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One question I ask myself since I am a kid: Is Mega Man left or right handed?

(I am confused each time he turns left or right)

UPDATE: I am adding a bounty for whoever finds me some official press release documents or interviews showing that the character designers of Mega Man wanted him to be left handed, right handed, or .. both at the same time.

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Are you referring to which hand his buster is in? – Wipqozn May 16 '11 at 10:29
More seriously, I am referring to what Capcom wanted him to be. Some characters are designed to be left handed or right handed. For example, Link in the Zelda games is left handed. – Vincent May 16 '11 at 10:36
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Tough question. Traditionally Mega Man's buster is in his left hand - but that doesn't mean he's left handed. – Wipqozn May 16 '11 at 10:40
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You made me laugh. This question is so fantastic. Thankyou. – Jonathan Hobbs May 16 '11 at 13:06
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@GnomeSlice You can't just assume that though - in could be his left hand so he can aim with the buster better. Also, " I think his dominant hand is determined by whatever the devs felt like when they sat down to make a given game in the series" I agree - with the possible exception of megamans creator, I doubt anyone at Capcom really cares – Wipqozn May 17 '11 at 10:41
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6 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted
+100

Well, after looking at official box art, Megaman uses either hand for his arm cannon. For example, here's some Japanese promo art from Megaman 3 depicting the cannon on his left arm.

Left arm cannon Megaman

While here's some Japanese promo art from Megaman 2 depicting the cannon on his right arm instead.

Right arm cannon Megaman

If you check more of the images and box art, there's no real rhyme or reason as to which hand the arm cannon appears on. So, since he uses either hand just as often in the images and in the games, the only conclusion I can draw from this is that he is indeed ambidextrous.

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That's quite a good argument. – Vincent May 23 '11 at 5:24
up vote 12 down vote

Well... the original Megaman had his buster on his left, and X on the right.

(I am confused each time he turns left or right)

Well, this happens because when the Megaman sprite turns, the entire sprite image is flipped horizontally, meaning depending on which way you're facing, Megaman's buster will be on different hands. This page can tell a bit more of what I just said, though it isn't exactly an informative site : /

But being a robot/android/Navi, I really think Megaman is programmed to be ambidextrous.

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I was kidding when I wrote I was confused. I wrote it because this website didn't accept a question too short. Sorry. Still, you got my +1 for the first line, a fact that I didn't know. – Vincent May 16 '11 at 10:49
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Where have you seen the information about that first line? The boxart for Megaman X shows the buster on his left arm, while the japanese boxart for Rockman 2 shows the buster on his right arm. – Wilerson May 16 '11 at 14:17
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Actually Megaman X had his buster on the left too... youtube.com/watch?v=NvFd8sJfwsg&feature=related – Wipqozn May 16 '11 at 16:54
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@Wipqozn: Not necessarily. The sprites are made so the "background arm" has the megabuster. Go to ~2:30 in that video and you'll see that he becomes righty again. – Jeff Mercado May 17 '11 at 2:16
Most of the concept art I've seen has him using his buster with his left hand, and X using his right. But I think that since he morphs his hands to be the buster he could probably use either. Him being a robot I can't imagine anything that would give him better aim with one over the other besides how he is positioned at the moment. – Noctrine May 19 '11 at 19:13
up vote 4 down vote

On many box arts and title screens, the buster is on his right arm, but in some it is on his left arm or in none of them. So, one can assume that he "morphs" his arm into a buster, and that he may do that with either of the arms, depending on how clear a shot would be in each case. I agree with Oscar Cheung, Megaman is probably ambidextrous.

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In X3 at least, X gains the ability to fire charged buster shots from each arm sequentially. It's pretty awesome. – Raven Dreamer♦ May 16 '11 at 19:54
You might be right. Now I don't know which answer to choose as the correct one. Difficult choice ! – Vincent May 23 '11 at 5:28
up vote 4 down vote

In Megaman Legends (and/or Megaman 64), Megaman's buster is on his left hand. Since the game is three dimensional, there's no 'sprite flipping' like in the original sidescrollers. This would mean that he is right-handed, at least in this game, because that's the only hand he has free when a weapon is equipped.

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Is Legends considered part of the Megaman franchise? (As in, Megaman 1-10; clearly, X, .exe, zero, and ZX are different franchises) – Raven Dreamer♦ May 16 '11 at 19:57
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@Raven Yes. It's at the very end of the timeline. It goes. 1-8 > X > Zero > ZX > Legends. The Battle Network / Starforce timeline is AU. If you pay attention to the developments near the end of each series you can see the transition points into the next series. In Megaman 8 Zero is shown, at the end of X, Zero is lost, where he is refound in zero, the satellite event in Zero leads to the biometals in ZX and by the time of legends there aren't any people just biometal based humanoids. – Noctrine May 17 '11 at 0:33
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Keiji Inafune wanted the series to continue with a 3rd legends game, But Capcom wasn't having it until recently. – Noctrine May 17 '11 at 0:37
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Also also, X4 was supposed to be the last game in the X series, where Zero goes into hibernation to remove the sigma virus (to be refound much later by Ciel in Megaman Zero). I'm a little muddy on what happened after that, but that's where it was supposed to split. – Raven Dreamer♦ May 17 '11 at 3:47
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You can't just assume he's right handed just because his buster is in his left hand... the buster could be in his left hand because he's left handed, and as such would have better aim. He could also be ambidextrous. – Wipqozn May 17 '11 at 11:02
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up vote 3 down vote

Turns out it's ambidextrous. In SuperAdventure Rockman, he turns both hands into blasters at the same time - the 'Double Rock Buster' special move in Episode 3. Granted, it almost kills him because it uses so much energy, but there it is anyway.

This means that the 'flipping' in the sidescrollers is just him switching hands.

Also, SuperAdventure Rockman can be pointed to as a 'shark-jumping' moment for Megaman.

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Interesting, but to take 2 weapons at the same time doesn't imply that you are ambidextrous. Proof: I can take 1 Wiimote in each hand, and I am left handed. – Vincent May 20 '11 at 16:34
But, consider that this shows both arms contain blasters, and to use both to the same level simultaneously would require ambidexterity - at the very least the same power level in each arm, which would imply the same conclusion. – SickHippie May 22 '11 at 4:07
I do not agree this logic. When I do push-ups, I use both arms with equal strength (because required by physic laws if I want to keep a good balance). Still, I am left handed. – Vincent May 22 '11 at 10:41
But it's not a push-up or anything resistance-based (like a punch, etc), it's a shooting attack. The physics are completely different. Anyone and their brother can do a pushup, but almost no one can shoot two .44 magnums simultaneously and hit the same target. You can take a Wiimote in each hand, but can you use them both with same degree of skill? Nope. – SickHippie May 25 '11 at 16:17
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I generally depend on which hand is used for gulping energy tanks, writing, and for special weapons that involve throwing (blades, boomerangs) or melee (claws, sabers) as the dominant hand, especially if all four of those are with the same hand. Furthermore, making that dominant hand vanish to make room for a buster (to me) sounds rather inconvenient. I would thus place the buster opposite from the dominant hand, for the sake of convenience. Especially in the case of Zero, since he is a melee combatant. If I remember correctly, Zero switched his melee combat from righty to lefty upon operating a new vessel. I'm not sure, since some sources say vice-versa.

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