Time Stopper

Time Stopper (タイムストッパー) is Flash Man's Special Weapon, which has the ability to stop time for a limited time.

Mega Man 2
When activated, the Time Stopper will stop time until its energy ends. This can be used to stop enemies and hazards, such as the deadly Force Beams, to bypass them more easily. A downside is that, unlike Flash Man, Mega Man cannot shoot while time is stopped, nor switch to another Special Weapon until its energy is drained (later in the series, Bright Man's Flash Stopper remedied this dilemma to some extent).

Another downside is that the eight Robot Masters have devices that makes them immune to the Time Stopper, but Quick Man's device has a flaw. This flaw may be the reason for Time Stopper being Quick Man's weakness; he is the only enemy in the game to receive damage from this weapon, losing one unit of his life energy for every two units of weapon energy Mega Man uses. Still, with the exception of the Boobeam Trap, all bosses and enemies will stop with this weapon, including Flash Man.

Along with the Tornado Blow, the Time Stopper is one of the few weapons that the player doesn't have enough energy in one stock to eliminate the boss that it's strong against even if the weapon energy gauge is full.

Mega Man: The Wily Wars
In the Wily Tower mode, some enemies and bosses are immune to the Time Stopper, being able to move normally while it is active. Additionally, the conveyor belts in Metal Man's stage are not affected by the Time Stopper, unlike the NES version.

Other appearances
Mega Man also obtains the Time Stopper in Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge and Super Adventure Rockman. Quick Man is the only boss to receive damage from this weapon. All other bosses from the games receive no damage from it.

The Doc Robot from Mega Man 3 uses the Time Stopper along with the weapons from the other Robot Masters from Mega Man 2, but the player can't obtain the Time Stopper after defeating him in Gemini Man's stage.

Damage Data Chart
Known damage values in units for Mega Man 2.


 * *Any data with a "+" represents the weapon actually restoring the boss's health.

Capacity
In Mega Man 2, Time Stopper can be activated only once, quickly draining the weapon's energy as time passes, and can't be stopped until all energy is drained. It only stops if Mega Man dies while it's active, leaving some energy to be used later. The Time Stopper also stops when Quick Man is defeated, notably during Mega Man's second encounter in the Boss Rush where weapon energy is not restored. However, in the Mega Man 2 port for the iPhone, the Time Stopper will turn itself off when moving onto another screen.

Other media
While the majority of the bosses are immune to the Time Stopper in the games and Mega Man is unable to attack while using it, it other media it can stop most (if not all) enemies and Mega Man can attack while it is active. He can also enable and disable it several times.

Mega Man (Archie Comics)
In issue 11, Quick Man takes down Flash Man with his Quick Boomerang so he can fight against Mega Man. While Quick Man helps the hero recover, he copies the Time Stopper without Quick Man noticing it. With the new weapon, Mega Man can keep up with Quick Man and easily defeats him with a Charge Shot.

Flash Man utilized it during his first fight with Mega Man, as well as during their rematch in Issue 30. Notably, he used it to escape from Bomb Man's grip, resulting in Cut Man accidentally shearing Bomb Man in the arms instead with his Rolling Cutter (as he had attempted to use it on Flash Man at Bomb Man's command). Flash Man later used the ability again during the fight against Ra Moon, where he used it to pin down Shadow Man and demanded that any Robot Masters use the opportunity to take him down. In issue 30 and 32 it is shown that he can use Time Stopper to stop only one target.

Flash Man later utilized it to halt all but Dr. Wily at Light Labs to give the latter a status update regarding Wily Castle and recruiting Shadow Man, to ensure no one else listened in. He mentions he's gotten pretty good at sparing individual targets from the Time Stopper due to Quick Man insisting on it.

Mega Man Megamix
Mega Man uses the Time Stopper off-panel to escape from the satellite's explosion in R Destruction Order.

Rockman: Dr. Wily no Inbou
Mega Man obtains Time Stopper from Flash Man and uses it to defeat Quick Man.

Rockman World
Mega Man faces Flash Man, Quick Man, Heat Man, and Bubble Man at the same time, and his defeat is certain. However, he manages to take down Flash Man when he lowers his guard, and he obtains the Time Stopper, using it to defeat the other three robots.

Similar Weapons

 * Flash Stopper from Mega Man 4
 * Time Slow from Mega Man: Powered Up
 * Dark Hold from Mega Man X5