Theory on Quint's Effect on the Mega Man Universe

*WARNING* a somewhat decent understanding of the concept of time travel and the ramifications of such may be necessary to not have your head explode from reading this.

Quint. The Mega Man from the FUTURE!!! Quint has always been the oddball special boss of the Classic Mega Man series.  Mega Man II for the Game Boy itself was odd just for that reason.  Out of the 5 Game Boy games, it's the only one without a truly unique special boss (DWR, Enker; III, Punk; IV, Ballade; V, Terra) that you can obtain a weapon from.  But we need to understand the story of Mega Man II to begin to see the role that Quint plays in the entire universe. 

The Game Boy games are canon within the Classic series by being a side series within the full series.  Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (also known as Rockman World) begins an odd staggering of how the games are placed within the scope of each other.  Dr. Wily's Revenge (DWR) takes place after Mega Man 2 for the NES and uses bosses from both of these games.  It also introduces the idea of a "Rockman/Mega Man Killer" robot named Enker: a specialized robot designed with the sole task to take out Mega Man.  This is where Wily starts to show his frustration and desperation of being defeated by Mega Man.  Two times before DWR, his plans had been foiled by Mega Man and he decides it's time to focus more on destroying Mega Man to ensure his overall task.  In-canon, Mega Man is able to defeat this new personal threat and defeat Wily once more. 

Now depending on which version of the story one wishes to follow, the next game in this timeline would be either Mega Man 3 (NES) or Super Adventure Rockman (which is how Archie Comics is going) that also leads to MM3.  For the sake of simplicity, we'll just jump to MM3's plot and purpose in the timeline.  Wily has decided to change his ways after these defeats by Mega Man and he and Light team up to create this new peace keeping robot called Gamma.  No surprise, Wily betrays Light, steals Gamma, sends the new Robot Masters to do destruction.  Same old story as we will come to find out.  Wily is defeated, peace ensures.  Now we get into the nitty gritty. 

Mega Man 3 introduces us to Proto Man, who at the time was working alongside Wily (covertly? whatever..you shot at him cause he shoots you) and he could prove to be a challenge to Mega Man for one major reason.  Proto himself can also be considered a "Super Fighting Robot" like Mega Man is.  Why is this important? We will get to that.  Mega Man II for the Game Boy would then be the next canon game following Mega Man 3.  Of the most convoluted plot point ever thought up, Wily steals a time machine (why is there a functional time machine in the first place?) and travels 37.426 years into the future.  No idea what .426 of a year would constitute cause screw math, but that's a strange number if I've ever seen one.  In this future location, he finds the now-retired Rock because his future self in this timeline had reformed and stopped trying to take over the world.  Going back to the concept with Proto, what better type of robot to defeated Mega Man than Mega Man himself!!  He modifies this older Rock back into a Super Fighting Robot, gives him a pogo stick with eyes, and calls this new monstrosity "Quint".  Wily then proceeds to bring Quint back to the present time to destroy the present Mega Man.

Here's where things get a little crazy regarding timelines.  As soon as Quint appears in his past/Wily's present....his timeline no longer exists in the sense that it is no longer able to be visited by the current timeline characters.  This isn't about paradoxes or what-ifs.  The major issue is this: in Quint's original past, he as Rock never had to fight a future version of himself.  So Quint's mere presence alone changes the timeline immensely.  To the point that his home, everything he ever did, anyone he ever knew in that timeline, all that he has known to love and care about immediately become impossible to ever retrieve again in this new current timeline.  Back to the Future got this right in the idea that if they were to travel forward in time again, it would be the future of THAT current timeline, not the one that Quint came from.  Quint is literally a character without a home, and without a place anymore.  Now, the idea/joke/concept regarding Quint is that if he were to destroy Mega Man in the present/his past...he himself would also disappear due to him killing his past self.  That is not the case at all. As I have stated before, his past self never fought against a future version of himself.  Quint as Mega Man eventually was able to overtake Wily and force him to reform.  This Wily, in bringing Quint back, completely destroys that notion because it is an entirely new timeline with Quint as part of it.  Quint would actually be able to destroy Mega Man and not vanish from existence.

As I said, this can be hard to grasp on the first go around, especially with words and not any visible means to display what I'm getting at.  Think of it like train tracks.  And the original line runs straight through.  Then at some point, they decided to introduce something new, a switch track which leads to a shorter way to reach the same destination.  The switch track then becomes the permanent route and the original line is never used again.  The switch track is Quint being introduced into the Classic timeline.

Ultimately, Quint is defeated as is Wily and Mega Man II ends.  But behind the scenes, this starts up more than ever could have been seen.  Wily knows he's on the right track with using Proto Man and Quint to fight against Mega Man, but he knows he needs something more.  Something stronger perhaps? Mega Man 4 (NES) comes into play and Wily utilizes Cossack as a new means to try and stop Mega Man.  Then follows Mega Man III (GB) which introduces the newest Mega Man Killer: Punk.  Strong, spikey, and the all-around tough guy.  Punk is there to just crush Mega Man with brute strength.  Again this obviously fails and Wily is defeated again.  Mega Man 5 (NES) occurs with the Dark Men taking the fortress boss roles and Dark Man IV being a somewhat-hard-to-believe Proto Man imposter.  But what is this working towards? To see what best ways can be used to defeat Mega Man.  These are test dummies of a sort to help Wily fully understand his opponent.  This leads into Mega Man IV (GB) which gives us the 3rd Mega Man Killer: Ballade.  Ballade brings a new spin on these specialized robots.  He is designed with arrogance, and the notion that he is supposed to be the strongest robot out there, and must prove that.  His powerful Ballade Cracker is a multi-directional bomb with immense explosive properties.  But again this wasn't enough to stop Mega Man.  Now we get a little fuzzy with the timeline details.

Following the pattern, the next game should be Mega Man 6 (NES), but it can't be.  The in-canon events of Mega Man 6 lead directly to Mega Man 7 with Wily being arrested (finally!) and his contingency plan is put into place.  So the next game has to be Mega Man V (GB).  This introduces the Mega Arm, Tango, and the Stardroids.  The reason this is important is the introduction of Terra.  Terra becomes the first (and only) canon robot to actually defeat Mega Man.  This happens in the opening of the game.  This shows Wily that Mega Man CAN be defeated, but there's still a bit more that needs to be done.  Whatever Wily learned from studying Sunstar, it leads to him discovering Bassnium on accident which he uses to power Bass.  The perfect weapon to defeat Mega Man.  The Power of Punk, the Motivation of Ballade, improving upon what the Dark Men and Terra showed, and above all, providing a similar Super Fighting Robot that is just like Mega Man.  All stemming from the concept that Quint showed him.  Bass can be considered an almost "copy" of Mega Man itself, just more powerful.  Quint started an arms race between Light and Wily, with Mega Man constantly being upgraded to his threats, and Wily rolling out new weapons to fight him. 

So how did Quint muck up everything?  All of this is traced to the initial point when Wily returns from the future with Quint.  Quint's existence ensures that the time he came from no longer cannot be reached.  This is because if Mega Man is defeated by Quint, Wily wins and would never be forced to reform; and if Quint is defeated, we know how that plays out with the canon game timeline.  Quint's existence in the present time completely changes the face of the Classic world.  No matter what happens, the world that Quint lived through in his lifetime can never occur, and will never occur.  This Light-Wily Arms Race continues to have a major impact through everything! With Bass essentially failing at his intended purpose (but being smart enough to not be destroyed like the MMKs or Terra), Wily continues to research and create an even more powerful weapon to take out Mega Man.  While at the same time, Light is developing his own new "weapon" of sorts that is more to advance robotics past his time.  This leads to the events seen in the X series...which leads directly into the Zero series...which brings about the ZX series....and eventually culminating with Legends.  The World that Quint came from was a world of peace, where Wily is reformed, and Mega Man succeeded in his purpose to bring about everlasting peace.  Quint appearing in the past alters that and sets the world on a course of wars and devastation that changes the face of the world for thousands of years.