[[quoteright:220:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-MM1-TitleScreen_9371.png]]
[[caption-width-right:220:The game that started it all.]]

''Mega Man'' (''Rockman'' in Japan) is a 1987 {{NES}} video game by {{Capcom}}, and is the first game in the eponymous [[VideoGame/MegaMan series]] of the same name, as well as its many, many spinoffs.

The story: [[MadScientist Dr. Wily]], assistant of famous inventor [[BigGood Dr. Light]], has stolen and reprogrammed six of his robots, and is now attempting to TakeOverTheWorld. Assistant robot Rock, [[VideoGame/MegaMan4 having a strong sense of justice,]] volunteered to be converted into a "fighting robot" in order to right Wily's wrongs. He thus became known as Mega Man.

At the time, Mega Man was a revolutionary title in the {{NES}} library; first, you could choose to tackle any stage you wished in any order you desired, second, to add a layer of strategy, the game allowed you to not only [[MegaManning keep the weapon of whatever boss you killed]], but also allow you to use the weapon in question against [[TacticalRockPaperScissors another boss that was particularly weak to it.]] The games cartoony graphics and catchy music, not to mention its [[NintendoHard grueling difficulty]], established many hallmarks that we've grown to love about the series.

All in all, the game was a modest hit in sales and reviews, but it wasn't quite the mega-hit killer game Capcom needed. [[VideoGame/MegaMan2 Then came the sequel...]]

It is worth noting that while in its planning stages, Capcom planned on basing the original game on ''Anime/AstroBoy'' — but when those plans fell through, the developers put Keiji Inafune in charge of creating brand new character designs. Another early idea for the game was to make it an arcade platformer called ''Rainbow Man''. Other proposed early titles included ''Mighty Kid'' and ''Knuckle Kid''.

The game would later receive a [[UpdatedRerelease 16-bit upgrade]] in the [[NoExportForYou Europe and Japan exclusive]] ''Mega Man: The Wily Wars''/''Rockman Megaworld'' cartridge for the SegaGenesis (Aside from a brief US release as a downloadable Sega Channel exclusive). It would later be ported to the PS1 as ''Rockman: Complete Works'', and then to the {{PS2}}, GameCube and {{Xbox}} as part of ''Anniversary Collection''. It has also seen a release on VirtualConsole. This game also received a [[VideoGameRemake remake]] for the {{PSP}}, called ''VideoGame/MegaManPoweredUp''.

Robot Masters:
* DLN-003: Cut Man, gives you [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang Rolling]] [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Cutter]]
* DLN-004: Guts Man, gives you [[SuperStrength Super]] [[RocksFallEveryoneDies Arm]]
* DLN-005: Ice Man, gives you [[AnIcePerson Ice Slasher]]
* DLN-006: Bomb Man, gives you [[HavingABlast Hyper Bomb]]
* DLN-007: Fire Man, gives you [[PlayingWithFire Fire Storm]]
* DLN-008: Elec Man, gives you [[ShockAndAwe Thunder Beam]]

This game would later receive a companion title for the GameBoy, called ''VideoGame/MegaManDrWilysRevenge''.
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!!Tropes:

* AbilityRequiredToProceed: Didn't pick up the Magnet Beam in Elec Man's level? You won't reach the end of the first Wily stage without it, so get a GameOver to get back to the stage selection screen and go get it!
* AllThereInTheManual: The game's story, as per the standards at the time. However, the US version is notoriously inaccurate ("robot-like humanoids"?).
** Both the US and Japanese manuals fail to mention Roll in any manner, making her appearance in the game's ending out of nowhere.
* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: One of the most infamous examples, due to the artist being given only the back of the box description and a couple of ''hours'' to come up with something. Believing the anime-style artwork wouldn't get much attention, the North American version instead got a middle-aged man in a blue and yellow jumpsuit, holding a pistol, against a rather bizarre background.
* AnIcePerson: [[CaptainObvious Ice Man.]]
* AscendedGlitch: The "Pause Trick" is so well known that in the ''Anniversary Collection'' port, the glitch was deliberately left intact!
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Hyper Bomb. It's extremely powerful, but there's such a long delay between the time you throw it and when it actually goes off, that it's very easy for the enemy to move out of range before that happens. Also, you can only throw one bomb at a time, so you're left wide open if you miss.
* BlobMonster: The Yellow Devil.
* BossArenaIdiocy: Cut Man is weak to having blocks thrown at him. There are blocks in his arena. Oops.
* BossRush: Played quite differently than the later games. Instead of all the bosses being fought in a contained room, half of them are fought in seperate levels.
* CartoonBomb: [[CaptainObvious Bomb Man]] throws these.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Plenty of it. Let's see--theres a point system, only six robot masters, small, sparse stages, the corridors before bosses are longer and contain enemies, weapon and energy items that look different from the later ones, no e-tanks, no password function, mercy invincibility won't protect you from spikes, Wily's lair isn't called Skull Castle, and no rush items. Also, the Wily Fortress doesn't have a map screen, the Robot Master rematches are sprinkled throughout the fortress stages instead of being collected in a teleporter room; Fire Man's weakness was the ice weapon (later games usually had the ice boss weak to the fire weapon instead of the other way around); three of the weapons were thrown rather than being shot out of your gun. Also, Mega Man's standard weapon is called the Plasma Buster, rather than the Mega Buster.
* EternalEngine: Elec Man's stage.
* ExcusePlot: Mad scientist Dr. Wily is taking over the world with a batch of stolen robots, go stop him!
* GameBreakingBug: The final battle has a real show-stopper; if you get hit by the final boss ''just'' as you defeat him, the screen will glitch and the game will never proceed to the ending, forcing you to reset the game.
** Some fans believe there was another one (since disproved), a similar show-stopping bug where if you didn't get the Magnet Beam from Elec Man's stage the first visit through and return later, it would disappear, making the final Wily Stages impossible to beat--it turns out however, that immediately replaying the level with Elec Man's weapon allows you to claim the Magnet Beam.
* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: Elec Man's stage, and part of Cut Man and Bomb Man's stages.
* JokeWeapon: See AwesomeButImpractical.
* KaizoTrap: Just about any boss in the game can cause this. Unlike other games in the series, the boss's projectiles do not disappear when they're defeated, and can still hit you. This is especially problematic due to the fact that Mega Man is frozen briefly when the boss explodes. It is entirely possible as a result to die after beating the boss, which of course results in having to fight them all over again.
* LethalLavaLand: Fire Man's stage.
* NintendoHard: One of the hardest of the original games, for the following reasons:
** No password or save function--the game must be completed in one sitting (Except on Virtual Console, which lets you quit with the home button and come back right where you left off, and Anniversary Collection gives an auto-save). The game is at least generous enough to give you infinite continues and checkpoints.
** MercyInvincibility does not protect you when you fall onto spikes.
** Tricky platforming segments; most notably in Guts Man and Ice Man's stages, where there are platforming bits that demand split-second reflexes and very precise jumping, with absolutely no room for error. Ice Man's stage is possibly the hardest of all the stages, not only due to the disappearing blocks, but also the erratic pattern of the flying platforms midway through the stage (not to mention the fact that they shoot at you, which combined with how small they are, makes it extremely easy to get knocked off to your death), not to mention the occasional glitch that keeps the platforms flying too far apart from each other, will have all but the most determined players falling back on the Magnet Beam to skip through.
** Very cheap placement of powerful enemies such as the Big Eye, particularly in Wily Fortress 1.
** Boss weapons are a lot less useful than in the later games outside being used against.
** Some of the bosses have much more erratic patterns, not to mention much more damaging, "take you down in one or two hits" attacks-- Elec Man and Ice Man are the most infamous for this, as they can both kill you in three hits. Their attacks are often difficult, or, in the case of Fire Man or Ice Man, almost impossible to dodge.
** The aforementioned kaizo traps that can sometimes occur just when you have defeated a boss.
** Health pickups aren't as common as in later games, and the game contains useless pickups that only increase points.
** The infamous Yellow Devil boss fight, which many people have not been able to defeat without exploiting the "Pause Trick" glitch.
** Oh, and no E-tanks.
* NoPlotNoProblem: Just press start and get straight to playing!
* NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: All of the stages.
* PlayingWithFire: [[CaptainObvious Fire]] [[RunningGag Man.]]
* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: The Rolling Cutter.
* ScreenShake: Happens everytime Guts Man jumps. Mega Man has to time his jump or it will briefly knock him off his feet.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Ice Man's stage.
* SpikesOfDoom: Wily's Fortress is full of these.
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Justified by that Mega Man is a robot.
* WalkDontSwim: Mega Man can't swim, but whereas in the sequels he can jump ludicrously high in water, in this game it slows him down and weakens his jump. The Wily Wars port, curiously, ignored that and kept the water physics the same as the sequels.
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