Mega Man Star Force (Video Game)

Wave Battle!

Ride On!

Mega Man Star Force (Ryusei no Rockman lit. Shooting Star Rockman) is a series of Mega Man video game titles on the Nintendo DS, a Sequel Series following Mega Man Battle Network from the Game Boy Advance.

Taking place two hundred years after the events of Battle Network, it stars a young boy named Geo Stelar (Subaru Hoshikawa in the original Japanese), who lost his father after a journey to space and teams up with a rogue alien, Omega-Xis (War-Rock in the original Japanese version). By performing a Fusion Dance (in this series called "EM Wave Change"), the two transform into Mega Man, and they use their power to fight various threats. Quite literally (for the first game at least) Battle Network... In SPACE!

There are three installments in the franchise^note

Mega Man Star Force: Pegasus, Leo, and Dragon: At the beginning of the story, Geo is given a keepsake of his father's, a device called a Visualizer, which allows him to see electromagnetic waves. That night, he meets a blue alien named Omega-Xis, who is on the run from Planet FM, whose enforcers are hot on his tail. Omega convinces him to work together and are thrown into a battle against the other FM-ians for the fate of the galaxy.
Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker × Saurian and Zerker × Ninja: Geo, Omega and their friends meet Lady Vega and her compatriots, who are obsessed with finding the lost continent of Mu. Vega and her assistant Solo are seeking the keys to Mu, the OOParts via the use of UMAs — Unidentified Mysterious Animals — wave-based lifeforms like FM-ians that take the shape of cryptozoological creatures.
Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace and Red Joker: Geo and Omega must stop Meteor G, an EM meteor, from destroying the earth, while contending with the spread of Noise caused by it. Meanwhile, Dealer, led by the public philanthropist Mr. King, seeks to use the asteroid for their own nefarious ends (basically the premise of Battle Network 4, but without all the tournaments...and better use of the asteroid in question).

An anime adaptation of the series also aired but ended with an abrupt finale of the second season, Ryusei no Rockman Tribe, based on the second game. The English dub first premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami block before moving online to Toonami Jetstream. Only half of the first season was released. No DVDs ever circulated in the United States or Japan, though the dub got a UK DVD release thanks to Manga UK. There was a manga serialized in Corocoro that loosely adapted the first and second games, and Ryo Takamisaki (of MegaMan NT Warrior fame) produced a promotional manga for Star Force 3. Neither of these were translated into English.

Following the end of the series, an Updated Re-release of the Mega Man Battle Network 1 with the subtitle Operate Shooting Star was released, adding a new crossover scenario between the two series. This crossover takes place after Star Force 3.

The first game has an enhanced Game Mod called Mega Man Star Force DX, which fixes up issues in the original game, adds in new quality of life features, restores cut content, and adds new post-game content. It has its own thread at the Rockman EXE Zone Forum.

Star Force would receive a Compilation Re-release, announced in September 2025 with a release in 2026. Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection contains all versions of the three main releases and notably brings them to non-Nintendo systems for the first time much like its predecessors. The compilation was released on 27th March 2026. To help promote the collection, a special one-shot manga chapter called "Mega Man Star Force ~(Re)Birthday~" was released, also drawn by Ryo Takamisaki, as a canonical epilogue to the series, with Geo and his friends celebrating his birthday, while trouble stirs in the background.

Tropes used in Mega Man Star Force:

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A-C

Ability Mixing: This version of Mega Man isn't the only one to mix their Multiform Super Modes^note, but Geo and Omega make it their bread and butter. The second game allows you to mix any combination of three unique "Tribes", while the third game limits you to combinations of two "Noises" at a time, but gave you ten options. Notably, mixing the same elements in different orders yields different forms, so the second game had a total of three basic Tribe forms, six Double Tribes, and the Tribe King, while the third game had ten basic Noise Forms and no less than ninety Double Noises.
Academy of Adventure: Echo Ridge Elementary, which has had up to a total of eleven EM Humans walking around its halls at some point or another, including six students (plus Sonia and Solo), a pair of teachers, and the gardener.
Achilles in His Tent: Geo starts the series as a Hikikomori following the disappearance of his father and relapses in the first two games following drama. Inverted in the third game where he fights to keep his friends from getting demoralized themselves.
Actionized Sequel: In comparison to the Battle Network games. Movement is restricted to sidestepping and blocking and you can lock on and Flash Step towards the enemies.
Adaptation Expansion: The anime spent some time elaborating on side characters and especially the FM-ian invaders. The Tribe anime reworks the events of the game into a Myth Arc and adds a couple of completely new segments to accommodate all the OOPArts.
Adults Are Useless: Geo is the best Wave Changer in the world despite being only twelve, which is justified on the grounds that Mega Man is one of only a couple dozen EM Humans and also one of the longest-active. Additionally, Mega Man gets a lot of support from institutions like AMAKEN and NAXA and the grownups who run them.
Alternate Continuity: Like with Battle Network, the manga and anime adaptations deviate from the original games in very notable ways, though both adaptations feature expanded roles for the FM-ians.
Always Check Behind the Chair: As in Battle Network, it behooves the player to check everything he can get his hands on. Hidden items and activation points for computers abound.
Always in Class One: Geo, Luna, Bud and Zack are in Class 5-A. In the first game, Pat's also there, but in the anime, he's in a different class.
Animal-Themed Superbeing: Many bosses, being based on western constellations or cryptids, take the form of animals real or mythical. A minotaur, a swan, a crab, a snake, a werewolf, a Pegasus, a lion, a dragon, a yeti, a plesiosaur, a condor, a goat, and a crow.
Animation Bump: Whenever Shingo Adachi was in charge of the art direction for an episode, you could expect the animation to be top-notch; this resulted in several striking fight scenes, like the Crown Thunder's debut and the second Wolf Woods arc.
Anime of the Game: Was adapted into an anime that may or may not follow the Canon of MegaMan NT Warrior^note. Notable for giving unique personalities to the FM-ians. And Hyde.
Anti-Frustration Features: The Legacy Collection includes a variety of options for making the game easier/less time consuming that can be toggled on and off.
- Expanding on the Buster MAX mode from the Battle Network Legacy Collection, the Mega Buster's power can be adjusted between base power and a x5 multiplier.
- An "Assist" button is added that at base functions as a run button that makes Geo/Mega Man move faster. It can also be used to adjust the encounter rate between anywhere from no encounters to the absolute max.
- The damage that enemies deal can be reduced in 20% increments, all the way to making Mega Man invincible.
- After-battle Zenny rewards can be multiplied up to a x5 multiplier.
- HP can be set to recover after battle.
- Escape can be toggled to a guaranteed success.
- EX/V2 bosses can be displayed on the map rather than hidden, making them easier to find/avoid.
- The Brother Band system has been updated. While each game still has a maximum of 6 (real-life) Brothers, you can store a maximum of 100 brothers and choose which ones you want to equip. Also, you can add online opponents as Brothers after the match.
- Some of the post-game gates in Star Force 2 that relied on online play/Brothers were changed to make them accessible to players that could not or did not want to engage with that system. A Link Power door that required 1000 Link Power was reduced to 500, and two other doors that require Real Brothers and Online Battles were changed to other requirements.
- After clearing Star Force 3, you can switch to any Noise Change at will rather than rely on the old chance-based system.
- Fighting Acid Ace BB and Dread Joker RR, which notoriously could only be randomly fought in place of an online battle after five consecutive online battles where neither player disconnected, on top of requiring the player to remain connected to the online server during the battle, are instead changed to "normal" in-game fights you can start by talking to the NPC.
Applied Phlebotinum: Large concentrations of Zet waves (especially Murian ones) also work slightly in reverse — EM Beings may spontaneously become visible. A small story arc in the beginning of Star Force 2 is based around this.
Arc Symbol:
- For the series itself, Geo's Shooting Star pendant. In the first two games, as you unlock achievements (beating the game, collecting all the Battle Cards, etc.), various marks will appear on the title screen. When you get all six, the marks connect and produce a silhouette of the shooting star. In Star Force 2, the same six-point pattern is the basis of a very useful Wave Command Code. The series' logo also uses a shooting star, but not quite the same design as Geo's pendant.
- The chief symbol of Mu (which has no established meaning^note but might as well be its trademark). Solo's clothes, Rogue's outfit, the Badge of Loneliness, Whazzap Lines, The Indie Proof, you name it. Shows up much less, but noticeably, in 3.
Arm Cannon:
- As is traditional for the franchise, Mega Man has a Mega Buster. Untraditionally, this version of the Mega Buster is a whole face—Mega Man's left forearm consists of Omega-Xis' head, which shoots blasts of energy. This design was later revamped into a sleeker barrel in the third game.
- Many battle cards replace the Mega Buster with the weaponry depicted by the card, including a variety of ballistic weapons.
Armor-Piercing Attack: Sword, Breaking, and Wind attributes all return to void Shadow, Shielding, and Barrier/Aura defenses. The Scope attribute (which voids Invisible) is present but much reduced in significance (the Gorgon Eye Giga Card has it and maybe a few others).
Artifact Title:
- The Japanese series title is "Shooting Star Rockman" (a deliberately English translation of Ryuusei no Rockman), despite the Cosmic Motifs of the series being severely diminished in the second game. The third game obviously attempted to mend this by making more use of outer space.
- The Western title of "Star Force" likewise ceases to be accurate after Mega Man loses the power of the Satellite Admins. ...until the very end of Black Ace and Red Joker, where it is the name of the final Team tasked to "Stop Meteor G".
Artistic License – Physics:
- Inevitable given the nature of the series, but one of the most egregious examples is the fact that Geo can prance around inside a black hole without worry. In reality, anything gets torn apart inside a black hole since the forces inside approach infinity in all directions in a process called spaghettification.
- Then there's the fact that, barring a few teleports, Geo can actually WALK across planets lightyears away from Earth.
Art Shift: Downplayed. While the series maintained the same artists across the series (Battle Network had a large shift after the third game), the aesthetic of the series changed dramatically between installments, with The Aesthetics of Technology from Star Force 3 (for example) being a far cry from the second game's.
Astral Finale: In the first and third games, Mega Man confronts the last of his enemies in outer space.
Ax-Crazy: Gemini Spark Black, Wolf Woods when under a full moon, and Jack Corvus are all manic destroyers. Acid Ace B. is one, too.
Back for the Finale: The final episode of the Tribe anime had nearly the whole supporting cast of the first season cameo during Misora's concert at the end, including the FM-ians, who had all been Killed Off for Real.
Background Music Override: Sonia is this in spades. After she makes peace with Lyra Note, every time she appears, she has to start by singing one of her songs.
Bag of Spilling:
- Geo's Battle Cards do not carry over between installments, though Star Force 2 and Star Force 3 allow you to "unofficially" obtain cards from Star Force 1.
- Geo gets a new type of handheld in each game, which disperses his Brother Bands and makes it necessary to recreate them. In Star Force 2, they're only reforged following major events in the story, but Star Force 3 quickly gets it out of the way, since Luna and company aren't tardy to re-friending each other.
- Mega Man's entire power-up system is subject to Discard and Draw between installments. He loses the Star Force after the first game and the Tribe forms after the second.
Battle of the Still Frames: Plenty in the anime. Taurus Fire's Breath Weapon was often subject to shots that panned across the full stream of flame.
Betty and Veronica: Zigzagged with Luna and Sonia. At first glance, Sonia—a lonely orphan in casual wear who is Birds of a Feather with Geo—is the Betty and Luna—the fancy Uptown Girl and Class Representative trying to get Geo out in the world—is the Veronica; on the other hand, Sonia is a world-famous Idol Singer who travels the globe while Luna lives down the street from Geo and both are in the same posse of classmates.
Big Bad:
- Lady Vega in the second game.
- Mr. King in the third game.
Big Eater:
- Bud Bison, and, given his family crest is a crossed knife and fork, the whole Bison family, apparently.
- Depending on the direction you take the Dating Sim minigame in 3, Luna or Sonia or both will be seen scarfing tons of food. On her own, Sonia claims to be able to eat as much as she wants without gaining any weight.
A Birthday, Not a Break: Double Subverted. The (Re)birthday, the epilogue manga released along with Legacy Collection, takes place following the events of the third game during Geo's twelfth birthday. When trouble arrives in the form of the Crimson Dragon returning from the remnants of Meteor G, Geo's friends (and Solo) all pitch in to try and let Geo enjoy his birthday. Unfortunately, the threat proves too much for them and Geo's Chronic Hero Syndrome means he can't stand idly by and watch others put themselves in danger on his behalf. So he winds up jumping in to save the day anyway.
Bit Character: Numerous generic NPCs recur from one game to another, many with a gimmick expressed in their Punny Name, their Favorite Cards, or even a Sidequest.
BFS:
- Rogue wields a One-Handed Zweihänder in the second game and replaces it with Laplace, who takes the form of a Sinister Scimitar (with a Serrated Blade of Pain) in the third.
- Mega Man wields another One-Handed Zweihander with a blade made out of lightning when using any Zerker-based Super Mode in the second game; in the third game it returns with the "Thunderbolt Blade" Limit Break. As the Tribe King, Mega Man wields an evolved version of the sword as a Blade Below the Shoulder
Blood Knight: Almost every optional boss in the first two games enjoys battle.
- Claude, the rude and friendless eight-year-old Delinquent that hangs out at Big Wave.
- Damian, a silent and antisocial gardener whose natural inclinations to violence are only aggravated by his alien partner.
- Jean, a five centuries old ghost^*Sort of. It's complicated. who comes from a long line of bellicose warriors. Naturally, he's quite traditional.
- Kidd, a young martial artist who actually does so for reasons of sport and challenge.
- Pat is the exception here. He mostly takes to sparring so he can exercise his ability to control Rey.
Bond Creatures: EM beings, with the exception of most Wizards, who can also work on their own.
Bonus Dungeon: Deep Space in 1, the Alternate Future in 2, and the Black Hole Server in 3.
Bookends: The series ends just like how it begins: Geo staring off into space until Omega crashes right on top of him. The second time, however, Omega has brought someone else with him: Kelvin Stelar.
Boss Rush: The end of every game will feature a gauntlet of past boss fights before your encounter with the final boss. Geo even seems to be aware of this.
Mega Man: [sigh] Not again...
Breaking the Fourth Wall: "Touch the screen...er, train!"
Bullfight Boss: Taurus Fire and Queen Ophiuca have attacks where they charge you. They are, however, mostly out of your range, unless you have a Card that attacks your sides.
Came Back Wrong: Outside of the main plot, this happens a few times with the Bonus Boss upgrade variants to existing bosses. They're either mindless weapons, ghosts, or corrupted into evil by an outside force.
The Cameo: Mega Man Battle Network characters ProtoMan, PharaohMan, and Bass sneak their way into the series by featuring in battle-card art.
Canon Discontinuity: In the first game, inserting any of the Battle Network games into the GBA slot of the DS unlocks a secret quest in which MegaMan.EXE appears. His presence surprises Star Force MegaMan, who is shocked to encounter someone else with the same name. However, this reaction was later contradicted by Operate Shooting Star, which shows that Geo is already aware of another heroic MegaMan from historical records. This effectively retcons their encounter in the original game, implying that Geo should have already known about MegaMan.EXE.
Card-Carrying Villain: Omega-Xis laughingly calls Dr. Vega a comic-book villain after she announces her plot to Take Over the World. In the anime, she goes so far as to self-identify as a "bad adult".
Cast of Expies: Zigzagged—Star Force has a cast of Suspiciously Similar Substitutes. Many characters use the same characterization and design tropes as their Mega Man Battle Network predecessors, but in new combinations.
- Luna and Sonia mix-and-match traits from several characters. Luna, as the haughty blonde ojou, resembles Yai, but also suffers from parental issues like Mayl had, though Mayl's went unexplored. Sonia as the Rose-Haired Sweetie better resembles Mayl (and the blonde in pink Harp Note is clearly imitating Roll.EXE), but as Mega Man's combat companion, she's reminiscent of ProtoMan.
- Bud fits quite nicely into Dex's old position, but with an emphasized penchant for eating - his family crest is a crossed knife and fork. (Most aspects of Dex's character regarding food were only in the Anime)
- Zack has a collared shirt, tie, glasses, fluffy brown hair, and intellect like Higsby, but he's also a midget Non-Action Guy like Yai; he also closely resembles Aster from Battle Network 6, who was likewise a midget Higsby clone.
- Taurus Fire, the first boss of Star Force, as Dumb Muscle who likes punching things on the one hand and a Hot-Blooded Blood Knight who likes Playing with Fire on the other, is a mix of the earliest Battle Network bosses GutsMan.EXE and FireMan.EXE.
- Gemini Spark's humanoid appearance, inhuman skin color, metallic arms, and electric element are very reminiscent of ElecMan.EXE.
- Cancer Bubble, as a crab that likes Making a Splash, imitates Bubble Crab, and being a Pint-Sized Powerhouse who attacks with flooding torrents of water reminds of AquaMan.EXE.
- Hyde/Dark Phantom from the second game takes an occult motif, fancy dress, Smug Snake, and girl-abducting traits from ShadeMan.EXE, but Hyde is a Theatre Phantom while ShadeMan was a Classical Movie Vampire.
- Solo is a mix of ProtoMan.EXE's and Bass.EXE's traits, being The Rival with a penchant for swords on the one hand and a darkly-colored Barrier Warrior on the other.
- Ace, as the leader of Star Force 3's anti-villain response team, serves as an heir to the team leaders of Battle Network 5, Chaud and Baryl. Like Chaud, he fights crime as a prodigy member of the police, and like Baryl he has a history with a villainous organization.
- Dealer, the villainous organization of Star Force 3, spreads The Corruption and works to seize control of an impending meteor, making it a dead-ringer for Battle Network's Nebula. Concept art indicates that Big Bad Mr. King's original design was based on Dr. Wily before the creators settled on a design closer to Dr. Regal.
- Jack and Queen Tia imitate Prometheus and Pandora: a Hot-Blooded Blood Knight brother who attacks with ghostly fire and scythe-like wings, and his quiet, emotionless sister who peppers her sentences with lots of ellipses and attacks by manipulating the elements^note with her staff.
Casting a Shadow: Downplayed with the Grabity virus family, which is immune to all damage except swords, a style of defense that was previously used by various Eldritch Abomination Living Shadow viruses from Battle Network or those who had their chips. Grabities even have a single Cyclopean eyeball like the Nightmare viruses before them.
Casting Gag: In the Japanese edition of The Anime of the Game, the main character is surrounded by preceding Mega Man voices—Geo's mom Hope is voiced by Akiko Kimura, who played his predecessor MegaMan.EXE, and Omega-Xis is voiced by Kentarō Itō, who voiced X himself in Mega Man X4^note.
Celestial Theme Naming: Not just a play on the main character's name, but every FM-ian is named after a constellation (Taurus, Cygnus, Gemini, Lyra, etc.).
Central Theme: Each of the games' primary bosses are unified by one trait they each share.
- The first game's FM-ians are all based on various constellations.
- The UM As of 2 are themed after various cryptids.
- Finally, the boss Noise Wizards and various members of Dealer are based on playing cards.
Character Development: In a refreshing change from Mega Man Battle Network, whose characters remained largely static throughout the series, Geo goes from being mopey and introverted in the first game to having a chipper and outgoing personality (bar a slight setback) in the second one due to his experiences. In the third game, he has matured to the point where he functions as the team's pillar of strength during Luna's absence.
- In the first game, Geo acted like asking someone to be his Brother was like proposing to someone, since he was timid back then. His first person that he asked to be Brothers with was Sonia. The first boy, incidentally, Pat. But in the third game, he went around getting Brothers everywhere.
Cheat Code: Cipher Mail, the Star Force replacement for the Number Trader. By sending messages to very specific recipients, Mega Man can obtain various power-ups and specific battle cards (even including the strongest versions of each Mega Card).
Checkpoint Starvation: After defeating Le Mu XA, maxing all Link Power with Geo's friends and defeating Le Mu XA again, you can fight Rogue SX at Whazzap Ruins. If you lose, you will have to fight Le Mu XA again and endure the unskippable credits before you can have another attempt at Rogue SX.
Chest Insignia:
- Geo's Shooting Star pendant is embedded in the center of Mega Man's chest, rather than an artistic design. The official website notes that it symbolizes Geo's bond with his father, as well as showing that Geo is still in control of himself in his Finalized Noise Form.
- Both the Black Ace and Red Joker forms each have Geo sport two symbols: the symbol of the person he's copying (upside down A, triangular J, respectively) and his traditional star pendant on his chest, to symbolize he's still in control.
- Most (if not all) Wave Change forms have one of the artistic design category, though none are necessarily located on the chest.
- Also, the Crest of Mu on Solo's clothes, both when he's in human or Wave form.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A lot of the characters do this, most notably Copper and Pat, who have major roles in the first game, minor ones in the second, and only get a partial appearance and a mention in the third game (respectively).
Clark Kenting: Thanks to sharing the same style of Anime Hair, Mega Man is a Paper-Thin Disguise for Geo even at the best of times.
- To the game's credit, the one person really looking for Mega Man's identity, Copper, is actually suspicious of Geo (and even plants a tracking device on him at one point in the second game), but that's because he keeps encountering Geo in suspicious circumstances.
- The game toys with this by having Luna force Geo into her really bad imitation Mega Man costume and still fail to connect the dots.
- A few Mr. Hertzes at Geo's home and school hang a lampshade on their resemblance, but nothing comes of it.
Class Representative: Luna Platz is Echo Ridge's fifth grade president, and is constantly trying to get Geo to go to school.
Clone Angst: In the second game, Hollow is well aware that he is a Replacement Goldfish, and regrets that he cannot recall any of Altair's memories in order to make Vega happy.
Les Collaborateurs: When the Big Bad of the second game pulls a Do Not Adjust Your Set and announces how her new society of Mu will be reserved only for the elite of society, nearly everyone on the planet starts backstabbing each other and breaking Brother Bands in the attempt to save their own skin.
Color-Coded Elements: Inherited directly from Battle Network, the series has red Fire, blue Aqua, yellow Elec(tricity), and green Wood. Star Force 2 uses purple for the Power of the Void attacks peculiar to Rogue and Elite Mook Murians ("Ye born of Nothing."), which are Non-Elemental for purposes of gameplay.
Combat Clairvoyance: According to the defunct official website, Rogue's visor can trace the movement of EM energy in his opponents, ostensibly allowing him to see them preparing attacks. This has no influence on gameplay, since most of his attacks are flinch-inducing Spam Attacks meant to keep you from moving.
Combos: Battle Cards that inflict status effects or field effects frequently set up other cards as well.
- Chain Bubble traps foes in a bubble, which prevents enemies from doing anything and sets up double-damage for electric cards, like Stun Knuckle. (Both Chain Bubble 1 and Stun Knuckle are available before the Lyra scenario begins).
- Grass Stage sets up every Fire-element card for a damage multiplier; one notable combo is to initiate Break Time Bomb, and then to hit the target with a Freeze Knuckle, which will earn the bomb (which has the breaking attribute) a damage boost both from shattering the ice trapping the target and, if grass stage is set, from burning the grass.
Compressed Adaptation:
- For the sake of the Lighter and Softer Adaptation Deviation, many of the Dark and Troubled Pasts attributed to each character are simplified or removed, and the FM-ians (usually) are not preying on the insecurities of their chosen humans so much as simply helping themselves to the nearest useful human body.
- The abrupt Gainax Ending of the Tribe anime was not able to explore the characters of the Big Bad and The Dragon, but was clearly conscious of them—the former gets a brief but intense Freak Out when the latter loses in battle.
- The short lived manga spinoffs often relied on heavy Composite Character compromises or fast pacing when adaptating the game plots.
Console Cameo: Geo has a Nintendo Wii in his room.
Contest Winner Cameo: Goat Kung-Fu and Moon Disaster were designed by fans.
Continuity Nod: The franchise is littered with throwbacks to Mega Man Battle Network and MegaMan NT Warrior.
- The first Star Force game is saturated with NetNavi NPCs and the Dream Island junkyard has an area with large piles of PETs.
- The quiz-giving NPCs also returned in force, complete with introductory catchphrase: "Hey, hey! Ho, ho!"
- The mini-game from Harp Note's chapter in Star Force 1 has Mega Man trying to fend off Shock Note attacks from all sides, remarkably similarly to how Lan had to fend off Edo Castle's dummy soldiers in Battle Network 5.^*
- Geo makes the same "Item Found" fist-pump as Lan and Mega.
- The first game of the series kept the tradition of Crossovers with Boktai inherited from the latter half of the Battle Network series and included content from Boktai DS; this was not kept in the Western release of the game, possibly in keeping with the attempted rebrand of Boktai DS as Lunar Knights.
- Bob Copper's least favorite thing in the second game? Baseballs. In the first game, Geo beaned him with one to keep himself from being found out.
- Blair Loude is a lounge singer in the second game, which naturally implies he was fired as the Echo Ridge Elementary principal after the first game.
- In the second game, Luna is both Brothers with her mother Veil, following up on the Platz family drama in the first game. Further, Luna's favorite food is Veil's home cooking; in the first game, Veil's quest is to collect a recipe so she can cook something for her family.
- The third game in particular draws heavily from the Regal saga in Battle Network. The bad guy is named King, his plan involves an Impending Meteor and The Corruption, the heroes form a team to take him down, and the Noise Change system heavily mimics Soul Unisons.
- The 3rd game has a scene at the beach discussing the art of "boxers-off" from the beach scene in the Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel and Team ProtoMan that has been passed down though the ages.
- In some classroom scenes of the anime, there's a kid running around in Lan's clothes.
- Another Lan reference in the anime — some kid with his outfit is in the giant crowd trying to get into Sonia's concert during her debut episode. He even has a bandana this time.
- In the anime, Mega Man is afraid of ghosts (like MegaMan in MegaMan NT Warrior).
- When Akane tags along for Hyde's art class in the Tribe anime, she's carrying a bag with the Hikari Insignia on it.
- In the Tribe anime, Subaru and Gori have a meeting in a restaurant that has been around since at least RockMan.EXE Stream.
- In the anime, a TV has the brand name IPC, short for Ijuin PET Company or Blaze Quest Games in the Western release of Mega Man Battle Network.
- The Star Force 3's website character profile for Rogue indicated he used technology called the Darklight Harvester to power several of his attacks; one of its functions was to keep the "dark power" he used from running wild and causing harm to Rogue himself.
- In the Mega Man NT Warrior anime, Lan and Mega Man visit Ameroppe (or Netopia in the localization) as one of the locations in their world tour for the second place prize after the N1 Grand Prix and talk about "Dossie" as the episode ends with a silhouette of what appears to be Dossie in the background and both of them seemingly unaware. In both Starforce 2 and the tribe anime, Dossie is revealed to actually be a UMA that becomes the boss "Plesio Surf".
Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
- Geo Stelar is a brown-eyed brunette, just like Lan was, but he's also an introvert and a Hikikomori at the beginning of the franchise.
- Omega-Xis likewise replaces the calmer, responsible, humanoid MegaMan.EXE with his own monstrous appearance and brash violence.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Rich Dotcom, alias Yeti Blizzard, in the second game. We never see him engaged in his actual company, but we do meet him in the middle of a hostile takeover.
Creepy Twins: Gemini Spark, the series' iconic Dual Boss. And technically a Subverted Trope, as Pat and Rey are the same person split across two bodies, and the original Gemini is a single FM-ian that happens to have two faces.
Crossover:
- Following the Battle Network tradition of crossovers with Konami's Boktai franchise, the first Shooting Star Rock Man game exchanged some crossover content with Boktai DS, including a sidequest for each game, Battle Cards for Rock Man, and War-Rock acting as a terrenial for Django and Sabata. This content was Dummied Out of the localized versions for both games for reasons unknown, but possibly related to the attempt to rebrand Boktai DS as Lunar Knights.
- The premise of Battle Network: Operate Shooting Star is a Video Game Remake of the first Battle Network game with the Star Force cast visiting from the future. Mega Man and Harp Note both appear during the game, the former as a playable character. Luna, Bud, Zack, and Dr. Yoily cameo in the credits, and Burai appears in Star Force battle chips and a program advance.
Cursed with Awesome: Echoing Battle Network 6, late in the second game, Geo and Mega lose the OOPArt but (conveniently) retain the ability to Tribe-On. Geo suggests that the power of the OOPArt is more of a curse than a blessing. Omega-Xis, well...
Omega-Xis: Well, if it makes me strong, it's my kind of curse!
Geo: Um...OK...
Omega-Xis: Why are you so scared? It's my curse and I'm cool with it!
Cutscene Power to the Max:
- Rogue. This dies down the more he appears, but in his first appearance in Star Force 2, it's ridiculous how much the cutscene boasts of his power, despite only having 800 HP and none of his special abilities yet in the first fight.
- Jack Corvus too. He's probably one of the easiest bosses in the game, but in your first boss fight the battle immediately ends before you can finish him off, cutting to a scene where Jack Corvus is at full strength and Mega Man is panting.
- For a heroic example, the cutscenes tend to play up how powerful the Mega Buster is when used as a finisher. Meanwhile, in gameplay, if you have the wrong Weapon equipped a charged shot will do about ten damage. Fully upgraded, the Mega Buster is indeed one of the most powerful weapons in the game...as a gatling gun capable of outputting dozens of shots per second, rather than the single-shot usage cutscenes always favor.
Cutscene Incompetence: In the second game, it seems like Geo can't do anything without the power of the OOPART. But the most ridiculous example ties in with Rogue's Cutscene Power to the Max, where Geo is helpless to stop his friends from being sucked into a black hole, despite being right next to the source of the black hole, which Geo was quite capable of OHKOing in the previous three cutscenes.

D-F

Damsel in Distress: Happens a lot with Luna. This comes to a head in the third game where her Damsel in Distress tendencies get her killed. Until the scientists find a way to put her back together.
Darker and Edgier: The main characters, especially Geo, are often inflicted with Conflict Balls and issues noticeably less cartoony than those of Battle Network, especially in the first and third games.
Demoted to Extra: Despite being a core mechanic in the games, both story-wise and gameplay purposes, BrotherBand system is almost entirely absent from the anime. It is only mentioned in the final few episodes of the first season, where it retains its original purpose of fostering friendship across planets. In fact, the main cast had never even heard of BrotherBand before then. As a result, the anime portrays BrotherBand merely as a tool for interplanetary communication, rather than the glorified futuristic Facebook equivalent seen in the games.
Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Misora Hibiki (or Harp Note) are the entire vocal soundtrack, and every time she appears, the music switches to one of her songs, performed in-universe.
Dinosaurs Are Dragons: The Fire Dinosaur Tribe-On gives Mega the ability to, well, spit fire. Plesio Surf can also spit lightning.
Disappeared Dad: Geo's father, Kelvin Stelar, vanished while on a First Contact mission to Planet FM. This not only kicks off the events of the series, it even has repercussions at the end of it.
Discard and Draw: Each installment of the series has a different, more developed power-up system.
- In the first game, Mega Man can draw upon the power of the AM Sages.
- In the second game, they've left, but Mega Man can take advantage of the powers of ancient OOPART superweapons...and their mixes.
- In the third game, Mega Man can, through either the Ace or Joker program, tap into the power of Noise, which, short term, gives him the power of the FM aliens who invaded in the first game, and at its higher levels, can tap him into the power of the Meteor currently on a collision course with the planet.
- Notably, the Big Bangs of the various powers tend to mimic each other. The Wood and Heat Big Bangs are always a tornado and a single massive blast, for example (even if he can wave the Extinction Blazer around a little bit) - and the Noise Force Big Bang for the Elec element deliberately reproduces Thunder Zerker's Thunderbolt Blade. On the other hand, the Aqua NFBB produces three large waves of water, in equally deliberate contrast to the Star Force Big Bang Magician's Freeze.
Distant Sequel: Star Force take place two hundred years after Mega Man Battle Network.
Distracted by the Sexy: Late in the second game, Lady Vega pulls the old Do Not Adjust Your Set routine to spread her demands for world domination. One NPC in Wilshire Hills has no idea what she actually said, because all his attention was dedicated to how hot she looked.
"Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Sonia Strumm sings the opening themes for the anime, as well as practically every vocal insert song, and engages in constant Background Music Overrides and Theme Music Power Ups whenever Lyra Note arrives in a scene as a result.
Do Not Adjust Your Set: Lady Vega and Mr. King both make pronouncements this way. King doesn't settle for TV, though — he also broadcasts directly to everyone's Hunter-VG.
Double-Meaning Title: The (Re)Birthday post-series one-shot manga refers to both Geo celebrating his birthday and a fragment of Meteor G becoming a new Crimson Dragon that the heroes must defeat once more.
Downloadable Content: Each game allowed you to download a Secret Battle Card or two and possibly even extra BrotherBand Data...back when the Download Station still hosted them. If you have access to a hacking device like Action Replay, you can simulate the transmission and get them, anyway.
- The second game offered the King Grandeur and Le Mu Cards, plus BrotherBand data for both L.M. Shin and the original Mega Man himself.
- The third game had the Acid Arrest and Crimson Meteor cards, but no BrotherBand Data.
The Dragon:
- Hollow to Vega, and he's notable as such since the Bermuda Maze chapter is essentially his fault, down to convincing Harp Note to work for the Neo Mu Empire. He has a famous I Lied moment, but he does keep himself from "permanently" damaging Mega Man.
- Gemini and Heartless both count as both The Starscream, and Heartless may arguably be a case of Enigmatic Minion.
Dub Name Change:
- The FM-ians all have Celestial Theme Naming based on constellations, but their names are an erratic mix of English and Latin. The original English dub saw fit to Latinize Ox to Taurus and Harp to Lyra, but neglected to expand such courtesy to Harp Note, Wolf^note, and Crown. It also gave the female Ophiuchus the feminine name Ophiuca.
- The second game also saw a few name changes—Phantom Black to Dark Phantom, Condor Geograph to Terra Condor, but especially Brachio Wave to the much more appropriate Plesio Wave.
Dude, Where's My Respect?:
- Unlike Mega Man Battle Network, where Status Quo Is God and the Bag of Spilling conspired to ensure the heroes almost never got any recognition for their feats, this series features Mega Man becoming a major public figure and essentially becomes world famous from the second game onwards. This is especially noticeable with the EM Bodies, who treat him like a superstar.
- Played for drama later on when Sonia explained (Luna's interpretation, but still) that the reason for her Face–Heel Turn is that she did not think Mega Man could stop the villains she was forced to associate with, despite his world-saving reputation in the first game and she actually acknowledged him as a hero in one of their dates.
- In the third game most of WAZA refuses to take Mega Man seriously. On the other hand, he's amazingly popular around the globe and his star power eclipses that of an aspiring idol like Belle.
Elemental Rock–Paper–Scissors: The same basic cycle of elements is inherited from Battle Network: Fire beats Wood beats Elec beats Aqua beats Fire in turn.
Empty Shell:
- The Dragon of the second game, as suggested by his Meaningful Name, is the Replacement Goldfish Dr. Vega created when trying to bring her lover back to life. The result had no memories or personality, alas.
- In the third game, Aaron is able to restore a victim of Joker's Dread Laser technique... but the dismaying result is that Strong Came Back Wrong. Notably, while Strong ceases to matter to the story, later conversations imply he may be recovering, so this may be a subversion.
Energy Beings: If a character isn't human, it's this. Even the artificial ones.
Establishing Series Moment: Rather than have Powers in the First Episode like the games or the anime, the Ryuusei manga introduces itself with a bank robbery. The robber's Hostage Situation peters out when he notices that both the police and the hostage are more interested in a shooting star than him; he dismisses it only to have an Oh, Crap! moment when the meteor turns around in mid-air, crashes through nearby skyscrapers, and lands right in front of him. In the rubble is Ryuusei no Rockman. While the robber is terrified at first, he's rather put-out when he realizes Subaru and War-Rock are more concerned with arguing with each other rather than taking him seriously, but his decision to threaten them with a meat cleaver fails when War-Rock snaps the blade off of the handle with his teeth and eats it. The robber quickly turns himself in, and Rockman turns at the sound of the crowd crying his name, only to find a mob facing him down for the massive damage he did to the skyscrapers. He collects himself, makes a deep bow of apology, and then leaves...snapping several more skyscrapers in half as he flies away.
Everything Is Online: Including sunken galleons, lost medieval treasure, rocks and rotisserie chicken, and that's just in 2.
Expy:
- As a Pretty Boy with oddly-colored hair and Dissonant Serenity who gets close to the main character while in league with aliens, Pat is the Kaworu to Geo's Shinji.
- As a Proud Warrior Race Guy, Stock Shōnen Rival and the Last of His Kind with upward-flying Shōnen Hair, Rogue/Solo is a take-off of Vegeta; official art of Rogue in battle with Tribe King Mega Man (who also has upward-flying Anime Hair, like a Super Saiyan) evokes Vegeta's rivalry with Goku. Unlike Vegeta, who was a remorseless planet destroyer and Overarching Villain until the last arc of Dragon Ball Z, Solo still has some standards, had no desire for genocide, and turns on his former allies to protect the Earth.
Fanservice:
- Sonia, in her transformation sequence, gets a blatant ass shot.
- Queen Ophiuca takes full advantage of her new curvy shape in official art.
- Orihime got a notable Fanservice Pack in the anime, with her bust in particular benefiting from Adaptational Curves. This has ramifications for her ornate dress during the final arc, which even in the games had an Impossibly Low Neckline.
- In the Tribe anime, Phantom Black kidnaps Subaru's mother Akane and throws her over his shoulder, giving the camera a good excuse to get a straight-on shot of her butt.
- The third game puts Sonia in a Sailor Fuku. Bud, Zack, and Geo appropriately go wild over it.
- The third game also has a Beach Episode at Alohaha with all the kids in swimsuits.
Fantasy Kitchen Sink: While the first game restricts itself to Cosmic Motifs based on western constellations and the third game Playing Card Motifs, the characters original to the second game use an eclectic collection of Tanabata, Cryptids, and the Nazca Lines.
Fight Like a Card Player: Wave Battle is basically a card game version of Net Battling, and Mega Man and company use Battle Cards.
Final Boss Preview: A Superboss variant occurs in Star Force 1. Early on, you fight a shadow of the Satelite Admin coresponding to your game's version as part of a test to see if you're worthy of wielding the Star Force. In the post-game area, you fight the actual Admin, and not only do they have HP near equivalent to the Final Boss, they also have new attacks, and the attacks they had before hit much harder. Plus, like all other bosses, they have even harder EX and SP forms to fight.
Flanderization: Many supporting cast members have their Hidden Depths and Dark and Troubled Pasts glossed over, simplified, or ignored in both the anime and the manga, with their surface personalities taking up more narrative space. Luna is extra-pushy, Bud is extra-hungry, and Zack is extra-nerdy. The second game also downplays their troubles from the first game, but in most cases it's a product of their prior Character Development carrying over.
Flunky Boss:
- Queen Ophiuca, Wolf Woods, and Cygnus Wing summon Attack Animals to rush at Mega Man in battle. Cygnus Wing also has a special variant of his flunkies, the Quacky Lackies (who insist that they are not ducks, but nascent swans), to guard him and harass intruders in his dungeon. The mini-game of the area is to shoot each and every one of them with a rocket.
- Hollow and Le Mu are both Enemy Summoners; the former will call viruses to attack you, while the latter exclusively summons Murian soldiers.
Forgotten Phlebotinum: Despite all the amazing future-tech the kids have access to, they almost never think to use it. Star Force 2 is especially notable considering that Geo collects a Hover Board that works at up to thousands of feet in the air and Zack owns a personal sports car that neither of them sees fit to use more than once each.
Friendship-Hating Antagonist:
- The second game introduces Solo, a white-haired boy currently working for Dr. Vega and her group because their plans involve Mu, his home civilization. Despite this, Solo actually hates bonds and refuses to accept help from others, making a big deal of this every time he shows up. Unlike other characters who fuse with EM-beings to Wave Change, Solo can transform into Rogue without help from others, showing disgust in Mega Man's belief in Link Power all the while. After getting his ass handed to him for the first time, he later begrudgingly accepts Hollow's help and absorbs the Indie Fragment — a representation of the rejection of bonds — to make himself strong enough to take revenge against MegaMan. If the player defeats Le Mu XA, the player gets a secret ending where Rogue takes MegaMan with him from the crumbling Mu so he can challenge them to one last fight to prove that Link Power is worthless.
- In the third game, he becomes a lone wolf who still opposes Mega Man's belief in bonds but is less hateful, even going as far as to help him take down Dealer only because they were using Murian technology for their own agenda and Solo wanted to take vengeance on them. Additionally, he managed to find an EM-being partner called Laplace. Though he only uses Laplace as a weapon during battles, replacing his sword from the previous game, they seem to get on well.
From the Ashes: With some mild notation about how it's 200 years in the future and none of the original cast is left, Star Force was a rather transparent attempt to succeed the long-finished Mega Man Battle Network series without retreading its events. Lan and MegaMan were featured on key pieces of promotional art when the first game was being released and appear in minor sidequests but are otherwise unmentioned directly. Star Force 4, before it was cancelled, was intended to address the gap with Lan's descendant Kazuma.
Fusion Dance: EM Wave Change, and it's not just Geo who gets it. It also applies to the game's antagonists and some of the optional bosses as well.

G-I

Gainax Ending: In the Tribe anime. The last episode was rushed with the sudden end of the anime and so made some fairly radical decisions to compress, ignore, or change important parts of the original finale.
- Burai's backstory was completely altered to re-cast him as a protector of the Murian civilization, which robbed him of his original game motivation but provided no actual explanation of his previous actions in the anime.
- The backstories of the Big Bad and The Dragon weren't explained, though the anime compensated with a two-second Freak Out and Skyward Scream by the former when the latter died.
- The fate of Mu and the OOPArts also weren't elaborated on, and the final boss was ultimately defeated in one attack before it got to do anything.
Gameplay and Story Integration:
- In the second game, Geo manages to unlock Tribe On thanks to his bond with Luna and he notes afterwards that his Link Power with Luna has gone up. The game gives you exactly enough Link Power to equip the new ability that gives you Tribe Force.
- During the Messie Village scenario, Zack and Luna's relationship takes a turn for the worse. His Link Power practically flatlines to a measly 10 (which implies he's not that great with Bud, either).
Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Geo seems to need at least two of these per game whenever he slips back into angst mode. Ironically he's doing these for everyone else in 3. Go go Character Development!
Geo Effects: Burning, Freezing, Paralysis, Gravity, Attack Boost, Assist Drone, and Broken are all panel effects - and let's not even get started on when War-Rock starts taking swipes at the territory.
Geometric Magic: The second Star Force game seems to have been shooting for this, complete with Function and (small, almost inncouous) Ritual - an attempt that might've worked if Solo wasn't the only one using it on-screen. Mega Man can do it, too, but it's a lot harder to connect the dots when all you're looking at is a Wave Command Card.
- The next time you try inputting the Tribe King Wave Command, take a look at the dots - it's an outline of Mega Man's Shooting Star symbol.
- Star Force 3 carries this on with the Noise Kaizou ("Modification") Gear and its relatives.
- In the anime, Burai's transformation does this with Instant Runes, instead.
A God Am I: Played on a smaller scale with Bud in the second game. At the encouragement of the Shaman, the villagers of Whazzap revered Bud — or rather, "Budicus" — as an emissary of Mu. Bud, who was then suffering from amnesia, went along with it primarily to enjoy the great food. Played fully straight when the Shaman becomes Terra Condor. In the anime, the shaman is roughly possessed by Condor, who believes this about himself — and starts gunning for Luna. King plays this much straighter in the third game after merging with Crimson Dragon, although he doesn't say it directly.
Goggles Do Something Unusual: The Visualizer given to Geo by Aaron Boreal (that belonged to Geo's dad) allow him to see EM waves or hidden wave hole portals.
Guide Dang It!:
- Each game in the series has multiple input systems for Classic Cheat Codes that will earn Mega Man powerful battle-cards, abilities, and other benefits. Some of these cheat code systems are Merchandise-Driven, like the Wave Command Codes of the second game and the Noise Modification Gear of the third, and are tucked away from normal gameplay to keep unguided players from stumbling on them. The Updated Re-release puts these in menus to make using the codes much easier and available for all regions.
- Star Force 3 features multiple invisible warp points, with at least one in WAZA containing an HP Memory behind it. You have no in-game indication these exist without getting lucky enough to stand on one while transformed into Mega Man.
Hard Light: Matter Waves and the successor Real Waves and Wizards. Hollow is a person made out of Matter Waves, or, well, almost.
Hates My Secret Identity: Moreso in the show. Luna the Class Representative mostly bosses Geo around, while admiring his alter ego Mega Man, after he saves her from an enemy attack. She struggles with this for the whole anime. In the games, she gets a lot less prickly after finding out the two are one in the same.
Heart Container: Like with Battle Network, you can collect HP Memory to increase Mega's maximum HP. This time, it comes in two variants which raise max HP by 10 or 20. There's still enough to reach the 1000 cap..
Henshin Hero: Most characters receive superpowers and secret identities by doing a Fusion Dance with Energy Beings, exactly like Cross Fusion.
Here There Were Dragons: The anime and second game reveal that the Wave Road (and a number of viruses) existed in the far, far past, during the age of Mu, so modern technology successfully made The Magic Comes Back. Whether Murian and Modern capabilities to interact with the internet count as Magic from Technology or Magitek is still up for debate.
Heroic BSoD:
- Geo starts the series in a big one since Kelvin's disappearance which makes him refuse to make any friends or go to school.
- Zack and Bud have one in the third game when Luna dies...but not really.
  - Mr. Shepar also has one when he's not only deeply distraught about a missing student, but also at the possibility of losing his job because of it.
- Thanks to Character Development, Geo steps up and takes charge of the situation while Bud and Zack Freak Out over Luna dying.
- Geo's had them in other games. In the second game, he has one over his failure to pull Zack, Bud, and Sonia out of the Un-Dimension...which just ends up depositing them in other places of the world, and then another one where Sonia betrays him for Lady Vega.
- Something exclusive in the anime, he gets a particularly spectacular one when he and Cygnus Wing Battle in the Rain. Cygnus Wing gives him a Breaking Speech and reveals that Omega-Xis, that very same alien he is currently fused with, is responsible for his father going missing. He gets the Dull Eyes of Unhappiness and de-merges with Omega-Xis, while standing on a wave road. And there is a river below. You know what happens next.
High School AU: The third attempt by the franchise at setting Mega Man in elementary school.
Hopeless Boss Fight: At least one per game, often as a segue into unlocking some new Power-Up.
Hostage for MacGuffin: In the Tribe anime, Hyde is teaching an art class when Subaru's mom - Akane - shows up, interested in taking part. After he learns who she is, Hyde immediately hijacks control of every viewscreen in town, showing that he's taken her hostage (really, she's just sitting for a portrait he asked to paint of her - and, no, nobody learns who Rockman is by association). When Rockman shows up unexpectedly (he got sidetracked by the portrait), Hyde wave changes to Phantom Black and kidnaps Akane, who is given one of the LEAST subtle ass-shots ever in all of shonen.
Idol Singer: Sonia Strumm, who has to work with a corrupt manager who exploits her songs to get himself out of debt. She quits at the end of her chapter in the first game, but gets back into the business with a vengeance before the second starts. In the anime, however, she decides to go on her own personal world tour and at no time is it implied she properly returned to working full-time.
"I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
- Subverted. Any time Geo has to fight his friends (such as the first boss battle with Bud/Taurus Fire), he worries that defeating the FM-ian possessing him/her will kill the host body. Omega-Xis, the alien who gave Geo his powers, assures him otherwise.
- This is played straight in 3, when Joker makes Acid destroy. Extra points for the fact that he would've killed Ace from inside-out if he wasn't stopped.
Inconsistent Dub: That particular issue is fixed in the anime, although Lyra Note's human name also becomes Sonia Sky (perhaps because Sonia Strumm was too much of a Punny Name for the localization's tastes). Other attempts to deal with the conventions of the translation include restoring Ophiuchus Queen's original name (in the game, she refers to herself as "Queen Ophiuca"), and changing Mr. Shepar's name to "Shepard". One episode, however, contains an outright mistake - it's not the "Rock Buster", it's the "Mega Buster".
In Name Only: Outside of the title character's name, some familiar enemies and the later introduced Wizards being effectively advanced AI with their own personalities much like the characters from the Classic timeline, there isn't much connecting the Star Force games to the larger Mega Man series in terms of characters and themes.
Invocation: Star Force tried to keep Battle Network's energy going with similar catchphrases. When Geo transformed in the first two games: "EM Wave Change! Geo Stelar, on (the) air!" In Japanese: "Denpa Henkan! [Wave Change!] Hoshikawa Subaru, on air!" To announce a boss battle (in both versions): "Wave Battle! Ride on!"
Invisible to Normals: The Wave World and the EM Beings which inhabit it are usually invisible except in special circumstances. Occasionally, Muggles can see it or at least sense that they're Being Watched.
- Visualizer technology was specifically designed to see it, but it's rare; Geo, Legendary Master Shin, and the Satellite Police have it, but no one else.
- Solo is able to see them unaided, but that ability comes from his Murian blood.
- Aaron Boreal has a picture in his lab of something he saw after going three straight days and nights without sleep (a Mr. Hertz).
- Joe Hawnt, a recurring Bit Character, can apparently see them regularly, but thinks he's dealing with matters of the occult.
- The fortune teller Madame Hills can see Mega Man plain as the nose on her face (and you have to be Mega Man to find her corner of the world, anyway).
- Inverted in the third game: all normal humans become invisible once Mega Man transforms (leaving only a shadow where they're standing). In addition, the transition of EM Beings into Wizards renders them visible without Visualizers. Omega-Xis is initially annoyed by this (especially since his upgrade was involuntary due to being stuck inside Geo's Hunter-VG during its update and involved being bombarded by the update data), but changes his mind once he realizes that he can interact with the Real World and not have to worry about revealing he's an alien since most people will assume he's just a fancy custom Wizard.

J-L

Jekyll & Hyde: Played straight with Pat and his other personality, Rey.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Omega-Xis, later in the series. At the start he's just a plain old jerk.
Justified Tutorial: In the second game, Geo's first scene involves setting up and getting used to new hardware.
Kid Hero: Examined thoroughly and put back together again in the first game. Geo is only 10-going-on-11 in Star Force 1 and is little more than a lonely child devastated by the loss of his father, thrown into heroism only by his chance meeting with Omega-Xis. And unlike with Lan in the precursor Battle Network series^*, the dangers and implications of Geo's superhero double life are played much straighter: Geo as Mega Man is directly in harm's way when fighting Wave Beings, and several classmates and especially adults who know his secret identity have very grounded concerns about sending the boy on missions he might not return from. The reconstruction starts when Geo rises to the occasion and the friends he made on his journey lift him up when he needs it. Without the dangers he faced, he never would've repaired his shattered life. Special thought is put into why a child was needed to solve the first game's conflict: a different traumatized, broken child with too much power was in desperate need of help and understanding, not judgement.. The later games follow this up by averting Adults Are Useless and growing a support network to prevent Geo from being overwhelmed.
Kleptomaniac Hero Found Underwear: In the first game, examining Luna's dresser will cause Geo to acknowledge her frog stuffie, but he will abstain from rummaging through it. In the second game, Omega will force him to rummage through it to look for something interesting, which reveals a secret ES. In the third game, Geo happens upon..."a little girl's secret". He immediately panics, but he can't seem to stop staring.^note
Laser-Guided Karma:
- Solo's attempt to break Geo's spirit by banishing his friends to the Un-Dimension backfires when an amnesiac Bud winds up in Whazzap, a site of Murian ruins, where the local shaman decides to refashion him as Budicus, false prophet of Mu. This sacriligeous sham enrages Solo, who is albeit blind to his own responsibility for enabling the situation.
- Gemini constantly abusing his allies, using others as tools or betraying them, means when he's destroyed the second time Cepheus abandons him, Pat only retains his data as a Transformation Trinket, and no one else who could reconstruct him like Taurus did with Bud would bother.
Last Disc Magic: You will receive your first Giga Card as you begin the final chapter of the game. They are really powerful individual cards — strong enough to clear out most virus battles in a single use.
Latex Space Suit: These are worn by the crew of the space station Peace in the anime prologue.
Living Weapon: Wizards/FM and AMians can be considered this. As well as the weapons that Omega-xis consumes to obtain the powers of Zerker/Saurian/Ninja.
The Load: Zack, who in the first two games is the direct cause of much frustration or setback. In the first game he spies on Geo, which is how Luna knows to head down to AMAKEN to chase him, and he informs Chrys Golds about a Sonia sighting, precipitating Geo getting physically assaulted and the Harp Note scenario. In the second, he declines to reach out after the Party Scattering because he was too attracted to the idea of having his own accomplishments through spreading the word about Messie.
Love Hurts: In the second game, the death of Vega's lover first inspired her to create Matter Waves and then (after she found Mu relics) decide to rule the world.
Loves My Alter Ego: To the point that even when Luna discovers Geo is Mega Man, she insists that her attraction is solely to Mega Man and not Geo, refusing to consider them one and the same.
Love Triangle:
- Luna is in a Two-Person Love Triangle with Mega Man (whom she has an exaggerated crush on) and Geo (whom she initially holds in contempt) and eventually grows to reconcile those impressions; Geo considers her his Protectorate and has secretly given her his Declaration of Protection.
- Geo and Sonia (in the games) are Birds of a Feather who become each other's First Friends by Bonding over Missing Parents; Lyra, acting as Sonia's Cool Big Sis, actively pushes Sonia into asking Geo on a date.

M-O

Marked Change: Inverted with Solo, who loses his Facial Markings when he transforms.
Mascot Mook: The series have its own variant of the franchise's mascot Mettool, the Mettenna (they are, in fact, Metts with individual antennae). They're more or less identical in combat to their EXE originals, but their Shockwave Battle Cards have the improved ability to turn once after being launched.
Masquerade: Geo and Sonia do their best to hide Omega and Lyra from the public eye. This is made somewhat difficult by the aliens, who don't seem to care about exposing themselves to the world. By the third game this has become far easier, as instead of hiding them away entirely they can get away with simply passing them off as normal Wizards.
Meaningful Name: Many of which double as Punny Names.
- At first, Joker only has that name to fit with Dealer's Theme Naming, but after he reveals his true form as the strongest Battle Wizard ever created, and his Villainous Breakdown, in which he turns into a cackling Ax-Crazy mess, it becomes meaningful.
- Geo had some fun with this, calling Luna "Satellite Girl" early in the first game because the moon is the Earth's satellite, and Luna's always around him, nagging him to go to school. Interestingly enough, judging by dialogue in the second game, Sonia's name is apparently pronouced as "Sunya" (Geo stammers "S-Son-" and a nearby person states "Sun?")^note. And I'm sure we all know the relationship between the sun and the earth.
- Also, just about everybody else who has a sidequest of some sort. There's gotta be at least 30 people from the first and second games whose names drop hints at your quest for them. Many of them are also recurring characters, so you'll see them in each game.
- While most people call him "War-Rock", everyone's favorite alien carries an obvious play in his name on "warlock", which is not just the male equivalent of "witch" (in that he gives Subaru his powers), but also literally means oath-breaker or traitor.
  - Further exemplified in the third game as the Star Force equivalent of Navis come into fruition: Wizards, meaning War-Rock, or Warlock, is now considered a Wizard as well.
Mecha-Mooks:
- The Eyez series of viruses are a robotic replacement for the Killer Eyes of Mega Man Battle Network, and will scan the field to strike targets with lightning.
- Junk-O viruses are spindly limbed robots that put blocks on the field.
- In the third game, wizards on the whole are more mechanical-looking than the amorphous energy beings of the first two games, and can be fought as enemies. The Noised Wizard type of enemy goes so far as to be a Murderous Malfunctioning Machine.
Merchandise-Driven: As with the latter half of Battle Network, the games came with hidden built-in Purposefully Overpowered upgrades that you can obtain by purchasing Real Life merch and peripherals. While these upgrades in the first and third games are largely unusable for western games outside of hacking, the second game's "Wave Command" menu is accessible, allowing anyone who knows the Wave Command Codes to input them for immense profit.
Mercy Invincibility: As per usual, many attacks can cause this for both player and enemy alike, and certain attacks can pierce this state. Then there's the Noise meter mechanics in the third game — Getting over 100% Noise disables mercy invincibility on both sides, increasing danger but letting you go loose on boss enemies.
Me's a Crowd:
- Le Mu can only summon about five different models of EM Being (Phantom, Yeti, Plesio, Condor, and the Warriors). It will summon thousands of them during the final chapter.
- Promotional art for tournaments would often feature different forms of Mega Man doing combat with each other.
- The animated TV spot in Japan for Star Force 3 shows Mega Man being knocked back by a wave of energy from the Crimson Dragon. As he gets up, his various Noise Forms shimmer into view behind him.
Missing Trailer Scene: The Tribe anime's penultimate episode's On the Next sequence has a dramatic shot of Rockman as Thunder Berserk swinging his sword and lunging at the camera. It never shows up in the final episode... because it's actually from the Brachio Wave arc.
Mission-Pack Sequel: While each game in the series operates via the same core mechanics, the sequels each introduce different mechanics to diversify themselves. The second game, however, gets the fullest brunt of this trope as it doesn't differ too greatly from the first.
Mon: EM Beings are basically this, especially since they replace NetNavis, the Mons of the previous series.
Mon Mode: EM Wave Change occurs when a human merges with an EM being that they are compatible with, gaining access to their abilities and using Battle Cards as weapons. In 3, EM Wave Change has converted to Transcoding with the Hunter-VGs because EM beings are transformed into Wizards. This method uses data rather than just EM Waves from the Stellite Server for registered humans to change as a part of Project-TC. This project aims to perfect synthetic Wave Change with artificial Wizards and their operators to minimize the risk to users' bodies.
Mons as Characterization: Many NPCs have a selection of Favorite Cards that hint at their personality.
- Major characters often have the mega-cards for Bosses listed among their favorites, often well before the boss even appears in the story.
- In the first game Cindy White, a female NPC who shows interest in older men, has a string of Recovery +10^noteThe most basic of healing cards cards capped off with a Poison Apple^noteA trap that punishes people for healing, a juxtaposition that suggests she's prone to lavishing minor compliments but has nasty ulterior motives, as if she's a black widow to be.
- Joe Hawnt, a local NPC who is obsessed with ghosts, has a selection of ghostly Invisible and Ghost Pulse cards.
- Blair Loude, the Echo Ridge elementary principal in the first game, wants a new school song; his favorite cards consist entirely of the Song series.
Mood Whiplash: Rarely, but when it occurs, it can be startling.
- When Condor Geoglyph kidnaps Luna and co. and threatens to sacrifice their laughter to the land of Mu. Which he will get by tickling them. For reference purposes: the misguided, manipulative leader of the village of Whazzap, who has transformed into a living, avian-themed jet fighter, is now busying himself by tickling his hostages.
- Joker's first field appearance. In which he destroys Luna's Plot Armor so hard that Geo struggles to reassure the others that she isn't permanently dead. Note: this happened right after the Dating Sim Beach Episode.
Mooks:
- EM Viruses serve as generic monsters that fill the wave road and serve as the most typical Random Encounters.
- Jamming are enemy agents belonging to the FM-ians, who subject human beings to Demonic Possession and occasionally More than Mind Control.
- "Murians" are sets of Animated Armor from Mu that use a sword and shield; they come in Non-Elemental, Elemental Rock–Paper–Scissors, and Power of the Void varieties. Notably, they can EM Wave Change with EM Beings.
- Most wizards of the third game are non-violent, but hordes of Ax-Crazy Noised Wizards can be fought. There are also cruel MalWizards and myriad copies of Omega-Xis himself to be fought.
Morph Weapon: Mega Man's Mega Buster transforms into the battle card weapons that he attacks with. In the third game, this takes another level with the Mega Arm, which in itself transforms into the Mega Buster,
Mundane Utility: Geo occasionally needs his EM Wave Change technique to accomplish relatively menial tasks, usually during sidequests or to get past some Insurmountable Waist-High Fence. For example:
- When he uses his powers to get to the upper section of Zack's room, despite the fact that there's a supposedly functioning elevator-step in plain sight.
- Geo can only get behind the counter of Big Wave by becoming Mega Man and finding the relevant Wave Hole.
- After accidentally breaking the express mail's packaging system in the anime, Geo decides to use his incredible wave form powers... to deliver mail.
Mysterious Protector: Geo swears to keep Luna safe in the first game. Luna, only half-conscious, manages to hear the specific line and has it added to the School Play.
Mythology Gag:
- The Global Currency here is still Zenny, as it was in Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Legends.
- While Cygnus Wing's minions are called the Cygnets in English, they were originally called "Shitappā" in Japanese, which is also the original Japanese name for the Birdbots of Mega Man Legends.
Never Trust a Title: Zigzagged; despite the space-related series title, the second game made a radical departure from the Cosmic Motifs of the first game, but the third game brought them back.
- The "Star Force" in the title refers specifically to the power Mega Man receives in the first game and further evokes the cosmic motifs of the cast and setting, as does the original Japanese title Shooting Star Rockman.
- The second game keeps both titles while the main plot has nothing whatsoever to do with space and only having a one or two fringe references to the original motif.
- The third game's English dub takes a step back in the direction of the original by bringing back a handful of the first game's characters, featuring an incoming meteor as a looming doomsday event, and setting the Bonus Dungeon entirely in space. The Japanese version makes it explicit as the meteor in question is referred to as a shooting star.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The power-up systems of the second and third game expand the range of Mega Man's Multiform Balance by allowing him to stack multiple forms on top of each other, combining The Gimmick of each as well as their powers.
- The second game gives you a free "Auto-Brother" to provide the Zerker tribe to either Ninja or Dinosaur versions and vice versa, allowing you to create ninja-knights or knightosaurs. By becoming Brothers with the fellow version, you could not only create ninja-dinosaurs as well, but by combining all three tribes you could make Mega Man the king of the ninjaknightosaurs.
- The third game replaces the three tribes with the Noise system, allowing Mega to stack the powers of up to two sets of powers derived from the FM-ian aliens, like Wolf and Crab or Taurus and Corvus.
Once per Episode: In every game, Geo obtains the transformation mechanic in order to save Luna from imminent danger.
One Game for the Price of Two: While the first Star Force is one-game-for-the-price-of-three(Pegasus, Leo, and Dragon), Star Force 2 is, oddly, three games for the price of two (Zerker x Ninja and Zerker x Saurian). The third game reverts to the two-versions shtick (Black Ace and Red Joker), but there's no reason to buy both as none of the version-exclusive content can be transferred.
One-Winged Angel: Played straight in the first two games, where both of the final bosses pull off one of these when their health gets low. However, in the third game this trope is actually inverted when Mega Man enters his Finalized form in a second round with the Final Boss, who hasn't changed.
Optional Boss: There are a few optional bosses in each game that aren't involved with the story and just fight you for the heck of it.
Our Ghosts Are Different: Several varieties of Virus are particularly ghostly. One variety specializes in disrupting their targets with Status Effects; another are more interested in disorienting you with their own off-kilter motion and vulnerability patterns.
- A couple of characters actually deal in this, too. The "boss" of the second group of Ghost viruses is Phantom Black, an Intangible Man in operatic dress with some ghostly wind powers.
- Another technical "ghost" is Crown Thunder, a boss from the first postgame; his attacks are based in either striking you with lightning or delegating to his trio of Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors minions. His ghostlyness is largely backstory; apparently the alien Crown was already a ghost when he first Wave Changed with the human Jean. Jean, naturally, was busy dying from arrow wounds when this first happened.
  - The anime circumvents this small plot implosion by having Crown fuse with the dead remains of the human, which unfortunately binds him to the land the man died on. Luckily for Crown, Jean died on a ship, which agitates Mega Man and Harp Note to no end.
Our Werewolves Are Different: These ones become Wave Road entities when they transform!

P-Z

Paper-Thin Disguise: Some humanoid FM-ians like Cygnus Wing and Gemini Spark join the Amazing Technicolor Population, while Harp Note's hairdo gets a distinctive blonde dye-job. Mega Man's merely sports a slightly darkened version of Geo's unique Anime Hair, and not one person makes the obvious connection.
Parrot Exposition:
- Lots of it in the second game. The final chapter has Geo and Zack repeating Vega's backstory once or twice and then a few cutscenes later Aaron e-mails Geo and reveals he's all caught up on his current events trivia by going over it all again.
- From the third game: "Accumulate? You mean it builds up inside them?"
- The first game has several examples when Geo first meets with the Satellite Admins: "We have words that must be conveyed." "You mean you have things to tell me?"
The Power of Friendship: Exaggerated. Like in Battle Network, making friends gives you superpowers.
- In the first game, collecting Brothers produced the Brother Force, a unique bond between Mega Man and one of his friends that would provide him with an HP Boost, access to his friends' Favorite Cards, and an ability (e.g. Sonia's provided First Barrier and Undershirt, while Bud's gives Super Armor).
- In the second and third, Brother Bands create the more generic Link Force instead, which allows Mega Man to equip abilities he's collected elsewhere, so long as he has sufficient space for it. The second game really tries to sell it — people with high Link Power get all sorts of freebies, such as discount bus tickets or even free hotel suites.
- In all three games this gets used as a Socialization Bonus — forming BrotherBands with other players will give you extra perks or Link Power that you will have difficulty accessing while playing alone. The second and third games also offer the ability to reject this power to access Rogue's power of loneliness.
The Power of Rock: Harp Note uses a guitar and its music as an offensive weapon.
Powers as Programs: As with Battle Network, this is once again taken in a very literal sense.
- Battle Cards are the people's way of combating viruses and are often self-contained instances of enemy attacks; some EM Humans like Mega Man and Acid Ace are capable of using them as weapons.
- Mega Man can likewise duplicate specific powers or abilities of other characters through his myriad Super Modes.
Power Floats: The Energy Beings in their natural state, and some EM Humans, too.
- You can't really see it in battle (or realize it due to the camera), but when Le Mu Turns Red, it actually rips itself free of its stone mountain casing and ends up floating hundreds of feet in the air.
Principles Zealot: Rogue goes from being standoffish and rude to being more than a little eager to validate his ideals of solitude and self-reliance. From his very first appearance he assumes Mega Man is his ideological enemy.
Punny Name:
- Almost every NPC not important to the plot has one(usually related to their sidequest).
- Viruses, too, Mettennas are Metts with antennae, and Grabities are small black holes with arms.
- Late in the original anime, a giant EM Meteor named "Rajione VI"^noteAccording to the series' fansub passes by the Earth and inflicts either new powers or a new personality on each of the FM-ians. However, since the Japanese pronounce the English word "radio" as "rajio", it seems that the intended name of the meteor was Radion, not "Rajione".
Railroading: The games have a very strict sequence of event flags that you must pass, and sometimes this means coming up with excuses to prevent Geo from exploring areas that are ostensibly open to you; at least once the player can't make Geo turn into Mega Man because Omega-Xis thinks Geo has other things to do.
Random Drops:
- Downplayed with the basic Card Force. Since the Star Force series did away with chip codes for the Battle Card system, the only real randomization you have to worry about is if you're fighting a set of different viruses, since you'll only get one of their cards from defeating them.
- The third game's Illegal Data cards (Purposefully Overpowered cards not registered in the card library) are sometimes obtained when you defeat viruses with over 100% Noise.
Random Encounters: Yet another mechanic retained from Battle Network. The instant Mega Man steps foot on the Wave Road, he is set to be besieged by EM viruses.
- One specifically overdramatic example of this is the Omega Boss system from Star Force 3. From the very first moment of the game, Mega Man has a chance of encountering the strongest possible form of almost any of the bosses, regardless of whether or not you've encountered him in the plot yet, with thousands of hit points, attacks capable of dealing several times Mega's max HP in damage, and once the Hunter-VG flashes "WARNING" at you, it's impossible to escape.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: In the second game, Rogue delivers one to Dark Phantom, calling him a leech by the way he acts. The other takes pride in that, declaring to be the greatest parasite in the world.
Recap Episode: The English dub of the anime only covers the first half of season 1; to compensate for this, the dub ends with Geo recapping that part of the story along with footage from earlier episodes.
Recycled with a Gimmick: Mega Man Battle Network... IN SPACE!
Red Eyes, Take Warning:
- Mega, one of the main heroes, has red eyes, and Geo's eye color changes to red when he transforms into Mega Man^note
- The Black Ace◊ and Red Joker◊ forms do have Red Eyes, however, mixed with Glowing Eyes of Doom (which are very evocative of F-Beast and G-Beast MegaMan from Battle Network 6). These are both a mix of Rule of Cool and a subtle nod to Bad Powers, Good People and Dark Is Not Evil (with a futuristic Sci-fi aesthetic), but not after you realize what's making his eyes red. Visor, why?
- Played straight with Solo.
Red Oni, Blue Oni:
- Geo and Omega. Despite Omega being blue, he proves to be the hothead to Geo's calmer, slower pace.
- Mega Man and Harp Note. Geo tends to be the more serious of the pair, whereas Sonia's far more outgoing and perky.
- Omega-Xis can also play blue oni when he wants to; in the anime during an early face-off with Taurus, Mega calmly analyzes Taurus' fighting "strategy" and explaining how he was bound to lose (Taurus' brute emphasis on power put him at a disadvantage against Mega's speed).
- Jack and Queen Tia in the third game. Jack is brash, impulsive, and impatient while Tia is calm, collected, and cold. They have a moment near the end of the game where they switch, with Jack being the one to calmly talk an emotionally charged Tia out of their scheme to let Meteor G hit Earth.
Redemption Earns Life:
- A few of the EM beings who were villains in the first two games return in the third by forming genuine bonds with their original human hosts, aiding them in battle and living peacefully on Earth otherwise.
- Near the end of the third game, Jack and Queen Tia realize the error of their ways inside Meteor G and decide to stop following through with letting Meteor G hit the Earth. They end up being the only prominent members of Dealer alive besides Heartless by the end of the game, unlike their alien partners.
Relationship Values:
- In the first and second game, Geo's in-game Brother Bands develop over time, giving him access to superior abilities.
  - In the first game, each NPC Brother's choice of favorite cards improves the further the story has progressed, improving Mega Man's selection of cards.
  - In the second game, Mega Man only gets a highly-limited set of cards from each of his NPC Brothers, but specific story events will increase the strength of Geo's relationship with his friends, which raises the Link Power each Brotherband generates and thereby increases Mega Man's capacity to install abilities.
- The second game has several gates that will only let Mega Man pass if his Link Power is high enough. The story further indicates some people or institutions will give freebies to people for having large quantities of it—shopping Malls give out expensive gifts and at least one hotel may allot you a room based on your Link Power.
- In the third game, each character is given a static amount of Link Power, which appears to be explained more by their role in the story than anything else. Of course, Geo makes up for this by easily befriending a good dozen or so extra NPCs.
Replacement Goldfish: Hollow was originally created by Vega in an attempt to bring her lover back to life. It didn't quite work, hence the Meaningful Name.
Riddle for the Ages: Who made the Ice Sculpture in the Grizzly Peak Resort, and why?
Omega-Xis: I feel sad waves coming from it.
Rivals Team Up: The basis of a four-stage minigame in Star Force 3, in which Geo and Solo attempt to take down a series of massive monsters of Noise that may remind you of the Dark Soul Monsters from Battle Network 5 and the Anime.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Rich Dotcom's Modus Operandi, especially in the anime, where he even tries to bribe Geo, who immediately inverts this.
Scunthorpe Problem: The US versions of the first trio of games have a swear filter that suffers from this. It makes one of the Cipher E-Mails impossible to send in those versions. The Updated Re-release would address this in most regions, thankfully.
Secret Identity: Geo and Omega have to bust their butts trying to keep it that way, though Omega is considerably less concerned with taking care of stuff like that. This gets relaxed by the third game, as they have a larger support group and the obvious fear for Omega is rendered moot.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man:
- Geo is a little kid, but he and Omega-Xis still fit this dynamic, particularly in the first game.
- The first two villains of the first two games are both pairs of The Brute and a Sissy Villain.
  - In the first Star Force game, Taurus Fire is The Brute, a big fighter who attacks with straight force, while Cygnus Wing is a Sissy Villain who attacks with flunkies and ballet dancing.
  - In Star Force 2, Dark Phantom is the Sissy Villain (a Theatre Phantom who wants to put on not a stage play but a movie), while Yeti Blizzard is The Brute (a massive thug who attacks by stomping on you and beating his chest).
- Notably, Dark Phantom and Yeti Blizzard would go on to become ascended extras in the anime, making this dynamic an element of their ongoing rivalry.
Sequential Boss:
- Dread Joker R and Acid Ace R. In that order. Also Those Two Bosses because you have to fight them in a row!
- Subverted in Star Force 2. Rogue shows up after the battle with Hollow, but Harp Note blasts Mega Man away so the player can save and heal.
Shmuck Bait: In the second game, Hyde kidnaps Luna (round two) and then demands Geo make an appearance at the theater to star in his new production.
Omega-Xis: I'm 100 percent sure this is a trap.
Shout-Out: Several.
- When Goodall asks Mega Man to investigate the areas where Wizards went out of control, Mega gets into a detective frenzy, and Geo remembers of a program he liked: WRI. On said mission, one of the Noise Hertz sings a part of "Somebody's watching me".
- Geo has an earthworm for a school project, named James.
- As for Capcom itself, at one point Geo's teacher mentions he drinks coffee blend #107.
  - Another one occurs with an NPC's name: Sho Ryuken.
- Not to mention the fact that in the third game there is a generic satella male police officer named after Those Two Guys from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
- The Satellite Admins Pegasus Leo Dragon might bring a certain Sentai series to mind, the only difference is that the latter two switched colors with each other.
  - Made even funnier that the working title for Dairanger's appearance in Power Rangers Super Megaforce is...Star Force.
- Speaking of Power Rangers, in the third game, there's the Satella Police Commandos. A group of teenagers with attitude are recruited by the law enforcement group, led by a veteran officer, all able to transform into color-coded battle-modes, fighting against a criminal organization that's trying to lay waste to the planet. This is pretty much the same premise of Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, or what the West might know as Power Rangers S.P.D.
- King bears some resemblance to Daniel J. D'Arby from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, from their facial markings to their gambler motifs.
- The K. Knuckle weapon. Kaiser Knuckle was the name of a Taito fighting game produced in 1994. You might know it as Global Champion.
- In the anime, the scene where Taurus is carrying Luna up the tower is very familiar to anyone who has seen King Kong.
Simple Solution Won't Work: In the third game, Geo and friends are helping the Echo Ridge Elementary Science Club as part of Luna's campaign for Student Council President. The Science Club is making a rocket, but they need a rare Giga Energy Card to power it. Luna is willing to buy it with her family's money, but Geo and Zack talk her out of it, pointing out that it would look like a huge bribe to the outside observer, meaning they need to look for another way to get the card.
Smug Snake:
- The original Gemini isn't nearly as indispensable or powerful as he thinks he is. Turning Cepheus into a Puppet King didn't depower him, and Cepheus either leaves him destroyed in the games or rips him apart in the anime.
- Dark Phantom is just not as good as getting people to match his "script" as he wants to be. Also, King.
- And both go totally bonkers when you finally crush their plans into dust.
Socialization Bonus: A central feature of the game was to allow players to become Brothers with up to six other Real Life players to generate The Power of Friendship.
- In the second and third game, each new Brother the player gains provides him with Link Power, raising Mega Man's capacity for installing Powers as Programs. In the first game, each unique Brother Band provided a limited set of abilities as Power Ups, and in-game Brothers competed with Real Life Brothers for space, while the sequels separate in-game and Real Life Brothers.
- All three games allow players to share their favorite cards and even their own Super Modes, which in the second and third game mean sharing ingredients for Ability Mixing.
- For players who can't enjoy this perk, the second and third games offered an Antisocialization Bonus that allowed Mega Man to imitate The Rival Rogue with a sword-based Super Mode. In the second game, installing all six Indie Proof pieces into the Real Life BrotherBand slots would unlock the Rogue Tribe as a Full Set Bonus; the third game will randomly provide the Rogue Noise so long as you haven't formed any real-life BrotherBands.
Spell My Name With An S: In the second game, Plesio Surf (AKA Gerry Romero) calls himself Plesio Wave, possibly because his Japanese name is Brachio Wave.
Spin-Offspring:
- Averted for the first three games. No one has any established relationship with the Hikari family or any other major characters of Mega Man Battle Network.
- The concept for the unfinished Star Force 4 featured Kazuma, a descendant of the Hikaris who would ally with Geo.
Star-Crossed Lovers:
- Hope and Kelvin spend almost the entire series apart from each other, thanks to Kelvin being lost in space.
- Vega and Hollow in the second game are based on Tanabata and share themes of lost love.
- Ace and Queen Tia are this in 3, but thanks to Geo, they finally get a happy ending.
The Starscream:
- Dark Phantom is implied to be this by Solo before he and Dark Phantom fight each other.
- Gemini has nothing but contempt for the cowardly King Cepheus in the anime. In the games, he's just bad at keeping his cool.
- In the third game, Dealer is a Dysfunction Junction where literally everyone has their own agenda, which results in a Gambit Pileup by multiple disloyal factions.
Stay Frosty: Practically becomes Omega's Catchphrase in the third game.
- Or, his second favorite. "Buck wild" shows up more noticeably.
Stealth Mentor: The first game actually teaches you a few things that you may not notice on the first playthrough:
- For starters, Fire type attacks do more damage if the enemy is on a Grass panel. If you're willing to explore every Comp area, you can find a GrassStage card which goes great with several of the Fire type battle cards that you can gain early on.
- Enemies having elemental weaknesses. Though this comes into play after the Taurus Fire scenario, it's possible to find an IceMeteor in the FridgeComp, which can be used against several of the Fire type enemies you can encounter.
Stylistic Suck: The translation of Star Force 2 more or less deliberately plays up the offbeat source material. Among the Saurian Tribe, we have the Chompsrealhardasaur vs. the Neckistoolongadon, and then there's the town of Whazzap.
Superboss:
- Within the Bonus Dungeon of each game, there's a powerful foe waiting at the end (the Satellite Admin in 1, Apollo Flame in 2, and Sirius in 3).
- If you're wandering the Wave Roads and suddenly find the usual music replaced with this track, that means an Omega Boss can be encountered. Which boss you're up against is randomly determined, but the one certain thing is that they're incredibly strong — on par with a postgame boss. You can't even run away if you end up in an Omega battle, though you will survive with 1 HP if you lose (which often results in having to immediately pulse out or use an energy item).
- Fulfilling certain criteria in 3 unlocks special advanced versions of bosses — Rogue ZZ, Acid Ace BB, Dread Joker RR, Apollo Flame Sigma, Moon Destroyer Sigma, Sirius Sigma, and Crimson Dragon Sigma.
Super Mode: Geo gets a new one each game, generally tied to the player's version. You can access other transformations through BrotherBands, and 2 and 3 let you meld transformations to create interesting combos. Getting hit by the form's elemental weakness (if it has one) knocks you out of the transformation.
- The first game has Star Force, which is based on one of the three Satelite Admins. The transformation changes Mega Man's attribute and Charged Shot, allows horizontal selection on the Custom Screen, and gives a Star Force Big Bang, a powerful Giga Card-level attack, in place of the usual bonus card when countering. The Green Dragon transformation additionally is immune to status effects.
- The second game has Tribe On. There are three base transformations, one for each game version. The three normal transformations change the Charge Shot, boost their attribute's cards, can charge up non-dimming cards for form-unique bonus, confers a form-unique ability, and gives a chance of getting a Link Force Big Bang upon counter. The normal transformations can stacked on top of each other, gaining the stacked form's elemental boost and ability. Stacking all three forms creates the Tribe King, which has no elemental weaknesses and has all the forms' abilities and attribute bonuses, but goes away after three turns. There's also non-elemental Rogue versions of the base forms that boost Sword cards and give a barrier at the start of every turn, but using this form locks you out of both Real Brothers and Mega Cards.
- The third game has Noise Change. This time, there are ten different forms, each based on an FM-ian, as well as a Rogue Noise form that can only be used if you have no Real Brothers. Unlike previous games, either version can give any noise, but certain Noise Changes are more likely to be found in one version over the other. Noise Changes start with no attribute and special effects, but raising the Noise Level grants an attribute (if the Noise Change has one) as well as additional effects. As per usual, counter attacks give a Noise Force Big Bang. If the Player has Real Brothers, a second Noise form can be stacked on top of the first. Finally, reaching over 200% Noise Level gives the option to Finalize, which changes Mega Man to either the Black Ace or Red Joker form for 3 turns and gives them access to a special premade folder filled with powerful cards in place of their normal folder until the transformation ends.
Team Dad: Geo, after being adopted into Luna's gang. Especially notable when Luna drops out of the picture in game 3.
Team Mom: Luna, after Geo gets adopted into her gang. Especially notable at the beginning of the second game, following the tutorial, when she starts fussing over whether the boys are wearing warm enough clothes.
Terrible Trio: They aren't villains, but Luna, Bud, and Zack have this dynamic. This changes into Five-Man Band when Geo and Sonia join up.
Title Drop: In the original Japanese version at least. References to shooting stars abound, especially in 3; and some of the Murian Hertzes at the end of the 2nd game address Geo as the Warrior of the Fallen Star. Also, there was a Mythology Gag in which Geo and Omega exclaim "Let's Rock!" (And later "Let's Blues!"), which you might've missed if you weren't aware of one of the most basic translation issues effecting the original Mega Man (Classic) games.
Theme Music Power-Up: Moving Scene/Rise as a Hero plays whenever Geo and friends are being heroic. The third game also has Go, Satella Police! when the namesake policemen are involved. And the less about Misora Hibiki the better.
Theme Naming: All the Energy Beings have themed names; the majority of them use Celestial Theme Naming. In the third game, even the humans get in on the theming.
- Constellations: Taurus, Cygnus, Cancer, Lyra, Libra, Ophiuchus, Wolf, Gemini, Cepheus, Andromeda, Pegasus, Leo, Dragon, Goat, Auriga, Corvus, and Virgo. (Apollon Flame, Moon Destroyer, and Sirius also have space-related names but they're not constellation specific).
- Legendary Creatures: Phantom, Yeti, Brachio, and Condor (for the Nazca lines).
- Playing Card Motifs: Spade Magnes, Diamond Ice, Club Strong, Heartless, Jack, Queen Tia, Mr. King, Ace, and Joker.
Title, Please!: Like in Battle Network, the games don't indicate which story chapter the player is currently in despite the series' episodic format and locking the player's level of access behind story progression. The closest indicators being the appearance of each chapter's story boss, which is considered a spoiler if the chapter is titled after them.
Took a Level in Badass:
- Many bosses get substantially quicker and develop new attacks during re-matches.
- Bud Bison and Tom Dubius, victims of Demonic Possession at the hands of the FM-ians in the first game, become willing partners of their respective FM-ian in order to become willing EM Humans in the third.
Transformation Is a Free Action:
- While most of the EM Wave Changes are fairly fast, usually just involving a dramatic pose and shout, Solo's special EM Wave Change is an elaborate process that goes on much longer than the normal versions, and yet nobody ever tries to stop him.
- Accessing Mega Man's Super Modes in Star Force 1 and Star Force 2 are big mid-battle showstopping affairs, as are the Finalization sequences in Star Force 3. Averted when Mega Man gains new Noise Changes, however, which happen after battle.
Transformation Sequence: Many Wave Changes have one, as do the various Super Modes.
Transformation Trinket:
- The OOPARTs in 2, but not as apparent, since Omega-Xis SWALLOWS them.
- The Ace and Joker programs as well - they allow for Noise Change.
True Final Boss: Your prize of 100% Completion is the game's Final Boss getting an upgrade as a final test of your abilities. In 2, on top of defeating a souped-up Le Mu, you still have to fulfill a few more conditions before Solo decides to go against you in one last duel as Rogue SX before you can truly say you've fully completed the game. In 3, getting 100% Completion replaces the Final Boss with an upgraded version as usual, but if you beat five more Superboss fights, you unlock an even tougher version of the Final Boss as a random encounter in the post-game area.
Uniqueness Rule: Only one Giga Card may be put in a folder at a given time, which restricts them to prevent abuse of their powerful effects. There are ways to expand your Giga Card capacity, but they are rare.
Universe Compendium: The various official strategy guides, plus things like databooks on Wave Command Cards^*, the Secret Satellite Server^*, and the Battle Black Box^*. These are all in Japan, though you can buy them either on Amazon (the Official Complete Works for Star Force and Battle Network were translated into English not too long ago by UDON, but there should still be Japanese editions listed) or from E-Capcom, the company's all-Japanese shop site. Good luck.
Unrealistic Black Hole: The Grabity family of viruses ("Hell Black" in Japan) are spiraling vortexes with a single eyeball and four limbs emerging from their depths. They launch small projectiles at you and siphon your health, and their cards will instadelete anything with less than a certain amount of HP. Like the Shadow and Nightmare viruses before them, they can only be hurt by swords.
Version-Exclusive Boss:
- Mega Man Star Force: Pegasus, Leo, and Dragon: The Superboss and their weaker shadow tends to differ depending on which version of the game you play, with Leo Kingdom being fought in Leo, Dragon Sky being fought in Dragon and Pegasus Magic being fought in Pegasus. The Lunar Knights sidequest and by extension, the Cutscene Boss against Margrave Rymer is also removed from US and EU versions.
- MegaMan Star Force 2 has the DX Bosses who are golden, super powerful versions of various bosses fought throughout the game. Unfortunately they were removed from the EU versions of the game along with some other content such as Wave Commands and Tribe King.
The Very Definitely Final Dungeon:
- The first game has the remains of the space station Peace, twisted into a half-virtual space by Cepheus's overwhelming power.
- The second game has the lost floating continent of Mu, guarded by its legion of ancient weapons.
- Subverted twice in the third game: the initial fakeout is Dealer's island base, which is styled after the final dungeon of Battle Network 3 and features a traditional Dwindling Party scenario, but doesn't feature the traditional Boss Rush. The second is Dealer's real base located in orbit, which has the start of the boss rush. Finally, the actual final dungeon is the inside of Meteor G.
Victor Gains Loser's Powers:
- As with Battle Network's battle chips, beating enemies nets you cards that replicate their attacks.
- In the first game, the Satellite Admins would grant Mega Man a Super Mode with their powers if he defeats them.
- Played with in the third game as part of the Noise gimmick: instead of getting the powers of the enemy you defeated, winning a battle with a high Noise ratio will award you the powers of some random other enemy instead, including enemies and bosses from the previous games that can't be fought in this one. The Noise Change transformations, similarly, are based on various other EM Beings but are randomly obtained.
Villain-Possessed Bystander: Averted in the second game where Hyde investigates likely candidates on behalf of the Big Bad and parcels out Murian Energy Beings to them, but played straight in the Tribe anime where a couple of those Murians are acting independently and seize control of local humans for their own purposes.
Villainous Breakdown:
- Hyde snaps in the third game when his plan to beat Geo fails.
- Jack has one after Joker supposedly kills Luna, which causes Tia to attempt to attack WAZA without him. It gets worse after Tia was arrested by the Stella Police and ultimately culminates in attacking Echo Ridge Elementary just for the sake of destruction, where Mega Man ultimately defeats him.
- Joker also starts to laugh hysterically upon defeat, which creates dissonance with his strictly solemn mugshot.
Villainous Gold Tooth: Rich Dotcom is a greedy, shady businessman and Boisterous Bruiser who's honestly convinced that money can do anything and goes berserk when that's not the case. He has a gold fang that juts up from his lower lip.
Virtual Sidekick: Zigzagged.
- NetNavis appear in the first game but have been generalized to run in the background of society rather than be personally associated with human operators; they can be summoned by individuals through the use of their designated cards.
- Navis did not appear in the second game but were replaced in the third game by Wizards, artificial Energy Beings who serve much the same purpose but can also manifest themselves and act in the real world. Several Energy Beings from the first two games are converted into Wizards in the third including Omega himself.
Walking Armory: Interestingly, only a few characters in the series make use of Battle Cards; for the first two games, only Mega Man has access to them, though Harp Note and Burai both use them in the anime. Acid Ace and Dread Joker can use them in the third game.
Walking Spoiler: At least one character from each game has a major chunk of spoilers under their belt.
Wealth's in a Name: Luna and her parents are the Platz/Shirogane family. "Shirogane" is the Japanese word for platinum. In the localization, they're called the Platz family.
Well-Intentioned Extremist:
- The Shaman of Whazzap Village in the second game legitimately wanted his country to prosper, but to do this, he conspired to manipulate his people through a false prophet and later fell in league with Hyde to gain access to the powers of the Murian Condor. On defeat he admits his fears that none of the advanced civilizations would help a backwater like Whazzap; he reforms afterwards and Whazzap finds a niche as a tourist trap.
- The Big Bad of the second game grew up in the kingdom of Tanabata, which suffered from terrible and stupid leadership^note, which eventually caused her lover to die during its wars. She was convinced that the Lost Technology of Mu could bring her lover back to life and she could use it to establish a Neo Mu Empire, comprised entirely of the qualified, in order to rid the world of the fools she suffered under.
Wham Episode: Each game has a demoralizing catastrophe in it near the end: Patrick betrays Geo in the first game and Harp Note joins Vega's cause in the second. The third game in particular boasts the Hero Killer Joker, who dishes out no less than three Gut Punches.
White Hair, Black Heart: Solo, complete with red eyes, tan skin, and Facial Markings.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds:
- Jack and Queen Tia's life have been pretty much crap since their childhood, and they wanted to bring The End of the World as We Know It because of it.
- Solo got the short end of the stick himself. Remember why he hates everyone?
The Worf Effect: In the anime, Hollow transitions from being a Non-Action Guy to The Dragon by subjecting Yeti Blizzard and Phantom Black to a Curb-Stomp Battle each in sequence.
Would Hit a Girl:
- Mega Man fights Harp Note, Queen Ophiuca, and Queen Virgo with little trouble.
- In the anime when Burai, Rockman, and Harp Note fight, Burai makes a point of not just taking out Harp Note, but taking her out early so she can't distract him.
Would Hurt a Child: Compared to Battle Network, where most villains' attacks were mostly non-targeted and would usually only affect children as collateral, villains in Star Force are much more inclined to purposefully attack children. This ranges from Sonia's manager being willing to strike Geo in frustration to Joker temporarily executing Luna simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Special mention goes to Mr. King, who unashamedly sends child soldiers on suicidal missions and even frames his potentially lethal punishments of Jack and Tia as disciplinary actions.
You Can't Go Home Again: Geo's dad is safe in space, but has no way of navigating home, and Omega-Xis is a fugitive from his own planet. Geo's two forays into space at the end of the first and third games also leave him stranded, forcing his Brothers and the people he's helped to band together to help guide him home.

Mega Man Star Force

17 Following

There are three installments in the franchise^note

Tropes used in Mega Man Star Force:

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Video Game / Mega Man Star Force 17 Following

There are three installments in the franchisenote second only to fellow Nintendo DS series Mega Man ZX in shortest series in the franchise

Tropes used in Mega Man Star Force:

Video Example(s):

Kizuna Wave Share Video Copied!

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Kizuna Wave

Mega Man Star Force

17 Following

There are three installments in the franchise^note

Kizuna Wave
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