It's the 21st in Japan and that means Mega Man Battle Network officially turned 15-years-old. Incidentally today is the Game Boy Advance's 15th anniversary in Japan, too.
In a time where the classic, X and Mega Man Legends series were under-perfoming, Battle Network shot right out of the gate, spawning a successful multimedia franchise. In just a few years time, Mega Man.EXE became the face of Mega Man in the early '00's. From video games and toys to TV and film, Battle Network truly breathed new life into an aging franchise. It's not a stretch to say many of you reading this are Mega Man fans because of MMBN.
I do not know what the future holds for Battle Network. But after after a strong showing at Hanayashiki, I fully believe there's potential. Who knows what the next five, ten years hold!
Here's to you, Mega Man.EXE. Maybe we'll meet again in a few!
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Bonus nostalgic links:
To my favorite series - I hope to see you again.
ReplyDeleteI miss the Gameboy Advance. It was the last video game system that ever released more games that I wanted than I could ever afford. It was brimming with quality titles from tons of third-party developers, a claim no system (especially Nintendo systems) has been able to make since.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, I just love the MMBN1-BN3 title theme, had some energy, some sadness.... MegaMan.EXE, TAKE MY LOVE, MY ANGER AND ALL MY SORROW, SHINING FINGER!!
ReplyDeleteIt's a little alarming to think that 15 years ago, I was watching Heatman rip Magicman.EXE's sprites at his house using the ol' "inverted mask method". Everything was so shiny and new back then. I thought Gutsman.EXE looked like a rapper and that Woodman.EXE looked like tree sap. People were only just discovering Bass.EXE's existence and no one was sure if we were getting a sequel. But by-Capcom, we did. Lots of them.
ReplyDeleteHappy 15th Anniversary, Rockman EXE. I never really got into you, but you certainly were a unique take on the series.
In my opinion Rockman.EXE is a true spinoff Rockman series, taking the series into a completely different genre using massive inspiration and elements from its source to shape itself within that genre. The other games like X, Zero and ZX were more like extensions of the classic series and games like Legends were very very loosely connected to the original series.
ReplyDeleteI prefer the classic and X. Battle network would be cool, legends is eh. I didn't like that one along with starforce zero and zx. Zero and zx's stories get very confusing. And I dislike the way X is in zero. Starforce And Dash is eh. I guess. I would care for it.
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