Capcom’s Senior Vice-President of Planning and Business Development, Christian Svensson, has publicly commented on one question that has been on the minds of some Blue Bomber fans: "will Bad Box Art Mega Man ever get his own game?"
"I think fans would riot if we did," he responded. "Like literally storming of our office and knocking over magazine racks left and right. It's probably not the best idea... at least, not until we fix some things with fans which is going to take a while."
Had everything gone according to plan—like, no game cancellations whatsoever—I think I would have been pretty content with a BBAMM game. But I completely agree with Sven; we've got to get the real, true blue Mega Man back on his feet before something like this is even considered.
A penny for your thoughts: would you like to see the old guy get his own game eventually?
Source: Ask Capcom
Short answer: Yes.
ReplyDeleteLong answer: Yes. Suck it, anti-MEGA MAN people. XP
If the personalities were the same as what we saw in Street Fighter X Tekken, absolutely.
ReplyDeleteI would have had no problem with a BBAMM game before Legends 3 and Universe got cancelled, but now, I'm not so sure! Instead of being a tongue in cheek "Americanized" game it would be a bumbling fat guy like he appears in SFxT, which is bad.
ReplyDeleteWow... I'm honestly surprised with the acknowledgement here. I mean, I guess Capcom America's employees always have been cool with me anyway, they never outright seemed like bad people. Just... can't trust a lot of what they've said because of the folks above them telling them what to say. If they truly want to fix things, that's great! I mean, if this is something coming from the people above them, and not something Sven is saying that's gonna get his ass fired.
ReplyDeletePersonally, BBAMM would have been sweet if they hadn't cancelled MML3. Universe, in some manner of speaking, was already a BBAMM game... or, at least had him in it in some capacity.
As far as SFxT went... I'd have been more inclined to laugh if it hadn't come off as more of a middle finger at the time. Parody is only funny if you didn't give someone the original material, then take it back and go, "Nope, not getting it!" and then giving the parody as some sort of... consolation prize, or something.
That depends entirely on how they tackle it. If he's the idiot they made him in Street Fighter X Tekken, absolutely not. Not interested. If they make him look like any of the other concepts they had for his appearance in that game than it could be pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Protodude.
ReplyDeleteIf we had all the other releases under our belt ( and likely something else new by now to) then yeah, it would be a pretty fun idea. The contented fan base could enjoy the gag.
I hope for a day when the fans get a good laugh and some fun from a BBAMM game release.
But yeah, not of it's the fat bumbling old man.
Depends. A full-featured retail game? Hell no. A small Flash, perhaps eShop game? Sure, why not?
ReplyDeleteGood. I think everything in this article hit the mark. The real spirit of Mega Man needs to be revived before any more Bad Box Art Bull...Stuff is done. I mean, BBAMM's inclusion in Street Fighter X Tekken couldn't have come at a worse time. Then the two hit combo came when awesome designs that could have been were revealed. A true blue Mega Man game or two or three is the next step.
ReplyDeleteCapcom's office is a bit too far from my ZIP code to personally vouch for storming it, but then my cohorts and I might not be above taking prisoners at NYCC.
ReplyDelete*a'hem* I mean, yeah, Sven's onto something. Probably.
<.<
>.>
Who am I kidding? You're DAMN RIGHT you've got some things that need fixing. And yeah, I guess even getting some admission of that is progress. Now we just gotta see what you intend to do about it.
Fuck no. I never want to see any of his ugly faces ever again, let alone get his own damn game.
ReplyDeleteSven's word is worthless so it's really not worth taking as fact.
ReplyDeleteAbove anon, you are an idiot.
ReplyDeleteThough he doesn't have the power to greenlight games, Sven is playing a integral role in the revival of Megaman.
He's our closest friend at Capcom.
Sven has gone on record of saying things that are not exactly true.
ReplyDeleteI fail to see the integral part Sven plays in "reviving" Megaman when all of the major decisions are up to Capcom of Japan.
And If I really believed Sven was our closest friend at Capcom I would punch out right now.
Fortunately I don't feel that way, though you're free to believe what you want.
I honestly wouldn't mind if he had his own game.
ReplyDeleteEspecially if it starred his SFxT rendition, and he wants to get back into shape and become a hero again.
It'd be a nice little story of him becoming stronger and more confident with himself and all that goody good shit. :)
This is what the iOS game should be. A silly knockoff that celebrates bad box art Mega Man in a fun but not serious way.
ReplyDeleteDon't even think about approaching it before we get real Mega Man.
I'd love to see BBAMM in his own game and It should have some slapstick humor.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind a BBA game, but as everyone has said, doing it right now would probably push the fans over the edge. We've been pushed around enough already. Give us a Classic, X, Or Legends game, heck, I'd even love to see ZX continued, and then maybe we can talk about it.
ReplyDeleteHELL no. I never want to see that abomination in my life ever again, let alone see it get its own game.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't matter either way as long as I can jump and shoot.
ReplyDeleteI do agree though—if they did make a BBAMM game, then it would mean less development time on a real MM game. Something like that could easily be seen as a kind of slap in the face—especially if there was nothing new coming out except a game that felt like a bad joke.
I wouldn't mind him being in a game as a skin/bonus character or whatever, like in Mega Man Universe, but not a head liner of a game.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if we say "yes", they could green light it which is, by any means, not cool at all assuming they´re seriously considering something we haven´t been asking for precisely.
ReplyDeleteObviously, for our Megaman 25th Anniversary, (of MEGAMAN 1, the FIRST game int he CLASSIC series, and the FIRST game in the franchise), will be a remake starring BBAMM.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I'm not even sure anymore. I honestly wouldn't put it past the higher-ups at CAPCOM.
As some one that didnt like BBAMM in SFxT, if the time where right and it where done the right way I might give a BBAMM game a chance. I dont see it being like a major release but as a wacky downloadable game, I could see that happening.
ReplyDeleteAlso Capcom USA seem to catch allot of crap for what Capcom Japan dose, and its times like this where they acknowledge their a problem that needs to be fix that makes me happier as a consumer. Its good to know that some one knows they need to fix things, I just wish it was some on from the Japan side.
Depends on how it was handled. I wouldn't mind seeing him in a Flash-type or mobile game. I also wouldn't mind having him as an optional skin in another MM game.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's enough unique about him to make him the star of his own full retail game, though. They would have to create a new storyline and theme just for him, and Sven is right... people would piss and moan too much. Just look at the reaction to SFxT.
"I think fans would riot if we did. Like literally storming of our office and knocking over magazine racks left and right. It's probably not the best idea..."
ReplyDeleteTrust me, if they haven't done it by now, they're far to apathetic to do it at all.
Well, I did cosplay as him...
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, I would. He's who I wanted to use most in Mega Man Universe.
In fact, depending on the design, I wouldn't mind him getting a game first. There were some neat designs that could be used from the SFXT art book, before they settled on the one we got.
Use one of those? Sure!
Even if we had been getting many good MM releases this year, without cancellations, I still don't think people would react well to a BBAMM game either way. Sure there's this nostalgic factor to BBAMM, but there's a reason why MM1's American cover art is considered among the worst of video game cover art there is. I think BBAMM should just remain as a memory of the old NES days of gaming when localized cover art weren't that great back then, and not be reintroduced in this day and era.
ReplyDeleteAnd honestly, I don't get what was so special about BBAMM to consider including him in Rockman Universe or Tekkan x Capcom anyway. Other than he was the first incarnation of Americanized Mega Man, but still. I'd rather take Ruby-Spears Mega Man over BBA Mega Man any day. Not that he was any better...
"I think fans would riot if we did. Like literally storming of our office and knocking over magazine racks left and right. It's probably not the best idea."
ReplyDeleteYOU GOT THAT RIGHT. If Capcom doesn't fix the fiasco with Legends 3, and then release a BBAMM game in 8-bit, you better lock your doors because that is the final straw for fans. Trolling is all and well, but when you take it that far on a certain fanbase....
Nonetheless, I'd love a BBA Mega Man game. Just, freshen him up, or make him look more streamlined for this generation, and put some REAL effort into it, I'd love that. But not now, not when it's the 25th with only (so far) Xover to have and Legends and Universe cancelled. Not now. Maybe in the future. But not the hell now.
sasdf; i have a sudden want to play a game starring Bad Box Art Mega Man. capcom pls
ReplyDelete@Prof. MegaMan: Or, you know, not in the mood to GET ARRESTED.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind a BBAMM game eventually, so long as great care was taken to ensure that it wasn't another gigantic middle finger.
Death to Bad Box Art MegaMan! He's not the real MegaMan! The true blue hero, Classic MegaMan is, bitches! And screw the idiots who loved this... this idiotic fat cowardly loser of a MegaMan!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Protodude, you should put in Mavericks, a fan RPG series in here. It's mentioned in TMMN. :)
@Dr. Jerk: Hey, RS-MM wasn't too different from game-MM when you really get down to it (though being me, I wouldn't mind if he was). Plus, he wasn't a coward.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I'm afraid that an RS-MM game in the 2010s would be too busy taking tired, mean-spirited potshots at the show (and/or forcing it to be like Capcom-MM) to actually do anything interesting with that continuity.
I honestly would not mind Bad Box Art Megaman getting his own series, as long as it revolves around comedy/parody/satire.
ReplyDeleteYes to fat bumbling old man. Whiners gonna whine.
ReplyDelete-ud
@RADIX: A BBAMegaman game by itself would a gigantic middle finger
ReplyDeleteGiven his and Roll’s SFvT occupations and personalities, they’d make great bumbling side characters in a revived Legends 3.
ReplyDeleteJust saying.
It's a great concept but the brand has taken a lot of damage in the last couple of years it wouldn't be received as intended, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see Mega Man come back into the limelight as a serious continuation of any of the game series (especially on this anniversary year) but I just don't think Capcom are capable of doing it right at the moment.
I am content to play through the classics again and relive some fond memories.
That said, I do wish they'd release more Mega Man titles on XBox/PC.
I loved BBAMM in SFxT, but even I think that in this case, they shoudl hold up on making him the star of his own game for the time being. He works great as a punch-line, but to make him the star of a game when Mega Man fans are almost at their bottom is a bit mean-spirited. Once Mega Man gets his footing again, then I say go for it.
ReplyDeleteBut he has his own game, it's called "Mega Man: The Box Art". Save Monstropolis! And it even had a sequel: "Mega Man Universe", which is basically Mega Man's version of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Sonic Generations. Oh waitaminute...
ReplyDeleteYou know, guys, I didn't appreciate how Capcom mishandled Legends 3 anymore than you did, but BBAMM is fun and hilarious.
ReplyDeleteWhy are you all against fun now? Isn't that what Mega Man is supposed to be all about? Fun?
Take a breath and step back. Listen to your protests. Don't conflate your disappointment over Legends with anything Capcom COULD do with Mega Man that might be fucking fun. It's counterproductive, self-absorbed, and obnoxious.
BBAMM will do nothing worse to the Mega Man name than what's already been done with or to it already. In fact, it might play a part in saving it for everyone, including die hard Mega Man fans like you. Think about that.
@Treleus: MM's about fun, yes, and while I can't speak for everyone, I would've been more receptive to BBAMM...
ReplyDeleteif the timing wasn't all sorts of awful. Context matters, even with a series like MM.
And, "A BBAMM game (released at this time) could help save the series"? Yyyeeeaah...only by a few large miracles. (Seriously--MM's status as a living series is in jeopardy, so Capcom releases a game starring a character whose design was base-breakingly offensive, and who couldn't have been revealed at a worse time? It might sell well enough for Capcom, but they'd send a very depressing message of what they thought of MM, AT BEST)
No. No I would not, and my reason is simple: I just don't like BBAMM. I think he's hideous, and I really don't like the notion of playing as a hideous, middle-aged pudgeball.
ReplyDeleteIt's simply an asthetic choice. So, unless the game had ground-breaking gameplay and a deep, intrinsic storyline...I would not want to see BBAMM in a MegaMan game. Unless he's like an optional joke character. Like, if I can play as normal MegaMan, then I unlock BBAMM as a reward for a certain criterion, then, MAYBE I might play as him for the kicks and giggles. Maybe. Otherwise, no. just...no.
F*ck no, that thing never should have come about in the first place, I guess I would have been alright with it in Universe but that's it.
ReplyDeleteHere's my reasoning: the people who tend to hate BBAMM are hardcore Mega Man fans. The people who tend to like BBAMM are either SFxT fans, non-Mega Man fans, or some Mega Man fans. By promoting BBAMM (just a bit) and appealing to that roughly non-traditional demographic, not only does this prove to be a new thing for Mega Man--an obvious tongue-in-cheek meta-joke character that isn't childish, saccharine, or of a "pure hero" pretense--but it also proves to bring in new fans for Mega Man; perhaps older fans who can enjoy a good joke in a day where everyone's fighting off zombies or living a gritty brown-and-grey life in our videogames. Not to mention BBAMM is purely a Western incarnation of a Japanese character, which means that BBAMM can potentially bring in more of that Western demographic. At least that's how I'd pitch it to Capcom of Japan.
ReplyDeleteLet me be blunt: we need more new Mega Man fans in order to matter more. We should be inviting of new ideas that could work to the benefit of the franchise we love (and hey, even though Rockman Xover looks like complete shit, it could serve that purpose in a very small, possibly negligible way). And yes, while I don't believe that it was really the fans' fault Legends 3 was canned, it is nevertheless a worthy observation: had there been more of us, Legends 3 might have turned out differently. Had there been more of us back then, perhaps the series as a whole would've sold better, but that's more of the Legends series' problem; right now both Legends and the rest of the Mega Man brand could benefit from something new that jumpstarts the brand and gives it new life as well as new fans.
Maybe you're afraid that BBAMM will become too popular, and that's all we'll end up getting for a few years. Yeah, if you love any one of the older subfranchises, that would make you apprehensive. I get that. But remember: as is the function of a good joke, BBAMM is a joke character that is there to lighten up the mood, and not just for Mega Man fans, but for everyone else concerning us fans and Mega Man itself. Capcom should know this well: Mega Man became a joke before he had 5 subfranchises. Over 6 similar Mega Man titles on the NES in a short time led to poor sales and disinterest from the gaming community, prompting the creation of Mega Man X--another "new start" for the series that ended up leeching off of some of that Classic formula before it introduced saber-based gameplay. Now it's saber-based gameplay that's been spammed while being paired with constantly changing new gameplay styles and a greater emphasis on story in what's essentially the same action game we've been playing since 1987.
Legends and Battle Network have been the only real new things that differentiated themselves heavily from the general Classic-X-Zero formulas, and while Legends was an accomplished 3D title and a new flavor for Mega Man, it wasn't a well-received new flavor, and it ended up piggy-backing on the fame of larger, more popular Mega Man brands such as Classic, X, and Battle Network. Unfortunately, Legends 3 didn't get a chance to changed that, so that's how it is. And we have to acknowledge that.
So that's why I think BBAMM could actually be very important for the MM brand if it's given the chance. Otherwise, chances are things won't change for the better, unless Capcom of Japan proves me wrong.
@Treleus: ...what part of "BAD TIMING" did you not get?
ReplyDeleteI sincerely doubt that BBAMM, joke or not, is going to bring in enough new fans for it to matter.
Legends 3 was bad timing. We have yet to be promised anything more substantial than what Legends 3 would have been, and despite Sven's and Brelston's assurances, we shouldn't get our expectations up. As a general rule, never let your expectations get too high up.
ReplyDeleteAt least BBAMM exists. That's something that it has over whatever we hope or expect Capcom might do with Mega Man if anything come December. So as long as it exists, we should give it some respect.
Here's something else that Mega Man fans keep ignoring in order to hang on to their bitterness: Street Fighter did not kill Legends 3. Ono did not kill Legends 3. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Street Fighter x Tekken did not kill Legends 3. I will keep reiterating this until it sticks: BBAMM has nothing to do with Legends 3's cancellation. Here's another factoid: Legends 3's cancellation does not spell the end of Mega Man. It only meant the end of itself, which is sad, unfortunate, and infuriating enough. So really, no Mega Man fan should be projecting their hurt feelings to something like BBAMM, because ultimately he wasn't created with the intention to hurt us after the fact--he was made with the intention of making people laugh, and he succeeded. Yes, it is bad timing, but we must understand that if we ever want to be taken seriously. We have to let go a bit. We can't ruin other people's fun with our whining and bitching.
Keep whining and bitching at Capcom for what they did wrong by us--no more and no less. Keep all this extraneous, puerile shit about BBAMM or UMvC3 out of our rhetoric.
I remember when I saw that horrendous boxart for the first time. I didn't have internet at the time so I didn't know about the original Japanese boxart, so I thought that really was the lovable blue robot you play as throughout the series that just looked a lot better pixelated than what was printed on the box.
ReplyDeleteI really do agree with others who say this is the worst American MM boxart, and the boxart of 2-7 were not so great either. :/ Haha. Funny joke putting him in that SF X T game, Capcom. It was cute that time because of the novelty of that idea but I really hope this variation won't be a recurring character. Just... no.
@Treleus: The problem with your logic is that BBAMM is not fun. At all. Shitting on a classic character is not fun, nor is it a joke.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how this character is "shitting" on the franchise. At all. If anything, I think it's the fanbase.
ReplyDeleteExcept BBAMM is demonstrably fun. Go play Street Fighter x Tekken and tell me I'm wrong. The only way he can be considered not-fun is if people take offense to him for existing because he's "shitting" on a classic character (he isn't).
ReplyDeleteYeah, the original box art was shitty, but that's what makes BBAMM such a joke character: he only ever existed as marketing gone wrong. That's why it's funny that he's actually been made into a character. He is a joke, not an insult. Treat him like one, and you'll be all the happier.
@Treleus: Taking a beloved character and making him a fat old guy as a nod to a shitty cover from the 80's is not my idea of fun or a joke, sorry.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't play SFxT, did you?
ReplyDeleteBefore you rage: I'm ribbing you. But seriously, though. A great way to get your mind off irritating stuff is to play videogames.
Would you like gravelly voice, fat, short, and green Captain N "Megaman" to get his own game?
ReplyDeleteThat'd be even more hilarious. And in tune with the Western generation that grew up with it.
ReplyDeleteIt's all in how it's played. If it's played like a joke, then everyone laughs. If it's played like it's serious, then everyone groans.
Dear Treleus,
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding me that there are still some levelheaded fans. Not only do you understand that getting butt hurt over stuff like this is useless (if not counterproductive to furthering Megaman's presence as something more than an icon of days gone by), but you see these controversial situations as an opportunity for growth.
Hopefully outlooks like this can be more far reaching into Capcom's offices than the cries of the "offended."
-ud
I wouldn't mind as long as the game is good.
ReplyDeleteWhat part of a bad joke do you people don't understand? And you continue to push it by giving him a game? It's like repeating the same bad joke over and over again, making it even more irritating and offensive for the fans.
ReplyDeleteSure, you guys might have played him as a joke, which he is and what he's for, but bad jokes are bad jokes and don't deserve any credit whatsoever to be able to bring the matter up anytime soon.
Capcom is knee-deep in feces because of the decisions they make. Don't try anymore to insult the fans, instead give them what they want and deserve.
Give them reason to love Megaman more than to vomit on this hideous monstrosity. Give us more bang for our buck.