Mega Man (series)

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This article is about the video game series. For the original game, see Mega Man (video game). For the character, see Mega Man (character).

Mega Man (known as Rockman (ロックマン, Rokkuman^?) in Japan) is a series of video games from Capcom, usually starring the character Mega Man. The Mega Man games began in 1987 with the first Mega Man game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This series is known as the Mega Man Classic series, and has spawned several other series. These are the major Mega Man series, including year they began:

• Mega Man (Rockman) (1987)
• Mega Man X (Rockman X) (1993)
• Mega Man Legends (Rockman DASH) (1997)
• Mega Man Battle Network (Rockman EXE) (2001)
• Mega Man Zero (Rockman Zero) (2002)
• Mega Man ZX (Rockman ZX) (2006)
• Mega Man Star Force (Ryusei no Rockman, lit. "Rockman of the Shooting Star") (2006)

Contents 1 Background 2 Mega Man in other media 2.1 Television appearances 2.2 Comics and manga 3 Music 4 Criticism 5 Trivia 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Background

Main article: Mega Man (character)

The character Mega Man was created in 1987 by Keiji Inafune^[1] at Capcom of Japan as the protagonist in a new style of platform game.

In the story behind the original series, Mega (Rock) is a robot created as a lab assistant by the scientist Dr. Thomas Light; following treachery by Dr. Wily, Mega was converted into a fighting robot to defend the world from Wily's violent robotic threats. Thus he becomes Mega Man (Rockman in the Japanese original). Though all Mega Man games feature unique stories, settings, and characters, they nevertheless share several common features that have made the series one of the most consistent in video game history. Until 1998, all Mega Man games (except on the Legend series) were side scrolling, with 2D maze-like levels. The character controlled by the player was Mega Man himself, who had to fight through these levels using the Mega Buster (so named in Mega Man 4), a cannon attached to his arm, to shoot the robotic monsters that inhabited his environment. After defeating a Robot Master, the boss of a level, Mega Man would gain the ability to use that Robot Master's special weapon. Each robot master was themed after a specific element or object, for example "Fire Man," "Ice Man," "Stone Man," or "Napalm Man." The weapons Mega Man gained, in turn would share the theme of whomever it was he had just defeated. Levels can generally be completed in any order, and as a result determining the best strategic use of different weapons in different levels is one of the hallmarks of the series. Each new Mega Man game would contain new enemies, as well as familiar ones, new bosses (and thus weapons), and new gadgets. Enemies would have at least one weakness from certain weapons: for example, Ice Man's weapon is powerful against Fire Man. This creates a preferred order of stage completion. After all 8 bosses are defeated, Mega can travel to Wily's castle, and after fighting past clones of the 8 bosses, confronts Wily, usually in his flying saucer. Each series has a different take on this basic formula. In the Mega Man X series, the characters grow in abilities and power as the game progresses; in the Mega Man Zero series weapons are no longer copied, but abilities and enhancements can be collected throughout the levels. Mega Man Legends brings the gameplay into 3D and is an action adventure with role-playing game elements, and Mega Man Battle Network is an action RPG. While each series plays very differently, their roots in the classic Mega Man series are unmistakable.

The timeline for the series and its spinoffs is somewhat complicated. According to Rockman Perfect Memories, an official Capcom sourcebook only available in Japan:

• Mega Man Classic takes place from 200X to 20XX,
• Mega Man X begins from 21XX to possibly 22XX afterwards,
• Mega Man Zero is the continuation of the X series, set an additional century after the X series ends,
• Mega Man ZX is set several hundred years after the Zero series, and
• Mega Man Legends takes place several thousand years after ZX but the exact time is also unknown.

Mega Man Battle Network is not included in this timeline as it is set in an alternate universe. It claims to be set in 200X. It is theorized that it is, in fact, a "what if" to the classic series, in which in place of robotics, technology went in favor of computer programs and cyberspace. Other people believe it occurs in an alternate dimension and often play on that idea in fan made cross-overs. Still yet another theory is that Battle Network is a prequel to the classic series, in which Dr. Light creates the Mega Man AI as virus-fighting program before giving it physical form as a robot. The upcoming Mega Man Star Force series takes place hundreds of years after Mega Man Battle Network, so it exists in that same parallel universe.

Mega Man's designer, Keiji Inafune, decided to name him Rockman based on rock and roll (hence, the reason his sister is named "Roll"). Another character that as based on music was ProtoMan, his Japanese name is "Blues", as in Blues or Rhythm & Blues (R&B) music. Other names in the Mega Man Classic series are also based on musical terms.

Some other names considered for the series included Knuckle Kid, Mighty Kid, and Rainbow Senshi Miracle Kid. Mega Man is also known as the "Blue Bomber" by its American marketing staff.

[edit] Mega Man in other media

[edit] Television appearances

Mega Man starred in a Saturday-morning style cartoon that premiered in 1995. The show was made by animating company Ruby-Spears, which redesigned the characters from the Mega Man video games to varying degrees. At the time the show was undergoing its early development, anime had not yet achieved a "mainstream" acceptance, plus the producers felt the look skewed too young for the retro-80's-style action-adventure cartoon they had in mind. The final look of the characters was among many different interpretations proposed and was the most well-received by test audiences. (It is worth noting that characters who appeared for the first time in season two were considerably more faithful to the original models, only given slightly different proportions and the occasional nose.) The series was targeted towards the late-pre-teen-boy audience, though Roll's expanded and much more active role in the series was calculated to try and draw in more girl viewers as well. (Producer Joe Ruby joked "Also, it showed we're not male chauvinistic pigs as our wives think.") It is noteworthy that X (along with Vile, Spark Mandrill, and "Cygma" (Sigma)) made a guest appearance late in the second season, and was planned to make more appearances in later shows, with the potential for his own spinoff cartoon as well.

Despite consistently high ratings and being a series producers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears really enjoyed working on, the show was cancelled after two seasons. Only a single post-season-two episode was created to complete Ruby-Spears' contractual obligations; no true "season three" plans had been put into motion at the time of the cancellation. (It is worth noting that this final episode contains some of the cleanest, highest-quality animation in the entire series.) The decision to end the cartoon was handed down from Capcom, most likely due to merchandising pressures from toy-partner Bandai, which cut several other popular toy lines at the time short due to not making sales expectations (including The Tick, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball). Bandai's influence is easily noticeable in the second season, with its much heavier emphasis on characters and gadgets they were producing as toys, like recurring robots Snake Man, Elec Man, and Bomb Man, and new gadgets like the "Land Blazer" vehicle and new Mega Man armors, though the vehicle and armor figures ultimately never made it to retail release.

The pilot episode of the cartoon featured an anime-like style that far more closely resembled the original character designs; this episode and two others like it were released in Japan as OVAs. The three OVAs are now available in English as Mega Man: Upon a Star on DVD. This OVA is aimed at an even younger audience than the American cartoon that followed, and was made as educational video to teach children about Japanese culture. The voice cast enlisted for the dub influenced several of the casting decisions for the American cartoon, especially Dr. Wily.

Characters loosely based on Mega Man, his robotic dog Rush, and mentor Dr. Light appeared in the cartoon series Captain N: The Game Master in the United States. Dr. Wily was a villain in the same series. Since the show was produced by DiC Entertainment, the characters, depicted as midgets, bore little to no resemblance to their video game counterparts, although Wily looked somewhat like his NES sprites. Confusingly, whenever the Robot Masters made an appearance, they were depicted to be as tall as the show's titular character. The franchise's first three games were adapted as episodes of the series.

There is also a long-running anime based on the Battle Network series. The first series was simply called Rockman EXE. The series is loosely based on the first two games, but also includes elements introduced in the third game (e.g. the "N1 Grand Prix" and the new PET design).

The second series, Rockman EXE Axess, is also not directly based on any of the games but contains elements of the fourth game in the series. The third Rockman EXE Stream, continues the tradition of not directly following the plot of the games, but it uses many elements from the fifth game in the series. The fourth series, Rockman EXE Beast, also followed this tradition, though it can be easily attributed to the Mega Man Battle Network 6 games. The most recent version of the anime, Rockman EXE Beast+, is the most unique so far in the series; not only is each episode approximately half the length of the episodes in previous series, but it combines elements from Beast with many of the more obscure EXE titles such as Mega Man Network Transmission or Rockman EXE Phantom of the Network. A heavily edited version of the anime airs in the United States and Canada, where it is called MegaMan NT Warrior and MegaMan NT Warrior Axess. An internet broadband anime service, Tooami Jetstream has included Stream as it's list of new programming to be uploaded. However, this has been there for several months, and cannot be completely comfirmed. A Rockman EXE movie, The Program of Light and Dark, is also a part of the anime series, taking place in the middle of Rockman EXE Stream, and containing a plot loosely based on Mega Man Battle Network 5.

The various television series and manga contradict the storyline in the games and are therefore not considered game-canon. Rather, each incarnation of the EXE series follows its own plotline and do not interfere with one another, and thus, the franchise's story is told in three different ways: games, anime, and manga.

Keiji Inafune has been quoted as wanting the anime series to last as long as possible, though he did not specify which particular series. It's a popular theory that since the Battle Network video-game series is officially over, the anime series also concluded with Beast+ and a new series based on Mega Man Star Force took its place. A Mega Man ZX anime was initially planned, but was later cancelled for unknown reasons. A promotional trailer was produced for the possible anime.

[edit] Comics and manga

Mega Man has also been featured in many comics and manga in Japan. The Rockman Megamix series was produced by Hitoshi Ariga who later went on to provide character designs and artwork for official Capcom releases including the Super Famicom game Rockman & Forte (Mega Man and Bass in the US), as well as illustrating the manga version of The Big O. In addition, Dreamwave Productions and Magnum Press made its own comic books based on the Mega Man Classic game series (although the books from Magnum Press are only found in Brazil and ended quite abruptly). The Dreamwave Mega Man series lasted only four issues, the final one ending very abruptly with plot-threads from the first three dropped completely, though it included a short story promising a Mega Man X follow-up that never materialized. This was one of several Dreamwave Capcom comics that were cut short or simply never made it to issue #1, including Maximo, DarkStalkers and Rival Schools. With the bankruptcy of Dreamwave, the comic rights to Mega Man appear to be, as of early 2006, in a legal limbo.

Each series (and usually, each individual game) has a licensed manga that follows its storyline. The manga of Rockman EXE, which was written by Ryo Takamisaki, is one of the few Mega Man manga available in English; it is known as Mega Man NT Warrior [1] in North America. Official manga series also exist for X, Zero, ZX, and Ryusei. There are also countless fan doujinshi for every series, usually either comic or hentai (or both).

There are also many webcomics based on the Mega Man series, the (debatably) first being Bob and George, which is mostly a parody of the series.

[edit] Music

Ascertaining the identity of videogame composers, especially prior to the fifth generation of consoles, can be difficult, as the composers were often uncredited or credited under a pseudonym. NesDev gives the following muscial credits (extracted from ROM images for the Classic series)[2] :

• Megaman : C. Manami & Yuukichan's Papa
• Megaman 2 : Manami, Ogeretsu, Ietel, and Yuukichan's Papa
• Megaman 3 : "BUNBUN"
• Megaman 4 : "OJALIN" & Bun Bun
• Megaman 5 : Mari
• Megaman 6 : Yuko Kadota

[edit] Criticism

Capcom's handling of the Mega Man franchise has been criticised at various times. Many have accused Capcom of milking the series with continuous releases of spin-offs and side-series, a charge that has also been leveled against its Street Fighter franchise. Many also think that the over-all quality of the games has suffered due to Capcom's insistence to continue the series when the original development teams have already moved on. Many cite Mega Man 6 which was released when the Keiji Inafune's team had already moved on to the X series. Also, Mega Man X6 was released after Inafune had moved on to work on the Zero series even though he intended to end the X series in Mega Man X5. To add heat to the fire, many fans considered X6 to be the worst in the series, though notably the overall quality of the X series did pick up after the release of X7.

Capcom has also been criticised for its abandoning of the Legends series. Only two official titles and a spin-off mini-game collection were released in the late '90s after which Legends was largely forgotten. Fans were irritated particularly since Legends was the first game in the Mega Man franchise to be released in 3D. Also since some fans consider Legends to be connected to the original and X series, Capcom's decision to seemingly drop Legends entirely has caused much irritation. Since the release of the second title Legends characters have only made cameos in other currently running series and the only releases have been the Nintendo 64 and PC ports of the first game. Capcom has never given an official reason for the discontinuation of the Legends series, but one factor may have been the success of the X series on the PlayStation, which may have motivated the company to concentrate on that instead.

One huge gripe is the handling of the franchise outside of Japan. Many fans complain that Capcom converts the titles horribly to the North American market with unnecessary name changes, shoddy and inconsistent translations, generally making the games more "kid-friendly" (as with the removal of 'blood' splashes in Mega Man Zero titles), and in recent times, even the removal of certain gameplay elements (most evident in Mega Man Battle Network 6). Furthermore, the European versions of the games often receive horrible box artwork and even redone logos (despite the titles sharing the North American versions' names). One other ongoing gripe is between Capcom and European Mega Man fans who feel neglected particularly concerning the releases of the Mega Man and Mega Man X Anniversary Collections which, for reasons unknown, were made exclusive to the North American market. European fans are also generally irritated by the lack of availability concerning Mega Man titles.

Furthermore, the English dub of the Rockman EXE anime, MegaMan NT Warrior, receives a lot of criticism for how much content is altered or completely removed for North American audiences. Like a lot of children's anime, it receives heavy edits, and a lot of the decisions have conflicted with the decisions made by Capcom for the video-game adaptations (such as by renaming characters that already had English names established in the Mega Man Battle Network video-games). Despite all of this, the anime still fared quite well during its run on Kids' WB.

[edit] Trivia

• There are well over 50 Capcom releases bearing the Mega Man name, easily making it Capcom's largest franchise. ^[2]
• Ian James Corlett who voiced Dr. Wily in Captain N, would go on to voice Mega Man in the Ruby-Spears series. ^{[citation needed]}
• The soundtrack music of the cartoon show (including the main theme) was later used for replacement music in the English-language version of Dragon Ball Z shown in Europe and Canada. ^{[citation needed]}
• Keiji Inafune on Zero in an August 2002 interview with Super PLAY magazine: "The original intent was that Zero would be the protagonist as early as the first X game. But there were many who protested, so he had to wait."^[3]
• The name "Rockman" came from Mega Man's initial name (before he was changed into a fighting robot), Rock, so in Japan, his name became Rockman, but in America, a singer had the rights of name Rockman so Capcom had the name changed to Mega Man for overseas audiences. At one point, the character was referred to by the names Rainbow Kid (referring to his color-changing) and Mighty Kid. ^{[citation needed]}
• Hulk Davidson, the second boss in the game Viewtiful Joe, also produced by Capcom, asks the hero, "What, you think you're some kinda MEGA MAN or somethin'?", as an obvious reference to the franchise. ^{[citation needed]}
• With the exception of ZX and Star Force, every version of Mega Man has appeared in a crossover game of some sort. However, he is not recognized as Capcom's mascot in any of the games (the title is given to Ryu of Street Fighter fame). ^{[citation needed]}
• Megaman's Japanese name and the names of all his friends were all puns on music:
  • Rockman, or Rock, and Roll are obvious puns on Rock'n Roll.
  • Protoman was named Blues for the style of music of the same name.
  • Bass and his dog Treble are two symbols on the staffs of music. Bass's name is also pronounced "Base" rather than "Bass"(the fish).
  • Forte(Bass's Japanese name) is a term in music
  • Gospel(Treble's Japanese name) is named for the Gospel style of music.

[edit] See also

• List of Mega Man games
• Lists of characters by Mega Man series
• Mega Man NT Warrior
• Mega Man Classic
• Mega Man X (series)
• Mega Man Legends series
• Mega Man Battle Network series
• Mega Man Zero series
• Mega Man ZX
• Mega Man Star Force

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mega Man at the official website of Capcom
• The Mega Man Homepage - The first Mega Man website ever, with in-depth Mega Man game coverage, hints and resources.
• The History of Mega Man at GameSpot