The story actually starts with a scientist. Dr. Thomas Xavier Light was a
brilliant scientist, specializing in computers and robotics in particular.
He was the first in his land to construct a life-like, humanoid robot. The
final product of his many years of work was called Protoman (probably a mix
between "prototype" and "human"). But this robot turned out to be so
life-like that Dr. Light (apparently) felt the name Protoman wasn't good
enough and thus changed it to Break Man.
Break Man was a lab assistant. He helped Dr. Light with the scientist's
tasks. He was equiped with two welding cannons--one in each arm--and often
carried with him his welding shield. (He happened to have it with him the
day of the accident, which is why it went with him.) At any rate, one day
something went awry and a terrible explosion of light and energy rocked the
lab. Break Man shielded his creator from the blast and protected him. When
Dr. Light could see again, Break Man was gone.
Dr. Light searched but could not locate to where his robot had been
teleported off. Finally, the scientist constructed another one. This one he
called Rock Man.
Rock Man (or just Rock for short) was identical to Break Man in almost
every way except he was particularly designed to be a tool-user. He could
use any tool placed into his hands, and with extreme effeciency. This
allowed him to repair almost anything using any tools in existance--and
even those that were not yet created. A short while later Dr. Light created
a humanoid housekeeping robot named Roll, and for a while things were
peaceful.
Working with Dr. Light for several years was another scientist named Dr.
Wily. After Dr. Light's first three successes, the two began excitedly
building six more humanoid robots that could be used to supervise other
minor robots and/or to handle jobs too dangerous for humans. The two
scientists had minor arguments from time to time but generally got along.
Until, of course, Dr. Wily had his own accident and was forever (at least,
so far) changed.
The next day Dr. Light was surprised to find that the six robots had
disappeared and were using the worker robots which they were supposed to
supervise to take over the entire land. Rock shocked the good-natured
scientist even more when he told his creator that Dr. Wily had reprogrammed
the six Robot Masters and had tried to take Rock Man as well. But luckily
Rock had been able to resist the reprogramming long enough to save him.
Stunned that his former companion would do something of this scale, Dr.
Light was lost for ideas for a moment. That's when Rock Man suggested he
try to free the land from the grips of the Robot Masters. Dr. Light frowned
at the idea for a second--after all, Rock was only a small tool-user!--but
soon he agreed to the idea. The scientist remodified his robot a little,
changed his tool-using capabilities to extend to all existing and
imaginable weapons, renamed him Mega Man--and sent him after Dr. Wily.
This is the story of the game Mega Man (1).
Mega Man's quest proved successful and he stopped Dr. Wily's short crusade.
However, somehow the scientist was able to create eight more Robot Masters,
these with only the intent to take over everything. (Rumor has it Wily was
pardoned from jail.) When Dr. Light found out, he knew Mega Man would have
to go back to battle again, but there were eight Robot Masters this time,
and they were all designed to fight! Mega Man would need an edge. Building
another robot would take much too much time, but luckily Dr. Light had
recently completed his experimental Transometer machine. He attempted to
clone Mega Man so that there would be two robots to do battle instead of
one.
Of course something went wrong.
Instead of creating a clone, the machine ended up altering Mega Man by
turning him into a living machine. Suddenly the robot could experience many
of the emotions that humans take for granted. He could also feel pain, and
could think like any other human being. His schematic was also forever
changed; his body, though still made of metal, was now operating in a way
that was seemingly impossible--it was acting like a human's body. Even Dr.
Light never fully understood it all.
However, the fact remained, and Mega Man insisted on taking on Wily even
though he now had several things (like fear!) trying to hold him back. It
was definitely an experience for him, but Mega Man was able to stop Dr.
Wily despite all of the things that were new and strange to him.
The tale of Dr. Wily's revenge and Mega Man's transformation is documented
in Mega Man 2 as well as in the published book by the same name.
In the days that passed Dr. Light tried to make his living creation more
comfortable. He constructed a house for Mega Man and a robot dog he named
Rush. Things were looking up. Even Dr. Wily seemed to have changed from his
evil ways, and always one to forgive, Dr. Light once again began working
with Dr. Wily just like the old days. Together the two began work
constructing a giant peace-keeping robot named Gamma. It would
(supposively) prevent the events of the past from ever happening again.
However, some of the mining Robot Masters went berserk and began driving
out all humans. Since Dr. Light and Dr. Wily needed special crystals from
those mines to complete Gamma, Mega Man was sent to retrieve them. As it
turned out, Dr. Wily was (of course) behind it all, and as soon as he had
all of the crystals he stole Gamma and tried to use it to conquer the land.
Something else entered the picture right then, throwing a curveball on the
entire plot. Break Man!
Break Man had been searching for his creator all this time and finally
managed to make it back to the proper dimension. However, because he was
gone for so long, he was thus behind on events; he didn't know who Mega Man
was and he didn't realize that Dr. Wily was evil! Both of these almost
caused him to join Wily's side, but then he discovered the truth and turned
against the scientist--something he wouldn't have been able to do except
for one small detail--he happened to have accidently turned himself into a
living machine by pushing himself right though a force field! The new
freedom that being alive gave him allowed him to make his own decisions
even though he didn't even realize at the time that this is what he was
doing.
Such events are told in Mega Man 3 as well as in the book based off the
game which I have completed. In the ending to both, when Mega Man defeats
Gamma, parts of Dr. Wily's fortress start to crumble and both the blue
bomber and the evil scientist are buried under the ceiling. Break Man
enters in time to save Mega Man, but he doesn't see Dr. Wily and figures
the scientist has escaped. It isn't until it is too late that they all
realize that the scientist had been crushed.
Now that Dr. Wily was dead, an entire year was able to pass in peace. Then
a message arrived in Dr. Light's lab--another scientist was angry at Mega
Man and his creator and wanted to do away with the blue bomber forever.
This new scientist, Dr. Cossack, had perfect timing (not) because Mega Man
had only days earlier gotten the wish he'd been wishing for a long time--he
was now fully human.
Through a lot of arguing, Mega Man managed to convince his creator to turn
him back into a robot so he could go after Dr. Cossack. Dr. Light did so
reluctantly, and though he was able to preserve Mega Man's living status,
he still hates himself for agreeing. He would have sent Break Man, but the
red-clad robot had left only days earlier to find the Warp of Life that had
changed Mega Man into a human. With no other option, Dr. Light agreed.