Number: DWN-009

Weapon:  Metal Blade

Weakness:  Metal Blade

A robot whose design is based on that of Cut Man. The key is to watch his quick movements and dodge his Metal Blades.

After suffering a thorough defeat at the hands of Mega Man and Dr Light, Dr Wily rebounds with an assortment of EIGHT deadly Robot Masters… and the first off the line was designed specifically for combat against the Blue Bomber.

Like Cut Man, Metal Man is quite speedy and tosses a sharp projectile. Unlike the Rolling Cutter , however, the Metal Blade travels in eight directions and flies across the entire screen. A much better weapon, for sure!

The Metal Blade kinda sorta (actually does) give Mega Man an unfair advantage 😛

The 8-way firing and rate of fire make it a solid choice for just about any moment or level in the game, and its usefulness against bosses (including Metal Man himself!) really seals the deal. And on the meta side of things, the idea of 8-way firing was itself a fairly unique concept in early NES games, so that was another part of the weapon’s “wow” factor.

I’m old enough that I remember MM2 releasing and getting some great coverage in Nintendo Power (one of my favorite covers ever!). I probably read this issue… actually I can’t even guess how many times! Like, every day until the next issue came out?

Anyway, of the eight new Robot Masters, Metal Man stood out as a “cool” boss, so on the playground he was a great character to pretend to be and fight the other kids. Surely we all did that, right??

Ryuji Higurashi (Mega Man series illustrator)

“With a straightforward cool design, supremely useful special weapon, a fun ‘dodge-and-shoot’ battle, and an awesome stage tune on top of all that, I think it’s safe to say Metal Man is a top-tier character.”

David Oxford , The Mega Man Network ( +Robot Master Field Guide )

“Sometimes you just manage to nail it the first time. That’s more or less what Dr. Wily did once he decided to start creating his own combat-oriented Robot Masters instead of just reprogramming Dr. Light’s industrial bots, starting with DWN-009: Metal Man.

“A robotic ninja who takes the ideas pioneered by Cut Man to the next level, Metal Man sports a cool design and hangs out in a visually busy stage with a nice industrial tune to go with it. But let’s face it, the big reason almost anyone loves Metal Man isn’t any of that; it’s his weapon, the Metal Blade.

In Mega Man’s hands, the weapon is powerful, can fire in all directions, and best of all, uses very little energy. It’s so handy as to all but effectively replace the Mega Buster as players’ defaults upon acquiring it that some people will hold ‘no Metal Blade’ runs of the game just to make things fair to the game itself. Even the actual ninja shuriken of Shadow Man were nowhere near as potent as this!”

Surprise bonus today! Comment below with your own Metal Man thoughts and I’ll choose someone as the winner of this lovely Metal Man keychain!