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| “ | I can hardly wait for the surprise. | „ |
| ~ Shadow Man in his data for Mega Man & Bass CD. |
Shadow Man (or Shadōman in Japan) is one of the eight Robot Masters and a supporting antagonist of the NES video game Mega Man 3 as well as one of the four Robot Masters and one of the main antagonists of the Gameboy game Mega Man III. He has a different backstory from most of the Robot Masters throughout the Mega Man series; before his conversion into one of Wily's minions, Shadow Man was not originally created by Dr. Light. Rather, Dr. Wily had found Shadow Man deactivated and reactivated and turned him into one of his eight Robot Masters.
In English He has been voiced by Terry Klassen in the 1994 Ruby Spears cartoon.
In Japanese, he is voiced by Jin Yamanoi in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, Ryōtarō Okiayu in Mega Man Battle & Chase (who was also the voice actor of Turbo Man and Proto Man), as well as Kosuke Okano in Super Adventure Rockman (who the latter even voiced Metal Man in that same game).
Personality[]
As a ninja, Shadow Man is a character from the Mega Man series whose known for having incredible flexibility, but he's also known to be rather impulsive and quick-thinking. He is the sort of Robot Master who loves apart from using ninja abilites to sneak up on others, he has a dislike of obvious and boring tricks.
Biography[]
Past[]
While not much is known about his origins, it should be noted that Shadow Man is implied to have been initially created by some sort of extraterrestrial society. The "metal" on his body has been stated to not be composed of any material found on earth. While it has never been explicitly stated where Dr. Wily found Shadow man, the former did so regardless immediately sensing the latter's potential.
Mega Man 3 (1990)[]
After reprogramming and repurposing the recently discovered Shadow Man into a combative Robot Master, Dr. Wily assigned him to a respective base of operations along with seven other reprogrammed androids, Shadow Man being unlike them in the sense that the other seven were stolen and originally created by Dr. Light to be reprogrammed by Dr. Wily into the Robot Masters in question presumably following his defeat after the events of Mega Man 2. Shadow Man makes his lair in the depths of a large base that has lava. Mega Man infiltrates Shadow Man's said base to defeat him and take his weapon and one step closer to defeating Dr. Wily. If the player has defeated Top Man and acquired his titular Top Spin, Mega Man would have an advantage against Shadow Man due to the Top Spin being Shadow Man's weakness. The Top Spin is Shadow Man's weakness possibly because during the attack the player would be moving rapidly enough to keep up with the former and could also possibly be taking him off guard. Ultimately, Mega Man defeats Shadow Man and obtains his Shadow Blade, with Shadow Man never appearing for the rest of the game until his Wily Castle rematch.
Doc Robot[]
After Mega Man defeats all of the Robot Masters, Doc Robot takes over four out of the eight Robot Master's bases including Shadow Man's. In this stage, Shadow Man is replaced by Doc Robot assuming the form of Wood Man, in addition to Doc Robot taking on the role of Heat Man. However, Doc Robot/Heat Man is weak against Shadow Man's Shadow Blade, as well as Shadow Man's weakness, Top Man's Top Spin.
Mega Man III (Game Boy; 1992)[]
Shadow Man returns as one of the four main antagonists of Mega Man III, with his stage being in the same environment. Shadow Man's role is almost identical to his role in Mega Man 3, and he even bears his attacks from the original Mega Man 3, the only notable difference being that Shadow Man's weakness in this title is actually Gemini Man's Gemini laser. The weakness change is because Top Man isn't in this game, but also possibly because the laser would be able to keep up with Shadow Man's speed. Just like before however, Mega Man defeats Shadow Man for the latter to never appear for the rest of the series as an in-game boss although he would go on to appear in non-canon titles. Canonically speaking though, Shadow Man is presumably defeated for good.
Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters (1996)[]
Appearing as one of the six bosses in the "Search for Wily!" mission. Shadow Man still maintains his attacks like he does in Mega Man 3 and III, such as throwing Shadow Blades, or sliding, but he will even use makibishis and can summon a giant rideable frog when half of the energy is lost. The frog will use its tongue, a flamethrower in the mouth or spits out Kerones. different from 3 and the GameBoy adaption of it, Shadow Man has a different weak, and that is the Centaur Arrow (which is exclusive to the game itself).
Mega Man Battle & Chase (1997)[]
In Mega Man Battle & Chase, Shadow Man returns in this game, for the first time as one of the ten playable characters (twelve if Dr. Wily and Duo are counted) and uses a frog-shaped car called the Shinobi Master and can use the Shadow Blade to slow his foes down and release smoke screams. He loves to surprise people, so he participated in the Battle & Chase competition, hoping to use his prize money to build a ninja mansion full of traps. If he succeeds the race, he will do a "Hitsuji" hand gesture. If he fails, he will turn into a log resulting his own failure in the race.
In the ending, he created his ninja mansion and challenged people to enter it, stating that he would give 1 million Zenny to anyone whoever reaches the top. He is seen wearing a large red scarf in his ending image.
In the Manhua adaptation of the game, it reveals that he lived in an old ninja house with an elder Shadow Man and four younger Shadow Man siblings. When the House begins to crumble, part of the roof falls on the elder, and the former asks him to give his children a den. Homeless, but unlike the game's incarnation, Shadow Man partakes to get money to buy a house. He shows determination to win and sees all competitors as enemies.
However, when Shadow Man sees Ice Man needing help, therefore he takes the water in his radiator and takes it for himself, and is unable to continue. Despite this, he befriends Mega Man, the latter, Blizzard Man, and Chill Penguin, and after the titular protagonist tells Dr. Light about his situation, he and his siblings are allowed to stay in Light's lab.
Mega Man & Bass (1998/2002)[]
Shadow Man appears as a CD cameo in the game; His CD location is in Astro Man's stage, seen in an area with Yoku Blocks; Make sure to jump all the way up to the ladder and collect it.
Super Adventure Rockman (1998)[]
Shadow Man and the other 15 Robot Masters from the second and third generations were resurrected by Ra Moon in the Lafront Ruins. Shadow Man appears as the last boss in the first episode. In battle, he creates copies of himself and will also attack wit his Shadow Blade, and Mega Man must attack the real one. If the player fails to defeat him, it will show an animated cutscene of Shadow Man throwing his Shadow Blade directly at Mega Man as well as using his arm cannon to destroy him, only for the former to laugh about it, giving the player no choice to continue. Also, he is weak to the Quick Boomerang.
As Shadow Man appears, He attempts to kill Mega Man, but Quick Man realises that Dr. Wily is being used by Ra Moon not only to conquer the world but to destroy it and interferes with the Shadow Blades to protect him. Enraged that Quick Man was killed by his own hand, Mega Man attacks him with all his might, completely destroying with his core and rendering him beyond repair. This would make Wood Man extremely angry that he wants to attack the titular protagonist himself at the 2nd episode's start, trying to avenge his only friend.
Following his fate of being destroyed completely, Shadow Man is the only Robot Master who was never revived by Ra Moon or appeared towards the ending of the third and final episode of the game.
Respectively, he is voiced by Kosuke Okano.
Other Media[]
Panic Shot! Rockman (1992)[]
Shadow Man appears in the first version as a boss along with Cut Man, Metal Man, Bubble Man, and Spark Man.
Adventure Quiz: Capcom World 2 (1992)[]
In Adventure Quiz: Capcom World 2, Shadow Man makes his appearance as an enemy.
Rockboard (1993)[]
Shadow Man is one of the three Robot Masters that the player transforms into when landing on the "transformation" panel or affected by a rare ability by Kalinka. While transformed, the player will not use cards or money, but can steal one card from the owner of any building they visit.
Mega Man Soccer (1994)[]
In Mega Man Soccer, Many Shadow Men are seen in cars outside the Blues and Needle Fields respectively.
Mega Man (1994 Cartoon)[]
In the 1994 Cartoon, Shadow Man maintains his look for most parts, except his Shadow Blades come from his forehead. Shadow Man appears in "The Day the Moon Fell". At the beginning he helps Proto Man, Cut Man and Quick Man steal a helicopter to pick up Guts Man and Dark Man II who are in the laboratory and stays in Dr. Wily's Skull Fortress.
However, Mega Man breaks in and takes the tachyon capacitor that Wily used to control the Moon. He and the other Robot follow him to Dr. Light's laboratory where he tricks them with holographic copies of himself and takes Dark Man II's weapon, using it to capture the other Robot Masters and throw them into Wily's Skullker. They then escape and the Moon is placed back into its orbit.
Rockman Tennis (2007/2010)[]
Since a decade of being playable in Battle & Chase, Shadow Man appears in the game as one for the 2nd and last time.
Rockman ×over (2012)[]
Shadow Man appears as a boss in Rockman ×over's "25th Anniversary Special World", as well as in "Battle Memory". In a special event of the game lasting from the 19th to the 29th of July 2013, a powered-up Shadow Man using out-of-control electricity also appears as a boss.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)[]
Shadow Man appears as a support spirit that grants the user a Killing Edge at the beginning of the battle. His spirit battle is a stamina battle against three Greninjas on the Battlefield form of Norfair with increased power to their Water Shuriken Standard Special move, which they prefer to use.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Shadow Man has the ability to conjure robotic frogs. This is possibly a reference to the mythological ninja Jiraya, who could manipulate frog magic.
- In the Wily Wars version of Mega Man 3, Shadow Man will take longer to throw 2 Shadow Blades.
- Shadow Man is the only Robot Master in Mega Man 3 (aside from Doc Robot/Heat Man) to take damage from all special weapons in the game, with different weapons doing various amounts of damage respectively.
- Shadow Man is one of the only bosses throughout the Mega Man series to be able to slide. The others being Saturn, Copy Mega Man, and Copy X.
- The Archie Comics assert that Shadow Man had started his life as a Kuiper Droid, and is presumably the only one of them to survive the Star Marshals' attack when the Kuiper Droids were escorting the Ra Moon, largely because Trio saved him from Quartet.
- In Super Adventure Rockman, because the endgame failed to have Shadow Man show up, many fans assumed that the titular protagonist killed him for good. This is supported by the cutscene that plays after the battle; after Rockman fires a powerful shot from his Buster cannon, Shadow Man seemingly explodes and we can see no trace of his body anywhere. What Wood Man says in the cutscene before his battle also supports the fact that Shadow Man may have been completely destroyed after he was defeated. ("He couldn't be rebuilt! I tried!") This was rectified in the Archie Comics which had him show up in the Ra Moon's room as part of the final battle.
External Links[]
- Shadow Man on the Mega Man Wiki
