Analyzing Mega Man's Robot Master Serial Codes (DLN, DWN...)

[Music] so you know those bosses you fight in the Mega Man series there's eight of them in every game all of them the man of something or other over here in the west these guys are called Robot Masters the term originated from the instruction manual for Mega Man 3 and has been used in the series ever since the term was used officially as recently as 2020 with the re-release of the Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide updated Edition a robot Master is differentiated from your average robot by its mental capacity unlike the more common robots found across the world which possess a very simple and rudimentary thought process Robot Masters have a mental capacity similar to or even surpassing your average human being but like me you may be surprised to learn that the term robot Master is mostly a western phrase over in Japan these robots are primarily referred to as the Dr Wy numbers named as such because they were made by DR Wy and because they all have a dedicated serial number it's a very minor aspect to the series lore but un important one nonetheless even after the 8 years it took for us to get Mega Man 11 you can still see a robot Master serial number front and center When selecting a stage it's not a detail that the series developers are going to let fall by the wayside unlike monsteropolis so considering the developers themselves think this detail is deserving of their attention I'd say it's deserving of mine as well let's really analyze this system from both an in-universe perspective and a metatextual one see if we can't figure out what makes this system tick in what better place to start then from the beginning no before that it's the year 200x and the foremost authority on Modern robotics one Dr Thomas light gets to work on creating highly Advanced robots he begins with a prototype which uh I've just finished my first prototype robot I command you it didn't work out but after that he builds two robot siblings a lab assistant named rock and a housekeeping robot named Ro these two robots are the first in the Dr Light numbers series or dln for short side note in Japan Dr Light is instead known as as Dr Wright and as such the series code is written as drn instead rock is labeled dln 001 and roll is labeled dln 002 from there Dr Light built six more robots all intended for jobs that were considered too dangerous for the average person such as a demolition robot an Arctic investigator a power plant manager cutman these light numbers were the first Robot Masters they span from dln 003 to dln 008 and with their help we can usher in a new era of peace for Humanity oh God what why are they doing that they're not supposed to be doing that angry at Dr light's success resident bastard Dr Wy Steals and reprograms the six Robot Masters and attempts to take over the world Rock volunteers to turn himself into a fighting robot and thus Mega Man is born so now we've got the basic framework for the numbering system three initials to indicate the robot's Creator and an ID number to show what order they were built in [Music] real quick we need to talk about Mega Man powered up see the first Mega Man game only had six Robot Masters but every game after had eight so when time came to remake Mega Man 1 for the PSP two new bosses were added timean and oilman early promotional material for Mega Man powered up erroneously listed oilman as dln 009 and timean as dln 010 this is largely disregarded as non-canon seeing as this was never mentioned again and it kind of requires that every robot Master introduced after Mega Man 1 has their ID number offset by two to accommodate the change and we can see from the games that came out after powered up that this isn't the case although fun fact years later the Archie Comics adaptation would give these two robots the serial codes dln 00a and 00 B stating that they were highly experimental robots that were never finished I feel like these codes fit pretty well it kind of groups timean and Oil Man with the rest of the single-digit numbers while also differentiating them from the main line since they were introduced in a spin-off game also as you'll see shortly data introduced in supplemental material is going to be a reoccurring theme throughout this video anyways Wy gets his butt kicked the Robot Masters are rebuilt and turned back into good boys and peace returns to the city for one year because Dr Wy ever determined to prove his superiority over Dr Light decides to build eight Robot Masters of his own these are the first Robot Masters built exclusively by Dr Wy and explicitly for combat they are the Dr Wy numbers numbered dwn 009 through [Applause] [Music] 06 so here we can make our first major observation regarding robot Master serial codes the series code changed from dln to dwnn to signify that a different doctor created the second batch but the ID number continued counting from where the previous series left off I feel like it would have made more sense if the dwnn series started counting from one and was considered separate from the dln series but I suppose it's not really a problem this early in the series I mean why split hairs when only 16 of these things exist for now and to be honest I think it's perfectly in character for Dr Wy to continue building on top of Dr Light series as a kind of insult Dr Wy is consistently characterized as not just thinking that he's a genius but that he needs to prove it as well he wants to show that anything like can do he can do better that being said great news wy's a reformed man he's turned over a new leaf and he's even working together with Dr Light to make seven more Robot Masters that's right seven instead of eight but by complete coincidence Wy finds the remains of an extraterrestrial ninja robot who he takes for his own to complete the set now officially these third numbers are classified as dwnn 17- 24 even though they were a combined effort between both doctors and this feels like a good time to bring up some Rockman manga specifically Rockman megax and the other adaptations by author Hoshi arga because these manga take the liberty of reclassifying the Robot Masters in ways that frankly make much better sense in Rockman remix and the initial release of Rockman megax the third numbers were reclassified as dwnn for Dr wght and Wy numbers but later when megax was reprinted in 2003 among some other changes their classification was reverted back to dwnn as in the context of this manga Dr Light had no involvement with the creation of the third numbers however for the games I think drwn or dwnn would be the perfect way to classify these Robot Masters they're the only set of robots that were developed by both doctors and there's actually already a symbol for w and Wy you can even see it used in game in magnet man stage but fan preference aside officially these robots are classified as dwnn moving on to Mega Man 4 We're introduced to the Third Wheel Dr miky sergeich KAC he created his own eight Robot Masters but was then strong armed by Wy into sending them after Mega Man his robots are numbered dwnn observation number two the system makes no sense these robots were built by Dr CAC so shouldn't these letters change to reflect that I mean they're officially categorized as dwnn because Wy reprogrammed them but I think that logic is flimsy as hell because so were Dr lights robots the light numbers were also reprogrammed by Wy but they're still classified as dln so why aren't KX robots classified under something like dcn and go figure that's exactly what Rockman megax did classifying them as dcn a much better change shall be a non-official one so anyways just like before these robots ID numbers continue counting from where the previous batch left off officially classified as dwn 25 through 32 and I'm just going to go ahead and Skip Mega Man 5 because the eight Robot Masters in that game were built by Wy so dwnn 33 through 40 now by the time Mega Man 6 rolls around Robot Masters are being manufactured worldwide by different people the world robot Alliance decides to hold the first annual robot tournament sponsored by the mysterious philanthropist Mr X these robot contestants are from all over the world built by a variety of different scientists but of course all eight of them are reprogrammed by Wy in an effort for world domination so they all get classified as dwn 41-48 again I have the same complaints about this that I did with the CAC numbers and how dwn is completely ill-fitting for this batch of robots picking up slack like usual megax reclassifies them as the Mr X numbers because they were the eight contestants in Mr X's first annual robot tournament which I feel makes more sense however there's actually something else that I'm more concerned with up until this point Robot Masters were considered cuttingedge technology I wasn't too bothered with putting them in the same numbered list despite being made by different people because it could have been assumed that these were the only Robot Masters in existence so why not put them all in one list but by Mega Man 6 it's implied that there are enough Robot Masters being made worldwide for there to be a robot tournament by this point I feel like there has to be robot Masters that we never even see in the series either that or these robots qualified for the tournament because they were the only eight robots available but if these guys aren't the only new Robot Masters then why are they the only ones considered part of the same numbered series as the rest of the Robot Masters well we can assume that at this point in the series the purpose of the serial codes has evolved from keeping track of what Robot Masters exist to keeping track of what Robot Masters are important to the story and I also want to point out that in the Archie Comics it's said that dw4 5 Plant Man was created by one Dr Pedro AEL who originally designed him as Dr AEL number 001 this suggests that some robots would have more than one serial code and while the Archie Comics aren't Canon I think this idea makes a lot of sense as many Robot Masters were built for a specific purpose before being turned evil so in the Archie continuity plant man would be the first robot made by DR Asel but the 45th robot that Wy sent against Mega Man to me the possibility that Robot Masters can have more than one serial code makes the whole system feel a little bit more believable so I think it's something to keep in mind as we go forward although at the same time maybe we should take a step back for a second you could say that by making all of these observations that I'm looking into this system way too much it's obvious that from a meta perspective robot Master serial codes only exist to organize Boss characters from a video game series the reason the Robot Masters in Mega Man 6 are the only ones counted in this system is because they're the only Robot Masters that you fight in the game there likely wasn't any greater thought put behind it so I want to ask do these serial codes even exist in Universe are these robots officially classified this way within the context of the story or does this system only exist for the players and developers who wish to keep track of these fictional characters well the only time serial codes are ever mentioned in game is during the ending of Mega Man 3 the game flips backwards through Dr light's list of robots revealing the original prototype robot Master to be protoman dln 0000 we can also see that the way these robots are numbered lines up exactly with the numbers they were given in the first game's instruction poster the only other hint towards the in Universe existence of this system is via the Wy weapons archive in Mega Man 10 every time you fight this thing it emulates three Robot Masters from previous games for every robot it emulates there's a corresponding Block in the background which lights up if you count from the top left these lights line up exactly with the robot's ID numbers but this could be more of an Easter egg than it is in Universe confirmation ultimately I feel like it could go either way so I'm going to choose to keep operating under the assumption that these serial codes do in fact exist in Universe because trying to make perfect sense of a system whose developers never intended for anyone to think so hard about is something I find really fun to do and even if I'm just seeing War where there isn't any or where the developers never intended there to be using the Mega Man series as a base for creativity is part of why I love it so much but if these codes do exist in Universe then we have to ask who's keeping track the obvious answer is Dr Wy since he's the one modifying everyone one but I always imagined it could be some governmental Force keeping track of the robot Master related incidents we see in the games obviously this is leaning more into fan Theory territory but there is the world robot Alliance this is a minor character group mentioned in the Japanese instruction manual for Mega Man 6 who organized the first annual robot tournament with funding from Mr X the Rockman 9 arranged soundtrack actually came with a one shot manga which showed that the W had a hand in the events leading up to Mega Man 9 though this is dubiously Canon either way I think feel like it's believable that an organization like this would exist and be documenting each of wy's world domination plots and the robots involved with them I didn't know about the WR until I started researching this video and I was surprised to learn that they weren't just a one-off character group I feel like if we see more adaptions of the Mega Man series in the future it would be really cool to see them make a reappearance though I'm getting pretty off track here so let's just revise our observations and move on number one the numbered list keeps track of Robot Masters who were used by Dr Wy to try and take over the world number two two the series code signifies if a robot master was built by Dr Light dln or built by Dr Wy dwnn and lastly number 2B I guess if a reprogrammed robot master was built by someone other than light or Wy they're considered dwnn so with that squared away let's move on not to Mega Man 7 but to the Mega Man Game Boy series instead known as Rockman World in Japan the Game Boy Mega Man games are not ports but rather games which reuse the NES assets to tell Original Stories of particular note is that three of these games each introduce a rival robot specifically designed to kill Mega Man ankor Punk and Ballade fittingly named the Mega Man killers are considered to be part of their own series mkn 1 2 and 3 also known in Japan as the Rockman killer numbers the Game Boy games also introduced Quint a version of Mega Man Who was kidnapped from the future brought back in time Modified by Dr Wy and given a pogo stick I don't get what the plan was anyways Quint was never given any official classification Rockman megax briefly considers him as special variation number one but this is non- Canon and is kind of said by Wy only in passing so I don't know about this one and if Quint is just Mega Man from the future I guess that would make his official code dln 00001 same as Mega Man finally Game Boy Mega Man 5 introduces not one robot but an entire new lineup of bosses known as the stard droids these alien robots were found by Dr Wy inside some mysterious ancient ruins off screen just like shadowman they were then modified to do wy's bidding in Japan the stard droids are called the space rulers and as such are officially listed as space ruler number 001 through 009 while we're talking about spin-offs let's also talk about Mega Man the Wy Wars for the Sega Genesis this game introduced three bosses themed after an old influential Chinese novel called Jony to the West this Trio was dubbed the Genesis unit named after the console they were introduced on and they're officially numbered as the Wy Wars numbers 1 2 and 3 in Japan Wy Wars was instead called Rockman Mega world named after the second Mega Drive and the Genesis unit was instead the mega World core abbreviated as mwnn instead of wwnn I am so sick of saying W last spin-off of note is the Japanese exclusive super adventure Rockman for the PS1 in this game Wy introduces a new robot as Shin translates to new or true so n WN for new Wy number I I don't know let's just move on who the starts a conversation like that I just sat down let's get back on track with Mega Man 7 and 8 Wy is openly behind the events of both of these games some of these robots were stolen and reprogrammed others were entirely built by Dr Wy either way these robots are numbered dwnn 49-64 oh right and we also have to talk about Bas who's officially classified as special Wy number one dude you were just making stuff up at this point Mega Man 9 involved eight robots made by Dr Light something we haven't seen since the first game so these robots are classified as dln 65-72 and not dwnn glad to know that after 21 years Capcom remembered a little bit of consistency these robots turned evil out of protest for their government mandated expiration date apparently robots in the Mega Man Universe are given an expiration time limit after which they're required by law to be shut down and decommissioned this was never mentioned before or after Mega Man 9 and it kind of raises a few questions like we never met these robots before Mega Man 9 but apparently they've already been around long enough for their expiration date to have come and gone either these guys were offscreen during previous Mega Man games or enough time has passed between the end of Mega Man 8 and the beginning of Mega Man 9 for this to make sense and fun fact the Archie Comics tried to prepare for this plot line by introducing some of these Robot Masters way early in advance but they give them the same serial codes even though that many Robot Masters haven't even been introduced yet like they try to handle wave this by saying Dr Light jumped ahead in his notes but like what does that mean are they implying that Dr Light designed 56 other unseen Robot Masters since his first batch and that the ID numbers of the robots seen in Mega Man 9 just coincidentally line up exactly with when Wy would reprogram them clearly this line wasn't meant to be taken so seriously and it was just supposed to be a reference to the games but like come on man anyways lastly in Mega Man 10 the eight bosses were all built by different people just like in Mega Man 6 they were infected with wy's Robo enza virus so they all get categorized as dwn 73 through 80 our observations are actually starting to hold up although we still haven't talked about Mega Man in base the plot of Mega Man in base is that a powerful robot named King has thrown Wy out of his own castle and declared a robot Revolution eight robots of various origin either join King's Army willingly or are strong armed by King into joining by force two of these robots are returning bosses from Mega Man 8 astroman and tangum man another robot coldman is implied to have been built by Dr Light as he was originally designed to store some DNA samples in Dr light's lab these Robot Masters get their own category officially classified as the King number series or kgn 001 through 006 the number goes up to six instead of eight because for some reason astroman and tangum man weren't given King numbers but if we're operating off of the prior assumption that some robots have multiple serial codes I'm sure astran and tangum man could just be labeled as kgn 7 and 8 also weirdly enough King himself never received an official serial code I feel like kgn 0000 fits well enough but he was never given any official classification by Wy because yeah it's ultimately revealed that King was created by Wy before turning on him and kicking him out of his own castle for our observations this still lines up pretty well the reason these bosses aren't grouped up with the rest is because Wy wasn't the instigator of this plot these robots were recruited by King against wy's wishes so they wouldn't be classified as Wy numbers and at long last we've made it to Mega Man 11 the most recent game in the franchise just like in Mega Man 6 and 10 these bosses were all made by different manufacturers and just for fun the game even States the names of these different groups it's a nice way to help color in the Mega Man Universe we even get a small Cameo by CC robot Laboratories it says here that they were the ones who invented tunderman two of the robots even have the same manufacturer Blackman and impact man were both apparently created by Naka um heavy machinery now we don't know who that is but we can learn some stuff about them in the intro cut scene blockman says this all thanks to you doc you built me Rock Solid so with that we can assume that Dr Light has some kind of connection with Naka um but wa whoa whoa whoa wait a minute wait blockman was built by Dr Light but it says dwnn 81 right there why is he considered dwnn in Mega Man 1 and9 even robots reprogrammed by Wy were still considered dln if Dr Light made them so why is Blackman dwnn and not dln observation number four the system makes no sense this stupid game franchise all right all right let's just wrap this up we have one more robot to cover zero while I don't think he was ever classified officially there are some background details in Mega Man 03 that says stuff like doctor's last number and Dr W number infinity this makes it more than likely that Zero's official serial code is dwnn infinity and that's not even a number so the original summary I had for this video was that the robot Master serial numbers make more sense in a metatextual sense than they do as an in Universe classification that the system works well enough for fans and developers to keep track of the classic series as Boss characters but for it to be an in Universe system requires some suspension of disbelief but also sometimes in my spare time I like to watch videos by cgp gray and if his videos about real world classification systems have taught me anything it's that systems like this are all always finicky and strange every system has unique case scenarios and outliers and exceptions to the rule I mean if we look at the main list of Robot Masters the one I said was defined as robots who were used by Wy to take over the world that list still includes ro ro was never turned evil she was the only number never fought by Mega Man and I wouldn't even consider her to be a robot Master but she's still in the list because well when the list was created it was meant to keep track of something else so maybe the system isn't necessarily unbelievable maybe the system is more realistic than I ever could have given it credit for and for those of you curious the honor of robot Master number 69 goes to juelan [Music]

Channel: TheRetroDude

Views: 10,057

Keywords:

Id: 07xL9lIBgwU

Length: 21min 50sec (1310 seconds)

Published: Wed May 01 2024