Mega Man Rejected Robots!! Nintendo Power Designs (and Others) That Failed to Make the Final Cut

Capcom held several contests for the Rockman series. The winning entries became boss characters. But, what happened to all those who lost? (Chapter Markers and more below…)

Episode information
GTV 165 “The Contest" Season 9 Episode 5
Original Airdate: March 2, 2024
Produced February 26-29, 2024
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, all paid for with Gainful Employment™ while riding the train to work and home, back and forth, day after day, and lunch breaks too!

0:00 GTV ID: Gaijillionaire Shakes the World Where Available
0:05 So Many Bosses
0:26 What Makes Mega Man So Great
1:10 Don't Believe the Status Quo! Rockman 1 was Popular!
2:13 A Brilliant Idea and a Great Two'fer
4:21 Rock Man 3 Losers
5:46 Rockman 4 Losers
7:31 Rockman 6 Losers
10:26 It Doesn't Matter If You Win or Lose...


Why not check out all the Mega Man / Rockman videos from GTV?

A Classic Rockman Collection    • A Classic Rockman Collection: Mega Man Stu...  
MegaMan 30th Anniversary    • The Story of Mega Man! Rock-ing and Blue B...  
Elec-Man VS. Journey    • The Mega Man 1 Elec Man Stage Music Coinci...  
Mega Man Box Art    • The History of Mega Man Box Art (Excluding...  
Mega Man Lightbulbs    • Asking for "Mega Man" in Europe Might Get ...  
Mega Man X 30th Anniversary    • Mega Man X: A Spin-Off That Improves on th...  
The Story of Mega Man 9    • Mega Man 9: "How Capcom Gave the Blue Bomb...  
Mega Man Rejected Robots    • Mega Man Rejected Robots!! Nintendo Power ...  

Take some time to relive these classic Mega Man games, in manga form!

Mega Man Manga    • Mega Man: A Gaming Manga Adaptation  
Mega Man 2 Dr. Wily’s Revenge Manga (Part One)    • Mega Man 2: Dr. Wily's Revenge (Part One) ...  
Mega Man 2 Dr. Wily's Revenge Manga (Part Two)    • Mega Man 2: Dr. Wily's Revenge (Part Two) ...  
Mega Man 3 Protoman’s Rebirth (Part One)    • Mega Man 3: Protoman's Rebirth! (Part One)...  
Mega Man 3 Protoman’s Rebirth (Part Two)    • Mega Man 3: Protoman's Rebirth! (Part Two)...  
Mega Man 4 Dr. Cossack’s Ambition (Part One)    • Mega Man 4: Dr. Cossack's Ambition! (Part ...  
Mega Man 4 Dr. Cossack’s Ambition (Part Two)    • Mega Man 4: Dr. Cossack's Ambition! (Part ...  
Mega Man 5: Protoman’s Trap: (Part One)    • Mega Man 5: Proto Man's Trap (Part One) A ...  
Mega Man 5: Protoman’s Trap: (Part Two)    • Mega Man 5: Proto Man's Trap (Part Two) A ...  

All scans come from the Capcom World News Letter, Rockman Club and Nintendo Power!

The best thing about Mega Man were all the cool Robot Master Bosses! Did you know, almost all of them were made by kids?! Each game only had 8 that made the final cut, but what about the thousands that fell short? Get Equipped with some knowledge! Time for look at some of the robots that never made it past Dr. Wily’s Drawing Board!

The brilliance of Mega Man lies in the selectable stage options present in every game. There is no “Stage One.” You are free to start and in any order you like. There is no increase in difficulty either, at least not until you clear all 8 stages and move on to Dr. Wily. (Or Sigma in Mega Man X!)
Each stage boss, known as the Robot Master has a weakness: the special weapon of another boss, while a few are vulnerable to the Mega Buster. Knowing the weakness helps provides an easy path to victory. It is the perfect recipe that has kept Mega Man going all this time. What is surprising to learn is that nearly all of the Robot Masters were made by fans! .

According to Gaming Lore™, it all goes back to the very first game.

In Rockman 1, as it was known in Japan, there were only 6 Robot Masters, all developed by Capcom in house. That’s a fact, just play the game. Beyond that, the story becomes less verifiable. It has been suggested that this first game was not very popular, and the head office at Capcom only gave the Green Light for a sequel, on the condition that the other games already in progress came first.This forced the development team to work on Rockman 2 on the side, overnights and on weekends. I don’t fully believe the story. Rockman was a very popular game in its day, selling over 800,000 copies in Japan alone! The game was so popular that the original manufacturing order sold out! Forcing Capcom to quickly order a second run of cartridges, which was heavily advertised with the release date of March 4th, 1988! I *can* imagine Capcom telling the Rockman 2 team to get the game done along with all the other work because… have you ever worked in Japan? If so, you know how that goes.

But in that time crunch, a brilliant idea was born. Create a contest and farm out some of the work all at once. The audience would deliver thousands of designs. The staff could have a large pool of ideas to draw from, and maybe save a little time as well.

All of it promoted the next game in the series in a unique way - first, announcing a new game before its made, then selling that game, with the most input from gamers ever seen! And for those who entered, a chance to see their designs and names on the screen.