We're bombarded by game ads in magazines, on television, and on websites. We sigh and slump our cheek against our fists as we wait for the mandatory 30 seconds to tick by; we flip pages with hardly a second glance.
But during the pre-Internet Dark Ages, we pored over game ads with enormous energy. Magazine previews and accompanying game ads were the only resources available that let us get a lock on what was set to arrive from Japan. To me,
the advertisement for Mega Man 5 was a bigger shock than a story about aliens landing on Earth. "OH MY GOD. WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE. OH MY GOD."
I was mainly blown away by the game's objective, as stated by the ad's bold text: "Help Mega Man turn Proto Man into spare parts." I thought,
"Why?" Events at the end of
Mega Man 3 and partway through
Mega Man 4 demonstrated that Proto Man was elusive, mysterious, and didn't always play by the rules set by
the man...but he was a good guy, albeit an unorthodox one. I was awed that the ad was so callous about Mega Man having to dispose of his brother. Mega Man's Chuckie-like grin on the box art indicated he wasn't too broken up about the business, either.
So
Mega Man 5's ad was more confusing than informative, but it still promised that brother would be pit against brother. I was young; this was Shakespeare to me.
I played the game and discovered that Dr. Wily was behind Proto Man's "betrayal" (gasp). The real Proto Man rescued Mega Man and Dr. Light, watched from the shadows to make sure all was well, and then took off without a by your leave. I tucked another Mega Man adventure on my shelf and started to sniff at this "
Mega Man X" thing coming from Japan.
But the emphasis that the advertisement put on Proto Man's supposed defection to the dark side stuck with a number of people. Ruby-Spears' Mega Man cartoon turned Proto Man into Dr. Wily's right-hand robot. There was no clone behind the shenanigans; it was the real thing, baby. Though some fans would disagree, Proto Man working for Dr. Wily punched up the cartoon's otherwise dull plots.
And although I can't say for sure that
The Protomen based their rock opera on the events of Mega Man 5 or its advertisement, the indie group's first album featured an epic showdown between the brothers. Proto Man had indeed sided with Dr. Wily, though it was mainly his cynicism towards humanity that had driven him to do so. Definitely a little more complex than "a clone did it."
(Special thanks to
Nintendo Player for the advertisement)
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