Mega Man (character)

Mega Man (originally Rockman in Japan) is the central hero of Capcom's Mega Man series. He is a humanoid robot built by Dr. Light as an assistant. When Dr. Light's colleague, Dr. Wily, turns hostile and builds an army of robots to conquer the world, Light modifies Mega Man to stop him. Mega Man uses his Mega Buster arm cannon and can copy the special weapons of the boss robots he defeats. He travels through dangerous environments with help from Dr. Light and other cybernetic allies, aiming for lasting peace between humans and robots.

The character was created by Akira Kitamura for the first game in 1987. Keiji Inafune later refined Kitamura's pixel art into detailed illustrations. Early name ideas included "Mighty Kid," "Knuckle Kid," and "Rainbow Battle Kid," but Capcom settled on "Rockman." The "Rock" in Rockman refers to rock and roll music, paired with his sister robot Roll. Capcom USA's marketing team changed the name to "Mega Man" because they thought the original title was poor. The original game's gameplay used a rock-paper-scissors mechanic for defeating enemies.

Kitamura originally wanted Mega Man to be white, but chose blue for clearer animation. The design drew from manga, anime, and tokusatsu shows, especially *Ninja Captor*. Lead programmer Nobuyuki Matsushima suggested that Mega Man change color when switching weapons. Inafune cited *Astro Boy* by Osamu Tezuka as a major influence. Inafune later explained that Kitamura had already created the basic design before he joined Capcom, so he only did half the work. For the Super Famicom, Inafune attempted a redesign but felt it wouldn't be accepted as Mega Man, so he created Zero as a different main character instead.

The team incorporated anime elements into the animation. Inafune noted that Mega Man's hand transforms into a gun, and they wanted the motion to look realistic. For *Mega Man 6*, Inafune felt the Rush adapter assembly was inevitable, but he found the designs unrealistic, questioning how parts like Rush's neck would combine without looking awkward.

The North American box art for *Mega Man 2* featured a very different appearance. Illustrator Marc Ericksen painted Mega Man holding a pistol instead of his Mega Buster. Ericksen said he knew nothing about the character and, after asking the art director what Mega Man shot with, was told to draw a pistol.