Category:Mega Man: Difference between revisions

Mega Man
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Year introduced	[[1987]]
Genre(s)

Mega Man, also written alternatively as MegaMan and Megaman and also known as Rockman (Japanese: ロックマン, Rokkuman and written in alternative as Rock Man and RockMan) in Japan and other Asian countries, is a Japanese 7 series video game franchise created by Capcom, starring the robot character Mega Man, or one of his many counterparts. Mega Man, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES in 1987, began a series of over 50 games on multiple systems. By March 2015, the series had sold approximately thirty million copies worldwide,[1] and is often cited as one of the most renowned video game franchises of all time.

Mega Man Backstory

To understand the story of Mega Man, one must look back at the events which occur before the game takes place, and to do so, once can look to sources such as Rockman Perfect Memories which have taken the time to document the information reported by Capcom over the years in regards to the series:

The story of the Mega Man universe begins in the mid-20th century with the birth of Thomas Light and Albert W. Wily (circa 1958). These men would become friends and attend the same university, studying the field of electronics and eventually receiving PhDs. By the 1990s, the two men would go into business together and form a company called Light Labs, a team whose ambition it was to use computer and electronic technology to benefit mankind in the coming era.

In the early 21st century, Light Labs made its first leaps in the field of robotics, creating the Sniper Joe police robots, Mettool construction robots, and various others to benefit mankind. Yet, Light and Wily both realized the potential of their project. They wanted to create robots that were human-like. They wanted to build robots that contained artificial intelligence within them.

Thus, around the year 2005, Light Labs produced the first one of such robots: Proto Man. Proto Man was based on the design of the Sniper Joe robots, but was instilled with an artificial intelligence unlike anything the world had ever seen. Yet, Proto possessed a true sense of independence, one that made him much like true human beings, and because of this he ran from the lab before his diagnostic testing was completed.

Still, Light and Wily did not give up. The following year they set to work on building a pair of robots, thinking that two would work together and overcome the independence issue. It was thus that Rock and Roll were born. Rock became the lab's new assistant and Roll became a housekeeper. With the success of this project, the two scientists went on to create eight more robots, each for industrial assistance purposes: Fire Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Cut Man, Guts Man, Elec Man, Oil Man and Time Man.

It was for the success of these projects that Dr. Thomas Light received the Nobel Prize for Robot Master Design in 2007, an award which Wily felt he deserved as well.

Note: In the original version of the story, Doctors Light and Wily only built six robots in their industrial series, but Capcom modified the story with the release of Mega Man: Powered Up to contain two additional Robot Masters in order to make the game more in-line with its sequels.

Game list

The following table shows all the main video games in the Mega Man franchise, organized by sub-series, excluding remakes and compilations.

Classic Mega Man

Sorting the table by N., the games will be listed according to plot continuity.

N.	Original title	Localized title	Year	Genre	Systems and remakes
1	Rockman	Mega Man	1986		NES, PSP (Powered Up)
2	Rockman 2: Dr.ワイリーの謎 Rockman 2: Dr. Wily's Mystery	Mega Man 2	1988		NES
3	Rockman 3: Dr.ワイリーの最期!? Rockman 3: Dr. Wily's Death!?	Mega Man 3	1990		NES
4	Rockman 4: 新たなる野望!! Rockman 4: A New Ambition!!	Mega Man 4	1991		NES
5	Rockman 5: ブルースの罠!? Rockman 5: Blues' Trap!?	Mega Man 5	1992		NES
6	Rockman 6: 史上最大の戦い!! Rockman 6: The Greatest Battle in History!	Mega Man 6	1993		NES
Handheld games
2.5	Rockman World	Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge	1991		GB
3.5	Rockman World 2	Mega Man II	1992		GB
4.5	Rockman World 3	Mega Man III	1992		GB
5.5	Rockman World 4	Mega Man IV	1993		GB
6.5	Rockman World 5	Mega Man V	1994		SGB
Later games
3.2	Rockman Mega World	Mega Man The Wily Wars	1993		SMD
7	Rockman 7: 宿命の対決! Rockman 7: Showdown of Fate!	Mega Man 7	1995		SNES
7.5	Rockman: The Power Battle	Mega Man: The Power Battle	1995	Fighting	Arcade PS2, Xbox, NGC
7.6	Rockman 2: The Power Fighters	Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters	1996	Fighting	Arcade PS2, Xbox, NGC
8	Rockman 8: Metal Heroes	Mega Man 8	1996		PS1, Saturn
8.5	Rockman & Forte	Mega Man & Bass	1998		SNES GBA
9	Rockman 9: 野望の復活!! Rockman 9: Revival of Ambition!!	Mega Man 9	2008		Wii, PS3, X360
10	Rockman 10: 宇宙からの脅威!! Rockman 10: Threat from Outer Space!!	Mega Man 10	2010		Wii, PS3, X360
10.5	Street Fighter X Mega Man	Street Fighter X Mega Man	2012		MS-Win
Spin-offs
4.6	ワイリー&ライトのRockBoard ザッツ*パラダイス Wily & Light's Rockboard: That's Paradise	-	1993	Monopoly	NES
4.7	Rockman's Soccer	Mega Man Soccer	1994	Sport	SNES
7.6	Rockman Battle & Chase	Mega Man Battle & Chase	1997	Racing	PS1 NGC, PS2

Mega Man X, Zero, ZX

These three sub-series are set in the same fictional universe as the classic one, but they are set decades or centuries in the future.

N.	Original title	Localized title	Year	Genre	Systems
X1	Rockman X	Mega Man X	1993		SNES, MS-DOS, PSP
X2	Rockman X2 vs. X-Hunters	Mega Man X2	1995		SNES
X3	Rockman X3	Mega Man X3	1995		SNES, Saturn, PS1, MS-Win
X4	Rockman X4	Mega Man X4	1997		Saturn, PS1, MS-Win
X5	Rockman X5	Mega Man X5	2000		PS1, MS-Win
X2.5	Rockman X: Cyber Mission	Mega Man Xtreme	2000		GBC
X3.5	Rockman X: Soul Eraser	Mega Man Xtreme 2	2001		GBC
X6	Rockman X6	Mega Man X6	2001		PS1, MS-Win
X7	Rockman X7	Mega Man X7	2004		PS2, MS-Win
X8	Rockman X8: Paradise Lost	Mega Man X8	2004		PS2, MS-Win
X9	Rockman X: Command Mission	Mega Man X: Command Mission	2004	Role-playing	NGC, PS2
Mega Man Zero
Z1	Rockman Zero	Mega Man Zero	2002		GBA
Z2	Rockman Zero 2	Mega Man Zero 2	2003		GBA
Z3	Rockman Zero 3	Mega Man Zero 3	2004		GBA
Z4	Rockman Zero 4	Mega Man Zero 4	2005		GBA
Mega Man ZX
ZX1	Rockman ZX	Mega Man ZX	2006		NDS
ZX2	Rockman ZX Advent	Mega Man ZX Advent	2007		NDS

Mega Man Legends

"D.A.S.H." stands for "Diggers Adventure Story in Halcyon age".

N.	Original title	Localized title	Year	Genre	Systems
1	Rockman DASH 鋼の冒険心 Rockman D.A.S.H.: Adventurous Heart of Steel	Mega Man Legends	1997	Role-playing	PS1, N64, MS-Win, PSP
0	トロンにコブン Tron and Henchmen	Misadventues of Tron Bonne	1999	Action-adventure	PS1
2	Rockman DASH エピソード２ 大いなる遺産 Rockman D.A.S.H. Episode 2: Great Inheritance	Mega Man Legends 2	2000	Role-playing	PS1

Mega Man Battle Network & Star Force

Two series of role-playing games with similar gameplay and several elements in common. Star Force is the sequel of Battle Network, centuries later.

N.	Original title	Localized title	Year	Genre	Systems
BN1	Battle Network Rockman.EXE	Mega Man Battle Network	2001	Role-playing	GBA
BN2	Battle Network Rockman.EXE 2	Mega Man Battle Network 2	2001	Role-playing	GBA
BN3	Battle Network Rockman.EXE 3	Mega Man Battle Network 3	2002	Role-playing	GBA
BN1.5	Rockman.EXE Transmission	Mega Man Network Transmission	2003	Role-playing	NGC
BN3.5	Rockman.EXE Battle Chip GP	Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge	2003	Programming	GBA
BN4	Rockman.EXE 4 Tournament	Mega Man Battle Network 4	2004	Role-playing	GBA
BN5	Rockman.EXE 5	Mega Man Battle Network 5	2005	Role-playing	GBA, NDS
BN6	Rockman.EXE 6	Mega Man Battle Network 6	2005	Role-playing	GBA
Mega Man Star Force
SF1	Shooting Star Rockman	Mega Man Star Force	2006	Role-playing	NDS
SF2	Shooting Star Rockman 2	Mega Man Star Force 2	2007	Role-playing	NDS
SF3	Shooting Star Rockman 3	Mega Man Star Force 3	2008	Role-playing	NDS

Classic series

Gameplay evolution

The following table shows the evolution of gameplay elements. The Tanks column shows not only the maximum number of tanks, but also their type (E, M, W or S). Game boy titles are inserted in the table so that their gameplay elements are consistent with the general gameplay evolution.

Gallery

• Title screens

NES titles		Game Boy titles
Original (Japan)	Localized (North America & Europe)	Original (Japan)	Localized (North America & Europe)

• Notes:
  • The official title of Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge is different from its true title.
  • The true titles of the localized NES games and of the localized Game Boy games are identical.

Trivia

Spelling of character names

There is some debate as to what the proper spelling of the name of each character actually is. The reason this happened is because throughout each mini-series, Capcom's translators have mixed up their naming scheme, even within a series; anyway, the original name is always written "Rockman".

The localized name is sometimes written "Mega Man", sometimes "Megaman". For example, Mega Man is the title of the games, however when used in a game like Mega Man 7 the characters reference him in text as "Megaman" (usually in all capitals).

Originally the naming scheme for the bosses was the name of the boss plus "man" together as one word (like Bombman), however in Mega Man 3 and IV, they started putting spaces in them (like with "Charge Man"). This continued until Mega Man 6 where they returned to the original scheme with names like "Centaurman" and "Windman". In Mega Man 7 they switched it to the alternate way again, this time presenting bosses such as "Freeze Man". Many years later, with the creation of Mega Man Powered Up, they returned to the original scheme where they supported the names like "Gutsman".