Top Spin

Top Spin (タップスピン) is Top Man's Special Weapon in the Mega Man series. It is a system that integrates offense and defense by rotating the own body at high speed. However, there is some confusion if damage will be either prevented or received during its use.

Mega Man 3
Top Spin is obtained by defeating Top Man. To activate it, Mega Man must be up in the air and press the attack button to spin. Top Spin uses one weapon energy unit when it hits an enemy. Using it without hitting anything will not use up energy. It will always use energy when it hits a target, even if the target is not damaged by it.

The energy usage of this weapon is unique and sometimes unpredictable. If it is used after getting hurt in the invincibility state, it will drain all of its energy in some cases (due to it counting as multiple hits) especially when using it on an enemy that is immune to it. A few times it also doesn't use energy, when using it on projectiles. Although the less direct contact Mega Man has with the target, the less energy will be used up while the more Mega Man's sprite is contacting with the target's sprite, more energy will be used up. Usage may hurt Mega Man if he touches an enemy that isn't destroyed in one hit (or if the enemy is explosive). Any enemy which isn't destroyed in one hit is invulnerable to Top Spin.

It is most effective against Shadow Man, Doc Robot (Crash Man and Heat Man), Kamegoro Maker, Holograph Mega Mans, Top Man (in Wily Castle), and Gamma's second form. It has no effect against Hard Man, Doc Robot (Metal Man), Yellow Devil MK-II, Wily Machine 3, and Gamma's first form.

Mega Man II
Like Mega Man 3, Top Spin can only be used in the air and uses one weapon energy unit when it hits an enemy. Using it without hitting anything will not use up energy. Top Spin now only uses energy if the target is damaged, not wasting energy against targets immune to it. It is Needle Man's weakness. Hard Man and Wily Machine II are immune to it.

Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Like all weapons from the first three games, Top Spin can be used in the Wily Tower mode. However, except for being one of the weaknesses from the third form of the "Wily Machine", all bosses from the mode are immune to it.

Super Adventure Rockman
Top Spin is the penultimate weapon obtained by Mega Man. It is the weakness of Spark Man. As the battles are like a shooting game, Mega Man isn't seen using the Top Spin, so it is unknown if he uses it by spinning himself (without the risk of contact damage) or by firing tops.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
The Top Spin is used by Mega Man in those fighting games as his Dash Attack. Unlike in Mega Man 3, where Mega Man must be in the air, he can only use it on the ground when running. When he performs it, he dashes forward as he performs a quick spinning attack that can strike opponents multiple times, dealing 1% damage per hit and finishing with a 3% damage hit that pushes the target, doing 10% damage if all hits connect. It does not suffer from the hitbox issues of the original weapon.

Other appearances

 * In Mega Man 9, Mega Man is equipped with Top Spin in the scenes shown by Rush in the ending.

Damage Data Chart
Known damage values in units for Mega Man 3.


 * For Kamegoro Maker, a certain amount of damage will be taken from the health meter for each of the five Kamegoros produced, regardless of which weapon the player uses against them. Each Kamegoro has 3 health.
 * Holograph Mega Men and Gamma: 2nd Phase can be struck multiple times and be defeated in a single attack because they do not have damage invincibility frames.

Mega Man (Archie Comics)
Mega Man briefly uses the Top Spin in issue #41 of the comic book to break free of Snake Man's Search Snakes, and in issue #42 against Shadow Man.

Trivia

 * The Top Spin is the first melee weapon in the classic series in which Mega Man must make body contact with enemies to inflict damage.
 * The Top Spin is considered to be one of the worst weapons in the Mega Man series, primarily due to its short range, making it easy to get hit while using in addition to its sporadic energy use.
 * This is made more ironic by the fact the weapon is far more useful in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, a game outside of Mega Man's series.
 * The glitch which causes weapon energy to drain at high speed while invincible was fixed in Mega Man: The Wily Wars, however Mega Man still takes damage if an enemy is not destroyed outright by the weapon, notably Shadow Man. Additionally, Top Spin can no longer destroy Bubukan's pole vault or Potton; the player will take damage upon touching these projectiles (the flying portion of Potton can still be destroyed however). Holograph Mega Men are also no longer destroyed in one hit in this game due to receiving a small amount of invincibility frames (as with all enemies in the game which are not Robot Masters). Oddly, the weakness of Gamma's second phase was modified so Top Spin can destroy it in one hit instead of multiple passes; unlike the original game, the player will not receive collision damage when using Top Spin against Gamma, due to Gamma being destroyed in one hit.