Bosses are a category of placeable objects in Mega Man Maker. They are one out of three ways the player can beat the stage (the others being picking up an Energy Element and shooting a Party Ball). Creators can place one of these Robot Masters in a room for players to fight.
Prior to version 1.5.0, a player could only have one boss per stage, but since 1.5.0, players can have multiple bosses with the maximum of 10 active at once and a total of 200 in a level. Bosses are loaded in first from top to bottom, then left to right.
In version 1.8.0, Wily Fortress bosses were introduced. While previously the limit of 10 bosses at once was universal, the size of several fortress bosses forces a limit of one per section on a player, though smaller fortress bosses such as Dark Man 3 and Dark Man 4 are exempt from this new rule.
Some of the bosses have noticeable changes in their behaviors when compared to their games of origin.
Having a single boss in a level results in a level card having a unique level mugshot for the boss.
As of version 1.8.5.2, there are 47 Robot Master bosses and 9 Wily Fortress bosses from Mega Man to Mega Man 11 and 5 other assets related to bosses and ending a level in the Boss category for a total of 56 assets. The first six NES games have 4–5 bosses each while Mega Man 7 through Mega Man 11 have 2–3 bosses each. The developers often select from four bosses for an update due to the complex programming they need.
Prior to 1.5.0, a level could only have one boss at the time. At the time, some players tampered with the files to get multiple bosses; however, the boss music would not play. If one intended to put another boss in the level editor, the previous boss would disappear and its settings would be passed on the newly created boss.
Since version 1.5.0, bosses can be programmed to leave items after defeat though this will cause defeating them to no longer finish the stage. To activate this functionality on a specific boss, the designer must click on the skull icon at the bottom left of the boss menu and select an item to drop if the boss is defeated. The three groups of possibilities are: a new pickup, a change in the weapon roster and a change on the player character. However, these possibilities are not mutually exclusive even if the options in the category are.
If a pickup is selected, different things will happen depending on the item. Most pickups will be left where the boss was defeated, while Keys will travel to the player's position before being collected. A change on the weapons, be it an unlock or removal, or a player character change is triggered instantly upon a boss' defeat. Following the addition of Key colors in 1.7.0, a button can be used to change the color of the Key the boss will spawn upon defeat.
In addition to those options, since version 1.7.0 a boss can also be set to change the stage music upon defeat.
On a screen, the maximum number of bosses is 10. An eleventh boss added will not be recognized by the program. In the whole stage, the limit for multiple bosses is 200.
Special interactions
Certain bosses exhibit special behaviors when hit by certain types of weapons or by weapons set as a weakness or immunity.
As of version 1.9.0, Metal Man and Bounce Man are the only bosses who have a special behavior when hit exclusively by their primary weakness:
Bounce Man will split apart, making his parts bounce around the room.
Metal Man will be killed instantly if the chosen primary weakness is Metal Blade or will be killed in two hits if Metal Blade set as a secondary weakness.
Quick Man will pause in place and block any weapons set as an immunity.
Before regaining health, Freeze Man will freeze the player in place and will perform a pose.
Burst Man takes knockback and launches four bombs when hit by a fire weapon, an ice weapon, a charged buster shot or a weapon set as a weakness.
When Spring Man is hit by an electric weapon, he will temporarily cause a magnetic effect that attracts the player towawrds him.
When Tengu Man is hit by the player's Ice Wave and lands on ground, he will be frozen in place temporarily.
Cut Man is the only boss as of version 1.9.0 to experience knockback regardless of whatever he is hit by.
Trivia
This article contains information from an unknown source. While this information may be true, its validity needs to be confirmed. You can help by locating the origin of this info and linking the source next to the relevant text as a reference. Reason: "During the early development of Mega Man Maker, Guts Man was planned to be in the game alongside Cut Man but was replaced by Bomb Man."
Every major update since 1.0.0 with the exceptions of 1.1.0, 1.7.0, 1.8.0, and 1.9.0 has added two bosses from two games each for a total of four bosses.
1.1.0, which had the least number of bosses added in a major update with 2, added Time Man and Ice Man, both from Mega Man.
Additionally, none of the bosses added in 1.7.0 are from the same game of origin due to the goal of the update being to add a variety content from games already represented in Mega Man Maker at the time i.e. Mega Man through Mega Man 11.
Additionally, each game from the first Mega Man game through Mega Man 6 had one Wily Fortress boss added in 1.8.0 with the exception of Mega Man 4 and Mega Man 5 which respectively added two and three bosses.
The only game from which two new bosses were added in 1.9.0 was Mega Man 9.
During the early development of Mega Man Maker, Guts Man was planned to be in the game alongside Cut Man but was replaced by Bomb Man.[source needed]
Gemini Man was also cut due to technical issues as his AI did not work well with customizable terrain; however, a Level Builder icon for him exists in the game's files. He can be placed in levels through special setups though no AI is programmed into him.
Prior to version 1.3.3, Skull Man's description was simply "Kills", a reference to the Mega Man fangame Skull Man Kills. The description was updated with information about his attack patterns in version 1.3.3 to be more consistent with the rest of the Robot Master descriptions while still keeping in the reference.
According to Luigi, the music changer was planned to be added alongside the boss overhaul in 1.5.0 as the two features were similar thematically but was put aside due to the scope of the update.
Mega Man 11's Robot Masters—Blast Man, Bounce Man, and Fuse Man—retain their Double Gear abilities from the original game.
If a boss is placed between a screen transition, screens with a hard transition will not lock thus allowing the player to pass through them like normal. This allows the player to activate more than 10 bosses by traveling to a different screen to activate another boss. However, a screen with a hard transition will lock if a boss that is not placed between a screen transition is activated.
Skull Man and Freeze Man are the only bosses as of version 1.9.0 to not move when spawned in until the player moves.
Freeze Man sparkles and wags his finger, inviting the player to make the first move.
Footnotes
↑Boss doors appear in every subcategory in the Level Builder except the "Misc" category
