Trivia / Mega Man

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• Acclaimed Flop: The game was well-received in its first release, but performed poorly in sales in the US. It did better overseas and exceeded Capcom's expectations, ultimately becoming a Sleeper Hit, but it still didn't give them confidence it would become a big franchise. As a result, the subsequent sequel was only greenlit as a minor side project...
• Creator Backlash:
  • While Keiji Inafune does not hate the original game at all, he wasn't happy with the early "Doughy" looking designs of the characters he designed for it in hindsight. Even as early as Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge, he felt his early designs hadn't aged well and made sure to revise them. In the G4 Mega Man special, he said that if someone came up to him with his early designs, he would say "Nope, these suck. Do 'em again."
  • Inafune was very unhappy with the infamously sloppy boxart for the game's US release. He blames it for the game's poor sales outside of Japan.
• Creator's Favorite: Elec Man is Keiji Inafune's favorite Robot Master, due to being the first robot he ever designed for the series.
• Dummied Out:
  • A number of graphics remain in the final game that aren't used, such as a chain of spheres for the Super Cutter enemy, a door for Dr. Light's lab, and some frames of Dr. Light talking.
  • Remnants of an unused stage layout exist in stage ID 0A, past the game's normal ten levels. It's unknown what it was intended for, though it's theorised to be a cut Wily stage.
  • Like Elec Man, Copy Robot is programmed to jump over small walls if it comes across one. However, this behavior can't be seen in-game, as there are no walls or Super Arm blocks for Copy Robot to interact with in its boss room.
• Inspiration for the Work: The developers were largely inspired by tokusatsu shows and anime/manga, with Akira Kitamura in a 2011 interview specifically citing Astro Boy, Neo Human Casshern, Kamen Rider, Kikaider, Time Bokan, and Ninja Captor.
• Invisible Advertising: The game had almost no advertising in the U.S. outside of a single magazine ad in Nintendo Fan Club Magazine.
• Manual Misprint: The English manual has a number of inaccuracies, such as claiming the Yashichi is worth 100,000 points (while omitting its refill properties), and that pressing down will make the player crouch (something that wouldn't be in a Mega Man game until Mega Man X5).
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: It's sometimes claimed that Mega Man was developed as an Astro Boy game, which then became an original property after they lost the rights. However, no developer interview corroborates this.
• Refitted for Sequel:
  • At one point, a support character that would have given life energy and weapon energy to the player was planned, but ultimately not included. This role would eventually be realized with Eddie in Mega Man 4.
  • Concept art exists for a number of enemies that didn't make it into the game, but would appear in later games (such as Springer in Mega Man 2 and Okosutobon in Mega Man 9).
• Sleeper Hit: While the game flopped in the US, it sold decently in Japan.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, there were supposed to be eight Robot Masters, as with every future installment in the series. However, by the time seven of them were designed, system constraints necessitated cutting the number back to six. The one that had been the least developed by that point, and thus was the prime candidate to be cut, was an adhesive-themed robot named Bond Man who had been designed by none other than Keiji Inafune himself. To this day, the only evidence of his existence is a single concept sketch drawn by manga artist Hitoshi Ariga, based on Inafune's description, and a passing mention in one of the Archie comics. Interestingly enough, while he's virtually unheard of in the West, he's actually got a bit of a cult following in Japan as "the legendary phantom Robot Master". This cult status is precisely why he wasn't revived for Powered Up, instead allowing him to remain a legend among fans.
  • Quite a few characters looked different in the concept art. Dr. Light had a mustache instead of a full beard, and Dr. Wily had more hair and wore glasses.
  • Early in development, before Mega Man himself was designed and the gameplay system determined, Akira Kitamura considered making Cut Man the main character, with his head-mounted scissors acting as a major mechanic. This idea would eventually be realized in Mega Man Powered Up.
  • An early version of the game's plot involved Roll being kidnapped, with a Humongous Mecha version of her appearing as a Wily stage boss. In the final game, Roll only appears in the ending, going unnamed both in-game and in the manual.
  • Speaking of whom, the character designers originally wanted Roll to have Girlish Pigtails. However, they instead decided to give her a 1950s-esque ponytail to match her and her brother being named after rock n' roll music.
  • Mega Man was intended to have a symbol appear on his helmet when using a weapon as a Shout-Out to Ninja Captor. The cyan protrusion on Mega Man's helmet is a remnant of this mechanic, which was rejected (seemingly out of legal concerns) and replaced with his colors changing.
  • A design document publically revealed in 2023 contains many concepts that were different from the final game:
    • Among the eight bosses designed at that point were a Bubble Man (seemingly an early version of Ice Man), whose weapon fired bubbles the player could ride on, and an Oil Man, whose weapon created oil slicks that enemies would slip on. Additionally, Bond Man had a different design to the more commonly-known Ariga one, and he used a handheld helicopter blade to fly. This helicopter is also included as a weapon, likely as a utility before the Magnet Beam was created.
    • Mega Man initially had a mask similar to what MegaMan.EXE would use years later, and instead of a cannon, he fired shots out from his hand. Additionally, the Special Weapons would change the shape of his arm/cannon, something Mega Man 11 would eventually use.
    • At one point, the Robot Masters would attack Mega Man directly during their stages, instead of waiting at the end as they do in the final game.

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