Proto Man (known as Blues in Japan) enters the scene in Mega Man 3. At first appearing to be a villain, he both challenges and assists Mega Man at unexpected times throughout certain stages—always preceded by the whistle of his melancholy theme song.
Once you complete all of the Doc Robot stages, Proto Man appears wearing a helmet for one final confrontation under the alias of Break Man. During this battle, Proto Man/Break Man is immune to Special Weapons and can only be damaged by the Mega Buster. At the end of Mega Man 3, after Proto Man saves Mega Man (the first of many times to come) and returns him to Dr. Light, it’s revealed that Proto Man is an early prototype of Mega Man himself.
As Proto Man is physically identical to Mega Man, it is implied that the Break Man persona and helmet were meant to disguise himself from Dr. Light—a concept backed up by the Mega Man Gigamix manga. In the Archie Comics series, the name “Break Man” is suggested by Dr. Wily to symbolize a separation from his past and was also adopted due to his disdain for both Blues and Proto Man, the latter of which was given to him by Dr. Wily.
Unfortunately, as revealed in later games and media, Proto Man’s energy core is flawed, causing constant suffering and an inevitably shorter life span. Proto Man would go on to appear in most other classic Mega Man titles and its various spin-offs.
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