Everything you didn't know about Mega Man (the animated series)

Twenty-five years ago, Capcom's blue bomber hero headlined his own animated series. Mega-great!

The 1994 Mega Man show wasn't the first time that Dr. Light's robotic creation appeared in a cartoon. Captain N: The Game Master had that honor in 1989, but the Mega Man series was the first time that the essence of the title hero was truly captured on the small screen.

Ironically, veteran voice actor Ian James Corlett stepped into Mega Man's title role after appearing as Mega Man's nemesis, Dr. Wily, in Captain N. If that's not wild enough, Corlett is also known for voicing Goku in Dragon Ball Z!

Within the world of the show, Mega Man was created by Dr. Light to be a "good robot" and fight for justice. However, our relationship with machines and our understanding of free will and sentient robots has changed our perspective of the show over the years. Did Mega Man ever truly get to choose who he was supposed to be? It puts things into a different perspective when Dr. Wily tries to get Mega Man on his side. 

The show followed the core premise of the original Mega Man video games. However, while the video games allowed players to steal boss powers after defeating them in battle, the cartoon Mega Man could only 'borrow' them. The series was also fairly faithful to the Mega Man lore established at the time and even included a guest appearance by Mega Man X!

But there are some forces that not even Mega Man can defeat, like toys that simply didn't move from the shelves. Mega Man may have come to a premature conclusion after two seasons, but it helped lead to later Mega Man animated adaptations that have kept his legend alive.

For more Mega Man facts, check out the latest episode of SYFY WIRE's Everything You Didn't Know!