Mega Man

Shoots fireballs. As a side effect, this weapon also gives a brief shield of fireballs which orbit the user for a split second upon firing.

Tosses traditional black bombs that explode upon landing or hitting something. The bombs move in an arc which makes aiming them a little more tricky.

A large arrowhead-shaped chunk of ice flies across the screen horizontally. It will stop in their tracks whatever it strikes, halting them for a few seconds. It can even suspend things in midair if you time it right. Useful for getting past tough spots.

A scissor-like cutter that flies in a circular arc pattern. Can destroy some things which Mega Man’s arm cannons cannot touch.

This loosens rocks and allows the user to lift them. Candidate boulders are indicated by the weapon when the user touches them. Once lifted, the rocks can be thrown; most shatter in midair causing them to strike in many directions at once.

A classic and deadly weapon. This is a nicely animated beam of electricity that sparks its way across the screen. Trailers also shoot vertically, so that the weapon fires forward, up, and down simultaneously with each shot. The beam covers a lot of area and does insane damage.

Energy pellets refill your life meter. The small ones refill 2 units—not a lot, but it can really add up.

These globes are the same as energy pellets except that more energy is refilled (8 to 10 units usually).

The colored pellets are weapon energy. They refill your current weapon or adapter rather than your life energy. Weapon energy changes color according to which weapon you are currently equipped with. Before picking up a pellet be sure to equip a weapon that needs the energy.

These are the same as weapon energy pellets except that more energy is refilled (8 to 10 units usually).

Extra lives. If you have one of these when you bite the dust, you’ll be given another chance at the stage, restarting at the furthest continue point that you’d reached.

These come in varying colors, but basically look like energy pellets. They are a unique feature to Mega Man 1 which add extra points to your score. Point pellets are applied to your score when you beat a stage, and you lose all of your pellets when you die. This means if you gather a bunch, then lose a life and finish the stage on your next life, you’ll lose whatever pellets you’d gathered before dying.

This refills all of your weapons and health and also gives you a bonus 100,000 points.

This is an item you pick up, though you use it like a weapon. Utilize this to create horizontal blue ledges on which you can walk. Equip it and hold down the fire button until the ledge is the size that you desire. When you release the button, it is planted into place (until then, you can walk around and even jump, and the ledge moves with you). The ledges disappear after a preset period of time.

Mega Man was once a household robot named Rock, but when Dr. Wily turned evil, Rock was converted by his creator Dr. Light into the fighting robot known as Mega Man. This small blue robot is equipped with twin arm cannons and the Weapon Copy system which lets him take weapons from defeated foes.

This is the scientist that started it all, for he was the one who first created revolutionary human-like robots. He was responsible for creating Mega Man and Roll, and he and Dr. Wily built the first six Robot Masters together.

Dr. Wily was once Dr. Light’s partner, but then he turned against his former colleague and stole the six Robot Masters they had created. Converting the robots into weapons of destruction, he then unleashed them upon the unsuspecting world.

Although only shown briefly during the ending, Roll is later named and better identified in other games. She was also constructed as a household robot by Dr. Light and is known as Mega Man’s sister. Her name is designed to match Mega Man’s (Rock and Roll).

This small robot was meant to use ordinary explosives for mining and construction purposes. Dr. Wily, however, found a better use for the bombs, and now Bomb Man chucks them rapidly at any enemies. He isn’t very durable, however, and as long as you can dodge his steady barrage of bombs, you can fell him easily. Fire Storm also works well.

This little robot has no arm cannons at all but instead he pulls the cutting blade off the top of his head and chucks it at you. Cut Man can move a decent clip but he isn’t blindingly fast. Use the Super Arm to hurl some rocks at him for a quick finish. The Fire Storm also works well.

The dreaded Elec Man’s Thunder Beam is capable of destroying Mega Man with as few as three hits, so beware. Plus he moves at a decent enough clip to make himself worth watching out for. However, the Rolling Cutter works just as well against him as the Thunder Beam works on Mega Man. And his weapon is one of the best to have.

Fire Man can offer a fast and furious barrage of flames from his specially-designed arm cannons. However, the Ice Slasher will cool him off.

This is one of the strongest of the Robot Masters. Just him landing after a jump can cause an unsuspecting foe to lose his footing. Guts Man attacks by tossing huge boulders at his enemy. Bombs will make short work of him.

Ice Man is right in his element in the frozen arctic for which he was designed. When attacking he usually doesn’t move much at all but instead stands and fires large arrow-shaped Ice Slasher shots toward his target at varying heights. Surprisingly enough, fire isn’t the best thing to use on Ice Man. The Thunder Beam will finish him off faster.

Soon to become a classic, this is one of the more reoccurring bosses in the Mega Man series. The Yellow Devil will break itself up into blocks which move across the screen horizontally. It also fires shots from its single eye. The Yellow Devil can only be harmed by hitting its eye, and then only when the eye is open.

Mounted on walls, these cannons fire in multiple directions. They can only be harmed when they are shooting. You can usually run past them with the correct timing.

Giant presses. These hop around trying to flatten you. Don’t let them land on you—it will hurt. You can freeze them into place with the Ice Slasher—always handy but especially when faced with this sort of hit points and damage.

Little skull-like things with rotors, these make swooping attacks when they get close. They can move at a fairly decent clip and will dog you until they are destroyed (or you leave the screen) so it’s best to eliminate them at a distance, before they have a chance to close in on you.

These are grenades basically. Typically found at chutes, they lob up and explode in midair, raining down shrapnel. Bombombs can’t be destroyed (they handle that part themselves) but you can usually stand positioned just right so that they’ll completely miss you.

This robot actually comes in two parts. The head has 1 HP, but the body has 3. Always aim at the head. You don’t want to shoot the body. It’s bad for your health. If the body is destroyed, the head will fly around and bop at you with its fists.

Little robots that hop around. Not terribly difficult to deal with, particularly if you have good aim. Good for target practice. They come in a couple of colors.

Aerial cannons. These shells fly across the screen, pausing at intervals to fire. Incidentally this is also the only time they can be harmed. Flying Shells shoot in a spread formation which is always constant, so with some foresight you can determine where to stand to avoid being hit.

This isn’t really an enemy so much as a stepping stool. It is capable of firing at you, however. For obvious reasons these cannot be destroyed. If you want my advice, skip them altogether and use the Magnet Beam instead.

These appear from the right-hand side of the screen at specific areas. If you stand still in a place where Killer Bullets appear they will come constantly, at a steady interval. These bombs weave up and down and explode when shot. Be careful that you don’t shoot them too close to you or run into the explosion when firing while moving.

The trademark of the Mega Man series, these are yellow hard hats with green crosses. They usually lie in wait with their hats down, covering their eyes and feet. Their helmets are impervious to most known weaponry, so one must wait until they pop up to fire. When Mets are firing is also when they can be damaged. Mets usually fire a three-way spread shot.

Large eyes with suction cups that stick to walls. Their only way of dealing damage is through direct contact, and they have little in the way of an attack. Octopus Batteries slide from side to side or up and down in a preset pattern, going back and forth and pausing for a short time at each wall. Because of their slow speed and predictable patterns, dodging Batteries is rather simple. With the normal arm cannon they do take a number of hits to defeat however.

These penguin robots move in a wave-like pattern across the screen. Not a problem except they tend to appear at the most inopportune moments, so keep your eyes open and your trigger finger handy. Pengs pass straight through walls and other solid obstacles as if they aren’t there (how do they do that?).

Very similar to a Joe, this robot even has a shield which protects him when he’s not throwing pickaxes. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily), he is throwing most of the time, so the shield generally is not a problem. The pickaxes fly in an arc so if you keep moving you can avoid being struck by them.

These cannons fire shots in multiple directions. If you don’t want to take the time to destroy them, you can wait until they retract, then quickly run by.

The fabled Sniper Joes are the first incarnation of what would later become a whole family of Joes, each similar in appearance and attack style and almost always possessing the trademark visor. Sniper Joes defend themselves with their shields and, while standing, are only vulnerable from the front while they are firing. If you want to take one on head-to-head, wait until it fires, then jump its shots while hitting it with your own. Sniper Joes can also be damaged while they are jumping.

Robots such as these show up in some form in nearly every game. They move back and forth along a ledge, speeding up when you approach. They cannot be harmed by the normal arm cannon, although shooting them will freeze them for a brief moment. Some Master Weapons can take them out for good.

Cut Man-like blades that shoot out of chutes. It’s not really worth it trying to destroy these things; just keep moving, and they’ll all spectacularly miss you.

Fireballs with eyes that fly up from lava lakes below, then drift downward. Tackle Fires appear at steady intervals but are pretty easy to take out since they move slowly. Be careful one doesn’t catch you in midair however.

These robots pop out their eyes when they sense enemies nearby. They seem capable of moving only up and down. When they come level with a foe, their two eyes let loose streams of electricity at their target. Watchers will usually ambush you while you are climbing ladders. You can avoid damage by positioning yourself between the two sparks of electricity—the shots will pass harmlessly above and below you, with just enough of a gap for you to fit.