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Mega Man

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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 franchise
File:Wiki-megaman-wallpaper.jpg
An illustration of the starring characters in the various series. From left to right: Zero, MegaMan Trigger, MegaMan.EXE, Mega Man, Grey in Model A, Ashe in Model A, Geo Stelar with Omega-Xis, Vent/Aile in Model ZX, and Mega Man X.
Developer(s)Capcom
Publisher(s)Capcom
Platform(s)Arcade, various
First releaseAugust 30, 1987

Mega Man, known as Rock Man in Japan, is a series of games from Capcom, usually starring the character Mega Man. The series is well-known and comprises well over 50 releases, making it easily Capcom's most prolific franchise. As of December 30, 2008, the series has sold approximately 28 million copies worldwide.[1] The Mega Man games began in 1987 with the first Mega Man game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This was the original Mega Man series, which has since been followed by several sub-series. These are the major Mega Man series, including the years they began:

Series overview

File:Mega Man Series.jpg
Mega Man among various characters from the Mega Man, Mega Man X and Mega Man Legends series.

In the fictional universe of Mega Man, the classic Mega Man series consists of 11 main titles including the original game, as well as all Game Boy and PC titles featuring the original design of Mega Man/Rockman. The classic series is considered to be the origin of the story, with Mega Man being the first installment, and continuing with 9 direct sequels. Chronologically after 8 comes Mega Man and Bass, and then comes Mega Man 9, then Mega Man 10.

There are also spinoff titles that do not relate to the series' storyline. The continuity of the Game Boy games' plots, as they relate to the main storyline, has never been confirmed officially. Although the classic series has yet to reach an ending, the storyline shifts to the Mega Man X series, followed by Mega Man Zero, and finally Mega Man ZX. Although it is said that the Mega Man Legends series takes place sometime after the ZX series, there is an uncertain amount of time as to when it actually takes place. Mega Man Battle Network exists as an alternate universe or timeline. The Japanese language source book outlines the Classic, X, and Legends series and makes mention of the Battle Network and Zero series (which were fairly new at the time of the book's publication). While the ZX and Star Force series were not yet conceived when the source book was published, Capcom is explicit within the games regarding their placement in the timelines. Mega Man Star Force follows the Battle Network series.[2]

Games and animation

The character Mega Man was created in 1987 by Keiji Inafune[3] at Capcom of Japan as the protagonist in a new style of platform game.

In the story behind the original series, Rock is a robot created as a lab assistant by the scientist Dr. Thomas Light; following treachery by Dr. Wily, Rock 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 1997, all Mega Man games were side scrolling, with 2D platformer 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 would share the theme of whomever of the defeated boss. Enemies would have at least one weakness from certain weapons, such as Ice Man's weapon being powerful against Fire Man. Robot Master levels can generally be completed in any order, resulting in a strategic hallmark of the series: determining the best order to defeat bosses and earn weapons. Each new Mega Man game would contain new enemies alongside familiar ones, new bosses (and thus weapons), and new gadgets. After all eight bosses are defeated, Mega Man travels to Wily's castle, and after fighting past clones of the eight bosses, confronts Wily (usually in his flying saucer).

The classic series was the source material for two animated television series both aptly named "Mega Man" and featuring the heroes, villains, and themes of the games. The first show was a three-part OVA called Mega Man: Upon a Star developed in Japan; the other, simply called Mega Man, was developed specifically for North American audiences by animation studio Ruby-Spears.

The original Mega Man has spawned a number of spin-off titles that have appeared since the launch of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

  • Keiji Inafune, wanting to give a new face to the popular character, created the Mega Man X series in 1993. Set in the future, this series follows the story of Mega Man's successor, Mega Man X, a new, advanced robot that has complete free will over his actions, thoughts and feelings. This character—often referred to as simply "X"—is a further creation of Dr. Light put into suspended animation and uncovered 100 years in the future by a researcher named Dr. Cain. The Mega Man X series was marketed at a new generation of video game players with an action twist on the original series' usually playful antics. In the Mega Man X series, the characters grow in abilities and power as the game progresses.
  • Beginning on the PlayStation in 1997, a 3D action game series called Mega Man Legends was created to take advantage of the then-new console's advanced graphics hardware. This series is in the same world as the other games, though thousands of years in the future. The world is covered by immense bodies of water, marked by a re-occurrence of several major characters from the original series in different situations. The hero, Mega Man (Rock) Volnutt, is a relic hunter called a "Digger" who scavenges various ruins laden throughout the world in search of refractor shards that can be mined as power sources and traded as currency. Mega Man Legends brings the gameplay into 3D and is an action adventure with role-playing game elements.
  • In 2002, a follow-up series to the Mega Man X franchise was developed for the Game Boy Advance which starred Zero, a character from the previous games. Though called Mega Man Zero, a character named "Mega Man" is not actually playable, although the game does take place within the same world as the previous Mega Man games. The series revolved around Zero battling powerful human-supremacy force as he protects the oppressed remains of reploids. In the Mega Man Zero series weapons are no longer copied, but abilities and enhancements can be collected throughout the levels.
  • The first game in the Mega Man ZX was released in 2006. It takes place about 200 years after the Zero series. This is the first game series in the Mega Man franchise to feature main protagonists of different sexes. ZX is also the first game of the original timeline where the main character is a human. The series revolves around the fight of Vent and Aile to help the Guardians—a group that fight against the Maverick (Mega Man)—stop the plans of Serpent. Players collect Biometals containing data on the legendary heroes X and Zero and use the metals to increase power.
  • A new series' first game, Mega Man Star Force (流星のロックマン, Ryuusei no Rockman, Shooting Star Rockman), was released on the Nintendo DS on December 14, 2006, and released in North America on August 8, 2007. The Star Forces's launch commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Mega Man franchise. The Star Force games are very similar to the Battle Network games, and also takes place roughly 200 years later in the timeline. An anime based on this series began airing on TV Tokyo in October 2006, and aired in North America in August on Toonami Jetstream on Cartoon Network.

Timeline

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

It has been argued that Mega Man (the first game) takes place in 2008, Mega Man 2 takes place in 2009, and all games from Mega Man 3 and after take place from 2010 and beyond. This argument has been based on the Rockman Perfect Memories source book's reference to Dr. Light's reception of the Nobel Prize in 2007. However, the rest of this is based on logical reasoning and is as-of-yet unconfirmed by Capcom.[4]
  • Mega Man X begins at the 22nd century of 21XX.
  • Mega Man Zero is the continuation of the X series, set approximately 100 years after the X series ends.
  • Mega Man ZX is set approximately 200 years after the Zero series.
  • Mega Man Legends is set to take place in the 81st century. The exact time not specified in the game, but the Japanese name D.A.S.H stands for Digouter's Adventure Story in Halcyon Days which gives the reference to a time after the year 8000.

Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force are not included in this timeline, set in an alternate universe where computer technology flourished instead of robotics.[2] Star Force is stated to take place in 220X, around 200 years after Battle Network.*

In other media

Television appearances

Further information: Mega Man (TV series), MegaMan NT Warrior, Mega Man Star Force (anime), and Captain N: The Game Master

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 went on to provide character designs and artwork for future official Capcom releases, including the Super Famicom game Rockman & Forte (Mega Man and Bass in North America). 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 [5] in North America. Official manga series also exist for X, Zero, ZX, and Ryusei.

An homage to Megaman exists, which was created for Retrojunk.com in the form of a 27 page comic created by artist Pat Henzy titled "Megaman Fan for Life." [1]

Junior Novel

Further information: Worlds of Power

In 1990, a junior novel version of Mega Man 2 was released as part of the Worlds of Power novel series. Mega Man is turned human by Dr. Light during an accident in a machine designed to clone Mega Man. Instead of a Mega Buster, human Mega Man uses a hand gun and instead of being able to copy the robot master's weapons, he instead takes them off their arms. For some reason being human doesn't affect him much and he is still able to consume E-drinks (Energy Tanks) and gain power boost. The book follows the general plot of Mega Man 2 and even provides game hints at the end of some chapters.

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 musical credits (extracted from ROM images for the Classic series)[6]:

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

The following credits were taken directly from the game credits:

  • Mega Man 7: T."ANIE".N, YUK, KRSK, V-TOMOZOH, KAN, APPLE Z, MORE RICH, NARINARI, IPPO


Criticism

Capcom's handling of the Mega Man franchise has been criticized at various times, with many citing the frequent creation of new series which are discontinued without proper closure.[7] On the other hand, some fans complain that series like Mega Man X are extended after the original development team has moved on to new projects, creating a perceived drop in quality. For example, Mega Man X6, X7 and X8 were developed after Keiji Inafune's team had moved onto the Zero series, and are generally considered the worst entries in that series by Americans. Capcom does not often provide an explanation for the various series' discontinuations, though they sometimes express interest in continuing them; in 2007 Inafune expressed interest in developing a fourth entry into the Mega Man Legends franchise, but claimed that it would require approximately $15 million to produce the game on next-generation consoles.[8] The series also suffers from low availability in Europe, with some releases never appearing there at all, such as the Anniversary Collections. Also, the english dubbed Rockman.EXE series has been shunned because of the americanization of it.

See also

Megaman's inabability to shoot up occasionally features in memes.

References

  1. ^ "CAPCOM Total Sales Units". Capcom.co.jp. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  2. ^ a b Rockman Perfect Memories (ロックマンパーフェクトメモリーズ). 2002-12-20. ISBN 4575163546.
  3. ^ Capcom Official Site
  4. ^ Forum Archived Information
  5. ^ Mega Man NT Warrior Official Site
  6. ^ Nintendo Music Credits
  7. ^ Gamespot History Article
  8. ^ Inafune 2007 Interview

English sites

Japanese sites

Miscellaneous sites

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