Other Appearances

Television Appearances
Before anime made its big splash in North America, our great continent was sorely deprived of quality Mega Man animation. While we had to wait for the short, blue hero to make an occasional appearance on Captain N: The Game Master, then suffer through an awful domestically produced Mega Man cartoon, the Japanese audience could tune into Super Adventure Rockman. Decidedly cuter than Captain N and aimed at a younger audience, this title followed Rock's adventures and featured bosses from the series as the antagonists--the same formula applied to the US show but with a lot more style. Currently, Mega Man NT Warrior (Rockman EXE in Japan) provides the world with multilanguage adventures that are closely tied to the Battle Network game series.

Toys and Collectibles
As is the case with television shows, North America just hasn't been as blessed as our Eastern cousins with a bounty of quality Mega Man action figures. Importing, however, has become an increasingly feasible option for fans on this side of the Pacific. The Rockman X figure series seemingly has taken on a life of its own. Along with great traditional models of X and Zero, it features many models and figures that were never represented by game counterparts. These are high-quality kits with great designs. Best of all, Bandai models are snap-together, and the instructions are usually mostly pictorial and thus friendly for non-Japanese fans.

Final Thoughts
Mega Man has seemingly been with us for ages--in fact, this year he celebrates his 15th anniversary. In terms of video games, that's actually pretty ancient. The series has been fun, and while many have complained that it eventually got stale or that it lacked innovation, Capcom has thrown enough into the mix to keep it interesting to fans as well as to bystanders - just don't expect to need every title if you're not a Rock Otaku. Still, it's been a few years since the last true Mega Man title, and it's time to get itchy. Here's hoping Capcom sees fit to grace a current or future system with a good, honest 2D--or 2.5D, at the very most--Mega Man IX.

Big special thanks go out to Tom "Spaceghidora" Gilbert and Max "Metool" Hagedorn for input and game assistance. Also, thanks to Peter Bartholow for some help on Japanese translations.