Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Profiles: Mega Man

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the latest entry in Nintendo's ongoing premier platform fighter series. It's also slated to be the company's biggest release of the holiday season. After almost 20 years of battle between top characters of some of gaming's biggest franchises, Ultimate will bring together every single fighter from every Smash Bros. game to date (along with a few more) in one single game.

With so many characters to choose from, Shacknews is taking a look at each and every one of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters individually, leading up to the game's big release on December 7. Because many aspects of the game are subject to change, including character damage and special move properties, these profiles should not be considered final and can be updated at any time. Any guide that has been updated will be clearly marked.

Here's what we have up so far:
#01 - Mario
#02 - Donkey Kong
#06 - Kirby (Updated 9/8/18)
#15 - Ice Climbers
#21 - Marth
#23 - Ganondorf
#31 - Snake
#33, #34, #35 - Pokemon Trainer
#38 - Sonic (Updated 9/3/18)
#64 - Inkling
#65 - Ridley

Last week, we looked at the first big surprise of this new Smash Bros. game, but today, we look at one of the biggest surprises of the last Smash Bros. game. He's someone you might recognize, especially in the wake of his latest game releasing in the last week.

Who is Mega Man?

Oh, yes, let's hit the music!

Mega Man (a.k.a. Rock) is the super fighting robot of the future, defending the world in the year 20XX (which is rapidly approaching, come to think of it) from Dr. Wily and his army of killer Robot Masters. He's armed with his Mega Buster side cannon, along with the ability to absorb the powers of any fallen bosses.

Rock has been fighting evil bots, jumping across disappearing blocks, and falling for the same Dr. Wily begging for mercy routine for the past 30 years. He returned this year in Mega Man 11 after a lengthy hiatus, but is also coming back to the Super Smash Bros. series, where he uses his classic NES move set to defeat his opposition and claim robotic glory.

Mega Man's Moves and Fighter Overview

Mega Man is no stranger to fighting games, having taken part in games like Marvel vs. Capcom. However, with Super Smash Bros. acting as a celebration of classic games, Nintendo ran with a purposeful NES aesthetic. His character model looks like it was modeled after the 8-bit sprite, while his jumping patterns, attacks, and mannerisms are likewise based off the old-school version of the Blue Bomber. He was a popular member of the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS roster, thanks to his variety of attacks, many of which are taken from classic Robot Masters.

Here are Mega Man's special moves (names are tentative):

• Metal Blade (Neutral B): Taken from Metal Man, Mega Man pulls out a saw blade and uses it as a projectile. The blade can be picked up, just like any item. Of course, that means opponents can pick up a discarded Metal Blade and use it for themselves.
• Rush Coil (Up B): Rush causes no damage, but just like in any Mega Man after Mega Man 3, he'll give Rock a vertical boost. It's good for moderate recovery, especially on the second bounce.
• Crash Bomber (Side B): Taken from Crash Man, this sticky bomb will latch onto any surface or fighter it makes contact with. It doesn't do a lot of damage, but it can throw fighters for a bit of a loop if it goes off at the wrong time.
• Leaf Shield (Down B): This weapon from Wood Man proved its worth in Marvel vs. Capcom, so Mega Man is using it here, too. This surrounds Mega Man with circling leaves, which can block incoming projectiles. It can also be tossed towards opponents for slightly more damage.
• Mega Legends (Final Smash): Mega Man equips the Black Hole Bomb, taken from Galaxy Man. If it connects, they'll stay in place for a massive blast from Mega Man, Mega Man X, MegaMan.EXE, Mega Man Volnutt, and Geo Stelar. Oh, and for Ultimate, Proto Man and Bass are joining the party.

Mega Man hasn't changed too much from Smash 4. His specials are largely the same, though Metal Blade will deal additional damage and knockback. Leaf Shield will also start up faster. Mega Man's Smash attacks also work slightly faster, giving the blue bot a bit of an edge.

The Smash Ultimate mechanical changes, as a whole, are a double-edged sword for Rock. With Ultimate embracing the Melee principle of using ground attacks from dashes, Mega Man's combo game is upped noticeably. However, now that Ultimate players can tech out of footstool jumps, good players will be able to play around some of Mega Man's best Smash 4 combos.

Esports Observations

On the esports side, there is no better Mega Man player in the United States than Andrew "ScAtt" Huntley. He didn't get a chance to try out the game until CEO 2018, but he did walk away with a few observations.

Things i noticed for megaman in smashU:
- mb still randomly despawns when thrown
- cannot grab the ledge with leaf shield
- f-air and b-air do not autocancel from short hop but do have low ending lag

— MVG ScAtt (@ScAtt227) June 29, 2018

The folks at Most Valuable Gaming also took some time to capture ScAtt's Mega Man play in action.

James "VoiD" Makekau-Tyson is more recognized for his Sheik play, but he did take some time to break down some of what players can expect from Mega Man. In particular, he goes over a few differences from Smash 4.

Once again, Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby comes in with an amazingly detailed analysis, off of his detailed Google Doc that he put together. One of the biggest takeaways from Dabuz's breakdown is that Mega Man's forward-air can now be used as a potential finisher, which will be godsend to those trying to keep opponents from returning to the stage.

Lastly, let's look at something a little bit different. While this can't be taken as overtly concrete info, given that the comparisons are based off a character video, Israel "FelixFaction" Felix went to some painstaking measures to try and recreate each scene from the Mega Man character trailer in Smash 4, placing the two side-by-side and conducting a complete frame analysis.

While anything can change from trailer to gameplay, the effort in this comparison is definitely admirable.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is set to arrive in December on Nintendo Switch. Shacknews will continue looking into each of the game's characters from now through the big day and beyond, so be sure to come back for more breakdowns over the coming weeks. The guides won't stop there, either; for more information concerning Nintendo's latest Switch brawler, be sure to head over to Shacknews' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate walkthrough and guide.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?