@Devin, a novelization of secret of mana would be quite the task, though there is a script on gamefaqs, howeer I agee it's one of the nicest soundtracks ever! Chrono trigger I find a bit random, I still need to hear chrono cross.
As to the story of megaman, wel the megaman network has some pretty comprehensive articles on their wiki:
Find it here
Broadly speaking, there are five main series in the plot, plus the alternative exe and starforce series.
The Mega man classic series (as it's now known), begins in 20 xx, and involves Mega man, a humanoid battle robot designed by dr. light together with his sister Roll, and friends like auto the mechanic and rush the robotic dog, thrwarting the schemes of the evil Dr. Wily and his robot masters.
this is all pretty commic stuff, like you'd see in a cartoon series, for example Mega man 4 involves a threat supposedly from the Russian robot designer Dr. Kossak, who threatens to send his own robots after Mega man, however it turns out Wily kidnapped Kossak's daughter Calinca to force him to cooperate.
it's light and rather funny and to be honest as a written plot sounds very! hacknied, sinse it's the games, the design of the stages and the different robot masters you fight and ow they attack that makes things awesome (the awesome soundtracks don't hurt either).
The mega man x series is set in 21 xx, a hundred years later. Capcom wanted a darker, more grown up series on the Snes so this series begins with a scientist called Dr. Cane finding a capsule that contains x.
X it turns out is the last of Dr. Light's creations, a robot that can think for itself and has the emotions and freee will of a human being, however due to the potential danger of this project, Light sealed X inside a capsule to run a 30 year diagnostic.
What became of light, auto, Dr. wily and everyone else from the classic series isn't clear, although we've had some interesting hints and of course lots of fans have theories (i have my own).
Dr. Cane then starts creating reploids, robots with this new capacity to think to work alongside humans. This goes well until some reploids start turning maveric, ie, going insane and attempting to kill humans. A group of reploids is setup to counter this threat, called the maveric hunters lead by a reploid called sygma, who has blue eyes and wields a beam saber, (think light saber), with Zero as his second in command, a mysterious reploid who is Sygma's student.
Sygma however then goes maveric, taking the rest of the maveric hunters with him, leaving x and zero to face the threat, despite the fact that x forswares violence and attempts a pacifistic attitude.
The series then revolves around sygma's various plots, and revelations about the past of the characters. It is eventually revealed in x2, that the maveric condition is the result of a computer virus, and that sigma himself has merged with this virus, and thus is able to create and possess new robot bodies at will.
the bosses are mostly from the maveric hunters, though occasionally they're reploids who rebel for their own reasons. they're also very cool sinse rather than being junkman or fireman like the original series robot masters, they're animalistic or even plants, such as storm eagle or split mushroom, which as you might imagine leads to some very unique characters to fight.
In x4, during a war Sygma initiated between the reply force, a peace keeping force of reploids and the new maveric hunters lead by x, Zero's past is revealed, he was the last creation of Dr. Wily, and it was he who first transmitted the maveric virus to Sygma.
Things then go a bit whacked, mostly because Zero should! have exited the series at the end of x5, or in x6 to turn up in his own series, and because Capcom basically wanted more money, and because of the introduction of pathetic blond fairy link wonabe boy Axl, a reploid who can copy the abilities of other reploids (yeah, most mega man fans hate axl). the series finishes thus far I believe with x8, where sygma is finally defeated, and X command mission, which is all about copy chips and doesn't really run into the virus plotline, but it's implied the sygma virus itself goes on, although for me due to access reasons and the fact that x7 went full 3d while (thanks capcom), the series can! end at x6 .
The Zero series is my favourite in terms of plot and is set 102 years later, it began on the gba in the early 2000's with mega man zero (which I have very fond memories of). zero sealed himself in a capsule to spare the world from the virus (he's shown doing this in x6 although silly capcom say it doesn't happen in x6). he then awakes to find Nio arcadia, a fashistic society lead supposedly by x where reploids are treated as second class citizens. He has been awakened by ciel a human scientist and her band of resistance fighters.
I love the zero games, I love how dark they are, your first mission in zero 1 is to literally go to an extermination camp and rescue a a reploid from being crushed, you even have a disturbing power up system where you collect centient programs called cyber elves (no I didn't make them up), but whenever you use one, it dies! and you lose score and what not. The bosses are various generals of nio arcadia with a mythological sort of theme, such as hanumachine, a machine based on the hindu monkey god hanuman.
The four games each also have an ongoing story rather than "oooh look defeat wily or sygma again" this was something the x series was getting to in it's later offerings (x4 and 5 are some of my favourites for that reson), but the zero series takes ongoing plot to the next level.
In the first game, ciel and the resistance have sought out zero to protect them from nio arcadia and it's generals. The game ends with Zero taking on nio arcadia's leader, who it turns out isn't actually the original x from 100 years ago, but a copy of x (he's referd to as copy x). The original x then turns up, just his mind in hovering data form as a cyber elf, and in a classic scene recovers some of zero's memory and encourages zero to go on fighting.
It eventually turnsout that x ended the maveric virus by deleting it with a cyber elf called the mother elf, but an evil scientist called Dr. Weil (who may or may not be the original Dr. Wily from the classic series days), cursed the mother elf turning it into the dark elf which initiated the elf wars in which 9 tenths of the earth's population perrished, hence the fashistic nio arcadia.
Zero also discovers that while he was in that capsule for 100 years, Weil transfered his original mind into a copy body, and created a destructive creature called omega from zero's original body (the fight in zero three between zero and original zero is one of the most awesome!).
The series ends with Zero sacrificing himself to stop a spaceship Dr. Weil is crashing into the earth to try and kill off all remaining humans on the planet, and it finishes with a highly romantic moment of Ciel crying over zero's cracked helmet, ---- -sniff!
I admit I'm a huge zero fan, he's got big hair, a no nonsence honourable attitude, an awesome wolverine helmet and a beam saber! what's awesome is his beam saber will even do the japanese samurai style quick draw, sinse the blade only flicks out when he actually swings it, ---- though in the zero games you can also charge up and perform a charged slash with your Saber the way you can charge your gun, which does loads of damage to bosses.
I was actually considering a semi romantic, but quite dark fanfic set between zero 1 and 2 at one stage, where Ciel explains to zero why and how she left nio arcadia and how she, a human developed sympathy for reploids, it never got done but it had some fun momentts, ---- I particularly liked the idea I had that zero's response to ciel telling him she was upset would be to hand her his gun point at the wall and say "target, quickdraw now!" and when she asked why just grunt back "training, ---- best thing!"
There is then the zx series where you play as two characters, a boy called vent and a girl called ail, which is set a little after the zero games, with people becoming cyborgs and a company called slither inc investigating the old nio arcadian ruins, though I don't know a lot about those because they're on the ds and I've not played them.
Then, there is the mega man legends series which was actually bought out in the late 90's, which is a zelda style 3D adventure series and involves relic hunters in a far distant future earth where all the humans have left for another world called elisium, and the remaining inhabitants of earth are reploids. I've read the scripts for those though off hand I don't recall too much of the plot accept that you played as someone called Mega man trigger.
That's about as far as it goes. I personally think the plot of the later x and zero games is best (though excluding x7 and the hole stupidity with axl), and of course the zero series with their ongoing story, though of course I do have the advantage of playing several of these.
Even the classic series though as I said, is awesome for it's gameplay and style and it's characters despite the plot being, ---- well rather like a commic.
Wow! this turned into far more woffle than I planned, but hopefully it should give a good idea .
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)