Mega Man

Mega Man (known as Rockman in Japan) is a video game franchise developed and published by Capcom, featuring the protagonist of the same name. The original game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, and spawned a franchise that expanded to over 50 games on multiple systems. As of March 2025, the series had sold 43 million units worldwide. Mega Man has been popular among gamers and has been reimagined and evolved as a video game character for over 30 years.

The main series, dubbed the "Classic" series, consists of eleven games, the standalone Mega Man & Bass, the spin-off Game Boy series (released in Japan as Rockman World), and various ports, remakes, and compilations. The storyline of the "Classic" series is succeeded by the Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero, Mega Man ZX, and the Mega Man Legends series, all of which set in a single continuity. Two other series, the Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force series, take place in an alternate universe where the internet flourished rather than robotics.

History

1987: Conception and first game

Before Mega Man, Capcom primarily made arcade games, and its console releases were mostly ports of these games. In the mid-1980s, Capcom made plans to develop Mega Man specifically for the Japanese home console market. They decided to bring in fresh, young talent for the small team, including artist Keiji Inafune, a recent college graduate who started on the Street Fighter team. Inafune recalled that the Mega Man development team worked extremely hard to complete the final product, with a project supervisor and lead designer who sought perfection in every possible aspect of the game.