Mega Man's Contest History

Who is Mega Man?
The Blue Bomber. Mega Man. Mega Man X. Mega Man Volnutt. Mega Man.exe. No matter what you call him, 99.99999999% know him from the original series that has elevated him into the status of “gaming icon”. “Mega Man 2” and “Mega Man 3” are two of the greatest games to ever grace the insides of a warm and toasty NES and as such, has firmly planted Mega Man into the hearts of gamers everywhere. The NES days were kind to Mega Man and his unique style of gameplay and rockin’ beats. Defeat 8 robot masters by discovering their weaknesses and exploiting them for your own gain before heading off to face off with the villanous Dr. Wily again and again…..and again………and……aga…in…….*yawn*

Despite the lucrative success of spinoff series such as Mega Man X, Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Zero, the magic that Mega Man has garnered from his games has been declining. However, a sharp increase in MM interest came from the spawning of all of Mega Man’s original games encased in one convienient, easy to carry cartridge known as the “Mega Man Anniversery Collection”. Along with that, the Blue Bomber is still chugging along with 9 installments of his original series in the books, an upcoming 8th volume of the darker, more mature X series and the neverending onslaught of games added to the Battle Network library. All in all, Mega Man is still showing signs of life late in his teen years. For Mega Man, he has already grasped hold of a strong and loyal fanbase thanks to his NES days of glory and that has seen him through to overwhelming success in the Summer Contest arena.

“Let’s go Rush!” – Mega Man

Mega Man's contest history
Win-Loss Record: 20-6

Summer 2002 Contest - West Division - 6 Seed
 * Western Round 1--- Defeated (11) Ms. Pac-Man, 63039 [92.30%] - 5257 [7.70%]
 * Western Quarterfinal --- Defeated (3) Serious Sam, 60914 [91.84%] - 5414 [8.16%]
 * Western Semifinal --- Lost to (7) Sephiroth, 48185 [49.49%] - 49172 [50.51%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 3rd Place [42.91%]

Summer 2003 Contest - West Division - 2 Seed
 * Southern Round 1 --- Defeated (15) Mr. Resetti, 91905 [88.96%] - 11400 [11.04%]
 * Southern Quarterfinal --- Defeated (10) Zelda, 65528 [60.75%] - 42329 [39.25%]
 * Southern Semifinal --- Defeated (3) Tommy Vercetti, 75551 [66.86%] - 37456 [33.14%]
 * Southern Final --- Defeated (1) Solid Snake, 63639 [53.50%] - 55322 [46.50%]
 * Final Four --- Lost to (7) Sephiroth, 48213 [38.82%] - 75979 [61.18%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 4th Place [38.60%]

Summer 2004 Contest - 20XX Division - 1 Seed
 * 20XX Round 1--- Defeated (16) Earthworm Jim, 70219 [82.98%] - 14406 [17.02%]
 * 20XX Quarterfinal --- Defeated (8) Tidus, 57069 [64.78%] - 31033 [35.22%]
 * 20XX Semifinal --- Defeated (4) Zero, 46849 [56.01%] - 36800 [43.99%]
 * 20XX Final --- Defeated (2) Solid Snake, 50116 [57.19%] - 37517 [42.81%]
 * Final Four --- Lost to (1) Link, 30622 [32.39%] - 63913 [67.61%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 6th Place [35.99%]

Tucked away as a lowly 6 seed in 2002, expectations for Mega Man were not too high if you were paying attention to the horrific seedings of the tournament. However, with the sheer power and brute force exhibited by Mega Man after 2 rounds of play in 2002, everyone knew that a contest powerhouse was born. Even with the fact that Ms. Pac-Man and Serious Sam are two ridiculously weak opponents, the Blue Bomber put up numbers that no normal character should put up on ANY opponent. Keeping his first two opponents under the 6000 vote total spurned talk of a Mega Man championship jaunt in the inaugraul Summer Contest. In the next round however, Sephiroth squeaked by Rock Man and into the Western Finals to halt any chance of a Blue Bomber championship.

The next year saw Mega Man again return to the contest with hopes flying high. The road to a rematch with Sephiroth was within reach as Mega Man was drawn into a division he could seemingly handle. After putting up familiar numbers on the pathetic Mr. Resetti, Mega Man looked back in form and ready to take on the character masses. Despite not brutally murdering opponents the rest of the way in the wide open Western Division, Mega Man showed his toughness and grit versus capable opponents such as Zelda and Solid Snake. After winning his first division championship over Solid Snake, Mega Man again squared off against Sephiroth in a rematch that was sure to see the tables turn in Mega’s favor. However, the FFVII masses had submerged on the contest and seemingly taken over. Evidence of FFVII’s rise to power was no more evident than in the rematch of Mega Man/Sephiroth. What was a vote differential of roughly 1000 votes between the two characters in 2002 had ballooned into a gigantic advantage of nearly 30000 votes for the One Winged Angel one year later. This was the point that Mega Man fell from grace and was excluded from the elite ranks of the Summer Contest. A championship dream would not be realized by Mega Man fanatics while the elite forces of Sephiroth, Cloud or Link were in the way.

The Summer Contest of 2004 had Mega Man placed as the cream of the crop in the very division named after him, the 20XX. As the events of the 2004 contest began to happen, a familiar script began to unfold. Blowing out his early round opponents followed up by respectable outings against strong fighters in Tidus and Zero, all rounded off with a division championship over the likes of Metal Gear’s finest, Solid Snake. However just like in 2003, the Final Four saw no mercy for Mega Man as the eventual champion, Link, blew past the 20XX champion with hardly a scratch on his tunic. The blowout result only further solidified what was already known by many. Mega Man could not compete on the level of the former contest champions and as such, could never raise the Summer Contest trophy as his own with them in the running.

With new games coming out nearly bi-monthly, Mega Man is still making the games necessary to retain his fanbase, however the fault lies in that the games Mega Man produces are just not hyped enough or great enough to elevate his popularity into the ranks of Summer Contest champion status. There have been many new Mega Man game that have hit the shelves and has been treated by the gaming community with mediocre fanfare. Following the release of the “Mega Man Anniversary Collection”, the fans of the series are already defined and the vote numbers will neither increase or decrease barring a sharp rise in Mega Man attention to the newer gamers. To be frank, Mega Man is currently stuck in contest limbo and with powerhouses like Link, Sephiroth and Cloud Strife in the tournament he will stay there.

Summer 2005 Contest - 20XX Division - 1 Seed
 * 20XX Round 1 --- Defeated (8) Conker, 75807 [76.02%] - 23913 [23.98%]
 * 20XX Semifinal --- Defeated (5) Leon Kennedy, 60391 [64.56%] - 33154 [35.44%]
 * 20XX Final --- Defeated (3) Yoshi, 63395 [68.08%] - 29719 [31.92%]
 * Elite Eight --- Defeated (1) Sonic, 49841 [50.37%] - 49099 [49.63%]
 * Final Four --- Lost to (2) Crono, 50479 [48.65%] - 53283 [51.35%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 7th Place [35.55%]

It was a lock that Mega Man would waltz through his division en route to a showdown with Sonic, and despite a constant game of "You win the match. No, YOU win the match. Oh no, I insist!", Mega Man wound up being the victor in the closest match of the entire contest. He couldn't follow it up however as Mega Man would go on to fall in the Final Four for the third year in a row. For whatever reason, Mega Man just can't seem to get over that hump that separates the strong characters from the true elites.

Still, Mega Man is a rather strong character who seems to be at a constant level of strength; we'll likely see much more of this in future contests, unless of course people finally get sick of one rehash after another from the Mega Man series.

Summer 2006 Contest - Destiny Division - 2 Seed
 * Destiny Round 1 --- Defeated (7) Axel, 81959 [69.87%] - 35340 [30.13%]
 * Destiny Semifinal --- Defeated (6) Ryu, 69626 [58.04%] - 50342 [41.96%]
 * Destiny Final --- Defeated (1) Sora, 72630 [54.28%] - 61167 [45.72%]
 * Quarterfinal --- Lost to (1) Solid Snake, 56648 [44.67%] - 70163 [55.33%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 6th Place [41.89%]

Though Mega Man won three matches in 2006, he was one of the most disappointing characters of the contest and was expected to do much better. At first people were upset that he was to face Snake again, but it became more and more obvious with each round that snake was going to do Mega Man in. First there was the huge percentage bleed against Axel, then the underwhelming win against Ryu, then an even bigger percentage bleed against Sora. By the time Snake beat him, it wasn't even an upset anymore. Mega Man, like Crono, suffers from no recent games that matter syndrome and is bound to fall bit by bit each year until he gets something new. If this doesn't happen, Mega Man is likely the biggest candidate for the one to break the Noble Nine... unless you count Link's loss to Jay Solano in the bonus match =p

Summer 2007 Contest - Division 1 - Second Group
 * Division 1 Round 1 --- 1st place, 70743 [50.49%] - KOS-MOS, 25822 [18.43%] - Arthas Menethil, 21950 [15.67%] - Diablo, 21603 [15.42%]
 * Division 1 Round 2 --- 1st place, 47353 [37.73%] - Yoshi, 35438 [28.24%] - Knuckles the Echidna, 25442 [20.27%] - KOS-MOS, 17261 [13.75%]
 * Division 1 Finals --- 2nd place, 45857 [30.43%] - Samus Aran, 49872 [33.10%] - Yoshi, 28823 [19.13%] - Scorpion, 26126 [17.34%]
 * Contest Quarterfinals --- 3rd place, 26641 [18.43%] - Cloud Strife, 59587 [41.23%] - Samus Aran, 41623 [28.80%] - Ryu, 16682 [11.54%]

After looking like the weakest link in the Noble Nine last year, people were hoping that Mega Man would get challenged by some of the potential breakers. Didn't happen. Instead, he did manage to look like his old self for a little while. He blasted his opening match and scored over 50% there, and he did very well in the second round with Yoshi and Knuckles there. Then the Blue Bomber surprised some people with how well he performed with Samus in the picture, who is thought by many to be just a step away from Sephy's level. However, he didn't look that good the next round when you took Yoshi out and put Cloud in. It's looking like Mega Man benefited from some LFF against Samus to look better than he really was. Regardless, he's still Noble for another year.