Seeming as I am a very big Mega Man fan, this has concerned me recently. After the cancelled games Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe, I was dissapointed, sure, but I held onto myself that the developers needed either a break or more time with the entire franchise.
Upon learning that Capcom stated that it was the fans fault for cancelling Legends 3, I got confused. Even after completing the so called prototype version, which would be available on the e-Shop on 3DS, this would be their official statement regarding cancelling it.
In Street Fighter X Tekken, Mega Man was then announced as a guest character, but as is always the case, the fans wondered which form of him would appear. No one expected to see his cover appearance from the very first NES game. I could understand the humor perfectly, but others saw this as a decline of some sort.
This year, the 25th anniversary of the franchise in December is approaching steadily, and recently, a "social RPG" has been announced as said before for iPhones. Called Mega Man Xover(Crossover), it brings the main playable characters from each sub-series together, but other details are scarce at the moment.
It's too early to say how good this game will be, but judging from the screenshots only, the fact that it's a social RPG, an exclusive to iOs platforms and looking at the graphics, Xover has been received terrible by communities so far.
Street Fighter X Tekken,
and Mega Man Xover. Are you mocking us Capcom?
Right now, people are worried if this is supposed to be the only thing worth celebrating about it's anniversary. Like Metroid's anniversary, which by the way was not celebrated officially, Mega Man might suffer the same fate or even worse depending on how high your hopes are for Xover or anything else that might spontaneously still happen before or in December.
We might be considered even lucky if you look at it in a different perspective. Technically, the blue bomber isn't dead, but Capcom's faith in the franchise seems to be. As many of us know, Capcom is a business company that attempts to gain profit as many times as possible with re-releases, expansion packs and ports.
Next to saying that, Keiji Inafune, one of the designers of Mega Man and a large figure in the Japanese industry, had left Capcom after criticizing the same industry in public, saying that developers have been making awful games in comparison towards Western developers and that "Japan is at least five years behind".
And, after remembering an obscure Korean MORPG called Mega Man Online, which is unlikely to release any time soon, this leaves me towards the franchise's current status. Is the blue bomber dead in a certain way? Is Capcom's mascot unfitting anymore?
When will we see a 3D breakthrough of Mega Man similar to Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy and others, if ever? And by breakthrough, I mean a global critical and commercial success, despite the minor success of Legends or X8.
I think that it's time that Capcom will have to re-invent Mega Man once again despite having so many incarnations already. Come up with a new formula, reaching out for larger audiences, hell just look at Metroid: Other M''s physics for an example of how smoothly and fun a new 3D game could become.
But before that, it's really time for Capcom to take Mega Man serious once again. The fanbases in both the West and the East remain passionate as far as I know, the need is still there. Just once you announce a serious Mega Man game once again, stop pumping out titles every year, atleast that is something I am currently grateful for. Give it some time, like, right now. Huh.
Funny I should end like that.
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