Mega Man 7 is a platform video game by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the seventh game in the original Mega Man series and the first and only title in the main series to be featured on the 16-bit console. The video game was released in Japan on March 24, 1995 and was localized later in the year in North America and Europe. The game is also available for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox as part of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, as well as the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC as part of Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, with a Nintendo Switch version planned for release in Spring 2018.
Picking up directly after the events of Mega Man 6, the plot involves the protagonist Mega Man once again attempting to stop the evil Dr. Wily, who uses a new set of Robot Masters to free himself from captivity and begin wreaking havoc on the world. Along with some help from his old friends, Mega Man finds potential allies in the mysterious robot pair Bass and Treble, who are later revealed to be in league with Wily. In terms of gameplay, Mega Man 7 follows that same classic action and platforming introduced in the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) titles, but updates the graphics and sound of the series for the more powerful SNES.
According to its creators, Mega Man 7 was only in development for a short time before its release. Keiji Inafune, a noted character designer and illustrator for the franchise, handed off his duties to Hayato Kaji for this installment. Mega Man 7 has received an overall average critical reception. Although many considered it a competent game by itself, a majority of reviewers either called it a simple rehash of previous entries in the Mega Man saga, or considered it inferior to Mega Man X, released on the SNES over a year earlier.
Taking place in the 21st century (the ambiguous year 20XX), Mega Man 7 begins directly after the events of Mega Man 6. Thanks to the efforts of Mega Man and his friends, Dr. Wily was finally brought to justice. However, Wily had always known that he might be imprisoned one day, and so he had constructed four backup Robot Masters in a hidden laboratory: Burst Man, Cloud Man, Junk Man, and Freeze Man. If they did not receive any communication for six months, they would activate and begin searching for their master. After six months, the robots activate, round up an army, and go on a rampage throughout the city in which Dr. Wily is being held. Mega Man is called into action. Upon driving into the city with Roll and Auto, he sees that it is in ruins, and that he is too late to stop Wily's Robot Masters from liberating the evil scientist. Mega Man gives chase, but is stopped by Bass, a robot with capabilities much like Mega Man's own, and his robotic wolf Treble. After a brief skirmish, Mega Man is informed that the two of them are battling Wily as well. Bass and Treble then take off, leaving Mega Man confused, but convinced that he has new allies and determined to again stop Dr. Wily's plans.
After Wily's Robot Masters are defeated, he dispatches four more to combat the protagonist: Spring Man, Slash Man, Shade Man, and Turbo Man. In one of the locations, Mega Man encounters an injured Bass and sends him to Dr. Light's lab for repairs. Mega Man defeats the remaining Robot Masters and goes back home, learning upon arriving that Bass had gone berserk and had torn up the lab, escaping with parts for new enhancements Dr. Light was working on. Wily appears on the video monitor and reveals that Bass and Treble are actually his own creations, and that they only gained his trust in order to steal the parts. Bass' apparent ambition is to best Mega Man in combat and prove himself as the strongest robot in existence. Mega Man makes his way to Wily's fortress and defeats Bass and Treble, and then Dr. Wily himself. As usual, Wily begs for mercy, but after giving him six chances to change his ways, Mega Man chooses to finish off the mad doctor for good, and threatens him with his Mega Buster. Terrified, Wily explains that as a robot, Mega Man is prevented from harming humans; Mega Man counters that he is "more than a robot". (In the Japanese version, Mega Man stands in silence.) Before Mega Man could do anything, he is interrupted when the fortress begins to self-destruct, and Bass and Treble arrive to rescue their creator at the last moment. Before escaping, Bass taunts Mega Man for his hesitation ("He who hesitates is lost"), vowing that he, Wily, and Treble will return to get their revenge. Mega Man then escapes the collapsing castle, contemplating the events that transpired, and returns home to his family.
