In a time when Capcom was killing it in the arcades with games like 1942, Commando or Ghosts 'n Goblins, the Japanese company also responsible for Resident Evil turned its gaze on the success of Nintendo’s first home console and decided to assemble a team to specifically create a new action title for this gaming platform.

For this job, Capcom counted on a young man named Keiji Inafune, who years later would become one of their most important developers for his work on sagas like Onimusha and Dead Rising, but back then his only experience was to have participated in the design of some characters of the first Street Fighter. In addition, the artist Akira Kitamura was chosen as the game's director and, based on his pixel art and taken inspiration on manga and anime classics such as Astroboy or Casshern, Inafune designed the blue hero we all know.

Mighty Kid, Knuckles Kid or Rainbow Battle Kid were the first names considered for the character, although in the end the team opted for Rockman. The reason for this choice is twofold. On one hand, this name alludes to the musical genre Rock 'n' Roll, because the initial idea was that his robotic sister, Roll, would have a more important role in the adventure. And on the other hand, Rockman refers to the hand game Rock, Paper, Scissors, which in a way dictates how we must face the final bosses, a.k.a. Robot Masters.

In this quite challenging action game we could choose the stage and, therefore, which final enemy we were going to face (each one has a specific power). Once a Robot Master is defeated, we could make use of their power, which would be specifically useful against certain bosses (hence the reference to the game Rock, Paper, Scissors previously mentioned). Needles to say, this novel formula was a success.

Something remarkable, is that only six people participated in the development of the first Rockman, counting its director Akira Kitamura, Keiji Inafune (who appeared in the credits as Inafune King) and the legendary composer Manami Matsumae (aka Chanchacorin), who had already put music to other Capcom´s classic games and also did a great job again with Mega Man. Wait a minute, did I just say Mega Man? Yes hahaha. Well, It turns out that outside the Japanese market a guy called Joe Morici, one of the big executives of Capcom USA, found the name Rockman “horrendous”, so he decided to change it to Mega Man, which is how we know the character and his games in the rest of the world.

The first Mega Man grossed more than what Capcom´s executives expected, which led to the creation of a sequel for the NES in which Kitamura, Inafune, and his team gave it their all. For many, this second part is the best game in the series. And for Inafune too. In fact, he even considered that there was not necessary to release more games after this sequel. But by a twist of fate he ended up directing or producing many installments of the series that would come in the following years.

Wherever you want to see it, this classic game of the action genre marked the beginning of one of the most popular franchises, its characters have made appearances in various crossovers such as Marvel vs. Capcom, Project X Zone or Super Smash Bros. and they also starred in several animated shows, so I have nothing more to add other than long live to the blue robot.