Wily died in MM3, but got better in time for MM4.

Because bass is a dick is the best reasoning I've ever heard 😂

I always thought Protoman's dialogue was about trying to find Wily, but says it was "too late" because he thought Wily already escaped, not aware he was under the vety rock he was standing on.

To correct one tiny thing. In MM7, the plause was an indicative of the failure of "the law robotics". MM7 is VERY canon-- in the manual of the game, there is an extra journal from Dr. Light dating his conversations with Roll. When the conversation reaches humans and require her to think about humanity and what life would be without him, Roll "freezes". Dr. Light expressed that he didn't know the cause, and maybe the coding wouldn't allow her to process beyond and "crashes". She "blips" back on, not knowing what happens, and how it happens when she tries to contemplate the subject. MM7 shows us that "pause" was MegaMan trying to kill Wily-- he WAS going to do it. The only time "the law of robotics" was used (if we are using Japanese only) is that one time it was referenced and MegaMan saw no value in it.

From what I remember: - It's possible that Zero might have killed Wily (bloody cutscene depicted in Mega Man X4). - It's possible that in Mega Man 3, you never actually fight the real Dr. Wily at all. It's all robot copies of himself. - It's possible for Wily to become more and more insane as time progresses for him. Maybe he started to incorporate more cybernetics into his body. - Mega Man 7, Mega Man was ready to kill Wily. Wily kept escaping everytime and couldn't be stopped. Mega Man made the decision that it was best to eliminate him.

I'm glad you mentioned the X2 theory! It's heavily implied in the Japanese version that Serges is an android Dr. Wily. I think of it like Dr. Gero from Dragon Ball Z.

Mat Pat doesn't care about facts. On his Food Theory channel he said you could grow mushrooms indefinitely by just putting the stems in a compost heap, looool. 🤣😂

1:26 That's his capsuel? Why is it so small, then? Is it supposed to be in the distance? Then why is it IN FRONT of the tree? Shouldn't it be behind the tree? The tree sure looks pretty close to Megaman. The only way this makes sense is if the tree is Ygdrasil or some other 100ft behemoth and we just don't get the scope of the size of the tree.

It still baffles me that somehow Wily survived after being crushed by pure metal. With the whole X situation, similar to the Sonic Archie Comics, Wily could have transferred his consciousness to another body. Before you can debunk, due to how powerful Zero was at that time, it felt like Wily wanted to use his advanced technology as a last middle finger to Light.

Dr. Wily is like the Joker, he is not dead unless you see a body.

That MatPat joke where you used the meme clip was hilarious. I definitely agree that the Game Theorists have yet to have a good Mega Man theory, but...I'm not sure your video successfully debunked the theory. Rather, you just stated why people believe the theory and then simply said "no." I think it's a fun theory to consider, but obviously I don't think it's supposed to be canon. That said, if you decide to make another theory debunking video, I would like to see you give more substantial evidence to back up your side rather than just address the opposing viewpoint. Take as much time to argue against the theory as you take to explain it.

So they are saying the Real Wily died after 3 games and the Robot Wily was in it for 8 more games. That doesn't make sense. Not to mention Wily was arrested at the end of 6. Pretty sure if he was a robot they would have found out. Great video. Like and subscribed

There's one big reason in particular as to why Wily can't be a robot during the events of the Classic series, especially as early as MM3: The AI tech doesn't exist for it. Wily doesn't program the laws of robotics into his creations, but the technology for true free will does not exist yet. X and Zero are canonically the very first robots will true free will and original thought to be created. This would mean that if Wily did program a robot to take his place, it would be bound to a programming directive the same as literally any other robot built in that timeframe. Even Bass is bound by the programming directive to be the strongest Robot Master. Wily however continues to exhibit free will and original thought, and even still has all of his memories as shown in MM11. There's a mountain of other reasons why he can't be a robot as well, but the important takeaway is just that it's literally not possible given the level of technological advancement at the time of MM3. For Wily to be a robot after MM3 he'd have to be the worlds first Reploid and we already have hard confirmation by Capcom themselves that he isn't. The whole robot theory just doesn't add up when you consider the series canon overall. It only makes any kind of sense at all when you consider the classic series alone in a vacuum in which the X and later series don't exist (which doesn't canonically exist, Classic DOES lead into X, which leads into Zero, ZX, and then Legends), and even then the theory is full of holes such as Wily clearly still having a flesh and blood human body good enough to satisfy doctors at the hospital and such (It's even implied in X4 that Zero might have killed him, with his memory having a vague scene in which he's looking at his own bloodied hands). I think the whole "Wily getting Roboenza" thing was just Mega Man and the other robots mistaking Wily getting a cold or another human virus for Roboenza due to it happening so close to the same time as the Roboenza pandemic. Keep in mind that Wily only gets sick, he doesn't become more violent after infection. Roboenza is a virus that reprograms robots into having violent tendencies, so if he was indeed a robot and got infected, he wouldn't simply just have a fever and some sniffles to be treated in the hospital, and he certainly wouldn't be feeling remorseful enough to leave the cure to Roboenza behind in his hospital room as soon as he was feeling well enough to leave. In fact, Wily's tendency towards feeling conflicted and remorseful in and of itself is a trait that proves his humanity as well, as he couldn't have been programmed with such feelings if his programming directive was world domination in Wily's name.

One INCREDIBLY minor detail that always bothered me, is how Dr. Wily is shown to "beam down" ON-SCREEN. Specifically in the cutscene in Mega Man 4, when he reveals himself as the villian. I can totally believe that humans can also use teleporters in this future, but it *could* help explain how he always gets away in the castle collapses. Also, FYI, I think Wily using the "Speed Gear" animation is just to signify he is charging up some special attack or something, because I don't know if they really would want to make a bespoke animation just for a joke that takes up about 2 seconds.

Bass is just based, that’s why

I thought dr. Wily turned himself into a cyborg sometime after the classic seris

Theory: the real Dr. Wily died at the end of Megaman 1. He begs for mercy and then the scene cuts away to the credits. Most people assume this means Dr. Wily was spared, but in actuality Megaman just shoots him and this was cut out due to being too grisly/making Megaman seem heartless and unheroic to a mostly child audience.

Matpat catchs L's in every community

While I agree that it's blatantly obvious Mega Man HASN'T killed Wily, I don't necessarily agree that he COULDN'T. Firstly, he's capable of violating at least the Second Law ("A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law"), otherwise Wily could just say "stop bothering me" and the whole thing would end in the biggest anticlimax imaginable. Secondly, and more importantly, there are situations where the First Law isn't so clear-cut and easy to interpret. Most relevantly, this would include cases where defending someone requires either not defending someone else, or outright harming them. In these cases, would not the lives of the world's innocents take priority over the life of the madman who continually threatens them? Even in the Japanese version, Mega Man demonstrates intent to kill Wily, even if he was prevented from going through with it. If the First Law truly prevented him from harming Wily, could he have made that attempt? Mega Man doesn't WANT to kill Wily, but I truly believe, in this one moment, that he thought it was the only way to protect the world.

very nice video, if it helps tho, Hitoshi Ariga added this bit when writing a biography about Serges "During the X series, a Repliroid(Reploid) with Wily's memories, "Serges", appears in X2. In X4 he himself appears in the movie portions.". Also both Isoc and Wily share voice actors... yeah, I had been watching Reploid Revo a lot haha.

I never thought about this until I saw this video. True or not I think that would be one of the coolest twists ever that Wily died in MM3 and an evil AI version of himself took over from there. Game devs take notes

it's a silly theory with weak structure but it's not entirely impossible the way I see it.

Rock has the Ability to overwrite his own code. I think in theory, Rock could kill Wily but chooses not to. Blues was Altered by Wahwee to repair his power core . There is no evidence either way, but it would seem that either Protoman was altered to use those three "laws" for just Wily himself, or removed them completely. Protoman's programming would be similar to bass in theory. Now, the question is.. "Can Bass Kill Wily? Would Bass Save Wily?" and why. I thought about this since MM3. Although i never questioned that Wily was dead, i knew he wasn't.

Thank god someone is challenging Game Theory! I used to love that show when it first came out, but once it got popular and people started taking it as doctrine, I couldn't stomach it anymore (that and Death Battle, both of which were on ScrewAttack back in the day). You've earned yourself a subscriber.

And then of course there's Dr. Weil from the Megaman Zero series...and the ZX Sage Trinity of Thomas, Mikhail, and....Albert. Those all take place in the same universe, centuries after the original series.

I think Wily should have died so CAPCOM's writers could give us a new trilogy with a Dr. Antagonist for Light and Mega Man/ Rock to bring down. Who knows, maybe this could have refreshed the franchise rather than repeating Wily's defeat again and again?

People claiming Mat Pat's theories are wrong, should realize that it is only a theory. He is basically saying I believe this and here is why. It doesn't mean what he is saying is 100% correct. Remember it is only a THEORY.

I thought that North American ending was a good way of setting up the Mega Man X lore. My head cannon was that Mega Man got fed up with Wily and killed him,, so he was decommissioned. Then Light made a night Mega Man that he made sure wouldn't make the same mistake. Then I found out that ending was fake, so that all went in the trash.

that question doesn't let me sleep

Gamma’s Law states “Whenever anyone questions anything regarding Mega Man 3 (such as boss design, controls, weapon concepts, or stage layout), the answer is always ‘Because Mega Man 3 is a released beta.’”

1:32 - Either those three shots were timed to the music or it was an amazing coincidence.

2:19 And this goes to all material of Rockman repeat this after me "The Japanese Version is the Real canon, non the English ones"

yeah he died and Mr. X replaced him

Nah, Wily clearly dies in World 2 after crashlanding on Earth, engulfed in an explosion visible from outer space. Then the plot of The Wily Wars is a cover up story for Mega Man to travel back in time to fix the mess.

Nice breakdown

Remember, Wily was revealed to be an alien in Mega Man 2 so maybe his alien species is immortal.

Actually Megaman killed Dr Wily at the end of MM2 on gameboy which takes place between MM2 and MM3 NES. So Wily is already dead going into MM3. The Wily that died in the ending is a robot, which is why Protoman was not obligated to save him

The intro to MM11 begins with Dr. Wily having a bad dream and waking up in bed. I know robots like Zero can dream, but I’m not sure about the clasisc-era robots. And even then, Zero slept in a recharge capsule, not a regular bed. I think that’s proof enough that Wily is still alive and well in the classic series.

How does Model W fit in? Is there an alternate timeline where the space colony never fell in MMX5?

2:30 got Disturbed stuck in my head and I ain't complaining. GET DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS 🤘

Mega Man 3 is without a doubt my favorite Mega Man and the pinnacle of the early saga for me. But that would simply undo THE PERFECT ending for Wily's arc and Mega Man classic AS A WHOLE that is Mega Man 10, the single best videogame ending to me of *all time.*

Sergas being Wily still doesn't mean he died in Mega-Man 3. He could have made himself a cyborg (half human, half machine) long long after the classic Mega-Man series. I don't get why people would think it means he did die in 3

In Serges case i think is more likely he is a prototype body double Willy made, i kind of believe Willy kept his brain or even entire head in some sort of self sustaining thing

Let me throw you one worse about Protoman's response to the Three Laws of Robotics: Robots who witness the harm of another human being that they were unable to save for *any reason* malfunction or degrade mentally. Dependent on their complexity, a robot may outright shut down, develop various faults, or even GO INSANE. One robot who had been been witness to a dead body in one of the original stories developed a lisp. It was very unusual. Still, robots that witness harm to a human start to go bad, and the longer they go without reprogramming or a memory wipe, the worse they will get. THIS...can lead to something similar to a *Maverick* cutting loose. Funny, huh? Long before Capcom was even a thing, the blueprints for Megaman were there. This leads up to a funny thing about the ending for Megaman 7. Now, the Japanese ending is the canon ending, but I would read Megaman's silent pause as a bit more ambiguous, as though pondering that for a moment, or perhaps that it is the Japanese awkward pause where he's working on whether that applies or not. I agree that the American ending is a bit much, because Rock is suppose to be a decent guy who wouldn't shout something like that. *But that said,* there is one thing that would allow for it, and that he could've been thinking over in that pause, and that is the Zeroeth Law. The Zeroeth Law is essentially a 'Needs of the many' sort of law that is a little more fluid in robot brains. That is, a complex-enough robot can reason that it CAN let a human die IF it protects the lives of so many others. Would this happen? Hard to say. Rock is morally-decent, so it's hard for him in particular to overcome the Three Laws. *But I would read the '.....' pause as him thinking about it, and leaving it to out imagination what his reaction might be, before the alarms go off.* There is some more subtlety in Japanese translations, sometimes. The American version may've been doing that in a more hamfisted sort of way. Bass is clearly programmed with only two of the laws, and can be considered insane and a prototype for Maverick kind before the development of Zero. He does not have the First Law, and therefore has no need of the Zeroeth Law. The reason that he is insane - apart from the obvious destructive nature allowed to play out with the guy - is that there is actually a bit where Asimov says (through his characters in the robot novels) that a robot's mental structure would begin to collapse without one of the Three Laws in place. Without the First Law, a robot could be ordered to anything, but without respect for humans would start finding ways to work around the Second Law and only obey the Third, which is to protect itself. That's Bass. A robot without the Second Law would do whatever it wants as long as it doesn't harm a human, but because it won't obey them, it could decide to put them all in stasis forever and do whatever it likes with no humans around. And of course, if it had no Third Law, it would destroy itself by not looking after itself while obeying the other laws. As for Dr. Wily catching the virus, much like The Flare from Lasers & Liches, the virus he made mutated and crossed over to infect people. This is the first Maverick Virus, completely out of control, so it's a good thing he had vaccines! The actual death of Wily is unknown, because he could have made all manner of machines that emulated or straight-up had his mind within them, or he could have even been in a stasis chamber that would preserve him. We're not sure, but we do know that in Megaman X5, Sigma met an Old Man who provided him with a body that - while incomplete - was very much like Gamma. Whether he's dead or actually still alive is kind of a mystery, really, left ambiguous while the fight between he and Dr. Light STILL go on...

The laws of robotics are more like highly advisable Suggestions

1:27 Maaan This Whole Time I Thought It Was A Bird Or Something Cuz It Stopped In The Tree Lol

If I am to play devil's advocate, MM10's ending scene is really vague on this. We know that the Roboenza Cure magically works as soon as it's taken into a robot's system. (A la, Mega Man ingesting the pill after being sick from defeating all 8 Robot Masters that had Roboenza.) Now, for all the player knows, We have a scene that pretty much goes from the end of the final boss, to the ending scene where Dr.Wily escapes the hospital, but not until he had dumped the supply of cures on his bed. Now sure, we can assume that these two cutscenes happened over a considerable amount of time. But the thing that gets me is how Dr.Wily really did escape. Think about it. If we took all of each of the 3 Main Character's Endings into account, Dr.Wily suddenly became sick and had to be treated at a hospital, or else he would have genuinely risked dying from the sickness. Given that, Any normal human would have needed to rest for a good amount of time, before they would be free to leave the hospital. And assuming after he would be cured, he would be sent to jail for his crimes. But to me, there seems to be an issue with this. The ending of MM10 clearly shows that Dr.Wily left the hospital, via his ship. And though it's speculative, his escape could have happened before the hospital's expectations of Wily's condition. This would also be the reason why after Wily was "Cured" he didn't go straight to jail. But then that begs the question: "How would Dr.Wily, a man who was suffering from a life-threatening illness, suddenly just have the means to up-and-fly out before the time of his cure?" The only explaination I can think of logically is that he has the Roboenza Cures to help him. Assuming that there wasn't much time between the fight and sending Wily to the hospital, Wily could have used the pills to heal instantly and drive while no one was looking. And that could show that Dr. Wily might not be human. Again, this is all moreso speculation rather than undenyable proof, but the Logic seems to bounce all over the place because Capcom never really confirms or denies these kinds of things unless they REALLY want to show us something.

I forgot which part, but wasn’t mega man about to kill Wiley when his head springs out of its body?

It's more likely that the Wiley we see getting crushed is yet another Robot Copy

There’s a character in megaman x3 named Dr.Doppler & in captain commando theres a character named doppler who looks exactly the same as Dr.Doppler witch could imply that captain commando & megaman x are in the same universe

As a Japanese, I thought the discussion was novel and nonsensical. Even as a child, I could see that the good versus evil plot of Peach always being kidnapped by Bowser and rescued by Mario, and the righteous party defeating the evils that always seek to destroy or conquer the fantasy world, is a continuous business model that the game makers are working on, you know. Considering that the work was produced for children at the time, it is inconceivable to create such a suggestive and complex description and worldview. In creating a sequel to the series, seems the game makers have tried to give the children a sense of [persuasiveness -> depth] as they grow up. As you can see from the Zelda games and MGS games, us, the children of those days who have grown up are probably just amused by the contradictions that always arise when a large number of successors to the first game are produced. That's fun, as it were. It is meaningful to enjoy new interpretations.

Wily created the speed and power gear he would find out a way to do it on humans

The Japanese game of Megaman 3, subtitled, the End of Wily? I think that is another aspect that fuels this. Given up till the end of MM 4, Dr Wily appears to be out of the picture. This only time him being replaced in the imposter trilogy(4-6) anyone might have actually believed it.(Mr X being the least convincing.) I think Capcom wanted potentially make a new villain so they made Wily's potential death convincing enough for people believe could actually been offed for good. Up till MM revealed he was definitely still around, I thought it could go either way. I'd assume the thing we saw get crushed in MM 3 was probably just another robot since neither MM or Protoman get a chance to check. Wily made a couple fake outs even by this point. (Alien wily.) and we see Wily make a fake earlier in the game, so there's no reason it had be him in the ending. While Dr Wily could be just a series of really convincing robots pretending to be him, I doubt a series aimed at children is going do something that dark. It's true this basically does happen in the X series, as Wily and Dr Light both seem to continue their robotic pissing contest into the next century, there's no reason assume it happened till the end of both their natural lives. I supposed the ultimate messed up scenario is Dr Wily died somewhere along the way(Like MM killed him at the end of MM 1 and he made a copy to cover up his robots could murder people since he had to allow MM able to use violence and hadn't gotten the programing quite right yet.), and Dr Light out of some sort of guilt for his friend dying makes a super advanced robot to continue doing what he would, but because Doctor light far more competent this robot copy actually ends up being better building things than the original Dr wily was, hence it creates Zero based off this logic. Dr Light is too guilt stricken to admit he made a robot of his friend, and lets it play out as if it's still him. He then creates an AI of himself and the two continue their rivalry beyond the grave through proxies. Both Dr light and Wily cause so much death and destruction into the X series and beyond due to their creations battling each other and the escalations that follow with each battle. (Sigma is an offshoot of Wily's work due to him being infected by the virus he created which elevates him into the threat he is.) This world would been better off had these guys done literally anything else with their lives but build robots. This is true regardless of what point these men were replaced with robots/AI to continue their work.

I never heard of this theory but this video makes me believe it now 😂

And yes, in a way Doctor Wily is immortal. He becomes the "Zero Virus". But his body is only human.

People still dont understand that wily gets sick at the end of megaman 10 because he is a human that cant breathe in space 🙄

Happy 30th aniversary MEGAMAN X :"D

Lore of Dr. Wily DIES in Mega Man 3?! Momentum 100

Actually I think you are wrong about Protoman, the thing that makes him so unique is that he could think and act for himself, and it was due to a fault in his design which would also eventually kill him, and the reason why he escaped from Light's lab, is because he was afraid of being "repaired" and then losing that freedom basically, so whenever Protoman helps out or whatever it isn't because of the laws of robots to protect humans or anything, its just because Protoman is a good person and won't just sit back and do nothing.

Wily survived MM3, because of cartoon logic. It's similar to how he is sometimes shown exploding in a machine, but only having a bandage on his forehead from it. In X4 Wily is confirmed to be aiding Sigma as an A.I., or in some other weird way, so until otherwise, I'm going to assume he was also inhabiting Serges.

Wily being a robot double would explain why he's still around in Mega Man Legends

Soooooo I've only been a megaman fan for a few years and I've ever heard of this theory lol

Wily was both Serges and Isoc.

Btw if megaman 7 japanese dialogue is being used as evidence why not X3 dialogue? SERGES IS WILY CONFIRMED

I always wonder that the wily that came are robots with willy's consciousness

With regard to Bass, I always liked the theory he's an example of giving an overly simple prerogative to a more complex robot. TLDR, Bass can technically disobey and weasel out of orders if you consider "Defeat Megaman" or "Be the strongest robot" to be his number one task. Staying to take care of Wily or not engage Megaman flies in the face of that, so Bass technically doesnt have to be as helpful as you'd expect. But Wily puts up with him because he has too much of an ego to reject HIS own creation (Wily genuinely does think Bass is a better robot) is clever enough to strongarm him into doing what he wants, and honestly might consider this is a natural problem with a more complex robot (Light and Megaman not having this problem because, yknow, Light treats Megaman like a son).

I love how a tvtropes page made loads of people believe in that

Potato man (protoman) doesn't have the 3 laws. He has free will. That led to his fleeing.

is very simple in Rockman wily never dies.in X he died long time ago his last creation is Zero...maybe more creation after or before.

Put the theory to rest. There is a Dr. Wily and a Dr. Willy.

People are idiots. He’s in MM11...

Doesn't the X series imply that Zero is responsible for Wily's death after Wily builds him?

Holy shit you're a cool youtuber

The problem might be content but I think the problem is the shape of the game world. It’s not following super Mario brother or donkey Kong anymore and these anniversary deals are not piercing the market. If I had the choice to get Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Sonic, or Mega Man, I think FF gets 1st, Street Fighter gets back up, and Mega Man gets back burner.

Very well explained. Unfortunately, there are people that choose to believe lies and ignore the truth.

Megaman X is set 100 years later so the Doc has to be dead by then.

If Bass left Wily to expire is proof that Wily is a robot, then Wily sending robots to endanger the world is proof that he isn't a robot. Contradiction there should the rule be strict. If he was a robot, he wouldn't need to escape every single time. He could easily expire and come back in another body, like Sigma. When he actually was a robot in X2 (as Serges), he went down without fearing it. No bowing and saying, "I give up."

Zero died at least once, maybe even twice. I know after dying he was resurrected twice. Mega Man story has become a state where nothing is canon. The story is only (no offense, mind you) gotten slightly better than the english voice acting. Nobody wants another Flame Hyenard (X7) yelling "burn it to the ground" every 3 seconds. Mega Man has a virus, and the MMan.exe file has become corrupted through the duplication process and fragmented through the spinoff-ication process. Original RockMan is spinning in his watery grave.

I mean doesn't Super Adventure Rockman kind of needs Wily to be alive post MM3 given that otherwise the EMP field of Ra Moon would have toasted him?

Nope Photomatix has free will as a defect

You're Forgetting A Little Detail Rakuhouha In MM4 After Defeat Dr. Cossack We Can See A Cutscene That Shows Dr. Wily Teleporting In Front Of Mega Man Please Explain This!

Don't agree that Wily doesn't program his robots with the laws of robotics, and i present the very same robot master that calls that into question Bass. There is at least 3 different times Bass could have just ended Wily but the 2 always end up walking away together in the end. For Wily's own personal safety at least the robots he makes don't harm humans, something he's quick to call up when they're getting too rowdy near him.

What if there is no Dr. Wily, only Zuul?

Technically protoman and megaman are cyborgs not robots so they are not bound by those laws, see Robocop 2💀💀

Proto Man is not bound by the 3 laws. A glitch appeared during his activation which left him completely free will

Good video, but the beeping sound took me away from it a lot, it got annoying fast. Still, good vide.

tbh I never heard about this Theory Ps. I *vastly* prefer the English MM7 Ending

Too late probably means that Willy already ran away.

Yeah, F matt pat.

No... he obviously didn't

Mmm 🤔 he died in part 3

Your argument is it's not Wily because we see his ship at the end of MM3. (ignoring the massive problem that "the ship" crosses the foreground of the tree.) I never assumed this was the ship as that animation was not used as the ship in this game. Nor does his ship fly like that in any of the games. And it going in front of the tree is a massive issue. What was it intended as? Maybe a bird. That's what I always assumed it was considering it perched on top of the tree. None of your other points countered any of the evidences. So in conclusion: It's probably best you not accuse people of having no critical thinking when you didn't really give any points to counter.

Mm3 is the goat nes game

Bet you're glad matpat retired

In the first episode of the RubySpears Megaman cartoon with Ian Corlette as Mega, it is established thay robots can't lie, but Megaman does. Explained by him being programmed with self determination to feel human. His response? "I like that!"

Mega Man is not a robot he is an Android

dr wiley totally dies at the end of megaman 3 dude. youre grasling at straws