A Buster (バスター, Basutā) is a term for a high tech firearm. It is mainly equipped by combat robots and Reploids, although it has been wielded by NetNavis, humans and Carbons in certain time periods.

Characteristics

The term Buster is mainly used for convertible arm cannons that shoots energy bullets, but it is also used for a few handheld weapons with similar characteristics. They are compatible with several power sources, such as solar, atomic, and Bassnium. Busters can be customized to function in different ways: some can charge energy to fire a bigger and stronger shot, while others can have a rapid-fire function.

The Busters from most main characters in the franchise are very practical weapons due to their adaptability, decent rate of fire (though only rapid-fire variants can fire more than a few shots at a time) and virtually unlimited ammo. Arm-mounted variants can usually change the barrel into a hand and back (although some exceptions exist). It is possible to combine buster technology with the Variable Weapon System, or in case of handheld variants, install elemental chips to change the properties of their shots.

However, the buster's qualities do not make it an unbeatable weapon: certain weapons, such as the Mirror Buster and the Ring Boomerang were designed to counter Buster weaponry. And certain types of robots use materials that are outright impervious to buster shots, like the special steel used in the helmets of Metalls and the shields of Sniper Joes.

List of Busters

Mega Man series

• Mega Buster - Mega Man's weapon, powered by solar energy. It was upgraded to the New Mega Buster, and later to the Super Mega Buster. Compatible with the Variable Weapon System.
• Proto Buster - Proto Man's weapon, powered by atomic energy. More powerful than the Mega Buster, but has greater energy consumption. Compatible with the Variable Weapon System.
• Bass Buster - Bass's weapon, powered by Bassnium. At first, it had similar functions to the two busters mentioned above, it was eventually modified with a rapid-fire function. Compatible with the Variable Weapon System.
• Roll Buster - Roll's weapon in 2007 mobile version of the Mega Man. It is not compatible with Variable Weapon System, but it can consume energy to fire more powerful shots than others. Roll also used a red cannon that she can slip over her arm in the Marvel vs. Capcom series and SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters.

Mega Man X series

• X-Buster - X's weapon, also known as Mega Buster Mk. 17. It can be further upgraded with Armor Parts. Compatible with the Variable Weapon System.
  • X also has several busters available for him in Mega Man X: Command Mission.
• Zero Buster / Z-Buster - One of Zero's weapons. Very powerful, although its use has diminished in favor of the Z-Saber. Although it appears to lack a Variable Weapon System, the Z-Buster technology can be used to enhance the X-Buster.

Mega Man Zero series

• Buster Shot - An old handheld model equipped by the Resistance and borrowed by Zero, who found ways to enhance it by equipping the Z Saber as a magazine, and combining it with his EX Skills. It can also be equipped with the Thunder Chip, Ice Chip or Flame Chip.

Mega Man ZX series

• X Buster - The Mega Man Model X's standard weapon.
  • ZX Buster - Produced by the combined abilities of Model X and Model Z, Model ZX, the ZX Buster fuses the X Buster and the Z Saber into a single weapon.
• Buster Shot - A standard-issue handheld model wielded by the Hunter's Guild and borrowed by Grey. It is compatible with Biometal Model A.

Mega Man Legends series

• Mega Buster - MegaMan Volnutt's weapon. It can be outfitted with a variety of enhancements.
• Steel Buster (こうてつバスター) - The buster of Steel Prince, a fictional character in the series. Outside Japan it was renamed as Ken's "Dragon Punch".

Mega Man Battle Network series

• All NetNavis in the Mega Man Battle Network series can change their arm into a buster, either as a default ability or with the use of Battle Chips like Spreader.
  • Mega Buster - MegaMan.EXE's weapon. It can transform for the use of Battle Chips.
  • NormalNavis have NormalBusters in Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge.
  • All playable NetNavis from Rockman.EXE 4.5 Real Operation, Mega Man Battle Network 5 and Mega Man Battle Network 6 have a buster, but they are only used when playing as them. sword attacks have a design similar to the NetNavi's buster with a retractable energy blade.

Mega Man Star Force series

• Mega Buster - The primary weapon of Mega Man, the EM Wave Change of Geo Stelar and Omega-Xis.

Others

• Copies like Copy Robot, Mega Man?, Zero Nightmare, and Copy X usually have a copy of the original's weapon, but those may not be completely identical. For example, the Holograph Mega Mans can fire in any direction, unlike the player's version, and the Copy Mega Man from Mega Man Megamix lacked the safety features from the original, being able to use more power, but at the cost of overloading and damaging his systems. There are also copies that were made to surpass the original, like Χ -kai-'s Χ-Buster (pronounced "Kai Buster"), and alternate versions, like the Mega Buster from the "Bad Box Art Mega Man" in Street Fighter X Tekken being a pistol instead of an arm cannon.
• Several playable characters, bosses, and enemies from the franchise are equipped with one or more arm cannons or other weapons with projectiles similar to Buster Shots, but they are rarely referred as a Buster. Example of its usage include OVER-3's dual cannons in Rockman Xover.
  • In the Mega Man Megamix manga, the Skull Man's weapon is called buster, althoughin this manga he is designed very differently from the original. The original Skull Man does have a more standard buster weapon.
  • In the Universal Fighting System, the term Buster is also used for the energy attacks from the Wily Machine 1 (Flying Fortress Buster), Alien (Holographic Buster) and Cossack Catcher (Cossack Buster).
  • In Super Robot Wars X-Ω, the normal attacks from Bubble Man and Flash Man are named Bubble Buster and Flash Buster.
  • Quick Man, Shadow Man and Magnet Man were shown to be able to change their arms into a buster like Mega Man in Super Adventure Rockman, as well as the Armor Soldiers from the Mega Man X series. Spring Man and Concrete Man were seen both with and without an arm cannon at different times, but it is unknown if they also have this ability.
  • Additional examples of characters with an arm cannon with projectiles similar to buster shots include Doc Robot, Bright Man, Gravity Man, Centaur Man, Fake Man, Dynamo, the Sniper Joes, Pantheon Hunters, and Galleon Hunters.

Cameos

• Django can use MegaMan.EXE's Mega Buster in the Boktai games Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django and Shin Bokura no Taiyō.
• The Powerful Buster from Power Stone 2 is a reference to the Mega Buster.

Dead Rising series

• In Dead Rising, Frank West can use two versions of the Mega Buster:
  • Mega Buster (fake) - A toy version of the Mega Buster that fires ping-pong balls.
  • Real Mega Buster - The real article fires powerful energy blasts. Unlocked with the "Zombie Genocide" achievement. Also appears as Frank West's Hyper Combo in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.
• In Dead Rising 2, the Proto Buster and Proto Shield appear as the Protoman Blaster and Shield.
• In Dead Rising 3, the X-Buster (with the first Arm Parts) appears as the Mega Buster.

Busters in other media

Rockman X Mega Mission (series)

• Clear Buster - A mutation of the X-Buster caused by Limited. As the mutation progresses, the weapon changes into the Clear High Buster. It has massive power, but causes X to struggle against the Limited influence.
• RX Buster - A Limited copy of the X-Buster wielded by Return X. Extremely powerful.
• Neo Buster - A new weapon created by Zero as a result of remodeling the Z-Buster with pieces of the X-Buster.

Notes and trivia

• The original Mega Man can change both arms into the Mega Buster, but avoids using them simultaneously due to the danger of the output overheating his systems.
• Arm mounted Busters seem to drain the robot's own energy reserves: Proto Man, for example, is severely weakened after using the Proto Strike. This is less of an issue for Mega Man since his helmet has a solar panel to gather energy. Bass reportedly has an infinite Bassnium supply.^[1]
• Some special weapons also have "Buster" in their name: Grab Buster, Mirror Buster, Active Buster, Buster Cannon, Machine Buster, Powered Buster and Spread Buster.
• "Buster Shot" is the name of Zero's handheld weapon in the Mega Man Zero series. The name was also used for the three types of Mega Busters in trailers from Mega Man Universe, the finishing blow from some of X's busters in Mega Man X: Command Mission, and in Rockman X The Novel: Irregulars Report.
• In most 2D games, the character's sprites are usually inverted when they turn around instead of having unique sprites for different sides, making the arm with the buster change when they turn around.

References