Proto Man (ブルース, Blues) is one of the major supporting characters in Capcom's Mega Man franchise.
A Mii Fighter Costume modeled after him was made available as DLC for both Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He also makes an appearance in Mega Man's Final Smash, Mega Legends.
Character Description
Proto Man is shown to be calm and collected, able to stay relaxed in times of distress. Much like other heroes in the series, he has a strong sense of justice and a willingness to help others, though he prefers to be a lone wolf. He is also very protective, especially towards Mega Man by giving him advice and looking out for him much like any older brother would.
Before Mega Man, Dr. Thomas Light created Proto Man, intending him to be the first humanoid robot capable of self-awareness. However, Proto Man was only a prototype, meaning some parts of him were untested and unstable, including his energy core that was at high risk of shutting him down. Dr. Light planned to fix his body, but Proto Man's self-awareness gave him the fear of change if he were to receive any sort of modification, so he fled to protect his sense of identity. Dr. Light presumed Proto Man as dead and perfected the energy core to craft his younger siblings Mega Man and Roll. Proto Man himself wandered the world alone as he began to deteriorate; Dr. Wily later found him and took him in, where he was able to modify his body and turn Proto Man into a combat robot. Proto Man decides to serve Dr. Wily, believing he owes a debt to him for saving his life.
Proto Man first appears in Mega Man 3 as a suprise opponent for Mega Man to fight in the Magnet Man, Hard Man, and Shadow Man stages, going under the identity of Break Man. After Mega Man defeats Dr. Wily, Proto Man arrives to rescue him and take him back to Dr. Light's laboratory. He returns in Mega Man 4, rescuing Kalinka, the daughter of Dr. Cossack who has been beaten by Mega Man; at this point, Proto Man has seemingly defected from Dr. Wily, as his motivation for saving Kalinka was to allow her to tell Mega Man that her father was forced to work for Wily. As retaliation, Wily creates Dark Man to impersonate Proto Man in Mega Man 5 and orders him to cause havoc, kidnap Dr. Light, and frame Proto Man for the crimes. The real Proto Man eventually arrives to assist Mega Man in uncovering the truth and saving Dr. Light.
Subsequent sequels would downgrade Proto Man into an assist/helper role; in Mega Man 6, he appears in Tomahawk Man's stage to give Mega Man the Energy Balancer upgrade; in Mega Man 7, Proto Man appears in the Cloud Man and Turbo Man stages to give hints to certain secret upgrades, as well as giving Mega Man his trademark Proto Shield after a brief spar; in Mega Man 8, he arrives to help the injured Duo escape from Wily Tower, and later relays Duo's message of gratitude to Mega Man at the end of the game. Proto Man gets an expanded role in Bass' ending in Mega Man & Bass, where he eavesdrops on a conversation between Bass and Wily; he angers both by destroying Wily's plans for a stronger robot and telling Bass he has nothing to fight for and therefore can never beat Mega Man.
Proto Man gains his first-ever playable role in the mainline games with Mega Man 9 as a DLC character, capable of deflecting projectiles with his Proto Shield, can slide, and use the Proto Coil and Proto Jet; within the story mode, he merely appears to warn Mega Man of a trap laid by Dr. Wily, and later saves him in the end from the crumbling Wily Castle. Proto Man returns as a playable character in Mega Man 10, this time in the base game. In the story, he and Mega Man work together on getting the parts needed to form the vaccine for Roboenza - a virus that causes robots to overheat and go crazy. Proto Man is infected in Wily Castle, but is cured by Dr. Light's prototype vaccine and the two go on to defeat Dr. Wily; he leaves him behind to be infected by his own virus as a form of "poetic justice" (though it is implied that Mega Man eventually took him to a hospital).
Outside of the main series, Proto Man is also a playable character in Mega Man: The Power Battle; if the game is completed with him, his ending features him overlooking both the wreckage of Wily's fortress and later a cityscape, while narration reveals his origins. He returns in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, being dispatched by Dr. Light to recover parts stolen by Dr. Wily as well as to rescue Roll. In his ending, Proto Man declines his father's offer of a repair to his unstable core, deciding to keep with his "lone wolf" way of life; if he completes the story with Mega Man, he comforts his younger brother after suffering a crisis of faith from Wily's words (who accused him of being a hypocrite for destroying other Robots) by reassuring him that his way is the right one; if he completes the story with Bass, he reaffirms him of why he will never defeat Mega Man and leaves him to contemplate; if he completes the story with Duo, he will deny sort of relation he was with Mega Man after Duo questions him before leaving for Earth. Proto Man is also a playable character in the PSP game Mega Man Powered Up, a remake of the first Mega Man game, but does not have any involvement in the story.
An alternate version of Proto Man appears in the Mega Man Battle Network series, which is set in an alternate timeline where the Internet is the subject of research instead of Robots. In this universe, ProtoMan.EXE is a NetNavi, with his operator being Eugene Chaud - a master NetBattler working with law enforcement to solve NetCrimes. They share a friendship and rivalry with the series' protagonists Lan and MegaMan.EXE.
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Mii Fighter Costume
A costume for the Mii Gunner modeled after Proto Man was made available as a part of the Wave 1 batch of DLC costumes.
The gun it uses is the Proto Buster. It was created by Dr. Wily as part of his modifications for Proto Man to turn him into a combat Robot. Like the Mega Buster, it features the Variable Weapon System, but it is very flawed and unstable; it initially prevented Proto Man from having both arms and is often prone to shutting down from overuse. The back of the costume also features his famous Proto Shield.
Smash Tour
Proto Man‘s trophy is a green item that can be acquried during Smash Tour. If used, it will reflect items (both on the board and during a battle) back at the original user.
Trophy Description
Proto Man's Trophy is exclusive to the Wii U version
A prototype robot developed by Dr. Light. After his completion, a critical problem was found in his energy core. He fled Dr. Light's care to die alone, but was then recovered by Dr. Wily and converted into a fighting machine. Since then, he's been both friend and foe to Mega Man and always something of a lone wolf.
- NES - Mega Man 3 (11/1990)
- SNES - Mega Man 7 (09/1995)
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Aesthetic
Proto Man is one of the characters that arrives to assist Mega Man in his Final Smash Mega Legends, alongside X, MegaMan Volnutt, MegaMan.EXE, Star Force Mega Man, and Bass.
Mii Fighter Costume
The Mii Gunner costume modeled after Proto Man returns, this time as a part of the Round 3 batch of DLC costumes.
Spirit
A Spirit of Proto Man is available in the base game. It is a Primary Shield Spirit under the Legendary class. No Spirit Battle accompanies it, as it can only be summoned by using the Spirit Cores of Dr. Light, Roll, and any other Primary Shield Spirit.
A Spirit of ProtoMan.EXE is also available and is also a Primary Shield Spirit, but under the Ace class. His Spirit Battle uses Shulk (as both wield energy swords), whose weapon attacks have increased power and speed. Only sword items will spawn during the battle, meant to represent the sword-type BattleChips. The stage is the Battlefield Form of Mute City SNES (meant to emulate the 16-bit aesthetic of the Mega Man Battle Network series) and the song that plays is "Zero (Theme of ZERO (from Mega Man X))".
| No. | Spirit | Name | Artwork Origin | Type | Rating | Effect | Slots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 865 | 
|
Proto Man | Mega Man 10 | 
|
★★★★ | N/A | 3 |
| 915 | 
|
ProtoMan.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network |
|
★★★ | Sword Attack ⬆ | 2 |
 Mega Man universe
| ||
|---|---|---|
| Characters | Mega Man (3DS/Wii U · Ultimate) | |
| Side Characters | Assist Trophies | Elec Man · Wily Capsule · Zero |
| Mii Fighter Costumes | X · Proto Man · MegaMan.EXE · Zero | |
| Stage Hazard | Yellow Devil | |
| Enemy | Mettaur | |
| Final Smash | X · MegaMan Volnutt · MegaMan.EXE · Star Force Mega Man · Proto Man · Bass | |
| Stages | Wily Castle | |
| Music | List | List of Music (Mega Man series) |
| Songs | "Mega Man 2 Medley" | |
| Collectibles | Trophies | 3DS Trophies · Wii U Trophies |
| Spirits | List of spirits (Mega Man series) | |
| Masterpiece | Mega Man 2 | |