Snake Man

Snake Man (スネークマン) is a Robot Master with a snake motif, originally created to investigate narrow areas and survey topography on uninhabited planets marked for development. With his quick and lightweight body, he was well-suited for work on any terrain, which caught the attention of Doctor Wily, who later abducted him, turned him into a battle robot, and was set to work fulfilling Wily's schemes.

His main weapon is the Search Snake, serpentine missiles that can move swiftly along the ground and even climb up walls. Later on, as shown during his boss battle in Episode 2 of Super Adventure Rockman, he gained the ability to dig underground to stay out of Mega Man's range.

Snake Man is intelligent and shrewd, but can also be tenacious- he enjoys actively hunting and cornering his prey, which puts him at odds with some of his fairer-minded colleagues. He enjoys the company of Toad Man, for whom the feelings are unfortunately not mutual, and has a hatred of slugs.

Snake Man is the first Robot Master with an animal-themed design.

Strategy
Snake Man follows a simple attack pattern of traveling back and forth across his room, jumping over the elevated area in the center as he does so and firing two Search Snakes when he stops on a side of the room opposite to Mega Man. However, as he runs from wall to wall he stops short a good distant from the wall itself before turning around, leaving a somewhat safe area for Mega Man to stand in.

A good strategy is upon entering the room is to just keep Mega Man positioned in front of the shutter, as standing in this position (close to a wall) will have Snake Man always turning around and running back the way he came. This will only make it necessary to focus on attacking Snake Man and jumping over his Search Snakes. His weakness is the Needle Cannon, but he can also be easily defeated using the standard Arm Cannon.

Stage enemies
Enemies in Snake Man's stage.
 * Big Snakey
 * Bomb Flier
 * Bubukan
 * Dada
 * Hammer Joe
 * Jamacy
 * Petit Snakey
 * Potton

Enemies in Snake Man's (Game Boy) stage:
 * Big Snakey
 * Bubukan MK-II
 * Dada
 * Hammer Joe
 * Ladder Press
 * Petit Snakey
 * Potton

Damage Data Chart
Amount of damage in units that Snake Man receives from each Special Weapon in Mega Man 3.

Mega Man
In Ruby Spears' Mega Man animated series, the design of Snake Man's head and arm cannon are different. His eyes are yellow with red slitted pupils, and instead of lips his mouth is a plate that opens and closes when talking, and he often hisses when doing so. The eyes on his helmet are also different, and he has circular ears like other robots. The Search Snakes are fired as projectiles that can chew through many surfaces and objects.

Except for Cut Man and Guts Man, Snake Man is one of Dr. Wily's robots that had the most appearances in the series, being present in the episodes "Bot Transfer", "Campus Commandos", "Showdown at Red Gulch", "Brain Bots" and "Mega X".

A recurring joke is the use of the line “Try this/these on for size!” whenever the Search Snake is first used in an episode by a character, be it Snake Man, Mega Man, or even Mega Man X.

Mega Man Megamix
Snake Man appeared in the manga Mega Man Megamix and Mega Man Gigamix.

In the story "Metal Heart" from Mega Man Megamix, Wily orders his robots from Mega Man 3 to go after Yellow Devil MK-II, which is out of control, and they make a truce with Mega Man to stop him. When Yellow Devil MK-II created a tunnel to escape, Snake Man, Beat and Tango go after him, but they argue and lose sight of him. Later, Snake Man, Top Man and Spark Man help Shadow Man save Mega Man when he was thrown from the building.

In Mega Man Gigamix vol. 1, Snake Man fights against Mega Man in the story "Asteroid Blues", which is based on the events from Mega Man 3. In the stories from volumes 2 and 3, he assists Dr. Wily and the others in the battle against the Stardroids.

Other appearances
Snake Man also appeared in the mangas Rockman World 3, Rockman: Blues' Resurrection and Rockman 4Koma Great March.

Trivia

 * Snake Man is credited to liking Toad Man and disliking slugs; this most likely comes from a Japanese variation of Rock Paper Scissors; where Snake beats Toad (the snake can swallow the toad), Toad beats Slug (the toad can swallow the slug), and Slug beats Snake (the slug, by covering its prey with a slimy secretion, can destroy a snake). This would also explain why Toad Man is credited as disliking Snake Man also. Also, some snakes eat toads in real life.


 * Hyleg Ourobockle and Burble Hekelot from Mega Man Zero 2 have a similar relation to Snake Man and Toad Man.


 * Snake Man makes a cameo appearance in Mega Man 7. He, along with many other Robot Masters from the previous games, can be seen in the background of the Robot Museum. Snake Man also appears in the opening scene from Mega Man 8.


 * Part of Mega Man 7's Robot Museum background music is a remix of Snake Man's theme from Mega Man 3.


 * Shark Man's mugshot from the PC version of Mega Man 3 is an edited version of Snake Man's mugshot.