Mega Man is the main protagonist from Capcom's eponymous series. He is the third non-Nintendo character to appear in the Super Smash Bros. series, following Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. He was revealed at E3 2013 and was the second newcomer to be revealed. Despite having spoken in his home series, Mega Man is voiceless.
Mega Man currently ranks 27th on the tier list, placing him in the lower-mid C tier. This is due to his large number of projectiles that give him good spacing options, as well as a very strong air game. However, fast characters and characters with reflectors can turn his projectile game against him, and he possesses few moves with KO power, with most of them having high ending lag and requiring complicated kill set-ups.
Mega Buster (Neutral Attack, Forward Tilt and Neutral Aerial) has high priority, being able to stop many attacks and projectiles.
Forward Tilt allows him to move while shooting Mega Buster.
Has some fast ground moves (Up and Down Tilts) that are good for spacing and dealing with close-combat.
Forward Smash has the highest range of all Forward Smashes when fully charged.
Good variety of multi-hit and single hit moves.
All his Aerial Attacks are very fast and are disjointed hitboxes, with some also having transcending priority. Slash Claw (Back Aerial) is notable for being his fastest and strongest aerial attack, while Air Shooter (Up Aerial) has powerful windboxes allied with multi-hitboxes strong enough to kill opponents at low percentages near the upper blast line.
His Down Aerial is a powerful ranged Meteor Smash.
Lack of a proper Sex Kick Neutral Air for spacing.
Not very good against fast characters that can pressure him or interrupt his projectiles.
Few moves with KO Power aside his Smash Attacks and Up Tilt.
Limited horizontal recovery, also quite predictable.
Requires some proper spacing in order to be effective.
All Smash Attacks have high ending lag.
Neutral Attack, Forward Tilt, Neutral Aerial, Up Aerial and Forward Smash can be reflected/negated/absorbed. This, along with his other ranged specials, makes Mega Man the character with the highest number of attacks that can be be used against him or completely nullified, giving Mega Man a huge disadvantage against these kind of opponents.
Summary[]
In long range, Mega Man is a very versatile character. Mega Buster is fast, although not having high range, but can keep enemies at bay and interrupt their approaches. His Forward Tilt gives him this advantage as it's the only one in the game that can be used while walking. Crash Bomber is good to distract the opponents, as they will either try to remove the bomb or shield it, giving an open spot to attack. His Leaf Shield, while overlooked by some players because it blocks most of his actions, has good utility, being able to dish extra damage during grabs as well as blocking projectiles.
When enemies can reach Mega Man for close-combat, he has a few tools that can help him knock them back, such as his Mega Upper (Up Tilt) and Slide (Down Tilt), that are fast enough to get enemies by surprise, with Mega Upper being powerful enough to kill opponents at 100% if sweetspotted. Another good way to keep enemies at bay is to move backwards with short hops while using Neutral Aerial, in order to keep up his zoning game without having to move back and forth. He is also good in the air, with his aerial attacks having great utility. Flame Sword (Forward Aerial) has high priority and a disjointed hitbox, while Slash Claw (Back Aerial) is a very fast multi-hit attack with powerful knockback at the end of the attack. In addition, his Air Shooter (Up Aerial) works similar to Mr. Game & Watch's Up Aerial by having a pushbox, but one that also causes damage, in addition to hitting multiple times. Finally, his Hard Knuckle (Down Aerial) is a solid Meteor Smash, and it's the only ranged Meteor Smash in the game.
One of Mega Man's problems, however, lies in his predictable recovery, relying only on Rush Coil to come back to the stage and because of that he has no horizontal recovery. Also, when pressured, Mega Man has little to do, as characters such as Pit and Fox can reflect his projectiles and punish him easily. His lack of proper KO'ing moves allied with the fact that his Smash Attacks have high ending lag, especially his Up and Down Smashes (as his arms have to vent), makes Mega Man a hard character to kill with.
Moveset[]
Ground Attacks[]
Normal[]
Neutral Attack (Mega Buster) - Mega Man morphs his hand into a blaster and fires a pixelated plasma shot in front of him. Can quickly fire up to three shots in a row, taking a short pause before being able to fire again. Each bullet deals 1-2% damage. When fired at point-blank range, it does 3% damage and pushes the target. Mega Man can also quickly turn between shots to hit multiple targets. Great for zoning opponents in mid-close range. Counts as a projectile, meaning it can be reflected, negated or absorbed.
Forward Tilt (Mega Buster) - Same as his neutral attack, with the added benefit of moving while shooting (thus hitting faster), but without the benefits when used at point-blank. Great for zoning opponents in mid-close range. Counts as a projectile, meaning it can be reflected, negated or absorbed.
Up Tilt (Mega Upper) - A powerful uppercut that makes Mega Man jumps off the ground and send foes soaring into the air. Does 17% damage to close opponents in the beginning of the attack, 12% if hit during the attack, and 8% when the attack is ending. The knockback can kill opponents at 100% if sweetspotted.
Down Tilt (Sliding) - A leg-first charge along the ground. Can be used to move under certain projectiles. Closer targets receive 8% damage and are pushed up, while farther ones receive 5% and are pushed forward. Good speed and priority, but considerable ending lag. Useful for punishing. This is based off his ability to slide under low ceilings in his way.
Dash Attack (Top Spin) - A rapid rotation attack forward that hits multiple times. Each hit deals 1% damage, with the last hit doing 3% and pushing the target, doing a total of 10% damage. Can easily lock opponents between hits, but the high ending lag makes it easy to punish. This is based off Top Man's weapon.
Smash[]
Side Smash (Charge Shot) - Mega Man unleashes a more powerful plasma blast from the Mega Buster, causing 10-12% damage. The damage and distance increases the longer it is charged, causing 20% damage when fully charged. Very powerful knockback when fully charged, as well as covering the highest range of all Side Smashes in the game. Counts as a projectile, meaning it can be reflected, negated or absorbed. In his home series, Mega Man possessed this ability.
Up Smash (Spark Shock) - Two electrodes appear in Mega Man's arms and come together to give off damaging sparks, hitting multiple times to anyone near him, especially above. After use leaves him vulnerable to attacks while his arms vent. When used quickly, each hit deals 2% damage, with the last one causing 6% (total 16%). When fully charged, each hit does 3% damage and ends with a 9% hit (total 22%). This is based off Spark Man's weapon, except Mega Man used one electrode in his home series.
Down Smash (Flame Blast) - An arm cannon at each side of him releases a high pillar of flames. After use it leaves him vulnerable to attacks while his arms vent. Causes 17% damage when used quickly, increasing up to 24% when fully charged. In the Mega Man series, Flame Man had this weapon, and both he and Mega Man used only one cannon.
Other[]
Ledge Attack - Mega Man kicks forward, dealing 7% damage.
Floor Attack - A quick leg sweep that hits both sides. 7% damage.
Aerial Attacks[]
Neutral Aerial (Mega Buster) - Same as his neutral attack, just in the air. Firing at point-blank in the air can deal a bit more damage (4%) and push the target further than in the ground. Great for zoning opponents in mid-close range. Has low landing lag, making it useful in short-hops. Counts as a projectile, meaning it can be reflected, negated or absorbed.
Forward Aerial (Flame Sword) - A pillar of flame is brought down in front of him like a sword slash. Deals 5-9% damage. Has a very large disjointed hitbox that covers Mega Man's entire front area. Sword Man had this weapon.
Back Aerial (Slash Claw) - A quick swipe that hits three times behind him. The first slash deals 3% damage, the second 4%, and the last 5%. The final hit has a powerful knockback. Low landing lag, being useful in short hops. It's one of his strongest KO moves, and his most powerful aerial attack. Slash Man possessed this weapon.
Up Aerial (Air Shooter) - A small tornado is shot above him and rises upwards. If it catches an opponent, it'll hit multiple times (1-3% damage each) and push them up with powerful windboxes. Can kill opponents at low percentages near the upper blast line. Can be reflected. Air Man possessed this weapon, though it moved horizontal.
Down Aerial (Hard Knuckle) - Meteor Smash. A fist is fired downwards before returning to Mega Man. Deals 12-14% damage. Causes horizontal knockback if it connects with Mega Man's cannon rather than the fist. It is the only ranged Meteor Smash in the game. Has high startup, ending and landing lags. In the Mega Man series, Hard Man has this attack.
Grabs and Throws[]
Grab (Super Arm) - Mega Man effortlessly picks up an opponent with one hand. Guts Man possessed this move.
Pummel - Mega Man uses his strength to press the held opponent, dealing 2-3% damage.
Throw - Throws the opponent in the direction pressed.
Side Throw deals 7-8% damage, and can be followed up by Dash Attack, Metal Blade or Forward Smash against opponents at low percentages.
Up Throw deals 6-7%, and can be followed up by Up Smash at very low percentages and Up Aerial at mid-high percentages.
Down Throw deals 3-4%, and can be followed up by Forward or Back Aerials at mid-low percentages.
Up: Mega Man brings an elbow backwards with his Mega Buster.
Side: Mega Man turns his back at the screen and waves the Mega Buster to the back.
Down: Mega Man teleports, similar to when he enters a stage in his games.
Other features[]
To be added
In competitive play[]
Mega Man was seen as a very obscure and unorthodox character since the game's release. His strange playstyle mainly comprised of projectiles always saw a large topic of debate for him, though the general consensus was always of him being at least a mid-tier character. Alongside very limited tournament representation and tournament results, he would at first rank 28th on the first 4BR tier list. However, his popularity would become stronger after game updates nerfed Sheik, Zero Suit Samus and Bayonetta, and his tournament representation, while limited, saw strong results from smashers like ScAtt, Smasher1001, and most notably Kameme, who would travel to the USA to compete at EVO 2016 and get 2nd place at the tournament. This spike in tournament results allowed him to be seen much more favorably and allowed him to rank 15th on the second tier list, reassessing him as a high-tier character and gaining the third largest rise between the first and second tier lists.
Mega Man would later rank 16th on the third tier list, a very slight drop in favor of Marth claiming 10th place. However, due to his huge lack of consistent results, Mega Man is ranked 27th on the fourth and final tier list, suffering the largest drop between the third and fourth tier lists. Some smashers have said said that Mega Man should be higher due to his amazing projectile game and his matchup spread, while others like ZeRo think that Mega Man is overrated and that his placing is somewhat accurate.
Tips for Mega Man players[]
Mega Man has quite a high learning curve. Lacking a traditional Neutral Attack, Forward Tilt and Neutral Aerial can make him a bit hard to use at first, especially for non-experienced players.
However, mastering his use of the Mega Buster is essential, as it is his best zoning tool. Their nearly nonexistent knockback allied with good range and hitstun allows one to frustrate enemy approaches and set them up for combos. Depending on the situation, this can even frustrate the second jump of characters with poor recovery, such as Little Mac, when they are trying to use their recovery moves.
His Up and Down Tilts are powerful, but very situational.
Up Tilt is a high-risk high-reward move that has nearly no horizontal range and is one of the attacks with highest ending lags in the entire game, being extremely easy to punish. It is mostly useful to punish dodge rolls, although it can be used for edge-guarding.
Down Tilt is one of his spacing tools, with very low start up lag, covering a good distance (pretty much the same as Mario's Dash Attack) and having a quite high base knockback. It is useful to use against rushing opponents such as Captain Falcon and Little Mac. It has high ending lag, though.
His Dash Attack has good priority, almost as much as Pac-Man's Dash Attack. However, much like the latter, it has high ending lag.
Forward Smash is a powerful attack to use for edge-guarding and for punishing rolls. While it is quite slow, the longer Mega Man charges, the larger is the projectile, the longer it travels, and the higher is the knockback. It is useful when used as a pivot-smash for catching others off guard.
Back Aerial is a powerful gimping attack, with a knockback strong enough to kill low percentage opponents near the blast line. This combined with Mega Man's good recovery makes for an easy to use off-stage.
Up Aerial can be used to juggle opponents and even score low percentage kills. Since it has low startup and ending lags combined with a projectile with long duration and range, it can be easily spammed, pushing opponents up.
Down Aerial is a very safe and powerful Meteor Smash, however it must be well calculated in order for a clean hit; Mega Man also briefly stalls in the air when using it, making it hard to use depending on the situation.
Trophy descriptions[]
Mega Man
The main hero from Capcom's 1987 action game, Mega Man. He travels from stage to stage, defeating Robot Masters to obtain new weapons. He uses this vast arsenal in Smash Bros. in a variety of ways. Metal Blades, for example, can be fired in eight directions and picked up off the ground!
Mega Man (12/1987)
Mega Man 2 (07/1989)
Mega Man (Alt.)
Mega Man has more than 10 different weapons at his disposal. His forward air attack, Flame Sword, affects a wide area and doesn't leave much of an opening, making it useful in a variety of situations. His Leaf Shield special spins four leaves around him to deflect projectiles or hurt foes. He can also fire the leaves forward.
Mega Man (12/1987)
Mega Man 2 (07/1989)
Mega Legends
For Mega Man's Final Smash, he teams up with all-stars X, MegaMan Volnutt, MegaMan.EXE, and Star Force Mega Man, and they fire their Mega Busters in unison. The Black Hole Bomb fired at the start draws enemies in, and as long as that hits, the Mega Busters will follow. Make your foes see stars!
Most of his animations and sound effects are based on his NES incarnation. In fact, Sakurai said that keeping his NES style was a top priority.[1]
Mega Man is the first character to have a custom death explosion, specifically exploding into balls of light in the same style as the original Mega Man games.
Mega Man's Final Smash includes Mega Man X from the eponymous series, Mega Man Volnutt from the Mega Man Legends series, MegaMan.EXE (Hub Hikari) from the Mega Man Battle Network series, and Mega Man (Geo Stelar and Omega-Xis) from the Mega Man Star Force series.
Mega Man has the ability to wall jump. This could be a reference to the Mega Man X series, where X, Zero, and others have the ability to wall jump.
Mega Man's Side Smash, when fully charged, covers the highest range of all Side Smashes in the game.
Super Smash Bros. marks the third time Mega Man and Ryu are playable in the same fighting game, with the first two being Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. Ryu has also fought alongside other incarnations of Mega Man in other fighting and non-fighting games (Mega Man Volnutt in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Namco x Capcom, and X in Project X Zone and its sequel).
The intro to his reveal trailer is reminiscent of the intro to Mega Man 2. The large mountain is an allusion to the tall building Mega Man stands on top of during the title screen opening. This makes sense as a reference since most of Mega Man's content is based on Mega Man 2.