List of Mega Man (Ruby-Spears) characters from the games

The original Mega Man cartoon show featured characters from the games, as well as other characters used for the show's plotline. In this series, Proto Man is a minion of Dr. Wily.

Note: Characters who did not appear in any of the Mega Man video games are located in the article Other characters (Cartoon series). Most key Robot Masters would appear in only one to five episodes. Cut Man, Guts Man and Proto Man are the only non-key Robot Masters who appeared in all twenty-seven episodes.

Mega Man
"The super hero of the 21st Century."

The main hero, Mega Man was created as Rock along with his twin sister robot Roll after Proto Man was stolen by Dr. Wily in a jealous rage.

After Rock saved himself and his sister from Dr. Wily's clutches, Dr. Light decided that the threat from Wily was too grave to underestimate and rebuilt Rock into a robot warrior and renamed him Mega Man. With his mixture of conscience, compassion and self-determination along with his unique weapon copy system, Mega Man has a clear edge over other robots.

Ever since this war with Wily began, he has been at odds with his brother Proto Man. As much as he dislikes his older brother, he wishes that he was really on the good side.

He is voiced by Ian James Corlett, who ironically voiced Dr. Wily in Captain N: The Game Master.

Differences:

The most obvious difference (as with all of the characters on this show) is the fact that Mega Man does not look like a child. He appears to be around 5'6-5'10" tall and he looks to be a teenager, or perhaps early college age. His attitude seems to be a mixture of the clean-cut boy scout and a wise-cracker.

The other major difference is the fact that his armor has a muscular look. His armor also doesn't change color when he uses the weapon of a defeated enemy. Apparently, this characteristic was dropped in favor of the animated effect of Mega Man absorbing the ability into what Joe Ruby refers to as his "power arm", because it was believed the color change effect would have been too visually confusing during animation.

Roll
Roll was created around the same time as her twin brother Rock. Her main purpose is a housekeeping robot. Her left forearm serves as a multi-purpose utility, including such appliances as a vacuum cleaner, a toaster and a blender.

When her brother Rock was converted into Mega Man, she wanted to get in on the action. Although Mega Man was reluctant, he let his sister join him in his battles with Wily.

Roll is voiced by Robyn Ross for every episode except "Cold Steel", where she is voiced by Kathleen Barr.

Differences:

Roll had the most drastic physical change of all the characters (except for possibly Air Man or X). Unlike the games (where she looked like a little girl), Roll resembled an attractive young woman in great shape. Her blonde hair was more styled up front and her ponytail was very long. Also, instead of wearing a red dress, she wore a red and beige two-piece jumpsuit, with metallic boots that went up near her knees.

The other obvious difference is that she fights alongside her brother in battle. This Roll was a more strong-headed girl than the early video game version of the character.

Keiji Inafune's concept design of Lilly bore some resemblance to this version of Roll.

Dr. Thomas Light
The world's most famous living scientist and the creator of Mega Man. Dr. Light is a brilliant man and has a strong sense of right and wrong. He once worked side by side with Dr. Wily and they created a prototype robot together. Shortly after the prototype's outburst, Wily stole the prototype and faulty blueprints for other robots from Light. Dr. Light however was able to build two new robots (Rock and Roll) who would serve as his assistants. In a sense, they are like his children. Light has made many inventions and contributions to science and robotics, like Brain Bot, a college campus for robots to learn like humans do and even an anti-curse machine.

Despite all his technical achievements, Dr. Light is rather incompetent at face-to-face conversation, making tactless and insensitive comments on the failure of his first robot's guidance system, which was designed by Dr. Wily. He also has a penchant for stating the overly obvious, as evident by the internent meme "Mystery of the bathroom door" (from episode 2).

Dr. Light is voiced by Jim Byrnes.

Differences:

Much like Dr. Wily, there are no major differences between this Dr. Light and his video game counterpart other than his accent and the fact that his beard is shorter. This Dr. Light has an English sound to his voice, where the video game Light supposedly does not. A rather humorous difference is that this version of Dr. Light is often prone to bouts of absent-mindedness, and sometimes unknowingly cracks musical puns.

Rush
"Rega rega, right back, aroo!"

Rush's main purpose is transportation for Mega Man. His many forms include the famous Jet Board, the underwater marine vehicle, a hang-glider, a skate board and (of course) the springboard or "Rush Coil" (which was never used on the show). Rush's energy can be replenished by eating specially made "Battery Biscuits", which he enjoys very much (so much, he often tries to nab the whole box for himself). While Rush is certainly man's (and robot's) best friend, he does have a tendency to lick other people's faces... and he burps too.

Rush is voiced by the same actor as Mega Man, Ian James Corlett.

Differences:

There is virtually no difference between the T.V. Rush and the game's Rush, however in the cartoon, Rush, much like Mega Man, has a removable "helmet." Also, this Rush sounds a lot like Scooby-Doo and Astro from The Jetsons. A running gag in the T.V. series is that Rush is prone to committing Scooby-Doo-like acts of boneheadedness around the end of every episode, which includes having his own "bumbling" theme song.

Dr. Albert Wily
"And I'll... TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!"

Those words (or a variant of them) were uttered by this man in every episode. Mentally unstable, Dr. Wily fled Dr. Light's lab one night and stole their first prototype, along with the blueprints for other robots like him and began to build his robot army with them. It is revealed that Wily suffers from envy, which may have caused him to turn against Dr. Light after the latter's insensitive but casual comments on the faulty prototype they had built together. While Dr. Light was busy creating Rock and Roll, Wily was using the blueprints to enhance the prototype or build another one (the exact origins of Proto Man are unknown) and transforming him into a warrior bot. He later stole Guts Man, Cut Man, Ice Man, Rock, and Roll using Proto Man.

Although Rock and Roll escaped from Skull Fortress when he kidnapped and tried to reprogram them, it didn't stop Wily from beginning his quest for world domination. Until he is brought to justice, the battle for everlasting peace will continue.

Dr. Wily is voiced by Scott McNeil.

Differences:

There are no major changes between this Dr. Wily and his video game counterpart except for three very obvious differences... This Dr. Wily is taller, has a German accent and is visibly crazy (when he tried to capture the moon).

Proto Man
Dr. Light's and Dr. Wily's first free-thinking robot hadn't been online for longer than a few seconds before he began to go berserk and injured himself. Wily then stole the plans and either modified the prototype to create Proto Man or built him based on the blueprints - his exact origin is unclear.

The insanely jealous Dr. Wily made Proto Man a deadly robot warrior. Proto Man frequently finds himself in battle against his little brother Mega Man, and always loses. Although he has insisted to Wily that he is the only robot that should destroy Mega Man, Proto Man frequently tries to coax his brother over to his side. When, he pretended to turn his back on Dr. Wily ("Bro Bots"), he found out that Mega Man had always wanted to have a real brother-to-brother relationship with him. This fact took Proto Man by surprise. Although they became engaged in a heated battle later after Mega Man found out Proto Man was lying, neither of them could destroy the other. It is important to note that the Proto Man in the series has no affiliation with the one in the games.

Proto Man is also much more competent with machinery than his fellow Robot Masters, shown to be able to pilot numerous vehicles and operate just as many machines. Proto Man can also copy other robot's weapons like Mega Man, although he seems to not like to make use of this ability, using it in only one episode.

He is voiced by the same actor that voiced his master, Scott McNeil.

Differences:

Like his little brother Mega Man, Proto Man is taller than his video game counterpart and has a muscular look to his armor, as well as having red "underwear" rather than the red "belt" around his waist. Also, there are two glaring omissions from Proto Man: his shield and his tendency to whistle. Also, Proto Man carries himself off on the show as a jerk with a cocky, punkish attitude. In the game Proto Man is a lone hero who helps Mega Man, while in the show he is a villain obsessed with destroying him. In fact, he acts like Bass. His power core alo seems to be stable as a villain, while in the game it was unstable. (Note: Protoman did work for Willy at first in the games, this may be referring to that time.)

Guts Man
Although the Guts Man from the game series is both intelligent and strong, Guts Man represents the stereotypical muscle man in the cartoon series, lacking in wit and thinking ability. He is also referred to as "Gutsy" by Mega Man in the later episodes of the series. Guts Man has several jokes revolving around him, most notably Rush repeatedly biting his leg before being kicked away. Guts Man and Cut Man have a more whimsical than dangerous air to them in the second season and are the subject of several comedic scenes.

While Guts Man is a very strong and deadly opponent, he usually finds himself on the losing side thanks to his stupidity. He is also shown often breaking through walls in order to get somewhere rather than using/opening doors. This habit was used in episode 17 to trick him into falling into a pit.

He appears in every episode along with Cut Man and also had his own action figure.

Guts Man is voiced by Gary Chalk, who voiced King Hippo in Captain N: The Game Master. Like Guts Man, King Hippo is the "big and strong but slow-witted" character of that show.

Differences:

This Guts Man has a very square blue jaw, where the video game Guts Man had a more round beige jaw. He also has a ring around each eye. Other than that, there's not much difference.

Cut Man
Originally intended for logging operations, Cut Man is now used as an agent of evil by Dr. Wily.

Although his Rolling Cutters are deadly, Cut Man also isn't too bright and usually loses battles to Mega Man and even Roll. His speaks with a Peter Lorre-esque nasal accent and makes cutting and scissors-related one-liner puns ("Cutting you down to size is going to be shear delight!" ) while laughing at his own jokes.

Cut Man appears in every episode along with Guts Man and also had his own action figure.

Cut Man is voiced by Terry Klassen.

Differences:

This Cut Man's ears are orange (they were metallic in the games) and his cutters are often fired (not thrown) from his head or an arm blaster. He also had a puppet-like mouth in the cartoon, while in illustrations he had a normal mouth (though his game sprite sort of looks like it has a puppet mouth). Like Mega Man and Proto Man, his armor appears to be a bit more muscular.

Guest Robot Masters
Along with Cut Man and Guts Man, at least one guest robot master has appeared in every episode except episode 21. With the exception of Flash Man and Bubble Man from Mega Man 2, Skull Man from Mega Man 4 and Charge Man from Mega Man 5, every robot master from the first five games has made an appearance. Interestingly, none of the robot masters from Mega Man 6 made any appearances, cameo or otherwise, despite the show first being aired almost a year after the game's release.

Air Man
Air Man's appearance was drastically altered from his video game counterpart. This Air Man's armor was a powder blue instead of the darker shade of blue in Mega Man 2. He is also much taller on the show, and in one scene, he appeared to be taller than even Guts Man. He still fires tornadoes at his enemies, but his weapon is referred to as his 'Tornado Fan'. Though at the end of the episode, he used his fan to expel streams of liquid nitrogen. However, his most notorious change was that he now had a head with a human-like face. In the game, Air Man was basically a torso with red eyes and a big fan in the middle with arms and legs, but no mouth.

Unlike in the original game, the heroes have trouble beating Air Man, even with help. However, he and Ice Man do not get along very well, which plays into the plot later in the episode. Air Man appears in the seventh episode titled "Ice Age".

Bomb Man
Bomb Man is more detailed compared to his game version. This is similar to Cut Man and Snake Man in the cartoons. Bomb Man's mouth is even more beak-like in the cartoon. There is also a running gag of Bomb Man often being destroyed by someone shooting or reflecting bombs.

Bomb Man appears in the episodes "The Beginning", "Terror of the Seven Seas", "Mega Dreams" and the last episode, "Crime of the Century." He's one of the few robot masters to fight Mega Man unscathed. In the "Crime of the Century", he ambushes Mega Man and traps him in a cave. He is never vanquished by the end of the episode.

Like other characters, Bomb Man also had his own action figure.

Bright Man
Unlike many other characters, there doesn't appear to be many physical differences between the video game Bright Man and his T.V. counterpart, except his yellow face, the bigger solar panel on his chest and some minor color changes.

His Flash Stopper doesn't make his foes freeze in place, but rather causes temporary blindness. It also has the effect of causing humans to fall unconscious. Humorously, Mega Man negates Bright Man's attack a few times with a simple pair of sunglasses and uses a mirror to stun him with his own Flash Stopper in his first appearance. In addition, he does not have an arm cannon and proves quite incompetent in combat, failing to even fire a shot when he was driving a Skull Tank and had stunned Mega Man with his Flash Stopper. He seems to have very low resistance to damage compared to his comrades, easily stunned and disoriented by a single shot from the Mega Buster. When hit, he comically makes incoherent babbling sounds and spins around before hitting a wall or losing his balance.

Bright Man appeared in the episodes "Electric Nightmare", "Robo Spider", "Curse of the Lion Men" and "Bro Bots".

Bright Man also had his own action figure.

Crash Man
Crash Man appears in the fourth episode of the cartoon. He only appears for a brief scene attacking the city, before escaping after firing his weaponry at a nearby building in an attempt to destroy it. In the show, he calls his Crash Bombs "Time Bombs", although he changes his arms from drill-like weapons before firing them, so it is possible the drill-like tips were part of the Crash Bombs, and that the Time Bombs were a new weapon added for the show. Similar to Top Man or Bomb Man in "Crime of the Century", he is one of the few robot masters that Mega Man never defeats.

There are no major appearance differences between this version and his game counterpart, other than the back of his helmet lacking a more pointed shape. Crash Man also spoke with a vaguely Italian-American accent, sounding almost like a New York gangster. Despite his very brief appearance, he plays an important role in the progression of the episode.

Crystal Man
Crystal Man appears in episode twelve, "The Mega Man in the Moon." His body is teal to match his official artwork, rather than the green color from the games, and his mask is white. Furthermore, his Crystal Eye is fired from his arm like a blaster instead of from his chest, and it explodes like a bomb rather than breaking into three smaller rebounding crystals. His lines usually contain some reference to his weapon ("Perhaps I did not make myself...crystal clear."). One of Wily's more competent minions, Crystal Man is also one of the few able to challenge Mega Man single-handed and keeps fighting after his weapon is stolen. He also achieved what could be considered the most devastating blow against Mega Man by shooting him with Wily's augmented laser cannon.

Crystal Man seems to have a lot of authority over the other Robot Masters; he orders Cut Man and Guts Man in Wily's absence, and is complimented by Guts Man while they're seizing the space station. Guts Man and Cut Man even invite him to a game of cards every now and then.

Dive Man
Dive Man appears in the episode titled "20,000 Leaks Under the Sea" and looks different from his video game version. He has propellers in his feet, but no longer has a keel-shaped chest, nor does he fire Dive Missiles from it, instead firing them from a cannon on his left arm. Instead, his armor appears smaller, lighter in color and has yellow indentations on it. He also has a somewhat screechy voice that sounds different from what one would expect Dive Man to sound like. He appears to be a halfway competent, if not slightly underhanded, dirty-fighting opponent, as he frequently shoots Mega Man in the back or while he's distracted.

Drill Man
Drill Man is one of the few Robot Masters that appears to be just like his video game version with no alterations, with the exception of his elbows and forearms, which have become much larger and more pointed. In addition, his weapon is changed from a drill-shaped bomb to an actual drill that can be launched but does not explode.

Drill Man appears in the episodes "The Big Shake", "Showdown at Red Gulch", and "Master of Disaster."

Drill Man also had his own action figure.

Dust Man
Similar to the cartoon versions of Air Man and Napalm Man, Dust Man now has a head rather than eyes on a torso. His power is also the vacuum on his back rather than the Dust Crusher that is fired in the game, but he is also shown actually using his arm cannon in one scene. He doesn't speak much, but his voice sounds raspy, hoarse, wheezy, similar to a chain smoker's. He is never referred to by name.

Dust Man appears in episode five, "The Incredible Shrinking Mega Man."

Elec Man
Like Mega Man and Proto Man, Elec Man's armor has a muscular look. Elec Man is usually paired with Bomb Man in the episodes, but Elec Man does not talk nearly as much as Bomb Man. Elec Man appears very weak since he has been beaten by Roll's appliance arm on more than one occasion, and usually goes down with a single hit in battle. However, he almost always incapacitates Mega Man once before going down. His Thunder Beam acts as more of a straightforward lightning attack, and seems to be every bit as powerful as it is in the game. Amusingly, his gravelly voice sounds vaguely like Moe from the Simpsons.

Elec Man appears in the episodes "The Beginning", "Terror of the Seven Seas", "Mega Dreams", and "Bro Bots."

Elec Man, like many others, also had his own action figure.

Fire Man
Fire Man was the only Robot Master from the first Mega Man video game that only appeared in one episode. Though he appears in all the intros. Fire Man appeared in "The Beginning" and had no lines in the entire episode. He was easily defeated by Roll's vacuum arm, though shows up later intact due to an animation error. He has no spoken lines, or is even referred to by name. Fire Man is more detailed in the cartoons and has flames painted on his blasters.

Gemini Man
This Gemini Man has a nose, and never uses his ability to create holographic doubles of himself on the show. His Gemini Laser's ability to reflect is not shown either, although it could possibly have been referenced when Mega Man deflected a laser by using a crash cymbal as a shield. He also serves as the lead guitarist in "Cold Steel". Like all the band members, he has two different voices in and out of costume (though he still uses his rocker voice even out of costume).

Gravity Man
A noticeable feature of the cartoon version of Gravity Man is the capital letter "G" on the bottoms of both feet. On the American cover of Mega Man 5, Gravity Man is shown with spikes on the bottoms of his feet; however, spikes are not visible in any Japanese illustrations. In the cartoon, his "gravity beam" power appears to make things fall down, while his Gravity Hold power in the game reverses gravity.

Gravity Man appears in the episode titled "Master of Disaster."

Gyro Man
Appearing in episode eight, "Cold Steel", Gyro Man uses the giant blade on his back to attack Mega Man instead of his smaller Gyro Attack from the game. He isn't shown using it to fly, but Mega Man does when he copies his weapon. Gyro Man also acts as the bassist for the band 'Cold Steel'. He also speaks in two different voices. While he's in his 'Cold Steel' outfit, he sounds like a burnt-out rock star. But out of costume, he sounds vaguely like Ring Man.

Hard Man
Like Gemini Man before him, Hard Man has gained a nose but not much else. In the cartoon, Hard Man never uses his Hard Knuckle, though Mega Man utilizes it himself. Also, Hard Man lives up to his name and has a very strong body, able to withstand Mega Man's buster shots without a scratch. His only weak spot is his face. Much like how Cut Man makes puns about cutting things, Hard Man makes puns about the word hard (e.g."I'm giving you a hard time" and "I'm hard to beat") and is a serious braggart. He's the only robot master Mega Man outright kills off for good, by shooting him in the face and blowing him to scrap.

Heat Man
Heat Man does not use the Atomic Fire, but he can spit fire like in the arcade games. He also doesn't use his game ability of charging forward in a fireball. Besides this and the addition of a nose, not much has changed. He only appeared in Bro Bots and only spoke one line without moving his mouth.

Ice Man
There were a few changes with Ice Man on the show. First, the Ice Slasher weapon didn't produce spike projectiles or triangular shards like in the video games, instead utilizing a conventional "Freeze Ray" weapon. Appearance-wise, his thick Eskimo coat was a dark navy blue and instead of having a standard mouth, he had a small strip for a mouth that glowed blue when he spoke. His arms and legs are aqua instead of white like in the game. He also appeared as though he was wearing glasses, and spoke with an Italian-American accent, sounding almost like a 1920s gangster. He and Air Man get along very poorly, always suspecting that Air Man will take his place.

Ice Man appeared in the first episode, "The Beginning", and again in episode seven, "Ice Age."

Magnet Man
If examined closely, it would seem that Magnet Man has white hair (or at least eyebrows), something he supposedly does not have in-game. In battle, Magnet Man uses his magnetic powers through his hands instead of his head magnet and doesn't use his Magnet Missiles. Magnet Man appeared in Episode 4: Mega-Pinocchio.

Metal Man
Metal Man appears in the episode nine, "Future Shock." Like his early game illustrations, Metal Man has red eyes in the cartoon. He typically attacks by throwing the saw blade adorning his head. He can also turn his hands into saw blades, and in one scene, nearly decapitates Mega Man with them. Though near the end of the episode, Metal Man gets an upgrade and has spur-like blades come out of his heel that he uses to skate around with.

Napalm Man
Like Air Man, Napalm Man was given a head in the cartoons. Napalm Man never appeared in any episode but was shown for a fraction of a second in the opening for every cartoon episode and commercial as seen here.

Needle Man
Other than his slight color scheme change and the gill-like openings in his armor, Needle Man is one of the few Robot Masters to remain physically unchanged in the cartoon. His Needle Cannon still functions in the same manner, but he doesn't attack with the needles on his head. He seems to be exceptionally stupid, even as far as Wily's robots, go.

Pharaoh Man
Pharaoh Man's colors have changed from the game's gold and tan colors to green, red and white. While his headress and legs are their original colors, his arms and shoulders are completely white, his center chest armor plate is green, and he wears an impressive crimson and green cape. Interestingly, in the commercial for the show, he is a carbon copy of his in-game counterpart. Personality-wise, he appears to be a no-nonsense, commanding, competent warrior.

His Pharaoh Shot is replaced by a fiery laser beam-type weapon with large amounts of recoil and a variable power setting, vaguely similar to the one seen on the American box art for Mega Man 4. Along with Crystal Man, Pharaoh Man is the only other Robot Master in the series who still keeps on fighting after having his power taken by Mega Man. As Mega Man brags about stealing his power, an unimpressed Pharaoh Man simply sucker punches him and tries to smash him with part of a fountain. This has become the subject of a popular internet meme. He only speaks two lines near the end of the episode.

Pharaoh Man appears in the second episode, "Electric Nightmare."

Quick Man
Quick Man resembles his video game version, but he uses two types of boomerangs: the one from his head and laser boomerangs from his wrist blaster. Quick Man also talks fast in the cartoons and has a slightly larger face and a leaner body. He appears in the episodes, "Robo Spider" and "The Day the Moon Fell." Quick Man was the only Robot Master from Mega Man 2 that appeared in more than one episode. He also possesses an attitude like Bass in the cartoon.

Ring Man
Ring Man has smaller, less anime styled eyes and speaks like a surfer. He also has a pole-like apparatus on his left arm that he uses to touch the ring on top of his head to make Ring Boomerangs appear, though he has a normal hand in his second appearance, suggesting he was incomplete in his first appearance.

Ring Man appears in two episodes, "Mega-Pinocchio" and "Bad Day at Peril Park." Ring Man has a hoverboard in the beginning of "Mega-Pinocchio" and an air fighter in "Bad Day at Peril Park."

Shadow Man
Shadow Man only appeared in the episode "The Day The Moon Fell".

Differences: Shadow Man is another one of the few robots that didn't have any design changes at all. However, he does throw the blade mounted on his head like Quick Man or Metal Man. Like Dive Man before him, Shadow Man had a hoarse voice people didn't expect him to have.

Snake Man
The helmet on this Snake Man has different snake eyes than the video game version, as well as a ring of bolts before the first segment. His eyes are yellow with red slitted pupils, and his mouth is like Cut Man's.

His Search Snakes did not scurry along the ground like in the games. They were fired as projectiles that could chew through many surfaces and objects.

Snake Man appeared in more episodes than any other Robot Master besides Cut Man and Guts Man. He makes appearances in the episodes: "Bot Transfer", "Campus Commandos", "Showdown at Red Gulch", "Brain Bots" and "Mega X."

Snake Man also had his own action figure.

Spark Man
Spark Man appears briefly in "Mega-Pinocchio" and again as the drummer in "Cold Steel." As the drummer, his spark needles are changed to drumsticks instead. He uses Spark Shock by touching his needles to a surface instead of firing the electricity as a projectile. Mega Man obtains both his power and Gyro Man's power at the same time, which could never happen in the video games. Unlike the game, he has a mouthplate over his face. Like all members of the Cold Steel band, he has two different voices. The first time he fights Mega Man, he sounds like a burned-out rocker. The second time, he has a more plain-sounding voice. He's not particularly bright, and is easily goaded and led into traps.

Star Man
Star Man doesn't use his Star Crash as a barrier. Instead, he fires star-shaped blasts that curve towards their target. Beyond that, there are no significant changes.

Star Man appeared in episode twenty-two, "Curse of the Lion Men".

Stone Man
In the cartoons, Stone Man had a blue tube on each shoulder and his hand could become a blaster, which is how he uses his Power Stone. He doesn't demonstrate his ability to reassemble himself from a pile of rubble like in the games. He appeared in the episode "The Big Shake", and he has no lines, aside from the occasional scream, and is never referred to by name.

Toad Man
Not much changed in Toad Man except that he now has a mouth with lips (along with a prehensile tongue), webbed feet, and his belly doesn't shake when he uses his Rain Flush. In fact, the way Toad Man uses the Rain Flush in the cartoon is similar to how Mega Man uses it: firing a pod into the air which then bursts in mid-air, causing rain to fall. Befitting that of a mechanical toad, he has a very slimy, nasty personality.

Toad Man appears in the episode, "Robosaur Park."

Top Man
The cartoon version of Top Man is somewhat tall, whereas in the games he was short and appeared to be a childish kid. He's also a smooth talker and a con man, able to swoon Roll long enough to copy her ID card. He's no less skilled or competent in battle, and is technically, one of the few robot masters that Mega Man never defeats. In battle, his Top Spin is similar to the original, except he can dodge shots, and he doesn't fire tops out of his head. He is also red instead of orange. His T.V. counterpart is considered stronger than his NES self, as he knocked Mega Man to the ground and killed him (had it not been for Dr. Light who restarted him, Wily would have won) by throwing him in the air with an anti-gravity device in episode fourteen, "Campus Commandos".

Wave Man
Not much has changed in Wave Man appearance-wise in his transition to the cartoon. This Wave Man is a little more detailed and is a lighter shade of blue. In the show his Water Wave weapon functions a bit differently, instead of sending a wave of water at Mega Man like in the games, it instead channels a powerful current. He also doesn't fire his harpoon like in the games, but rather uses it as a jabbing weapon. He has no speaking lines, or even any grunts and groans.

Wood Man
Unlike the games, where Wood Man was more or less a big log with arms, legs and a face, Wood Man now had black and gray armor and only sections of his body resembled a log (namely his head).

Also his weapon, the Leaf Shield, was very different. Unlike the games, where four green "leaves" rotate around Wood Man, cartoon Wood Man carried an actual full-sized, leaf-shaped shield, which he can also throw like a blade. He seems to be very proficient with it, as he was able to dispatch two stonebots with it while being grappled.

Wood Man appears in the episode eleven, "The Strange Island of Dr. Wily."

Dark Man
Just one of the four Dark Men from Mega Man 5 appears in the cartoon, Dark Man 2. Dark Man appers to be the most powerful robot in Wily's army as he can manipulate electromagnetic energy in different ways. He can generate electromagnetic nets from his hands to catch his prey (including Megaman twice)or carry items. Though he also fires electromagnetic shots from a blaster in "The Day the Moon Fell."

Dark Man only appears in two episodes, "Brain Bots" and "The Day the Moon Fell."

Eddie
Another major appearance change here. Unlike the games, where Eddie was red and was usually referred to as "Flip-Top", Eddie's color scheme was changed to green on the show and was never referred as "Flip-Top".

Met/Doc
Doc looks exactly like a Met from the game, with the notable exception of not being armed - his only equipment is a flexible grabber arm. He only appears in the first episode, "The Beginning." He talks by making funny sounds, yet Dr. Light seems to understand him. The Met goes out into the field with Roll and helps Dr. Light in the lab. The Met performs a role similar to Eddie, in that he is able to produce many items from his hardhat, even an entire stretcher for Mega Man, suggesting Light may have built him as a prototype to Eddie.

Battontons
The Bubble Bats from Mega Man 4, Battontons, appears in episode 16 and episode 26. They serve not only their game purpose of combat by firing projectiles, but also act as spy devices to record audio and video information for Wily.

Mega Man X
In the distant future, Dr. Light himself had long since passed away, but one of his inventions was unburied in the ruins of his lab, encased in a capsule not meant to be opened until decades after it was sealed. Dr. Cain discovered that it was safe to open it and found Dr. Light's last creation - a robot named X - inside.

In X's future, the deadly Maverick Virus is causing many robots (now much more advanced and called Reploids) to cause widespread destruction and death. At the forefront of this group of evil robots is Sigma. Along with Zero, Mega Man X fights to rid the world of Mavericks and hopefully let peace rule once again. Appearing in the episode twenty-six, "Mega X", X is by far the most powerful character to appear in the show, being able to send Vile and Spark Mandrill running scared when Mega Man couldn't even hurt them.

Differences:

The single most notorious character change in the history of the show. X looked like a fully grown adult in his late thirties (or even early forties), was leaner and taller than Mega Man and bore no resemblance to his predecessor. X also showed absolutely no regard for property or anything else during battle, meaning that if he had to destroy an entire building (or a city block) to destroy a Maverick, so be it. This X used initially tactics that made him look like a maniac, making many fans angry. However, later in the show, he is shown to be more careful of destruction, using Snake Man's weapon instead of his own blaster to destroy Wily's plasma cannon. And even peace loving as he asks if the fighting would ever end.

Dr. Cain
Dr. Cain is mentioned during X's briefing of his mission.

Differences:

Dr. Cain appears much younger than his appearance in the games, making him look similar to Dr. Cossack.

Vile
In episode twenty-six, Vile travels back in time with Spark Mandrill to get plans from Dr. Wily. The cartoon Vile works for Sigma (as shown by the symbol on his helmet), unlike the Vile in the PSP Mega Man X remake, Maverick Hunter X, who works towards his own ends. This Vile's head is less helmet-like and has a single red glowing eye, as seen in his MK-2 Mega Man X3 artwork. He is far more powerful than any of the robots from the present, Mega Man included.

Differences:

Unlike his video game incarnation, Vile manually aims his cannon when he attacks in the cartoon. Also the aforementioned fact that he has a single glowing red eye and has a less helmet-like head. In keeping with his different allegiance in the cartoon, he has the Greek letter Sigma on his helmet.

Spark Mandrill
Spark Mandrill is mostly depicted as Vile's flunky, although the two seemed equal in strength. He only speaks three lines in the whole episode with a Russian accent.

Rather than unleashing globe-shaped Electric Sparks, he attacks by emitting currents of electricity from his hand or by punching the ground. Apparently, they're quite powerful since he used them to destroy Mega Man's Land Blazer in their first encounter.

Sigma
In the cartoon, Sigma's name is spelled "Cigma." He's modeled after his appearance in the first Mega Man X game. He is mentioned to have sent Vile and Spark Mandrill back in time to get the Lightanium. He only has one line, "Well done, Vile". X referred to him as a being of complete evil.

Trivia

 * In the third episode of Mega Man: Upon a Star, when Mega Man gets the typhoon fan, he does an animation similar to the cartoons whenever Mega Man gets a weapon.


 * Despite Proto Man's role as a villain, it should be noted that the show was broadcast even before Bass' debut in Mega Man 7. In addition, Proto Man's character had yet to have been explored and he had even been presented as an 'enemy' twice, the second time being in Mega Man 5 though it was merely Dark Man in disguise.
 * Most of the characters look different than how they look for the game and game artwork. The only major characters that resemble their in-game counterparts are Rush and Doc. Eddie is green instead of red.  Several Robot Masters also remained virtually unchanged.  Interestingly, in the commercials for the cartoon series, all the Robot Masters were essentially copies of their artwork.
 * Although Mega Man 6 was released in 1993 and the show first aired a year later, none of the game's Robot Masters appeared (this includes the show's commercials and intro).