Turns out the hardened Robot Master did not always have such an unfortunate name.

Originally debuting in Mega Man 3, “Hard Man” has been the butt of a joke among gamers for years. Now, new scans of a Japan-only Capcom magazine has revealed that this may not have been his inevitable fate.

The magazine in question is Capcom World-News, one of the company’s oldest publications. In issue #6 of the magazine, it spotlights the winners of the robot master design contest for Mega Man 3. In the images, Hard Man’s name is shown as “Press Man”, as in “Machine Press”. A crop of the magazine is featured below, courtesy of Rockman Corner & GoNintendo.

“Press Man” is not only more fitting to describe the robot master’s abilities, but its also a lot less suggestive than “Hard Man”. Sadly, while we now know Hard Man’s original name, Capcom’s reasoning for changing it remains a mystery. Perhaps they felt that “Press Man” would be too difficult for players to understand? Or that they wouldn’t be able to make the connection to a “Machine Press”?

Whatever the reason, since “Hard Man” still ultimately ended up being the subject of confusion and ridicule, Capcom should probably have just stuck with the original name.

What do you think? Which name do you like better? Let us know in the comments below.