Mega Man (Super Smash Bros. X Zone)

**Mega Man** (ロックマン, *Rockman*) is a playable character in *Super Smash Bros. X Zone*.

## Attributes

As in his home series, Mega Man's moveset relies heavily on various projectiles, giving his attacks unusual functions and characteristics. This extends beyond his special moves and into his standard moveset. For his neutral attack, he fires shots from his Mega Buster, and for his forward tilt, he fires shots from his Mega Buster while walking. His up tilt, the Mega Upper, is a jumping uppercut, and his down tilt is a forward slide.

Despite having an unusual set of moves, Mega Man shines in approaching while spacing opponents at midrange and disrupting any approaches, for he is blessed with two projectiles that can cause opponents to react predictably: Metal Blade's ability to be thrown in eight directions and trapping opponents in high hitstun makes it a fantastic mindgame and shield-baiting tool, while Crash Bomber can cause panicky opponents to run towards Mega Man or shield the explosion. Both projectiles easily lead to a grab punish as Mega Man owns a great grab combo ability, having a fast grab and many of his attacks connecting reliably after a throw. This allows him to rack up damage easily once he grabs an opponent. He does not have much trouble KOing once his opponents are damaged either, for he has many finishing options: from his lightning-fast up tilt to his projectile based forward smash which can be used to edgeguard. His other projectiles are terrific, notably his aerials; up aerial can KO early if an opponent is high up, and his down aerial is one of the safest meteor smashes in the game. To top it all off, Mega Man is a fantastic spacer: his jab is a fast and useful projectile (that can be used while moving and jumping) which interrupts most attacks and weak projectiles at a safe range, and when combined with Metal Blades and Crash Bombs makes Mega Man difficult to approach. Due to his amazing pressuring ability and grab game, characters without a projectile or with low reach can have trouble approaching without being severely punished. Even if he does get knocked around, Mega Man is a heavyweight character, weighing only slightly less than Baxter Ewers, meaning he is more likely to survive potentially lethal blows that could KO a lighter character, especially with proper DI and his good recovery move, Rush Coil.

Regardless of his good grab game and punishing options, Mega Man still has some flaws to counter his strengths. Since his projectiles are imperative in initiating combos, he suffers against opponents with reflectors or other methods to render his projectiles ineffective, such as the Mario's Cape. His low speed and ending lag on his non-projectile moves significantly limit his approach. He lacks options in keeping away foes up close, with no actual melee jab or quick standard attacks to knock them away. Because most of his strongest attacks suffer from either noticeable startup or ending lag, Mega Man works best at mid-range where his attacks can connect safely, though at the cost of giving opponents a good amount of time to react to any of his attacks, somewhat making his finishers predictable.

In essence, Mega Man is a very versatile, medium-ranged projectile fighter who has no trouble spacing opponents, though KO attempts can be risky for him as he suffers slightly at close range due to the lag of his attacks. He has to use his effective spacing and grab punish options to rack up damage at medium range while keeping his distance until the opponent is weak enough to risk using one of his slow yet powerful finishing moves.

## Moveset

### Smash Attacks

 Down Smash | Flame Blast | 17% (clean), 14% (mid), 9% (late) | Mega Man plants both arm cannons into the ground, causing two vertical flaming pillars to erupt from the ground either side of him which launch the opponent upwards

## Misc.

 **Idle poses** | * His left arm turns into his Mega Buster, then taps his elbow on his hand.
 **Victory pose 3** | Lands down, points his Mega Buster towards the air, then poses (similar to a scene at the beginning of his reveal trailer).