MEGAGRAMS

    1) 21, and no, I’ve graduated from DigiPen. Graduate website is still there however, although it keeps moving around. At the moment I believe it can be found here.
    Update: What did I tell you? The address I gave before is invalid already. DigiPen switched from .com to .edu. The link above should now be valid.
    2) She says it’s a toss-up.
    3) ... (no comment)
    4) Bass: “Mega Man’s a twerp, and didn’t you know? I’m destined to defeat him. I am, after all, superior in every way to him and every other robot ever made for that matter, and—mmmph!!” ... um, I think that’s enough of an answer, Bass! As for the hair thing, I don’t know—I can’t get him to take his helmet off!
    5) “No!”
    6) Dr. Light doesn’t talk about his past much. It’s my guess he has never been married—it would explain his lack of children and why he “built” his own.
    7) Being chased by Rush, I think...
    8) Mega Man: “I don’t know! I didn’t know anything about this game at all until people started talking about it...” Favorite companion? Probably Roll. =) I mean, they do make the most adorable team...

On the contrary, Mandi, the English games DO specify where Dr. Light’s lab is!!! Read the Mega Man 1 instruction booklet, and you shall find out that it is indeed the fictional city of Monstropolis that he lives in. Speaking of which, I must not write much more, for I am late, and must seize the entire city with my newly rebuilt version of Gamma, before Mega Man arrives!! And believe me, I will not make the same mistake!! Death to the Blue Bomber!! Hehehheheheheeheheh.....>=)
    - Dr. Wily

As mentioned elsewhere on this site, “Monsteropolis” was basically just a corny replacement for Tokyo...and I don’t believe the manual ever said that’s where the lab is—just that that’s where the games take place. Never mind the fact that the Mega Man (1) manual was somewhat less than accurate. ;)

Mandi,
    Once again, the debate continues about where on Earth the MegaMan games are set. Are you POSITIVE the Japanese games say that it’s set in Tokyo? I don’t think it’s meant to be in New York, although the MegaMan 8 map DOES point to America. HOWEVER... I have proof that it is not actually set in a real city at all, but in fact a completely ficticious city! I don’t know how many people own MegaMan (that is, the first game) but for those who do, open up your Instruction Booklets to page 6 and read the first paragraph, titled “The MegaMan story...”
    “It’s MEGA MAN versus the powerful leaders and fighting forces of Monsteropolis - that strange, multi-faceted land of robot-like Humanoids.”
    So there you have it. The MegaMan games are set in the city of Monsteropolis. (Although I reckon that sounds corny, and prefer just to remove the “e”) As this is not a real city, it could be anywhere on Earth! :)
    - Pete Jenkins

See answer above. And yes, since I place the Mega Man games on an alternate Earth, the name of the city is totally irrelevant regardless (since it’s not the same planet, who knows or cares what its cities are named).

On the subject of Dr. Wright-Right-Light’s mysterious location of the lab, i’d like to point out that at no point in any game(except,perhaps, MegaManIII, MMIV, and MMV) has the lab looked exactly the same. Thus, i propose this theory. Dr. Right-Light-Whoever has more than one lab, in locations throught the world. And, why not? He is(was/will be)a world-famous, highly renound scientist, who must either be very rich, or be rolling in financial grants from Tokyo, Monsteropolis, New York... Whichever you choose to believe. He would share these labs with his students, like Auto, and colleagues (sp?!) like Dr. Cossack. i prefer to think of Dr. L(R/W) as coming from a rather well off family, since it helps to explain his cousin, Dr. Wily (Willy/Wiley)’s astounding resourcesin light of his several, several, several defeats, other than just saying “ He stole it.”
    Well, that’s enough for one MegaGram. Bye Now.
    - TuxedoBrak, Master of the run-on sentence.

This is an interesting angle.

I love the site! I noticed you mention that MMX and MMLegends weren’t originally planned to be Mega Man games. Just out of curiosity, what were they originally meant to be? Also, I, too am a Break Man fan, and would like to see him playable in a game(preferably one that takes place during MM1 and MM2 that explained what he was doing during that time while he was lost-wouldn’t that be cool?) P.S.: Have you ever written to Capcom and actually received a response?

    1) Mega Man X was apparently going to be a story about a cyborg cop. I don’t know when it was changed into a Rockman game. Rockman Dash (Mega Man Legends), on the other hand, always had the Rockman title as far as I know; however, the Japanese game has nothing whatsoever to do with Mega Man. It’s a tale about a human boy named Rock that runs around in a protective suit of armor, and a girl named Roll looking for her parents. (Actually, there’s more to the story than that, but you get my point.) Again, the name Rockman was used purely to make the game sell.
    2) Through mail I’ve received form replies, but that’s it. If you want a real response you’ll have to phone them.

Phaelin,
    Cool site!!! (if I haven’t mentioned it before, it’s about time I mentioned it now) I do have some questions for you though:
    1) How come you don’t post voice files from MM8 or MMX4? They are very cool voices. (I especially like Astorman’s and Split Mushroom’s voices)
    2) How come Tango hasn’t appeared in any other MM games?
    3) Why are the robot masters in MMV named after planets and not abilities?
    4) How come Capcom hasn’t released many of the Megaman toys in N.A.? I personally would like to see Geminiman, Astroman, Volt Catfish and Split Mushroom action figures.
    5) (This is more of a poll question) Do you think it would be a cool or neato idea to make Split Mushroom into a squeak toy? After all he looks and sounds like one. He is the only Maverick to ever be smaller than Megaman X. But that’s has the very odd advantage: He’s CUTE!!! He’s small and funny.
    - He is a squeak toy
    - If you press the gem on his tummy he says stuff like “WHOA!” or “YEAH!”
    - If you turn him upside down and drop him, he will go “WHEEEeee!” and hit the ground with a boom and shoot purple smoke out of his antennas.
    - You can move his arms and legs into positions.
    - If you drop him, he says “OWHOWHOWHOW!” (like when he gets hit by lightning)
    - If you hold him direct sunlight, he turns orange.
    Just some thoughts.
    - Me.

    1) If I get some good recordings, I might just do that... Split Mushroom and Clown Man have some hilarious clips. Right now though I don’t have my recording equipment on me...
    2) He has cameoed in some games, such as Rockman & Forte, and he’s in a lot of Capcom production art, but I don’t know why Capcom hasn’t put him in another game. He wasn’t terribly useful in Mega Man V but with some adjustments...
    3) To go along with the theme that the robots were from outer space, I’d wager.
    4) Not sure. Perhaps the Mega Man name isn’t as popular here as it is in Japan.
    5) All I’ll say is that Split Mushroom is currently my favorite Maverick purely because of the laugh factor.

hello there... i love your page and check it on a regular basis. your game strategies are the best! anywho, here are 2 issues...
    1. it’s probably just me, but your books seem to... i dunno, too in the middle... i like it either darker or funnier... your books are a little of both and it does not mix very well... (once again, it’s probably just me...)
    2. you shoud really start a fanfic section... i have tried sending my fanfic to several pages but none of them posted it... i have given up all hope... other pages are either to slow or they die the day i sent them my fanfic... your page is very stable and would be perfect for a fanfic section... i already asked you this once, but please reconsider...
    - Daniel meir aka Armanodo

    1) Heh heh... well, actually, that’s me. I don’t really like totally silly or totally dark. I like a nice serious plot with a bit of laughter thrown in.
    2) A fanfic section has about zero percent chance at the moment. I’d never have the time to keep it current. Ever take a look at the Links section?

Hi there,
    I just read the new Mega Grams and saw that somebody asked a few questions about Marvel vs. Capcom. It reminded me of a few questions I wanted to ask you about it. Here goes. :)
    1) Do you have a specific team you generally use when you play? I know what works for you might not work for somebody else, but it’s still something that more than one person is probably wondering.
    2) Have you ever done the “Rush Drill of death”? If you haven’t, I can tell you how if you’d like. I’ll just say that it does INSANE damage if you do it right.
    3) I noticed you didn’t put anything about MvC in the ’endings’ section. Have you ever beaten the game? (I know you don’t really want this question asked, but oh well. :)
    4) Would you like to see Marvel vs. Capcom come to a home system like the PSX?
    Well, that’s about it. I’ve been visiting your site for about a year and I’d like to say that it’s great and the Mega Grams seem like a perfect addition. See ya!
    ~ Makou

    1) I usually use Mega Man and Chun Li. Reasonings: Mega Man has one-button fireball (and heck, he’s Mega Man!) and Chun Li is my long-standing favorite Street Fighter character (that Lightning Kick has felled more opponents than any other move I’ve used). However, often I’ll use the Mega Man/Roll team (mostly when I want to draw a crowd, heh heh).
    2) Done? Yes. Effectively? No. =) Did I ever mention I can’t combo?
    3) Nope. I’ve only played enough to learn the characteristics of Mega Man and Roll. (Come on, the thing is a buck a play here! A dollar!) I’ll play it more when I buy the home version.
    4) Saturn. PSX seems to not be able to handle the character-swapping that makes the game so much fun (not to mention cheezy...). Other than that, I don’t really have a preference for systems; I don’t really care much for either one, to tell you the truth...

Dear MegaGrams,
    I was just killing some time reading the archives of the MegaGrams and i hit this one article. “Is Trigger male or female”. He’s male of course but then i thought. Is it possible for Megaman to have a girlfriend? Megagirl or MegaWowan? And then get married and have little Robies (Babies) running around creating mischif while they “upgrade” (grow up). And go to a Research Lab and learn about there bodies and how they fonction? Anyways you get the point.
    - K2-KaHoS (Kevin)
    P.S. Great site! Please reply =)

Um...ahem, I won’t go there. Needless to say robots can’t reproduce. Also, even if you were to build a “baby” robot, it wouldn’t need to “learn” anything since you could program into it whatever you wanted it to know. Gender for robots is purely a human convienence. Robots are neither male nor female; they are merely built to look and act as if they are.

I think your site pretty cool. Very thorough and everything. I was just wondering how you got permission from Capcom to use their copyrighted characters. I see other pages that have the whole copyright thing but they don’t say that they have permission from Capcom. How did you get permission granted from Capcom???
    Thanks for your time, Keep up the great work!
    - The Shining One

It was simple enough: I phoned them. Basically we called Capcom, told them about the website, and let them preview it before it went public. They checked it out and gave me their okay along with that byline which states as such, and the Mega Man Home Page went online.

Is there some sort of secret ending for X in Megaman X4? I beat it the other day and X just sort of left in his space ship, talking to Zero. It was real short. Then I beat the game another day (right after having beat it with Zero), and the ending seemed longer. We got to see his thoughts about Double or something.
    Did I just forget this happening the first time, or did I really get a different ending? I beat it with X in his Ultimate Armor if that means anything. Thanks for your time, and adios!
    - Worf_359

I’ve never seen or heard anything about an alternate ending to X4. It’s possible the Ultimate Armor or something else gives you a different ending, but I’ve never found one.

I had wondered something about Forte/Bass. See, the reason most of the Living Machine crazes started was because Mega Man could do things on his own and make choices, wheras other robots stuck to set routines, as emulated by the player doing anything he wanted with MM. Well, with Bass/Forte doing the same thing in RM&F, I thought he was too. Throw in book 16’s scene where Bass nails MM as he’s leaving the Fortress without Wily telling him to, well... you get the idea. Enough babble. I’m done.
    - GoldWarMachine

Basically it comes down to this—either Bass is the same as Mega Man (feelings, emotions, etc.) or he’s a robot with a free will, much like Reploids in X’s time. Bass could even be a prototype Reploid, although Wily said specifically that he was trying to copy Mega Man’s design to make Bass. Either way, Bass will most likely be Wily’s undoing, one way or another...

Wuzzup Mega Grams?
    Mandi, you have made it exteremely clear that you are not in favor of Capcom’s current drawing trend. But it’s really not all that bad. I was also less than pleased with the title screen art for Rock & Forte, but the arms usually aren’t that bad. Yes they are rather clumsy looking but couldn’t this be Dr. Light’s work? Think about it, if you’ve got someone throwing a punch at you, what do you do? You put your arm up to block, therefore it makes a bit of sense to put additional armor on the forearms. I’m not even going to try and explain the crazy leg thing, but I will say there are other aspects of the game that irritate me more. You also mentioned that Mega Man had somehow adopted a breast plate. What? I didn’t see it! And one last thing. You mentioned several times that Protoman is too tall. This is because he’s STANDING UP, whereas when we see the brothers together, Mega Man is clearly crouching down lower. He does stand up at other times, and I actually bothered to get out a ruler and measure them. Mega Man while standing is almost EXACTLY the same height as his brother. Thank you, and good night.
    - Johnny Reb

Hey, I’m not that against the artwork. I mean, heck, if art was the only thing wrong with the games...! I was merely making comments. I can make it sound like I hate something more than I do, I suppose...
    Breast plates? See Rockman & Forte for one. As for Mega Man’s forearms, yes, they are wider than most human arms, but he always used to have wrists before, and his forearms and hands aren’t supposed to be longer and wider than his torso. Nuff said.
    As for the sprite thing, let’s clear this up once and for all. Yes, Mega Man is almost Protoman’s height when he’s standing straight up (although that “almost” should be just “is”). But this isn’t really where I was coming from. Protoman isn’t just too tall, he’s too big. Even when he’s kneeling over after being hit by King in Rockman & Forte he’s taller than Mega Man. But besides all that, take the art in the afore-mentioned game and compare it closely, and you’ll see it’s more than just the heights. Protoman’s boots, for instance, are wider and taller than Mega Man’s. His fists are larger, his torso longer, legs wider, head bigger...he’s just all around too big. Not by that much of a margin, but it is there, and is curious since all the artists had to do was redraw Mega Man’s sprites into Protoman...
    Incidently, my comment about the sprites wasn’t really a complaint, it was just a cute little comparison at the bottom of a page...

Dear Mandi,
    I definately love the site. Matter of fact, I link to it almost all the time! It could use an improvement or two. Here are some questions:
    1: On the game hints, you missed the Damage Data for some enemies from Mega Man 8 and X4 (ie. Double, General, Bass&Treble, etc)
    2: In X4, the Super X Buster plus rapid fire and the “Lightning Lance” Attack are the ultimate against the beetle mini-boss?. Why didn’t you post it? You know what weapons I mean.
    3: Didn’t you notice that the Mega Laser and Thunder Claw are the best against the Rock monster in Mega Man 8?
    4: Why don’t you make a maverick page similar to the Robot Master page on the character page. Or are you too busy?
    5: In Mega Man X(1) the 2nd Sigma Form is immune to the Fireball
    6: There is a password that has Vile alive (in X3), but gives you the Saber! I think it is 6464-6355-6878-3155.
    - “Mega Man X”

    1) This is because I don’t have the data.
    2) Um...to leave the player something to discover?
    3) Yes...don’t I mention the laser?
    4) Too busy, and uninspired.
    5) Some would argue that statement, since there are people who claim to have hit the guy with them. Apparently you have to hit just right or the shot will ting off.
    6) This is probably possible using the password crack.

I just have two quick questions.
    1. Have you beaten Marvel vs. Capcom with Rock and/or Roll? If so, what’s his/her ending?
    2. Where do you get the time to keep this site in tip top shape?
    - Rini

    1) No. I’ve been told their endings, but haven’t actually gotten them.
    2) I don’t. ^_^’

Dear Megagrams,
    Looking at your Megaman physics area, I thought that I might want to express my opinion on somethings. In some of the old box covers that I have seen(or they may have been prototypes.), i shows Megaman, as a human, wearing padding holding a pistol. When I saw this the first thing that came to my mind was ’you couldn’t get much further from what its really like’. Anyway, although the cartoon states that in order for Megamans hand to turn into his Mega Buster, the arm actually goes into the barrel. Capcom also clearly states this in the intro for Megaman X3 (PC, PSX and Saturn version). Though I don’t think a morphing process would occur here, instead i think that two small panels might pop up and slide over while the hand fold in and the end of the Mega Buster comes out (A bit like how the Mega tank’s cannons turn into the Mega Zord’s hands in the first series of Power Rangers.).
    Also, I’ve heard rumours that when Zero was made, he had to go through the same process as X did with the capsule. Could this be that when Zero was made, he destroyed both Mega Man and Bass (like what it says at the end of the Power Fighters) and was then preserved because he was no more use. This could also explain why X was made, and he could have been an improved version of Mega Man that was made out of his salvaged parts. There could be many explanations for this. Like Break Man could have assasinated Dr. Wily but perished in the process afterwards. Or maybe Vile was an improved version of Bass that could have been rebuilt afterwards.
    - Cyclops

First, however you cut it, it doesn’t make much sense for Mega Man’s hand to go into his arm unless his entire lower arm morphs or transforms, and if that was the case, why bother putting his hand into it? His hand could morph with the rest of his arm. As for Zero, well, Wily always claims his newest robot will get the best of Mega Man, but since when has it? ;) Course, time will only tell...

Hey Mandi,
    I can still remember the very first MM game I ever played. That was MegaMan 2, all the way back in 1990. Since then I’ve been hooked. I remember the exclamations of “OH yeah!!!” after discovering the ridiculously easy way of beating MM3, and then the many hours of hair-pulling and teeth gnashing at trying to beat MegaMan 1 for the first time (no ENERGY TANKS?! come ON!!!!). Since then I’ve watched the steady evolution of MegaMan over the years... I saw the first pinnacle in the form of MM3, in terms of character animation, speed, and music. The gameplay even felt different. And then all would be blown away when MegaMan X came out. I felt like a kid again, watching my favorite videogame hero battle it out with brand new enemies, and able to acquire new weapons. Graphics and sound-wise, it just took my breath away. Personally, no other MM game on the NES or SNES compares to MegaMan X.
    Now to my point, finally: I’ve noticed a trend in past years dealing with VG critics in particular gaming magazines. It seems that these guys have it in for our blue bomber. A common article would go like this....“MegaMan, again, can obtain new weapons and blah, blah, blah, to face 8 more (yawn) big-boss enemies and blah, blah, blah, and take on a brand new(?) 2-d adventure and blah, blah, blah.” ....sound familiar? These uppity critics are too busy criticizing the actual game that they are missing the big picture here (like tons of art judges in high school art competitions). MegaMan is a SAGA. An EPIC. Good vs. evil ring a bell, anyone? It keeps GOING and GOING and GOING.... and us crazed MegaManiacs are going to keep cheering him on in every adventure, right? (right now I own MM 1-7, X-X3, and yes, even MMsoccer!) How can critics say that it’s the same old song over and over, when us loyal fans have noticed the HUGE changes that have happened over the years.
    keep on rockin’!
    - hard target

Hey, exactly what I’ve been saying for years. If that’s all the people find wrong with the games, they must be pretty darn good games! I personally think a sequel should be similar to the previous game; if it’s not, don’t call it a sequel.