Time Travel
Our first glimpse of the future comes courtesy of Quint. That enigmatic robot is actually Mega Man himself [2]!
Mega Man and Mega Man?
For those unfamiliar with the story of “World 2”, Wily once stole an experimental time machine from a time-space research lab and used it to spy on Mega Man’s future *1.
He arrived in a peaceful world, free of conflict, in which an older Wily had reformed and Rock had reverted back into a household robot [3]. By conspiring with his future self, Wily kidnapped Rock and turned him into Quint before returning to the present.
So what does this mean for Mega Man’s future? Will Rock inevitably become Quint? What happened afterward?
“Challenger from the Future” gives us a little more insight [4]. In that game, we’re introduced to yet another time travelling foe. While many confuse him for Quint, “Mega Man Shadow” is actually another robot made in Mega Man’s image.
Mega Man Shadow and the Dimensions.
When he arrived in the past and attacked Symphony City, Shadow told the following: the future Wily has not given up on his ambition of world conquest.
A lie, however. In his dying breath Shadow admits that Wily truthfully did not continue his evil ways. Though, he does reveal a bleak future in which Shadow himself became mad with power, desired to destroy the world, and faced ever stronger foes until no-one remained to stop him.
In the end, Bass and Rock both learn valuable lessons from Shadow’s tale. They vow not to go down this same path. Their determination gives us hope that perhaps, and only perhaps, Rock will not become Quint and a new future may be written.
Mega Man
The fate of our hero is officially unknown. Though it seems destined for Rock to become Quint and meet a poetic demise in battle against himself, this future represents only a possibility. As changes from the past ripple onward into the future, so too might the present stray from this set path *2.
Mega Man and Quint in a heated battle for the future.
Using our imagination, limitless scenarios can serve to explain Mega Man’s absence from the X-series. One in particular, however, has acquired much infamy.
As many fans have asked: did Zero kill Mega Man? And if he did, who else?
Keiji Inafune’s personal stance is that Zero did NOT in fact kill anyone. It’s not in his profile [5]. Furthermore, the man has expressed a great distaste for excessive violence in the classic series [6]. Also let us not underestimate Mega Man in a theoretical battle against Zero. Though certainly one of the strongest robots ever, Zero can still suffer defeat against an enemy with strength of heart and many allies. Remember, just as Wily created Zero, Light created X. Though Mega Man and X are separate entities [7], X himself is also a more advanced version of Mega Man (equipped with the Mega Buster Mk. 17). Dr. Light may very well put X’s weapon and armour technology to good use if Rock requires such an upgrade.
Magnum Opus
Light and Wily – eternal rivals – conversing their dying wishes to their last creations.
Dr. Light is remembered in history as “the father of robotics” [8], Dr. Wily as “the legendary mad scientist” [9].
Despite their differences, Wily and Light lived the last days of their lives in clear parallel. They both completed their magnum opus in secret before passing on. Dr. Light left a program with his personality to play back messages for X (which, for all intents and purposes, is the good doctor in person), whereas Dr. Wily was brought back by the virus [10] (perchance as Serges and/or Isoc, but most certainly as the ‘Old Man’ from X5). A hundred years into the future, the two continue to deliver aid in their own unique ways.
X and Zero, parallels in every way.
Humans and robots
The groundwork laid by Dr. Light led to further technological developments over the course of a century. Though certain robot designs have withstood the test of time with minor changes (Mettaurs [11] and Battons [12]) others were quickly replaced, like how state-of-the-art phones become obsolete in less than a decade [13].
Still, a century later, little progress has been made in the field of humanoid robots until Cain’s creation of the Reploids. In “Maverick Hunter X”, Dr. Light gives us a plausible explanation why: not only does he have no one to carry on his work, humanity is not yet ready to accept a robot as humanlike as X. They fear the dangers he represents.
This should come as no surprise: not only did the world suffer great fear through Dr. Wily’s repeated attempts of world domination [14], invincible combats robots have also been used as weapons of war [15].
X doing battle with the invincible combat robots of bygone days.
While Light never doubted X’s reliability for a minute, it took thirty years of ethical testing to persuade others of that fact.
Mega Man X
As early as The Power Battle, Dr. Light mentioned how robots don’t just need to increase their physical strength; they need to improve their cognitive programs. He spoke about giving robots the ability “to worry”. Like humans, they need to determine what is right and wrong by themselves [16] *4.
What robots truly need!
The first robot granted this experimental ability is Mega Man X, whose very name (the variable “X”) represents “Limitless Potential.”
One little known fact is that the original Japanese manual contains an extended version of X1’s “Warning” message:
WARNING
In it, Dr. Light ascribes X’s humanlike A.I. to “the act of worrying”. If extended to matters that by nature must not be questioned (e.g. if robot were to harm a human deliberately) the result would be disastrous. Humankind would tremble with fear, the like of which was unknown even in the days of the Dr. Wily incidents [14].
Though X “worries” most of all (as said in “Maverick Hunter X” *5), the Reploids have in fact inherited his ability. Based on X’s data and equipped with a “suffering circuit”, as to be biased toward neither side, they are fated to continuously worry about which side in society they should stand upon [17]. Older robots, despite having a conscience, personality and emotions [18], do not possess the same ability to disobey their human masters [19].
While Dr. Light always kept a positive outlook on the future – seeing X as the world’s hope and dreaming of human-robot coexistence – he was also a cautious man. Not only did he seal X away for 30 years ethical testing and limited X’s strength whenever possible, he also anticipated X would do battle against robots infected by computer viruses. To that end, he equipped X with the perfect virus countermeasure [20]. The good doctor may have dabbled in very dangerous research, he understood the risks well and took every precaution to prevent the worst possible outcome.
Zero
As a robot possessing impressive A.I. and an infinite Bassnium power source [19], Bass has gone against his own creator several times. His accidental creation and subsequent defiance led to Dr. Wily developing an energy stronger than Bassnium (the Maverick Virus, presumably) and a robot more powerful than Bass or Mega Man.
ZERO
Chronologically, Zero first appeared in The Power Fighters when Wily showed his design to Bass (X2 form, X3 buster, no Z-saber). However, it would be some time before Wily completed this project. It would also appear that Wily ran into some difficulties. *4
Zero (X1 design) contained a flaw in his cognitive program that made him violent and unwilling to obey instructions (like Bass). For this very reason, Dr. Wily himself sealed Zero in a capsule [21] *6.
In 21XX, an unknown computer virus (a subspecies of Roboenza) emerged from the capsule Zero slumbered in and began driving robots mad locally [22] *7. Later Zero awoke from his capsule and wiped out Garma’s unit of Maverick Hunters before doing battle with Sigma. During this confrontation, the virus infected both of them at the same time (bypassing Zero’s imperfect virus countermeasure / antibodies through a breach in his armour). This event led to Zero’s personality changing completely. Reborn as a good Reploid, he joined the Maverick Hunters [17] [23] *8.
Since the above may seem contradictory. It’s important to note that the Maverick Virus serves a double purpose. First, when negated by his anti-virus systems, it empowers Zero to near invincibility. Second, through direct application (X2) or overexposure (X5), the virus awakens Zero’s true self. Thereby the Maverick Hunter is not the end product of virus infection, but rather an intermediate state born from attempted correction of the Irregular Zero. Awakened Zero (not Irregular Zero) is the strongest robot Wily envisioned, subservient to his cause.
Awakened Zero, powerful, calm, collected, and under Wily’s control.
Additional Notes
Spoiler: show
References
Spoiler: show
