Mega Man (character)

Mega Man
Mega Man character
Artwork of Mega Man from Mega Man X DiVE
First appearanceMega Man (1987)
Created byAkira Kitamura
Designed byAkira Kitamura
Keiji Inafune
Voiced by
In-universe information
AliasesThe Blue Bomber
SpeciesRobot Master
WeaponMega Buster
Variable Weapons System

Mega Man, known as Rockman (Japanese: ロックマン, Hepburn: Rokkuman) in Japan, is the title character and the protagonist of the Mega Man series by Capcom.[4] He was created by Akira Kitamura for the first Mega Man game released in 1987, with artist Keiji Inafune providing detailed character artwork based on Kitamura's pixel art design.[5]

Mega Man's role in the original story was to be an assistant to his creator Dr. Light. When Light's colleague goes mad, Dr. Light repurposes Mega Man to battle the mad scientist Dr. Wily and his ever-growing army of robots, and stop them from taking over the planet by using their own special abilities against them.[6] Utilizing his Mega Buster arm cannon and his ability to copy the special weapons of the boss robots he defeats, Mega Man must travel the world and traverse harsh environments in order to bring Wily's menace to an end. With the help of his creator Dr. Light and his assorted cybernetic companions, Mega Man's eventual goal is to one day achieve everlasting peace for both humans and robots.[7]

Mega Man has become one of Capcom's mascots, one of the company's primary original characters, and continues to be one of the video game industry's most recognizable icons.[8] Having appeared on many consoles since the Nintendo Entertainment System, Mega Man has had a wide gaming audience. Mega Man's fictional universe can be divided into seven categories, each featuring different variations and incarnations of a robot boy hero. Although "Mega Man", or "Rockman", is usually the name for the original Mega Man from the classic series, it can also be the Mega Man series of fictional works, or the group of adherently named main characters within.

The several spin-off series that have emerged over the past years, each one continuing the Mega Man storyline in some unique way, includes but is not limited to the Mega Man X, Mega Man Legends, Mega Man Battle Network, and Mega Man Star Force series. Mega Man has also appeared as a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series. A resulting animated series was also produced originally in Japan as well as a number of toys, comics, and collectables available both in and outside Japan.

  1. ^ "Mega Man Voices". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Mega Man Voices". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 9 July 2021. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  3. ^ Capcom. ロックマンロックマン. Capcom. Scene: Ending credits, 7:02.
  4. ^ Mega Man History "Introduction" section Archived 2006-11-03 at the Wayback Machine Capcom.com. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.
  5. ^ "Keiji Inafune dropped mad Mega Man secrets on me". 6 September 2013. Archived from the original on 2015-07-23. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
  6. ^ Mega Man History "Classic series" section Archived 2006-11-03 at the Wayback Machine Capcom.com. URL Accessed October 29, 2006.
  7. ^ Quote from the English-language ending scene of Mega Man.
  8. ^ Interview with Kenji Inafune Mega. Man.Network (Originally published in Play magazine, volume 3, issue 4 (April 2004)). Archived from the original on December 15, 2005. URL Accessed May 4, 2006.