Mega Man, known as Rockman[a] in Japan, is a 1987 action-platform game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Mega Man was produced by a small team specifically for the home console market, a first for Capcom, which previously focused on arcade video games.

[9] The initial Western release of the game has the same basic plot, and some significantly changed details from the original Japanese manual.

Upon defeating the boss, the player assimilates the Robot Master's signature attack, or "Special Weapon", into Mega Man's arsenal for the rest of the game.

Besides the weapons taken from the Robot Masters, the player is able to pick up a platform generator item known as the "Magnet Beam" in Elec Man's stage.

[10] The scoring system was removed in later Mega Man games as it was found to provide no meaningful benefit to players and felt unnecessary to designers.

[14][15] Inafune recalled that the Mega Man development team worked extremely hard to complete the final product,[2] with a project supervisor and lead designer who sought perfection in every possible aspect of the game.

[17] Inafune (credited as "Inafking") designed and illustrated nearly all of the game's characters and enemies, and the Japanese Rockman logo, box art, and instruction manual.

"[14] Inafune was influenced by the eponymous protagonist of Osamu Tezuka's manga Astro Boy in his Mega Man designs.

[17] The designs for Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were based on Santa Claus and Albert Einstein, respectively; the latter character was meant to represent an archetypal "mad scientist".

Mega Man was originally able to crouch, but the team decided against it since it made players' ability to determine the height of onscreen projectiles more difficult.

[2] Naoya Tomita (credited as "Tom Pon") began work on Mega Man's scenic backgrounds immediately after his Capcom training.

Matsumae was challenged by the creative limits of three notes available at any one time, and when she was unable to write songs, she created the sound effects.

This moniker was created by Capcom's then-Senior Vice President Joseph Morici, who claimed it was changed merely because he did not like the original name.

AllGame described the NES version of the game as a "near-perfect blend of action, challenge and audio-visual excellence" and awarded it five stars, their highest rating.

[28] Lucas M. Thomas of IGN described the game as an "undeniable classic" for the NES, noting its graphics, innovative weapon-based platform gameplay, and music.

[31] IGN editor Matt Casamassina proclaimed, "Mega Man is one of the best examples of great graphics, amazing music and near-perfect gameplay rolled into one cartridge".

[33] GameSpot writers Christian Nutt and Justin Speer identified the game as a "winner in gameplay" granted its "low-key presentation".

[3][40] Capcom's sales department originally believed that the game would not sell, but after Japan had received limited quantities, it had been seen as successful enough to quickly commission an American localization.

[13] As part of the rushed localization, the president of Capcom U.S.A. told the marketing representative to have a cover done by the next day, so he had a friend draw it within about six hours.

[13] Inafune blamed the game's relatively poor North American performance on its region-specific cover art,[14][15] which visualized elements not found in the game: Mega Man himself resembles a man rather than a boy, his costume is colored yellow and blue instead of being entirely blue, and he is holding a handgun rather than having his arm cannon.

[47] With little overseas press coverage save for a full-page advertisement in Nintendo Fun Club News, sales gained momentum over word of mouth, making the game a sleeper hit.

Many of the design elements cut from the original Mega Man due to space limitations such as planned enemy characters were included in the follow-up game.

Even though the sequels feature more complex storylines, additional gameplay mechanics, and better graphics, the core elements initiated by Mega Man remain the same throughout the series.

GamesRadar credits the "level select" feature of Mega Man as the basis for the nonlinear mission structure found in most multi-mission, open world, sidequest-heavy games, such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

[4] This version also features arranged music in addition to a special "Navi Mode" that directs the player in certain portions of the levels.

[63][64] Mega Man Powered Up received generally positive reviews, with aggregate scores of 83% on GameRankings and 82 out of 100 on Metacritic as of May 2010[update].

[65][66] The remake sold poorly at retail, and was later released as a paid download on the Japanese PlayStation Network digital store[62][67][68] and as a bundled with Mega Man Maverick Hunter X in Japan and North America.