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Proto Man (alternatively spelled "Protoman") is a video game character from the Mega Man series by Capcom. In Japan, he is known as Blues, after the (eponymous musical style). He also temporarily upgraded into "Break Man" in Mega Man 3, possibly being an enhancement of Dr. Wily's, and was only weak to the Mega Buster; all Special Weapons bounced off of him. Break has a double meaning: literally, breaking is the most obvious, but it also refers to breakdancing.
History
Video games
Proto Man is the early prototype of Mega Man that made his first appearance in Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990). He has a grey and red uniform and a yellow scarf. He wears a red helmet with a silvery decoration and a dark visor which hides his eyes. He always appears after his distinctive whistle. His distinctive Proto Shield resembles the shield carried by the MS-14 Gelgoog seen in Mobile Suit Gundam.
Beyond their armor and personality, Proto Man and Mega Man are supposedly completely identical, although their exact relationship remains uncertain, since Proto Man has never actually removed his helmet in the games. However, in 5th edition of Rockman Complete Works, there's an official picture in the end of game that features him with his helmet open, and it seems that he has the same hair as his brother.
At the end of The Power Fighters, it is revealed by Dr. Light that Proto Man's body has a fatal defect in his energy system, and as a result is in great pain and has a more limited lifespan. This is often presumed to be because in an optional part of Mega Man 6 for the NES,Proto Man gives Mega Man his Energy Balancer, however, in Powered Up, Proto Man reveals in a dialog with the Yellow Devil that his reactor is already unstable. In the various Mega Man manga, Proto Man has appeared in casual clothing, usually standing atop a building wearing a trenchcoat, sunglasses, slacks and black shoes. His scarf is tucked into the trenchcoat, but still noticeable.
Proto Man is an example of the "mysterious anime character" archetype, and it is possibly because of this air of mystery that fans adore the character. Capcom has never revealed the precise past of Proto Man, or why the character did not appear until the third game, although he can be unlocked as a playable character in Powered Up, the PSP remake of the first Mega Man game.
Protoman's fate is unknown in the future as he is not seen or even mentioned in the Mega Man X universe.
During interviews, Keiji Inafune, Mega Man's creator, has stated that Mega Man was originally going to be a red character. However, the limitations of the NES color palette inspired him to make the game's hero blue instead (for there were more options). Proto Man, therefore, is supposedly the original character who was meant to be the hero of the games (or he is at least based upon that idea). Considering, it makes sense that he is referred to as a model which was built before Mega Man.
Proto Man's name is often spelled as "Protoman" by Mega Man fans, even though Capcom's official stance is that all Mega Man names (except for those names in Battle Network and Legends) are to be written with a space. This rule has the exception of Japanese names, as the Japanese language does not have or use spaces. Despite these clear-cut guidelines, even Capcom tends to write its character names incorrectly. For example, in Mega Man & Bass, Proto Man and all of the Robot Masters have their names spelled with a space, while Mega Man's name has no space. The popular way of writing the name as "Protoman" originates from the earlier Mega Man titles where the translation was sometimes a little dodgy (and screens were often too cramped to include "between" spaces). In the Battle Network and Legends series, it is convention that the name is spelled using CamelCase, and thus only in Battle Network and Legends, the spelling correct is without a space. Mega Man Anniversary Collection's Navi Mode translation also used CamelCase with the exception of Mega Man in an attempt to merge the non-space and spaced names, but it was only used there in the classic series. The confusion of the slightly different spelled names is seemingly slowly getting retconned by a possible Mega Man Powered Up full-length remake series, where the names are not spaced except for Mega Man.
TV
Proto Man's first game appearance, Mega Man 3, was adapted for animation in the The Game Master episode "A Tale of Two Dogs". However, Proto Man did not appear in the episode.
In the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon, Proto Man, having been built by Dr. Wily, is villainous and serves as Dr. Wily's main henchman who follows and assists the evil scientist. This is incorrect, which leads many Mega Man fans to believe that Ruby-Spears was confused by Mega Man 5, where Proto Man appeared to be evil, but was being framed by a Robot Master called Dark Man who took his appearance. A common theory about this is that the creators of the cartoon believed Mega Man needed a rival that matched him in strength. This role is normally portrayed by Bass in the games but the cartoon predates Mega Man 7, in which Bass is first introduced leaving Proto Man the only remaining candidate. Although Proto Man's looks are faithful to the original, he acts punkish and sarcastic. Most of the time, he battles Mega Man personally. Both he and Mega Man are aware that they are "brothers," even though in the cartoon, Proto Man was fully rebuilt by Wily from a prototype. Still, Proto Man proved that he had some good in him, but the animated show was stopped before more depth was acquired. In one episode, Proto Man was found to have been the original robot created by both Dr. Wily and Dr. Light before Wily began to plan for world conquest, so Proto Man may have been the first robot of his kind. Proto Man's voice was done by Scott McNeil.
Mega Man Battle Network
Personality
Proto Man's entire attitude revolves around being a free spirit. Although he is strong, on equal standing with Mega Man, he refuses to let an idealistic perspective force him to fight for justice constantly. Instead, he fights when Mega Man needs him to. His commitment to helping his brother doesn't seem to be formed out of a concrete forcefulness of service, but rather out of a carefree personality that also knows somewhere Mega Man is doing the right thing.
Trivia
- The series creator of Mega Man originally wanted Mega Man to be red, but due to the color limitations of the NES, he was convinced by friends to make use of the eight shades of the blue the nes console could display, as opposed to the five shades of red. Proto Man's character design was created to capitalize on his unused ideas for the main character of the series. Likewise, X from the Mega Man X games suffered the same fate, causing Mega Man's creator to make two main characters, the more popular and established Mega Man X (blue) and Zero (red). Further support for this argument can be found in the Mega Man Zero series where Zero has effectively replaced Mega Man as the main character of the classic Mega Man style of play, where as Mega Man eventually branched off into the Battle Network games, which are Action-RPGs instead of action sidescrolling.
- Keiji Inafune stated in a TechTV interview that all his Mega Man/Rockman characters were based on childhood anime/manga characters, Protoman/Blues was based on the designs of Cyborg 009(Red suited robot with yellow scarf) and the personality of Racer X from Speed Racer (Mysterious masked brother of the main character that watches over him from the shadows).
- In the MegaMan Battle Network games, ProtoMan and Bass are the only enemies that Lan and MegaMan can fight in all 6 games, although ProtoMan can only be fought in the 'Team ProtoMan' version of Battle Network 5, and the 'Blue Moon' version of Battle Network 4. In MegaMan Battle Network 6: Falzar and Gregar, ProtoMan can be fought after clearing the game once.
- In MegaMan NT Warrior (the manga), ProtoMan was given a special power from Serenade the Lord of the Undernet and therefore, was able to Style Change into ProtoMan Muramasa Style. When players control ProtoMan in MegaMan Battle Network 5, he cannot utilize Style Change or Soul Unison with other Navis.
- Sometimes, Proto Man is called "Break Man." This is from the Mega Man 3 game where Proto Man, either confused or wanting to test Mega Man, fights Mega Man in some stages. After Mega Man has defeated all the Robot Masters and Doc Robots, Proto Man bursts in for a final fight, wearing a Sniper Joe-esque mask and displayed as "Break Man". Fans have long speculated on whether this was a different robot, a clone of Proto Man created by Dr. Wily, or if it was Proto Man disguised with a pseudonym.
The truth was revealed when looking at ROM sprite information in a sprite viewing program. There were several unused sprites including some of Proto Man "transforming" into Break Man. Additionally, "Break Man" cannot be harmed by weapons obtained from Robot Masters. Therefore, it can be surmised that this "transformation" is indicative of a powerup which makes Proto Man impervious to Robot Master weapons. *
"Proto Man"