Mega Man

Mega Man is a titular protagonist of the Mega Man franchise.

Mega Man, originally named Rock, was built in the year 200X (retconned to 20XX in later games to keep his creation in the future) by Dr. Light as a helper and lab assistant. When the mad scientist Dr. Wily stole and reprogrammed Dr. Light's six next generation Robot Masters, Rock volunteered to stop Wily and was upgraded by Dr. Light for combat purposes, adopting the new name Mega Man. Mega Man's primary weapon is the Mega Buster, a transformable arm mounted plasma cannon. He also possesses the Variable Weapon System, which allows Mega Man to copy a defeated Robot Master's special weapon. Using these and his strong desire to bring peace to the world, he has repeatedly thwarted Wily's plans.

Appearance
Outside of his armor, Rock appears as a ten-year-old boy with spiky hair, the color of which varies between games from black to brown. His armor, however, resembles that of most other Robot Masters in that it's a skintight bodysuit with large rounded coverings on the lower arms and legs, and typical 'superhero briefs'. Mega Man's primary color is light blue with a dark blue 'trim' (his arms, legs, helmet and 'briefs'). His helmet has a raised light blue square in the forehead and a light blue ridge running straight back from the square, resembling an exclamation mark. His helmet also features round light blue sections with red circles in the center over his ears. He also has red circles in his Mega Buster and below his feet.

Something unique to Rock alone amongst his future and alternate counterparts is that he's the only Mega Man with blue eyes, while most of the others have green ones (or brown in the case of Geo and red in the case of Copy X).

Personality
Mega Man's personality seems to stem from his creator, Dr. Light, whose intention may have been to design Rock based on his own interpretation of a real boy as if it were his very own son. Rock, who would later be upgraded into the super fighting robot known as Mega Man, demonstrates a wide range of emotions, similar to that of a prepubescent boy, not typical of other robots, thus making him unique.

Mega Man's primarily extremely courageous and just, choosing to become Mega Man and face the threat Wily posed because he wanted to help and do the right thing. This said he's also a pacifist and in the Mega Man Powered Up pre-boss cutscenes he always tried to find an alternative to violence. This trait was also, to a degree, shown in Mega Man 8 where he questioned Bass as to why they must fight. Along with these traits he's also kind, generous and polite.

However, Wily's frequent false repentances have become a constant frustration to Mega Man who appears to developing less patience with him, something that came to a head in the course of Mega Man 7 where he contemplated killing him, though ultimately decided against it. He further pointed out Wily's previous false repentances at the end of Mega Man 9, showing his diminishing patience, however he nonetheless assists him when he becomes ill in Mega Man 10.

In other media, Mega Man has also demonstrated strong leadership skills on the occasions where he works with a team. His siblings all notably look up to him and even Proto Man has occasionally shown he's willing to defer to his younger brother for orders.

Abilities
As a robot, Rock possesses greater physical abilities than humans. The most notable showing of his enhanced strength is the Mega Kick utilized in Mega Man Powered Up, a kick that causes more damage than standard buster shots.

When modified into the combat robot Mega Man, his abilities are enhanced further, ostensibly possessing superhuman strength, stamina, reflexes, and durability, which are exhibited in most games in the series.
 * Mega Buster (Rock Buster) - Mega Man's main weapon, a potent arm cannon that fires solar bullets. In Mega Man 4 it gained the ability to charge energy to fire more powerful shots. It received additional upgrades and functions in different games, such as the Mega Arm in Mega Man V and Laser Shot in Mega Man 8.


 * Mega Upper (Rock Upper) - A potent uppercut utilized by Mega Man in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.


 * Slide - A move utilized for speed, dodging, and at times attack.


 * Weapon Copy System - Mega Man can replicate the Special Weapon of Robot Masters, conventionally after subjugating them, or indeed any weapon as long as he's seen it in use.
 * Besides the Special Weapons obtained from Robot Masters, Mega Man can also use other weapons and abilities obtained by different methods, such as the Magnet Beam and Mega Ball.


 * In Mega Man 6, "adapters" were introduced that allowed Mega Man to fuse with other robots, mainly the character Rush. However, both of these adapters inhibit some of Mega Man's abilities, such as being unable to slide, while at the same time greatly enhancing others.
 * The "Jet Adapter" allows Mega Man to fuse with Rush and become Jet Mega Man (Jet Rockman). In this form, Mega Man is equipped with the "Jet Booster," which allows him to hover for short periods of time.
 * The "Power Adapter" allows Mega Man and Rush to fuse and become Power Mega Man (Power Rockman). In this form, Mega Man is equipped with the "Super Knuckle", a potent short-range attack that repels foes and breaks blocks.
 * The "Super Adapter" introduced in Mega Man 7 allows Mega Man to become Super Mega Man (Super Rockman). This form merges the Jet and Power adapters, giving him both abilities.
 * In Worlds Collide of the Archie series, he obtained a super transformation by using the Chaos Emeralds. In this form he was invulnerable to damage and his Mega Buster was drastically powered up.
 * A final adapter functioned as a Hyper Combo in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. Mega Man fuses with three of his helpers; Rush, Eddie, and Beat to become Hyper Mega Man. In this form he grows in size and gains elongated wings and a rocket pack from his back. He gains a massively powered up arm cannon and can fire rockets from his shoulders, boots, torso and back.


 * Mega Man has the ability to teleport, though only into and out of a location. When he teleports he has the appearance of a beam of light with colours similar to the ones he possesses at the time.

Weaknesses
While Mega Man has no special weaknesses, certain environmental hazards can cause instant destruction; for example, spikes and pitfalls. Mega Man can defend himself from spikes by equipping Shock Sentinel barriers. However, not all spikes are lethal, some merely inflicting damage rather than instant destruction.

Additionally, a substantial amount of lava/magma can cause Mega Man to explode. However, small amounts (such as projectiles) will only harm him.

In the first Mega Man game, Mega Man may have been designed to fit in with the impotency order, as he takes 10 units of damage from both the Ice Slasher and Thunder Beam. Mega Man takes far less damage from these weapons in the PSP remake, Mega Man Powered Up, as well as other games those weapons appear, like Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters.

Trivia

 * He is the 2nd Mega Man robot and the second robot created by Dr. Light of the Mega Man series, the first being Proto Man.
 * Being the first, Mega Man's design was decided to be the analogue and template for other characters in the series that would bear the name. Notably, what would originally be the first character to succeed Mega Man, had a radically different design, before the developers decided on another, more similar design completely.


 * The Japanese name "Rock" (Mega Man's original name) was not Americanized until Mega Man Powered Up, when it was changed to "Mega". This change has since been retconned, however, as evidenced by the U.S. Mega Man 9 site which uses the name "Rock". The Archie Comics Mega Man series establishes Rock as the name of Mega Man's civilian form.
 * However, in Mega Man 11, Mega Man's original name remains as "Mega" instead of "Rock".


 * Mega Man appears as Rock (in his human looking form) in only five games: Mega Man, Mega Man 4, Mega Man V (Game Boy), Mega Man's Soccerand Mega Man Powered Up, being playable as Rock in the latter, where he uses a "Mega Kick" instead of an arm cannon.


 * Of the various "Mega Men", classic series Rockman is the only one with blue eyes. All other characters to bear the name "Mega Man" have green eyes. Curiously in the PSP remake Mega Man Powered Up his eye color is changed to green (though the artwork for the game shows him with blue eyes). In the Mega Man Megamixillustrations, his eye color is also depicted as green.


 * In Mega Man Star Force 2, if one has the event '1stMegaMan' brother data his secret is that he obtains his energy from the sun.
 * Also in the final Club Capcom magazine there was an Ask Dr. Light bit in which he said regarding the robot master energy systems, many of them do utilize “solar energy” in some way and that Mega Man’s charge shot discharges condensed solar energy.


 * Spiritia Rosenberg, a character from the Japanese doujin soft series, Rosenkreuzstilette, is based on Mega Man.


 * In The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, in one of the houses in the first level, one of the Servbots will turn on a TV showing the 8 bit Mega Man running while the stage selected theme plays.


 * In Artix Entertainment's AdventureQuest Worlds MMORPG, one of the randomly-generated regular monsters is a robot called MegaDude, who is a reference to Mega Man, based on his appearance and blaster attack.


 * Early concept art for Mega Man X: Command Mission shows that Mega Man (and Cut Man) may have been planned to appear in the game.


 * Mega Man made a one-time appearance in a German Super Mario comic book, where he and Dr. Light were helping Mario catch Wario who had recently committed a robbery.


 * In the Airlock stage of Double Dragon Neon, there is a boss that is an homage to Mega Man, called the "Mecha Biker". The boss uses abilities similar to Mega Man himself such as shooting three shots in a row, sliding, and even doing a charged shot; his dying animation is also similar to Mega Man's.


 * Mega Man appeared in an episode of the Screwattack webseries Death Battle, where he fought against his original inspiration Astro Boy in Mega Man vs Astro Boy. He ultimately lost due to the research team claiming that his opponent was considerably faster, stronger and more durable all-round. According to the research team, Mega Man's only real advantage (His superior arsenal and much stronger ranged weaponry) wasn't even significant enough to gain the upper hand- all of his weapons bar the Mega Buster were vulnerable to eventually running out of energy with repeated use, and were unable to harm Astro Boy for the most part anyway due to his extreme speed/agility and durability.
 * Mega Man was however, one of only two contestants to date to technically survive losing in a Death Battle- although he ends up being blown to pieces by Astro Boy after one of his rocket-powered punches and the Double Mega Buster collide, his still-functioning head is retrieved by his opponent and given back to Rush to be repaired.


 * The reason he appears green in Captain N: The Game Master is because the animators' TV was slightly broken, resulting in all the colors being changed.


 * Mega Man made an appearance in the Cartoon Network show MAD in the skit Gaming's Next Top Princess, where he is one of the judges alongside Mario and another person. However, his appearance is slightly different outside of the animation style, he is shown with a buster set on the left hand at all times, and like 'Mega Man?' from Powered Up, the grey square on his helmet is a triangle, and he has brown eyes instead of blue.
 * He also appeared in another skit (MAD's Guide to Video Game Cheats) where he beats Strike Man via a cheat code which makes cats fall from the sky, distracting him (and for some reason, destroying him).
 * Once again, he makes a third appearance in "Diary of a Wimpy Kid Icarus" where he is a popular student at Video Game School, and a bully to Pit.


 * Mega Man has had numerous doppelgangers that showed up in the series, these being: Copy Robot, Shadow Mega Man, Mega Man? and Rockman Shadow.
 * Quint doesn't count as he is the original Mega Man but from a different futuristic timeline.