The History of Megaman (Gameboy Version)

Since his introduction to North America back in 1987, Mega Man has been one of the most iconic game character next to Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. The main series has spawn over 10 titles alone (6 from the NES, 1 from the SNES, 1 from the Sega Saturn and Playstation One and 2 from Xbox Live and Playstation Network). In addition to those, Nintendo came up with the Gameboy versions of the series that replicates the 'big brother' series from NES. In 1991, Megaman was recreated for the Black and White Gameboy and has spawn over 4 titles after the first. Let's break down each of the series and look back some of the best games ever played in the old 1st generation Gameboy.

When you first take a look at the first GB Megaman, you’ll notice that it plays almost exactly like the first one on the NES. But there would be some changes to the game. Only 4 of the bosses from the original made it to the game (Cut Man, Ice Man, Fire Man and Elec Man). Of course you get the help at times from your mechanical dog, Rush. Here was the twist to the whole game. Once you were finished with the four bosses, you would go through Dr. Wily’s fortress only to do battle with 4 more bosses. Only this time, they were from the Megaman II series (Quick Man, Bubble Man, Flash Man and Heat Man). Once done, then you were able to fight Dr. Wily. In this game, you can also use a password feature to continue from where you left off.

Dr. Wily is at it again and this time, he’s gone to attempt to steal this ‘Time Skimmer’ and it’s up to Mega Man to stop him. He once again finds himself battling 4 bosses from the past (Wood man, Clash Man, Metal Man and Air Man from Megaman II). He would go on to fight four more bosses, but what’s different from first GB Megaman and the second would be that the latter four would have stages as well, which you would have to go through in order to defeat them (Top Man, Hard Man, Needle Man and Magnet Man from Megaman III). Once he defeated them, he would go on to fight Quint, a future version of Megaman himself. After his defeat, he would go on to Dr. Wily’s space station, where he would go on to finally defeat Wily. For now.

Megaman III takes the pages out of the NES version of III and IV, with the robot bosses being Snake Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man and Gemini Man from III. Dive Man, Drill Man, Skull Man and Dust Man from IV). The format is much the same as the previous GB games, but Megaman would now have his Mega Buster and can now slide under smaller places. After he defeats the eight bosses, he gets confronted by a renegade robot called Punk. Once Punk gets dealt with, Megaman goes on and defeats Wily once again. But in true Megaman fashion, Wily would turn up once again real soon.

Megaman IV for the GB throws in yet again elements from the NES version of IV and V. But this time, they’ve added a few new elements not seen on the NES version. Now everytime you defeat a stage, you are transported back to Dr. Light’s Lab where you can use the newly ‘P’ Chips you collect throughout the stages to buy energy for not only yourself, but for your weapons as well. The bosses you would be facing are Toad Man, Bright Man, Pharaoh Man and Ring Man from IV. Charge Man, Crystal Man, Napalm Man and Stone Man from V. Once you’ve defeated them, you’ll be once again confronted by yet another rouge robot. This one goes by the name of Ballade. Defeat him and you will go on to fight Wily again. The ending has a twist as an old friend comes to help aid you in the end. No spoiler, just check it out.

Megaman V is the shocker of the series for me. They went on and developed an entirely new game. This one has no elements from any of the Megamans on NES. Replacing the Mega Buster was the Strong Arm cannon, which works similar. The story is new, although it’s the same with you trying to defeat Wily again. The bosses are entirely new for they are each named after eight of the Solar System planets. After the bosses have been defeated, Megaman is now faced with having to defeat four of the other rouge bosses from the previous GB Megaman series (Enker, Quint, Punk and Ballade) and that’s not all. He has to go through a new robot called Sunstar in order to get to Wily. So this Megaman counts as one for the ages and also signals the end of an era for this would be the last one to be made for the Gameboy.