The original Mega Man series is the first series of Mega Man action platform video games from Capcom, which debuted in Japan on December 17, 1987 on the Famicom with the release of Mega Man.

Mega Man is a series of similarly patterned action platform games released by Capcom that follow the adventures of the robotic humanoid servant-turned-hero Mega Man as he saves the world by battling Dr. Wily’s destructive robots. In each of the games, Mega Man runs, jumps, and shoots his way through stages to defeat a series of bosses known as Robot Masters. Defeating a Robot Master adds their signature powers to his arsenal after each’s defeat. Enemies have specific weaknesses that can be exploited by the powers, which have limited, refillable ammunition. After the Robot Masters are defeated, Mega Man traverses several more stages to defeat Dr. Wily.

Mega Man appeared in six original platformers first released for the Nintendo Entertainment System/Family Computer, two for the Super Famicom/Super NES (one—Mega Man & Bass—was released only in Japan and later released worldwide for the Game Boy Advance), one for the Sega Game Gear, one on the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation, three as PC games, five for the Game Boy, and two for the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 designed to look and sound like a NES game.

In 1994, Capcom also released a compilation of the first three games as Mega Man: The Wily Wars for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. This game was released only in Europe and Japan, and was later offered to Sega Channel users as an exclusive game; During the original releases of the first six Mega Man games on the NES, Nintendo held exclusive rights to third party companies such as Capcom.

There have been numerous side-story games, such as the sports game Mega Man Soccer for the Super NES and the racing game Mega Man Battle & Chase on the PlayStation. Many of the games were ported to or remade for newer consoles. The six Famicom games were re-released in Japan with remixed music and unlockable bonus features on the PlayStation and the previously Japan-only Super Famicom game Mega Man & Bass was re-released worldwide for the Game Boy Advance.

In 2004, the Mega Man Anniversary Collection was released for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2, containing Mega Man 1–8, as well as Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, two arcade games rarely seen outside Japan. A version for the Xbox was released in March 2005. Each version had exclusive unlockable content. Mega Man Powered Up (Rockman Rockman in Japan)—a remake of the first game—was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2006.

In 2008, Mega Man 9 was released as a downloadable title for the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3. This game returned to an 8-bit visual style and minimalist moveset. In early 2010, Mega Man 10 was released as a downloadable title for the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3.

Mega Man Universe was in development for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, allowing players to create their own levels and customize their characters, but it was cancelled in March 2011.

Street Fighter X Mega Man, a platform game that originally began as a fan project but eventually received official support, was released by Capcom in December 2012 to celebrate the 25th anniversaries of the Street Fighter and Mega Man series.

According to GamesRadar, the Mega Man games were the first to feature a non-linear “level select” option. This was a stark contrast to both linear games (like Super Mario Bros.) and open world games (like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid). GamesRadar credits the “level select” feature of Mega Man as the basis for the non-linear mission structure found in most open-world, multi-mission, sidequest-heavy games, including modern titles like Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. In Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist tenth episode “Raging Demon”, Ryu and Ken were seen playing Mega Man 2 from a gift from Ken’s father.