MegaMan, known as Rockman [ロックマン] in Japan, is one of the most recognizable video game characters in the world. Being one of my franchises that I like the most. The games featured a variety of different stages and robots. The bosses had different powers and abilities, and by defeating them you gained those powers. One of the creators of this character claims to have been inspired by another Japanese hero, the Astro Boy.
The Mega Man series of games has over 50 different versions released by Capcom since 1987. The first of those released for the nintendo. The so-called “classic” game series has 11 main games. Each being a sequel to the previous one. In this sequence we see the origin story and evolution of the character. Let us now know the history of both the character and his games.
I want to take advantage of the straw to mention a very similar game that I liked called Azure Strike Gunvolt.
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The origin and creation of MegaMan
It all starts when a man named Thomas Light invents two robots. One called Rock and the other Roll. They were created and programmed to do maintenance and be assistants to Dr. Light Robots regarded Light as a father.
Other robots were created, with the purpose always to help humanity. But a former lab partner of Dr. Light called Dr. Albert Wily did not accept this purpose for robots. Noticing their great potential, Wily begins to have plans to command these robots.
Wily steals some robots and reprograms them to destroy and take over the world. Rock, seeing this, doesn't understand why his "brothers" do so much evil. So he asks Dr. Light to modify it and make it a battle robot. Thus, Mega Man is born with the main objective of ending Wily's evil plans.
The emergence and development of games
By 1987, Capcom had games like Ghost 'n' Goblins and Trojan being popular with the public. That same year Capcon still released Megaman (or Rockman) for the NES. In this game, Mega Man fights the six robots that Dr. Wily reprogrammed. They were called Cut Man, Ice Man, Guts Man, Bomb Man, Elec Man and Fire Man. They are known as the Robot Masters, each with a different skill.
The gameplay was good for the time and it wasn't that linear. Something that was innovative and stood out was stealing the distinct abilities of each Robot Masters, after defeating them. But due to the success of the other games, in the year of release, Mega Man doesn't stand out as much in its first game. This soon changes with the release of Mega Man 2 in 1988.
Mega Man 2 brought many improvements over the first game. Many consider him one of the best in the series. A lot of the patterns that the other games had, appeared in Mega Man 2. Elements such as the password system, gameplay improvements and some items that helped the main character to get around better. Apart from that the soundtrack of this game is remembered to this day as one of the best on the NES.
In 1990, Capcom released Mega Man 3. In it we have the introduction of Rush, a robotic “dog” that helps our character. We are also introduced to the Proto Man, older brother from Mega Man.
problems with mega man
Already in 1991, Mega Man 4 is released. In this game was introduced something that we see to this day in the Mega Man games. The ability Mega Buster, allowed longer to charge the arm cannon.
We also met Eddie, a robot that helped our journey through the game. But, it was in this game that Mega Man started to lose a bit of audience. The stages and the new Robot Masters were very difficult. The soundtrack of this game did not stand out from the previous ones.
Mega Man 5 arrives in 1992, considered by many to be one of the worst in the series. The character's abilities are modified, the soundtrack deleted, and new Robot Masters uncreative.
Much of the game focuses on Proto Man, and it's in this game that we discover he's not good. Beat, a robot bird is introduced in this game. In 1993 Mega Man 6 appeared, presenting few improvements in relation to its previous one. This being the last one released for the NES.
Over the years Capcom has released several games for new consoles such as Super Nintendo, Game Boy and Play Station, Xbox and Wii. None were as prominent as the first.
Of these, the ones considered the best were the Super Nintendo ones, which were the ones I played the most. For some time Capcom focused on creating some spin-off games, leaving our character a little to the side.
The article is still halfway through, but we recommend also reading:
Megaman out of games
In the late 1980s, the animation Captain N was released, produced by DiC Entertainment, commissioned by Nintendo. The purpose was to promote the company's new games, so many characters from the games appeared.
But, something that can be noticed in this animation was that, Mega Man, was totally different from the game. It had green armor! In 1993, the OVA Mega Man: Upon a Star was released. This is considered a series of educational shorts about Japanese culture.
It wasn't until 1994 that Mega Man got its own animated series. This one has the story and elements much more faithful to the games. Having 26 episodes, divided into two seasons. But, in 1995, for lack of budget, the animation was cancelled. It began to be broadcast in Brazil in 1995 on SBT. It was on the air for a long time, sustaining a good audience.
From 2001 to 2006 the MegaMan NT Warrior anime was produced, also having a manga produced by Ryo Takamisaki. But the plot of this anime was based on the non-canon series of classic games called Battle Network. The anime was brought to Brazil in 2007 and was broadcast by Globo.
In 2018, on Cartoon Network in the United States, the animation Mega Man: Fully Charged premiered, which is inspired by the classic series of games. Mega Man has also appeared in many products, items, comic books and manga.
Regardless of the ups and downs Capcom had with Mega Man, nothing gets in the way of the fact that Mega Man has brought a lot of profits and fame to the company. Today we have this character as one of the most famous in games.
megaman products
Below we will leave a list of products as Artbooks, action figures, games and books. I hope you enjoyed the article, if you liked it share and leave your comments.
