Number: DWN-032

Weapon:  Skull Barrier

Weakness:  Dust Crusher

A battle robot made just for fighting. It’s hard to time your normal attacks against him, so be sure to use the weapon that plays on his weakness!

Yes, like Ring Man before him, Skull Man was designed solely for combat—hence the frightening visage! Befitting of a combat model, Skull Man is one of the sleeker, more agile Robot Masters in the series. Curiously, Skull Man will only move or attack when Mega Man does the same, as though he’s some sort of dark mirror reflection of the hero from beyond the other dominion. Creepy! He’s also said to be socially awkward, which is about what you’d expect from a dude surrounded by hovering skulls.

Like real skulls, Skull Man is weak to exploding junk heaps, and discerning use of the Dust Crusher will put you on the fast track to victory. Defeating him will yield you Mega Man 4’s obligatory shield weapon, the Skull Barrier. Unlike Wood Man’s Leaf Shield, the Skull Barrier continues to protect Mega Man even while he runs around, making it like this much better: 234598324543592874357 times.   

Oh yeah, also! Extra percussive background music for a bone-themed level? Brilliant! Love that Skull Man theme.

Keisuke Mizuno (Character designer for TruForce)
I like his design. I think this character is the reason I came to think skulls are cool.

I often revisit Skull Man’s stage to replenish my items before heading into the final battle. You can grab three E-tanks in one run. Thanks to that, his stage theme also sticks out in my mind.

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

The first Mega Man made me a fan; the second made me a lifer. So beyond that, it gets rather difficult to pick favorites out of the 46 different Robot Masters who made the Nintendo Entertainment System games of the series so memorable — and more difficult still if you look at the series in its entirety!

That said, one that always stuck out to me was Skull Man. The very concept of a Robot Master with a skull motif just screams “Wily,” yet his involvement with the macabre ‘Master is practically minimal. One almost has to wonder if Dr. Cossack didn’t design him as a subtle clue as to who was really behind the entire Mega Man 4 caper.

In the game, he balances a Buster like Mega Man’s with a defensive Skull Barrier, making him fairly formidable. Then again, his Buster isn’t quite like Mega Man’s, seeing as the Blue Bomber just received an upgrade allowing him to charge up more powerful shots. As such, more’s the pity that he doesn’t have the shotgun-loaded ribcage given to him in Hitoshi Ariga’s Mega Man Megamix when he fights you in the games!