Sword Man is a combat Robot Master from Mega Man 8. He was built by Dr. Wily to utilize an ancient sword that he stole from a museum. Unfortunately, the sword that Sword Man carries was very heavy, so the upper and lower parts of his body were fitted with an anti-gravitational device to stabilize him, and as such, both halves of his body can act independently to improve his balance.
While he possesses a sharp wit, Sword Man tends to have an outdated mindset when it comes to fashions and modern traditions. He has a strong interest in the Japanese martial art of Iaigiri and dislikes faulty swords and chipped blades.
This dropdown contains the synopsis of ’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!
Mega Man 8
Sword Man is one of the second four bosses. His main attack is Flame Sword, an attack that envelops his sword with flames for extra damage. Sword Man can also attack by spinning his upper part rapidly to cut enemies, and drops heavy statues. His stage is a Cambodian temple-like area shown located somewhere in Central Asia, but would be more southeast on the Asian mainland.
Sword Man can use Final Strike and Flame Sword in rapid succession.
When Sword Man's health is below 50%, he will place his sword on the ground and surround himself with a swirling fire pillar. Mega Man cannot hit him during this attack, except with Water Balloon. Touching the pillar does a tremendous amount of damage, but Sword Man tends to do it far away from Mega Man, so it is unlikely the player will get hit with it.
Rockman Strategy
Sword Man appears twice as an enemy in the game, and can also become a part of the player's team. His initial appearance is in the "Temple of the Moon" in Madagascar (no relation to the structure of the same name in Super Adventure Rockman) as one of Luna's backup units, along with Skull Man. The pair would later join Aqua Man and Bomb Man in working to protect the Wily Capsule α in "Dimensional Space".
Fire Slash: When Sword Man does this attack, he will try to attack the opponent by spinning his upper torso, separating it and having it return like a boomerang. The opponent cannot attack Sword Man during this attack.
Flame Sword: Sword Man will attempt to stop the opponent with this attack at close range, which is a fire-based version of Slash Claw.
Quake: When Sword Man jumps, a giant version of a Kao de Kahna will drop.
Final Strike: When Sword Man jumps, his upper torso gravitates into the air while his lower torso rams at the opponent on the ground.
Other
Standard Tactics: Sword Man will do various sword swings with flames, detaching his upper torso to attack along with his lower torso and using his flame sword for various attacks.
Weaknesses: Has a weakness to Aqua Man's water balloon. If his data is corrupted, he will be incapable of coming back.
Trivia
During Capcom's boss character contest for Mega Man 8, Sword Man was one of three robots created using a pre-made design template supplied to fans, along with Clown Man and Search Man. His template was known as "Katana Robot."
Sword Man is one of the first robot characters to possess a noticeable accented voice (Australian), alongside Colonel (whose voice is coincidentally provided by the same voice actor who did Sword Man) and Iris. Matthew Meersbergen, who voiced Colonel and Sword Man, is Australian, and the characters Colonel and Sword Man have similarities, as well—they are both sword-wielding foes who have a high sense of honor and will not hold back in a fight.
Sword Man was one of two Robot Masters from Mega Man 8 to receive a toy in the form of Bandai's Mega Armor model kit series, the other being Tengu Man. The model is not separated at the waist, instead closing the two halves together.
Sword Man's name may be a pun on "swordsman", another term for a swordfighter.
In the Mega Man: Anniversary Collection version of Mega Man 8, Sword Man's voice files are bugged, raising his pitch considerably. Many other Robot Masters, especially in Wily Stage 4, suffer from the same problem.
Part of Sword Man’s stage music is similar to the tune that plays when obtaining a weapon in Mega Man 3.
References
↑PEACE HAS COME TO THE WORLD. Dr. Wily has reformed, and he and Dr. Right have joined forces, working together to develop a giant peace-keeping robot named “GAMMA”. “GAMMA”…… It was the life-long dream of Dr. Right, a giant robot to protect and serve world peace. Their research almost complete, all that remained was to combine 8 energy elements that were scattered about the uncharted planets, and bestow them to “GAMMA”… –However, each planet met with an unexpected incident. The robots who were mining the energy elements suddenly began going berserk!! Upon learning of this from Dr. Right, “ROCKMAN” immediately set out on a path for the uncharted planets–a new battle was about to begin!!
↑Q. What kind of foods does Rockman like to eat? A. Well… Actually, Rockman’s body is powered by “Solar Energy.” Therefore, he doesn’t really eat, but there are some things that are okay for his consumption… Around the lab, he enjoys drinking “Energy Juice.” As responsibly as he behaves, he’s still a kid after all.
↑Q. The shots that the Rockbuster fires from the hand, what are those exactly? A. The Rockbuster on the arm fires something called a “Solar Bullet”, essentially emitting a compressed form of solar energy that’s very powerful.
↑Weapon: Transforming Rockbuster, fires a solar bullet
↑Q. Do robots like those made by Dr. Wily or Dr. Cossack have self-awareness, and can they talk? And do they run on solar energy like Rockman does? A. I take it you’d like to know if Wily and Cossack’s robots possess “sentience”? Naturally, they each have a “consciousness”, although the level of every “cognitive circuit” embedded inside each one of them varies, producing as many different “personality” types as found in people… Just like you or I, they can speak, and have emotional responses like shyness, or anger, just as we do. Regarding their energy systems, many of them do utilize “solar energy” in some way.
↑PEACE HAS COME TO THE WORLD. Dr. Wily has reformed, and he and Dr. Right have joined forces, working together to develop a giant peace-keeping robot named “GAMMA”. “GAMMA”…… It was the life-long dream of Dr. Right, a giant robot to protect and serve world peace. Their research almost complete, all that remained was to combine 8 energy elements that were scattered about the uncharted planets, and bestow them to “GAMMA”… –However, each planet met with an unexpected incident. The robots who were mining the energy elements suddenly began going berserk!! Upon learning of this from Dr. Right, “ROCKMAN” immediately set out on a path for the uncharted planets–a new battle was about to begin!!
↑PEACE HAS COME TO THE WORLD. Dr. Wily has reformed, and he and Dr. Right have joined forces, working together to develop a giant peace-keeping robot named “GAMMA”. “GAMMA”…… It was the life-long dream of Dr. Right, a giant robot to protect and serve world peace. Their research almost complete, all that remained was to combine 8 energy elements that were scattered about the uncharted planets, and bestow them to “GAMMA”… –However, each planet met with an unexpected incident. The robots who were mining the energy elements suddenly began going berserk!! Upon learning of this from Dr. Right, “ROCKMAN” immediately set out on a path for the uncharted planets–a new battle was about to begin!!
↑Q. What kind of foods does Rockman like to eat? A. Well… Actually, Rockman’s body is powered by “Solar Energy.” Therefore, he doesn’t really eat, but there are some things that are okay for his consumption… Around the lab, he enjoys drinking “Energy Juice.” As responsibly as he behaves, he’s still a kid after all.
↑Q. Do robots like those made by Dr. Wily or Dr. Cossack have self-awareness, and can they talk? And do they run on solar energy like Rockman does? A. I take it you’d like to know if Wily and Cossack’s robots possess “sentience”? Naturally, they each have a “consciousness”, although the level of every “cognitive circuit” embedded inside each one of them varies, producing as many different “personality” types as found in people… Just like you or I, they can speak, and have emotional responses like shyness, or anger, just as we do. Regarding their energy systems, many of them do utilize “solar energy” in some way.
↑Dr. "I’m Always" Right Breaks It Down Q. What kind of foods does Rockman like to eat? A. Well… Actually, Rockman’s body is powered by “Solar Energy.” Therefore, he doesn’t really eat, but there are some things that are okay for his consumption… Around the lab, he enjoys drinking “Energy Juice.” As responsibly as he behaves, he’s still a kid after all.
↑Q. The shots that the Rockbuster fires from the hand, what are those exactly? A. The Rockbuster on the arm fires something called a “Solar Bullet”, essentially emitting a compressed form of solar energy that’s very powerful.
↑Weapon: Transforming Rockbuster, fires a solar bullet
↑Power Source/ R.S. Power Reactor (Micro-sized) Right Solar Power Pile Dr. Right-made Solar Energy Generator
↑Q. Do robots like those made by Dr. Wily or Dr. Cossack have self-awareness, and can they talk? And do they run on solar energy like Rockman does? A. I take it you’d like to know if Wily and Cossack’s robots possess “sentience”? Naturally, they each have a “consciousness”, although the level of every “cognitive circuit” embedded inside each one of them varies, producing as many different “personality” types as found in people… Just like you or I, they can speak, and have emotional responses like shyness, or anger, just as we do. Regarding their energy systems, many of them do utilize “solar energy” in some way.
↑PEACE HAS COME TO THE WORLD. Dr. Wily has reformed, and he and Dr. Right have joined forces, working together to develop a giant peace-keeping robot named “GAMMA”. “GAMMA”…… It was the life-long dream of Dr. Right, a giant robot to protect and serve world peace. Their research almost complete, all that remained was to combine 8 energy elements that were scattered about the uncharted planets, and bestow them to “GAMMA”… –However, each planet met with an unexpected incident. The robots who were mining the energy elements suddenly began going berserk!! Upon learning of this from Dr. Right, “ROCKMAN” immediately set out on a path for the uncharted planets–a new battle was about to begin!!
↑By swapping out the program data of all the robots Dr. Wily has constructed, this robot is able to adapt other robots’ moves as its own. With the powers of all robots combined into one, this is truly one dreadful robot.
↑This all-purpose robot can take on the same abilities of every other robot merely by switching its program data. Still, if it just copies the powers of robots that Rockman has already been able to defeat, one might expect for Rockman to overcome them again…
↑Q. Do robots like those made by Dr. Wily or Dr. Cossack have self-awareness, and can they talk? And do they run on solar energy like Rockman does? A. I take it you’d like to know if Wily and Cossack’s robots possess “sentience”? Naturally, they each have a “consciousness”, although the level of every “cognitive circuit” embedded inside each one of them varies, producing as many different “personality” types as found in people… Just like you or I, they can speak, and have emotional responses like shyness, or anger, just as we do. Regarding their energy systems, many of them do utilize “solar energy” in some way.
↑PEACE HAS COME TO THE WORLD. Dr. Wily has reformed, and he and Dr. Right have joined forces, working together to develop a giant peace-keeping robot named “GAMMA”. “GAMMA”…… It was the life-long dream of Dr. Right, a giant robot to protect and serve world peace. Their research almost complete, all that remained was to combine 8 energy elements that were scattered about the uncharted planets, and bestow them to “GAMMA”… –However, each planet met with an unexpected incident. The robots who were mining the energy elements suddenly began going berserk!! Upon learning of this from Dr. Right, “ROCKMAN” immediately set out on a path for the uncharted planets–a new battle was about to begin!!