Fake Man
Real Name: Fake Man
Team: Police, Robot Masters
Range: 6
Points: 40
Keywords: Police, Robot, Spy, Robot Masters

7 9 17 3

6 9 17 2

6 9 16 2

6 8 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Weak to Jewel Satellite: When Fake Man takes damage from a Special Power called "Jewel Satellite", he takes one additional click of damage. "SHIELD" ignores the Robot Masters team ability. If "SHIELD" would prevent an attack, the character using the "SHIELD" power may make a close attack targeting Fake Man. After this attack resolves, the "SHIELD" effect is removed..
Arresting Officer... Or Is He?: Fake Man can use the Capture Ability. When he does, roll a d6. 1-3, the Capture Attempt cannot be made. 4-6, modify Fake Man's attack value for the Capture Ability by +3.
Aerial Shot: Fake Man can use Leap/Climb. If he moves half his speed or less using Leap/Climb, he may make a Ranged Attack as a Free Action.

Gasp! We're NOT done with Mega Man 9?! It's true! There's one last Robot Master boss to go up against - the nefarious FAKE MAN!

Don't be surprised if you don't know who this one is. He's not a boss in the mainline game, but instead only in the Challenge Mode. He's the "police robot" who "arrested" "Dr. Light" (none of those things actually happened), and in the Challenge Mode, it's up to Mega Man to track him down.

He's a fairly standard boss who jumps and shoots. Bring along your Jewel Satellite to reflect his shots back at him, and then rush in for the kill when that's happened enough.

As a Robot Master masquerading as a police officer, Fake Man brings a few things to a Robot Master team for a low cost. The Police team ability can be really helpful, bolstering their chances at hitting their ranged attack marks. Shape Change keeps him difficult to target, and Leap/Climb keeps him mobile. His Leap is special in that he can fire his revolver arm at you mid-leap.

While his stats aren't great, he's got one more trick up his crooked cop sleeve. He just might arrest you. He can use the Capture Ability, but it's only going to work half of the time. But if it does, it does so at a massive boost to his attack value.

His final trick may not seem like much of a trick, but it makes him pretty ideal for harassing Mega Man. Fake Man has no weapon to copy. Not a single weapon. If/when Mega Man manages to take him down, he offers nothing to the Blue Bomber for his effort.

Sheep Man
Real Name: Sheep Man
Team: Robot Masters
Range: 5
Points: 50
Keywords: Animal, Robot, Robot Masters

7 10 17 3

7 10 17 3

6 10 17 2

6 9 16 2

6 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Weak to Rebound Striker: When Sheep Man takes damage from a Special Power called "Rebound Striker", he takes one additional click of damage. "STRIKE" ignores the Robot Masters team ability.
Wool Clouds: Sheep Man can use Smoke Cloud as a Free Action, but only to place two squares, and they cannot be adjacent to each other.
Thunder Wool: ELECTRIC: Give Sheep Man a Free Action to place a Thunder Wool marker within three squares and line of fire. Sheep Man can use Quake as if he occupied that square. At the end of the turn, remove the Thunder Wool marker.
Driven Mad by Roboenza: STOP.

And now, here we are, in Mega Man 10 land! For the next few weeks, this is the end of the line. And I suspect it may take me a while to get comfortable enough with the Mega Man 11 Robot Masters to truly dial them, so once I make it through 10, that may be it for a while.

The conceit behind Mega Man 10 is a little less ethically compelling than in 9, but its core question is a bit more applicable to real life than 9's. While 9 forced us to contemplate whether or not Robot Masters were thinking, feeling beings, 10 forces us to wonder if we are too reliant on technology, which is a fascinating angle to pursue for a Mega Man game.

The game begins with a massive viral outbreak - a highly contagious disease coined "Roboenza" is running rampant among the robot population, first striking robots down with flu-like symptoms before driving them violently out of their minds. Without their robot servants operating at full capacity, daily life begins to collapse - humanity can no longer function without their robots.

Dr. Wily supposedly has developed a cure, but he was attacked and the cure was stolen. So it's up to Mega Man to not only put a stop to these rampaging robots, but also to recover the cure and save not only all of human civilization, but more specifically and poignantly to him, Roll, who has fallen ill.

Our first Mega Man 10 Robot Master is... yes, let's get our groans out of the way now... Sheep Man. Oh, brother. Sheep Man is widely mocked and derided, seen as a sign among many fans that Mega Man's developers simply gave up on trying to come up with cool, interesting designs. But let's be honest and fair here - Robot Masters have a long tradition of being corny and silly. Sheep Man just upholds that tradition.

Either way, Sheep Man is an electricity-themed Robot Master who uses the static built up by his wool to summon spark balls and thunder bolts. A sheep he may be, but that doesn't mean he's not dangerous.

Thankfully, he's not TOO terribly dangerous, with a middling range, average speed values, and at best okay attack and damage.

But what he's good at is using that Thunder Wool to bust up some formations. He can place a Thunder Wool marker within three squares and line of fire, and then use Quake as if he occupied that square, allowing him to deal damage and break up enemy groupings all while keeping a distance. He's also able to erect woolen Barriers, and can even send out individual clouds of floating wool to obscure enemy movement and line of fire.

Sheep Man also demonstrates a common ability all Mega Man 10 Robot Masters will have - a last-ditch survival ability, a simple STOP at the end of the dial. This will prevent all of the 10th generation of Robot Masters from being one-shot KO'd, which is something at least.

Your sheer dedication in adapting over ten games worth of character and the sheer believability/playability of these dials single-handed (well I guess Mega Man 11's arrival helps too) got me hooked back into Mega Man, thank you so much.

That is about as high praise as anyone could have hoped for with this project! Truly, thank you so much. And you are very welcome.

As a long-time Mega Fan, it's been a real joy for me to see so many people of late rediscover the Blue Bomber, or meet him for the first time. He's had a real stroke of luck these past few years, with all of his various appearances in either Super Smash Bros. or his own comic series to the Legacy Collections all bringing him back to the public eye after a long period of dormancy.

There's also the strange debt we owe to Comcept and Mighty No. 9. That game, if it had been well-made and successful, could have killed Mega Man for good, replacing him with pale imitation Beck for the foreseeable future. But it does kinda seem like at least a part of what brought Mega Man back for an 11th adventure is the massive pants-crap that was Mighty No. 9, and Capcom seeing that and realizing that maybe they were more crucial to Mega Man's success than they were given credit for. That maybe it wasn't all about Keiji Inafune after all.

We live in a bold new era for the Blue Bomber, and he's finally reclaimed his place among the pantheon of gaming gods. And I couldn't be much happier about that.

Whoa, love that Fake Man! You've tweaked the the Capture ability to work beautifully for him! For some reason, I keep wanting to call him Safety Man. Regardless, I never got around to actually facing him. I should rectify that someday...

Mega Man 10

I gave up in the first Wily stage...

Outside of 8, I think this is my least favorite Mega Man game. The conceit is fun-- making a game entirely comprised of the most idiosyncratic aspects of the Mega Man series. I get it, but I didn't love the execution. Chalk it up to a combination of (IMHO) less interesting BGM, more frustrating stages, and a less appealing palette overall.

Gripe out of the way, this is a fantastic dial! I tend to zero in on your special abilities, but that's because they all display such great thoughtfulness and mesh well with each robot's abilities. That is VERY true of how Thunderwool works here. I also think the last click representing the Roboenza is a solid touch.

Pump Man
Real Name: Pump Man
Team: Robot Masters
Range: 0
Points: 50
Keywords: Robot, Robot Masters

7 10 17 3

6 10 17 2

6 10 16 2

6 9 16 2

6 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Weak to Thunder Wool: When Pump Man takes damage from a Special Power called "Thunder Wool", he takes one additional click of damage. "ELECTRIC" ignores the Robot Masters team ability.
Water Purification: When Pump Man occupies Water Terrain, modify the damage he deals by +1.
Water Shield: HYDRO: Give Pump Man a Free Action to attach Water Shield to his base. When Water Shield is attached, he can use Energy Shield/Deflection and Pulse Wave with a range value of 4. Remove Water Shield if Pump Man is successfully hit by an attack or if he uses Pulse Wave.
Driven Mad by Roboenza: STOP.
Boomerang Pump Handle: Pump Man can make a ranged attack with a range value of 6 . He may reroll one d6 if he misses this attack.

Here we have Pump Man. The one dilemma I had here was how to classify his power. His is the shield power of Mega Man 10, but ultimately, HYDRO had to win out over SHIELD because of how comparatively scarce HYDRO is.

Pump Man has modest if not respectable stats. He's not terribly fast, but between sporadic Leaps and , he's got some mobility to him. Toughness keeps him from taking too much damage, and some later Willpower keeps him going. The end of his dial sees his Roboenza kick in, giving him one last chance to do some damage before going down.

He has two distinct methods of attacking that can confound people looking directly at his 0 range value. Water Shield grants him Deflection, yes, but also a very short Pulse Wave that can really mess up an enemy's day. On the clicks where he doesn't have that power, he can toss the pump handle on his head at you like a boomerang. I chose to gave him a single die reroll to reflect the handle coming back at you from behind. You may have dodged the initial throw, but Pump Man gets a second shot as it returns to him.

If you manage to get him on a map with water, he can pump it up to deal more damage as well, so with him, map choice is key. Just make sure you keep him away from electricity, and he can do your force a lot of good.

I credit Nintendo, too, for bringing him back for Super Smash Bros., and in such a big way (they didn't have to base literally every single one of his attacks on a Copy Weapon, but they did and it was beautiful). His design in Smash 4 is frankly the best he's ever looked in my opinion, I was never big on how gawky he looked starting in Mega Man 7 and think it hurt the original Mega Man's marketability a lot, especially with X and MegaMan.EXE and Star Force MegaMan running around as "Mega Man, except cooler," hurting his appeal to the younger demographic by a lot, I'd imagine. In Smash 4 they were able to make him look just robotic enough that it's adorable and not uncanny valley incarnate, and I think his shift from "the awkward Mega Man" to "the cute Mega Man" was a massive boon, especially since it looks like Mega Man 11 is carrying over the shorter, near-chibi proportions from his Smash design.

Oh, Nintendo gets huge props. They've promoted Mega Man pretty heavily on their own, even down to some StreetPass Plaza content on the 3DS Family. It's a neat little thing they did there.

And while I can't verify it, I believe that Smash 4's custom fighter option was built solely to give Mega Man as many Robot Master weapons as possible, and everybody else just got benefit from it. Most fighters in the Custom options just ended up getting a lot of "the exact same move, just with slightly different effects", but Mega Man's custom moves drastically change his attacks. That feels evidence enough that the system was built for Mega Man in my eyes.

Add in that Mega Man is one of the few non-Nintendo franchises to get his own amiibo figurines - he has his standard one in Smash, but also an all-gold one that came with Legacy Collection 3DS and another brand new one coming with Switch's Mega Man 11, and Nintendo's more than earned credit for helping to revive Mega Man. Lucky for Sony and Microsoft - they didn't put in any of the leg work, but they get his new game anyway.

Solar Man
Real Name: Solar Man
Team: Robot Masters
Range: 6
Points: 60
Keywords: Robot, Robot Masters

8 10 17 3

8 10 17 3

7 9 17 3

7 9 16 3

7 9 16 2

6 8 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Weak to Water Shield: When Solar Man takes damage from a Special Power called "Water Shield", he takes one additional click of damage. "HYDRO" ignores the Robot Masters team ability.
Absorb Shots: When Solar Man is targeted by a ranged attack, roll a d6. On a result of 6, the attack misses, and place a Charged token on Solar Man's card, Max 1. You may give Solar Man a free action to remove the Charged Token, modifying his damage value by +1 until the start of your next turn.
Solar Blaze: BURN: Solar Man can use Pulse Wave. Instead of Pulse Wave's standard effect, Solar Blaze targets characters in a straight line on either side of Solar Man. The minimum damage dealt by Solar Blaze is 2.
Driven Mad by Roboenza: STOP.

Solar Man is the prerequisite fire Robot Master for Mega Man 10. He's an aggressive combatant, firing off his Solar Blaze pretty regularly, but he's really prone to a good dousing.

In Heroclix, his attack values aren't super great, but the abilities he uses them with are deadly. Solar Blaze fires off a straight line on either side of him, a hyper-focused Pulse Wave that deals more damage than the standard one. Stagger your forces when dealing with him to minimize this ability's effect.

He'll periodically dip his head down, causing shots fired at him to hit the blaze atop his head rather than his body, both nullifying your shot and powering up his. To Heroclix's end, that means he may dodge your ranged attacks, giving himself the power to deal some more pain.

Solar Man is a simple robot, requiring some strategy to use correctly, but not too terribly much. Just keep him safe and he'll do a good deal of damage to your enemies.

Absolutely perfect take on this character. Spot on in every respect. This this guy was my favorite of 10's robot masters from a gameplay perspective?

Chill Man
Real Name: Chill Man
Team: Robot Masters
Range: 0
Points: 60
Keywords: Robot, Robot Masters

8 10 17 3

8 10 17 2

7 9 17 2

7 9 16 2

6 9 16 2

6 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Weak to Solar Blaze : When Chill Man takes damage from a Special Power called "Solar Blaze", he takes one additional click of damage. "BURN" ignores the Robot Masters team ability.
Chill Spike: FREEZE: Chill Man can use Incapacitate as if he had a range value of 3 , dealing his printed damage value. If he has not used Incapacitate this turn, he may place a Chill Spike token as a free action on clear terrain within range and line of fire of this ability. If an opposing character's movement crosses the Chill Spike token, the character is dealt 3 clicks of damage and the token is removed.
Driven Mad by Roboenza: STOP.

Oh, the things you learn on Wikipedia. Mega Man 10's developers decided to acknowledge that surely, the Internet exists in 200X (it, of course, didn't quite exist in its current form for most of Mega Man's existence), so Chill Man, as a robot designated with reversing glacier melt from global warming, is a nature enthusiast who posts photos online to raise awareness of the importance of nature. Conspiracy Theorist Man must be his worst enemy.

Chill Man has some nasty tricks up his sleeve, laying down a spiky patch of ice directly in front of him. It doesn't have a huge range, but it has some unpleasant side effects. If he hits you with it directly, he's giving you an action token and damage, never a fun combo to be on the receiving end of. But if he doesn't do that, he can take a Free Action to lay down a spiky patch of ice on the ground. Odds are good that his enemies will avoid a Chill Spike, but since it's a free action, he can keep... on... doing it. Keep him alive long enough, and the field can be littered with these things, making every step a potential hazard for his enemies.

He's also got some Deflection to keep him safe at a range, and some Barrier later on down the dial to cause problems there. Roboenza gives him one last bout of madness before he goes down, so keep those Chill Spikes spawning!

Nitro Man
Real Name: Nitro Man
Team: Robot Masters
Range: 5
Points: 70
Keywords: Robot, Speedster, Vehicle, Robot Masters

11 11 18 3

10 10 17 2

10 10 17 2

9 9 17 2

9 9 16 2

8 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Weak to Chill Spike: When Nitro Man takes damage from a Special Power called "Chill Spike", he takes one additional click of damage. "FREEZE" ignores the Robot Masters team ability, and deals one click of unavoidable damage if it has no damage value, .
Nitro Bike: Passengers: 1. Nitro Man can use Hypersonic Speed, but only to perform Close Attacks.
Wheel Cutter: SLICE: Nitro Man can use Penetrating/Psychic Blast. After actions resolve, he may use Penetrating/Psychic Blast a second time targeting the same character, modifying his damage value by -1.
Driven Mad by Roboenza: STOP.
Quick on the Draw: Nitro Man can use Sidestep. If he does, he cannot use "Nitro Bike" this turn.

Much like Turbo Man before him, there's More Than Meets the Eye to Nitro Man! Heh. Heh heh.

Yeah, Nitro Man transforms into a vehicle, and is really quite quick to run you down in vehicle form. He's deadly, he's quick, and he's got varied attack options. Nitro Bike might be his most effective trick, mixing his huge speed value with a deadly close combat strike, but for those times when he needs a bit more armor-piercing oomph, he can opt to forego the speediness of his bike form and lob a few saw blades instead. The second one won't hit as hard as the first, but hit your mark with both, and you're dealing a lot of damage to a character who's used to reducing it.

His damage value doesn't stay strong, and he's got some troubles against characters with a higher range value, but control the pace of combat, keep opponents at bay and smartly choose when to hit and run and when to let those Wheel Cutters fly, and Nitro Man can do well by you.

Just hope that your opponent didn't pack any Chill Spikes, because you know they'll make it difficult for your Nitro Man to get where he wants to go. Those chilly traffic control spike strips are the bane of Nitro Man's existence, and one of the more clever weaknesses in the series.

Thanks! I liked him a lot too, more from a visual design perspective than a gameplay, even though gameplay is a lot of fun. I love the Robot Masters that look like anthropomorphized versions of objects and machines, and Solar Man's design feels to me like a sci-fi nuclear reactor on legs.

Commando Man
Real Name: Commando Man
Team: Robot Masters
Range: 6
Points: 70
Keywords: Armor, Robot, Soldier, Robot Masters

6 11 18 3

6 10 17 3

6 10 17 3

6 10 17 3

6 9 17 3

5 9 16 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Weak to Wheel Cutter: When Commando Man takes damage from a Special Power called "Wheel Cutter", he takes one additional click of damage. "SLICE" ignores the Robot Masters team ability.
Commando Bomb: BURST: Commando Man can use Energy Explosion. Commando Man can draw line of fire in an "L" shape with this attack. If that line of fire is not obstructed, the attack can be made.
Driven Mad by Roboenza: STOP.

Commando Man is big, tough, and trigger happy. He's not fast, but he really doesn't need to be. He's built like a tank and has the defensive and damage stats to back that up. He's so tough, that he gets Driven Mad by Roboenza TWICE.

Commando Bomb is his main weapon, and it's perfect for banking around corners and nailing enemies where they think they're safely hidden. He switches to melee in the middle, using his massive bulk to Quake multiple enemies, but then it's back to the Commando Bombs.

Either way, Commando Man is a big problem for clustered enemies. Best to try and stay separated when he's around, because he can and will bust you up.

Blade Man
Real Name: Blade Man
Team: Robot Masters
Range: 6
Points: 70
Keywords: Robot, Warrior, Robot Masters

9 11 18 2

8 10 17 2

8 10 17 2

8 10 17 2

7 9 16 2

7 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Weak to Commando Bomb: When Blade Man takes damage from a Special Power called "Commando Bomb", he takes one additional click of damage. "BURST" ignores the Robot Masters team ability.
Expert on Swords: Blade Man can use Blades/Claws/Fangs and modifies his defense by +1 when targeted by Blades/Claws/Fangs.
Attacking From the Walls and Ceiling: Blade Man can use Running Shot and ignores Elevated Terrain for Movement Purposes. Modify Blade Man's attack value by +1 if he makes an attack while adjacent to Indoor Blocking Terrain.
Triple Blade: SLICE: Blade Man can use Precision Strike with . Modify his damage value by +1 for each extra target beyond the first, assigning at least one click of damage to each hit target.
Driven Mad by Roboenza: STOP.

This is the weapon that should have been Sheep Man's weakness. I mean, think about it. What would have been more appropriate as a weakness for a sheep robot than shearing blades? But no, he's weak to having a baseball thrown at him.

One of the things I'm not crazy about with the way things work out is that sometimes, the game's weapons require a bit of doubling up on types. So thanks to Nitro Man and Blade Man, we have two "SLICE" users from Mega Man 10. But that's the way the cookie crumbles, after all.

Blade Man was a pain in the neck to fight, constantly jumping out of your line of fire to fling his blades at you from all directions. Fortunately, his weakness, Commando Bomb, was tailor-made for his fighting style, as it not only banked corners to follow him, but it burst on either side of the wall it hit, and Blade Man likes to hang onto the walls.

Due to his fighting style, Blade Man gets a Speed special that lets him run and shoot, ignoring elevation on movement when he does. If he happens to be indoors, he can use the walls to his advantage, firing from next to them to bolster his chances of hitting.

As a robot essentially made of swords, with swords for hands and a sword for a head like Gamera monster Guiron, he's got traited Blades to work with (How could Blade Man not have Blades?), and a defense modifier against Blades. It'll be difficult to get the edge on him in a Blades vs. Blade Man battle, and his 4th and 5th clicks in particular will make him a highly dangerous opponent for anyone with Blades, as they'll have a big uphill battle to even hit him.

Triple Blade is his main weapon, though, and it's a deadly one. I took inspiration from the first Legolas figure from way back when, making Triple Blade a three-bolt strike that boosts the overall damage value with each extra target hit, making Blade Man just as much trouble for a single opponent as he is for a group of them.

Blade Man is nimble, fast, and aggressive in both range and close combat. Underestimate him at your peril.