Headscratchers / Mega Man 9

• So now Wily is going back to the old "frame someone to take the fall for his robot assault on humanity" ploy? Why? Only a true moron couldn't see through the ploy (and it is a ploy, according to the official soundtrack; Wily is controlling the new robots, not Light), and he had pretty much given up trying such a tactic after it failed him three different times in the past. Does Capcom simply think that Viewers Are Morons? Do they really think we're going to buy Wily's accusation of Light in this game? Seriously...
  • Considering that the last time he used such a tactic, he put on a fake beard, sunglasses and posed as Mr. X, this plot at least makes it so that Dr. Light can't help Mega Man. It's quite obvious that Dr. Light didn't even have enough time to reinstate the Charge Shot or Slide to Rock before the police were on his tail. Take note that Bass is mysteriously absent.
    • Take note that in the ending, Bass' blueprints are shown on a screen. Either Wily deactivated him, or Bass got so sick of the old fart that he left in disgust... Or maybe he left when Wily tried to seem "good" again, on Wily's orders, for the sake of making it look more convincing.
    • Wordof God confirms this.
    • Of course Capcom didn't think anyone would be fooled. Wily really being behind it, and obviously so, is part of the throw-back appeal of the game. It's doing everything retro, storyline included.
• Why the expiration dates? Wily was right. Arbitrary expiration dates sound like a load of crap, not even regular tools or machines have those kinds of things. Sounds like something made up by bureaucrats that have bugger all knowledge of robotics.
  • Maybe it was the companies' weaseling their way out of paying their robots.
  • Robots get paid? I was under the impression that the bots were created for a specific purpose and to be satisfied by fufilling that purpose, eliminating the need for any "incentive".
    • Which begs the question: how long until these artificially curtailed lifespans bite the bureaucrats in the ass in ZX? There's got to be SOME sort of "Reploid's Rights" groups somewhere, Maverick or moderate, with a beef against not having the same longetivity as Reploids of old.
    • I think that one was a compromise to try and kill off the maverick problem, as mavericks have always hated humans, make them less different and it seems a lot more fair... At first glance.
    • ZX Advent's extra ending implies that Master Thomas wants to get rid of the biological bodies for Reploids, and go back to the old ways. Or something. It was a bit confusing.
    • Master Thomas wants genocide. That he has old, immortal-ish reploids on hand just makes him more threatening.
  • Or maybe Wily just lied? I mean isn't Proto Man, Mega Man AND Roll vastly older than the Mega Man 9 Robot Masters?
    • Unfortunately, since the Robot Masters in MM 9 were made by Light himself, and a piece of scrap from one of the first few Masters you beat does have an expiration date, which means Wily was not lying, for a change. It's likely that the expiration date thing came about as a result of Wily's antics, and Mega Man and friends are given a free pass, due to how they were Light's first creations and had helped save the world from Wily far too often; forcing them to follow the expiration law would mean losing humanity's only real defense against Wily's future attacks.
    • Considering that Wily succeeded in convincing the Mega Man 9 Robot Masters to rebel BECAUSE of the expiration dates, I don't think it worked too well.
    • As for the Light family robots not getting slapped with a mandatory expiration date, it's probably because they're privately "owned", not "public servants".
  • The expiration dates make some sense. With a completely uninhibited learning AI (which the Robot Masters seem to possess), you don't want them getting too smart. So, after a while, they expire, their minds are wiped and their bodies are recycled. If that doesn't sit well with you, then think of it as wear and tear: eventually they just get worn out from all the work they do (it's implied they don't do anything else but work, after all) and need to be replaced.
    • The MM9 manga actually has an interesting explanation for why the bill was brought about. It was mostly to allow new and improved robots to replace the older models. However, of course, Light objected till the very end.
• Why do people keep assuming that Wily convinced the Robot Masters to rebel of their own free will? I'll admit, it's a cool idea, and could've gotten more focus, but I was under the impression that he convinced them that expiration dates were a stupid idea, and that he could repair them and repurpose them. While he was repairing them, he changed their programming so that they were his obedient war machines. How is that rebelling?
  • Well, they rebelled at the notion of having expiration dates, but yeah, I always assumed he reprogrammed them at some point.
  • There was no rebelling at all. Here's the dialogue:
  Robot: "So what are you trying to say?"
  Dr. Wily: "I'm saying you're all going to end up in the junkyard!"
  Robot: "Of course. When we're done with our work that's what happens."
  Dr. Wily: "It's not just you. Millions of robots all over the world are winding up as piles of junk! You work hard for humans, and then they destroy you when no longer needed! Doesn't that make you angry?"
  Robot: "..."
  Dr. Wily: "Just because you reached some arbitrary expiration date doesn't mean you should be scrapped! You're all still quite useful! You have a right to live! I'm going to help you. Together we'll show the world how useful you all still can be!"
  Robot: "Hmm... perhaps you're right. We still want to be of use to people. Can you repair us?"
  (Close-up of Dr. Wily, grinning)
• In the Mega Man 9, the original 6 robot master were there trying to stymie the robot rampage. Considering the robots were being scrapped because they were past their expiry dates, wouldn't the originals be well past their expiry dates? Or was it that these "original" robots are technically newer robots, having been rebuilt from being scrapped by Mega Man.
  • Expiration dates apply to a specific robot. Doesn't mean you can never produce a robot that's the same. They're probably just robots designed the same way as the original six in a different production series.
  • I don't think expiration dates were put in place until much later than the first game's events.
  • The manga has Splash Woman saying that the expiration date law wasn't retroactive, so it didn't apply to older robots like the original six or Light's other creations.
  • Also, it might not apply to privately owned robots, which, in the manga, the original 6 are after the events of the 1st game.
• Splash Woman's weakness is bees. Friggin' bees! Seriously, on what level does that make sense? Normal bees can't fly underwater, let alone the heavier metallic bees Mega Man gets. Even if they could, the water would slow them down and their stingers would barely hurt. And besides all that, why would a mermaid-type robot have a weakness to bees? Who designs an underwater robot to have a weakness to bees? And if it wasn't a design, how would an underwater robot naturally have or develop a weakness to bees? HOW DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE?! * pant* * pant* Bees...my god.
  • Because Virgin Power and "getting stung," that's why.
  • Maybe she's just afraid of bees?
  • I think you answered your own question. As an underwater-bot, she'd rarely if ever come into contact with bees, therefore she wouldn't be used to the shock of it, resulting in the weakness. Then again, most bosses' weaknesses don't make much sense in the games, including others in MM 9. Case in point: A slab of concrete blocking a black hole.
  • Because Splash Woman's armor would need to be just as light to facilitate her moving freely through water (supported by her taking double damage from the Mega Buster). The stingers can tear through it with ease. And these are robot hornets: they can alter their wing movements to duplicate swimming... okay, maybe that part doesn't make sense.
  • Well I like that theory of armor however; getting back to Concrete vs. Black Hole — remember its not really a blackhole only a super strong gravity storm that absorbs all objects into itself then compresses them but yeah...doesn't make sense..then again Mega Man 10 has a similar problem — look at some of the odd ball weaknesses of Sheepman and Nitroman
    • Rebound Striker bounces. There's a good chance it's made out of electricity-insulating rubber. And the Chill Spikes only work if you goad Nitro Man into running over them. Ever try driving a motorcycle over a pile of nails? (Hint: Don't)
  • The Black Hole thing makes sense: If you controlled friggin black holes you probably wouldn't program a defense for an object like that and assume it was taken care of.