Did you know that in the entire robots continuity of Mega Man, there is more than one robot based on Sun Wukong from Journey to the West? Also known as Son Goku (yes, THAT Son Goku was also based on this character). Two of the distinguishing traits of this character are the distinctive crown, and the magical extending rod. And he’s a monkey.
On the left we have Buster Rod G, from the Sega Mega Drive port of the first three Classic games. Wily Wars (or Rockman Mega World) was the Mario All-Stars of Mega Man, if you will. This game had an extra mode after the three main games that was a new Wily fortress, into which you could take any weapon or item from the three games. The bosses of these stages were based on characters from the ancient Chinese story, including this guy, who you fought twice.
The monkey on the right is named Hanumachine, referencing the Hindu god Hanuman, although he’s not fooling anyone. The elongating staff and crown give him away as another Sun Wukong look-alike (his nickname is the Super Monkey of Knowledge). He appears in Mega Man Zero 1, attacking the Resistance base, wielding fire powers but actually in the stealthy Hidden Phantom’s personal army. He is revived by Dr. Weil in Zero 3 as Hanumachine R, and leads one of his armies.
The Wily Wars is self-contained, so the three new Robot Masters are at least internally consistent. However, most Robot Master in the Classic series are simple human-shaped affairs, with only a few that stand out as based on mythology (Tengu Man, Centaur Man and Splash Woman). On the other hand, the Mutos Reploids that are the bosses throughout the Zero games often reference mythological beings and creatures, so Hanumachine fits in very well.
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