Power Button - Episode 345: Coma Catch-Up
Power Button - Episode 346: Kirby's Dream Podcast

Mega Man Versus Bruce

Mega Man 3Travel back in time with me tor a moment to the era of pre-release hype for Capcom's Mega Man 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  After Mega Man 2 seemingly came from nowhere to score critical acclaim and player popularity, fans were eager to see what was next for the blue bomber.  GamePro magazine took an advance look at the game in the November 1990 issue and ended up mistranslating a few things from Japanese sources.  My absolute favorite mistranslation of all time in gaming media has to be this one in which the magazine proclaimed that Mega Man would face off against his evil brother named Bruce.

During this level Mega Man encounters his evil brother Bruce (an early experiment of Drs Light and Wily that failed) for the first time. Sometimes he'll just get in MM's way, and other times he'll try to destroy MM by shooting him or pouncing on his head.

PROTIP: To beat Bruce, time his jumps and run under him just as he's about to jump on Mega Man. Then, turn and shoot him with the Mega Blaster.

Bruce!  I love it.  It seems like such a random choice for a name and makes you wonder if someone at Capcom was a fan of the E Street Band, but I can see how GamePro ended up with the wrong name.  Bruce, as we know now, is actually Proto Man whose name in Japan is Blues which could easily be munged into Bruce when translating.  Oh classic GamePro, sometimes I really miss you.

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