Bubble Man

**Bubble Man** (バブルマン *Baburuman*) is a Robot Master from *Mega Man 2*, and the first aquatic Robot Master created by Dr. Wily for underwater combat. However, a defect in his systems made him unable to walk on land, being only able to move by jumping. When Wily noticed this, he couldn't help but laugh. Despite this flaw, Bubble Man is at home in the water, being able to swim at a remarkable speed.

Bubble Man attacks with normal shots from a cannon on his right arm, and can fire his Special Weapon, the Bubble Lead, from both the aforementioned arm cannon and a special Bubble Gun on top of his head. Bubble Man can utilize the bubbles for several different purposes, including hitting opponents with bursts of small bubbles and blowing larger and more durable bubbles to either wrap opponents inside to trap them temporarily, or for Bubble Man himself to hide in as a shield.

Despite often being the butt of jokes due to his design flaws, Bubble Man is an affable and high-spirited individual, but has a bad habit of lavishly spending money when he has it. He enjoys bathing in hot springs in his spare time, but much like the later-introduced Wave Man, has a vehement dislike for water pollution, especially oil slicks.

## CD Data

 **Dislike:** | Oil slick

## Official Appearances

### *Mega Man 2*

#### Attack Pattern

Bubble Man's room is underwater and has spikes layered on the ceiling. Bubble Man starts his pattern by firing 1 to 3 bouncing Bubble Leads from his head-gun. They bounce high enough that you have to stand in a way so they bounce over you. Once he shoots the last Bubble Lead, he will start swimming diagonally to a height above Mega Man, and then float back down to the ground. If he catches Mega Man in his crosshairs, he will rapid-fire small harpoons forward, which can be hard to dodge. He resets his pattern once Mega Man lands on the ground after Bubble Man has done so, who will wait for the player in the meantime. Due to how his Bubble Leads are first shot at an arc, there is a flaw in his pattern where you can stand right next to him as he shoots Bubble Lead to avoid the Bubble Leads, making the fight much easier.

The rematch arena does not have spikes on the ceiling, removing any full-jump restrictions.

In *The Wily Wars,* the Bubble Leads bounce much higher after the initial bounce.

#### Weapon

Bubble Man's weapon is Bubble Lead, which shoots a large bubble forward in a very shallow arc forward. Upon reaching the ground, it will travel along the ground and down walls until it hits a wall that it cannot climb. While powerful against the right enemies, Bubble Lead has an unfortunate tendency to ding off most enemies in the game. Each shot uses 1/2 ammo.

#### Weakness

Bubble Man's weakness is Metal Blade, which can not only kill him in 4/7 hits but also allows the player aim at Bubble Man when he's higher up, removing the stress of having to jump very high. Bubble Man also has secondary weaknesses to Quick Boomerang and Crash Bomb, taking 4/2 damage from each. While Quick Boomerang is easier to use, Crash Bomb should be shot at the wall so the explosions can rack up multiple hits against Bubble Man.

It should also be noted that using Bubble Lead against Bubble Man will actually **heal** his entire health bar.

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

Bubble 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

Although Bubble Man's arena does not have any visible water, it is still underwater (allowing the player to do high jumps), being the only underwater area of the game. Bubble Man's pattern has been slightly simplified. His Bubble Lead count has went from 1-3 to 0-2, meaning he may swim without shooting any Bubble Lead prior. The Bubble Lead projectiles also bounce much higher and bound up and down much quicker. Bubble Man also only shoots harpoons once level with the player, meaning he will no longer shoot them continuously. His swimming speeds have been altered so his vertical speed is slower going up, but faster going down. He also can't be cheesed the same way he could in *Mega Man 2* due to these attributes. Defeating him rewards the player with a big health pickup.

#### Weapon

Bubble Man's weapon is Bubble Lead, which is much stronger in this game. This is primarily because no enemies ding weapons on their own in this game and each bubble does 4 damage on their own. However, it can only be used in the Wily Station. Each shot uses 1/2 ammo.

#### Weakness

Bubble Man's only weakness is Quick Boomerang, which does 2 damage for each hit. It is possible to hit Bubble Man twice with one boomerang, but due to the weapon having very short range, it is less reliable than the Mega Buster.

### *Mega Man 3*

Bubble 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 Bubble" is the second of the two to be fought in Gemini Man's Stage.

Doc Bubble's arena is the same as Bubble Man's, and his attack pattern is pretty similar but has some minor differences. Doc Bubble will now start swimming forward after he is done shooting his last Bubble Lead, whereas Bubble Man previously would start swimming immediately once the last Bubble Lead is fired. Doc Bubble's harpoons are also faster in speed, which make them a lot harder to dodge if you get caught in the crosshair.

Doc Bubble shares the same weaknesses as Shadow Man: Spark Shock and Shadow Blade, with both killing him in 7 hits. The former has more range while the latter has more aim, so it's up to the player to choose which one will do the job.

Lastly, there is a major exploit that can be taken advantage of. When Doc Bubble lands, he will not start his next attack pattern cycle until the player lands back on the ground. Using this knowledge, the player can get on Rush Marine/Jet, stay above the ground when Doc Robot lands, and then unleash rapid-fire on him. If done correctly, the boss will not move as he is still waiting for the player to touch back on the ground, guaranteeing victory. Bubble Man himself also followed this rule, but there was no utility like Rush that could actually exploit it in *Mega Man 2.*

## Trivia

* His dislike for oil slicks could be a reference to how oil doesn't mix with water.
* Bubble Man and Flash Man were the only two Robot Masters from *Mega Man 2* not to appear in the Ruby Spears animated series.
* Two of Bubble Man's names from his early designs were Water Man and Pump Man. The name Pump Man would eventually be used in *Mega Man 10*.
* Due to limitations of the systems, in many of the games, the blue parts of Bubble Man's head instead appear as green.
* Despite being defeated by the Leaf Shield in the Archie comics, Bubble Man doesn't take any damage from it in the games. This was a deliberate decision by writer Ian Flynn to show how lame Bubble Man is, as he admitted in an interview with Nintendo Power.
* In his sprite from *Mega Man 2* and *Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge*, his arm cannon appears on his left arm when he is looking to the right side of the screen. In *Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters*, his cannon is on his left arm when looking to the left.
* Bubble Man is one of the four Robot Masters in *Mega Man 2*, along with Flash Man, Heat Man, and Wood Man, who gets healed when hit with his own weapon.
* As with the other Robot Masters in *Dr. Wily's Revenge,* Bubble Man is not fought again because there are no rematches.
	+ Bubble Man also constantly flickers in this game for some reason. This likely because of the misuse of water in the Game Boy's processing power.