Mega Man Timeline - 20XX in a Nutshell | NowThis Nerd

The second ‘Mega Man: Legacy Collection’ is in stores now, so Andrew Rivera is here with a quick refresher on everyone’s favorite fighting robot.

Sure, it’s not the deepest lore in video game history, but the Mega Man timeline is still worth exploring. Between the various series like Mega Man classic, Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero, Mega Man ZX, and Mega Man Legends, it can be pretty difficult to keep track of all these mischievous mechanical man. So we’ll start with the original MegaMan story. When Dr. Thomas light started a robot revolution in 2017, he had no idea that his creations would be used for evil by his rival, Dr. Wily. Light reprogrammed his robotic son/lab assistant Rock into a warrior named Mega Man.

Timeline issues are alway tricky when it comes to long-running video game series, so we don’t know what his last adventure looked like. But we know that 100 years after the classic series, the next generation of consoles got a new generation of fighting robot: Mega Man X. This is one of the coolest characters in MegaMan history, a self-aware android locked away for a century to learn about morality. After his release, he wages war against Maverick Reploids and their Leader, Sigma, alongside his friend and rival Zero. Zero would make his own mark on Mega Man history, with his own series of games taking place 200 years later.

The Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX series gave way to Mega Man Legends, the last in the MegaMan timeline. Set thousands of years after ZX, MegaMan Legends is the story of Mega Man Volnutt, a scavenger in a flooded world. He’s the last link between humanity and the new lifeform called Carbons. MegaMan Legends 3 was cancelled, so we never get an answer to the big cliffhanger ending, and Capcom doesn’t look like they’re making a new Mega Man series anytime soon. So until we get some new additions to the MegaMan lore, the Mega Man Legacy Collection is probably the best we've got.

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[sayachan]

Can we stop throwing the damn ZX games under the bus? Their honestly really damn good and absolutely criminally underrated .

[spinceiling]

Why the ZX slander though? Those are fantastic games :(

[xetchrono]

ZX doesn't get enough respect seriously its actually an important part in the megaman lore.

[FixTheWi-Fi]

"Once they announce Mega Man 11 for the Switch"
Yeah, about that...

[pypi]

Ugh, didn't even bother to mention ZX Advent, the game in the ZX series that had any resemblance of plot. Otherwise a good video.

[christianrc]

The year is 20XX
Everyone uses metal blade

[MooMaid]

Oh come on, why did you skip ZX? Those were amazing games :< Shame on you Mister. Still great video though ;)

[TurtleTitan]

Damn, you did ZX dirty, shame it was great while it lasted but good video.

Classic Mega Man doesn't have a definitive ending because Capcom states in Rockman Perfect Memories, I believe that they have no interest in seeing the Classic series manifest the latter continuity, which imo is understandable considering just how different in tone and style it is.

As for Battle Network, I'm not sure why a video like that would even be necessary, the Network timeline is literally just Battle Network series then 200 years later Mega Man Star Force, thats it, the most interesting things left in the timeline are that Star Force 3 ends on a kind of big cliffhanger in the postgame, and that Duo from BN4 never came back, despite saying he would, I'm kinda surprised he never showed up to fight Star Force Mega Man.

Would love to see them have another go at Star Force though, I wrote it off back in the day for being different from Battle Network and came to regret it after playing through the series as an adult, I would've ate those games up as a kid, loved how original it was with it's characters and universe, The series touched on some powerful themes and delved into some deep topics and actually executed this competently, the cast actually had depth and grew/developed over the course of the series, With Geo in particular quite possibly being the most developed and fully realized character in this entire franchise.

Despite enjoying Star Force's more original villains, I would've loved to see Network Timeline incarnates of the Star Droids from Mega Man V(GB) show up to battle Geo and Omega-Xis, They never appeared in Battle Network, and both series do share the same universe, no good reason why they can't be EM beings.

Fun games though, all of these series' I miss Mega Man.

[trombonemain]

"I'd be worried sick if my Roomba enlisted in the Marines."
Thanks for that.

[illsologamer]

Okay MegaMan legends, hold on for the ride this is gonna be a long one.

1. The humans did not go extinct, they advanced in technology so much that they found what they called was "Heaven". Everyone went except a hand full of people (keep in mind there is not much of humanity as it is).

2. Earth was becoming inhabitable for humanity, so they built underground cities, laboratories, power sources (refractors) to survive and continue to advance in technology and life extension (that's why the master lived so long).Which eventually leads to the creation of the Elysium.

Keep in mind that when humanity went underground they also experimented with the creation of carbons. Their sole purpose was to be guinea pigs to live on the surface and to see how harsh the living environments were without the cost of human life. Here humanity could dispose of the carbons and make new types with different genetic codes whenever they wanted and to also keep population in check. Also note that should any carbon make their way into any underground city they would be disposed of by security bots or gaurdians (reverbots). This was the old system that humanity followed before Elysium.

3. With Earth or Terra no longer being inhabitable (think of the opposite of Intersteller) for human kind. Everyone was evacuated to Elysium where the new system was created, there human kind could continue with their experiments with the carbons and Terra. Purging carbons was most likely considered a bit inhumane so the humans created 4 keys as a failsafe to only purge carbons if necessary.

Also note that there were Many different types of "Megamen" and "Mothers" to help aid and run the old and new systems.If some should go berserk, irregular hunters aka triggers would deal with them.

4. The master's genetic code was the piece that made the carbons as what we know now. This is why Master never chose to purge them, because they were pretty human.

[spatalottakittens]

Good video overall, there were a few mistakes here and there and I'm kinda upset you skipped over the ZX series. But I enjoyed watching it. That whole "It went as well as you'd expect for A.I.'s designed by a guy who digs up fossils for a living." line actually made me laugh really hard. Seriously I don't know why but I found that line so funny.

[zettovii]

This was a pretty ok video. Really would have been better if you didn't skip on ZX though. It did bring some interesting story elements, and is where the human/machine fusion chronologically starts to take place for real.

[TrueBlueMajikDewd]

Honestly. Mega Man ZX is my favorite MM game tied with Legends. Wasn't big on that being thrown under the bus.

[ozzymarr]

speaking, mega man x is just simply called "X"

[pawpawno]

So can we please crowd fund a Megaman legends 3!? If enough people tell Capcom, " Shut up and take my money!" they gotta man another game.

[hallyuotaku]

came here because I'm playing MegaMan Legends again and honestly tho, Legends is the best series, I hope capcom would remake it.

[thefurrygamer]

Mega Man 11 is coming out next year and hopefully they dust off Legends 3 and bring it back

[negisprinfield]

Megaman zero still the best because of the story and the emotion that have been delivered to me and that game was the one that make my childhood one of the best memory

[LatIenws]

Unfortunately a lot of people skipped the zx games when they were younger but I really liked them as they resembles the zero series of the Gameboy which I absolutely loved.

[jayko]

I love mega man, but the problem is when people say they want a new megaman game they can be talking about way different things. I'd like a new one like Command mission, Battle Network, or Starforce. Others want new one's like X and the original series. And a couple people even want a FPS-like Megaman, which would be cool.