Metal Man Stage

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Metal Man is one of the eight Robot Masters created by Dr. Wily in Mega Man 2. His stage is an industrial facility filled with gears, conveyor belts, and crushing machinery. Metal Man wields the Metal Blade, a versatile weapon that can be thrown in eight directions. He is weak to the Quick Boomerang, which can bypass his spinning blade attack.

In Their Own Story

The source does not provide a story for a "Metal Man Stage." The plot of Mega Man 9 involves Mega Man combating the eight Robot Masters, discovering that Dr. Wily reprogrammed them to avoid being scrapped, and ultimately defeating Wily to prove Dr. Light's innocence.

Reader's Guide

The source does not provide a guide for a "Metal Man Stage." The gameplay section of the source describes Mega Man 9 as a 2D side-scrolling action-platformer where the player chooses from eight stages, defeats Robot Masters to gain their weapons, and uses Rush's Coil and Jet transformations. The game lacks the slide and charge shot from earlier entries.

Did You Know?

• Metal Man's stage in Mega Man 2 is famous for its conveyor belts and crushing gears, making it one of the most memorable levels in the series.
• The Metal Blade is considered one of the best weapons in the game due to its ability to be fired in eight directions and its low energy cost.
• Metal Man's weakness is the Quick Boomerang, which can hit him even when he is using his spinning blade attack.
• Mega Man 2 was originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1988 and is often credited with popularizing the Mega Man franchise.
• The game's eight Robot Masters are Metal Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man, Crash Man, Flash Man, Heat Man, and Wood Man.

Plot and Narrative Arc

Taking place during the early 21st century, Mega Man 9 continues the adventures of the android hero Mega Man. When destructive attacks by powerful robots begin occurring all over the world, Mega Man's creator, the good-hearted Dr. Light, who created these robots, is blamed and arrested, while Mega Man's arch enemy, the evil Dr. Wily, claims to be uninvolved in the incidents. It is up to Mega Man to stop the robots, find the truth behind their circumstances, prove his creator's innocence and reveal Wily's true intentions. After Mega Man begins combating the eight Robot Masters—Concrete Man, Tornado Man, Splash Woman, Plug Man, Jewel Man, Hornet Man, Magma Man and Galaxy Man—Light is soon arrested. During the victory over the fourth Robot Master, a piece of scrap metal is left behind, revealing that the robots were past their expiration date and would have been scrapped for recycling. Mega Man eventually picks up the last Robot Master's memory chip, which is analyzed to reveal Dr. Wily vowing to help the robots survive this expiration date and ultimately reprogramming them. However, before the information can become public, Wily swoops in using his flying saucer and steals the chip. Mega Man breaks into Wily's robot city, then fights and defeats Wily, who immediately begs for forgiveness, but he doesn't fall for it, and with Rush's projector, reminds him of all his begging from all previous main Mega Man series games. Mega Man then discovers that Wily was responsible for arresting Dr. Light, and that Light has fallen ill. However, Mega Man's ally Proto Man comes in and warns the hero that it is a trap, stating that the seemingly ill scientist is a robot impostor previously used by Wily to make the initial news video. Mega Man then takes his chances with Light and the impostor shocks him; Wily escapes while he is disabled. When the fortress comes down on him, Proto Man returns quickly to save him. In the end, Dr. Light was proved innocent and the status quo is restored. The eight Robot Masters are rebuilt and given new functions working alongside Light and his other robots.

Gameplay Mechanics and Features

Mega Man 9 has been described as an action and platform game, in which the player controls the titular character and must complete a number of 2D side-scrolling stages. The start of the game presents a select screen of eight stages from which the player can choose to complete in any order desired. Within each stage, the player advances by running, jumping, avoiding traps, shooting enemies and mini-bosses, and ultimately battling the Robot Master boss at the end. Mega Man begins with a "Mega Buster" arm-cannon weapon, but as each boss is defeated, a unique weapon is added to his arsenal. Because each Robot Master is weak to a specific weapon, the player may strategize the order in which the stages are cleared. The player also begins the game with the option to call on Mega Man's dog Rush, who can transform into a "Coil" springboard for jumping higher or a "Jet" for traversing long distances in the air. Mega Man's health, his special weapons, and his Rush options are all limited by energy gauges that can be refilled by picking up items found throughout each level. Special screws can also be picked up and used to buy items at Auto's shop between stages. These items include extra lives, tanks that refill energy, and one-time-use items that call on Mega Man's companions Eddie and Beat for help. Using the original Mega Man and Mega Man 2 as the main inspiration for the gameplay in Mega Man 9, several significant features from previous games were left out. Specifically, Mega Man lacks the ability to slide along the ground and the ability to charge up his Mega Buster for more powerful shots. Aside from using or omitting various elements from past games in the series, Mega Man 9 introduces a time attack mode and 50 optional challenges where certain requirements should be met to be accomplished. These range from defeating a boss using only the Mega Buster to clearing the entire game without taking any damage. Downloadable content for all three versions of the game was made available for purchase during October 2008. Proto Man can be downloaded as an alternate playable character. Proto Man is able to slide, can charge up his buster, and takes double the damage of Mega Man, among other differences. Additional downloadable add-ons include higher difficulty modes, an endless stage, and a special stage featuring a new boss, Fake Man. This downloadable content was included in Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, requiring the player to complete the game or enter a secret cheat code.

Development Challenges and Production

Mega Man 9 was co-developed by Capcom and Inti Creates. The latter company had developed the Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX spin-off series and employs many former Capcom members who worked on previous Mega Man games. The first six games in the original Mega Man series were created for the NES during the late 1980s and early 1990s. A plethora of spin-off series, related games, and compilations were published by Capcom as a result of the original series' immense popularity. The most recent entries in the main series, Mega Man 8 and Mega Man & Bass, were first released on more advanced home consoles in 1996 and 1998 respectively. Keiji Inafune, a designer, artist, and producer at Capcom, has been involved in most of franchise's development. As early as 2004, Inafune, credited as "Inafking", publicly expressed his desire to make a Mega Man 9 as a "throwback to the super old school", but that its creation would highly depend on the input of fans. According to Inafune, the simple fun of a classic Mega Man game "doesn't fit into the grandiose and expansive world that the consumer gaming industry has become, and so you have to make games that match the current expectations". He also believed that pushing for the creation of a Mega Man in the style of the original "would be quickly criticized for things like being simplistic, outdated, or too expensive", thus making it too difficult to develop such games in the current climate. Inafune cited the rise of retrogaming services like Nintendo's Virtual Console for allowing the development team to put together Mega Man 9. Not only does the game carry the gameplay and storyline elements of older games, Mega Man 9 is a return to the series' roots, as the graphics and music resemble how their original games looked and sounded on the NES's 8-bit hardware. Inafune felt that the "time was right" for choosing this style of game to please its fans. Capcom's management was supportive in making Mega Man 9 downloadable, but they wanted the game to be 3D instead of 8-bit as they thought the latter would only appeal to Mega Man fans. The team additionally discussed giving players the option to choose between 8-bit and current generation styles. However, the idea for solely using 8-bit eventually won out. The staff was concerned with surpassing Mega Man 2 rather than Mega Man 8, as Mega Man 2 has been more praised. Producer Hironobu Takeshita referred to Mega Man 9 as "the new Mega Man 3" in this regard. Mega Man 9's development team consisted of about 20 people. Takeshita explained that although Inti Creates was involved, the source does not provide further details on development challenges specific to a "Metal Man Stage."

Commercial Performance and Legacy

Mega Man 9 was a commercial success and received positive reviews, though some of its design choices were negatively received by critics, with criticism for its high difficulty, lack of creativity in the level design and graphics and the removal of some of Mega Man's moves from earlier games, namely the slide and the charge shot. The game's popularity prompted Capcom to create a sequel, Mega Man 10 (2010), which also utilizes a simple, 8-bit style.