History WesternAnimation / Megaman

** Megaman will often defeat a robot master with his own weapon shortly after copying it.

The overall plot of the cartoon is pretty much like the video games it was based on, with Mega Man having to foil the schemes of {{mad scientist}} Dr. Wily, who wants nothing more than to {{take over the world}}. It is somewhat like the [[WesternAnimation American]] ''StreetFighter'' [[WesternAnimation/StreetFighter cartoon]] in that the plots of the individual episodes would tend to get kinda screwy, but was nonetheless good for a usually unintentional laugh. The voice work was provided by The Ocean Group who would later dub ''MegaManPoweredUp''.

* VillainousBreakdown: Wily suffers one during "Cold Steel" and "Campus Commandos".

An [[TheAnimeOfTheGame animated adaptation]] of {{Capcom}}'s beloved {{mascot}}... [[LegacyCharacter more specifically]], the [[Game/MegaMan classic version]]. Created by RubySpears Productions, this series ran from 1994 to 1995.

** There's also Megaman himself.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Protoman has a HeelFaceTurn and becomes a frequent ally to Mega Man in the games, if still [[AloofBigBrother aloof]] at times. In the series, he is more of a villain with fewer redeeming qualities.

* ArtisticAge: Megaman looks 21 and (for the most part) acts like it, but a good deal of promotional material gives the impression that he's only 15 or so. (Whether or not this material is canon depends) X needs no help on this matter--best estimate is either "somewhere in his thirties" or "early forties".
* AscendedExtra: Dark Man, the robot posing as Proto Man in ''Mega Man 5'', gets two major parts in two episodes, a pretty cool voice, an awesome power, and he's even competent to boot!
* AscendedFanboy: The Karate Bot from "Campus Commandos" admires Megaman and wants to be a fighter like him. Despite hindering Mega at times, he manages to take down Cutman.

* AuctionOfEvil: "The Incredible Shrinking Megaman" had Dr. Wily shrink entire American cities - specifically, New York, Washington, and Chicago - and then encase them in glass before auctioning them off to the highest bidder. One scene of the Robot Masters driving around in their van also had Guts Man mention that Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Los Angeles were next on the list.

** In a sense, X's appearance implies that the future of the MegaManX and MegaManZero games still comes to pass, meaning the world is in for quite a bit of fighting until things settle down for a bit with MegaManZX.

* {{Bishonen}}: Megaman, sort of.
** Protoman qualifies too.

* BloodKnight: Protoman, so very much. Helps that [[PsychoPrototype he might be insane.]]
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Protoman seems to do this in "Bot Transfer" where he asks the audience:

* BrotherSisterTeam: Megaman and Roll.

* CainAndAbel: Protoman and Megaman. Proto's only "Cain" [[WeCanRuleTogether half of the time.]]

** In fact, Roll seems to have had the most character development out of everyone on the show. She started off as more of a FauxActionGirl, always going out to try to prove herself in battle to Megaman and Dr. Light, who just wanted her to StayInTheKitchen, but more often than not ended up [[DistressedDamsel getting captured]] or otherwise [[TheLoad requiring Megaman to go out of his way to save her]]. By the end of the first season, however, she's evolved into a full-fledged ActionGirl, and is more than capable of holding her own against several of Wily's robot masters.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Megaman. Guess it's that strong sense of justice.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: It's mentioned sometimes that Wily (and Sigma, in the MegaManX crossover episode) needs funding to continue his evil schemes. So naturally he sends the robots out to steal stuff.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: In "The Big Shake", Wily discovered Light and Megaman were working on a device to stop his earthquake machine. His response was to direct a maximum-powered earthquake directly at Light's lab in an attempt to kill them all, or at the very least wreck the machine.

** In "Future Shock", Wily is aware that if Megaman makes it to the time machine, his conquest of the future will end. So he orders Protoman to rig it to explode.

** A couple of Wily's death traps were fairly genre-savvy; the robots have attempted to kill Mega while he's weakened or unconscious, and in "Brain Bots" Megaman was handcuffed to the floor as a [[DescendingCeiling spiked ceiling descended on him]].

--->'''Wily:''' I've got to turn up the power...Wait, what am I worrying about? There's no way Megaman can stop my Robo-Spider!

** In "Brain Bots", Wily places Megaman in a Death Trap consisting of a Descending Ceiling with spikes. Mega was bound to the floor as it descended.

* DesignatedGirlFight: "Electric Nightmare" had Roll attacked by a female cosmetics robot who gave her a bad facial. Megaman gave the robot an equally bad facial with a tube of makeup, and offered to fight her, but Roll insisted she handle it.

* DisabilitySuperpower: Mary's reading of Dr. Light's lips told Roll and Rush where Wily's base was. And made sense of Rush's yammering for her to tell Roll that Megaman was hurt and at the bottom of the sea.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In "Electric Nightmare", Roll was attacked by a female cosmetics robot that strapped her to a chair and gave her a bad facial. Megaman's response was to throw a tube of makeup at the robot, giving her an equally bad facial. Roll's response when freed was to cut her in half, then vacuum her face off.

* DoorJudo: Megaman pulls this off in "Terror of the Seven Seas" with a pursuing Guts Man. While running down a hallway, he sets it up by ''closing'' several doors in Guts Man's face before opening the final door that leads to a maintenance shaft.

* EscortMission: Megaman and Roll had to escort Brain Bot to California. Wily got in the way.

* FakeOutOpening: In the beginning of the episode "Electric Nightmare", Megaman is battling Wily's robots and winning. Then electrical cables get wrapped around him and fry him. Megaman dead. Or not; in an interesting variation of the trope, it was Wily doing a runthrough of his latest scheme with action figures.

* FoeYay: Protoman could get fairly possessive of his little brother...
** Elecman's awkward [[PreAsskickingOneLiner pre-electrocuting one-liners]] to Mega tend to come off as this. To wit:
--> '''Elecman''': I get a real [[IncrediblyLamePun charge]] out of beating you, Megaman!
** In "Future Shock", Metalman inexplicably refers to him as "Megababe". Granted, it was probably just to mock him, but still.

** On the girls' side of things, the cosmetics robot in "Electric Nightmare" seemed a little ''too'' eager to deal with Roll. She also disliked Megaman intruding.

* FreakyFridayFlip: A villainous example in "Bot Transfer"; Wily's goons force Megaman to switch bodies with Snakeman, with an appropriate reaction from the former (panic).

* GetIntoJailFree: Megaman decided the best way to get to Dr. Light and Roll in the Wily-run future was to get himself arrested, so he hit a copbot over the head with a lamppost. It worked.

-->'''Protoman''': (in response to a lame pun on electricity) Yeah. Whatever [[DoubleEntendre turns you on,]] Doc.

** In "Robosaur Park", Megaman and Roll are de-evolving into cavebots. Dr. Light opens them up to see if there's anything he can do to fix them. The panel he opens on Roll? ''Her breasts''. And it's ''not'' hollow inside.

* GiantSpider: The titular "Robo-Spider". Its webs could drain electricity from the city, and Megaman could copy its power like a Robot Master.
* GigglingVillain: Cutman, and [[ItMakesSenseInContext Snakeman in Megaman's body]].
* GlassCannon: Elecman. He can floor Megaman with one hit, but so can Mega. And Roll.

* GoneToTheFuture: Megaman in "Future Shock".

* HartmanHips: Depending on how small their waists are drawn, Megaman, Roll, and Protoman.

** Megaman himself has had his share;
-->'''Protoman''': Ha! I knew you'd [[HeroBall risk yourself to save Mr. Lincoln]]!

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Wily and his robots stopped the Lion Men from being defeated by Megaman...and were later mind controlled by them.

* ICanStillFight: Megaman does this in "Bro Bots". Despite suffering from an unknown (to him) condition that shocks him, he still goes to protect everyone when he sees Wily's robots on the news.

* InvisibilityCloak: Megaman's Stealth Suit, though sometimes it malfunctioned.

** At the beginning of "Ice Age", the kids that Megaman is tasked with supervising say that he can't help them, since all of his actions are pre-programmed (except they're not).

** In "Mega-Pinocchio", his plan was to con Mega into believing he was human so he could plant a chip in him, controlling his mind. However, rather than act on it right away, he spent time toying with Megaman's mind and giving him existential crises before exerting full control.

* KnightTemplar: Megaman X. He shows little, if any regard to the collateral damage he causes while fighting Vile and Spark Mandrill, and he outright states that he doesn't care if he brings Vile back dead or alive. A ''far'' cry from the ReluctantWarrior / TechnicalPacifist we know from the games.

* MoodWhiplash: "Mega-Pinocchio", odd premise aside, was one of the most serious episodes of the show, involving Wily besmirching Dr. Light's name, Megaman having existential crises, and an attack on the White House. It ends with Rush doing something silly.

** In "Cold Steel" he ''tried'' to recover his device so he could start the plan over later, but Megaman stopped him.
* NoBackwardsCompatibilityInTheFuture: Averted. MegaManX is able to [[MegaManning copy Snakeman's weapon]] just fine. It would've been [[FridgeLogic interesting to see]] what would happen if Mega Man had tried to copy Vile or Spark Mandrill. Would it simply fail, or would the process take so long that he'd get clobbered before it was finished?

* NormalFishInATinyPond: X, in his own continuity? Roughly even with Megaman. Back in the original's time? Superpowered. Ditto the villains.

* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Protoman to Megaman, especially when pretending to be good.
* NoWaterproofingInTheFuture: In the games, Megaman sank in water (except for ''8'', where he could swim for some reason), [[SuperNotDrowningSkills but had no problem]] staying under, being a robot. In the series, Megaman experiences rapid loss of energy when underwater.

** Not quite; Megaman defeats Elecman by spraying him with a fire hose in "Terror of the Seven Seas". As water and electricity don't mix, that one might make more sense though.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Megaman has an inexplicable Canadian accent. (To be fair to Mr. Corlett, Canadian and American accents are hard to distinguish)
* NotSoHarmless: Bright Man had a rare moment of competence when he decided to first blind Megaman, then run him over with a tank.

* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Only Protoman is allowed to defeat Megaman, and he'll gladly remind you of this fact if you [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim try to simply shoot Mega.]]
** In a meta example, nobody but Megaman could defeat Protoman--when Roll encountered him, she was always defeated.
** Protoman seems to have gone back and forth on this, ultimately straying from this over time. In the first season he would often directly disobey Wily playing this trope straight. By the second season he didn't do this as often, and was more willing to go along with Wily's plots, whether Megaman dies by his hand or not.

* PlayAlongPrisoner: In "Future Shock", Megaman decides that the best way to get into prison to rescue Roll and Dr. Light is to get himself arrested. He promptly does so, and soon breaks out to free them.

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: "Mega X," which was an obvious launching pad for a ''MegaManX'' cartoon, but it never came into fruition.

* PsychoPrototype: Protoman. He's [[PsychoticSmirk almost always smirking]], and [[BloodKnight isn't happy unless he's destroying things or fighting Megaman.]] In fact, in "Future Shock", he didn't want Wily to finish conquering the world because it would mean less opportunities to kill people.

* ResetButton: In "Future Shock", the reason the future turned out badly is because Megaman wasn't around to stop Dr. Wily in the past. Both he and Wily are [[GenreSavvy aware]] that if he makes it to the time machine, Wily's conquest of the future will end. Sure enough, Megaman makes it and the BadFuture is erased.

* SelfParody: Keiji Inafune, the most famous person associated with Megaman, helped make some of the episodes, possibly evoking this Trope.
* SelfRestraint: One episode had Megaman get arrested by humans who, thanks to Wily, thought he was behind the evil scheme of the week. As he didn't want to harm the humans he let himself be handcuffed. Soon after his name was cleared, he snapped the cuffs like they were nothing.

*** ''Megaman 9'' references the plot of "Mega Pinocchio", with Wily reprogramming Dr. Light's robots in an effort to tarnish his name. Also, the design of Fakeman was clearly influenced by the police-bots that are common in the series.
*** ''Megaman 10'' makes a clear reference to "Robosaur Park". Specifically, Megaman and Roll are both infected with TheVirus, Roll is offered the (experimental) vaccine first, but she declines, saying that Megaman is the only one who can stop Wily, so he should take it instead.
** Probably a coincidence, but [[MegaManX Command Mission's]] plot involving supra force metal is quite similar to the episode "Showdown at Red Gulch".

** Before he became Megaman, his name was Rock.
** Megaman uses a holographic projector in "The Day the Moon Fell" that looks similar to the Wily alien holographic projector in ''Mega Man 2''.

* SinisterShades: Protoman wears these. A couple times, Megaman is reflected in them when Proto's about to take him by surprise.

** Played straight, oddly, with Protoman. While he wasn't rendered helpless, Wily's hand on his upper arm was enough to stop him from going after Megaman.

* StopHelpingMe: Brain Bot's "help" ranges from merely annoying (trying to give Rush wheels, elaborately stating the obvious) to life-threatening (trying to adjust a jet's gyro-stabilizer in mid flight so that it could operate at peak efficiency). About the third time he tries to "help", Megaman briefly snaps and yells at him to not touch anything.

* TeamRocketWins: While his primary goal wasn't achieved, Wily made off with the money from robbing the citizens in "Crime of the Century" and the money from selling a shrunken Washington D.C. in "The Incredible Shrinking Megaman". If you want to get technical, he also got all the money from selling Fun World tickets.

* ThisIsReality: Said when Megaman is angered at some delinquent kids who were just standing around as Wily attacked.

*** What really brings this scene into IdiotBall territory was the fact that ''Megaman was winning'' against Wily's robots when she ran out and became a hostage.
* TooPowerfulToLive: Vile and Spark Mandrill, who having come back from the future are presented as being invincible against everything but Megaman X, who also fits the trope.
* TookALevelInBadass: Topman went from being an easy boss with an oft-mocked acquired weapon to a smooth-talking womanizer capable of defeating Megaman unaided.
** Pharaoh Man somehow became even ''more'' awesome, punching out Megaman after his power had been copied.
** Ice Man defeated Megaman about 3 times in one episode. And broke Rush. Then again, in the games he could kill you in 3 hits.
** Metal Man was ''always'' awesome, but in the cartoon he had a spectacularly hardcore moment. After pinning Megaman under a metal pipe, he ''tried to saw his head off''.

* ToxicPhlebotinum: The meteor fragments in "Showdown at Red Gulch" increase the power of their users tenfold, but will soon overload said users. Megaman uses one anyway, since it's the only way to stand up to Wily's superpowered robots. It ends badly.

* WeCanRuleTogether: Protoman ''really wants'' Megaman to defect to Wily.

** The fans latched into thinking that his video game counterpart is also like this, before ''MegaManPoweredUp'' came around.
*** Since ''Powered Up'' didn't sell very well, whether it dispelled the image is debatable.

EffortlessAmazonianLift: Roll carries Dr. Light and the governor this way in "Bro Bots", one in each arm.

* UnfrozenCavemanLawyer: The Lion Men grasp technology fairly well, despite thinking they're odd things.

** The creator of the games helped work on the show a few times, which probably helps.

* SelfParody: Keiji Inafune, ''the creator of the games'', helped make some of the episodes, possibly evoking this Trope.

* [[MonsterOfTheWeek Robot Master of the Week]]: Most of the robot masters worked in this manner, except for [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Cutman and Gutsman]]. Some, like Snakeman and Brightman, would be brought back multiple times, others would [[OneSceneWonder never be seen again]].

* [[MonsterOfTheWeek Robot Master of the Week]: Most of the robot masters worked in this manner, except for [ThoseTwoBadGuys Cutman and Gutsman]]. Some, like Snakeman and Brightman, would be brought back multiple times, others would [[OneSceneWonder never be seen again]].

** In 'Future Shock', Roll calls enemy robots [[BlasterMaster Blaster Masters]].

* {{Invisibility}}: Megaman's Stealth Suit did this, though sometimes it malfunctioned.

* FridgeBrilliance: Rumor has it that one of the plans for Season 3 that Proto Man was going to have a full fledged HeelFaceTurn (rather than the temporary one he had in Season 2), with Wily building Bass and Treble as replacements.
** [[http://siphersaysstuff.tumblr.com/post/8519989554/joerubbyinterview Word of God]] confirms it was just a rumor.
* FridgeHorror: In "Brain Bots", Wily places Megaman in a DeathTrap. The trap consists of a DescendingCeiling with spikes. Unlike some death traps, Mega was bound to the floor as it descended. What pushes this into FridgeHorror is what Wily said about it; he uses it to recycle robots he no longer needs into scrap metal. Meaning he's done this to HIS OWN ROBOTS. What makes it worse is that some robots, like Fire Man and Star Man, were only in one episode and never seen or mentioned again...
** "The Strange Island of Dr. Wily": Woodman was among Wily's group, until sustaining heavy damage towards the end. He isn't seen escaping with them.
** In "Future Shock", Roll doesn't believe Mega is real at first, saying it's another trick of Dr. Wily's. Meaning Wily may have staged rebellions and incited false hope with a fake Megaman.
** In "Bro Bots", Wily's plan turned out to be replacing the city's leaders with robot doubles who would obey his every whim. Standard evil villain stuff, until you realize that Megaman found out about the plan by finding a robot copy of ''Dr. Light''. And given that he'd imprisoned the governor and Light over a pit of ''acid'', Wily may have been going for a KillAndReplace scenario...
** As noted in [[http://tjomega.blogspot.com/2011/06/tj-tv-megaman.html this review]] MegaManX pushed Vile and Spark Mandrill through a time portal that ''Sigma'' opened up to receive the MacGuffin for the episode. Meaning X is going to be deep in enemy territory when he exits the portal.
*** In that same episode, some have raised qualms about X's characterization and the lack of Zero. Things seem to be personal between X and Vile, with the former not caring what condition he's brought back in. And then you remember in ''X1'', Zero died at Vile's hands.
** In "Electric Nightmare", the cosmetic robot tried to use her razor on Roll, but she ducked. Looking at where the attack lines are and where Roll was in the preceding frame, she was trying to ''slice Roll in half''.
* FridgeLogic: The infamous episode "Robosaur Park" features Wily creating a de-evolution serum that devolves humanoid robots into more ape-like robots. Fansite [[http://www.mmhp.net/marketing/ShowList.html#Robosaur The Mega Man Homepage]] put it best: "Why did the robots de-evolve into apes? Shouldn't they have turned into toasters or something?"
** If Dr. Wily has a handheld gun that can reprogram or turn off robots, why doesn't he just turn it on Megaman and Roll? If it wouldn't reprogram them it'd at least shut them off, buying him time.
*** It's likely that Megaman and Roll are more advanced than the other robot masters. In the pilot episode, he doesn't use the reprogramming gun on them like the others, even after he captures them. Instead he takes them back to his lab for what looks like a do-it-yourself lobotomy to make them easier to reprogram.
** In "The Day The Moon Fell", Wily's scheme involves a machine called a Gravitron that is pulling the moon out of its orbit. Light reveals that he built a Gravitron in his youth, and he may have some files to help counteract Wily's invention. He finds archive footage of himself and Wily in their college days; turns out college Wily stole the device ''and'' the files without Light knowing. The theft was on the tape. This is apparently the first time Light saw the video. Why would he even make the video if he wasn't going to watch it?
** The entire premise of "Campus Commandos". Why would robots need to go to school, if they can already be programmed to perform specific functions in the first place?
*** It's been suggested that the students want to learn things progressively, like humans.
** In "Robo Spider", Dr. Light analyzes a piece of the giant spider's web that he took from its initial attack. He says he can invent a device that can turn its energy-draining powers back on itself, but he needs a copy of the web's schematic to do so. Megaman volunteers to get a copy, using the same [[MegaManning technique he uses to copy robot master weapons]]. Cool plot, except for one thing; you already ''have'' a piece of the web, so why did Megaman and Roll have to travel through hell and high water to copy ''another'' piece of the web?

* HoYay: If it's even possible, would Guts Man and Cut Man count?
** Don't forget Megaman and Brain Bot inexplicably ''sharing a bed''...
** Protoman, while pretending to be a good guy, ''never freaking stops touching Megaman.''