Proto Man, also spelt Protoman and known as Blues in Japan and some localisations, is a major supporting character in the Classic era, introduced in Mega Man 3. He is Mega Man's "brother" and original prototype, created by Dr. Light but abandoned before Mega Man was made.
Proto Man is depicted as looking similar to Mega Man, but wearing red and grey armour, dark shades and a yellow scarf, and often carrying a shield in addition to his buster, the Proto Shield. Though he travels by himself, he often shows up in times of need to assist Mega Man or oppose a villain, typically introduced by his whistled theme melody. He has however fought Mega Man on various occasions, and is cast as an outright villain in the 1994 animated series.
In Mega Man 3, Proto Man first appears as a mysterious individual who confronts Mega Man in several of the Robot Master stages. He appears in Hard Man's stage, Shadow Man's stage, and Magnet Man's stage, as a miniboss, but shows up in Gemini Man's stage to assist Mega Man's progress through the stage by detonating a metal structure that is blocking the way, creating ambiguity about his goals that, like many aspects of the character, remain mysterious. After defeating the Robot Masters and the eight Doc Robots across four stages, he is fought once more in his own small stage under the name Break Man, wearing a different kind of helmet that covers his whole face, similar to that of a Sniper Joe.
As a miniboss, Proto Man walks left and right, reversing after hitting a wall, and regularly jumping, firing several shots while in the air, but never shooting on the ground, enabling Mega Man to slide under him. His weakness is the Hard Knuckle (and, to a lesser degree, Shadow Blade and Magnet Missile) and has 28 health points, while he deal 4 damage to Mega Man on contact and 2 damage with his shots. As Break Man, he behaves identically to his miniboss form, but can no longer be damaged by anything other than the Mega Buster.
In the ending, after Mega Man and Dr. Wily are both buried under rubble from Wily's collapsing fortress, Proto Man shows up to save Dr. Wily, but declares that it is "too late" (likely assuming Wily to be dead), instead choosing to rescue Mega Man. When Dr. Light later questions who rescued Mega Man, Proto Man can be heard whistling. His identity as Mega Man's brother, DLN-000, is finally revealed in an info card shown at the end of the credits, and his image also seemingly appears in the sky, though it is not made clear whether Mega Man ever learns of his identity. Either way, from this point on in the series, Proto Man is no longer an antagonist.
Mega Man 4
After having been strangely absent from the majority of the game, Proto Man appears after Mega Man defeats Dr. Cossack, teleporting into the fortress alongside Kalinka who informs Mega Man that her father had no choice but to help Dr. Wily, who was alive and behind the plot all along, holding her hostage. Dr. Wily accuses Proto Man of "betraying" him, implying that Proto Man had not broken his alliance with Wily until this point.
Mega Man 5
As a result of his betrayal in the previous game, Dr. Wily frames Proto Man for the abduction of Dr. Light using the newly constructed Dark Man robots. This was mainly carried out by Dark Man 4, which possessed the ability to take the form of Proto Man, though its disguise was imperfect. During the intro cutscene it loses its scarf, and fails to accurately replicate Proto Man's whistle. Dr. Wily even goes as far as to construct a second fortress designated as Proto Man's Castle, complete with a structure the shape of Proto Man's helmet. This setting serves as the penultimate set of levels, filling the gap between the robot masters and Wily's fortress.
The real Proto Man eventually makes an appearance towards the end of the game, proving his innocence by revealing the identity of his imposter, Dark Man 4, and healing Mega Man with an L-Tank. He returns once again to aid Mega Man and Dr. Light during the collapse of Wily's newest fortress, lifting the roof of the castle, allowing his brother and creator to escape. He can also be seen in the end-credit cutscene.
Mega Man 6
Proto Man makes a brief appearance in a secret area of Tomahawk Man's stage, only accessible via the Power Mega Man Rush adapter. After a brief whistle entrance, he gifts Mega Man the Energy Balancer, an item which allows the player to refill the lowest weapon's energy while having the Mega Buster, Power Mega Man Rush adapter, or Jet Mega Man Rush adapter equipped.
In the 1994 animated series, Proto Man is stolen and reprogrammed by Dr. Wily at the beginning of the show, appearing in every episode as one of Wily's robots. Though he is still considered Mega Man's brother, with both characters being aware of their relation, he is usually cast as a pure villain, serving as Dr. Wily's second-in-command and aspiring to destroy Mega Man by his own hands. To this goal, he sometimes disobeys Wily and pursues his own plans instead.
Official Data
Mega Man 3 info card
In Mega Man 3, all humanoid robots known to have been created by Dr. Light at the time are shown on info cards in the game's ending. As the serial numbers count down, Proto Man's is the last to be shown, revealing his identity for the first time.
Group art with Rush and Mega Man, from Mega Man 5.
Artwork from Mega Man 7.
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