Capcom and Armature Studio's Maverick Hunter may be gone, but it certainly isn't forgotten. Not by one of its key artists, anyway.
Jaehoon Kim, who previously posted concept art and stills from the ill-fated first-person shooter, recently published a pair of videos (here and here) showing the ins-and-outs of X's actual model from the game (albeit untextured). Both clips are very short but we get a good look at just how "animated" X's body was intended to be. The Iron Man influence is unmistakable and for good reason: Adi Granov, the artist who designed Iron Man's armor for the MCU, created this incarnation of X.
While I, personally, was not a fan of the direction Maverick Hunter was aiming for, it's always fascinating to see more of what could have been. You can read more about Maverick Hunter here!
Source: Jaehoon Kim
Really not a fan of the "X face" X had, but that X-Buster is so cool! Designs aside, I think the game would be cool too. But before a full FPS, Capcom could release something as a test.
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Maybe a Super Adventure Rockman remake ("Super Shooting Rockman"?) that could have Mega exploring the amazon and the ruins in an open world, but with reduced choices as you decide the path you will take to continue, kinda like the Borderlands series?
Or add an option to change the camera to 1st person view in Mega Man Legends 3, alongside a simple multiplayer mode with deathmatch and capture the flag in some areas, like Jedi Knight and 007, or at the very least 1 stage and 2 characters like the MM7 mode?
Every time I see this game it immediately reminds me of Bomberman: Act Zero. That's DEFINITELY not a good sign...
ReplyDeleteHonestly I'm kinda glad this never happened.
ReplyDeleteThe gameplay might have worked. But I do not care for this art style in this franchise at all.
Of all the Mega Man games we know were canned, this is the one I don't feel bad about losing.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it would be completely different from the usual megaman x, I don't see why that would be so bad. This design looks genuinely great, and the early gameplay mechanics don't seem half bad. I don't get why people would dislike this so much, no other good traditional megaman x games would cease from existence because of this.
ReplyDeleteYa'lll hating on this gaming are too close minded. Doom Eternal is practically a Mega Man X game with all its mobility options. Maverick Hunter could have been DE far before the Doom revival was even a thing.
ReplyDeleteThe model for X bugs me more than anything else. People have made first-person shooters for Mega Man before, so imo that's not the issue.
DeleteI agree with Tiny Proto. But personally I'm not a fan of franchises experimenting in genres. That's not what I play them for.
DeleteYou do realize what franchise you're talking about, right Shrap? This is a franchise that experiments all the time.
DeleteI do realize. I stand by it. I play Mega Man to get a Mega Man game experience. That's the niche itch that it fills for me.
DeleteMega Man X is a side scrolling platformer.
The one time it differentiated was Command Mission. And it happened ONCE. It's the one game in the X series I don't care to replay.
Even X Dive is a side scrolling game.
(Ignoring inconsequential nonsense like Teppen and Marvel vs Capcom, of course, which doesn't matter)
This "experiment" would have been, what a Mega Man X Kelvin Timeline? Post Snap X? Unnecessary.
The OS is a side scrolling platformer.
Zero is a side scrolling platformer.
ZX is a side scrolling platformer.
I would enjoy any one game in those four series over the others.
I personally don't think Battle Network and co should have been part of the franchise either. I'd of rather they just made those under a different name. And what were those? Alternate Canons. But they are what they are. Oh well. I don't hate them. But I will always feel like they don't belong.
I can't stand the soccer game, I hate the racing game, I've no desire to play the adventure game OR the board game.
So yea.
"Doom Eternal is practically a Mega Man X game"
DeleteI don't want Mega Man X to look like Doom Eternal. I want Mega Man X to look like Mega Man X. I am all for Mega Man getting an FPS game (Mega Man 8-bit Deathmatch was awesome for what it was). But I have no interest in seeing the Mega Man world pull a "Bomberman: Act Zero," even if the game is well-made mechanically.
@Sharp I noticed how you left out MML, assuming BN and co is only referring to that universe of games. I don't know why though because MML has way less in common with the 2D side scrollers with the exception of gameplay (which is still radically different than any of the 2D games) than BN's verse.
DeleteActually, change the color of Mega Man Volnutt to gray and rename him something unrelated to Mega Man, rename Roll and give her light brown hair and call the series Adventure Diggers or something and you've just severed any resemblance to a Mega Man game for it. It then would be more akin to The Legend of Zelda or Solatorobo than anything Mega Man. Stuff like Zero's poster the odd item here and there that directly reference Mega Man would then be considered easter eggs/homages like the ones found in Dead Rising or Resident Evil.
With MMBN not only would changing MM.EXE to a different color not work because his helmet is part of his core design (unlike Volnutt) which is a dead giveaway, but even if you could you'd have to adapt many Navi references to Robot Masters, like names and many designs (exp: Forte, Air Man, Guts Man, Quick Man, Cut Man, Punk etc) which directly barrow elements from previous series, remake a bunch of music themes which directly barrow from previous series (exp The entire 4.5 ST nearly), rework a bunch of lore elements which combined with the designs and naming are a dead giveaway (exp Tadashi Hikari being Mega Man's granddad looking nearly exactly like Dr.Light and being a major player in the central technological achievements that the plot centers around). The way everything intertwines in that series clearly makes it evident that it is a take on Mega Man at its core, for it to be anything else, A BUNCH of things would have to be thrown out and it simply could not exist as is, since if it wasn't branded as a Mega Man spinoff the designs and plot elements combine with other structural designs (like gameplay elements created by thinking of mixing Mega Man elements with an ARPG) would have people believe that it is heavily inspire by Mega Man especially since Capcom made it, or that it heavily rippedoff Mega Man, either way making it a Mega Man spin-off which is basically another genre of games inspired by the aesthetics and themes of Mega Man while not infringing on the main continuity, clears all confusion and honestly describes what it actually is.
Meh. Battle Network could have been not had anything to do with mega man and kept all it's game play elements and still work. Earning chips is not like beating the bosses and getting 8 weapons. Like I said. I don't hate it. It just doesn't feel like it belongs.
DeleteI don't have much of an opinion on Legends/Dash either way. Except that's around the time I started thinking there were too many spin offs.
While it's absolutely baffling that they even considered turning Megaman X into a gritty FPS it is quite fascinating seeing all the intricate details on this model, like how the gun folds into the upper arm.
ReplyDeleteI don't hate the concept/idea/what has been shown of Maverick Hunter per say, but I hate the idea of it in context.
ReplyDeleteEh... Let me explain, in a world where first person shooters, looking hyper detailed, with more realistic lighting and shadow effects (or in other words not cel shaded or artsy in that cartoon way), with a futuristic sci-fi setting that is generally gritty or related to that sort of range of atmosphere and "maturity" as in demographic reached standard (you know what I mean, mature in the standardized cultural sense not the actual substantive kind, example being a family friendly cartoon that asks what it means to be morally good as oppose to a super edgy adult comedy with dick jokes, explicit sex and gore with no strong underlining basis other than to be "adult" content, anyway if those things were) scarce I would be like this is cool, there doesn't seem to be any reason this should be harmful if done competently.
That said, this stuff is not scarce or even abundant, I would say it's over saturated. I'm sure there are gameplay differences that distinguish these games but on an aesthetic level and based on general impressions there are way too many of these types of games. Destiny, Halo, Doom, Crysis, Titanfall, The Outer Worlds, Metroid Prime, System Shock, Killzone a bunch of similar games in over the shoulder 3rd person, like Anthem, Warframe and Mass Effect. If we are not talking about future tech armored protagonists, then that opens a whole other can of worms. Yes I know some of these were created long after Maverick Hunter was shown to be conceptualized, but that doesn't matter I'm basing it on what I know now, I could also replace some of these with more appropriate games of its time like PlanetSide or Timeshift but that would defeat the purpose of comparing it to modern, active popular titles that people are familiar with. Yes I know some of these didn't start off the way they ended up, like Killzone which gradually became man in techno suit-sci-fi stuff but that in the end is what it ended up as.
Now if you are tempted to say Mega Man is predominately a 2D action platformer where the goal is to generally side scroll linearly making your way across a stage usually defeating a boss at the end progressively until there are no bosses and stages left to beat, weren't those over saturated in Mega Man's heyday? Well yes and no, let me make this clear, before Mega Man there was Legend of Kage, Pac-Land, Super Mario Bros, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Alex Kidd, Castlevania and Metroid as possible significant titles comparable to it, even if slightly in most cases. Of those titles, Super Mario is the only one to out last Mega Man's popularity as a 2D action platformer to date, Pac-Man for completely different types of games remained more popular as well. So obviously the time in which Mega Man was released and the fact that it was so distinct helped it stand out and gain a early advantage. Mega Man kept up the quality of production and was a visible presence in the 2D platforming market since, which is a big difference than entering the well established at that point FPS genre.
that was more impressive than i was expecting, especially for when it was being worked on. I dont think i would have liked it as much as a normal x game, BUT I do like when games try different art styles and genre. Its always fun going "oh wow so that how that looks here" like in wind waker. Or halo wars changing genre and going ''oh so that how that works here".
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the few Mega Man games I'm really glad they canned, the other one is Universe (I hate the direction and artstyle that game had), but this one just didn't feel like Mega Man at all.
ReplyDeleteThis could've beem a really good game and could've brought more people into the franchise. Remember, it may be megaman x themed, but it isn't X9. Battle network was made because portable rpgs like pokemon were really popular at the time, much like what they do here, because fps games were popular. Battle network primarily uses characters that are equivalent to the ones in the classic franchise, much like what they do here with megaman x. I really see no problem other than people thinking it ruins the megaman x concept, while it clearly has no intended direct connection to that continuity. There's no megaman x in the main title,just maverick hunter. It's supposed to experiment with a new genre, just like many other megaman games that people love today, but reacted the same way when they were released.
ReplyDeleteNobody thought it was X9 to begin with.
Deletenote that no one say that it would have necessarily been a bad game. I don't even think it looks bad on it's own. The issue here is more that, design-wise, this have little to do with Mega Man X.
DeleteTrying to hard to be "gritty" or "grounded" or wathever and making something in-name only usually does'nt turns out so well. On top of that, adopting this style would have probably led to Mega Man fans dissmissing it as "not Mega Man" and general public dissmissing it as "It's just another generic fps, no?" anyway. So i'm all in favor of a Mega Man X fps someday (though after a eventual X9), but if they do it, they should makes it closer to X serie general style.
I feel like I'm the only person that's interested in seeing what this full project could have been...
ReplyDeleteIt looks awful. Glad if failed. Doesn't even look like X. Part of the draw or charm the series has is its cartoonish style. Take that away and it's not the Mega Man anymore. It's just some clown with a arm cannon.
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