Strike Man

Strike Man (ストライクマン) is a Robot Master from Mega Man 10. He can attack by throwing a powerful fastball in a move called the Rebound Striker, as well as by spinning and bouncing himself around like a ball.

Strike Man was a stadium batting-practice robot before he malfunctioned due to Roboenza. He can throw just about any kind of pitch, but gets upset when he gives up too many hits. In one incident, Strike Man was almost sent back to the factory for maintenance when he hit a batter that he didn't like with a pitch that put him in the hospital.

Strategy
Strike Man starts his battle off by jumping and throwing a Rebound Striker at the player, which bounces six times before it disappears and dealing extra damage for each bounce it takes, from a minimum of two HP if it hits Mega Man head-on, and up to seven HP if it hits on the last rebound. Depending on the jump he makes is the direction at which he will throw the fastball; a short hop means he will throw the fastball at Mega Man, and a high jump means he will throw it diagonally. The fastball also homes in on Mega Man as it bounces from the ceiling, but can be avoided by stepping out of the way.

After throwing the fastball, Strike Man will turn into a ball himself, rolling and bouncing around twice, invincible while doing so. If he makes a low bounce, he will follow with a higher one. If he makes a high bounce, he will follow up with a low, long one. He alternates between these two bouncing patterns, first one then the other he didn't make. Both can be avoided by passing below him and running towards the side of the arena Mega Man has more space to maneuver. He will then repeat this strategy.


 * On Easy mode, his Rebound Striker is slower and bounces one less time, making it weaker and easier to avoid.
 * On Hard mode, he no longer alternates between bouncing patterns, meaning he can do consecutive low-high bounces or high-long bounces at any moment after throwing the Rebound Striker. His fastball also bounces one more time, increasing its total power to eight HP. He also gains a new special attack in which he jumps to the middle of the room and begins to spin around horizontally, tossing four Rebound Strikers at a time. This can be avoided by going to the side he was facing before starting the attack, and jumping over the third fastball he throws. Once he lands, he is dizzy for a brief moment.

Strike Man is most vulnerable to attacks when he stays close to the ground, while he is not in ball form, and on Hard mode, when he is dizzy after his special attack. His weakness is the Triple Blade: it can destroy the Rebound Striker, hit him while in the air before throwing the fastball to the ground, and can also hit him with up to two blades at close range for double damage. It defeats him in seven blades. He also takes slightly more damage than usual from the Wheel Cutter and Mirror Buster.

Damage Data Chart
Displays the amount of damage in units that Strike Man will receive from each Special Weapon in Mega Man 10.


 * *For Proto Buster, the first is normal hit; the second is charged up.

Mega Man (Archie Comics)
Strike Man appeared during the Worlds Collide crossover arc between the Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe, and Mega Man comic series by Archie Comics. In Sonic the Hedgehog #250, during the Robot Master battle, Sonic managed to dodge a thrown ball by Strike Man, and gave the robot a look of disbelief that it was the best he could utilize against him, with Strike Man looking down in shame in response.

Other appearances
Strike Man appeared in the manga Rockman 10 -Extra F-, being the second robot defeated.

Strike Man appeared in "MAD's Guide to Video Game Cheats", a sketch featured in the ninth episode of the first season of Cartoon Network's MAD, where the player distracts and defeats him by using a cheat code that causes the stage to rain kittens.

Trivia

 * Strike Man is the third Robot Master to perform an attack involving turning into a ball and bouncing. The other two are Blizzard Man and Clown Man. Pirate Man is arguably a fourth Robot Master with such an attack, although he encases himself in a bubble instead of actually becoming a ball; Sunstar has a similar attack, as well.
 * Bounce Man takes this a step further, as he essentially is a ball due to his design being based on a rubber ball, and he spends much of his battle bouncing around the room.
 * Due to color limitations, his chest crystals are orange in his sprite, when they are green in his official work.
 * Due to the order of the release of Mega Man 10's Special Stages, Strike Man and Flame Man (through the W. Archive) are the first two Robot Masters to be weak against a Mega Man Killer's weapon.
 * His stage music, at one point, was featured on Capcom's official website.
 * Strike Man bears a striking resemblance to Blizzard Man, as both have a round and mostly white body, both lack a face (they have black slits with eyes in them), both can perform an attack involving turning into a ball and bouncing, and both are sports-themed.
 * Strike Man's weakness to the Triple Blade may be a reference to how in a game of baseball, a batter gets an "out" if they receive three strikes (hence the common phrase "Three strikes and you're out").
 * It may also be a reference to how blades can easily cut through a baseball.