Snowflake Challenge 2026-3

[waltzoid]

Let's see what we have this time...

(checks prompt)

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

This one goes out to Mega Man (the character/series/franchise/etc.), and the fans keeping the torch (Man) lit over the ups and downs of the fandom's life cycle, including its many, many long dry spells.

The Blue Bomber has been one of my "comfort" characters ever since I first popped Mega Man 2 into my NES as a kid. Ever since I played that game, I've dipped my hands into whatever Mega Man media I could find -- the Archie comics, the Ruby-Spears cartoon, almost every game spinoff series, and even his "Green Gremlin" iteration from Captain N: The Game Master. It was always one of those things I had to check out, even if the end product turned out to be less than stellar (X5 through X7, Battle Network 4, Fully Charged). I still occasionally hear Proto Man's whistle in my head to this day.

I've never written a word of fanfic for this series, but I have viewed uncountable megabytes of fan art and played several fan games (I've even finished a few levels in some of them!). The passion that the fanbase has for that lovable blue-armored android whose superpower is "absorb the other guy's powers" never ceases to amaze me.

I'm what most might call a "fandom tourist" - by my personal definition, I'm someone who likes to keep to themselves when engaging with a creative work to avoid spoilers and arguments. Fortunately, aside from the cries every year for a new game in any of its many sub-series, discussion has been mostly civil, and I do still enjoy reading discussion about game mechanics, Robot Master designs and weapons...that sort of thing.

However long this fandom lasts after the original game's 40th anniversary in 2027, I'm glad to have followed it, even if it's just as a Mettall who occasionally lifts his helmet to fire a few bullets before taking a Mega Buster blast to the face.

Comments

[sarajayechan]

My only experience with Mega Man has been the 2nd and 3rd games on the NES, plus my friend being super into the later Rockman series and my seeing his squee posts about it. But the second game is one of my all-time faves and I wish it'd come to the NSO.

[waltzoid]

MM2 has always been pretty sweet.

I played 2 and 3 before I could even find a copy of the first game. That's not to say that Mega Man 1 doesn't have its charms -- there's a reason Guts Man and Cut Man featured so prominently in the Ruby-Spears cartoon, after all -- but it's just so weird when you compare it to every other game in the classic series.

It has a scoring system! (And just like Whose Line, the points don't matter.)

[sarajayechan]

I don't think I've ever played MM1, but I've heard it's quite the experience!

And yeah, I remember being surprised at the lack of a scoring system in Super Mario World 2 but I think most platformers eventually phased them out?

[waltzoid]

Most of them did.

I think only the "classic"-styled Mario games (3D Land, New SMB, 3D World) still kept them. I don't think Mario Odyssey or Mario Wonder keeps score. They just keep track of your collectibles.

[cye_of_the_torrent]

I haven't thought about Captain N in ages. :o

[waltzoid]

I still occasionally think about it. It was a great crossover concept with lots of sadly missed potential.

But now that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate exists, you can have that experience with the characters as they were meant to be depicted way back then!

This also gave me an idea for a fanfic that replaced Kevin and Lana (nothing against them, I promise) with a pair of siblings named Nicky and Nina Tendo, and they'd dimension-hop through familiar game worlds like Hyrule, the Mushroom Kingdom, Sky World, Planet Zebes, and whatever the heck time period the original Castlevania takes place in.