—Capcom's official line on their Japanese website.
Insanely popular and long-running video game franchise created by Capcom in the 1980's. Known as "Rockman" / "ロックマン" in Japan.There are actually a bunch of different series that share the name (in chronological order):
The Mega Man series (sometimes called "Original" or "Classic"), which started the franchise, starring Rock, the creation of Dr. Light, fighting against the forces of Dr. Wily in the year 200X — 20XX from the third installment on. (1987);
Mega Man Legends (Rockman DASH in Japan), set at least 4,400 years after the ZX series with a new, seemingly-human Mega Man, bearing the ridiculous sounding name "Mega Man Volnutt." (1998)
Mega Man Battle Network (aka Rockman.EXE) series, which occupies an Alternate Continuity of 200X where Dr. Light (here known as Dr. Hikari, Japanese for "light")'s network research won out over Dr. Wily's robot research; (2001)
Mega Man Zero, set 100 years after the "Elf Wars" which appears to be 100 years after the end of the X series. This stars the Ensemble Darkhorse Zero, now a freedom fighter trying to free the last remaining Reploids against a tyrannic government; (2002)
Mega Man ZX, set 200 years after the Zero series, where mankind has been fully merged with Reploids. The problem of Mavericks is still a threat, although the cause for the outbreaks is entirely different. Otherwise normal Humanoids use Biometals to take the form and powers of heroes of old; (2006)
Mega Man Star Force (in Japanese, Ryuusei no Rockman or Shooting Star Rockman), a series that takes place 200 years after the Battle Network games, where Cyberspace and the human world are even more intertwined via Wi-Fi radio. (2007)
Rockman Online (Korea only, for now at least), set at an unspecified point in the future. After an era of peace, enemy robots based on Classic series Robot Masters and X series Mavericks suddenly attack. The government of this time period, the United Continent Association, responds by reproducing the heroes of these series (X, Zero, and Duo for starters) to combat the threat, which originated from a separatist organization called the Ultimate Reploid Association. (Future Release)
All of these series have the same basic style of gameplay (Mega Man moves through a level, defeating a boss at the end and gaining a new weapon), but the first three series are more Platformers, Legends is a cross between a Third Person Shooter and an Adventure Game, Battle Network and Star Force are RPGs with a very unique combat system, and Online is a 2½Dside-scrolling action RPG. Each game has its own unique merits and flaws. Additionally, Mega Man characters have a tendency to show up in the Capcom vs. Whatever titles which tend to be fighting games with some rare exceptions.There have been several TV shows based on the games - a cartoon based on the originals, an anime based on Battle Network and dubbed as Mega Man NT Warrior, and a limited-release OAV from the early 90s, also based on theoriginal series. There was also another anime based on Star Force which has a dubbed version as well.Mega Man was also featured as part of the heroic ensemble in Captain N: The Game Master, although he was presented as having a Verbal Tic, saying random words with the prefix "mega-".The Mega Man Megamix manga, also based on the original series, is finally available in the US. There's no news on whether or not the new material for the ninth and tenth games will be translated, though.It should be noted that the various series could be Alternate Universes of one another. While there are still numerous hints that they are connected (except for Battle Network, which is definitely an Alternate Universe), there are also discrepancies.A live-action, no-budget, full-lengthfan moviehas been released. Reactions to the trailer have been promising.A comic book series by Archie Comics was released in Spring 2011.
This franchise provides examples of:
Adaptation Expansion: The Mega Man Megamix manga is known for its excellent storytelling, which also captures the feel of the Classic series while also telling it with a bit more depth and maturity. The theme of robot and human interaction is a big part of the story, and it can be heartwarming as well as action-packed.
After the End: Taken to a ridiculous degree in the original timeline. Every successive series takes place after an apocalypse wiped out most traces of the previous one. During the course of the X games we get yet another world-altering disaster during X5 whose aftereffects can still be seen well into the Zero series.
All There in the Manual: Capcom does publish manga prequels to each game, which include more details about the game's plot (like the imposition of expiration dates on robots in 9) as well as the personalities of the Robot Masters.
1 makes no mention that the six robot masters were built with good intentions.
3 fails to note a lot of things.
Dr. Wily feigned amnesia and is now working with Dr. Light again. The true villain is supposed to be a mystery until the last minute (notice that his logo doesn't hang over the boss doors), but without this info, it's just assumed to be Wily anyways...and nowadays, would you really expect otherwise?
Dr. Wily and Light's latest project is Gamma, a giant "peace keeping" robot. The only time this robot is even mentioned in-game is when Dr. Light tells you that Wily stole it. The final battle of the game is against Wily inside a robot with a "G" on its chest.
Mega Man is not seen collecting the eight energy crystals that power Gamma, either, which were the point behind the eight mining robots in the first place. They only vaguely get referred to, and are called "elements".
A particularly humorous example would be the character discs from Mega Man and Bass. Where else would we learn Dr. Light was a "douchie?"
Which was a translation joke. His real bad point is being tricked easily (which would explain A LOT, concerning his acceptance of Wily's "will to help" in 3, Mega Man & Bass and 10).
Alternate Company Equivalent: The Krion Conquest for the NES, made by Vic Tokai, goes so far in copying Mega Man as to use the same run cycle, similar power meter and highly similar death animation for heroine Francesca; copy several of the enemy and level appearances; and give her equivalent powers such as a Charged Attack and a Rush/Item-2 replacement in her broomstick. However, unlike Mega Man, she can duck and fire upwards. Still, it flirted dangerously close with Plagiarism.
Rospark in ZX seems more interested in the player's arrival whilst playing as the male character, Vent in ZX, and significantly more agitated when playing as Aile. Most notably exclaiming angrily:
A girl? I'm busy!
American Kirby Is Hardcore: This series is a target of constant mockery for its original attempts at this and their tendency to backfire in hilariously embarrassing ways. Among the sources of this mockery is now Capcom themselves, who designed promotional art for 9 and 10, spoofing the notorious misinterpretations Mega Man usually got in Western art.
Aside from boxart, the most notable example is the Ruby Spears cartoon, which felt it needed to give Mega Man and Roll more adult, American-superhero-like physiques to be successful in the West. Although to be fair, it would take a pretty bad design of any sort in the cartoon to look worse than the old boxarts or the Captain N adaptations.
This trope also may have to do with why 7 and 8 weren't as well-received by American audiences. Throughout the NES era the graphics weren't detailed enough to seem either mature or immature, and the boxarts tended to go for a realistic approach, though usually to a fault. When graphics got more advanced in the post-8-bit-era, the next two games went with a very bright and colorful motif, which might have made the games look too goofy. Worth noting is that the Darker and Edgier X series was also starting up and beginning to get more attention.
Anti-Hero: Bass/Forte in the original series. Zero (type 3) in his series. Chaud/Enzan in the Battle Network series. Tron Bonne in the Legends series.
Anti-Villain: The Guardians in Zero, at their worst.
And again, Tron Bonne in the Legends series. Though she's against the Volnutts throughout most of the game, and a criminal, she has a very close, loving relationship with her own family.
Apathetic Citizens: In games where humans actually appear, expect them to either believe the Big Bad or not do much to help.
Rock and Roll are considered the first two of the original eight robot masters in 1. Originally there were to be eight Robot Masters in 1, but they simply didn't have enough time - this was rectified in Powered Up! with the addition of Time Man and Oil Man.
Artifact of Doom: the Dark Chips for Battle Network and the OOparts from Star Force. But the real example would be ZX's Model W, the game's realBig Bad.
Awesome, but Impractical: A few weapons fall under this. For instance, Stone Man's weapon is three boulders that shoot out in a spiral, covering the entire screen. Would be practical, except, due to the speed at which they shoot out, the chances of missing something are high. Really frustrating when the other boss it's supposed to be good for is Charge Man, who moves fast, and frequently becomes temporarily invincible. Most people just say screw it and whip out the mega-buster.
Doctor Wily, who has no such excuse, in the Battle Network games. That guy survived at least two explosions, getting his mind eaten by a sentient prototype Internet, and being inside an imploding volcano base. Also, Doctor Regal.
Hell, the original Wily does this, although he's a lot more subtle.
Word Of God has actually confirmed that Wily died somewhere along the line between the Classic and X series, and the maverick virus somehow brought him back to life.
Bag of Holding: Every game, Mega Man somehow manages to store 8 different weapons and their ammunitions in his mega buster, which is only slightly larger than his regular fist.
Bag of Spilling: One of the earliest video game examples, extensive enough that some even call it "Mega Man Amnesia". There are a few exceptions, though. The 5th & 6th games of the X series are a bit better about this, as one of X's armors from the previous game carries over into the next & the X vs. Zero fight in X5 sees your opponent using the weapons from X4. Wily Wars allows you to select a limited number of weapons from the first 3 games to use in the Wily Tower segment. In Battle Network you can regain all the Battle Chips you collected in the previous games via link-cable. In Legends 2 you at least get an explanation for this, as Roll says she was forced to sell all your weapons & other goodies to pay for the ship's maintenance. It's only ever justified once in the entire Zero series though with the second game. It was there that Zero had been fighting Neo Arcadian Reploids for roughly a year without repair or maintenance, signaled by the tired stance, a damaged Shield Boomerang and menu, and a destroyed Triple Rod.
Big Bad: Dr. Wily in the Classic series, Sigma in the X series, Dr. Weil in the Zero series, Lord Wily again in Battle Network, and Master Albert for the ZX series, although the last one might not be accurate.
Bishōnen: It's said that Bubble Man, of all robots, applies.◊ In the Japanese fandom, at least. In the American fandom, he tends to be more of a chew toy.
Arguably, Star Man in the Mega Man Megamix manga, who has Guylashes, a rose fetish, and tends to emote on beauty.
Zero, both versions, could also qualify. Lampshaded by Bass during the former's Continuity Cameo, making a comment that Zero is "too girly" to be the strongest robot.
Bishonen Line: Omega Zero in Zero 3 & Albert in ZX Advent.
Blackout Basement: Bright Man's stage from 4, Spark Mandrill's and Dark Mantis' stages from X and X8, respectively, and Cubit Foxtar's level from Zero 3. Shadow Man's stage in 3 has enemies that turn off the lights temporarily when shot.
Bling of War: In a punny fashion. Jewel Man gives you the Jewel Satellite in 9, which uses weaponized bling.
Blow You Away: Air Man in 2, Wind Man in 6, and Tornado Man in 9.
Storm Eagle in X, to the point where half of his attacks only exist to push you off the edge of the plane. The Skiver in X5 also qualifies, to an extent; most of his attacks do actual damage to your life bar, but all of them (the flying uppercut in particular) do more knockback than the average attack, with the intent of (again) tossing you off of a plane.
Boss Dissonance: Can go in both ways, but generally of the Kirby Type. Sometimes they're about the same difficulty as the stages itself though.
Toad Man definitely qualifies for Mario Type, though.
Boss Game: The arcade installments The Power Fighters and The Power Battle.
Boss Rush: Almost every single game, even in the RPGs. With the exceptions of Legends, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, and some of the weird side games (for instance, Soccer and The Power Fighters).
While exactly whether you can count an anime as canon is debatable, it probably is closer than Captain N: The Game Master.
Although probably unintentional, Quint, who is actually Mega Man from the near future, somewhat resembles the Captain N: The Game Master version of Mega Man. They both suck at fighting and are hated by most of the fandom. Coincidence?
Roll in her official incarnation also seems to be taking influence from her Ruby-Spears counterpart lately, becoming more of an Action Girl and Improbable Weapon User, particularly partial to cleaning supplies.
Captain Ersatz: Mega Man started out as an Astro Boy game, but Capcom couldn't acquire the rights to the characters and created Rockman.
Worth noting that Mega Man without his armor looks exactly like Astro Boy in the ending of the first game.
Continuity Creep: The Classic series almost never has a storyline to speak of. The X series games, especially later on, tend to have self-contained plots with a Continuity Nod here and there and some Character Development. The Zero series games quite clearly continue one from the other, with major references to the previous games, the series' own convoluted backstory, a couple to the X series and a nod or two to points from Classic. Between the two ZX games there's a pretty significant Time Skip, but both games are also heavy on nods to the past series. The Battle Network and Star Force games, being RPGs, naturally are more story-heavy to begin with.
Continuity Snarl: Aside from the whole mess with the X series, the question of whether or not Mega Man killed himself (er, Quint...it's odd) remains open.
Crapsack World: Super Adventure Rockman features darker content than usual in the Classic series, such as U.N. helicopters getting destroyed and Roll dying. It's no wonder there's a lack of artwork or information in the R20: Rockman & Rockman X book.
It Got Worse in "Novas Aventuras De Megaman". Long before Mega Man and Roll awake from their capsules, Wily has taken over the world (arguably represented by Brazil) and turned it into a barren wasteland. In issue #4, we find out that young Brazilian homeless girls were being captured and cyborgized as early as 1996. It just goes downhill from there.
And of course, the main series has degraded into one itself. A lotof thingshappened, after all. Fortunately, it does get better (almost).
Cross Over: Beyond a number of instances of both Call Back and Call Forward (Zero's blueprints in the original series, and the "Zet-sabre" in Legends, for example), later series, starting with the second half of Mega Man Battle Network, tend to mix. However, instead of trading characters, the situation is more along the lines of a mutual indirect interaction.
An example of this is the original Battle Network 4, Mega Man Zero 3 crossover, in which exchanging data would result in the Battle Network {=Mega Man=} receiving the Z-Saver (a forgivable mistranslation of Z-Saber), though this particular Battle Chip is maintained as distinct from the other Z-Saber earned in Network Transmission - an easy way to distinguish them is that the Battle Network 4 chip bares the (remarkably well-defined, though obscured by resolution and shadow) image of Main timeline Zero. Zero 3, in turn, received replacement enemies for that games' CyberWorld in the form of Battle Network viruses. So, you could spend half of a level wrecking Pantheon Mooks and the other wrecking Cyber Mets.
By keeping a copy of a Battle Network game in the W-Gate, MegaMan Geo-Omega can receive the BN Blaster from the original MegaMan.EXE, which, while not a particularly high class weapon, has a maxed out speed stat, which can lead to the defeat of some weaker viruses by simply standing in front of them and holding B for a few seconds. The fact that this is retrievable the instant you have access to the doghouse Cyber Space reinforces its early-use-only disclaimer.
Operate Shooting Star - Not much more than an expensive port of BN 1 to DS counts as this, though the only addition is some 40 minutes of Let's You and Him Fight between the cyber-verse MegaMen, a chip of Burai, and the ability to switch between heroes. Besides the desire to get a solid translation of that extra forty minutes, nobody's complaining in particular about the lack of localization.
You can forge a BrotherBand with the original[1] in Star Force 2; he can actually send you messages.
Especially notable (and also as old as Battle Network 4) is the Cyber-Verse's Inter Continuity Crossover between the Mega Man Battle Network and Boktai series produced by Konami (which includes both Lunar Knights (Boktai DS) and the first Star Force game), which are the most direct crossovers in the whole series, with the characters actually visiting and interacting with each other (usually with ShadeMan.EXE, though The Count of Groundsoaking Blood shows up in Battle Network 6... not that western audiences would know. Margrave Rymer also makes an appearance in Star Force, while Ox Fire goes and agitates the undead to action in Lunar Knights. (Bonus points for them both being first bosses of the Playing with Fire inclination). Unfortunately, this last example has a good deal of Fridge Logic, considering the facts that nobody has the slightest clue how Taurus Fire (Ox Fire, technically) could command the forces of darkness, and that Margrave Rymer should be totally annihilated by that point, considering he goes down before the Lucian and Aaron actually meet. (Vampire death in the Boktaiverse is akindofwholesaleaffair).
Cyber Cyclops: The Joe-bots and Devils in the original series, the Pantheon X-drones & Valiants in Zero, the Galleons in ZX & many of the Reaverbots in Legends.
Cyber Space: The internet of the Battle Network series and its copy in the Star Force series. Also a green parallel world called Cyberspace in Zero 3 which could be updated with enemy data from either Battle Network 4 game, and whose use in a late stage could yield some Infinity Plus One Shoes.
Darker and Edgier: The X series to the Classic series, The Zero series to the X series and the Star Force series to the Battle Network series.
The last one is arguable. Without taking the third Star Force into consideration, it appears that the series cannot consistently decide whether it wants to be Darker and Edgier or Lighter and Softer than Battle Network. See the entries on both pages to see both sides of the argument.
Mega Man Online seems to be this judging by the trailer.
Then there is the aptly-titled fan game Mega Man: A Day in the Limelight, which allows you to control the Robot Masters from Mega Man 1.
Deadly Euphemism: Maverick Hunters and Reploids in X and Zero don't "die"; they get "retired". This may be a reference to Blade Runner, where the replicants, who are outwardly indistinguishable from human beings, are "retired" by hunters.
Disc One Final Boss: Dr. Cossack, Dark Man, and Mr. X in the original series. 6 had four levels with a real boss and a literal fake boss. You had to beat the real ones to get the Infinity Plus One Bird. Continued in the X series with the X-Hunters, Dr. Doppler, the Repliforce, Gate, Dynamo, Red and even Sigma himself. Done again in the Zero series with Copy X, and an arguable case with Serpent and/or Masters Albert and Thomas of ZX.
Down the Drain: Shadow Man, Toad Man and Pump Man's stages, and later, Toxic Seahorse's stage are the sewer types. In Shadow Man's case, it's really hard to tell if the level is a sewer or some kind of chemical plant or a boiler room full of fluids.
The Dragon: Bass to Wily in the original games, Vile to Sigma in X, Omega and later Craft to Weil in Zero, and lastly, Pandora & Prometheus to Master Albert in ZX.
Bass, not so much - Wily just made the mistake of programming him only with the purpose of defeating Mega Man. Because of this, Bass will do whatever he feels he needs to to defeat Mega Man, and while in 7 and 8 that meant sticking with Wily (for the Treble Boost upgrade and the Evil Energy upgrade), by the point of Power Battle and Power Fighters, Bass has decided that Wily is wasting time and resources on other robots, and decides to trash them all to prove he's the strongest and that Wily should ONLY focus on making him stronger. Finally, in Mega Man & Bass, Wily creates King to "replace" Bass. Bass responds poorly when he finds out, defeating King, trashing Wily's fortress, and quitting.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: a bridge is arguably dropped on a beloved character in the second Zero game. The argument generally revolves around the relatively low profile of the villain in question.
Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: all games except Legends, although most games use weaknesses to specific weapons like tops, needles and circular saw blades instead of classical elements. Rock-Paper-Scissors-Thunderbolt-Laser-Tactical Nuke...
Evil Twin: Mega Man Juno (in name only) to Mega Man Volnutt/Trigger, in the mangas there is also iX/Return X for X. In Powered Up you meet "Mega Man?" in place of the normal robot master when you play as one in his own level.
There's also the pitifully-weak copy of Zero from the ending of X2...and the sequence's later Ironic Echo.
Everyone f-f-f-f-forgets C-c-c-c-c-copy-X. He th-th-thinks he's a h-h-h-h-hero...
Excuse Plot: In 3, Dr. Wily is helping Dr. Light on a "peace-keeping robot" when everything goes wrong. In 4, it's the new Dr. Cossack who makes threats. In 5, it appears Proto Man has kidnapped Dr. Light. In 6, a man called Mr. X tries to take over the world. In Mega Man & Bass, a robot named King steals from both Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. In 9, the blame for the rampage is pinned on Dr. Light. In 10, a virus infects robots. In V, nine robots from space arrive to conquer the Earth. Guess who is responsibleevery single time.
Lampshaded in the titles of the Bragging Rights Reward listings in both 9 and 10, where they don't even pretend to hide the name of the final boss.
There's Rock (the original), X (the successor), Vent and Aile (who inherit X's powers and thus his responsibilities), Volnutt (who feels like doing the right thing), Lan and Hub (Volnutt split across two characters), and Geo and Omega (not THATOmega, mind you).
Similarly, you have Roll, Alia, Ciel (an Expy to Alia), Prairie (as much as the Roll role can be fulfilled beyond X), Roll Caskett (Alia's prototype going by game release dates), Mayl and Roll.EXE (more The Chick than anything else), and your choice of either Luna Platz or Sonia Strumm.
There are several guys that fulfill the Dr. Wily template, like Dr. Weil and Master Albert. Special mention goes to the Battle Network series, where he actually is Dr. Wily, albeit that universe's version of him.
A rather interesting case comes with Proto Man and Zero. Zero is obviously based on Proto Man, but Proto Man in the EXE series has hair, uses a sword and is a member of a law-enforcement league like Zero. This basically means Proto Man in the EXE series is an Expy of an Expy of his original series counterpart. Go figure.
On a wider scale, Mega Man himself shares quite a few tropes in common with a certain granddaddy of anime tropes. Given the origins of the franchise, this isn't surprising.
Interesting fact: While most of the games take place in 20XX or 21XX, the first game took place in 200X. You lied to us, Capcom. Most fans opt to ignore that and just have the entire Classic series take place in "20XX", allowing ample time for robots to run amuck and kill us all.
There're also hundreds on fangames with fanfic plots, for example, the (discontinued) Mega Man 21XX, which included a AI copy of Dr Light in a combat robot body, and various fan-characters.
And that's not even getting into all the Sprite Comics out there, most of which were inspired by Bob and George.
The Farmer And The Viper: In Mega Man 7, Bass gets critically damaged and is warped to Dr. Light's lab for repair. After Bass is repaired, he ransacks the lab.
Flash of Pain: Enemies tend to do that when damaged.
Lurerre the Abysroid from ZX as well - the original version has it switching between a cutesy childish voice and an evil punky childish voice. Presumably cut from the US version, along with all the voice acting.
Gaiden Game: Almost every series has at least one:
Classic has Mega Man and Bass, as well as the Game Boy mini series.
X has the Xtreme games and the RPGCommand Mission.
Legends has the PrequelMisadventures of Tron Bonne, and the mobile phone games Great Adventure on 5 Islands! and Rockman DASH Golf.
Battle Network has Battle Chip Challenge and Network Transmission.
Game Mod: CutmanMike's Mega Man 8 Bit Deathmatch standalone mod for Skulltag got it's inspiration from the classic 6 games but also includes a few things from 9 and 10.
Glass Cannon: Poor Ruby-Spears Elec Man. He's still got his powerful Thunder Beam, but try to think of an instance where he doesn't go down in one hit.
Well to be fair this trope did exist in the games as well, one good example is Metal Man from 2. He never did take damage well (even with his own weapon against him) but his weapon the Metal Blade is known as one of the most effective weapons in the series. Elec Man is also a Glass Cannon in the games—he can kill you in three hits, but if you know the right weapon to use on him, he won't live very long.
Splash Woman is this in 9. She's the only robot master who takes twice as much damage from the Mega Buster. However, her Laser Trident is the most damaging attack that any robot master can do to you. If she hits you with it, you will feel it.
A God Am I: Sigma and later Lumine in X, Omega and Dr. Weil in Zero (though inverted for the latter, as he calls himself a "devil"), Master Albert in ZX.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Good guys like Axl and Grey have clean, slightly discolored cuts. Bad guys like Sigma and Red have bizarre, painful-looking ones, like Sigma's purple burn scars.
Heart Container: The Heart Tanks in X and ZX, HPMemory in Battle Network.
Heel Face Turn: Wily pulls this several times, only to reveal it was yet another plot. Several straight examples exist, such as Dr. Cossack. Even Quick Man, a robot master built purely by Wily blocks a shot meant for Mega Man at one point.
Hijacked by Ganon: Pretty much every Classic game where there's a different villain will ultimately wind up having Wily as the real villain.
If you think on it, he also hijacked the Megaman X series as well since he was the one who created the maverick virus and its carrier, Zero. As well, Megaman Battle Network (Save four and five) are either because of or directly influenced by that continuity's Wily too.
Sigma is also notorious for doing this. The worst offense probably goes to X6, where the Big Bad is Gate, and at the last second Sigma shows up, seemingly just to keep with the tradition of having him being the final boss.
An Ice Person: Ice Man in 1, Blizzard Man in 6, Freeze Man in 7, Frost Man in 8, Cold Man in Mega Man and Bass, Chill Man in 10, Chill Penguin in X1, Blizzard Buffalo in X3, Frost Walrus in X4, Blizzard Wolfang in X6, and Avalanche Yeti in X8.
Also Leviathan from Zero and her biometal Model L, coupled with the Megamen using/copying it/her in ZX
The original series had the Magnet Beam, Item 1/2/3, Rush Coil/Marine/Jet, and the Balloon item.
X series had weapons that functioned this way- the charged Shotgun Ice, Crystal Hunter (needed an enemy to be trapped), the charged Frost Spear (only in the water), and Lightning Web (more of an improvised wall)
Left Hanging: only 3 series have ever been given proper conclusion (with the third only because of bad reception). The rest? Not counting the Gaiden Games, two currently have very blatant Sequel Hooks that have yet to be followed up, while the third sits on a depressing Cliff Hanger, and it's already been a long-Orphaned Series! With the subsequent releases of the most recent Classic games, fans are hoping that it won't be long 'til Capcom remembers the rest of the series mythology.
The Dreamwave comic set the stage for a Mega Man/Mega Man X crossover story but Dreamwave shut down.
Leitmotif: The "Boss Select" music from the original games, plus Proto Man's whistle as a briefer example. In fact, just about every recurring character has one, usually the BGM from the level they first appeared in. Mega Man himself often has the title theme from 2. X & Zero and Axl are a bit of a weird case as they seem to get a new one every game, although Zero's music from X1 is reused in Zero 1.
Lighter and Softer: The ZX series to the Zero seies, bringing it down to the X series' level. The Legends series is even moreso, bringing it back to the level of the original series, at least at first glance.
The manga for both the Zero series and Star Force are a lot more comedic. In fact, the Zero manga loses all seriousness with its second set of chapters. It somehow turned Omega into a Harmless Villain. And it's hilarious.
Light Is Not Good: From the looks, anyway, but curiously, there's so many light-themed villains in the series. Maybe a Stealth Pun for Dr. Light?
Classic series has King (from Mega Man and Bass) who's covered in gold color.
X series has (arguably) Double, Gate (in his special gold armor) and, more fittingly, the angelic Lumine.
Zero series has Copy-X. Also Omega after he absorbed the Dark Elf's powers, and Dr. Weil after he fused with Ragnarok satellite.
By extension, Model W users in ZX series also qualify.
Lethal Lava Land: Fire Man, Heat Man, Flame Man, Magma Man...you get the picture.
And maybe Shadow Man.
Lovable Coward: Mega Man's best friend Alan from the Dreamwave comics.
Luck-Based Mission: X5 is one case where most of the game is one big luck based mission. Several sidequests and minigames in Legends also seem to depend excessively on luck.
Mad Bomber: Bomb Man from 1, Napalm Man from 5, Burst Man from 7, and Grenade Man from 8.
And it only complicates matters with the wild speculation that Classic Dr. Wily is also Serges, Isoc, and/or Weil.
At least Word Of God has confirmed that Wily isn't Weil, but has noted the irony involved.
That one's mostly the fault of bad localizers - the Zero villain's original name is Dr. Vile, and the fact that the evil Live Metal from Rockman ZX was called Model V (and was changed to Model W for Mega Man ZX) pretty much confirms that this was the intended Romanization. Presumably, Vile became Weil to avoid confusing American fans, since the US version already HAD a character named Vile - VAVA from the X series. Of course, it was already too late for that anyway, since a huge fan rumour had already made Western fans thing VAVA would be returning in Zero 3 due to mention of "Vile" in either Zero 2 or some Zero-related material...
Worth noting that if you say Weil with German phonetics, it sounds like Vile, which is probably how he got the English name.
Mascot Mook: Mets and Sniper Joes. Both appeared in the first game, Mets got reincarnations in the X series (with cute little headsets), Zero series (with an elf specifically making every on-screen enemy change into a Met) and Battle Network series (armed with pickaxes). Sniper Joes have mainly stuck to the original series, but their design was sent up in the Legends series where the third dimension allows you to get behind them more easily, then laugh as they collapse to the ground from a bullet to the back.
Mooks: Many examples exist, but the most blatant examples are probably the servbots in the Legends series, who tend to swarm en-masse and put themselves in harm's way.
Although The Misadventures of Tron Bonne gave several individual bots unique stats and personalities.
The existence of the Battle Network series just further hammers the point: In the universe where Light ditched robotics in favor of network research, the future turned out reasonably peaceful and definitely much less armageddon-prone, Wily himself remaining a bitter and partially powerless shadow of his alternate self, unable to cause as much damage with the net as he did with robots.
It's hardly fair to criticise Dr. Light on those grounds, considering that historically speaking, nearly every initially-benevolent technology imaginable has been harnessed for ill by others. Furthermore, the use of the Battle Network series to prove Dr. Light "broke it" is actually wrong, because that series revealed that developing robotics was actually Wily's idea, and Dr. Light indeed foresaw the misuse of them by such men as Wily turned out to be; Light's plan was always to improve networking technology instead.
Nintendo Hard: The entire Zero line, as well as the original series.
Virtually any instance that involves the death spikes or disappearing platforms. Though the lifts in Guts Man's stage are another infamous example.
Mega Man and Bass. Where to begin?
Since it's obvious that some of the areas had Bass' double jump in mind, areas like Tengu Man's stage, or the jumps between conveyor belts in Dynamo Man's stage that allow no room for failure can be a nightmare when using Mega Man.
Burner Man. One of the most infamous bosses in the series due to his difficulty. What makes him even more of a nightmare is the fact that the weapon that should make him die faster actually makes the fight harder! That's right, his weakness actually makes him harder to take down.
Then there's Dynamo Man, who aside from having several annoying attacks, can regenerate to full health when his health is low...or when it isn't low.
Non-Standard Game Over: What you get if you refuse to fight Woodman or lose to the final bosses in Super Adventure Rockman. The first is depressing, the other terrifying.
Off Model: You could tell which episodes of the Ruby-Spears cartoon had competent animators ("The Beginning", "Brain Bots", "Crime of the Century") and which ones didn't ("Curse of the Lion Men", "Night of the Living Monster Bots").
And if we want to get nit-picky, no one (on our side of the pond, anyway) could decide exactly what Mega Man and the rest of the cast looked like until at least 8.
One Bullet at a Time: The side-scrolling games typically limit you to three uncharged bullets onscreen at a time. Later games sometimes include ways around this, and extra characters typically have different limits.
One-Winged Angel: Wily and Sigma love to use this a little too much. And Capcom overdoes it in Zero, with the transformation not even limited to just a Final Boss.
Orange-Blue Contrast: Considering the main character is very blue, this is pretty much a given. More obvious in the series' artwork than the games themselves.
Petal Power: Plant Man. Wood Man might also count.
Don't forget the flower midboss in 9 and its arena of GIANT ROTATING PETALS OF DEATH!
Rospark from ZX definitely counts by being a flower. A flamboyant one at that.
Playing with Fire: Fire Man in 1, Heat Man in 2, Flame Man in 6, Magma Man in 9, Solar Man in 10 and Burner Man in Mega Man and Bass.
Flame Mammoth in X, Flame Stag in X2, Magma Dragoon in X4 (complete withHadoken and Shoryuken attacks), Mattrex in X5, Blaze Heatnix in X6, Flame Hyenard in X7, and Burn Rooster in X8.
Post Script Season: X6 onwards for the X series. Inafking had in fact by that time moved on to the Zero series.
So has everyone else.
Power Crystal: On several robots and later Reploids, got especially common after X
Prequel: The Misadventures of Tron Bonne to the Legends games..
Recurring Riff: In 10, the melody of one of the intro songs is heard again in the last Wily stage.
Remember the New Guy: Auto doesn't show up until 7, but the other characters act like he's always been there.
Red Herring: the infamous "9 mystery." Capcom's Seth Killian, who revealed the existence of the mystery, has himself stated numerous times that it's not really something big and that it doesn't really change anything, yet people are still searching for it to this day.
Reverse Shrapnel: Some of the Robot Masters weapons are like this, the final boss in Legends 2 uses it with explosive missiles.
Ridiculously Human Robots: Reploids, although to be fair, they are almost never seen in non-combat situations.
Right Makes Might: Or more accurately, fighting for a cause makes might. This is a recurring theme throughout the series, either with regards to Rock's battles with Bass, X and his clone (and for that matter, Zero and X's clone), Zero in general (cue the memes, the speeches, etcetera), and most literally with Vent and/or Aile essentially fighting off Model W on sheer willpower to gain back their own power.
Robo Family: All of Doctor Light's robots are considered to be a family, even with Theme Naming, and Mega Man and Roll are specifically stated to be siblings.
X also counts as being a sibling, though a more removed one.
Self-Imposed Challenge: Several, but a common one is to beat all the bosses (Including in the final levels) using only the arm cannon. Or without taking any damage.
This becomes the basis for several in-game acheivements in 9 and 10.
Shock and Awe: Elec Man in 1, Spark Man in 3, Stardroid Jupiter in V , Cloud Man in 7, Clown Man in 8, Dynamo Man in Mega Man and Bass, Plug Man in 9 and Sheep Man in 10 all have some form of electricity-based attacks.
Spark Mandrill in X, Volt Catfish in X3, Web Spider in X4, Squid Adler in X5, Tornado Tonion's Volt Tornado in X7, and Gigabolt Man-o'-War in X8. It's safe to say that Shock and Awe powers are the second-most popular in all of Mega Man continuity, only behind fire-themed attacks.
Don't forget Area D-2 of Mega Man ZX - it's design and miniboss fights are a direct homage to the first level of Mega Man X. Even more appropriate given that at that point in the game, you can only wear Model X.
On that note, the first fortress level in X5 (the one with the Shadow Devilboss fight) is structured nearly identically to Quick Man's stage from 2. In the next level, you fight an upgraded version of Rangda Bangda, the otherwise-forgettable face-like security system from Mega Man X.
The Hadouken and Shoryuken, signature attacks of Ryu and Ken, respectively; Zero even adapted the latter into one of his most recurring techniques. And then, there's also Omega's finisher, Shungokusatsu...
Several elements of Proto Man seem to come from Racer X and Kamen Rider. Specifically, his trademark whistle before appearing may be a reference to Kamen Rider Stronger, who did likewise.
The Deadly Euphemism for Reploid death in the X series, "retirement", is a subtle nod to Blade Runner, which is arguably one of the influences on the early X series.
Sitting on the Roof: The opening cutscene and title screen of Mega Man 2 has Rock hanging out on the roof of a building until the player starts the game.
Sound of No Damage: If an attack can't hurt an enemy you hear a metallic "ping", and in most cases the projectile ricochets off.
Spell My Name with an S: A classic example. Crashman or Clashman? Various promotional materials of the original 2 used both interchangably, and either one makes equal sense in context. To this day there's debate over what it should be, even though Capcom seems to have settled on "Crashman"
For the franchise as a whole, you'll probably notice that many people, even on this very wiki, tend to misspell the names of the characters on a regular basis, something that was not helped by the title screens of certain games. In the original series, the main character and all of the corresponding Robot Masters are two word names (i.e. Mega Man, Proto Man, Guts Man, Cut Man, Metal Man, Shadow Man, etc.), as opposed to the Japanese versions (i.e. Rockman). This naming convention is retained throughout the X, Zero, and ZX series, with Legends being the only exception (i.e. MegaMan Volnutt/Trigger, MegaMan Juno). The NetNavis in Battle Network and the MegaMan of Star Force follow Legends' example (i.e. two words but no spaces). There have been multiple Flame Wars over this, despite the games themselves affirming the above spellings.
Splash Damage: to defeat Dr. Wily you have to use Drill Bombs. However the bombs themselves bounce off his ship. To win you must detonate the bomb before it hits so that the Splash Damage of the explosion hits his weak spot.
Spikes of Doom: A staple of the series; in some levels, they carpet the ceiling and floor. Some bosses may even try throwing you against them as well.
Theme Naming: Recurring robots have music-themed names, all Classic robot masters end in "Man", most X baddies have Species Surnames, Enemies in the Zero series have names based on mythology while allies have names of French birds, and many of the Reaverbots and enemy machines in Legends are given German names (Fokkerwolf, Gesellschaft, Gemeinschaft, Marlwolf, etc.).
The Stardroids in Rockman World 5 are named after planets, and their Bio-Devil is called Dark Moon; the ancient weapon they're based on is called Sunstar in English translations and Sun God in Japan.
Tomato in the Mirror: The Legends version of Mega Man is revealed to be an incredibly advanced form of Reaverbot.
More like Tomato In the Dyson Sphere, given that everybody else who isn't an Ancient is a Carbon, and the world's circled with Kill Sats armed to Kill 'Em All whenever the Ancients decide they've learned (or procreated) too much.
In Zero 3, there's the fact that, the role of The Herois the Heroic Knockoff while The Dragon's the original, only...the memories of the knockoff are real, indicating that he's still essentially the real Zero.
Trippy Finale Syndrome: In GB/World 2, Wily's castle walls are textured with Salvador Dali's melting clocks.
Unfortunate Names: Several of the Robot Masters, almost entirely due to the pervertedness of the fanbase. Hard Man is undoubtedly the most unfortunate victim.
Video Game Long Runners: as of 2009, the series ran for over 22 years, and there are 7 series, each of which have numerous installments on their own. The description section at the top of the page tells it all.
It actually holds a world record for this.
Video Game Remake: Wily Wars to 1-3, as well as Powered Up! and Maverick Hunter X to Mega Man and Mega Man X, respectively.
Mega Man 4 has the series' first example with Dust Man's trash compactor stage.
In Mega Man Zero, Aztec Falcon was fought in a trash compactor stage as well. It's different in the fact that you weren't the one being crushed, it was another Reploid. And you only had 75 seconds to beat the guy.
Mega Man X 2 has several sequences where you have to climb up between walls before they crush you. There's actually a robot who triggers this; if you kill it first (try charged-up Sonic Slicer), the walls won't move. Alas, there's no such trick for the similar traps in X3 and X7.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Some Robot Master weapons are considerably less useful than others, even considering the note in Weaksauce Weakness. The Super Arm from the first game and the Charge Kick in the fifth are two prominent examples. Top Spin counts, but only because its weapon energy usage is incredibly wonky.
Clearly, the people who cite Charge Kick don't know it makes you INVINCIBLE while sliding.
What Measure Is a Mook?: The Robot Masters/Mavericks. The regular Mechaniloid mooks are nonapplicable, because they are incapable of advanced thought, and truly are just machines.
Wolverine Publicity: Let's just say that Zero has appeared in some way or another in six out of seven series.
While Roll (and Tron Bonne) beat him to the punch in the crossovers, he's catching up there, too.
Within the Classic series alone, it seems Dr. Wily has a real soft spot for Gutsman—after skulls, his design may be the most common motif for Wily's machines.
Worthy Opponent: Bass to Mega Man, at least in the manga adaptation of the Battle Network series. Fefnir and Harpuia from the Zero series also view the titular character as their worthy opponent.
Xanatos Gambit: ZX. Done twice in Advent, thanks to both Master Albert and Master Thomas, the latter actually was devised to take out the former.
Prevalent in themes of the earlier series, most notably X5 and Zero 3.
Xtreme Kool Letterz: X, Zero, the "Xtreme" sidegames, the ZX series... Capcom seems to love this.
And "Xtreme" was all localization - the original games were "Cyber Missions" and "Soul Erasers".
Your Mad Scientist's in Another Castle: In 4-6, you have to go through two castles. The first one houses the fake villain (Wily in a disguise for 6), while you always go up against Wily in the latter.
3: Oh hey, you beat the masters! Now you get to fight through four MORE levels and beat the 2 Masters located in each! And when you're done with that, you can go fight Break Man! And THEN you can go fight Wily after you make it through the fortress!
You'd be surprised at how many people make this mistake, though it might be expected, given that the games he stars in have "Mega Man" in their titles. Even the manuals of the Zero games screw this up. But interestingly, the sequel series ZX introduces "Mega Man" as a descriptive term for any "chosen one" with the power to change the world — retroactively giving some logic to the term "Mega Man Zero". Furthermore, series director Keiji Inafune originally considered what is now Zero to be the new main/title character in the X series.
A while back, there was a statuette of "Rockman Accel" being sold through an official channel. Unless something really bizarre about Axl comes out in future games, this has even less justification.
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