japan and often referred as "original Mega Man" or "classic Mega Man", is the first series of the Mega Man franchise of games. The first game, Mega Man, was released on December 17, 1987 on the Famicom (FC) in Japan and on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America and Europe.

Most of the main games in the series are referred to as "Mega Man" (or "Rockman") followed by a number (2, 3, etc.). However, the ninth game in the classic series (not counting the "side-stories") is called Mega Man & Bass. The tenth official game in the classic series is titled Mega Man 9, while the eleventh one is titled Mega Man 10 both of which have a retro look, having the 8-bit appearance of the NES Mega Man games.

Story
The basic story of the series revolves around the robot engineer Dr. Thomas Light, his robotic "children," Rock (a lab-assistant) and Roll (a housekeeper), and their struggle against Dr. Albert W. Wily. The series is set in the early-21st century.

Timeline
Below is a basic timeline of the Mega Man series. See the game pages for more details of the story.

Main timeline:
 * Mega Man
 * Mega Man 2 (200X, as shown in the opening)
 * Mega Man 3 (200X, as shown in the Virtual Console manual)
 * Mega Man 4 (One year after Mega Man 3, as shown in the NES and Virtual Console manuals)
 * Mega Man 5 (20XX, as shown in the opening)
 * Mega Man 6
 * Mega Man 7 (Six months after Mega Man 6, as shown in the opening)
 * Mega Man 8
 * Mega Man & Bass
 * Mega Man 9
 * Mega Man 10

Game Boy games:

The exact time those games take place in the story is unknown, but they happen sometime between the games listed in parentheses due to elements present on them.
 * Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (after Mega Man 2)
 * Mega Man II (after Mega Man 3)
 * Mega Man III (after Mega Man 4)
 * Mega Man IV (between Mega Man 5 and Mega Man 6)
 * Mega Man V (20XX, between Mega Man 5 and Mega Man 6)

Other games:

Like the Game Boy games, the exact time those games take place is unknown, but they happen sometime after the game listed in parentheses.
 * Wily and Right's RockBoard: That's Paradise (After Mega Man 4)
 * Mega Man: The Wily Wars (After Mega Man 3)
 * Mega Man's Soccer (After Mega Man 5)
 * Super Adventure Rockman (After Mega Man 5)
 * Mega Man: The Power Battle (After Mega Man 7)
 * Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters (After Mega Man 8)
 * Mega Man: Battle & Chase (After Mega Man 8)

Licensed games:

Games that were licensed by Capcom. Their canon is questionable, and some may not be part of the Mega Man timeline.
 * Mega Man (PC) (After Mega Man)
 * Mega Man 3 (PC) (After the first PC game)
 * Mega Man (Game Gear) (After Mega Man 5)
 * Rockman and Forte: Mirai Kara no Chousensha (After Mega Man & Bass)
 * Rockman Strategy (After Mega Man 8)
 * Rockman Gold Empire (After Mega Man 8)

The Mega Man series is followed by the Mega Man X series, which happens in the 22nd century.