Mega Man (video game): Difference between revisions

This page covers the original '''''Mega Man''''' (''Rockman''/''ロックマン'') series, generally referred to as the "Classic Series.". When people think "Mega Man", they think of this version, which makes "Classic" Mega Man one of the two big faces of [[Capcom]] (alongside [[Street Fighter|Ryu]]).

[[Year X|In the year 20XX]], Dr. Thomas Light and Dr. Albert Wily—scientists well known for their innovative contributions to the world of robotics—create humanoid robots called Robot Masters, which the two programmed to assist in industrial work. [[Always Someone Better|Fed up with living under Light's shadow]], Wily reprogrammed six of these Robot Masters and turned them into weapons of mass destruction to help him [[Take Over the World|conquer the world]]. While gathering these Robot Masters, Wily ignored two housecleaning robots: the boyish Rock and his sister Roll. Feeling a strong sense of justice, Rock asked Dr. Light to convert him into a battle robot—androbot... and the conversion gave the world a hero: Mega Man.

After the successful conversion, Mega Man traveled around the world to stop the rogue Robot Masters. Rock's ability to analyze how things work and duplicate them gave him the [[Mega Manning|ability]] to acquire the weapons of the fallen Robot Masters. After defeating the six rogue robots, Mega Man stormed Wily's [[Supervillain Lair|Skull Fortress]] and defeated him. Wily's persistence would lead him to attempt the same plan—and defeat Mega Man -- [[Failure Is the Only Option|eleven different times, none of which were successful.]].

While in its planning stages, Capcom planned on basing the original game on ''[[Astro Boy]]''—but... but when those plans fell through, the developers put Keiji Inafune in charge of creating brand new character designs.

The first game introduced attacks and strategies to platform gaming revolving around the concept of [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|rock-paper-scissors]]: each weapon a player acquires might work well on one particular Robot Master, but horribly (or not at all) against another. ''Mega Man'' also introduced the concept of allowing players to choose what stage they wanted to tackle and in what order (before having to go through a linear gauntlet of Wily stages) --: a first for platform games. In spite of these two major innovations, the title failed to make an impact.

While the first game sold well enough, Capcom didn't want to give the Blue Bomber another chance, and it soon assigned the game's development team to other games. Not wanting to give up on the character, the development team begged the higher-ups for permission to make a sequel that would improve upon both the faults and the strengths of the first game. Capcom allowed the team to make a second game so long as they finished titles they were already assigned to. When Capcom released ''Mega Man 2'', it became a monster hit (critically and financially). The more ambitious stage design, improved graphics, and even catchier music blew away gamers; for these (and other) reasons, numerous ''Mega Man'' fans think of ''Mega Man 2'' as the best game in the series—aseries... a sentiment Keiji Inafune himself agrees with. Thanks to the sequel's incredible sales and warm critical reception, Capcom realized ''Mega Man'' could become a [[Cash Cow Franchise]], and happily greenlit sequel after sequel.

Capcom has, to date, published ten main games in this series: six for the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] (it re-released the first three as a 16-Bit compilation for the [[Sega Genesis|Sega Mega Drive/Genesis]]), one for the [[Super Nintendo]], one for the [[Sega Saturn]] and [[Sony Playstation]], and two as downloadable games for the [[Nintendo Wii]], [[Play Station 3]], and Microsoft's [[Xbox 360]]. Capcom designed ''Mega Man 9'' and ''Mega Man 10'' as throwbacks to the NES titles; their graphics and audio simulated the system's 8-bit hardware, while the gameplay emulated the gameplay of the original NES games. The company also published a series of ''Mega Man'' games for the [[Game Boy]] (based mainly on the NES games) and another game for arcades; adding the various [[Gaiden Game]]s elevates the "Classic" series into the largest continuity of the entire franchise.

The generally lighthearted, friendly atmosphere of the classic series tends to stick out like a sore thumb compared to its two [[Darker and Edgier]] [[Sequel Series]], ''[[Mega Man X]]'' and ''[[Mega Man Zero]]''.

''All tropes specific to one of the main character should go in the [[Mega Man/Characters|Character Sheet]].''.

* ''Mega Man: The Power Fighters'' (Arcade): Mega Man's Arcadearcade debut, basically being a boss rush game. First game where Bass and Proto Man are playable.

* ''Mega Man Universe'' (Cancelledcancelled)

* ''Mega Man II'' (Game Boy): Has the remaining four Robot Masters from ''Mega Man 2'' NES, and four from ''Mega Man 3'' NES. Not too well regarded by series fans, or even [[Creator Backlash|Keiji Inafune himself]].

* ''Mega Man III'' (Game Boy): Features the remaining ''Mega Man 3'' NES Robot Masters, and four from ''Mega Man 4'' NES. Also introduced the Charge Shot to the Game Boy line.

* ''Mega Man IV'' (Game Boy): Features the remaining four ''Mega Man 4'' NES Robot Masters, and four from ''Mega Man 5'' NES. Introduces the purchasable upgrade mechanic, which later found its way into the main series with ''Mega Man 7''.

* ''Mega Man'' ([[Game Gear]]): A condensed version of ''Mega Man 5'', with elements of ''Mega Man 4'' and ''Mega Man 2'' mashed in.

* ''Rockman & Forte: Challenger of the Future'' (Wonderswan): A sequel to ''Mega Man & Bass''. [[No Export for You|Japan-only]], due to the Wonderswan not making it to the states.

* ''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' (GBA) (Cancelled): A collection of the five [[Game Boy]] Mega Man games was planned, but was ultimately scrapped, presumably due to them [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup|losing the source codes to some of the games.]].

* ''Mega Man 3'' (DOS): A follow up, curiously skipping ''Mega Man 2''. Like the previous game, it has gained infamy for its low quality and [[In Name Only]] nature to the actual ''Mega Man 3''.

* [[2-D Space]]: Subverted at {{spoiler|Wily's Space Station in ''Mega Man 10'', where Mega Man and Wily are clearly upside-down.}}.

** In ''Mega Man 7'', you can either find Auto's Hyperbolt and get some exclusive items from him (as well as lowering the cost of the items he was selling to begin with), or you can go find those same items yourself in certain locations. This is all pure [[Guide Dang It]].

** In ''Mega Man 10'', you "make" the items rather than buying them, lending credence to the theory that screws are components of the items rather than just arbitrary currency.

*** Well, Dr. Light WAS the man making Mega Man's materials. Notice how ''Mega Man 10'''s items are cheaper than when Roll ran the shop in ''Mega Man 9''.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: Many interesting facts about the Robot Masters are actually found in the manuals, or other outside materials. For example: Diddid you know Shadow Man from ''Mega Man 3'' is actually an alien robot that Dr. Wily found and used as a basis for the other Robot Masters? Or that he rides a giant robotic frog?

* [[And Your Reward Is Clothes]]: In ''Mega Man 9'', there's an item in the shop represented by Roll's face that costs 200 screws. If you buy it, does that mean you get to play as her? Nope;, she just changes to her outfit from ''Mega Man 8'' onwards, and her picture in the ending credits is changed by depicting her with her ''Mega Man 8'' look. That's it. A total waste of screws, but it's necessary for the "Valued Customer" achievement unlocked for buying all items available at the shop.

* [[Animal Motifs]]: There's an entire category consisting of animal-based Robot Masters. These include Snake Man, Toad Man, Hornet Man, Sheep Man, and maybe Slash Man.

** [[Mega Man (animation)|A cartoon that ran from 1994 to 1995.]].

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Dr. Mikhail Cossack when he made his debut in ''Mega Man 4''. The only reason he re-purposed his eight Robot Masters to wreak havoc on the world was because Wily kidnapped his daughter Kalinka. He [[Heel Face Turn|immediately became a trusted ally to our heroes]] after Proto Man saved Kalinka, and even created Mega Man's [[Cool Pet|robo-bird]] Beat after Mega stopped Wily.

* [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]]: The Guts Tank from ''Mega Man 2'' and Gamma from ''Mega Man 3''.

** ''Mega Man 1'' gave us Hyper Bomb: big boom, but hard to hit anything with unless you time it juuuuuust right.

** ''Mega Man 2'' had Time Stopper. Once activated, the weapon would freeze time until its ammo ran out. Unfortunately, it could not be deactivated by any means once activated, and also prevented the player from pausing the game. Additionally, since Time Stopper is set to your current weapon, you can't directly attack enemies while time is stopped either. [[Secret AI Moves|Even though Flash Man can]]. The Time Stopper ''is'' very useful in certain areas where you're not expected to use it too often. [[Not Completely Useless|Try it on the Press enemies and Moles in Metal Man's stage or Wily Stage 2,]], or [[Kryptonite Factor|against Quick Man]].

*** ''Mega Man 2'' also gives us the Atomic Fire. The precursor to the charged Mega Buster in ''Mega Man 4'', it allows you to shoot fireballs that can be charged to a larger and stronger shot. However, the uncharged shots are no stronger than your standard shots, and a full-charge can only be used three times before you have to start hunting for energy.

** ''Mega Man 3'' had Spark Shot. Like the Ice Slasher from ''Mega Man 1'', it could [[The Paralyzer|paralyze enemies]] and make them unable to move. However, unlike the Ice Slasher, you ''could not'' change your weapon when you did this, making the attack pretty useless.

** ''Mega Man 3'' also had Top Spin, which was wonky and often caused you to take damage even when hitting targets, but if you used it on the correct enemy, it was a [[One-Hit Kill]].

** ''Mega Man 4'' had the Ring Boomerang and Dust Crusher; the Ring Boomerang was useful, but short-ranged, and rarely did any major damage (and unlike the Quick Boomerang, it depleted weapon energy even when it came back). As for the Dust Crusher, its only function was... to throw gobs of junk. Granted, those gobs of junk [[Not Completely Useless|did extra damage against the Cossack Catcher]].

** ''Mega Man 5'' had the Power Stone, three stones that would slowly spiral out from Mega Man. Unfortunately, you could have only three on screen at once, which meant a long time before you could use them again. They were also very inaccurate. Not to mention Charged Kick;: trying to use it had a nasty tendency to cause you to either overshoot a jumping foe or take damage while sliding.

** ''Mega Man 6'' had the Blizzard Attack, which did terrible damage, used up lots of energy, and fired too slowly to be effective.

** ''Mega Man 7'' had the Spring Coil, which was hard to aim and didn't always feel useful.

** ''Mega Man 8'' mostly averted this; of all the weapons in ''Mega Man 8'', only Rock Ball/Mega Ball seems difficult to use, no matter how cool it looks... even in the Fan Made 8-bit versions.

** ''Mega Man 9'' brings us the absurdly odd weapon Concrete Shot—nearlyShot: nearly no range, nice damage against only some enemies but not all, and it shoots in an arc. It was more useful for platforming than fighting, as it creates a small temporary platform.

** ''Mega Man 10'' had Sheep Man's weapon, Thunder Wool. At first, the move seemed like an interesting concept—youconcept: you fired out a cloud that rose up in front of you until it stopped, unleashing a lightning bolt that hit enemies repeatedly for massive damage. However, the weapon suffers from many flaws that make it next-to-useless. The ammo cost was high (it could be only used 7 times with a full power bar), it required you to time the attack just right for stationary enemies, and the cloud would be destroyed so long as it ''touched'' any enemy or the terrain, effectively wasting the attack.

** ''Powered Up'' had the Oil Slider. You could only fire one blob at a time, which by itself did pathetic damage. On top of that, the board it creates when you ride it is difficult to control... meaning that you'd be colliding into enemies needlessly as you sped off.

** Rush loses his [[Powered Armor]] ability after ''Mega Man 7'', and Mega Man loses the ability to slide and charge shots in ''Mega Man 9''.

* [[Bee-Bee Gun]]: ''Mega Man 9'' has [[Flunky Boss|Hornet Man]] and his weapon, the Hornet Chaser.

** Auto, too.

* [[Blind Idiot Translation]]: ''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' brings back the [[Mission Control]] element from ''Rockman Complete Works''... and completely butchers the dialogue.

** Proto Man in ''Mega Man 7''.

** Fake Man in ''Mega Man 9''.

** the Mega Man Killers in ''Mega Man 10''.

** The Saturn version of ''Mega Man 8'' has Cut Man (from ''Mega Man 1'') and Wood Man (from ''Mega Man 2'') as secret bosses.

** ''Mega Man & Bass'' is a particularly extreme example. Mega Man [[That One Boss|generally]] [[Hard Levels Easy Bosses|shreds the bosses, but struggles through the levels]]. Bass [[That One Level|generally]] [[Easy Levels, Hard Bosses|breezes through the levels ,but has immense difficulty dealing with the bosses]].

* [[Boss Game]]: The two arcade games, ''The Power Battle'' and ''The Power Fighters'', allow you to choose between Mega Man, Proto Man, and Bass (plus Duo in the second game), and battle Robot Masters from the main games. You could even do it co-op style with a second player.

* [[Boss Rush]]: Present towards the end of Wily's fortress in each game with the Robot Masters. A few games also have another Boss Rush with a little twist (Doc Robot copies ''Mega Man 2'''s Robot Masters in ''Mega Man 3'', and the Weapons Archive in ''Mega Man 10'' mimics 9 Robot Masters from ''Mega Man 1'' through ''Mega Man 9''. ''Mega Man 1'' has 2 Robot Masters fought in Wily 2 (with a large chunk of the level in between), and the other 4 get their rematches in Wily 4 back-to-back before you take on Wily himself. ''Mega Man 1'' is also the only game in the series where you don't get to choose which order you fight the Robot Masters in for the main [[Boss Rush]].

* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: The primary symptom of late-stage Roboenza in ''Mega Man 10''.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: A couple of the Robot Masters get portrayed as this in some media—Clownmedia... Clown Man from ''Mega Man 8'' is the most obvious one (described as such in the manual, even). In-game, arguably Wood Man, who manages to have more weaknesses than any other Robot Master (can be chopped down by the Metal Blade, burned down with the Atomic Fire, and his shield penetrated by Crash Bombs).

** Most media also tends to portray Bubble Man (''Mega Man 2'') as one of the weakest and most ineffectual Robot Masters.

** Quint (from GB/World 2) often ends up being the subject of mockery, due to his mode of transportation (a pogo stick --... [[Improbable Weapon User|which doubles as his weapon]]), the [[Anticlimax Boss|lack of challenge]] in his boss fight (yep, a pogo stick is just as ineffective as a weapon as you'd expect), and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|being green]]. It doesn't help that he's {{spoiler|a reprogrammed Mega Man from the future}}.

** The plot of ''Mega Man 1'' revolved around Wily taking robots built by Dr. Light and turning them evil. The plot of ''Mega Man 9'' involves Dr. Wily convincing robots built by Dr. Light to join with him, and then reprogramming them to turn evil.

** In ''Mega Man 10'', {{spoiler|Wily's fortress has ''a bunch'' of these; for one example, the third stage design looks a lot like Elec Man's stage with a different coloration.}}.

* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: Present in ''Mega Man 8''.

* [[Camp Gay]]: Aqua Man (not ''[[Justice League (animation)|that]]'' [[Aquaman|one]]) in ''Mega Man 8''. Ain't nothing [[Ambiguously Gay]] about.<ref>Aqua Man.</ref>

* [[Cannon Fodder]]: Bubble Man, at least in the easy mode of ''Mega Man 2''.

* [[Cardboard Prison]]: ''Mega Man 7'' starts with Wily being busted out of his imprisonment in the last game. He had, from the beginning, [[Justified Trope|set up those 4 robot masters to break him out of prison if he was there for more than 6 months.]].

** Technically debuted in ''Mega Man 2'' as a buffer for the Atomic Fire you acquire after defeating Heat Man.

** Was standardized as a part of Rock's regular arm cannon—which was henceforth called the Mega/Rock Buster—in ''Mega Man 4'', with further upgrades to shot size in ''Mega Man 5'' and ''Mega Man 6''.

** With ''Mega Man 9'' and ''Mega Man 10'', however, the charge shot has been removed from the Mega Buster. In-story, it's because {{spoiler|Mega Man hadn't fought in a while, and Dr. Light and Roll were taken out of action early in ''Mega Man 9'' and ''Mega Man 10'' respectively; furthermore, Dr. Light was too busy trying to help develop a cure for Roboenza to restore the charged shot upgrade.}}. However, Keiji Inafune once stated that the charge shot made the game tasteless, since players would focus on that rather than the experimenting with weapons, so this may be him enforcing his preference. However, ''[[Mega Man Powered Up]]'' proved the games can include that feature as something to turn on or off by the player, making the removal pointless.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In ''Mega Man 10'', {{spoiler|Dr. Wily creates a prototype medicine after four Robot Masters are defeated. Once the remaining four are finished, Roll gives the same medicine to Mega Man, who has caught the Roboenza virus. She happened to have saved it in case a sick robot came into the lab.}}.

* [[Chest Monster]]: ''Mega Man & Bass'' has rather literal versions of them, and ''Mega Man 9'' has those camoflametalls.

* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]: Dr. Cossack. He's Wily's setup as the [[Big Bad]] in ''Mega Man 4'', appears in the Manual for ''Mega Man 5'', and is never heard from again.

** Dr. Wily accuses Dr. Light of being behind the robotic rampage of ''Mega Man 9''. Mega Man takes exception to this.

** In ''Mega Man 5'', Dr. Light gets kidnapped and it's set up to look like Proto Man did it.

* [[Continuity Cameo]]: Tango and {{spoiler|Reggae}} appear in Proto Man and Bass's respective shop scenes in ''Mega Man 10''.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: During the ending sequence of ''Mega Man 9'', Mega Man has Rush replay for Wily [[Humiliation Conga|the other nine times]] (counting ''Mega Man & Bass'') Mega Man stopped him. In each picture, Mega Man's colors properly correspond with the best weapon (or one of, for the games where Wily had multiple weaknesses) to use against Wily in that particular game.

** Also, in ''Mega Man 10'', there's {{spoiler|the Weapons Archive, a series of robots mimicking one of the bosses of the previous nine games. Except for Wood Man, they even have similar weaknesses (apparently, despite the presence of a fire-based shield-piercing weapon, they decided that SOMETHING needed to be weak to the Triple Blade, and Wood Man was it).}}. And yes, {{spoiler|you get to see 8-bit Slash Man and Frost Man.}}. Unfortunately, they didn't include ''Mega Man & Bass'', so you don't get treated to {{spoiler|8-Bit Ground Man or somebody.}}.

*** {{spoiler|Astro Man or Tengu Man's inclusion}} would have been a nice compromise, since they appeared in both ''Mega Man 8'' and ''Mega Man & Bass''.

** The pinwheel item that spawns in Easy Mode in ''Mega Man 10'' to fully restore health and ammo is a nod to the same, much rarer item from ''Mega Man 1''. Said item (known as the Yashichi) also appears as a random recovery item that Rush can give to you in ''Mega Man 8'' if you use his Rush Call ability. Your chances of seeing it are ''very'' slim.

** {{spoiler|The triangle on Fake Wily's forehead}} is a nod to Reploid design conventions from the ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' and ''[[Mega Man ZX]]'' series. And of course, let's not forget about {{spoiler|[[Mega Man Legends|Mega Man Juno]] bearing a similar triangle on his head as well.}}. The {{spoiler|Fake Wily}} in itself is probably a nod; {{spoiler|''Mega Man 3'', anyone?}}?

** The entire point behind the Special Stages in ''Mega Man 10'' is to serve as continuity nods to the [[Game Boy]] games; specifically ''Mega Man 1'', ''Mega Man 3'', and ''Mega Man 4'', right down to level design. Most obviously, the bosses of the levels are the Mega Man Killers, Enker, Punk, and Ballade, and the music for their levels are even remixes of their themes (and Wily Base for Enker, who didn't actually have a theme). Fans are hoping they continue this with the Genesis Unit for ''Mega Man 11'' (even if it means Mega Man won't get a weapon out of the special stages). Those levels hold another, rather subtle, continuity nod to the Game Boy games. Enker's level is the only one not to give you an E-Tank. Now, who was the representative of the only GB Mega Man game not to have E-Tanks again?

** Mega has Rush the robo-dog, Beat the robo-bird, and Tango the robo-cat, each of whom can help him in various ways. For example, Rush can turn into the Rush Jet, a skyboard that Mega can use for air travel, and in ''Mega Man 6'' and ''Mega Man 7'', he could turn into a special armor for Mega.

* [[Cutscene Incompetence]]: In ''Mega Man 9'', Wily claims Light collapsed sick. Proto Man teleports in and tells Mega Man {{spoiler|Wily has a fake Light}}. Mega Man [[Too Dumb to Live|ignores him]], likely due to his programming. Proto Man ''teleports out'', {{spoiler|Robo-Light}} fries Mega Man, then Proto Man teleports in, sighs, and teleports Mega Man out.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: In the first few games, Wily was taking over the world openly. But starting with ''Mega Man 4'', he started to frame people for his crimes, even kidnapping Dr. Cossack's daughter to force him to work for him. This culminated in ''Mega Man 9'', where he managed to get ''Dr. Light'' arrested.

** Incidentally, ''Mega Man 9'' was also the game in which the government enforces expiration dates on robots. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Wily promptly used this to his advantage for the aforementioned scheme.]].

** In ''Mega Man 10'', {{spoiler|he almost ''wins''.}}. See below.

** In ''Mega Man 7'', Mega Man tried to KILL Wily in both the American and Japanese versions; the Japanese version had Wily remind him that [[Three Laws of Robotics|robots couldn't harm humans]], and he obediently powered down. In the [[American Kirby Is Hardcore|American version]], however, Wily gave his speech... and Mega Man declared he was "more than a robot! Die, Wily!".

** ''Super Adventure Rockman'' embraces this trope more than the aforementioned games. It's actually been [[Canon Discontinuity|disowned by Inafune]] for this very reason. Despite a few violent and sad scenes which aren't much different than what you'd see in a typical 80's Shounen anime, SAR''Super Adventure Rockman'' is still humorous and lighthearted enough to be true to the spirit of Rockman.

* [[Darkest Hour]]: {{spoiler|In ''Mega Man 10'', Mega Man finally catches Roboenza after defeating all eight Robot Masters. It turns out to be a pretty bad time to get it, as Dr. Wily, with his medicine-making machine finally back in his possession, proceeds to announce to the world that he has the only cure to Roboenza. They have to work for him in order to get the cure, and he tells the people not to expect Mega Man to save them, as he's come down with the virus.}}.

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: At the end of ''Mega Man 9'', the eight "evil" Robot Masters are returned to their original friendly programming and are shown hanging out and having fun with Mega Man and friends.

** At the end of ''Mega Man 10'', Wily is defeated, and it's discovered that he's sick. Mega Man takes him to a hospital to be cured, where Wily subsequently escapes yet again. But he leaves behind enough Roboenza cure to help all the robots in the world in thanks...

** In ''Mega Man 9'', the second Dr. Wily stage features a giant [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks|shark]] so large, it takes up three screens, necessitating a [[Sequential Boss]] battle. In the downloadable Special Stage, it shows up again, but this time as a mere midboss. Its tactics haven't changed, however.

** The Green Devil of ''Mega Man 8'' returns as the [[Warmup Boss]] of ''Mega Man & Bass''. This time, it stays on one part of the screen and has only one attack. The difficulty of this battle [[Boss Dissonance|depends on which character the player's using]], but it is still much weaker than its previous counterpart. As it's located inside a museum of robots, [[Fridge Brilliance|it would make perfect sense]] for it to be nowhere near as dangerous as the original, which was meant to keep Mega Man from foiling Wily's plan to take over the world.

* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: In ''Mega Man 9'', in the cutscene showing {{spoiler|Wily tricking the robot masters into letting him reprogram them}}, all of the Robot Masters are visible except for the one you defeated last. After all, {{spoiler|the scene is from his/her memories, so it's from his/her point of view}}.

** Also in ''Mega Man 9'', if you bought the [[And Your Reward Is Clothes|"Roll Costume"]], Roll's appearance in the credits will be changed accordingly. Not only is she wearing the new dress, but her hair is also better-drawn to reflect her updated design.

*** Similarly in ''Mega Man 10'', buying the "Hairstyle Book" will remove Mega Man's helmet in cutscenes as well.

** ''Mega Man 2's''s original outside-of-Japan releases featured Normal and Difficult difficulty-options. Difficult was the only difficulty setting in the Japanese version.

** Changed in ''Anniversary Collection''—everyone: everyone got Normal and Easy mode.

* [[Directionally Solid Platforms]]: Certain stage-specific hazards, like conveyor-powered platforms in Sheep Man's stage in ''Mega Man 10''.

* [[Disc One Final Boss]]: {{spoiler|Wily is ''always'' the real bad guy. No exceptions.}}. ''Mega Man 9'' and ''Mega Man 10'' [[Lampshade Hanging]] this with the [[Bragging Rights Reward|achievement unlocked]] for beating each of them: {{spoiler|"Whomp Wily!"}}

* [[Disney Death]]: Kinda. {{spoiler|The Robot Masters in ''Mega Man 9'' are shown to be alive and well in the ending.}}. It's [[All There in the Manual]]—this: this is the fate of the various Robot Masters previously defeated (the manga prologue for ''Mega Man 9'' features the Robot Masters of ''Mega Man 1'' attempting to halt the rampage of the reprogrammed ones of ''Mega Man 9'').

* [[Downer Ending]]: Possibly the ending to ''Mega Man 2''. Although there's no text to narrate what's going on, you get the feeling Mega Man feels very alone and confused, needing to fight his own kind for "everlasting peace.".

** ''Mega Man 9'' has [[Another Side, Another Story|Proto Man Mode]]; [[Endless Game|Endless Attack Mode]]; the Special Stage which features a boss battle with {{spoiler|Fake Man, the police-bot made by Wily}}; Hero Mode, which re-arranges enemies in more difficult positions; and Superhero Mode, where every single screen features more enemies than probably necessary.

** ''Mega Man 10'' continues what ''Mega Man 9'' offered, though with difficulty settings already available, it uses two additional Special Stages, and since Proto Man was already playable, Bass steps up to the plate as a downloadable character, although, unlike [[Bonus Feature Failure|Proto Man mode]] in ''Mega Man 9'', Bass has his own story.

* [[Down the Drain]]: At least one level per game is going to feature at least some portion where Mega Man is submerged. Since he is a robot, he doesn't have to worry about drowning; he instead has drastically improved jumps (with even more [[Spikes of Doom]] lining every possible surface, to keep you from abusing absurd jumps). [[Subverted Trope]] in ''Mega Man 5'' -: the expected [[Kill It with Water]] Robot Master, Wave Man, doesn't feature any underwater portions at all.

* [[Drum Bathing]]: At the end of ''Mega Man 9'', Dr. Light bathes in a barrel, with a [[Heel Face Turn|reformed]] Magmaman providing the heat.

* [[Dual Boss]]: The series has quite a few of them. Most notably Gemini Man from ''Mega Man 3'', the Dual Devils from ''Mega Man 9'', and the firebird twins from Solar Man's stage in ''Mega Man 10''.

* [[Easter Egg]]: If you try to use Freeze Man's own weapon against him, {{spoiler|[[Breaking the Fourth Wall|he'll turn toward the camera and do a pose]], as if to mock the player for even ''attempting'' to use his weapon against him.}}.

* [[Emergency Energy Tank]]: [[Trope Namer]]. The only numbered games in the classic series to not use them were ''Mega Man 1'' and ''Mega Man 8''. The developers behind ''Mega Man 7'' admitted they couldn't beat the final boss without using at least one. There are a few variations...

** '''Super Tank/Mystery Tank (S-Tank/M-Tank):''' Restores all of your HP and the energy of all your Special Weapons/Items. The M-Tank is only different from the S-Tank in that it turns all weak enemies on-screen into extra lives if your HP and all weapon/item energy is already at 100%; if you meet the HP/energy requirements, but there are no weak enemies on-screen, you are automatically given a single extra life.

* [[The End - or Is It?]]: The ending of ''Mega Man 3'' features the Wily Saucer in the sky, even after a sizable chunk of debris fell on Wily as his lair began to collapse, with Proto Man claiming he was too late.

* [[Evil Tower of Ominousness]]: Some of Wily's Skull Castles. In ''Mega Man 10'', {{spoiler|he builds a castle notably much larger than any other base seen before, and it'sits top can't even be seen, but it's later revealed the damn thing extends all the way up into ''space''.}}.

** Mega Man shares a lot of similarities to ''[[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]]''. No surprise, considering the development history of the first game. Inafune explains that Mega Man is actually composed of various [[Anime]] shows he has watched when he was young. For instance, Mega Man gains Rush, who transforms into various vehicles; a reference to ''Neo-Human Casshern's'' sidekick dog Friender. (Ironicallyironically, only [[Mega Man Legends|Mega Man Volnutt]] [[Tatsunoko vs. Capcom|would go on to meet]] [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Casshan]], not the original Mega Man). That [[Aloof Big Brother]] Proto Man, complete with scarf and visor, is a reference to [[Speed Racer|Racer X]]. Incidentally, both shows mentioned are from [[Tatsunoko Production]].

** In-Universe Example: Wily modeled several of the ''Mega Man 2'' robot masters after the first game's robots. Metal Man was based on Cut Man, Quick Man was based on Elec Man, and Heat Man was based on Fire Man. Whether or not Crash Man was based on Bomb Man is debatable.

*** Drill Man from ''Mega Man 4'' is explicitly based on Crash Man from ''Mega Man 2'' according to [[Word of God]], though.

*** Cloud Man from ''Mega Man 7'' may be based on the cloud-riding [[Mook]] found in Air Man's stage in ''Mega Man 2''.

*** Magma Man from ''Mega Man 9'' was intentionally supposed to be based on Air Man, according to [[Word of God]]. The end result ended up looking more like Needle Man.

*** The characterization and plot as a whole bears several striking resemblance to ''[[Mazinger Z]]''.

* [[Exty Years From Now]]: The years labeled 200x to 8xxx. It's surmised that the classic is set sometime after 2001, but by ''Mega Man 3'', it changes to 20xx. So the ideal time line is as follows per fan thinking.

*** -->--''Mega Man 1'' = 2008.

*** -->--''Mega Man 2'' = 2009.

*** -->--''Mega Man 3'' = Early-2010.

*** -->--''Mega Man 4'' = Later-2010.

*** -->--''Mega Man 5'' = Early-2011.

*** -->--''Mega Man 6'' = Mid-2011.

*** -->--''Mega Man 7'' = 2012.

*** -->--''Mega Man 8'' = Mid-2012.

*** -->--''Mega Man 9'' = 2013.

*** -->--''Mega Man 10'' = Late-2013.

** There's also a fanfare for beating the final boss present in all games except ''Mega Man 9'' (though even then, it would've recycled ''Mega Man 2'''s fanfare).

* [[Fan Sequel]]: A few of them, including: ''[[Mega Man Rocks]]'' by Eric Ruth, ''[[Mega Man Unlimited]]'' by MegaphilX, ''[[Mega Man Time Tangent]]'' by Mexican Sunflower, ''[[Mega Man Maximum]]'' by ~hfnb2, and the Doujin game ''[[Rockmen R]]'', which utilizes semi-16-bit graphics, ''[[Mega Man Triple Threat]]'' by Stealth and Liz-Sama, ''[[Mega Girl]]'' by baragon-kun, and the somewhat [[Development Hell|out of date]] ''[[Mega Man the CRORQ Chronicles]]'' by Jesse Brown. Also a few clone games, like ''[[Mega Mari]]'' featuring ''[[Touhou]]'' characters by Twilight Project an, ''[[Rosenkreuzstilette]]'' by [erka:es].

** ''Mega Man 1'' had Elec Man, whose weapon beat Ice Man, whose weapon in turn beat Fire Man.

** ''Mega Man 7'' had Freeze Man (ice), Cloud Man (electricity), and Turbo Man (fire).

** ''Mega Man 8'' had [[Flaming Sword|Sword]] Man (fire), Frost Man (ice), and Clown Man (electricity). In both this case and the previous one, two of the three don't appear to have an elemental theme at first glance, oddly.

** ''Mega Man & Bass'' had Dynamo Man (electricity), Cold Man (ice), and Burner Man (fire). Like in the original game, electricity beat ice, and ice beat fire.

** ''Mega Man 10'' had Solar Man (fire), Chill Man (ice), and [[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?|Sheep]] [[Shout-Out|Man]] (electricity).

* [[Foreshadowing]]: In ''Mega Man 10'', {{spoiler|after Dr. Wily announces that he has the cure for [[Irony|the Flu]], he sneezes as he signs off from his broadcast. During the final battle, he occasionally sneezes. When Wily is defeated, Mega Man realizes that Wily has caught Roboenza himself and brings him to a hospital.}}.

** {{spoiler|Actually, he just coincidentally got a cold AFAIK.}}.

*** This is probably true;: {{spoiler|if you hit him with Chill Spikes, he starts sneezing.}}.

** {{spoiler|Maybe, but "Wily + synthetic virus that affects androids" has ''[[Mega Man X|rather specific]]'' implications.}}.

* [[Fragile Speedster]]: Quick Man of ''Mega Man 2'' is well, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|quick]], but is one of the robot masters that take double damage from the Mega Buster.

* [[Funny Schizophrenia]]: Ice Man in ''[[Mega Man Powered Up|Powered Up]]'' and Search Man from ''Mega Man 8''. Justified in Search Man's case, as he has two heads and each head has a specific personality, with one being a commander and the other a private.

** That CD data also claims that Quint dislikes "Time Paradox.". Killing his past self is obviously complete bunk.

* [[Game Breaking Bug]]: The floating platforms late in Snake Man's stage in ''Mega Man 3'' will occasionally catapult Mega Man off the edge of the screen to his death for no readily apparent reason.

* [[Garden of Evil]]: Hornet Man's stage in ''Mega Man 9''.

* [[Gender Neutral Writing]]: In ''Mega Man 9'', important items that move the plot are received upon defeating your fourth and eighth robot boss. There's a reference to the robot you just defeated via pronoun in each occasion. Since there's a female robot included in the roster this time around, and the text doesn't change whether or not she was the most recent boss defeated, they were careful to use the word "it" for the scene you get for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jihod4hNzk retrieving the piece of scrap] from the fourth boss. Not so with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cn1G2xg9kE the memory circuit board scene] (viewed upon beating the eighth boss), which uses "his" regardless.

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Bass says "Damn" at one point in ''Mega Man 7''. This was changed to "Darn" in the ''Anniversary Collection,'' though.

* [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]]: {{spoiler|After you defeat Dr. Wily in ''Mega Man V GB'', he sics Sunstar, an ancient superweapon whom the Stardroids were designed after, on Mega Man. Ironically, [[Evil Is Not a Toy|Sunstar disobeys Wily and brushes him off]], usurping his position as final boss.}}.

** Proto Man in his playable appearances in the arcade games, ''PUPowered Up'', ''Mega Man 9'', and ''Mega Man 10'', generally portrayed as having a stronger normal shot than Mega, and can block smaller firepower with his trademark shield, but takes more damage due to his faulty prototype power cell.

** The extra damage (and knockback) is only in ''Mega Man 9'' and ''Mega Man 10''.

* [[Go-Karting with Bowser]]: ''Battle And& Chase'' and ''Soccer''.

** Not quite: Wily is planning to take over the world [[Serious Business|via Cart-Racing and Soccer.]].

* [[Gotta Catch Them All]]: ''Mega Man & Bass'' had the titular characters retrieving robot data. [[Fridge Logic|Strangely enough, information on Dr. Light and Dr. Wily, who are human, can be found in the disks.]]. Likely has to do with their importance in the history of robotics.

* [[Harder Than Hard]]: ''Mega Man 10'' introduces a hard mode after beating it. This may not seem like the right trope, but keep in mind this game has an easy mode, which makes [[Nintendo Hard|normal mode the hard mode by default.]].

* [[He Was Right There All Along]]: The Robot Master room at first seems empty, but then the Robot Master falls in and does his battle stance. In the first game, however, the Robot Masters just appear on the ground out of thin air, and ''Mega Man 6'' had theirs lowered slowly into the room while [[Dramatic Thunder]] occurs (and they don't make their battle stances, unlike in the other games). The non-8-bit games tend to give their Robot Masters [[Dynamic Entry|more personal entrances]], with ''Mega Man 8'' being the most elaborate. ''Mega Man 10'' generally has the usual 8-bit entrances, though Commando Man shakes the ground upon landing, and Nitro Man instead rides in from the left of the screen in motorcycle mode.

* [[Hijacked by Ganon|Hijacked by Dr. Wily]]: He has a better track record of this than [[Trope Namer]] [[The Legend of Zelda|Ganon]].<ref>Wily would have been the [[Trope Namer]] himself if not for the incredibly infamous example in ''[[Twilight Princess]]''.</ref> In any game where it looks like Dr. Wily isn't the final boss, ''Dr. Wily is the final boss'' '''EXCEPT''' {{spoiler|''Mega Man V''. While Wily ''does'' hijack the plotline, his position as the final boss was snatched away by a [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]] that he himself intended to send after Mega Man.}}.

** Played with in ''Mega Man 9''—while: while the storyline appears to finger Dr. Light as the villain, the good guys are all [[Genre Savvy]] enough to immediately realise that Wily is probably the actual bad guy.

** In ''Mega Man 10'', {{spoiler|Wily causes the Roboenza outbreak and starts developing a cure, planning to use it to blackmail the world to work for him. Too bad he didn't count on one of the infected robots to steal his medicine-making machine. That's why he had Mega Man and Proto Man get it back for him}}. Also, see {{spoiler|[[Save the Villain]] below}}.

** For the best example, however, see {{spoiler|[[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]]. above}}.

** ''Mega Man 10'' ends with {{spoiler|the final level being a space station, like in the Game Boy games.}}.

** Fans have pointed out that the whole of ''Mega Man 10'' can be counted as a [[Homage]] to the ''Mega Man X'' series, from the plot and even to its ''box art''.

* [[Humiliation Conga]]: The ending of ''Mega Man 9'', where Wily gets to watch every single prior instance of him on his hands and knees begging for mercy in front of Mega Man.

* [[Improbable Weapon User]]: The more abstract Robot Masters, including Bubble Man, Top Man (who attacks with both giant tops, and by ''spinning''), and Spring Man.