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10. Ice Man (Mega Man 1)
 

 
Ice Man was one of the first original boss robots in the Mega Man series.  Being part of the first Mega Man, he wasn't deserving of a cleverer name.  "Ice Man" though nominally covers all the winter elements and is much more parallel to the nominations of deity's in antiquity.  Real world parallels aside, this Eskimo could pack a punch with his ice slasher.  His jumping power was mighty and so was his defense.  Ice Man was one of the most elusive characters in the Mega Man series.  Peculiarly though, he did not look like a robot, not even an Eskimo robot.  He looked like a human Eskimo you see on the discovery channel when they visit colder climates like Greenland.  Besides fishing and making heat when necessary, these real world Eskimos always come across as the nicest of people.  Not so with Ice Man, as his level is slippery and inordinate with all the ice enemies including "freezesugulls", springbots, and flying sharks with propellers on their noses.  Also in this level, we encounter reappearing and disappearing blocks that need to be traversed to finish the level.  These are always vexing, especially in Heat Man's stage in Mega Man 2, but they first made their appearance here in Ice Man's stage.  Many Ice bosses and stages would follow from the afflatus of Ice Man and his stage  including "Freeze Man" and "Chill Penguin", but it was this original arctic blast of a boss and level that first stirred the arctic idea into reproduction.
 
9. Magnet Man
 

 
Why is Magneto arguably the most popular villain in Marvel comics?  The answer is simple: Nerds like magnets.  They like the idea of a simple scientific principle yielding a deadly weapon.  So it was only a matter of time before there was a Magnet Man in the Mega Man series, which was realized in Mega Man 3.  Boy was he one of the most scary looking bosses we encounter.  Endowed with a magnet attached to his head, Magnet Man would not be someone we would want to encounter on the street.  Wait until you had to battle him though and you saw how scary he actually was.  With his magnetic power, he was able to draw Mega Man in from all distances and keep him from shooting any projectiles at him.  Combine this with the actual magnet shot that followed the ceiling in a perfect line dropping magnets at every inch in the immediate vicinity.  The music for Magnet Mans stage was a fine piece of composure.  Try learning it on piano though and you would be sadly in for a long day.  Master it though, and you can hear this ingenious melodicism in a new way beyond 8-bit sound.  Magnet Man's level was one of the best "electro" levels in the Mega Man series.  Filled with wires throughout, and flying magnet bots that could lift you from the ground and carry you to empty pits of doom, this stage was loaded with peril.  And of course, who could forget the appearing and disappearing blocks.  If you had not mastered these yet from Mega Man 2, then you were to spend the day getting used to these often overlooked difficulties.  The idea of Magnet Man was strangely creative.  The level and character though, all dovetailed into one of the more memorable sequences in the series.  
 
8. Bubble Man
 

 
Bubble Man has one of the stronger music themes for his stage.  A pounding beat heavy on the snare accompanied by a floaty melody.  His stage was also one of the more difficult stages in the Mega Man series.  While the above ground jumps and enemies were not difficult, it was the underwater jumps that proved to be most hazardous when in the face of spikes that would instantly kill you.  Bubble Man's level is efflorescent and daunting ubiquitously, creating a perfect sense of tension.  The spiky terrain would not be over even in Bubble Man's home.  The fight segment with Bubble Man has spikes on top of the screen to further the difficulty of destroying him by jumping slightly too much in the battle.  Bubble Man is armed with Harpoons and Bubbles.  While the bubbles don't seem like they could do any damage, that do enough to make Mega Man have to worry about evading them.  The Harpoons are even more dangerous as they take a sizeable amount of energy out of Mega Man.  Bubble Man is one mean looking reploid too.  He is all business and his business is the extirpation of hero robots such as Mega Man.  Bubble Man was the first reploid created for underwater battle.  This theme would be duplicated throughout Mega Man and its different series, but Bubble Man was the initial "Water Stage" coupled with a more creative "Water Man" in the name of Bubble Man.  Also, without Bubble Man's weapon, "you know who" could not be defeated, and the world, would not be saved. 
 
7. Air Man
 
 

We meet Air Man in Mega Man 2 in the stage of the clouds.  Air Man's stage showed the afflatus that the creators of Mega Man inherited.  The stage consisted of appearing and disappearing platforms for Mega Man to jump on and a lightening thrower hovering above the superhero on a mechanistic cloud.  Airman himself was a figure of pure genius having the body and month of a fan that could suck you in when trying to get off your best shots.  His projectiles that consisted of mini tornadoes were one of the more difficult trajectories to evade in the Mega Man series.  There was only the smallest of space to jump over his tornadoes at the most exact of times.  His defense and attack were both solid.  Let's not forget his jumping power too.  He could jump across most of the screen in one up thrust.  Beating Air Man required either skilled timing or as always, the correct weapon, which this time was the weapon procured from Wood Man.  The leaves thrown at Air Man ostensible clog up the fan, which doesn't make too much sense, hence the "ostensibility".  Big and noticeably irritable (check out those eyebrows!), Air Man is a memorable figure in the collection of Wily's robots.  His aggressiveness shocks the player into his full attention.
 
6. Metal Man
 

 
Is there any weapon in the Mega Man series that feels better to use than Metal Man's buzzsaw augmented with its sharp cutting sound?  This weapon was quick, powerful, and extirpating of anything that came in its away including Mega Man.  It could shoot in eight different directions, unlike Mega Man's regular proton gun, and it imparted massive damage on everything whether it be boss robots or stage enemies.  Metal Man who was originally designed as an improvement on the weak Cut Man from Mega Man 1, saw its improvement grow ten fold as Metal Man's stage was equally as important as its insidious weapon to be procured.  Metal Man's stage was a mass of conveyor belts and electronic engineering throwing Mega Man into holes and making him jump the most difficult of jumps.  While Metal Man himself was endowed with arguably the best weapon in the Mega Man series, his defense is what keeps him out of the top 5.  He has a peculiar weakness to Mega Man's average proton gun and is usually beaten as the first boss in the game if one wants a slightly more challenging battle for their first fight other than beating Flash Man in 5 shots with the weak proton gun.  Regardless of his weak defense though, Metal Man was powerful in offense and overall design.  Like Magnet Man, his weapon was attached to his head creating the sense of paranoia in the protagonist who knew he would have to encounter this mutative robot with weapons for heads.  Great level, Great character design and arguably the best weapon to be had in the Mega Man series, places Metal Man at #6 on our list
 
 




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