-Some of the original pitch names for Rockman (the Japanese Mega Man) included names such as Mighty Kid and Karate Kid.
-Probably to avoid confusion between the Rockman console and Game Boy games, the Game Boy series was dubbed as "Rockman World" in Japan. This was obviously changed for the American audience, though I don't know why... It'd make my job a lot easier...
-Check out the sprite of Mega Man as he's climbing in MM5 and MM6. He has vents on his helmet, a redundant sprite change that barely goes noticed. May I also note that the vents disappear when Mega Man has the Rush Power/Jet Adapters equipped! They do show up temporarily in a cut scene in Mega Man 4 for Game Boy. The vents permanently vanish as of MM7.
-Speaking of which, we almost didn't HAVE a Mega Man 7 in the US! Rockman 7 was so unpopular in Japan that a port wasn't planned for the USA. After many fans complained, Capcom caved and released Mega Man 7. Imagine if we were left hanging after MM6's "TO BE CONTINUED..."
-Ever notice the Japanese subtext under the Rockman titles? Here's the translation: Rockman Rockman 2: Dr. Wily's Revenge Rockman 3: Dr. Wily's Last Stand!? Rockman 4: A New Threat Rockman 5: Blues' Trap!? Rockman 6: History's Ultimate Battle Rockman 7: Fated Confrontation Rockman 8: Metal Heroes
-Keiji Inafune is credited for creating Rockman. You can see his name as INAFKING in the Mega Man credits.
-Inafune planned on ending the Mega Man X series after MMX5. If you notice, the last time you see Zero in X5 is the same pose you first see him in Mega Man Zero. However, for whatever reason (most likely popularity), the series continued.
-Although Mega Man and everyone else seem to have vanished in the X series, one classic character survived: Auto! He is in the FMV intro to Volt Catfish's stage (on games that have it. I know the SNES version does not). And yes, that would be Mega Man X3.
-A key plot device was changed for the American version of Mega Man 7. When Rockman (JP) tries to kill Wily, Wily talks to Rockman about the First Law of Robotics, and Rockman says nothing. However, Mega Man (US) says, "I am more than a robot. Die, Wily!" For some reason, Capcom, USA, decided to give Mega Man free will, though that destroys EVERYTHING about the X series...
-Unless the system for tracking time changed for the future, the X series is inaccurate in their years. X5 claims that the war has dragged on for centuries, yet it is still the 20th century (21XX), the same century as X1.
-Only two of the Robot Masters from Mega Man 2-8 were created by Americans: Knight Man (Daniel Vallie) and Wind Man (Michael Leader).
-Those tunnels before a Robot Master's lair actually served a purpose once. Capcom needed some time in the programming to move from the stage data to the boss' data; thus, a throwaway chamber was created. However, the Famicom (Japanese NES) had more than enough RAM capacity, so the tunnel was unnecessary. In later games, it was kept for tradition sake (and for players who died against the Robot Master...).
-Look carefully at Cloud Man's sprite in Mega Man 7: In this image, his left hand has four fingers and his right has five!
-Nintendo of Japan felt Mega Man 2 (NES) would be too difficult for American gamers, so they "watered down" the game, making it easier. Fortunately, they DO have the original (as DIFFICULT on the title screen).
-This one is on a tangent: The mascot for Capcom before Mega Man was Captain Commando (just an interesting note: the first three letters of the two names spell out CAP COM. Neat-o!).
-Watch the intro to the Mega Man cartoon show. Look carefully: you'll see Napalm Man, yet he never appeared in the actual show.
-In the DVD collection "Mega Man: Upon a Star", all of the Robot Masters are from Mega Man 5 (NES). For some reason, though, Elec Man makes a cameo. (Before anyone emails me, I'm not counting Lava Man as a Robot Master)
-In 1994, Capcom released a console (the highly unsuccessful Capcom CPS Changer) to basically bring arcade games to the general public. Amazingly, neither of the Mega Man arcade games were ported among the ten games made for this system.
-In the game Trojan (a Capcom game that predates Mega Man by about a year), you can get an item in the fifth world that looks like so: It was worth 10,000 points. This resurfaced in Mega Man as the Yashichi, which refilled all weapon energy, Mega Man's energy, and a whopping 100,000 points! UPDATE: The Yashichi appeared in a number of Capcom's early works, though Trojan was the only one I saw it in. If anyone knows of any other games, let me know!
-In North America, Capcom had no intentions of publishing Mega Man VI for the NES due to the release of the more powerful SNES (Capcom decided to concentrate on Mega Man X). Instead, Nintendo itself released Mega Man VI. This also explains why two of the Robot Master winners were American (the contest was held in Nintendo Power, so the contest spanned over to North America). As an interesting note, check out the box and cartridge for Mega Man VI: there is no mention of Capcom on the covers!
-Mega Man VI storyline had robots from around the world. Here is my guess as to each entry's nationality: Blizzard Man - Greenland / Arctic Regions Centaur Man - Greece Flame Man - Middle East Knight Man - Great Britain Plant Man - Congo Tomahawk Man - Native American Wind Man - China Yamato Man - Japan
-Reploids are usually designed after an animal of some sort (except Sigma. I don't know why he's the exception...). But what about Boomer Kuwanger? What the heck is a "kuwanger"? The word is actually a play off of "boomerang" and "kuwagata", a type of Japanese stag beetle. Go figure...
-Here's something interesting: From the Classic series, we have Slash Man. From the .EXE series, we have BeastMan.exe. From the X series, we have Slash Beast. Look at them: it looks like Slash Beast is a combination of the other two. I even posted this equation:
-Dr. Wily's official age is 57 (according to the Rockman & Forte instruction manual).
-Speaking of Rockman & Forte, this game is often called Mega Man 9 by many fans. This is NOT true! The game ROM refers to itself as Mega Man 8.5. Weird...
-Ever notice how strange the US box for Mega Man 2 looks? Well, you might want to check out the PAL version then! You can compare the two here. (I don't know what the Japanese version looks like. Anyone have a scan?)
Do you know something strange about the Mega Man series I haven't? Email me through the Contact me section and tell me! Of course, I will give you credit (if you give a name).
Stupid Questions
Here are a bunch of queer questions surrounding the Mega Man Universe
that I cannot find a meaningful answer to. These are all in fun,
so I don't want anyone losing sleep because they were waxing
philosophically on Mega Man. If you do this anyway, more power to
you. Here they are: Stupid Questions!
-Why do the Robot Masters hide in those little chambers at the end of
the stage? It would seem awfully hard to wreak havoc inside a
small box, much less take over the world...
-In Mega Man 3 (NES), why does Dr. Light all of a sudden trust
Wily? I may not be a super robotics scientist, but if someone
were to betray me, steal my ultrapowerful robots and use them against
me, I'd be a little reluctant to accept him as an ally.
-Why was Ice Man built with the ability to create the Ice
Slasher? His original purpose was to study in sub-Arctic
conditions, so why have a weapon to freeze things?
-The whole Mega Man cartoon show and "Upon a Star" is a
question... I could go on for hours of the inconsistancies,
although "Upon a Star" isn't as bad (in fact, I rather like those three
episodes, and I wish the actual cartoon was more like it (of course,
without the kids or the whole "real world vs. game world")).
-This is one someone may know (if you do, PLEASE EMAIL ME!!): Why are
the Reploids in Mega Man X5 named after Guns 'n Roses members? I
don't see a connection...
-Do any of the storylines apply for the Game Boy games? Knowing
that Wily is drilling for oil doesn't seem relevant to Mega Man 3
(GB). I will admit, however, that knowing Quint is the future
Mega Man is really cool.
-Speaking of Quint, how does that work? Come to think of it, that
may have been Wily's most ingenius plot. He doomed Mega Man to
fight himself to the death so Mega Man will be destroyed. That
also means if Wily defeats Mega Man before he becomes Quint, Wily will
destroy the very fabric of time. So why does Wily rebuild
Quint? Isn't that like rebuilding Mega Man to kill himself
AGAIN? I hate time travel...
-Why was Mega Man green in Captain N: The Game Master? Green is a cool color, but Mega Man is the BLUE Bomber!
-Why doesn't Dr. Light teleport Mega Man to the Boss' lair? Why the excess fighting?
-Why does X sound like a girl for most of the X series? Then his voice changes to that of a man for Command Mission! How does a robot go through puberty?
-In X2 and X3, the Maverick stats for POWER and SPEED are listed under the unit rp. What is an "rp"? Why is it listed for both power and speed (the standard unit for power is "joules" and the standard unit for speed is "meters per second")? The two aren't related! NEW!-Why does Wily have the Rush Adaptors? Think about it: Dr. Light creates the adaptors. Dr. Wily then needs to break into the lab and steal those adaptors (which raises the question of why he's stealing them in the first place!). That doesn't make sense! I could think of a million and one things to do in Light's lab, but the only thing Wily's concerned about is the Rush Adaptors!! In the Mega Man V (GB) instruction booklet, it says Light misplaced them since he's absent minded (obviously, he gave them to the Stardroids but forgot about it). In an issue of Nintendo Power covering Mega Man IV (NES), Drill Man says, "You'll never get Wily's Rush Jet adaptor!" yet Toad Man says that the Marine adaptor is Light's. I don't think Wily wants to be associated with the useless Marine adaptor...
No doubt I'll think of more. In the meantime, email me of any questions you have. Just go to Contact me and you're 89.36% of the way there!
In this image, his left hand has four fingers and his right has five!
It was worth 10,000 points. This resurfaced in Mega Man as the Yashichi, which refilled all weapon energy, Mega Man's energy, and a whopping 100,000 points!