Flash Man

**Flash Man** (フラッシュマン *Furasshuman*) is a Robot Master from *Mega Man 2* created by Doctor Albert W. Wily to challenge the everlasting idea of controlling time. Flash Man's Special Weapon is the Time Stopper, a unique system that allows him to stop time for brief periods. To supplement his attacking abilities, he is also equipped with a rapid-fire buster on his right arm. The eight Robot Masters from *Mega Man 2* have built-in devices that make them immune to the Time Stopper, but Quick Man's device has a flaw, making him vulnerable to it.

In combat, Flash Man can stop time to immobilize his opponents, before attacking them mercilessly with rapid barrages of shots from his buster while they cannot move. To his enemies, Flash Man appears to be moving at light speed or teleporting. It is believed that this ability is a perfected form of what the later-introduced Time Man was capable of- because unlike Time Man, who could only slow down time with Time Slow, Flash Man can stop it completely.

Whilst often miserable and prone to complaining, deep down he is a benevolent leader who cares deeply for the well-being of his subordinates. He likes cameras and photography, as well as making use of his time-stopping powers to play pranks on others and to spend longer bathing. He is bald, often lamenting the fact that Dr. Wily designed him without hair, and thus, he dislikes commercials for wigs and hair products.

## CD Data

 **Dislike:** | Commercials for wigs

## Official Appearances

### *Mega Man 2*

#### Attack Pattern

Flash Man is one of the easiest bosses in the game. His room is very irregularly shaped and covered in slippery ice-like crystals. Flash Man himself spends five seconds running at Mega Man in an attempt to collide with him. He tends to walk in one direction, but will short-hop in the player’s direction if he reaches a wall. He will also short-hop (and change direction) if he is shot, which can slow him down. Once five seconds or so are up, Flash Man will stop moving and use the Time Stopper, freezing Mega Man in place after the flash for 2 seconds. He will then aim his buster forward and fire, spraying in Mega Man’s general direction. His range is limited to covering certain angles, so if the player jumps at the right time, they will be able to dodge his attack. He then goes back to his movement.

His rematch arena is completely flat, making the fight much easier.

In *The Wily Wars,* Flash Man jumps on his own much more often, and his jumps will not always be directed towards the player. This makes him a bit harder to dodge as a result.

#### Weapon

Flash Man's weapon is Time Stopper, which is unique in that it can completely stop time around you for as long as the weapon bar has ammo. However, it should be noted that enemies and hazards will still hurt the player on contact, and the weapon also does not allow the player to cancel the effect midway or shoot during the usage. As such, finding the right spots to use the weapon is key to unleashing its full potential.

#### Weaknesses

Flash Man's biggest weakness is Metal Blade, which kills him in 4/7 hits. The weapon also has the perk of 'juggling' him if you're right next to a wall, allowing for an easy victory. Crash Bomb is also a strong weakness, killing him in 5/10 hits, but it requires more skilled use. As the bomb itself won't be enough to kill Flash Man, it should be placed on a wall, in a way that Flash Man will stop time next to it and suffer a lot of damage from the explosion (which is not affected by Time Stopper). The Mega Buster and Bubble Lead are secondary weaknesses, doing 4/2 damage. Lastly, Atomic Fire if at least half-charged will kill Flash Man in 3/5 hits, with the half-charged variant being enough to take him down.

In *The Wily Wars,* he takes 1 damage from the Mega Buster, removing it as a secondary weakness.

It should also be noted that using Time Stopper on Flash Man in the rematch will **heal** him to full health.

### *Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge*

Flash Man is part of the second wave of 4 Robot Masters, all of which come from Mega Man 2. However, the second wave do not have their own stages, but are part of a mini-gauntlet fought via teleport systems in the Wily Castle stage.

#### Attack Pattern

Flash Man is arguably the Robot Master who stayed the closest to his *Mega Man 2* fight. He still walks around and does short jump forward if he gets hit or he touches a wall. His jumps also do not extend his Time Stopper cooldown, meaning he can suddenly use it in the air. His rapid-fire shots also aim in the same spread-out angles every time, rather than shooting randomly within those angles. Defeating him rewards the player with a big health pickup.

#### Weapon

Flash Man's weapon is Time Stopper, which functions just as it did in *Mega Man 2,* but with the addition of automatically cancelling the effect when going through a transition. However, it is nearly useless here due to being available for only the Wily Station stage, which has most of its enemies already in the player's way, and gimmicks that don't even get mitigated by the weapon, like Yoku Blocks or electricity.

#### Weakness

Flash Man's main weakness is Ice Slasher, which does 2 damage and will always be available to the player when they fight him. However, the player should be careful as only 1 Ice Slasher can exist onscreen at a time, meaning Flash Man won't jump as much as with the Mega Buster. He is also weak to Atomic Fire, though not to the extent that Quick Man is. Regardless, he takes 5 damage from a fully-charged shot, which will be enough to kill him alone.

### *Mega Man 3*

Flash Man makes a cameo appearance when his data gets copied by Doc Robot, like all other Robot Masters from *Mega Man 2.* The newly-formed "Doc Flash" is the first of the two to be fought in Gemini Man's Stage.

Doc Flash's battle is much harder than before, a contender for being one of the hardest Doc Robots. His arena is now a large hill that peaks at the middle. The pattern is similar to before, but the boss has a much bigger hitbox that makes jumping over him extremely tight and down-right impossible if he's walking onto you from above (Rush is required to get over him without getting hurt at the start of the battle). Doc Flash does not jump towards the player if he gets hurt, but his Time Stopper cooldown has decreased significantly. Due to a bug, getting hit by one of the Time Stopper shots may reduce the time of your I-frame duration, meaning that you can possibly get hit more than once by a single Time Stopper barrage.

Doc Flash shares the same weaknesses as Needle Man: Gemini Laser and Needle Cannon, both of which will kill him in 7 hits. Needle Cannon costs less ammo and can continuously hit him, but Gemini Laser has the advantage of still hitting Doc Flash when he uses Time Stopper, as weapons do not get frozen by the attack. It should be noted that unlike the original fight, Doc Flash takes 1 damage from the Mega Buster.

## Trivia

* Flash Man's Stage is one of the few stages that does not contain any instant-death hazards. Other examples include, but are not limited to, Crash Man's, Hard Man's (both), Needle Man's (GB), Strike Man's, and Fuse Man's Stage.
* Flash Man was the only *Mega Man 2* Robot Master not to be in *Captain N: The Game Master*. He was also the only Robot Master from *Mega Man 2* other than Bubble Man to not make an appearance in the *Mega Man* animated series.
* Flash Man is the third Robot Master to have only one hand. His predecessors were Air Man and Bubble Man, who also appeared in the same game.
* Ironically, while the Quick Boomerang deals no damage to Flash Man whatsoever in the games (*Mega Man 2* and *Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge*), Quick Man defeats him no less than twice with it in comic book adaptations of the series (*Mega Man Megamix* and Archie Comics' *Mega Man*).
* Despite the top of his helmet being yellow in his artwork, in his mugshot it's white due to system limitations.
* Oil Man's mugshot from the DOS *Mega Man 3* is an edited version of Flash Man's mugshot.
* If the player turns around just as the shutter to Flash Man's room opens up, the player can enter the room backwards due to the slippery floor.
* One reason that Flash Man likes cameras and photography may be in how he can use his power to get a perfect still capture. Another reason may be due to how cameras flash as they take pictures - very much like how he does when he stops time.
* His quote in his *Mega Man & Bass CD data* may be a reference to the 1960s song of the same name by The Supremes.
* Flash Man's theme resembles Metallica's "Seek & Destroy".
* M. Bison's theme, "Irreconcilably," in the *Street Fighter EX* series has a 14-15 second portion of Flash Man's theme which plays almost 36 seconds into the theme.
* Pro wrestler Kenny Omega has a signature move called Flash Man's Time Stopper.
* His theme song has been compared to the "Town Mission 4" song from *Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)* due to the two songs having similar tunes.
* As with the other Robot Masters in Dr. Wily's Revenge, Flash Man is not fought again because there are no rematches.