The Blue Bomber
Mega Man - known as Rockman in Japan - is a run-and-gun action platformer series created by Keiji Inafune and Akira Kitamura at Capcom. Debuting on the NES in December 1987, the series ran six NES entries through 1993, branched to the Game Boy with five portable adventures, and evolved into the darker Mega Man X on the SNES in 1993. Its genius: a non-linear stage structure in which each robot master's defeat awards a weapon that grants advantage in another stage, creating a rock-paper-scissors web of interdependency.
Inafune has described the weapon acquisition system as designed around a single feeling: the instant a player defeats a robot master and gains their power, the next question should be "which enemy does this work on?" Every weapon acquisition is engineered to create that itch to experiment.
Documentary & Interview
Series Retrospective
Creator Interview
Series Overview
NES Classic Series
6
Mega Man 1–6, 1987–1993. Six robot masters in MM1; eight became the standard from MM2 onwards.
Game Boy Series
5
Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge through Mega Man V (1991–1994), the latter introducing the Stardroids.
SNES Series
5
Mega Man X, X2, X3, Mega Man 7, and Mega Man Soccer on the Super Nintendo (1993–1995).