Mega Man
(Rockman in Japan)
System: NES (Famicom), Reissued 1999 PlayStation
Released 1987

The Basics
In 1987, Capcom introduced a game to its lineup with an uninspired title and totally appalling box art. It wasn't a huge success. Mega Man, the tale of a boy robot forged by Dr. Thomas Light to end the plague of rebelling construction robots liberated and controlled by his renegade assistant, Dr. Wily, opened up an interesting can of worms for Capcom. The largely nonlinear gameplay and the innovative idea of stealing the weapons of defeated bosses were what earmarked this series for longevity. Later we learned that the boring title and lackluster art were workarounds to the peculiar title of the Japanese original Rockman and the then-taboo anime-style artwork that adorned its cover. And now you understand why Guts Man isn't called Rockman!

Gameplay
You dropped your google-eyed hero into any one of six stages of your choice - Bomb Man, Fire Man, Ice Man, Guts Man, Elec Man, or Cut Man. They didn't really have to come up with totally unique stage names the first time out, as the series was new in the first place, and the characters were just then being introduced. (Further down we'll examine the developer's creativity and where it eventually failed. For now, content yourself with the basic gameplay elements.) After you vanquished the six bosses (perhaps with the elecbeam pause trick, a cheat for massive damage particularly effectual on large bosses) you gained access to the Dr. Wily levels, wherein you had to kill the bosses again (get used to it), huge, nasty and slowdown-ridden blob enemies, and finally come down hard on Dr. Wily himself. Of course, he escaped the grasp of justice in time for a sequel.

The ending contained the classic paradox that sent the world of modern philosophy on its head - "Fight, Mega Man! For everlasting peace!"

The Bosses and Weapons
Welcome to the magic of Mega Man. When you killed bosses, you gained their power - although sometimes that power was shrunk and weakened to fit into Mega Man's little gun. Each boss was weak against a certain other boss's weapon - though the distribution of power was not always completely logical. Of course, that logic became meaningless in the later games in the series. After all, what would you expect Skull Man to be weak against? Let's just enjoy those early, simpler days with their simpler weapons.

This time around you went up against Bomb Man, who gave you bombs (obviously); Fire Man, who gave you a fire beam; Ice Man, who had his little ice shards; Guts Man, who had the ability to hurl large rocks (which you had to find littered about the levels); Elec Man, who had an electric beam, which, besides being powerful, also had a bug which centered around it, pausing and un-pausing the game repeatedly; and Cut Man, with his scissors-blades. In addition, you picked up the magnet step, which let you place platforms that you could jump on.

Japanese Version
In Japan, Mega Man was known as Rockman. While the Japanese game's name may not make a lot of sense note that Rockman was made out of Rock. He served as the household robot that Dr. Light had created to sweep up after the good doctor's messes.

Although it was a victim of low-key presentation, Mega Man was a winner in gameplay. The series was true innovation that slipped through the cracks, as competition was fierce, and tons and tons of NES games were coming out. As would become Capcom's policy with the series for the next couple of generations, the artwork and main character's name was changed as the long spate of cultural isolationism pioneered by the friendly folks at the US divisions of your favorite Japanese developers took hold. It would be ten years before a Mega Man title appeared in the States sporting original artwork..