Mega Man

Mega Man

NES - USA - 1st Edition.

Developer Capcom Publisher Capcom Published 1987-12-17 Platforms BREW, DoJa, NES Genres Platform shooter, Platformer, Shooter Themes Action, Cartoon, Science fiction Series Mega Man Distribution Commercial

Mega Man is a platform shooter developed and published by Capcom and released for the NES on 1987-12-17. It is the first game in the Mega Man series.

In the game's story, Dr. Wright built several humanoid robots to help humans with various difficult tasks, but his assistant, Dr. Wily, reprogrammed the robots to try to take over the world. You play one of Dr. Wright's first robots, Rock, a simple house robot who has been altered to become a powerful war machine to stop Dr. Wily by first defeating the six robots he stole. Each time you defeat a robot master, you steal their powers and are able to use them as your own against the others.

Personal

Own?	I have a loose USA NES cart signed by Manami Matsumae and Keiji Inafune.
Won?	No.

Since Mega Man didn't sell very well, I didn't play it until after I had played Mega Man II. I found it to be a less impressive than the sequel, but still enjoyed it. When I tried to beat it in earnest, I got to the Yellow Devil and couldn't defeat it. I'm aware of the trick with Elecman's weapon, but I don't count that.

Review

5	5	6	6	4

Best Version: NES

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The idea of stealing your opponent's powers and using them elsewhere in the game to more-easily pass areas is a fantastic idea.
• Compared to the other titles of 1987, this game looked amazing. The graphics are attractive and the characters are well designed.
• Manami Matsumae composed a wonderful soundtrack for the game.

Bad

• The disappearing blocks are really obnoxious and the dropping platforms in Gutsman's stage are a bit too annoying.
• The Yellow Devil boss is painfully difficult and effectively requires the player to die several times before his pattern can be memorized.
• The Dr. Wily stages are pretty lazily designed, although, this may have been a ROM limitation.
• The US box art is atrocious and the manual is poorly written.
• The game still focuses on points, which is a bit meaningless.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The original Japanese release uses a cartoon style that perfectly matches the feel of the game with the bosses ganging up on Rock. My favorite by far.

• 

  The US box art is just awful. It features a highly-deformed yellow Mega Man holding a pistol as buildings explode in the background.

• 

  The European box art is pretty decent. Mega Man looks kind of like a Asian boy, but at least he's blue and has a cannon for an arm.

• 

  Europe - Full art.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Japan.

• 

  Manual - USA.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1989-01 - Classified Information.

• 

  The Official Nintendo Player's Guide, blurb.

• 

  Advertisement - USA.

Maps

• 

  Bombman.

• 

  Cutman.

• 

  Elecman.

• 

  Fireman.

• 

  Gutsman.

• 

  Iceman.

• 

  Dr. Wily, stage 1.

• 

  Dr. Wily, stage 2.

• 

  Dr. Wily, stage 3.

• 

  Dr. Wily, stage 4.

Font

See Video game font collection.

Screenshots

• 

  A hard to reach 1-up.

Fan Art

• 

  Fan art by Ohmonah.

• 

  Fan costume of the awful NES box art by LBDNytetrayn.

Videos

Review - NES Works.

Review - What's So Great About Gaming?

Glitchfest.

Dorkly.

How scoring works.

Longplay.

Play Online

Famicom, NES (Europe), NES (USA)

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	Roll is seen very briefly in the ending sequence.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There is only one woman.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	All the human characters are white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Credits

Role	Staff
Planner	Akira Kitamura (A.K.)
Programmer	Nobuyuki Matsushima (H.M.D.)
Character Designers	Yasuaki Kishimoto (Yasukichi), Naoya Tomita (Tom Pon), Keiji Inafune (Inafking), Akira Kitamura (A.K.)
Music and Sound Effects	Manami Matsumae (Chanchacorin Manami)
Audio Programmer	Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (Yuukichan's Papa)

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Mega Man
Japanese	ロックマン	Rokkuman	Rockman

Links