Bass

**Bass**, known as **Forte** (フォルテ *Forute*) in Japan, is a Robot Master created by Dr. Wily to imitate Mega Man's design, along with Treble, an imitation of Rush's design. He was created based on a research conducted on Mega Man with the intention of surpassing his power sometime during or before the events of *Mega Man 6*, and made his debut in *Mega Man 7*. Bass is the prominent anti-hero of the original Mega Man series, and his goal is to become the most powerful robot in existence. Although Bass and Mega Man are rivals, at times they team up to take down mutual enemies of the two. Despite being created by Dr. Wily, Bass frequently rebels against his creator, usually for his own purposes.

## Appearance

Bass' design was made in mind to be a polar opposite of Mega Man's. Bass is adorned in black armor with gold lining. On his chest there is a triangular blue-ish purple crystal (with some artworks showing an "F" for "forte" engraved inside its center). He has purple stripes running down from his eyes and extending down his cheeks. He has distinct red eyes (usually with pink retinas). His helmet features large fins that resemble a cobra, giving him a slightly taller appearance than that of his rivals, and a cross-shaped blue jewel on the forehead.

## CD Data

 **Dislike:** | Vain

## Abilities

* **Bass Buster** - Bass' primary weapon. Originally, in *Mega Man 7* and the arcade games, *Mega Man: The Power Battle* and *Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters*, the Bass Buster has the same capabilities as the Mega Buster. It can fire green bullets and charge shots. However, in *Mega Man & Bass*, the Bass Buster loses its charge ability in favor of a drastically increased rate of fire and the ability to fire in 1 of 7 directions. The Bass Buster retained these changes in *Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chousensha* and *Mega Man 10*.

* **Variable Weapon System** - Just like Mega Man, Bass is capable of replicating other Robot Master powers and using them as his own special weapons after defeating Robot Masters (although he only uses it in the games where he appears as a playable character).

* **Dash** - Bass is able to dash forward, which is similar to Mega Man's sliding ability but has some differences. Firstly, Bass can't fit through tight spaces by dashing like Mega Man can by sliding. Secondly, Bass can use dashes to add more momentum to his jumps by jumping in the middle of a dash, resulting in Bass jumping further and higher than normal. This technique is known as Dash Jumping.

* **Double Jump** - Bass is able to jump twice in a row, granting him greater mobility in platforming sections. He does not retain this ability in *Mega Man 10*.

* **Super Adaptor** - After stealing the Super Adaptor blueprints towards the end of *Mega Man 7*, Bass gained the ability to fuse together with his robot wolf Treble to assume a more powerful form that's similar to Mega Man's Super Adaptor form, except Bass can fly indefinitely and can use normal buster attacks in addition to the punch attacks,

* **Treble Boost** - An even stronger version of Bass's Super Adaptor form first seen in *Mega Man 8*. Treble Boost lets Bass fire extra-powerful charge shots and laser beams. In *Mega Man & Bass* onward, Treble Boost lets him shoot charge shots in three directions at once, but its use is limited, requiring Bass to restore energy for Treble Boost by collecting weapon energy pickups.

## Official Appearances

### *Mega Man 7*

Bass appears in the game's intro stage, where he challenges Mega Man in a miniboss fight, attacking by jumping and shooting charged buster shots, and then comments on his fighting abilities depending on the outcome of the battle. After the fight, Bass claims that he and Treble were trying to stop Wily, and he decided to fight Mega Man to see how tough he was. If Mega Man won the battle, Bass praises Mega Man for living up to his reputation and laments that Mega Man might not need his help; otherwise, Bass tells Mega Man that he's too weak to take Wily on. Later, Mega Man encounters Bass and Treble in Shade Man's stage, where Bass claims that Shade Man attacked them (this is technically true, as the duo intentionally let themselves get injured by Shade Man). Bass then puts himself down for being beaten so easily, and Mega Man offers his sympathy, inviting Bass and Treble to go to Dr. Light's lab for repairs. The pair happily obliges.

When Mega Man returns to Light's lab after defeating all eight Robot Masters, he discovers the lab in ruins. Dr. Light tells Mega Man that Bass was the one who trashed the lab, and that Bass also stole the parts and blueprints for the Super Adapter. Wily then contacts the lab to rub it in Mega Man and Light's faces, telling them that he was the one who created Bass and Treble. Mega Man goes to storm Wily's fortress, and encounters Bass in the first Wily stage. Here Bass fights Mega Man in another miniboss battle, this time with better fighting skills (although he can be subdued fairly easily by using Noise Crush or the Super Adapter, both of which are his weaknesses).

Mega Man is able to defeat Bass, prompting him to swear revenge and retreat. True to his word, Bass shows up again in the second Wily stage, serving once more as a miniboss. This time, Bass uses his ill-gotten Super Adapter to fuse with Treble and gain new powers. In this fight, Bass is able to fly, and he attacks by shooting rocket fists alongside his normal buster shots, but he is once again weak to Noise Crush and Mega Man's Super Adapter. Mega Man emerges triumphant again, angering Bass to the point he teleports away. Bass isn't seen again until after Mega Man defeats Dr. Wily and then tries to kill him, at which point Bass jumps in and rescues Wily, taunting Mega Man for being too slow.

### *Mega Man 8*

Bass appears in the game's opening cutscene, where he and Treble are trying to fight Mega Man, but he knocks them into an elevator shaft, resulting in Bass getting entangled in steel cables. Mega Man then abandons Bass after Roll informs him of a distress signal from Dr. Light. Bass calls Mega Man and swears revenge. He appears as the miniboss of the third Wily stage, where he fuses with Treble and the Evil Energy to assume his Treble Boost form.

During this battle, Bass has a handful of powerful attacks. He can drop down to the ground and fire some extra-strong charge shots, fly across the room while firing a laser beam, and shooting many charge shots into the air so they rain down and explode on the ground. Here he's weak to Astro Crush, although Flash Bomb is also effective since it can hit Bass multiple times.

### *Mega Man & Bass*

This game marks Bass's first appearance as an anti-hero instead of a true villain. After Wily was kicked out of his lab by King, Bass teams up with Mega Man to defeat King so Wily can get his lab back. In this game, Bass's buster has been modified to be drastically different than the Mega Buster, and he has gained the ability to dash and double jump. In his storyline, Bass defeats the eight Robot Masters and breaks into King's palace. After defeating King, Bass discovers that King was actually created by Dr. Wily, so Bass decides to confront Wily about it.

Bass infiltrates Wily's new lab, where the evil doctor thanks Bass for getting rid of King and announces that he plans on reprogramming Bass so he doesn't go haywire like King did. They engage in battle, and Wily is eventually defeated. Bass then demands an explanation as to why Wily made King. Wily claims that he created King to test Bass's abilities, and that Bass destroying King proved that he was indeed the strongest robot in existence. Bass doesn't believe Wily, calling his story a "lame excuse," but Wily changes the subject by revealing some plans for a second King, and offering to let Bass team up with King II so the both of them can be unstoppable. However, before Bass can give an answer, Proto Man shows up and destroys the plans for King II. Wily furiously orders Bass to destroy Proto Man, but Bass refuses. Proto Man questions Bass, asking if he'd rather destroy Mega Man with his own power, and then tells Bass that he'll never defeat Mega Man because he has no reason to fight. As Proto Man makes his escape, Bass scoffs and remarks that he doesn't need a reason to fight - his drive to destroy Mega Man is enough.

### *Mega Man 10*

Bass returns as a playable character with all the same abilities as in Mega Man & Bass, but his Bass Buster can also remove armor from some armored enemies in this game. Here he takes advantage of the Roboenza epidemic to destroy the infected Robot Masters to prove that he's the strongest robot. After destroying them all, Bass makes his way to Wily's fortress but gets infected with Roboenza once inside. Luckily for him, Treble arrives and supplies Bass with a cure, allowing him to continue. Eventually, Bass encounters and defeats Dr. Wily, mocking him afterwards for never being able to take over the world. He then notices that Wily has a fever and mistakenly believes that Wily has contracted Roboenza. Wily corrects Bass, telling him that humans can't catch Roboenza, and Bass abandons Wily, who is later discovered and taken to the hospital by Mega Man.

## Trivia

* Bass is labeled as "Dr. Wily's most powerful creation" in the Bass mode trailer of *Mega Man 10*.
* There has been a lot of controversy concerning the pronunciation of Bass' name. Due to the fact that his name was erroneously pronounced "bass" (like the fish) in *Mega Man 8*, many people have been led to believe that it is actually pronounced that way. However, the fact that many characters within the Mega Man series are named after musical terms (including his wolf, Treble), strongly indicate that his name is actually pronounced, "base", like the guitar or the clef.