Plant Barrier is a Robot Masterweapon first appearing in Mega Man 6, where it is obtained from Plant Man. It has a pink and white colour scheme and surrounds the user with four rotating pink (red for Plant Man) petals.
In Mega Man 6, the Plant Barrier is obtained by defeating Plant Man, who uses it as his main attack. Although he is able to throw it, Mega Man cannot, instead using up 4 points of weapon energy to create a lasting shield of spinning petals around himself that pulsates perpetually. If the shield touches an enemy or bullet, it deals damage and disappears instantly, no matter how much enemy damage it blocked. Although this limits its usefulness, it is able to penetrate some enemies' shields, such as Shield Attacker GTR's, much like the Yamato Spear.
Offensively, the Plant Barrier is largely ineffective against Robot Masters, being the main weakness of Tomahawk Man (with 4 damage) but dealing no damage at all to others. Nonetheless, it is a shared main weakness (4 damage, alongside Flame Blast) of Rounder II, and is able to deal damage to all fortress bosses, albeit only 1 point per use.
Mega Man: The Power Battle
In Mega Man: The Power Battle, the Plant Barrier is once again obtained from Plant Man. It can be thrown this time, and is strong against Dust Man.
Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
Both Plant Man and his weapon return in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. It is now strong against Gyro Man, despite this boss taking no extra damage from it in the previous game.
Super Smash Bros. series
In Super Smash Bros. 4, Plant Barrier appears as a customisation option for Mega Man's Leaf Shield move, replacing the leaves with petals. It can be thrown just like Leaf Shield, but is slower and has less reach compared to the standard move, in exchange for dealing more damage and not disappearing on hit.
Related Weapons
Plant Barrier is one of many "shield" weapons that have appeared throughout the Classic era. Others include:
Fire Storm (Mega Man 1) - Creates a temporary fire shield in addition to shooting.
Leaf Shield (Mega Man 2) - Is not cancelled by damage, but is thrown when Mega Man moves.
Plant Barrier's artwork shows eight petals spinning around Mega Man, rather than four. It is possible that the lower number shown in the game is due to hardware limitations, although later appearances on stronger hardware continue to depict with four petals.
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