In Capcom’s Mega Man franchise, the idea of having a duplicate of the player character fight the player has been around from the beginning. From the first game in the franchise to other antagonists that arrived later to the connotations of how multiplayer works in later games, there are many different choices to point out a double in the franchise.
Here I will outline those in the earlier 2D platformers, and the rest of the franchise will come later.
- Copy Robot — Mega Man (NES)
This was the first game in the series, and Capcom already started using your own acquired powers against you. This fight is very simple, and it becomes very trivial if abusing the useless Super Arm to make Copy Robot unable to attack you, but it was a very good first step. There isn’t much to talk about here.
- Holo- Mega Men — Mega Man 3 (NES)
This boss was just two games later, after skipping over Mega Man 2. It was quite the upgrade; only one foe was actually damageable while all three could hit you. His position at the start was consistent and he had no invulnerability frames, so taking care of this fight with the help of a glitch from Rush Coil makes this a piece of cake.
- Bass — Mega Man 7 (SNES)
This entry is quite a few years later, in the 1990s and the NES’s sequel, the Super NES, is out. Capcom releases only one Classic style Megaman game on the console, and it has a bit of a Megaman double–that being Wily’s attempt at making a direct counter to Mega Man. Essentially his Mega Man, if you want to be simple. Bass seems to start out as a potential ally, fighting you at the beginning seemingly not know who you are. After making peace, the two split up to deal with Wily’s first and only escape from prison. Over the course of the game, Bass only shows up before the Castle stages once, to steal upgrades for Mega Man. The castle stages show Bass fusing with his robotic dog Treble while you have help from Rush’s super adaptor. These show off the final part of doubling in the classic series thus far–Mega Man and Bass in similar armors, duking it out with similar attacks at the end of Wily Castle 7 Stage 1.
- Vile — Mega Man X series
Vile is a recurring character in the Megaman X series, first starting his antagonistic role in X1 and appearing twice after. The only other villain that reappears more than he does is Sigma, the final boss of every game, with a new body each time. In Vile’s case, the original look is used while the general design is different between each body. His first was simple and unassuming, the second was strong and intimidating, and the last was a return to his first form while still using some intimidating traits of the second. Other than the similarities with resurrecting fallen foes throughout the franchise, there isn’t much to talk about for Vile at least.
That ends off the major examples of the early 2D platformers. Next week, I’ll finish up with Omega and move into the RPG section of the franchise. Until next time-
–Nicholas Vance