Mystery of Mega Man 9 Continues to Elude…

Work to discover the mysterious secret of Mega Man 9 continues, and it seems that despite all of the many things that have been found– many of which even Capcom’s own Seth Killian himself didn’t know of– the one in question has yet to surface.
One member of the Capcom*Unity, Zepper, has compiled a list of every little secret, tidbit, Easter egg, and other hidden stuff he could think of in order to get Seth to confirm if his secret has been found or not. So far, the list is as follows and does include spoilers:

1. Buy Roll costume and she’ll appear wearing it during the ending.

2. Buy the Book of Hairstyles before beating the first boss. Beat any boss and during the cutscene, MegaMan will put the helmet and pulse out, even if you’re not using it.

3. A blueprint of Bass (Forte) appears flashing during the ending.

4. There’s a blue “E” much like an optical illusion due to the tile arrangement in TornadoMan’ stage – it’s an hint for the hidden E tank behind the clouds.

5. Dr.Wily’s machine (final boss) is a reference/cameo to the boss SlashMan, from MegaMan7 – from its form (dinosaur) and its eggs.

6. When you beat the last boss, the cutscene is a view from that last boss perspective – that’s why you don’t see it in the group.

7. The game doesn’t finish while MegaMan doesn’t collect the circuit board dropped by Dr.Wily.

8. The endless challenge brings pieces of old MegaMan stages, many of them from MegaMan2.

9. The game is rendered in low resolution and upscaled – all the graphics are in low resolution, much like the old NES graphics.

10. The empty slot in Weapons Menu isn’t for an hidden weapon.

11. I’m kicking the things with this, and many of you might disagree – a lot of tunes resemble other tunes. The stage select resembles SnakeMan’ stage; the main title bgm resembles the “select your team” from the game Goal! (NES); (this one is ok) the ending theme is a remake of MegaMan2′ stage select.

12. Splash Woman is a man – beat this boss by last and Auto will make a mention as “his” circuit board.

13. As far as I can tell you, there’s NO old bosses cameos, or else their sprites would be found, much like those unused ones (Skater green guy and a Flying cat-like unused sprites).

14. Wily Castle stage 3 (or 2?) is the first one to have left-walking/scroll.

15. Those Yellow/Green Eyes is a “cameo” of Yellow Devil, from MegaMan1.

16. The Mystery Tank fills up the weapons exactly like MegaMan5 – one after another.

17. You cannot carry more than 1 M tank, even if there’s one collectable during the Wily’s Castle stages.

18. The HardHats (or Metools) are from MegaMan1.

19. When you defeat TornadoMan, MegaMan does a jump and touches the spikes in the top, but nothing happens.

20. Is that Shark boss a cameo from Rockman.EXE series SharkMan?

21. Blues use a Jet and a Coil. The Jet is much like item-2 (MM2) and the coil acts much like the Rush Coil of MegaMan5.

22. The sprites rip of MegaMan/Blues reveals a throwing animation (unused).

23. (another kick) The boss theme is similar to MegaMan3 boss music, but the notes go down instead of up, a good remix.

24. The “You Got Weapon” screen is similar to MegaMan5, except that MegaMan doesn’t spin, but spreads his arms and flashes.

25. All the MegaMan cast (except bosses) appears in the Leaderboards screen.

26. JevelMan stage has MM2 Woodman stage elements (the floor, the miniboss doors), as well as PlugMan stage has CrashMan elements (pipes) and HeatMan elements (pop blocks). MagmaMan stage looks like MetalMan stage by its colors (green and red).

27. You cannot take the M tank effect during a boss battle, like the bees from HornetMan or the fishes from SplashWoman (all the enemies will NOT turn 1ups).

28. Blues (Protoman) takes more damage than MegaMan, and he’s pushed back longer.

29. GalaxyMan changes his color, much like a chameleon.

30. JevelMan mimics MegaMan jumps and his attack is similar to SkullMan (MM4).

31. The MM9 intro seems to have been based on MegaMan’ Soccer intro (the TV news, the colors and the reporter).

32. I was waiting for bees during the HornetMan’ stage, but it’s a garden within flower pots and scissors, plus a strange yo-yo style platform. No bees, only during the boss battle.

Capcom*Unity member Noah Evangale gets in on the act as well, adding things that have already been noticed, for the sake of narrowing it down:

33. If you use the M-Tank while all of your weapons and life are full, all on-screen enemies turn into 1-UPS. (Doesn’t work on bosses, mini-bosses, or the cannons in Hornet Man’s stage.)

34. Bringing up the Weapon Select Screen while any weapons are currently being fired, and they will be erased. This glitch actually works to your advantage with long lasting Weapons such as the Black Hole Bomb and Tornado Blow against bosses who are weak against them such as the second phaze of the Shark Boss, Magma Man, Jewel Man and the Twin Devils respectively if you can time it right. Quite the essential for speedruns. This glitch also causes Rush to disappear when used as well.

35. This video. (Watch the fight against Concrete Man at the end)

36. Use the Tornado Blow underwater to jump crazy high. You can also preform crazy high jumps if Tornado Blow is timed correctly with Rush Coil.

37. If you use Rush Coil, then quckly switch the Rush Jet while your rocketing up in the air, land on Rush Jet when you fall to gain a high vantage point for crossing over areas. (Notably Tornado Man’s Stage)

38. Mega Man clones die when they touch spikes.

39. Use Jewel Satelitte near the end where the Tellys come out in Plug Man’s stage for an easy supply of Bolts. If you position Mega Man properly with the Jewel Satellite (try directly underneath where they spawn), you can accumulate Bolts without having to move; just leave Mega standing there while you go do something else, then come back after some time has passed and you’ll have a bunch of more Bolts, without having to do a thing.

40. When you use the Concrete Shot to freeze any magma beams, use the Laser Trident to break them apart, shortening the time it would take to wait for them to stop spewing the magma. This is helpful for speedruns.

41. The Hornet Chaser can pick up any items, except E-Tank/M-Tanks.

42. If you’re low on weapon energy by Wily Stage 3, first you must have an M-Tank. Use the M-Tank you have, then snag the one you find at the second gravity section. Now your weapons are full, and you have another M-Tank!

43. Black Hole Bomb and Tornado Blow can eliminate enemy shots, even Dr Wily’s.

44. There’s a hidden Life Capsule in Wily Stage 2 at the end where the Dr. W logo is. Use Hornet Chaser to snag it.

45. Bring up the weapon select screen to remove oil if you’re covered. Bring up the Challenge list screen does not remove oil.

46. Beat the game with a helmet-less Mega Man…..and absolutely nothing will happen!

47. Tornado Man and Splash Woman are similar to Harpuia and Leviathan from Mega Man Zero. (Which stands to reason, since Mega Man 9 was created by Inti Creates, just like the Zero Series .)

48. The Controller 2 debug techniques from Mega Man 3 DO NOT work in Mega Man 9.

49. Chun-Li is the newsreporter at the game’s intro.

50. Dr. Wily’s Swiss Bank Account Number is the original release date for Mega Man 1. 19-871-217

Seth of course saw the list, and responded:

Great list–I learned a few tricks I didn’t know about myself. That said, what I’ve been referring to this entire time is not on the list.

I’m still not telling, but just in terms of relative scale of significance, as a fan I’d say my tidbit is definitely more interesting than some of the entries on this list, while less interesting than at least half.

best,

Seth

So, the search continues. A few more items have been added, which Seth has not yet responded to, and you can check them out here, and even get in on the act, if you’ve spotted something that’s gone unmentioned.

LanceHeart