You'll have to forgive me, because I really can't think of anything but Mega Man today; I even had my students play some of Mega Man 3 under the tortured logic that they might learn something. Believe me when I say that this in-class experiment fully integrated the terms from our readings, and wasn't just an excuse to see the game projected on a massive screen.
Mega Man was the size of my head.
But with today's release of Mega Man 9, it isn't much of a surprise that I've been enveloped in Blue Bomber (please note that no one has ever sincerely called Mega Man that) nostalgia. Fittingly, this nostalgia brings me back to my childhood, where for a few years my life was based on Mega Man's teachings. Around the release of Mega Man 3, during recess I regularly met with schoolyard chums who, instead of running around and playing on the dangerous concrete-and-steel Nixon-era playground equipment, would go through page after page of loose-leaf paper coming up with Mega Man robot boss designs. It was a great creative exercise that went beyond the little boy conceptual borders of Pee Man and Poop Man.
This isn't to say that Pee Man and Poop man didn't exist; we weren't beyond lowbrow humor. But we inevitably came up with ideas that Capcom would use themselves--which might say a lot about Capcom's post-Mega Man 4 game design. I distinctly remember Clown Man--later seen in Mega Man 8--being one of our best creations, as clowns are naturally a child's worst enemy. But some ideas were not as obvious; we should have patented our version of Garbage Man, since he was seen in 4 under the much lamer title of Dust Man. Mysteriously, our Japanese exchange student friend was never seen again after 1990. Coincidence?
And far before Splash Woman broke the Mega Man glass ceiling in 9, we had our own boss character who redefined gender roles: Woman Man. I really wish I knew what happened to all of those drawings, because I'm sure they would be as source of neverending hilarity, as well as a window into the minds of some very bored children. Maybe they're in my parents' attic somewhere; I think it's time to get my mom and one of Capcom's lawyers on the phone. I'll report back with my progress.
P.S. Dr. Cossack: NOT MY IDEA.
Related Links:
The Impetuousness Of Youth
The Nintendo Literary Canon
The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels, Part 1