Mega Man Blog

Just in time for Mega Man's thirty-sixth anniversary, I've whipped up a wallpaper themed after Mega Man 3, sized at a comfy 1280x720— I think that this one may just be my most detail-oriented anniversary wallpaper yet... as well as my favorite, too! 💙✨

@shrimpuufriend told me that Capcom had recently released never-before seen concept art of the original Rockman (Which you can find here!), and it is the coolest thing EVER.

However, while I was taking a good look at the sprites I had made of the octet of renegades, I noticed something... I was fairly satisfied with every sprite I had drawn, though I felt as though I could do a lot better with one in particular, both in terms of his sprite and his design as a whole...

Strafe Man, the overconfident high-flyer.

Unlike the other seven members of the Synth Legion, Strafe Man's design had hardly been altered since I first settled on a design for him back in 2018— the most he had ever really gotten was a color change here or there, and I've also found that he's the single most underrated robot master of the eight in spite of proclaiming to be the coolest.

Let's fix that, shall we?

With a flashier winged helmet, bigger wings and a much more arduous arsenal, Strafe Man has officially been done justice! My goal was to give him a more detailed and streamlined design compared to his 2018 counterpart (Which there wasn't inherently anything wrong with, he just looked plain alongside the other SLN units), and I'm certain I succeeded in achieving just that!

Did y'all know that Amazon Man actually debuted in Rockman 2 and was cut so late into development that he ended up making an appearance in game's manual?

Very shortly after I showcased my 16-Bit Glitch Man sprite, I knew I wanted to jump straight into SNES-ifying yet another Synth Legion Number, though it was admittedly tough to decide who to choose of the remaining seven. I wanted to focus on choosing a Number that'd be a fair challenge to sprite in 16-Bit, but nothing too extreme.

And who better to choose than the Synth Legion's second in command?

Up next in my ongoing series of doubling the bits of Mega Man Ultimate's robot masters is none other than Zap Man, who proved to be exactly the sort of fun challenge I was looking for!

(Check under the cut for the usual Star Insight, Zap Man’s spriting process and a little bonus!)

Gee, Peppibot Factory sure looks different today.

With the one Pizza Tower title card meme making the rounds lately, I figured I'd join in on the fun with my own contribution starring none other than the super fighting robot, Mega Man! This might just be my biggest sprite piece yet this year, and I am BEYOND thrilled that I was able to pull this off! 💙✨

A Legacy's Beginning

April 14, 21XX

I still have yet to discover the missing link in my research. It has been weeks since I set off on my archeological expedition. Recently, I happened upon a breakthrough in my  study about the flora of the Mesozoic period. I simply need to find a certain fossil to verify my findings. My calculations have brought me to an isolated location out in the wild. Here I have been actively searching for days upon end.

So far, all I have managed to find is mountains upon mountains of dirt. Many of this region's (excuse me) unique lifeforms have managed to discover me, however I do believe I can do without their hospitality. I had wanted to locate evidence of life, but not this kind. It does make me rethink my choice in wardrobe, something I need to take note of for my next expedition. 

I fear this whole endeavor has been a blatant waste of time. Perhaps I should pack up my supplies and return to my home. I can go over my notes and locate another area to find the evidence for my theory. After all, what did I expect to find in such a -

Much to the surprise of Dr. Cain, he felt his foot slip through a softer patch of dirt. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to journal while walking. His whole body was thrown forward into the now exposed hole. He didn't yell as he slid downward. This was not the first time this had happened.

What was shocking to him was hitting a cool, tiled floor. You didn't run into one of those in the wild every day. Dr. Cain quickly popped back up, at least as quickly as he could at his age. He picked up his hat that had fallen during his descent and brushed the dirt off of it before placing it back on his head.

Surveying his surroundings, he let out a small gasp. From what he could make out from the little light from above, he was standing in the remains of a robotics lab. For a room seemingly lost to time, the technology within it seemed to rival that of modern times. Either the owner of this lab was ahead in technology or society had not improved technology as much as they thought they had.

Dr. Cain approached a table littered with pieces of metal and circuit boards. He picked up one of the metal pieces and was thrown off by how much it weighed. This was not the lightweight material they used today. He returned the metal to its place and ran a hand over the table. Layers of dust stuck to his hand, which he wiped against his shorts. 

To the right was a desk covered with piles of papers. A supercomputer was mounted on the wall around it, though its monitors had long since expired their warranty. The model was ancient, but it seemed to have been upgraded from its original state. Cobwebs hung from nearly every surface, giving Dr. Cain flashbacks to that colony of… he moved on from the thought.

His eyes landed upon a photograph on the ground, sticking out of its broken frame. He picked it up and instantly recognized the man in it. Dr. Thomas Light. The Father of Robotics. Dr. Cain tried his best to stifle the fanboy in him. There were a few smaller figures in the image, but the picture was too aged to make out who they were. He felt a twinge of guilt for imposing on the century old lab, but as an archaeologist it was kind of his job to lurk and explore this kind of stuff so he continued. 

Dr. Cain turned around, just now noticing the huge metal cylinder there. Its long side was facing horizontally, giving the archeologist the impression of a bed. A very strange bed indeed. For some inexplicable reason, it greatly piqued his curiosity. He approached it, circling to see it from other angles. Slowly, he reached out and wiped some dust from its surface.

Suddenly, the lab came to life. Lights flickered on, casting a blue glow to the room. Cain could hear the faint hum of technology working. A projection of Dr. Light came up a few feet from where he stood. He figured it was life sized, making the Doctor a lot shorter than he had imagined him to be. He ran a hand through the projection. It was incredible holographic technology for being from 20XX.

Despite the overwhelming feeling of awe, Dr. Cain managed to pull out a screen to record any message that played. He worried he would not be able to activate it again later, so he wanted to capture it. He frowned a little, seeing that he had cracked it slightly more during the fall, but he didn't mind too much as long as it worked.

DR THOMAS LIGHT, SEPTEMBER 18, 20XX

The voice of the man himself. It was like a time capsule. There were plenty of news reports and videos of Dr. Light from when he was alive a century ago, but something about this message seemed more personal. 

"X" IS THE FIRST OF A NEW GENERATION OF ROBOTS WHICH CONTAIN AN INNOVATIVE NEW FEATURE - THE ABILITY TO THINK, FEEL, AND MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS. HOWEVER, THIS ABILITY COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS. IF "X" WERE TO BREAK THE FIRST RULE OF ROBOTICS, "A ROBOT MUST NEVER HARM A HUMAN BEING", THE RESULTS WOULD BE DISASTROUS AND I FEAR THAT NO FORCE ON EARTH COULD STOP HIM.

APPROXIMATELY 30 YEARS WILL BE REQUIRED BEFORE WE CAN SAFELY CONFIRM HIS RELIABILITY. UNFORTUNATELY, I WILL NOT LIVE TO SEE THAT DAY, NOR DO I HAVE ANYONE TO CARRY ON MY WORK. THEREFORE, I HAVE DECIDED TO SEAL HIM IN THIS CAPSULE WHICH WILL TEST HIS INTERNAL SYSTEMS UNTIL HIS RELIABILITY HAS BEEN CONFIRMED. PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB THE CAPSULE UNTIL THAT TIME.

"X" POSSESSES GREAT RISKS AS WELL AS GREAT POSSIBILITIES. I CAN ONLY HOPE FOR THE BEST.

The hologram flickered before shutting off, as though it was never there. Dr. Cain verified that the message properly recorded before putting his screen away.

X. Dr. Cain never recalled hearing about an X in terms of Dr. Light's numerous robotic projects. Then it came to him, as if a switch had been flipped in his head. He turned his attention back to the metal cylinder. Towards the top, there was a clear change in material. A small section was made of a strong glass, as it was still intact after all these years.

He cautiously wiped the years of dust from the glass and peered through. He had revealed a slumbering face. He was amazed by how realistic it looked. It resembled that of a 14 year old boy. He wore a blue helmet with a large red gem at its center. Dr. Cain could already tell this was in fact something - no - someone very special.

Dr. Cain smiled. "Hello there. Nice to meet you, X."

In three days, I'm gonna post a little preview of something I've been working on for a decent amount of time (and am not even close to finishing *single tear starts falling*-). My sister pointed something out about the date, so now I am compelled to share a little part of it that day. More probably won't be out until summertime because SCHOOL (school stifling my creativity), but I'm calling this a sneak peak.

So yeah if you wanna see I'll post it April 14 at hopefully 12:07 PM if school and the queue allows it. Very excited to share this!

Mega Man 10 features a triad of playable characters— Mega Man, Proto Man, and Bass. Unlike the former two, Mega Man 10 was Bass's first 8-Bit outing (Not counting his very minor cameo in Mega Man 9), and his faux NES sprite is... off. It's not a bad sprite by any means, but his color palette and posture being much too close to Rock's never quite sat right with me.

I've only ever attempted to sprite in MM7's style a few times before (The linked post above being the most recent example), and from having a whole year of sprite expertise under my belt between said post and now, I figured it was time for me to try spriting something else in a SNES style... but just like last time, it was a little tough to decide on a subject.

Sure, I had chosen Shovel Knight previously, and would have been more than content with spriting somebody else from the Shovel Knight franchise (King Knight, perhaps), though this time, I wanted to chose a Mega Man character, one that would look plenty cool in Mega Man 7's style...

... so why not choose one of my own?

Thus, everybody's favorite guru of glitches was quick to receive a visual upgrade, and I am very much pleased with what I was able to come up with!

(Check under the cut for the usual Star Insight, Glitch Man's spriting process and a little bonus!)

A few days back, when looking at Mega Man Ultimate's stage select (The most recent version from 2020, in particular), I decided that it was high time that certain aspects of it got a revision— most specifically, the bulky stage select icon borders.

While the portraits of the eight robot masters have been constantly reworked and improved upon since each one's conception, the stage select icon borders have remained untouched since I first started making Mega Man Ultimate content back in 2018. Given I've had four whole years of sprite practice under my belt since then, it was time for a redraw!

And who better to show off the new border than a fan favorite?

When drawing a new stage select icon border, I took inspiration from the ones used in Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 4, the former of which being my main reference. The initial 2018 borders have always felt a bit clunky to me, and there's a lot going on on all sides of it (Figuratively and literally).

Upon setting out to make a slimmer, more compact redesign, I wanted the border itself to be a lot more simplistic than the version from four years ago. Really, all I needed were some cool blue gradients and the classic blinking corner lights, and it didn't actually take me that long to whip something up with those design choices in check!

And that's not all— if you look really closely between both portraits of Amazon Man, you may be able to make out a few small changes so that his portrait looks the best it can be! I redrew the leftmost side of his helmet and eyes a slight bit, fixed the shading on his head so that it looks a bit more vibrant, and extended his right pupil up a pixel. While small, these changes make his portrait look leagues better than before!

While we're on the topic of SLN-004, it was when I had been making these changes that I wanted to try something in pertains to Amazon Man's design that I had not once ever considered before... what would he look like without his usual mouthpiece?

The answer is a little something like this! While not a permanent change to his design, the minute 'mouthpiece-less Amazon Man' crossed my mind, I just had to attempt spriting out what he would look like without it!

I've always envisioned Amazon Man to have a slightly darker, more tan skin tone than the usual lighter tone that most humanoid robot masters tend to have, similar to Blast Man. In addition, I felt that it would be appropriate to continue to stray from the norm by giving him a broader chin, which hasn't been seen in a robot master since Dive Man.