| Dr. Wily | |
|---|---|
Dr. Wily in Mega Man 7. |
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| Series | Mega Man |
| First game | Mega Man (1987) |
| Created by | Keiji Inafune |
| Voiced by (English) | John O'Corner (MMX4), Dean Galloway (MMPU), Ian James Corlett (Captain N), Scott McNeil (Mega Man TV series) |
| Voiced by (Japanese) | Takeshi Aono (MM8, MMB&C, SAR, MMPU, MMX4), Takkō Ishimori (MM:TPB, MM2:TPF) |
Doctor Wily (Dr.ワイリー Dokutā Wairi), full name Albert W. Wily, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the original Mega Man series of video games. Designed by Keiji Inafune, he appeared in the first Mega Man video game and later in promotions and other media related to the series. In Japanese, he is voiced by Takeshi Aono in all appearances except Mega Man: The Power Battle and its sequel; in English, the character is voiced by Dean Galloway, with Ian James Corlett and Scott McNeil voicing the character in Captain N: The Game Master and the animated series, respectively.
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Conceived by character designer Keiji Inafune for Mega Man, Wily's design is inspired by Albert Einstein, and was initially conceived to appear as a tall, thin scientist with a mustache, glasses, balding hair, and lab coat.[1] As development on Mega Man progressed, Inafune redrew the character to match the in-game sprites, making him shorter and removing the glasses from his original design.[2] Inafune has expressed disdain for this design, stating in a 2003 interview that if an artist approached him with similar work, he would reject it and demand better.[3] With the production of Mega Man 2, Inafune decided to redraw the character completely, aiming to tie into the common perception of a mad scientist. To this end he made Wily slightly taller, and elongated his hair and chin. Satisfied with the alternations, Inafune kept the design consistent for later appearances of the character.[4]
Introduced in the first Mega Man game, Wily was Dr. Light's rival, and helped him create a series of humanoid robots to help mankind, though the world ignored his contribution. Jealous, he reprogrammed the robots with the exception of the child-like robots Rock (Mega) and Roll to assist him in taking over the world. However he was defeated by Rock, now the combat robot "Mega Man". Wily returned as the antagonist subsequent titles of the main series with a different scheme each time,[5][6] sometimes framing someone else for his crimes (Dr. Cossack, Proto Man, a disguise for himself named Mr. X, and Dr. Light), only to be defeated and surrender to Mega Man at the end.[7] Wily is also responsible for the creation several other characters throughout the series, including Bass and Zero,[8] and is indirectly responsible for the creation of the antagonist of the Mega Man X series, Sigma.[9]
In the separate continuity of the Mega Man Battle Network series, a different version of Wily, dubbed Mr. Wily, served as the primary antagonists in all but the second, fourth, and fifth games. A former friend of Doctor Tadashi Hikari, he became angered when his research in robotics was pushed aside in favor of Tadashi's research into expansion of the internet. Forming a crime syndicate, Wily sought to destroy Tadashi's work through the use of hacking and computer viruses, coming into direct conflict with Tadashi's grandson Lan Hikari and by extension MegaMan.EXE. However, after several failures, the realization he had been a poor father to his son Dr. Regal, and taking the role of a surrogate father for Baryl, Wily reformed at the conclusion of Mega Man Battle Network 6 and worked alongside Lan's father for the remainder of the series.Mr.Wily had a different look. He seemed to be a gentleman.
In Captain N: The Game Master, Dr. Wily is a stereotypical mad scientist who appears as a short, beady-eyed, and slightly grizzled old man. In service to Mother Brain (despite very few appearances in the show), Wily manages to be possibly the most competent of Mother Brain's henchmen, regularly using his genius to build powerful robot masters, wild gadgets or develop complicated schemes to defeat the N-Team. He speaks with a German accent, and is constantly wheezing in his speech. Dr. Wily is voiced by Ian James Corlett.
In the Ruby-Spears cartoon, Wily's character and appearance is more in line with the original games, being Light's former assistant before turning against the world. As revealed in the first episode, Wily leaves Light after their test of their prototype humanoid robot failed, believing that Light sabotaged his work to steal all the credit. Wily steals the prototype, then later returns to reprogram Light's robots into his own servants, including the recently-built Rock and Roll (though they do manage to escape from Wily), and proceeds with his plans to rule the world with his robots, all of which being inevitably foiled by Mega Man. As in Captain N, Wily speaks with a German accent and is also prone to fits of maniacal laughter. He is voiced by Scott McNeil. Dr.Wily also appears to be more like a normal human in the tv series.
Wily has been noted as a popular character and villain, and has been compared to similar characters such as Doctor Robotnik.[10] From 1991 to 1994, Nintendo Power consecutively named him one of the best villains in video games to appear on Nintendo-produced consoles in their annual Nintendo Power awards, describing him as "one of the most beloved mad scientists".[11][12][13][14] He would later appear in their January 2010 issue, ranking in as their fourth best villain in Nintendo history. They also ranked him as having one of the best mustaches.[15] He placed thirty-ninth in GamePro's "47 Most Diabolical Video-Game Villains of All Time" article, noting him to be "[c]learly a standout from the overcrowded school of mad scientists".[16] In a "Reader's Choice" edition of GameSpot's "Top Ten Video Game Villains" article, Wily placed fifth, and while noted as not receiving enough votes to place above Doctor Eggman on the list, the character came close.[17]
Computerworld named Wily as one of gaming's "baddest villains", praising his persistence despite his failure at the conclusion of each Mega Man game.[18] 1UP.com editor Jeremy Parish shared the sentiment, stating "the fact that his schemes ultimately boil down to creating eight themed robots with a fatal weakness to one another's powers casts his 'genius' descriptor into doubt. Still, you have to admire his persistence."[19] GameDaily named him one of their favorite older characters in video games and one of the "Top 25 Evil Masterminds of All Time", ranking him second on their list while stating "using good robots to do bad things is sheer genius."[20][21] They additionally cited his rivalry with Mega Man as one of the ten greatest in video games, describing it as one "still going strong to this day."[22] In a later article, they listed the "evil mastermind" as one of their top 25 video game archetypes, using Wily as an example.[23] IGN listed him as the 13th best video game villain, calling him one of the most "hopelessly persistent" video game villains. They added that he had incredible staying power in an industry whose villains are frequently forgettable.[24]
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