Mega Man (SSBU)

Mega Man (, Rockman) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, officially confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Mega Man is classified as Fighter #46. Mega Man reuses the sounds that were used in Super Smash Bros. 4.

Mega Man is ranked 38th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the A- tier. This is a marginal rise from his 27th out of 54 placement in SSB4.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Mega Man must then be defeated on Wily Castle (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Mega Man being the 42nd character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in its unlock tree, being the 4th character unlocked after.
 * Have Mega Man join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Mega Man is a short, heavyweight character. He has slightly above average walking speed, below average dashing speed, the 19th fastest air speed (tied with, , , , and ), is tied with for the 26th highest gravity, low traction, the 11th fastest falling speed (tied with , , , , and ), and is tied with Rosalina for the 6th fastest air acceleration. Thus, he is aerodynamic in terms of movement and for his weight has decent mobility. As in his home series, Mega Man's moveset relies heavily on various projectiles, giving his attacks unusual functions and characteristics. This extends beyond his special moves and into his standard moveset. For his neutral attack, he fires shots from his Mega Buster, and for his forward tilt, he fires shots from his Mega Buster while walking. His up tilt, the Mega Upper, or Shoryuken as called by commentators, is a jumping uppercut, and his down tilt is a forward slide.

Despite having an unusual set of moves, Mega Man shines in approaching while spacing opponents at midrange and disrupting any approaches, for he has two projectiles that can cause opponents to react predictably: Metal Blade's ability to be thrown in eight directions and trapping opponents in high hitstun makes it a fantastic mindgame and shield-baiting tool, while Crash Bomber can cause panicky opponents to run towards Mega Man or shield the explosion. Both projectiles easily lead to a grab punish as Mega Man owns a great grab combo ability, having a fast grab and many of his attacks connecting reliably after a throw. This allows him to rack up damage easily once he grabs an opponent. He does not have much trouble KOing once his opponents are damaged either, for he has many finishing options ranging from his up tilt to his forward and back aerials to his projectile-based forward smash, which can be used to edgeguard. His other projectiles are terrific, notably his aerials; up aerial can rack up damage very quickly and KO early if an opponent is high up, and his down aerial is one of the safest meteor smashes in the game. To top it all off, Mega Man is a fantastic spacer: his jab is a fast and useful projectile (that can be used while moving and jumping) which interrupts most attacks and weak projectiles at a safe range, and when combined with Metal Blades and Crash Bombs makes Mega Man difficult to approach, while also keeping the opponent away from him. He also has a great grab and throw game, with down throw being a reliable combo starter, up throw being useful for pressuring and juggling, and a  back throw with great power, KOing reliably. Due to his amazing pressuring ability and grab game, characters without a projectile or with low reach can have trouble approaching without being severely punished. Even if he does get knocked around, Mega Man is a semi-heavyweight character, weighing only slightly less than, meaning he is more likely to survive potentially lethal blows that could KO a lighter character, especially with proper DI and his good recovery move, Rush Coil, which does not leave him helpless.

Regardless of his good grab game and punishing options, Mega Man still has some flaws to counter his strengths. Since his projectiles are imperative in initiating combos, he suffers against opponents with reflectors or other methods to render his projectiles ineffective, such as the and 's Pocket. His low speed and ending lag on his non-projectile moves significantly limit his approach. He lacks options in keeping away foes up close, with no actual melee jab or quick standard attacks to knock them away. Because most of his strongest attacks suffer from either noticeable startup or ending lag, Mega Man works best at mid-range where his attacks can connect safely, though at the cost of giving opponents a good amount of time to react to any of his attacks, somewhat making his finishers predictable.

In essence, Mega Man is a very versatile, medium-ranged projectile fighter who has no trouble spacing opponents, though KO attempts can be risky for him as he suffers slightly at close range due to the lag of his attacks. He has to use his effective spacing and grab punish options to rack up damage at medium range while keeping his distance until the opponent is weak enough to risk using one of his slow yet powerful finishing moves. This causes Mega Man to be patient in his gameplan, with him having to wait for one opening to take out stocks effectively. Despite this, his strengths outshine his weaknesses, and he has good representation and great results overall.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Mega Man has been greatly buffed overall in the transition from SSB4 to Ultimate. Though he has lost the main tools he had to accumulate damage, he has seen a general improvement to his moveset to help compensate, and gameplay changes have been benefitial to him in bulk.

Mega Man's projectile game has been generally improved. His Mega Buster shots (neutral attack, forward tilt and neutral aerial), a staple of his neutral game, cover a longer distance, allowing him to apply more pressure from afar, and forward smash has longer range and much less ending lag, enabling it to be used much more safely as a disjointed KO option. Crash Bomber travels faster and has had its knockback reduced to the point where combos led from it are more consistent at a wider array of percentages (though this does come at the cost of its KO power). Leaf Shield activates significantly faster, hits opponents at a quicker rate (thus dealing more damage), and the leaves no longer disappearing on hit.

His close-up game has been improved as well, as his dash attack deals more damage and connects more reliably, and his forward aerial has decreased landing lag with considerably more knockback, allowing it to combo at lower percents and KO reliably at higher percents, while also making it safer on shield. Other buffs include those to Rush Coil, which no longer incurs a high amount of landing lag, noticeably improving Mega Man's recovery mixups, as he can now safely land onstage with the move instead of having to grab the ledge.

Alongside his direct buffs, Mega Man benefits drastically from the universal changes in Ultimate. The ability to run-cancel with any ground attack gives him more opportunities to land his powerful up tilt, and his overall faster mobility alongside the nerfs to air dodges allow him to challenge and pressure opponents more effectively with his projectiles, especially his up aerial to juggle them. The reintroduction of directional air dodges also further improves Mega Man's recovery, as due to Rush Coil not leaving him helpless, he can use a directional air dodge after it for additional distance.

However, Mega Man is not without nerfs. His forward smash has much less power when fully charged, which makes it a less rewarding option and compensates for its improved ease of use. Mega Man can no longer shield, grab, throw items or hang from ledges while using Leaf Shield, making it riskier to use offstage. In terms of universal gameplay changes, footstools can now be teched, making his well-known footstool combos and jab lock and KO setups much less consistent. The general increases in mobility also affect other veterans as much as they affect Mega Man, which means that he must play more carefully with his projectiles to avoid letting the opponent catch up to him.

Altogether, Mega Man's entire arsenal is generally more potent at the cost of his famous footstool combos, though the former generally compensates for the latter. His zoning capabilities remain just as strong if not more so, which is especially important since the game favors more aggressive playstyles, allowing Mega Man to nevertheless dictate the flow of the match. Game updates have brought nerfs to Mega Man, however, which did affect some of his early viability. Regardless, he performs better than in SSB4 and remains a viable character.

Update History
Mega Man has been given buffs and nerfs, but was nerfed overall in game updates. Update 2.0.0 made it so Mega Man could no longer use his special moves when jumping and using his neutral attack/forward tilt. Update 3.0.0. made his neutral attack, forward tilt, neutral aerial, and Metal Blade deal less shield damage. His Leaf Shield was also slightly nerfed, giving it more startup and ending lag, on top of making it so Mega Man cannot throw items while Leaf Shield is active, lowering its damage and combo potential. On the flip side, his up smash was buffed, giving the last hit more base knockback.

In update 8.0.0, his rolling tech was given one more frame on ending lag, making it standardized with the rest of the cast.

Update 13.0.1, the final character adjustment patch, gave Mega Man a small amount of buffs. His dash attack was given one frame less startup and ending lag, down smash was granted more downward range, and Crash Bomber deals more damage.

Overall, Mega Man does fare worse than how he did at the beginning of Ultimate, but Mega Man and his players have nonetheless persevered, and the character continues to gain good results and be seen as high tier character.

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Mega Man's hitboxes, see here.
 * Mega Man can wall jump.

On-screen appearance

 * Warps onto the stage from above, akin to how he does in his older games

Taunts

 * Up Taunt: Poses with his in its cannon form while facing the screen, then pumps said arm to his side. The cannon reverts back to his fist afterward. If his leading arm is in its cannon form, he reverts it when performing this taunt.
 * Side Taunt: Turns his back to the screen and poses with his leading arm in its cannon form.
 * Down Taunt: In a kneeling posture, he punches the ground with his opposite arm and warps out. He then warps back in. The posture he assumes when warping back has him kneel on his opposite leg.

Idle poses

 * Taps his elbow on his palm while his hand transforms into its cannon form.
 * Looks around himself.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Teleports on to the screen and imitates the pose from the Japanese title screen of Mega Man (Rockman), also appearing in the Wily Wars (Mega World) version of the game and on the cover of the Legacy Collection.
 * Up: Fires three shots from his Mega Buster from right to left, and finally poses.
 * Right: Dashes forward, points his Mega Buster up in the air, and finally poses.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Mega Man players (SSBU)


 * - The best Mega Man player of all-time. He is the only Mega Man player who has won majors, winning the supermajor and the major . His most notable win as Mega Man was with  at, being one of the few players who was able to beat him in a non-grand finals set during the fall 2019 season. Although he has since switched to , he maintains Mega Man as a secondary.
 * - Formerly known as yeti, he was one of the best Mega Man players in the United States during the early metagame, ranking 34th on the Spring 2019 PGRU and regularly placing top 32 at majors, including placing 9th at the supermajor . His activity has since decreased, largely due to controversies surrounding his conduct.
 * - Regularly places top 16 at Chūbu events, including winning the regional over  and placing 9th at the superregional . Although less consistent at a major level, he has still seen some success such as placing 9th at the major.
 * - The second-best Mega Man player in North America in the post-online metagame. His breakout tournament was 33rd at where he took a set over . He then solidified himself as one of the best Mega Man players with notable placements with 3rd at the superregional  and has placed well at several majors such as 17th at the supermajors  and.
 * - One of the best Mega Man players in the world since 2021, ranking 75th on the UltRank 2022. He most notably placing 2nd at the superregional . He has also done well at majors, including placing 13th at the major and 17th at the supermajors  and.
 * - One of the best Mega Man players in the world since 2021, ranking 62nd on the UltRank 2022. He has placed highly at several majors, including 3rd at the major, 5th at the major , and 9th at the supermajor . He is known for his high technical skill with the character.
 * - One of the best Mega Man players in North America in the early metagame, using the character alongside and ranking 40th on the Fall 2019 PGRU with both characters. He used Mega Man to place 9th at the supermajor  and 13th at the supermajor . Nowadays, he's been only seen competing in-region on rare occasions.
 * - The best Mega Man player in Europe, placing highly at several European events including 5th at the major and 13th at the supermajor . He has been ranked on every European Power Ranking, with his highest being 25th on the European Power Rankings 2023.01.

Tier placement and history
Early perception on Mega Man were very positive due to the buffs he received from the transition and Ultimate's universal changes, allowing him to remain as a strong zoner character that is most effective at mid-range. Mega Man also saw strong results from several veteran Mega Man players such as, , and ; kameme especially was a top 20 player and won a major and supermajor while using the character. This has led many to believe Mega Man was a solid high-tier, with some such as believing the character could potentially be a top-tier.

However, following the online metagame, Mega Man's representation saw a noticeable decline. Most notably, Kameme's results coming into 2021 were worse than what he had in the early metagame, and he began playing other characters, ultimately settling on, while relegating Mega Man to a secondary. Although new Mega Man players such as, , and began making waves with the character during this time, none had the consistently high placements that Kameme saw in the early metagame. As such, opinions on the character have since mellowed out: he is ranked 38th on the current tier list at the very end of the high-tier.

: Variable Weapons System: Online!
Mega Man's opponents are stylized similar to the many boss fights that are in the Mega Man series, (e.g. Dr. Mario being Dr. Wily). Mega Man also fights Galleom as the penultimate boss. The final battle is against, and then , who appears upon Dr. Mario's defeat. Each Rounds play a song from the Mega Man series (regardless of what universe the stage originates from).

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Mega Man has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Mega Man was among the fighters that were summoned to fight against the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Mega Man was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed its beams of light. He was vaporized offscreen and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the other fighters, excluding. A puppet fighter cloned from him is later seen, alongside ones cloned from, , , , and other fighters.

Mega Man can be found near the entrance of the Base sub-area, guarded by the spirit of.

Spirit
Mega Man's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Mega Man has been unlocked. Unlocking Mega Man in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.

Trivia

 * Due to an error, Mega Man's character showcase video was originally not accessible on his fighter page on the Ultimate website. The error has since been fixed.
 * Mega Man is the only third-party veteran with a new arrangement in their character showcase video, using a new remix of Wood Man's stage music., , and use arrangements from previous games while , , and  use music ported from their home games.
 * Mega Man's pose in his official art is notably similar to his pose on the North American and European box art for Mega Man 7, albeit horizontally mirrored.
 * Mega Man also poses similarly during his Final Smash.
 * His stance when perfect shielding is even more identical to the original poses from Mega Man 7.
 * Mega Man is one of few fighters in Ultimate who, excluding throws, floor attacks, and his edge attack, has canonical names for all of his attacks, unlike most fighters who only have a select few named attacks. The other characters who share this distinction are and.
 * Mega Man's Classic Mode is one of three that feature the bonus stage before Round 6, the other ones being 's and 's.
 * His Classic Mode is also one of only four to feature a fight against a boss (in this case, Galleom) outside of the boss round, the other three being, and , and one of the few whose boss round does not feature a designated boss, instead fighting characters who are otherwise playable (in this case,  and ).
 * Mega Man being unlocked in Pikachu's unlock column is a reference to the Yellow Devils event in for Wii U, as he fights Pikachu, Pac-Man, and the Yellow Devil as opponents.
 * Mega Man can also be unlocked by clearing Classic Mode as either Shulk or R.O.B., referencing the Mechanical Menace event in for Wii U, as all three playable characters occupy said event where Shulk fights both Mega Man and R.O.B. as metal giants along with Gaur Plain's stage boss Metal Face.
 * Not to mention, R.O.B. and Mega Man are both robots who share the same unique boss in Classic Mode (Galleom) and are playable characters in for Wii U's Co-Op event Robots vs. Dragons.
 * While Mega Man's opponents before the boss and final round in Classic Mode predominately reference Robot Masters from Mega Man 2, Ice Man via Ice Climbers can be considered an exception, as said Robot Master originates from the original Mega Man.
 * Mega Man is one of the five veterans from Smash 4 to have their Boxing Ring alias changed in Ultimate, the others being, , , and . In this case, his American and Japanese alias were swapped between both regions.
 * Prior to DLC, Mega Man was the only third-party veteran to appear in a CGI trailer. If the World of Light trailer is counted, however,, Snake and Bayonetta also share this distinction.
 * If Mega Man picks up an Assist Trophy whilst walking, he can continue walking with it until he stops. He,, are the only characters who can walk with an Assist Trophy. Mega Man can also jump and continue walking with an Assist Trophy if he lands during a neutral aerial.
 * When Mega Man jumps, his ascension sound effect comes from Mega Man 7. This was also the case in Smash 4.

Mega Man (SSBU)