Mega Man/Gameplay

Mega Man
Mega Man is a robot creation of Dr. Thomas Light. He started out as a simple assistant robot named Rock, along with his sister Roll. When Dr. Wily reprogrammed six construction robots created by Dr. Light to obey his commands and turn against the very civilization that they were designed to help, Dr. Light knew something had to be done. Due to his programmed sense of right and wrong, Rock volunteered to be converted into a fighting robot. Thus, from that day forth, he became known as "Mega Man" (Rockman in Japan).

Mega Man possesses many abilities that make him stronger and give him more endurance than an ordinary human. Two of his greatest assets are his cybernetic legs which give him tremendous jumping ability, and the Mega Buster affixed on his arm. But the ability which may possibly be his best, is the ability to copy and adapt the weaponry of opponents that he meets and defeats. This allows him to take a weapon from one enemy and utilize it against another.

Mega Man can withstand a great deal of punishment, but he is not invulnerable. A health meter is visible at all times in the upper left corner of the screen. As Mega Man takes damage, this meter will decrease. He can replenish this meter by collecting health items. If the meter is depleted, Mega Man will lose one life. He will also die instantly if he falls through the bottom of the screen, or touches the deadly spikes that line certain floors. Mega Man has a supply of lives. He begins with two extra lives, and can earn more by collecting 1-Up items. If he runs out of lives, the game will be over. You will be offered the chance to continue as many times as you like, but there is no save or password system on the original Famicom/NES version, so you will lose any progress when you turn the machine off.

Mega Man's primary weapon, the Mega Buster, has unlimited ammunition so it will never run out. However, any weapons that he acquires from another Robot Master will have a limited supply. When using such a weapon, a second meter will appear along side Mega Man's health meter. This new meter will indicate how much supply of ammunition he has left to fire this weapon. Ammunition can be collected by collecting ammo items. These items can be used to replenish any weapon, but Mega Man must be actively using a weapon in order to collect more ammo from it. Collecting ammo while using the regular Mega Buster has no effect.

Weapons
Mega Man can acquire more weapons than just his default Mega Buster (his arm cannon). To do so, he has to beat a Robot Master. The only non-combat weapon in the game is acquirable by finding the Magnet Beam.

Weapons provide new ways of attacking, giving Mega Man projectiles that can move at different trajectories (e.g. vertically), a shield, and other effects. They are particularly useful for defeating the bosses in the game, as most bosses have vulnerabilities that make some weapons many times stronger than others. Knowing these weaknesses lowers the difficulty of each boss.

It also has its own energy bar that will appear next to Mega Man's HP bar. With each use, the energy bar will be reduced, similar to when Mega Man takes damage. The rate of reduction depends on the weapon. To refill the bar, acquire weapon parts or a yashichi, or die to where you must continue.

When equipped, each weapon will color Mega Man to match the robot master that he beat.

Health and weapon power
Mega Man starts with a full bar of hit points (HP), which can be seen at the top left of the screen. The bar has small segments. Each segment is an individual unit of HP. When Mega Man takes damage, one or more units of HP will be removed. When all HP are removed, Mega Man will die and one of two things will happen. If you have extra lives, Mega Man will be revived at the last check point. If no check point has been reached, then Mega Man will be revived at the start of the level. If all extra lives have run out and Mega Man dies, it is game over. Luckily, players can continue from this point so the entire game does not have to be re-completed.

When you beat a Robot Master and acquire its ability (see weapons for more details), and you equip that ability, a weapon power bar will appear next to Mega Man's HP bar. The bar is color coded to match Mega Man's new color scheme (each weapon has its own color). The weapon power bar will drain as Mega Man attacks when a weapon is equipped. If the bar runs out, he cannot use the weapon. Luckily, the weapon power bar can be refilled by acquiring weapon power power-ups or the yashichi. Unlike HP, the only way to refill the bar by dying is if you get a game over.

Game over screen
The game over screen is a blue screen that shows your score. Two choices are given: continue, or select a level. If you choose to continue, you will begin at the start of the level you were just playing. Otherwise, you can choose to select a new level. In either case, your score will be reset to 0000000.

Score
This is the only Mega Man game in the series that has a score. Score is only used for competitive purposes. It is erased easily, does not affect the game in any way, and does not get recorded.

Ways to increase your score:
 * Once you select a Robot Master to fight, the loading screen will show you the "clear points" (see below) that will be rewarded if you beat the stage.
 * Destroy an enemy robot. This results in small amounts like 300 points. See ../Enemies for how many points each enemy gives.
 * Acquire bonus points power-ups. After beating a stage, the number of bonus points power-ups will be multiplied by 1000 and added to your score.

Clear points
The clear points for the first six bosses are chosen randomly between 50,000 to 100,000 points (in increments of 10,000 points). You can tell that this is random because when you go to choose a Robot Master, the clear points will rotate quickly between all of the possibilities until it stops, similar to a slot machine. If you start a new game, pick a stage and note the clear points, then reset and do it again, then there's no guarantee that you'll get the same amount both times. The final level always rewards 200,000 points.

Power-ups
Power-ups are items that can be picked up by Mega Man. They are placed in specific locations of each level. When an enemy is destroyed, it has a small chance of dropping any of these power-ups, except for the Magnet Beam.

Note: when an enemy drops a power-up, the power-up can be embedded in the wall the enemy was in. If that occurs, you will be unable to get the item. If an enemy is killed near the top edge of the screen, it is possible that the power-up will be "deleted" - that is, instead of falling to the ground like it normally would, it would be removed from the game no longer exist. This rule also applies to enemies themselves, such as flying penguins and bomb bullets, which will essentially die if they touch the top of the screen.