Mega Man

Mega Man is a Japanese-American animated television series co-produced by Capcom Productions, Ruby-Spears Productions, Ashi Productions, and Ocean Productions and based on the video game series of the same name. The series began airing on September 11, 1994 and ended on December 10, 1995 and was aired on many syndicated stations at the time. 2 seasons were produced with a third season planned, but the show was cancelled, despite respectably high ratings, due to budget constraints.

Plot
In the year 200X, robot scientists Dr. Thomas Light and Dr. Albert Wily were completing their special project, helper robots, which will help humans with everyday work. However, Dr. Wily secretly reprogrammed the helper robots into fighting machines and intends to use these robots to take over the world. After Dr. Light learned of this, he decided to reprogram one of his other helper robots, choosing Rock (his male helper robot). Dr. Light gave Rock state-of-the-art combat technology, with the ability to copy another robot's weapon, thus creating Mega Man. Now, Mega Man has to stop Dr. Wily and his band of robots from taking over the world.

Characters
Mega Man (voiced by Ian James Corlett) — Mirroring his origins in the video games, Mega Man was originally an assistant robot built by Dr. Light and called Rock. He originally donned a blue T-shirt and shorts but also wore his typical robot boots. After Wily reprograms Light's first industrial robots (the Mega Man robot masters) he captures Rock and Roll to make them his servants too. Rock tricks Wily into freeing them as he doesn't think a robot is able to lie. Rock is then rebuilt into a fighting robot. His primary weapon is the plasma-cannon which he fires from his left arm after withdrawing his hand into it. He can also copy Wily's robots' abilities by touching them. During battle Mega Man cracks jokes and puns. He has numerous catchphrases; the one he uses most frequently is "Sizzling Circuits". Ironically, Corlett, who voices Mega Man, previously voiced Dr. Wily in Captain N: The Game Master.

Dr. Light (voiced by Jim Byrnes) — Mega Man's creator. He used to work with Dr. Wily, trying to create a line of industrial robots, until the latter stole their plans and a defective prototype. Light built Rock, Roll, and the first three robot masters, Cut Man, Guts Man, and Ice Man. After Wily stole and reprogrammed his industrial robots, Light rebuilds Rock into Mega Man in order to stop his schemes. Throughout the series, Light builds other robots and inventions to help humanity and to stop Wily's plots. His appearance differs slightly from his game counterpart; he has a shorter beard and grey hair. Fans of the show also note his ability to state the blatantly obvious.

Roll (voiced by Robyn Ross in season 1 & 2; Kathleen Barr in "Cold Steel") — Mega Man's sister who assists him on missions. She was built as a household robot and possesses a number of home-appliances which switch on and off similarly to Mega Man's plasma cannon. Most frequently she uses a vacuum cleaner which has enough force to pull robots to pieces and which can also occasionally suck in enemy projectiles and fire them back. Roll is depicted as being much more mature than her game counterpart physically, and dons a red-and-yellow jumpsuit instead of a dress.

Rush (voiced by Ian James Corlett) — Mega Man's robot dog. Mega Man uses Rush's jet-mode, in which he turns into a jet board, as a primary means of transportation throughout the series. Rush also has a number of other modes though none which are directly derived from the games. Rush's nose can "sniff out anything" and was once used to locate a bomb planted by Wily. His ears also detect faraway sound. Rush acts similarly to Scooby Doo in many respects, often performing silly antics on his own. He also alternates between making typical dog-sounds and speaking. Though most of the time he only mimics other characters, he also appears to have a limited ability for independent speech, mostly for comedy purposes (such as announcing "Mega, Mega. Right back. Messages." during the show's commercial bumpers).

Eddie (voiced by Scott McNeil) — A suitcase on legs, Eddie's primary function is to deliver Energy Cans (E-Tanks) to Mega Man when he is critically low on energy. Eddie is always ready for action and appears in a handful of episodes. Though resembling his game counterpart outwardly he was colored green rather than red.

Dr. Wily (voiced by Scott McNeil) — Light's former assistant who stole the plans for the prototype industrial robots after their first test with a humanoid robot failed. Wily was convinced that Light sabotaged his work in order to get the credit and runs off before returning with Protoman to reprogram Light's industrial robots. In the first episode it is revealed that Wily has suffered envy through his entire life ("I didn't even have toys like the other children") and plans to exact vengeance on humanity by having his robots control everything. He is depicted very much like his original counterpart. He speaks with a German accent and is prone to fits of maniacal laughter.

Protoman (voiced by Scott McNeil) — Mega Man's older brother and Wily's constant lackey. Despite working for Wily, Proto has a tendency to disobey him and ruin some of Wily's plans as he is obsessed with destroying his brother. Protoman's abilities are similar to those of Mega Man; he fires plasma resembling blue-energy and has on one occasion copied Guts Man's power in order to fight Mega Man. The first humanoid prototype built by Light and Wily resembles his color-scheme though it is not directly stated if Wily rebuilt Protoman from the prototype. Unlike in the Mega Man games, Protoman does not carry his trademark shield in the series. Unlike his counterpart from the games, he is loyal to Wily alone, filling the role that Bass plays from Mega Man 7 onwards.

Cut Man (voiced by Terry Klassen) — One of Dr. Light's original three industrial robots that would serve as a logging robot who used his Rolling Cutters to chop down trees. He was reprogrammed by Dr. Wily and is one of his stock-lackeys alongside Guts Man and Proto Man appearing in every episode. He speaks with a Peter Lorre-esque nasal accent and makes cutting and scissors-related one-liner puns ("Cutting you down to size is going to be shear delight") while laughing at his own jokes. Despite his somewhat arrogrant attitude, he is usually defeated and this has become a joke among fans of the series. His overall design reflects his game counterpart though the details of his head and uniform are slightly different. Originally, he carried only one weapon that was thrown in a boomerang fashion; however later in the same episode he fired his weapon a seemingly unlimited number of times. However, he has used both methods throughout the series.

Guts Man (voiced by Garry Chalk) — One of Dr. Light's original three industrial robots, created as a robot to help in construction. Along with Cut Man, he appears in every episode as one of Dr. Wily's main henchmen. Contrary to his persona in the games and somewhat stereotypically, Guts Man is all muscle and little brain and always attempts to crush Mega Man. A recurring joke involves Rush biting Guts Man's leg before being kicked off. Guts Man is also shown often breaking through walls in order to get somewhere, rather than using/opening doors. This habit was used in one episode to trick him. Chalk's Guts Man voice is very similar to the one he used for King Hippo on Captain N: The Game Master (who was that show's "big and strong but slow-witted" character as well.)

Robot Masters — Various Robot Masters from the first five Mega Man classic games make appearances throughout the series, including Snake Man from Mega Man 3, Elec Man from the original Mega Man, and Pharaoh Man from Mega Man 4. Some appear more often than others, for example Snake Man appears in five episodes, while Pharaoh Man appears only in the second episode and Napalm Man only appears in the introduction. Interestingly, none of the Robot Masters from Mega Man 6 made appearances even though the show's first episode aired a year after the game's release. Each Robot Master has his own unique voice actor, notable exceptions being Dive Man and Shadow Man, who have the same actor, and Crystal Man, who has the same voice actor as Dr. Light.

History
Ruby-Spears, one of the producers of the show, redesigned the characters from the Mega Man video games to varying degrees. At the time the show was undergoing its early development, anime had not yet achieved a "mainstream" acceptance in the United States, and the producers felt the look of the show skewed too young for the retro-80's-style action-adventure cartoon they had in mind. The final look of the characters was one of many different interpretations proposed throughout production and was the most well received by test audiences (it is worth noting that characters who appeared for the first time in season two were considerably more faithful to the original models, only given slightly different proportions and the occasional nose). The series was targeted towards the late preteen boy audience, though Roll's expanded and much more active role in the series was calculated to try and draw in more female viewers as well (producer Joe Ruby joked "Also, it showed we're not male chauvinistic pigs as our wives think").

Despite consistently high ratings and being a series producers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears really enjoyed working on, the show was cancelled after only 2 seasons. Some time after the show no longer aired on television, the reruns were picked up by the Fox Family channel (which has since been taken over by ABC). Some episodes were heavily edited for content. The show's intro, which featured a city under attack, and later in ruins, were edited and scenes where Roll was attacked by a male robot was removed.

Episodes were released on VHS by Sony Wonder beginning in January 1995. The entire series was released on 2 DVD sets by ADV Films in 2003, but both sets are now out-of-print. In 2009, ADV Films re-released the 1st half of the series, but was shut down in 2009. Discotek Media will release the entire series in early 2014.

Episodes
Mega Man has a total of 27 episodes spread over 2 seasons that were produced from September 1994 to December 1995.