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. Bass was later succeeded by Zero, an advanced creation from Dr. Wily.

## Main appearances

### *Mega Man 7*

Bass is first encountered at the end of the Opening Stage and is fought as a mini-boss. According to himself, he and Treble were trying to stop Dr. Wily, and he picked that fight with Mega Man to see if he lived up to his reputation. If Mega Man defeats him, or fights him to a draw, then he'll tell Mega Man that he's as good as everyone says, and that he might not need his help. If it's the other way around, then Bass will scoff at Mega Man, telling him that he's too weak to battle Wily.

Later on, Bass and Treble are seen again at Shade Man's stage, after purposely getting themselves injured in battle. Bass then starts putting himself down, saying that he feels stupid to have been beaten so easily, and that he should probably leave Wily to Mega Man. Mega Man responds by telling him that "[they're] a team", and that Dr. Light will be glad to fix him up. Bass and Treble then warp away to Dr. Light's lab to get repaired. Sometime later, after the repairs were finished, Mega Man comes back to the lab to find that it's been trashed, and that the culprit behind it was none other than Bass. Dr. Light then tells him that Bass stole all the parts for the "new enhancements" as well. Shortly afterward, Dr. Wily appears on the monitor and reveals that Bass and Treble are his creations, and that he used Bass to get closer to Mega Man, so that he could earn his trust, and then steal the Super Adapter blueprints, so that he could use that enhancement for Bass and Treble.

Bass is encountered again for the third time at the first stage of Dr. Wily's castle, where he's once again fought as a mini-boss. The two of them have a battle, and Mega Man manages to defeat him. Bass then swears revenge, saying that he'll be back. He, of course, stays true to his word, as he is encountered for a fourth time at the very next Wily Castle stage. This time, he performs a fusion with Treble, and tries to destroy Mega Man with the very enhancements that he stole, which were meant for Mega Man and Rush. After a hard fight, Bass is once again defeated, and warps away. He and Treble aren't seen again until the ending, where they save Dr. Wily when Mega Man was about to kill him, with Bass stating that, "He who hesitates is lost."

Bass also appears as a playable character in the hidden two-player battle mode.

### *Mega Man: Battle & Chase*

Bass appears as a playable character that uses the vehicle Treble Darkstar, a balanced machine with the attacks Bass Buster and Bass Blast. He entered the Battle & Chase contest to race against Mega Man. When not playing as Bass in Grand Prix mode, the player will face him as the penultimate opponent before Dr. Wily. If Bass wins the contest, he isn't satisfied for defeating Mega Man as it was just a race, and wants to defeat him in a real battle. In the Japanese version, Wily contacts Bass and asks him for the prize money, but he ignores Wily and leaves the money in a beach.

### *Mega Man 8*

Bass is first seen at the very beginning of the game in the first Cutscene, alongside Treble, fighting against Mega Man and Rush. After Mega Man questions their reasons for fighting, Bass would respond by attempting to shoot him, prompting Mega Man to dodge the attack and return fire, knocking Bass into an elevator shaft and causing him to be tied up in steel cables. The battle was soon interrupted by Roll when she informed Mega Man about what was going on, causing Mega Man to leave. Bass then frees himself by tearing off the steel cables and destroying a falling elevator cabin above with a buster shot, before vowing his revenge.

However, Bass would show up again later on, and fights against Mega Man in the third level of the Wily Tower. Although Mega Man had warned him not to do so, Bass would use the Evil Energy to power up his attacks, and assume a stronger form of his Treble Boost. Here, he has no weakness, although the Flash Bomb can hit him multiple times. Mega Man manages to defeat him once again and Bass then vows never to give up trying to defeat Mega Man, before teleporting out.

### *Mega Man & Bass*

A robot calling himself King attacked and took over the recently built Wily Castle, declaring he was the strongest robot and that robots were superior to humans, thus he wanted to create a nation of robots without humans. Mega Man ​​is sent by Dr. Light to stop King, and Bass, who took offense to King's claims of being the strongest robot, embarks on yet another mission to destroy the Robot Masters (as well as King himself) before Mega Man can, so that he could prove that he's the strongest, and to get Wily's Castle back.

Bass, of course, does manage to defeat them. After using all eight of the Robot Masters' powers to open the Crystal Gate to King's castle, Bass goes through it and destroys all obstacles in his way, and eventually comes across King himself. King congratulates Bass for making it that far into the castle, and then engages Bass in combat. King, wielding a shield with reflective abilities, used that to absorb Bass' blasts and send them right back at him in the form of a powerful laser beam. Because of this device, King was seemingly unstoppable. That is, until Proto Man appeared and used his powerful "Big Bang Strike" ability. Due to the fact that Proto Man used nearly all of his power on that attack, it was too much energy for King's shield to absorb, which led into it getting destroyed, as well as King getting hit and weakened by it in the process. No longer in possession of that shield, Bass' attacks actually began to do some damage, and he ended up defeating King.

King then questions Bass, asking why he's fighting for "lowly beings" like the humans, and tells him that robots are more advanced than them. Bass then tells him not to forget that humans are the ones who created robots. After that, King asks Bass to finish him off, but first teleports an unconscious Proto Man out of the fortress. Bass then asks King who created him, and King answers him by telling him that Dr. Wily was his creator, which shocks Bass. Shortly afterwards, Dr. Wily appears on the monitor, scolding King for helping an enemy, and telling him to finish Bass off. King refuses, and then Dr. Wily uses a device to increase his "brainwashing" (and supposedly enhancing King's power in the process). King's armor then changes from gold to a violet coloring, and then he breaks through the wall and enters the next room. Bass follows him, only to find King fusing with the giant blue machines that he fought while he was at King's fortress. Bass engages King in combat once more, and defeats him once again. After that, King tells Bass to get out of the castle quickly before it explodes while he's in it. Bass, in a rare display of humanity, shows concern for King, asking about his safety. King told Bass that he would make it out of the castle somehow, but after Bass leaves. Bass quickly warps out of the castle, leaving King behind. During King's "last" words, before he's supposedly destroyed, he says that he and Bass could have probably been good friends. After that, the castle explodes, seemingly killing King and burying him under rubble.

After his victory over King, Bass decides to go to Dr. Wily's newly built laboratory to challenge him out of anger of being deceived and betrayed. Bass once again manages to overcome all obstacles in his path, including the newly resurrected Robot Masters, and eventually came face to face with the doctor himself. Dr. Wily then thanks Bass for getting rid of King, and then told him that he was going to put a restraining bolt on him before he goes haywire like King did. The two of them engage one another in combat, and Dr. Wily is eventually defeated, and starts bowing to Bass, pleading for mercy. Bass then holds Wily at gunpoint, demanding an explanation for creating King. According to Dr. Wily, he created King to test Bass' abilities. He supposedly designed King with the intention of creating the most powerful robot in the world, and since Bass destroyed him, he has proven himself as the strongest. Bass scoffs at him, telling him that it was a "lame excuse", and then Dr. Wily changes the subject by revealing his plans for a second model of King. He told Bass that if he joins King II, then the two of them will be unstoppable. Before Bass could answer, however, Proto Man arrives and destroys the plans. Angered, Dr. Wily orders Bass to destroy Proto Man, but he refuses. Proto Man then asks Bass if he would rather destroy Mega Man with his own power. After that, he decides to give Bass a lecture, saying that he will never defeat Mega Man because he has "nothing to fight for". Bass then gets angry about it, telling Proto Man to get lost, in which he does. After that, Bass scoffs at Proto Man, saying that he doesn't need a reason to fight, and will continue fighting to destroy Mega Man.

### *Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chōsensha*

A group of futuristic robots calling themselves the Dimensions attacked Symphony City, a city where robots and humans lived together in peace. The one leading the Dimensions was Rockman Shadow, a robot very similar to Mega Man. Mega Man heard this news at Dr. Light's laboratory and goes to the scene, while at the same time Wily sends Bass to see who this evil Mega Man was. Bass agrees to help Mega Man stop the robots because Wily's laboratory was near the city.

After Bass defeated the Grey Devil in Rockman Shadow's robot factory, Rockman Shadow tells Bass he will tell him who he is once he defeats his men. Bass manages to defeat all the Robot Masters and Rockman Shadow reveals to him he is another robot like Quint that Wily created when he traveled to the future. Rockman Shadow then offers Bass to join him to destroy the real Mega Man, and that way he will be truly the strongest. Bass rejects the offer because he doesn't want to be ordered around by someone who resembles Mega Man, and says he will do things his way, first of which to destroy Rockman Shadow. The two of them engage in an earnest fight and Rockman Shadow is eventually defeated. Before dying, he tells Bass that he was left behind as Quint's flop. He increased his strength, and devastated the world. As nothing was able to stop him in the future, he traveled back in time to find someone that could defeat him. He also tells Bass that seeking strength is not the way for robots to live, because even if Bass crushes his enemy, another one will always appear until he ends up dead like him. Bass admits it was a good lesson and he and Mega Man bury Rockman Shadow, before leaving Bass tells Mega Man that he will spare him for now, but tells him to not forget that he (Bass) is the strongest one alive. Bass later is shown in the game ending credits with Treble taking a nap and in the ending picture with Dr. Light's team and Rockman Shadow.

### *Mega Man 9*

Although Bass didn't make a physical appearance in this game, he does make a small cameo in the ending. His blueprints can be seen in the background on Dr. Wily's computer. Supposedly, he was undergoing adjustments during the events of the game for *Mega Man 10*.

### *Mega Man 10*

As with Proto Man in *Mega Man 9*, Bass was confirmed as a playable character in *Mega Man 10* unlockable through downloadable content after paying a small fee (original release) or available after unlocking the DLC content (Legacy Collection 2). According to the *Mega Man 10* operations manual, he can shoot in 7 directions like he did in *Mega Man & Bass*. Unlike the Proto Man Mode in *Mega Man 9*, Bass has a story in this game and a store featuring Reggae as the owner, even though there are less items in the store and the remaining items cost more. As always, he was fighting the Robot Masters to prove that he's the strongest

Sometime during his journey through Dr. Wily's castle, Bass succumbs to the Roboenza virus and collapses to the floor. However, Treble came to his rescue by giving him one of the prototype cures that he stole from Dr. Wily, and Bass was able to recover and continue his journey through the castle. He eventually came face to face with Dr. Wily, and defeated him once again. Afterward, he mocks him for his "half-brained plans for world domination". It was then revealed that Dr. Wily caught the flu, but Bass assumed that it was Roboenza. Dr. Wily then assures him that it isn't Roboenza (due to the fact that it only affects robots, rather than humans). Seemingly, Bass just left Dr. Wily there to suffer. However, it was later revealed that Dr. Wily was taken to the hospital by unknown circumstances.

## Trivia

* Bass is labeled as "Dr. Wily's most powerful creation" in the Bass mode trailer of *Mega Man 10*.
* Despite being Mega Man's rival, Bass has never been a main stage boss. As of now, he has only been fought against as a mini-boss within the Wily Castle and Wily Tower stages of *Mega Man 7* and *Mega Man 8*.
* Bass's name is mispronounced as 'bass', as in the fish, in *Mega Man 8*.
* Aside from Dr. Wily, Bass has the most lines of any character in the original series.
* Bass shouts "Damn!" in the original English release of *Mega Man 7*, but is censored to "Darn!" in re-releases.
* "Emulous" (Bass' good point in the *Mega Man & Bass* CD data) is defined as "eager or ambition to equal or surpass another or characterized or prompted by a spirit of rivalry".
* The cloak that Bass wore in *Rockman Online* seems to be inspired by his NetNavi counterpart Bass.EXE's similar cloak.
* Despite Bass' helmet extending right down to his jaw, like Ballade's helmet, this feature is not present in any of his sprites, although it is seen in in-game artwork and official artwork of Bass. It should also be noted that various manga adaptations have depicted Bass without his helmet extending down to his jaw, i.e. *Mega Man Megamix*.