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Mega Man (video game)
Encyclopedia
Mega Man, known as in Japan, is a video game developed
and published
by Capcom
for the Nintendo Entertainment System
(NES). It is the first game in the original Mega Man series and the entire Mega Man franchise
. It was released in Japan on December 17, 1987, and was localized for North America in December 1987 and for Europe in May 1990.
The plot begins the everlasting struggle between the heroic, humanoid robot
Mega Man
and the evil scientist Dr. Wily
. The game establishes many of the gameplay conventions that would define the original Mega Man series as well as its multiple subseries. A standard action
-platform game
, Mega Man features a somewhat non-linear setup whereby the player can choose the order to complete its six initial stages. With each "Robot Master" boss defeated at the end of a level, a unique weapon is added to the player's arsenal to be used against enemies. Mega Man was developed by a small team of people, which included significant involvement from artist Keiji Inafune
. The game was produced specifically for the home console
market, a first for Capcom, who had previously focused on arcade
titles.
Mega Man was critically well-received for its overall design and has been noted for its high difficulty
. Although it was not a commercial success, the game was followed by an abundance of sequels and spin-offs that are still being released to this day, many of which utilize the same graphical, storyline, and gameplay setups instituted by the 1987 game. Mega Man has since been included in game compilations and has been re-released on mobile phone
s and console emulation
services. An enhanced remake for the PlayStation Portable
(PSP) was released in 2006 with the title Mega Man Powered Up, or in Japan.
named Mega Man
by the genius Dr. Wright (named Dr. Light in later titles) and his assistant Dr. Wily
. The two scientists also create six other advanced robots: Cut Man, Elec Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, Bomb Man, and Guts Man. Each of these robots is designed to perform industrial tasks involving construction, demolition, logging, electrical operations, or labor in extreme temperatures, all for the benefit of mankind in a location known as "Monsteropolis". However, Dr. Wily grows disloyal of his partner and reprograms these six robots to aid himself in taking control of the world. Dr. Wright sends Mega Man to defeat his fellow creations and put a stop to Dr. Wily. After succeeding, Mega Man returns home to his robot sister Roll and their creator Dr. Wright.
Mega Man presents the player with six stages designed in the side-scrolling
platformer
genre. The stage select screen allows the player to freely choose from these six stages, which can be replayed if they are cleared. The player, as Mega Man, fights through various enemies and obstacles in every stage before facing a "Robot Master" boss at the level's end. The player's health, represented by a gauge on the left side of the screen, can be replenished by picking up energy cells randomly dropped by enemies. Upon defeating a Robot Master, the player assimilates the Robot Master's signature attack (or "Master Weapon") into Mega Man's arsenal for the rest of the game. Unlike the standard blaster, the Robot Master powers have limited ammunition which must be refilled by collecting ammunition cells also dropped by defeated enemies. While the player is free to proceed through the game in any order, each Robot Master is especially vulnerable to a specific weapon, encouraging the player to complete certain stages before others.
Besides the weapons taken from the Robot Masters, the player is able to pick up a platform generator item known as the "Magnet Beam" in Elec Man's stage. Mega Man also features a scoring
system for defeating enemies. Extra points are earned by collecting power-ups from fallen enemies and a bonus is awarded for clearing each stage. When all six Robot Master stages are completed, the seventh and last stage appears in the middle of the stage select menu. This stage, known as the "Wily Fortress", is a chain of four regular stages linked together, each containing at least one new boss. During these final stages, the six Robot Masters must also be fought again in a predetermined order before the final confrontation against Dr. Wily.
was primarily known for creating arcade game
s, with many of the company's releases on consoles
being ports of these titles. In the mid-1980s, Capcom made plans to develop Mega Man specifically for the Japanese home console market. The developer decided to bring in fresh, young talent for the project's small group of people, including artist Keiji Inafune
(credited as "Inafking"), who had recently graduated from college and joined the Street Fighter
team. Inafune recalled that the development team for Mega Man worked extremely hard to complete the final product. According to the artist, his superior and lead designer on the project wanted to achieve the game's perfection in every possible aspect.
The development team for Mega Man consisted of only six people. Inafune designed and illustrated nearly all of the game's characters and enemies, as well as the Japanese Rockman logo, box art, and instruction manual. He was also responsible for rendering these designs into graphical sprite
form. "We didn’t have [a lot of] people, so after drawing character designs, I was actually doing the dotting
for the Nintendo," Inafune stated. "Back then, people weren’t specialized and we had to do a lot of different things because there was so few people, so I really ended up doing all the characters." Inafune was influenced by the eponymous protagonist of Osamu Tezuka
's manga
Astro Boy in his designs for the game. Although he is often credited for designing the hero Mega Man, Inafune insisted that his mentor at Capcom already had the basic concept of the character made when he joined the company and therefore "only did half of the job in creating him". Mega Man was colored blue due to the technical limitations of the NES. The console only has 56 colors in its pallette, the color blue having the most shades. Therefore, Mega Man was illustrated with different shades of blue to make him more detailed. The basic sprites for Roll and Dr. Light were created before Inafune began work on the project; the designs for Cut Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, and Guts Man were already taking form as well. Aside from normal enemies, the very first character Inafune designed was Elec Man, drawing inspiration from American comic book
characters. The artist has commented that Elec Man has always been his favorite design. The designs for Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were based on Santa Claus
and Albert Einstein
respectively; the latter character was meant to represent an archetypal
"mad scientist
".
The team decided to incorporate anime
elements for the game's animation. Inafune explained, "[Mega Man's] hand transforms into a gun and you can actually see it come out of his arm. We wanted to make sure that the animation and the motion was realistic and actually made sense. So with Mega Man, we had this perfect blending of game character with animation ideas." The gameplay for Mega Man was inspired by the game rock-paper-scissors
. The project supervisor wanted a system that "utlizes simple control yet offers deep gameplay". Each weapon deals a large amount of damage to one specific Robot Master, others have little to no effect against them, and there is no single weapon that dominates all the others. Mega Man was originally given the ability to crouch, but the team decided against the idea because it would have made it difficult for players to determine the height of onscreen projectiles. Naoya Tomita (credited as "Tom-Pon") began work on the backgrounds of Mega Man immediately after his training stent at Capcom. Though the limited power of the console was a difficult challenge to overcome, Tomita proved himself among his peers by maximizing the use of background elements.
The soundtrack for Mega Man was scored by Manami Matsumae
(credited as "Chanchacorin") and its sound management and sound programming were done by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (credited as "Yuukichan's Papa"). Matsumae composed the music, created the sound effects, and programmed the data in three months. Musical note
s had to be translated one-by-one into the computer language. Matsumae found it very challenging to use only three notes at one time; when she was unable to come up with songs, she created the sound effects. The production team chose a music motif
when naming characters in Mega Man due to the worldwide recognition of music. They began with the main characters: the protagonist's original name is Rock and his sister's name is Roll, a play on the term "rock and roll
". This type of naming would later be used with many characters throughout the rest of the series. Before finalizing the name, Capcom had considered others such as "Mighty Kid", "Knuckle Kid", and "Rainbow Man". When the game was localized for distribution in America, Capcom changed the title of the game from Rockman to Mega Man. This moniker was created by Capcom's then-Senior Vice President Joseph Marici, who claimed it was changed merely because he did not like the original name. "That title was horrible," Marici said. "So I came up with Mega Man, and they liked it enough to keep using it for the U.S. games." 1UP.com
's Nadia Oxford attributed this change to Capcom's belief that American children would be more interested in a game with the latter title.
described the game as an "undeniable classic" for the NES, noting solid graphics, innovative weapon-based platform gameplay, and good music. GameSpot
writers Christian Nutt and Justin Speer identified the game as a "winner in gameplay" granted its "low-key presentation". Jeremy Parrish of 1UP.com likewise outlined it as a "charming (if slightly rough) start for the series". Whether positive or negative, Mega Man has been commonly received as very difficult
. Lucas observed that its combination of high difficulty and short length hurt its replayability. 1UP.com's Kat Bailey perceived the "Nintendo-hard" bosses found in Mega Man to be what sets it apart from its two immediate and more popular sequels. Total!
retrospectively characterized the game as "an overhard and unenjoyably frustrating platform nightmare".
Mega Man has additionally received various honors from gaming journals and websites. Nintendo Power
ranked Mega Man at number 20 on its "100 Best Nintendo Games of All Time" in its 100th issue in September 1997, then at number 61 in its "Top 200 Games" in its 200th issue in February 2006. 1UP.com included it as number 17 on its "Top 25 NES Games" list. The British magazine The Games Machine
awarded it the "Star Player" accolade after its launch in PAL regions.
, the game established itself as a sleeper hit
with overseas fans thanks in part to word of mouth
. Inafune blamed its North American cover art for the game's lack of initial prosperity in that region. This box art contains virtually nothing that can be found in the game: Mega Man himself resembles a middle-aged man rather than a boy, his costume is colored yellow and blue instead of being entirely blue, and he is holding a handgun instead of his arm cannon. Over the years, the cover art has become infamous in the gaming community. It has been considered one of the worst game covers of all time by publications including GameSpy
, Wired
, and OC Weekly
.
While Mega Man was not a large commercial accomplishment for Capcom, the company decided to allow the development team to create a sequel ― Mega Man 2
― for a Japanese release in 1988. Many of the design elements that were cut from the original Mega Man were included in the follow-up game. Mega Man 2 proved to be such a success that it solidified Mega Man as one of Capcom's longest-running franchises. Due to "overwhelming demand", Capcom reissued the original Mega Man in North America in September 1991. Capcom would carry the same 8-bit graphics and sprites present in the original Mega Man for the next five games in the main series. Even though the sequels would progressively feature more complex storylines, additional gameplay mechanics, and better graphics, the core elements initiated by Mega Man remained the same throughout the series. Mega Man 9
and Mega Man 10
would later revert back to the familiar graphical style set forth by this title. The scoring system in Mega Man has not been present in any of its sequels. One of the playable characters for the cancelled Mega Man Universe
was "Bad Box Art Mega Man", the bizarre rendition featured on the American cover art of the original game. The game's teaser trailer also depicted, alongside other Capcom characters, the classic 8-bit Mega Man.
According to GamesRadar
, Mega Man was the first game to feature a non-linear "level select" option. This was a stark contrast to both linear games (like Super Mario Bros.
) and open world
games (like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid
). GamesRadar credits the "level select" feature of Mega Man as the basis for the non-linear mission structure found in most open-world, multi-mission, sidequest-heavy games, including modern titles like Grand Theft Auto
, Red Dead Redemption and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
.
in the Sega
Mega Drive compilation Mega Man: The Wily Wars
, which is largely similar to the NES version but with enhanced graphics and arranged music. Another adaptation of the game was released in Japan on the PlayStation as part of the Rockman Complete Works
series in 1999. This version also features arranged music in addition to a special "Navi Mode" that directs the player in certain portions of the levels. Mega Man was compiled with nine other games in the series in the North American Mega Man Anniversary Collection
released for the PlayStation 2
and GameCube
in 2004 and the Xbox
in 2005. A mobile phone
rendition of Mega Man developed by Lavastorm
was released for download in North America in 2004. The game was given a separate mobile phone release in Japan in 2007, with an update in 2008 having the option to play as Roll. Mega Man for the NES was reissued on the Wii
Virtual Console
service in Europe in 2007 and in North America and Japan in 2008. The Complete Works version of the game was made available on the PlayStation Store
in both Japan and North America. Finally, a glasses-free 3D
version of the game will be available for the Softbank
Galapagos Android phones in Japan in February 2011.
An enhanced remake titled Mega Man Powered Up (known as in Japan) was released worldwide for the PSP
in 2006. The game features a graphical overhaul with 3D character models in a chibi-style with large heads and small bodies. Inafune had originally planned to make Mega Man look this way, but could not due to the hardware constraints of the NES. Producer Tetsuya Kitabayashi stated that redesigning the character models was a result of the PSP's 16:9 widescreen
ratio. The larger heads on the characters allowed the development team to create visible facial expressions. "The concept for these designs was 'toys.' We wanted cute designs geared towards little kids... the kinds of characters that you'd see hanging off of keychains and such," character designer Tatsuya Yoshikawa explained. "Not only that, I made sure to tell the designers not to skimp on any of the original Mega Man details. We wanted their proportions and movements to be accurately reflected in these designs as well." As the size of the remake's stages are not proportion to those of the original, the widescreen ratio also presented the developments with more space to fill.
There are two ways to play through Mega Man Powered Up: "Old Style" and "New Style". Old Style is comparable to the NES version aside from the updated presentation. New Style takes advantage of the PSP's entire widescreen
and contains storyline cutscenes with voice acting, remixed music, and three difficulty modes for each stage. This mode also adds two new Robot Masters (Oil Man and Time Man); the NES version was originally intended to have a total of eight Robot Masters, but was cut down to six due to a tight schedule. The remake features the ability to unlock and play through the game as the eight Robot Masters, Roll and Protoman. The stages in New Style differ in structure from those in Old Style by having pathways only accessible by certain Robot Masters. Mega Man Powered Up furthermore has a challenge mode with 100 challenges to complete; a level editor
for creating custom stages; and an option to distribute fan-made levels to the PlayStation Network online service. Mega Man Powered Up received mostly positive critical reviews, currently holding aggregate scores of 83% on GameRankings and 82 out of 100 on Metacritic
. The remake sold poorly at retail, but was later made available as a paid download from the Japanese PlayStation Network. Capcom additionally translated Mega Man Powered Up into Chinese
for release in Asia in 2008.
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
and published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
(NES). It is the first game in the original Mega Man series and the entire Mega Man franchise
Mega Man
Mega Man is a video game franchise from Capcom, starring the eponymous character Mega Man, or one of his many counterparts. The series is well-known and comprises well over fifty releases, easily making it Capcom's most prolific franchise. As of December 31, 2010, the series has sold approximately...
. It was released in Japan on December 17, 1987, and was localized for North America in December 1987 and for Europe in May 1990.
The plot begins the everlasting struggle between the heroic, humanoid robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
Mega Man
Mega Man (character)
Mega Man, known as in Japan, is a cybernetic video game character, and the main protagonist of what has been referred to as the original Mega Man series developed by Capcom since 1987. The pixel art for the character was created by the designer of the original game in the series, credited under...
and the evil scientist Dr. Wily
Doctor Wily
, full name Albert W. Wily, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the original Mega Man series of video games. Designed by Keiji Inafune, he appeared in the first Mega Man video game and later in promotions and other media related to the series...
. The game establishes many of the gameplay conventions that would define the original Mega Man series as well as its multiple subseries. A standard action
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
-platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
, Mega Man features a somewhat non-linear setup whereby the player can choose the order to complete its six initial stages. With each "Robot Master" boss defeated at the end of a level, a unique weapon is added to the player's arsenal to be used against enemies. Mega Man was developed by a small team of people, which included significant involvement from artist Keiji Inafune
Keiji Inafune
is a video game producer and illustrator. He was the former head of Research & Development and Online Business and Global Head of Production at Capcom, best known as the illustrator and co-designer of the character Mega Man, as well as the producer of the Onimusha and Dead Rising video game series...
. The game was produced specifically for the home console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
market, a first for Capcom, who had previously focused on arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
titles.
Mega Man was critically well-received for its overall design and has been noted for its high difficulty
Difficulty level
In general usage, difficulty level refers to the relative difficulty of completing a task or objective.In computer and video games, the term specifically delineates the ease or difficulty with which an average user may complete a game or a part of a game. Arcade games as well as many early console...
. Although it was not a commercial success, the game was followed by an abundance of sequels and spin-offs that are still being released to this day, many of which utilize the same graphical, storyline, and gameplay setups instituted by the 1987 game. Mega Man has since been included in game compilations and has been re-released on mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s and console emulation
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
services. An enhanced remake for the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
(PSP) was released in 2006 with the title Mega Man Powered Up, or in Japan.
Plot
The plot for the English localization of Mega Man entails the events after the co-creation of the humanoid robotRobot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
named Mega Man
Mega Man (character)
Mega Man, known as in Japan, is a cybernetic video game character, and the main protagonist of what has been referred to as the original Mega Man series developed by Capcom since 1987. The pixel art for the character was created by the designer of the original game in the series, credited under...
by the genius Dr. Wright (named Dr. Light in later titles) and his assistant Dr. Wily
Doctor Wily
, full name Albert W. Wily, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the original Mega Man series of video games. Designed by Keiji Inafune, he appeared in the first Mega Man video game and later in promotions and other media related to the series...
. The two scientists also create six other advanced robots: Cut Man, Elec Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, Bomb Man, and Guts Man. Each of these robots is designed to perform industrial tasks involving construction, demolition, logging, electrical operations, or labor in extreme temperatures, all for the benefit of mankind in a location known as "Monsteropolis". However, Dr. Wily grows disloyal of his partner and reprograms these six robots to aid himself in taking control of the world. Dr. Wright sends Mega Man to defeat his fellow creations and put a stop to Dr. Wily. After succeeding, Mega Man returns home to his robot sister Roll and their creator Dr. Wright.
Gameplay
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
platformer
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
genre. The stage select screen allows the player to freely choose from these six stages, which can be replayed if they are cleared. The player, as Mega Man, fights through various enemies and obstacles in every stage before facing a "Robot Master" boss at the level's end. The player's health, represented by a gauge on the left side of the screen, can be replenished by picking up energy cells randomly dropped by enemies. Upon defeating a Robot Master, the player assimilates the Robot Master's signature attack (or "Master Weapon") into Mega Man's arsenal for the rest of the game. Unlike the standard blaster, the Robot Master powers have limited ammunition which must be refilled by collecting ammunition cells also dropped by defeated enemies. While the player is free to proceed through the game in any order, each Robot Master is especially vulnerable to a specific weapon, encouraging the player to complete certain stages before others.
Besides the weapons taken from the Robot Masters, the player is able to pick up a platform generator item known as the "Magnet Beam" in Elec Man's stage. Mega Man also features a scoring
Score (game)
In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties...
system for defeating enemies. Extra points are earned by collecting power-ups from fallen enemies and a bonus is awarded for clearing each stage. When all six Robot Master stages are completed, the seventh and last stage appears in the middle of the stage select menu. This stage, known as the "Wily Fortress", is a chain of four regular stages linked together, each containing at least one new boss. During these final stages, the six Robot Masters must also be fought again in a predetermined order before the final confrontation against Dr. Wily.
Development
Prior to the development of Mega Man, CapcomCapcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
was primarily known for creating arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s, with many of the company's releases on consoles
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
being ports of these titles. In the mid-1980s, Capcom made plans to develop Mega Man specifically for the Japanese home console market. The developer decided to bring in fresh, young talent for the project's small group of people, including artist Keiji Inafune
Keiji Inafune
is a video game producer and illustrator. He was the former head of Research & Development and Online Business and Global Head of Production at Capcom, best known as the illustrator and co-designer of the character Mega Man, as well as the producer of the Onimusha and Dead Rising video game series...
(credited as "Inafking"), who had recently graduated from college and joined the Street Fighter
Street Fighter (video game)
is a 1987 arcade game developed by Capcom. It is the first competitive fighting game produced by the company and the inaugural game in the Street Fighter series...
team. Inafune recalled that the development team for Mega Man worked extremely hard to complete the final product. According to the artist, his superior and lead designer on the project wanted to achieve the game's perfection in every possible aspect.
The development team for Mega Man consisted of only six people. Inafune designed and illustrated nearly all of the game's characters and enemies, as well as the Japanese Rockman logo, box art, and instruction manual. He was also responsible for rendering these designs into graphical sprite
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
form. "We didn’t have [a lot of] people, so after drawing character designs, I was actually doing the dotting
Pixelation
In computer graphics, pixelation is an effect caused by displaying a bitmap or a section of a bitmap at such a large size that individual pixels, small single-colored square display elements that comprise the bitmap, are visible to the eye...
for the Nintendo," Inafune stated. "Back then, people weren’t specialized and we had to do a lot of different things because there was so few people, so I really ended up doing all the characters." Inafune was influenced by the eponymous protagonist of Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
's manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
Astro Boy in his designs for the game. Although he is often credited for designing the hero Mega Man, Inafune insisted that his mentor at Capcom already had the basic concept of the character made when he joined the company and therefore "only did half of the job in creating him". Mega Man was colored blue due to the technical limitations of the NES. The console only has 56 colors in its pallette, the color blue having the most shades. Therefore, Mega Man was illustrated with different shades of blue to make him more detailed. The basic sprites for Roll and Dr. Light were created before Inafune began work on the project; the designs for Cut Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, and Guts Man were already taking form as well. Aside from normal enemies, the very first character Inafune designed was Elec Man, drawing inspiration from American comic book
American comic book
An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...
characters. The artist has commented that Elec Man has always been his favorite design. The designs for Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were based on Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
and Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
respectively; the latter character was meant to represent an archetypal
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
"mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
".
The team decided to incorporate anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
elements for the game's animation. Inafune explained, "[Mega Man's] hand transforms into a gun and you can actually see it come out of his arm. We wanted to make sure that the animation and the motion was realistic and actually made sense. So with Mega Man, we had this perfect blending of game character with animation ideas." The gameplay for Mega Man was inspired by the game rock-paper-scissors
Rock-paper-scissors
Rock-paper-scissors is a hand game played by two people. The game is also known as roshambo, or another ordering of the three items ....
. The project supervisor wanted a system that "utlizes simple control yet offers deep gameplay". Each weapon deals a large amount of damage to one specific Robot Master, others have little to no effect against them, and there is no single weapon that dominates all the others. Mega Man was originally given the ability to crouch, but the team decided against the idea because it would have made it difficult for players to determine the height of onscreen projectiles. Naoya Tomita (credited as "Tom-Pon") began work on the backgrounds of Mega Man immediately after his training stent at Capcom. Though the limited power of the console was a difficult challenge to overcome, Tomita proved himself among his peers by maximizing the use of background elements.
The soundtrack for Mega Man was scored by Manami Matsumae
Manami Matsumae
is a freelance composer of video game music. She used to work for Capcom's Alph Lyla group. In addition to the games with that group, her individual contributions include composition for Magic Sword, Mercs, Dynasty Wars, and sound programming for the original Mega Man. She got married to a...
(credited as "Chanchacorin") and its sound management and sound programming were done by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (credited as "Yuukichan's Papa"). Matsumae composed the music, created the sound effects, and programmed the data in three months. Musical note
Note
In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....
s had to be translated one-by-one into the computer language. Matsumae found it very challenging to use only three notes at one time; when she was unable to come up with songs, she created the sound effects. The production team chose a music motif
Motif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
when naming characters in Mega Man due to the worldwide recognition of music. They began with the main characters: the protagonist's original name is Rock and his sister's name is Roll, a play on the term "rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
". This type of naming would later be used with many characters throughout the rest of the series. Before finalizing the name, Capcom had considered others such as "Mighty Kid", "Knuckle Kid", and "Rainbow Man". When the game was localized for distribution in America, Capcom changed the title of the game from Rockman to Mega Man. This moniker was created by Capcom's then-Senior Vice President Joseph Marici, who claimed it was changed merely because he did not like the original name. "That title was horrible," Marici said. "So I came up with Mega Man, and they liked it enough to keep using it for the U.S. games." 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
's Nadia Oxford attributed this change to Capcom's belief that American children would be more interested in a game with the latter title.
Reception
Critical reception for Mega Man has been favorable. Lucas M. Thomas of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
described the game as an "undeniable classic" for the NES, noting solid graphics, innovative weapon-based platform gameplay, and good music. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
writers Christian Nutt and Justin Speer identified the game as a "winner in gameplay" granted its "low-key presentation". Jeremy Parrish of 1UP.com likewise outlined it as a "charming (if slightly rough) start for the series". Whether positive or negative, Mega Man has been commonly received as very difficult
Difficulty level
In general usage, difficulty level refers to the relative difficulty of completing a task or objective.In computer and video games, the term specifically delineates the ease or difficulty with which an average user may complete a game or a part of a game. Arcade games as well as many early console...
. Lucas observed that its combination of high difficulty and short length hurt its replayability. 1UP.com's Kat Bailey perceived the "Nintendo-hard" bosses found in Mega Man to be what sets it apart from its two immediate and more popular sequels. Total!
Total!
Total! was a video game magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing. It was published monthly for 58 issues, beginning in December 1991 , with the last issue bearing the cover-date October 1996...
retrospectively characterized the game as "an overhard and unenjoyably frustrating platform nightmare".
Mega Man has additionally received various honors from gaming journals and websites. Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
ranked Mega Man at number 20 on its "100 Best Nintendo Games of All Time" in its 100th issue in September 1997, then at number 61 in its "Top 200 Games" in its 200th issue in February 2006. 1UP.com included it as number 17 on its "Top 25 NES Games" list. The British magazine The Games Machine
The Games Machine
The Games Machine was a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published CRASH, Zzap!64, Amtix! and other magazines.-History:...
awarded it the "Star Player" accolade after its launch in PAL regions.
Legacy
Mega Man garnered moderately low sales upon its release, although they were higher than Capcom had anticipated. With little press coverage save for a full-page advertisement in Nintendo Fun Club NewsNintendo Fun Club
The Nintendo Fun Club was a fan club marketed by Nintendo. It was free to join and those who joined it received a free subscription to Nintendo Fun Club News, a periodical that discussed popular games and games that were planned for the near future. It offered tips and tricks, Nintendo video game...
, the game established itself as a sleeper hit
Sleeper hit
A sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
with overseas fans thanks in part to word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
. Inafune blamed its North American cover art for the game's lack of initial prosperity in that region. This box art contains virtually nothing that can be found in the game: Mega Man himself resembles a middle-aged man rather than a boy, his costume is colored yellow and blue instead of being entirely blue, and he is holding a handgun instead of his arm cannon. Over the years, the cover art has become infamous in the gaming community. It has been considered one of the worst game covers of all time by publications including GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
, Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
, and OC Weekly
OC Weekly
OC Weekly, a sister publication of both LA Weekly and The Village Voice, is a free, left-wing weekly paper distributed in Orange County, California and also in Long Beach....
.
While Mega Man was not a large commercial accomplishment for Capcom, the company decided to allow the development team to create a sequel ― Mega Man 2
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 2, known in Japan as , is a platform game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the second installment in the original Mega Man series. The game was released in Japan in 1988, and in North America and PAL regions the following years. Mega Man 2...
― for a Japanese release in 1988. Many of the design elements that were cut from the original Mega Man were included in the follow-up game. Mega Man 2 proved to be such a success that it solidified Mega Man as one of Capcom's longest-running franchises. Due to "overwhelming demand", Capcom reissued the original Mega Man in North America in September 1991. Capcom would carry the same 8-bit graphics and sprites present in the original Mega Man for the next five games in the main series. Even though the sequels would progressively feature more complex storylines, additional gameplay mechanics, and better graphics, the core elements initiated by Mega Man remained the same throughout the series. Mega Man 9
Mega Man 9
Mega Man 9, known in Japan as , is a video game developed by Capcom and Inti Creates. It is the ninth numbered game in the original Mega Man series. Mega Man 9 is the first, new home console game in the original Mega Man series since Mega Man 8 and Mega Man & Bass, which were released at least one...
and Mega Man 10
Mega Man 10
Mega Man 10, known in Japan as , is a video game developed by Capcom and Inti Creates. It is the tenth main entry of the original Mega Man series...
would later revert back to the familiar graphical style set forth by this title. The scoring system in Mega Man has not been present in any of its sequels. One of the playable characters for the cancelled Mega Man Universe
Mega Man Universe
was an upcoming 2.5D action platformer game in the Mega Man series being developed by Capcom for Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network, and has since been cancelled. Mainly based on Mega Man 2, the game would have allowed players to create their own levels and customize characters...
was "Bad Box Art Mega Man", the bizarre rendition featured on the American cover art of the original game. The game's teaser trailer also depicted, alongside other Capcom characters, the classic 8-bit Mega Man.
According to GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
, Mega Man was the first game to feature a non-linear "level select" option. This was a stark contrast to both linear games (like Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
is a 1985 platform video game developed by Nintendo, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist...
) and open world
Open world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
games (like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid
Metroid
is an action-adventure video game, and the first entry in the Metroid series. It was co-developed by Nintendo's Research and Development 1 division and Intelligent Systems, and was released in Japan in August 1986, in North America in August 1987, and in Europe in January 1988...
). GamesRadar credits the "level select" feature of Mega Man as the basis for the non-linear mission structure found in most open-world, multi-mission, sidequest-heavy games, including modern titles like Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto (series)
Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games...
, Red Dead Redemption and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is a video game featuring Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions blends together four universes from the Marvel Comics multiverse, allowing the player to play as four different Spider-Men...
.
Remakes and re-releases
Mega Man has been re-released several times since its 1987 debut. It was included alongside Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3Mega Man 3
Mega Man 3, known as in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third game of the original Mega Man series and was originally released in Japan on September 28, 1990. The game localized in North America later in 1990 and in European...
in the Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
Mega Drive compilation Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Mega Man: The Wily Wars, released in Japan as is a video game compilation by Capcom for the Sega Mega Drive. The game features remakes of the first three Mega Man games that were originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Wily Wars was released in cartridge format in Japan and...
, which is largely similar to the NES version but with enhanced graphics and arranged music. Another adaptation of the game was released in Japan on the PlayStation as part of the Rockman Complete Works
Rockman Complete Works
Rockman Complete Works is a lineup of video game remakes released for the PlayStation in Japan of the first six games in the original Rockman series by Capcom...
series in 1999. This version also features arranged music in addition to a special "Navi Mode" that directs the player in certain portions of the levels. Mega Man was compiled with nine other games in the series in the North American Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Mega Man Anniversary Collection a compilation of video games developed by Atomic Planet Entertainment and published by Capcom. It was released exclusively in North America on June 23, 2004 for the Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2 and on March 15, 2005 for the Microsoft Xbox...
released for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
in 2004 and the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
in 2005. A mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
rendition of Mega Man developed by Lavastorm
Lavastorm
Lavastorm is a Massachusetts based international technology company with a colorful history of projects, awards, mergers, acquisitions, and a refocus from web development to revenue assurance...
was released for download in North America in 2004. The game was given a separate mobile phone release in Japan in 2007, with an update in 2008 having the option to play as Roll. Mega Man for the NES was reissued on the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
service in Europe in 2007 and in North America and Japan in 2008. The Complete Works version of the game was made available on the PlayStation Store
PlayStation Store
The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
in both Japan and North America. Finally, a glasses-free 3D
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
version of the game will be available for the Softbank
SoftBank
is a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses....
Galapagos Android phones in Japan in February 2011.
An enhanced remake titled Mega Man Powered Up (known as in Japan) was released worldwide for the PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
in 2006. The game features a graphical overhaul with 3D character models in a chibi-style with large heads and small bodies. Inafune had originally planned to make Mega Man look this way, but could not due to the hardware constraints of the NES. Producer Tetsuya Kitabayashi stated that redesigning the character models was a result of the PSP's 16:9 widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
ratio. The larger heads on the characters allowed the development team to create visible facial expressions. "The concept for these designs was 'toys.' We wanted cute designs geared towards little kids... the kinds of characters that you'd see hanging off of keychains and such," character designer Tatsuya Yoshikawa explained. "Not only that, I made sure to tell the designers not to skimp on any of the original Mega Man details. We wanted their proportions and movements to be accurately reflected in these designs as well." As the size of the remake's stages are not proportion to those of the original, the widescreen ratio also presented the developments with more space to fill.
There are two ways to play through Mega Man Powered Up: "Old Style" and "New Style". Old Style is comparable to the NES version aside from the updated presentation. New Style takes advantage of the PSP's entire widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
and contains storyline cutscenes with voice acting, remixed music, and three difficulty modes for each stage. This mode also adds two new Robot Masters (Oil Man and Time Man); the NES version was originally intended to have a total of eight Robot Masters, but was cut down to six due to a tight schedule. The remake features the ability to unlock and play through the game as the eight Robot Masters, Roll and Protoman. The stages in New Style differ in structure from those in Old Style by having pathways only accessible by certain Robot Masters. Mega Man Powered Up furthermore has a challenge mode with 100 challenges to complete; a level editor
Level editor
A level editor is a software tool used to design levels, maps, campaigns, etc and virtual worlds for a video game. In some cases the creator of a video game releases an official level editor for a game, but other times the community of fans step in to fill the void...
for creating custom stages; and an option to distribute fan-made levels to the PlayStation Network online service. Mega Man Powered Up received mostly positive critical reviews, currently holding aggregate scores of 83% on GameRankings and 82 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. The remake sold poorly at retail, but was later made available as a paid download from the Japanese PlayStation Network. Capcom additionally translated Mega Man Powered Up into Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
for release in Asia in 2008.