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Mega Man franchise
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
Official website	http://megaman.capcom.com/

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. There are well over 50 Capcom releases bearing the Mega Man name, easily making it Capcom's most prolific franchise and one of the best-known franchises of all time.^[1] As of December 30, 2008, the series has sold approximately 28 million copies worldwide.^[2] 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:

• 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 (Shooting Star Rockman) (2006)

[edit] Series overview

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 10 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 the direct sequels Mega Man 2-9 games. Chronologically after 8 comes Mega Man and Bass, and then comes Mega Man 9.

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. Another consisting event that occurs on the Mega Man Battle Network series which could probably confirm it's altern-universe plot is the coming of DUO, another fictional character that appears on Mega Man 8 and Battle network 4, with the difference of it not being intercepted by the evil-robotic form but for the humans. This could also mean that it is either the first or second time that Duo aims to the planet.^[3] Mega Man Star Force follows the Battle Network series.^[4]

[edit] Games and animation

The character Mega Man was created in 1987 by Keiji Inafune^[5] 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, 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 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 apatly 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 to 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, which is in the same world as the other games (though thousands of years in the future), takes place in a time when 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.

• Mega Man Battle Network, a series on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo GameCube, began in 2001 as a way for the Mega Man games to branch out into the console role-playing game market, as well as to celebrate Mega Man's 15th anniversary. Modeled after the popular monster battling franchises prevalent in Japanese media, this series features a character called MegaMan.EXE, a "Network Navigator" who acts as a virtual pet to Lan Hikari, a school child and would-be hero who uses his friend to help battle computer virus and other Internet-based threats. This game does not belong to the original series timeline. A resulting anime series Mega Man NT Warrior, was also produced.

• 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, though it does take place within the same world as the previous Mega Man games. The series revolved around the battles Zero must have against a 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.

• Mega Man ZX, which began in 2006 is placed in the future, 200 years after the Zero series. This is the first Mega Man game series where the main protagonists are of different sexes. The first game revolves around the fight of Vent and Aile to help the Guardians, a group that fight against the Maverick (Mega Man), to stop the plans of Serpent, using the power of the Biometals, that have the info on the legendary heroes X and Zero. The second game takes place four years later. It deals with a predicament similar to the first, this time with both new and old characters entering the fray. ZX is also the first game of the original timeline where the main character is a human.

• A new series, 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 first game'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. A second game and third game was released. 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.

[edit] Timeline

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

• Mega Man takes place from 200X to 20XX,

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 Rock Man 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.^[6]

• Mega Man X begins at the 22nd century of 21XX.
• Mega Man Zero is the continuation of the X series, set approximately one hundred 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.^[3] Star Force is stated to take place in 220X, around 200 years after Battle Network.*

[edit] In other media

[edit] Television appearances

[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 ^[7] in North America. Official manga series also exist for X, Zero, ZX, and Ryusei.

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

[edit] Junior Novel

In 1990, a junior novel version of Mega Man 2 was released as part of the Worlds of Power novel 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 musical credits (extracted from ROM images for the Classic series)^[8]:

• 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
• 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

This section requires expansion.

[edit] 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.^[9] 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 and X7 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 expresses interest in continuing them. For example, 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.^[10] The series also suffers from low availability in Europe, with some releases never appearing there at all, such as the Anniversary Collections.

[edit] See also

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

[edit] References

[edit] External links

English sites

• Mega Man

Japanese sites

• "Rockman 20th Anniversary". Archived from the original on 2008-02-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20080213190517/http://www.capcom.co.jp/rockman20th/. 
• Rockman EXE

Miscellaneous sites

• The Mega Man Network — A site containing comprehensive information on the Mega Man franchise and a large fan community.
• Rockman Perfect Memories — Another large Mega Man fan community.
• The Mega Man Knowledge-base: The Mega Man Wiki — A wiki devoted to Mega Man