“In the year AD 20XX, the world cheered Mega Man when at long last he captured and imprisoned Dr. Wily. But...Dr. Wily always knew his schemes might end in failure and had planned for just such an occasion. Four robots had been hidden away and after six months without being contacted by Dr. Wily, they activate and begin searching for their master...”
Mega Man 7 was the second Classic Mega Man title to be released for the Super NES following 1994’s Mega Man Soccer. Despite the jump to new hardware, the game was developed in just three months—roughly the same amount of time Mega Man 2 was created in.
The game’s Japanese title, Rockman 7: Showdown of Destiny!, hints at the controversial climax, whereupon Mega Man realizes Dr. Wily will never stop and begins charging the Mega Buster with the intent to kill the evil scientist. This shows that Mega Man has the capacity for autonomous thought, and it violates the Three Laws of Robotics stating robots can never hurt humans. Dr. Wily points this out to Mega Man, and Mega Man says that he is more than a robot. In the Japanese version, Mega Man does not reply. Either way, it’s long enough for Bass to rescue Dr. Wily. Due to the myriad of implications, these events have long since been a key topic of discussion among the Mega fandom.