| This page is about the original Needle Man. To find information on his NetNavi counterpart, see NeedleMan.EXE. |
- "Come on, Rockman! This limestone cave shall be your grave!"
- ―Needle Man, Super Adventure Rockman
Needle Man (ニードルマン Nīdoruman) is a deadly Wily Number who debuted in Mega Man 3. He was created by Dr. Light and Dr. Wily with the initial purpose to work in energy mines, specializing in land development and breaking through boulders and bedrock.
His Special Weapon is the rapid-firing Needle Cannon, which he uses to pepper his foes with a barrage of needles which are sharp enough to pierce 10 inch-thick stones and even smash concrete.
Despite his large "Air Man-type" build, he is agile and good at jumping thanks to using an upgraded version of Metal Man's combat programming—even being able to remain stationary in the air to attack for brief moments of time by raining shots on his opponents from above. To accompany his ranged attacking capabilities, the thick spikes on his head are needle-sharp, and mounted on a heavy base attached to his head with an extendable chain.[1] This impromptu weapon can be fired over short distances and allows Needle Man to hit with a powerful headbutt, making him very dangerous to try and fight up close.
Appearance[]
Needle Man is a humanoid robot with an Air Man-type design. He has a black body, blue eyes, yellow eyelids, a blue torso where his face is located on the center of it, three spikes on top of his head, a red gem on the center of his torso, blue pauldrons, a white area on center of his lower torso, a blue part body on the bottom of his body, two busters on each arms and blue boots.
Personality[]
Needle Man is intelligent, but he has a dry wit and often tends to be sarcastic. He enjoys sewing and knitting, hobbies that both utilize needles, but ironically has trypanophobia, a fear of injections and other medical procedures which involve needles, hence his own weapon being usable against him. He also uses surprisingly strong language and is quick to criticize people around him with harsh words.
Video game appearances[]
Mega Man 3[]
- See also: Needle Man Stage
Needle Man is one of the eight Stage Select Screen bosses. Beating him will reward the player with Needle Cannon and Rush Jet.
Attack pattern[]
Needle Man first starts out standing still for a few seconds before he attacks, either on his own or when the player shoots. His main attack is to jump straight up (at 2 randomly chosen elevations) and fire 4 needles at the player in sets of 2, each from an arm. He only shoots 3 needles when the player 'starts' his fight by shooting at him. After shooting a volley or several volleys of these, he will attack by extending the needles on his head before jumping. A movement jump is always telegraphed by this "needle headbutt," and he can quickly move-jump to cross 4 distances, the farthest jumps covering nearly the entire room and always being followed up by Needle Cannon volley, with the last being a standard jump in place to fake out the player. He may begin a Needle Cannon volley at any point after a jump.
In Mega Man: The Wily Wars, Needle Man is a little easier to dodge as some of his movement jumps have more height to them, and he is also generally more floaty. He can also do several movement jumps in a row without having to use a headbutt each time.
In the Java mobile version of Mega Man 3, Needle Man fires his set of needles simultaneously in a fixed angle, being easier to avoid. In Mega Man 3 Mobile for iOS, Needle Man hangs in the air as he fires his Needle Cannon instead of slowly descending while firing, making it more difficult to avoid.
Weaknesses[]
Needle Man's biggest weakness is Gemini Laser. The laser will defeat him in just 4 hits, though due to Needle Man's fast speed, a missed shot will mean the player is defenseless until the laser either hits Needle Man on the rebound or leaves the screen. Shadow Blade is a secondary weakness and does 2 damage, but limits the player into close-range combat.
As with all other Wily Numbers in Mega Man 3, he is weak to his own weapon and it defeats him in 7 hits, though it can only be used in the rematches. Needle Cannon has practical use here since it's essentially a replacement to the Mega Buster.
Mega Man II[]
Needle Man is part of the second wave of four Wily Numbers, all of which come from Mega Man 3. The second wave is fought via teleport systems in the Wily Castle stage, which takes them to their own stages, Needle Man's being accessed from the bottom right teleport. Keep in mind that weapon ammo will not generate in between these stages.
Attack pattern[]
Needle Man has been nerfed in difficulty, mainly because his pattern is now distance-oriented. If the player stays far away from him, he will attack with his Needle Cannon, which travels much slower. If the player stays close to him, he will attack with a needle headbutt, which is shorter in range. Needle Man's jumps are also floatier, and he can only jump in place or forward a set distance. If the player stays close to Needle Man, he has a big tendency to jump at the wall and ignore the player for a long period of time. The headbutt's hitbox is missing at the tip of the attack, so the player can stand right where the tip will appear and remain unharmed, while still tricking Needle Man into using headbutts because of his new attack selection.
Weaknesses[]
Needle Man's primary weakness is Top Spin, which will defeat him in 4 hits. While the player may get hurt upon successfully hitting him, in Mega Man II the weapon will no longer drain instantly. If Top Spin is not available, Needle Man is also weak to Air Shooter, which does 3 damage to him and can hit him easily since he jumps all the time.
Mega Man's Soccer[]
A team of eight Needle Mans is one the eight team bosses from the Capcom Championship mode. When defeated, one Needle Man joins Mega Man's team. He has a good kick and tackle, but is the third slowest player from the game, alongside Dust Man. His special is Needle Shoot.
Needle Man's team in Tournament mode is formed by three Needle Mans, Air Man, Gemini Man, Top Man, Snake Man, and Toad Man. In League mode his team has three Needle Mans, two Top Mans, two Toad Mans, and Proto Man.
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Super Adventure Rockman[]
Needle Man is one of Dr. Wily's robots that was revived by Ra Moon in the Lanfront Ruins. He makes an appearance as the penultimate boss of Episode 2. He appears during the period when Rockman and Beat explore the caves underneath the ruins.
Before he fights the player, he ambushes Rockman, impaling him using the spikes on his head, before knocking him into an underground pond with two well-timed punches. Afterwards, Rockman responds by battling him, eventually coming out victorious, with Beat taking his Needle Cannon chip before they leave.
Needle Man and the other Wily Numbers (except for Shadow Man) are later revived again near the end of Episode 3, but when Ra Moon betrays Dr. Wily, they are attacked several times until they collapse. If Rockman loses to the New Yellow Devil, he can ask the robots to give their remaining energy for him to be able to save the world, and they shut down after doing so. Needle Man and the others are apparently destroyed alongside Ra Moon's temple.
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Data[]
Mega Man & Bass CD data[]
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Rockman Complete Works data[]
エアーマンタイプのボディ、メタルマンのこうどうプログラムのはってん型を使用している。はなれて戦おう。
Mega Man Legacy Collection text: Equipped with a body like Air Man's and an advanced form of Metal Man's movement programming. Gain some distance and fight back.
Damage data chart[]
Amount of damage in units that Needle Man receives from each Special Weapon in Mega Man 3.
| Mega Man 3 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mega Buster | Needle Cannon | Magnet Missile | Gemini Laser | Hard Knuckle | Top Spin | Search Snake | Spark Shock | Shadow Blade | |||
| 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||
Other media[]
Mega Man (Ruby-Spears)[]
Needle Man from the Mega Man cartoon show.
Needle Man appeared in the episode Bro Bots from Ruby Spears' Mega Man animated series. He, along with Heat Man and Elec Man, pretends to rob the city museum early on in the episode, where he allows himself to be incapacitated by Proto Man as part of his brief act in turning to the heroes.
After being recovered and repaired by Doctor Wily, Needle Man later rejoined Elec Man and Heat Man as they attacked Mega Man in the robot manufacturing plant, at one point nearly impaling him with a close shot from his Needle Cannon. The trio was ultimately defeated after having a vat of a hot red gelatinous substance dumped on them, which instantly solidified and left them trapped.
With the exception of his death cry (Added in by Ian James Corlett in post-production), he was voiced by Garry Chalk, the same voice actor as Guts Man and Bright Man. Interestingly, Needle Man sounded almost exactly like Grounder from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog series, whom Chalk also voiced.
Mega Man Megamix and Mega Man Gigamix[]
In Hitoshi Ariga's Mega Man Megamix and Mega Man Gigamix manga series, Needle Man appeared in the stories Metal Heart, Asteroid Blues, and To a Shining Morrow. Needle Man was registered as a land development robot assigned to foreign planets, specializing in breaking through boulders and bedrock. In reality, he is just a combat robot, pretending to be a non-violent industrial robot.
The Needle Cannon he uses to break through rocks is capable of firing sixteen needles at a time at speeds of up to 2000–3000 meters every second. Due to the conical shape of the needles, they are less susceptible to the flow of gasses and fluids in their path. Also, since the full force of their momentum is focused on the narrow tip, each needle offers more destructive power than a regular projectile. He also has ammunition feed belts linking his arms to his midsection, assumingly feeding needles into his Needle Cannon from his torso.
The only drawback to the Needle Cannon is that it is not capable of scattered shots, and Needle Man must therefore make use of the Needle Hammer located on his head to clear away large obstacles. Of course, the destructive power of all these tools can be directly applied to the field of battle.
Mega Man (Archie Comics)[]
Other appearances[]
Needle Man also appeared in Shigeto Ikehara's manga Rockman World 2 and Rockman: Yomigaeru Blues, in Rockman 4Koma Dai Koushin, and as a racer in Rockman Battle & Chase.
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
Screenshots[]
Miscellaneous[]
Trivia[]
- Ironic to his theme, there are no instant-kill spikes in Needle Man's stage, excluding the Doc Robot's version of the stage.
- In the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, Mega Man: The Power Battle will become playable once the player defeats Needle Man in Mega Man 3.
- Two versions of a construction tool (one blue, one orange; most likely a power drill) that resemble Needle Man appear in a couple episodes of the TV show Code Monkeys.[Citation needed]
References[]
- ↑ Rockman Complete Works official site.
| Mega Man II | |
|---|---|
| Bosses | |
| Metal Man • Air Man • Crash Man • Wood Man • Needle Man • Magnet Man • Hard Man • Top Man • Quint • Wily Machine II | |
| Special Weapons | |
| Metal Blade • Air Shooter • Crash Bomber • Leaf Shield • Needle Cannon • Magnet Missile • Hard Knuckle • Top Spin • Sakugarne | |
| Support Items | |
| Rush Coil • Rush Jet • Rush Marine | |
| Locations | |
| Metal Man Stage • Air Man Stage • Crash Man Stage • Wood Man Stage • Wily Castle Needle Man Stage • Magnet Man Stage • Hard Man Stage • Top Man Stage • Wily Station | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Damage Data Chart • Enemies | |
| Super Adventure Rockman | |
|---|---|
| Characters | |
| Mega Man • Beat • Rush • Dr. Light • Roll • Proto Man • Dr. Wily • Ra Moon Cut Man • Guts Man • Ice Man • Bomb Man • Fire Man • Elec Man | |
| Bosses | |
| Metal Man • Bubble Man • Heat Man • Flash Man • Quick Man • Shadow Man Wood Man • Air Man • Crash Man • Snake Man • Needle Man • Gemini Man Magnet Man • Hard Man • Top Man • Spark Man • Ra Thor • New Yellow Devil | |
| Special Weapons | |
| Metal Blade • Bubble Lead • Atomic Fire • Time Stopper • Quick Boomerang • Shadow Blade Leaf Shield • Air Shooter • Crash Bomber • Search Snake • Needle Cannon • Gemini Laser Magnet Missile • Hard Knuckle • Top Spin • Spark Shock | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Enemies • Energy Tank • Information Card • Item Box • Lanfront Ruins • Proto Shield | |