Megaman Complete Collection

Rockman, known as Mega Man in U.S.A., is a video game franchise from Capcom, usually starring a character named Mega Man. The series is well-known and comprises well over 50 releases, easily making it Capcom's most prolific franchise. As of December 30, 2008, the series has sold approximately 28 million copies worldwide.The Mega Man games began in 1987 with the first Mega Man game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It, and its sequels, comprise the original series, which has since been followed by several spin-off series in the same fictional universe.

 Overview

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. The classic series is considered to be the origin of the story, with Mega Man being the first installment, and continuing with 10 direct sequels. Chronologically after Mega Man 8 comes Mega Man and Bass and then continues with Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10.

There are also spin-off titles that do not relate to the series's 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, Mega Man ZX and Megaman Legends. Although it is confirmed that the Mega Man Legends series takes place sometime in the distant future 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 (one in which network-technology flourished instead of robotics technology), and Mega Man Star Force follows the Battle Network series.

The official source book Rockman Perfect Memories 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 themselves regarding their placement in the timeline(s).

Games

• Original/Classic series

 

    * Mega Man 1 – Famicom/NES, 1987 (US, JP)
    * Mega Man 2 – Famicom/NES, 1988 (JP), 1989 (US)
    * Mega Man 3 – Famicom/NES, Arcade, 1990 (US, JP)
    * Mega Man 4 – Famicom/NES, 1991 (JP), 1992 (US)
    * Mega Man 5 – Famicom/NES, 1992 (US, JP)
    * Mega Man 6 (Japan/US only) – Famicom/NES, 1993 (JP), 1994 (US)
    * Mega Man 7 – Super Famicom/Super NES, 1995 (US, JP)
    * Mega Man 8 – PlayStation & Sega Saturn, 1996 (JP), 1997 (US)
    * Mega Man & Bass – Super Famicom, 1998 (JP); Game Boy Advance, 2002 (US, JP)
    * Mega Man 9 – WiiWare, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, 2008
    * Mega Man 10 – WiiWare, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, 2010

In the story behind the original series, Rock (later retconned to "Mega") is an android created as a lab assistant by the scientist Dr. 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.

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. All main Mega Man games released prior to 1997 are side scrolling with 2D platforming levels. The player character is Mega Man, who must fight through the levels using some variation of the "Mega Buster"—a cannon attached to his arm—to shoot the robotic enemies inhabiting his environment.What made Mega Man revolutionary when the first installment was released in 1987,was that you can choose which Robot Master you wished to go after first. After defeating a Robot Master—the boss of a level—Mega Man gains the ability to use that Robot Master's special weapon. Each Robot Master is representative of a specific element or object, with such bosses as Fire Man, Ice Man, Stone Man, and Napalm Man. The weapons Mega Man gains share the theme of the defeated boss. After defeating all eight Robot Masters, Mega Man travels to a multi-stage fortress to confront Dr. Wily, the person responsible for the robotic enemies' destructive acts. In the fortress, Mega Man fights past new bosses, clones of the game's eight Robot Masters, and Wily, who is usually in a large multi-phase war machine.

Enemies are weak to at least one weapon; for instance, Fire Man will take more damage from Ice Man's weapon than from other weapons. This concept draws inspiration from rock-paper-scissors. 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. Sequels of Mega Man games contain new enemies alongside familiar ones, new bosses and weapons, and perhaps new gadgets.

Later installments of the game give the player the option of commanding other player characters with different abilities, such as Proto Man and Bass. To date, the Classic series has not reached a definite conclusion, although later entries in the series have hinted at possible connections to the X series (such as the "Roboenza" of Mega Man 10 being a precursor to the Maverick Virus). But due to the Classic series's light-hearted and nostalgic nature, it may never reach a definite conclusion.

Related Article: