Mega Man

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Mega Man
System(s): Sega Game Gear
Publisher: U.S. Gold
Developer: Freestyle Software
Licensor: Capcom
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1995-10 T-79168 PT 1995 GGJUG0370

Mega Man is a Sega Game Gear action platform game developed by Freestyle Software and published by U.S. Gold. A standalone entry in the Mega Man series combining elements from the second, fourth, and fifth games, it was released exclusively in the United States and Portugal in late 1995.

Story

Mega Man

Mega Man is a robot originally named Rock, created as a lab assistant by the scientist Dr. Light with Dr. Wily as his partner. Following treachery by Dr. Wily in which he reprogrammed most of Dr. Light's robots, Rock volunteered to be converted into a fighting robot to defend the world from Wily's violent robotic threats, thus becoming Mega Man.

In this game, Mega Man must defeat six Robot Masters before traveling to the Formidable Fortress to face Dr. Wily himself.

Gameplay

Stage select and pause menu

The game is an action platformer. Mega Man moves with and . He jumps with and jumps higher the longer the button is held. He uses his weapon with . He cannot duck but can slide along the ground with + to evade enemies or fit through narrow passages. To accommodate the small screen size of the Game Gear, the player can use the D-Pad to move the camera around after holding for a few seconds, which can help avoid making blind jumps into hazards.

Mega Man's primary weapon is his arm-mounted Mega Buster, which shoots energy pellets. After defeating a Robot Master (the boss of a stage), Mega Man acquires the Robot Master's weapon. The player can switch weapons by pausing the game with  START . Weapons besides the Mega Buster expend energy to use, which can be replenished through item pick-ups.

Each Robot Master is weak to one particular weapon. Since the player can decide to play the first four stages in any order, there is an element of strategy to deciding the order in which to play the stages to best counter each Robot Master. After defeating all of the Robot Masters, Mega Man travels to Dr. Wily's Fortress to defeat him as well.

Mega Man's health is indicated by a gauge in the corner of the screen. He loses health when he takes damage from an enemy. Some obstacles, such as spikes or bottomless pit, destroy Mega Man regardless of how much health he has remaining. If he loses all of his health, he loses a life. If he loses all of his lives, the game ends. The game has no continues, but it has a password system. A hard mode is unlocked after completing the game.

Weapons

	Mega Buster
	Mega Man's standard armament. Unlike the other weapons, it does not cost any energy to fire. Only two buster shots can be out at a time. The player can hold for a Charged Shot that does more damage. Taking damage interrupts the charge.
	Bright
	Flashes a bright light that freezes enemies on screen. Mega Man acquires this weapon after defeating Bright Man. It is the weakness of Napalm Man.
	Crash
	Surrounds Mega Man in rotating stars, which shield him from harm. If an enemy touches the stars, the enemy is damaged and the stars dissipate. The player can throw the stars at enemies with . Mega Man acquires this weapon after defeating Star Man. It is the weakness of Bright Man.
	Stone
	Two stones spiral out from Mega Man, ignoring obstacles and only stopping if they hit an enemy or leave the screen. Mega Man acquires this weapon after defeating Stone Man. It is the weakness of Star Man.
	Bomb
	Drops a bomb that rolls along the ground and explodes if an enemy touches it. Mega Man acquires this weapon after defeating Napalm Man. It is the weakness of Stone Man.
	Rain
	Shoots a shell into the sky that explodes into a damaging rain that attacks everything on screen. Mega Man acquires this weapon after defeating Toad Man.
	Wave
	Releases rolling waves that move along the ground. Mega Man acquires this weapon after defeating Wave Man. It is the weakness of Toad Man.
	R-Coil
	Summons Mega Man's robo-dog Rush, who springs upward when Mega Man jumps on top of him, which can be used to access secret platforms.

Items

	Small Weapon Capsule
	Restores a small amount of energy for the currently selected weapon.
	Large Weapon Capsule
	Restores a large amount of energy for the currently selected weapon.
	Small Energy Pellet
	Restores a small amount of health to Mega Man.
	Large Energy Pellet
	Restores a large amount of health to Mega Man.
	E-Tank
	Fully refills Mega Man's health. This item is stored and can be used at any time by pausing the game with  START .
	M-Tank
	Refills Mega Man's health and the energy for all of his weapons. This item is stored and can be used at any time by pausing the game with  START .
	1-Up
	Gives the player an extra life.

Stages

The first four stages can be played in any order. After they are completed, the remaining stages are played in order.

	Stone Man
	Map: 1️⃣
	Stone Man's weakness is the Bomb weapon. Mega Man receives the Stone weapon after defeating him. This stage originally appeared in Mega Man 5.
	Napalm Man
	Map: 1️⃣
	Napalm Man's weakness is the Bright weapon. Mega Man receives the Bomb weapon after defeating him. This stage originally appeared in Mega Man 5.
	Bright Man
	Map: 1️⃣
	Bright Man's weakness is the Crash weapon. Mega Man receives the Bright weapon after defeating him. This stage originally appeared in Mega Man 4.
	Star Man
	Map: 1️⃣
	Star Man's weakness is the Stone weapon. Mega Man receives the Crash weapon after defeating him. This stage originally appeared in Mega Man 5.
	Wave Man
	Map: 1️⃣
	Wave Man has no weakness aside from the Mega Buster. Mega Man receives the Wave weapon after defeating him. This stage originally appeared in Mega Man 5.
	Toad Man
	Map: 1️⃣
	Toad Man's weakness is the Wave weapon. Mega Man receives the Rain weapon after defeating him. This stage originally appeared in Mega Man 4.
	Wily Castle
	Map: 1️⃣
	This stage is based on Quick Man's stage in Mega Man 2, and the Dr. Wily fight is taken from Mega Man 5.

Production credits

• Programming: Michael Hart
• Graphics: Paul Gregory
• Additional Code: Paul Carter
• Producer: Richard Siddall
• Quality Assurance Lead Technicians: John Griffiths, Dan Wong
• Quality Assurance Technicians: Caroline Trujillo, Chris Dolman, Nat Leachman, Steve Wyatt, Thomas Marx, Frank Hom
• US Gold Producer: Daniel Llewellyn
• Special Thanks to: Valerie Alveraz, Capcom R and D

Source:

In-game credits

Version differences

Mega Man's most noticeable difference is easily its screen size: as the game's artwork and stages are directly sourced from the Famicom originals (where they were designed for a larger resolution), the Game Gear version compensates for this by zooming into the screen. This results in being unable to see the entirety of the stage at any time, and more jarringly, the screen following Mega Man up and down with each jump. Additionally, boss AI is faster and more aggressive than their original counterparts and the game over screen will redirects to the title screen instead of having a option to select between continuing or return to the stage select.

Magazine articles

Main article: Mega Man/Magazine articles.

Photo gallery

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  PT Version

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  PT Manual

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Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Freak (IL) 86 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 75 Games World: The Magazine (UK) NTSC-U 77 Mean Machines Sega (UK) NTSC-U 75 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 87

	80
Based on 5 reviews

Mega Man

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, PT
Cover

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 1ace93af MD5 8583950be61ffbaf0f63dde8dded2ab3 SHA-1 085517c4ac940b937d0e0a900e4735a2247ca4dd	512kB		Cartridge (US)

References

Mega Man games for Sega systems
	Mega Man: The Wily Wars (1994)
	Mega Man (1995)
	Mega Man X3 (1996) | Mega Man 8 (1997) | Mega Man X4 (1997) | Super Adventure Rockman (1998)
Unlicensed Mega Man games for Sega systems
	Rockman X3 (1996)
Mega Man related media
	Rockman 8: Metal Heroes Hisshou Kouryaku Hou (1997)