With Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 + 2 coming to Nintendo Switch May 22, you can face off against Robot Masters any time you want! Between both games included in the collection, spanning the original Mega Man up through Mega Man 10, there are a whopping eighty-one Robot Masters for you to defeat, counting the included DLC Robot Masters! With another eight Masters joining the ranks when Mega Man 11 launches late this year, let’s look back at some of the best, weirdest, and just plain unforgettable Robot Masters from throughout Mega Man’s history, with memories and thoughts from Capcom and Mega Man fans from the community.

Bomb Man (DLN-006)

Weapon: Hyper Bomb

Weakness: Fire Storm

Brian, a.k.a. “Protodude” – Rockman Corner

Bomb Man holds the dubious honor of being the fastest and easiest boss to beat in MM1. You can take him down pretty easily with just the buster! He gets a lot of flack for this but I like him. From a design standpoint, he’s oozing with character: the ’80s punk mohawk, a grin from ear to ear, and a big round belly. And hey, I even hear he enjoys bowling and fireworks.

Of all the Robot Master stages, I’d say Bomb Man’s holds the most variety in terms of enemies and terrain. There’s explosions and bullets flying all over the place, Joes lying in ambush, and spikes out the wazoo. To top it off, we’ve got these huge ominous spheres looming in the background. I dunno; Bomb Man is just so  cool.

Kellen Haney – Community Manager

As a kid, I had always admired Mega Man from a distance and via gaming magazines; I didn’t have any hardware that played Mega Man games growing up, and nobody I knew nearby owned an NES or the games. That all changed when my parents bought a subscription to Sega Channel for my birthday – a sort of 90s precursor to digital distribution as we know it today – and Mega Man: The Wily Wars popped up on the monthly rotation. Bomb Man was the first stage I tried, having read that it was a good boss to start with in a magazine, and everything I had been missing clicked together right there and then.

As Protodude mentioned, there’s a lot of terrain that helps you adjust to the mechanics of Mega Man with lots of enemy variety, spikes, and pits. While Bomb Man can be easily defeated with the buster, making him a great Robot Master to start with, his stage just oozes character, outlining tall towers in the background and cheerful music filled with hope for the future.

Guts Man (DLN-004)

Weapon: Super Arm

Weakness: Hyper Bomb

A land-clearing robot. He’s got quite the sturdy body. As long as you dodge the rocks he throws, he’s not tough to beat.

Patrick “SPAZ” Spaziante – Archie Comics

Being the first MM boss that I had encountered and beat, he holds a special place in my heart. His stage alone, with one of the most controller-crushing platform jumps, forced me to become a MM aficionado, long before I had to reach the exalted Guts himself. But there is something about beating the first boss in a brand new game (at the time) that is thrilling, and it just cemented my love for the series.

On the art side of things, I also love Guts Man’s esthetic as a kind of jacked up body-builder with a huge mechanical “50’s robot” style chin. He is a blast to draw!

Jamal Peppers – Archie Comics

Guts Man is my favorite Robot Master. I’ve been fortunate enough to draw two stories featuring Guts Man for Archie Comics’ Mega Man series. I like big, powerful characters like The Hulk or The Thing and Guts Man is The Hulk/Thing of the Mega Man world.

From a character design point of view Guts Man has always stood out, to me, from the other Robot Masters. I’ve been a fan of Guts Man and his iconic jaw since I first played Mega Man as a child.

Bubble Man (DWN-011)

Weapon: Bubble Lead

Weakness: Metal Blade

The first underwater robot created by Dr. Wily.  He’s pretty cute when swimming around. Make use of your higher jump and attack him.

Brett Elston – Associate Brand Manager

While he’s a bit goofy to look at, Bubble Man is expertly built for underwater combat. His maneuverability may only manifest itself in the form of tall leaps and controlled descent, but hey, he’s doing’ his own thing. I’m sure he’s better prepared for underwater battles than Wood Man!

Bubble Man is often my first stop in modern MM2 replays, since the stage is pretty tame and the music is so good! The stage always reminds me of when this game first released and I played it at a friend’s house… on a black and white TV! Still a lot of those things floating around in 1988-89.

Takekuni “Ucchy” Uchida –  Rockman Unity Administrator

Not to fall second to Toad Man in terms of comical animations, it’s hard to tell if Bubble Man is a weak boss or a strong one, but one thing’s for sure: you just can’t hate the guy.

I don’t recall ever having trouble fighting him, and the weapon you obtain from him, the “Bubble Lead,” seemed completely useless as an offensive weapon when I first tried it out, so much so that I completely forgot about it midway through the game. But then I realized you could use it to sniff out pitfalls. ‘Whoa!’

And then, as you all know, there was the final boss. Nothing seemed to damage him, no matter what you did. I’d exhausted all the energy from all other weapons—Mega Man was near-death! All I had left were… those stupid bubbles I’d all but forgotten about.

And then, the impossible happened. ‘Whoa!’ I uttered, once again.

It was like a suspense movie, where you find out the person you least suspected was the bad guy all along! (Is Bubble Man Keyser Söze?!)

Realizing the importance of the Bubble Lead gave me a new respect for him. Bubble Man offered a sort of “subtle flavor” to Mega Man that taught me the fun of strategizing and discovery in these games. That, and to not judge a book by its cover—everyone has something good to offer.

Wood Man (DWN-016)

Weapon: Leaf Shield

Weakness: Atomic Fire

David Oxford – The Mega Man Network

In what could only be described as a fun and amusing coincidence after naming Cut Man my favorite Robot Master from the first Mega Man, Wood Man would prove to be my first conquest in Mega Man 2. It’s such a shame I couldn’t bring the Rolling Cutter with me to my first Robot Master encounter of the sequel; after all, what better way to take down a robot made of wood than to use the tool of a timber-felling robot?

Besides the rocking jungle theme, Wood Man also rocks a much more impressive version of the Leaf Shield than what Mega Man ends up with. Bigger, badder, and it rains additional terror from above! Without the Crash Bomber , Metal Blade , or Atomic Fire , it’s enough to make you want to make like a tree and get outta there!

Outside of the game, I’ve enjoyed how he’s been characterized, particularly in Archie’s Mega Man comic book. Seeing the care he shows for the robotic animals which occupy his woodland stage just warms my heart.

Magnet Man (DWN-018)

Weapon: Magnet Missile

Weakness: Spark Shock

Draws in enemies with his strong magnetic power. Dodge his homing Magnet Missiles by sliding.

Ryuji Higurashi – Mega Man series illustrator

Using Mega Man’s new slide move feels so good in the battle with Magnet Man, making him a really fun character from a gameplay standpoint. His design is also very simple and easy to understand. I’m pretty sure you could show him to anyone and ‘Magnet Man’ is what they’d call him.

Kellen Haney – Community Manager

I have to agree with Mr. Higurashi on Magnet Man’s appearance. One look at the guy and you know exactly who he is. His weapon is quite useful on stationary enemies, firing out a magnet that travels horizontally for a bit, then vertically towards the nearest enemy, almost as if it’s drawn to the metal enemies with some sort of unique field. I wonder how it works? Maybe we’ll unravel the mystery with science one day.

Magnet Man’s stage gently introduces some new mechanics in Mega Man 3, including floating enemies that can lift the Blue Bomber off his feet, and giant magnets that pull Mega Man sideways and add a new layer of panic to tricky disappearing block puzzles. The whole stage has also got a bang-up tune that pairs nicely with the electronic wonderland that his stage takes place in.

Top Man (DWN-021)

Weapon: Top Spin

Weakness: Hard Knuckle

Spins at high speeds and has a shield system that renders incoming attacks ineffective. He’s popular at New Year’s, because he can produce toy tops from his head.

Brett Elston – Associate Brand Manager

Originally built to search for extraterrestrial components needed to build a massive peacekeeping robot, Top Man eventually fell to Dr. Wily’s programming and became a fighting robot like his MM3 brothers. How he was meant to succeed in this mission, armed with just tops and the ability to spin fairly fast, is still a mystery.

The fight against Top Man, however, is one of my favorites in MM3.  He has an enjoyable pattern that is easy to understand and fun to practice. Easy with a buster, and cake with the Hard Knuckle!

Kellen Haney – Community Manager

Oh, poor Top Man. About all he can do when you fight him is spin around, creating an invincible shield, and throw a few tops at you now and again. He’s not terribly difficult to fight, and he goes down like a sack of potatoes if you use Hard Knuckle against him. There are certainly cooler-looking Robot Masters like Shadow Man and Snake Man (I’d take a snake for a head any day), but there’s something about Top Man that just makes him so darn likeable despite the limited use of Top Spin. I’ll leave the rest to this interview with Yuji Ishihara, art director of Mega Man 11 :

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That’s all for today, but we’ll be recapping plenty more about our favorite Robot Masters soon. We’re celebrating the 30 ^th anniversary of Mega Man with games and activities throughout the year, including bringing Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 and 2 to Switch on May 22nd, all eight Mega Man X titles to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC later this year, and the Blue Bomber’s triumphant return with Mega Man 11 in late 2018! Stay tuned for more info, and keep an eye on Mega Man on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest news.

See you next time!