Mega Man: Fully Charged may have had a short lifespan, but its memory endures. While the show holds a special place in the hearts of its small yet vocal fanbase, it also lingers in the thoughts of its former crew.
Paul Johnson, who contributed to the show's various pixel-art segments in 2017, recently shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse of his process. He demonstrated how he transformed the initial 3D models into pixel art, simplifying and diluting their most notable features while still maintaining recognizable designs for the show's primary cast of villains.
Overall, it's a fun watch. There's some great trivia here for fans, plus a glimpse of early, unused designs too! Check it out, if you're so inclined!
Source: 8bit_Paul on Vimeo
Intriguing, but the pixel art was one of the worst parts of an overall bad show. Maybe it wouldn't have been that bad if not for Mega Man already having a famous and distinct pixel art style. He's a respected console gaming icon, while the pixel art in Fully Charged looked like it came from trashy mobile games. It was distinguished by its high color count, low frame rate, and superfluous use, conveying that Man of Action knew they were adapting a video game, but also that their comprehension didn't go any further than that. That's quite the jarring contrast for the show's target audience.
ReplyDeleteThe comic minseries had a similar problem. The artist was clearly passionate and talented, but his art style was the wrong choice for the adaptation, so the comics ended up looking like the bad box art the franchise is memetic for.
For me, the pixel art wasn't bad because it was different from the graphics the series is normally known for. It just had this overwhelmingly inauthentic vibe that a lot of cartoons "retro video game graphics" looks in cartoons have where it doesn't look or animate like like video game graphics.
Delete"Man of Action knew they were adapting a video game, but also that their comprehension didn't go any further than that."
DeleteTruer words... Completely skipped everything about this show. And I feel like I missed nothing.
How hard is it to stick to the source material? If MoA wanted to "do something different" than don't license the property and just do something... I don't know... different.
I'm not against the idea of "reimagining's" personally, I myself would love to create a Megaman story with some new twists and ideas, but I also understand there is a way to go about it. MOA is a great example of poor execution, while also changing things that felt so unecessary...like...making Wily into a child? Yeesh...
DeleteThe Megaman Megamix manga is a great example of retelling the classic Megaman story with a fresh take. Heck, even that cancelled Korean online Megaman game had an interesting story idea that meshed both Classic and X that felt right.
Sounds like how I feel about the Sonic movies lmfao
DeleteI'm generally fine with when a unique spin is done to an older concept/franchise as a spinoff type deal, but if you're going to directly pay homage to the games in the form of pixel art the least you could do is use the original art style. That's the only issue I have with this; the sprites look like they're from some generic indie title inspired by Mega Man rather than from an actual Mega Man game. All the other design choices are generally harmless, the show isn't meant to replace the existing franchise or anything.
DeleteHave you even watched the show? Wily doesn't make an appearance at all, his Grandson does.
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DeleteFully Charged was not liked probably because it wasn't actual Megaman. Him going to school like a child just doesn't cut it. Ruby Spear MM cartoon came much closer to how a MM cartoon should be, but cutscenes of MM8 and the X series yet full length should be how it is done to feel truly like Megaman. Looking at MM8 and X4 cutscenes feels like Megaman, but could be more frames, better voices, and more detail. I think that is how it should be done, art and all.
Delete@ Anon 11:36 PM
DeleteTo be honest? Only bits and pieces, but I did catch a few full episodes. My memory always thought that I read somewhere that it was the kid who was Wily, but hey, I'm all for the kid being a Grandson to Dr. W. Now, did they ever explain the absence of Roll?
@Anon:
DeleteNope. Roll only makes the teeniest tiniest of cameos on a poster in the background. As far as Bert being Dr. Wily's grandson, the show didn't get a chance to establish that, and in the comic where Dr. Wily makes his proper appearance, I believe Bert only shows up for a brief moment to basically tell Aki that his grandad is Dr. Wily.
After 25+ years in the animation industry it was terrific to finally do some pixel art in a studio setting, I really enjoyed it and made the art I wanted to see but understood that everyone has a different take on it. I looking forward to seeing what everyone else creates! Check out the other 99 animated breakdowns I did at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI3qrmj07WraL6ZxhBNerVUwE-IA_ofn
DeleteI appreciate your civility, Mr. Johnson. It's nice to see.
DeleteRespect for Mr. Johnson. All I think is that he was a part of a horribly mismanaged production. I hope he's since moved on to better things.
DeleteThanks for the kind wishes! Indeed, I've been working in mocap for 5 years now and my most recent project was directing Cinematic Animation on the new MK1, it's looking sharp. Extreme cartoony violence warning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72okJYRJWDI
DeleteThanks Tiny Proto Man! If there's one thing I learned in this industry it's that hard work isn't enough, we also need to be good to one another to succeed in our careers and in life. Excelsior!
DeleteThey should just release these sprites to Public so everyone can remake it!
ReplyDeleteI would gladly do it
DeleteGo ahead.
DeleteThe designs were created in Graphics Gale as I mentioned in the video, there weren't any sprite sheets per se since it was all brought into Flash and exported from there. But you should be able to get some pretty good approximations from screenshots at different parts of my video and pixelize them from there.
DeleteMega Man Fully Charged was the worst cartoon after Mega Man 1994 in America. I can't stand them.
ReplyDeleteAt least the 1994 one has the excuse of being early in the franchise's life span.
DeleteI wholeheartedly agree, at least the ruby-spears version was somewhat closer to the original.
DeleteThe 1994 cartoon actually followed the original game concept better, with only some changes such as Proto Man being a villain. It was close enough, and certainly a lot better than whatever Wish Upon a Star was, being one of the most mentally insulting things Japan ever did to Mega Man, which also proves that anime doesn’t make everything better, which is probably what you believe, Anon 1.
DeleteUnderstood that the show wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but I had a blast working on it and I think it was coming from a good place, maybe just too many cooks in the kitchen overall.
DeleteOh come on. Mega Man: Upon a star wasn’t that bad.
DeleteOh come on. Megaman: Uponma Star wasn’t that bad. Was it?
DeleteMan, I know Upon a Star is not bad.
DeleteYou probably thinking the 1994 cartoon got cancelled? That’s because due to poor toy sales reasons.
Delete@anon at 2:12 AM
Delete"The 1994 cartoon actually followed the original game concept better, with only some changes such as Proto Man being a villain. It was close enough"
Ah, yes the lion men were "close enough" lmao.
"and certainly a lot better than whatever Wish Upon a Star was, being one of the most mentally insulting things Japan ever did to Mega Man, which also proves that anime doesn’t make everything better, which is probably what you believe, Anon 1."
Wish Upon a Star is an educational short with some action and comedy mixed in. It's not comparable to the same standards of a regular action cartoon. Anime is the intended look for the series so yes it automatically makes it better in the visual department. The small amount of action is also better choreographed than the cartoon and more loyal to the games even for an educational short. The cartoon could be better in the writing department but then again lion men, Dr. Light becoming a werewolf and other nonsense so no.
^Geez, you're really rude.
DeleteNot gonna lie. The pixel art was easily my least-favorite thing about this show. The way they did it in Sonic Prime is far better.
ReplyDeleteStill, I suppose this is an interesting watch.
Sorry to hear you didn't like my designs! I still had fun making them though.
DeleteHonestly, I enjoyed the pixel art! It was cute, and I can tell the artist had fun making them.
ReplyDeleteI really did! Thanks so much for the kind comment :)
DeleteNever seen the show, but I really like how that Wave Man looks, especially with his water attack first taking the shape of an anchor. Cool detail!
ReplyDeleteAhh thanks much! I had a background in 2d effects at the Walt Disney Canada studio back in the late 90's so I was thrilled to be able to put that to use with pixel art here. I wasn't thinking about an anchor when I initially designed that but happy accidents happen!
DeleteI remember fans telling me it was going to be a great show but than everyone ended up hating it lol. Everyone gave me crap about not liking it and talked down to me but in the end fans hated it hypocritical as it was. MegaMan fans haven’t got anything of note for decades so I’m pretty much done with the series. Once that giant X statue gets here Im officially done collecting the MegaMan series as it’s been dead far to long with only disrespectful crumbs as it’s only source of existence. So long MegaMan community I would say I will miss you but seeing you just reminds me of how starved I was as a fan. 🙂
ReplyDeleteI have a gut feeling the live action Mega Man is going to make MoA look like a Picasso.
DeleteNobody gave you crap for not liking it dude, most fans were not happy with the direction the show took and mainly ignored it. I know your shtick is to act that you're the sole voice of reason in a sea of brainwashed fans but you can give it a rest already.
Deleteit's not hard to tell who you are by your writing style and you've been claiming to be "done with Mega Man" for years but never seem to go away.
AnonymousJuly 12, 2023 at 5:40 PM
DeleteAnd who the hell are you? If you had anything of value to add you'd identify YOURself. Hypocrite.
11 was disrespectful? A crumb sure, but disrespectful?
Delete@ Anon 9:57 AM
DeleteYou'll be back ;)
@anon 5:40 I’ve already sold off a lot of my MegaMan stuff and haven’t picked up anything new in ages lol. And yes they did give me crap for it rofl kinda odd having someone proclaim they were there for the moment.. 😅 absurd if I’m honest. And when a fan base does nothing but consume regardless of quality it is being in a sea of simpletons let me tell you lol. 😂 The MegaMan fan base was stabbed in the back by Keiji with the whole Mighty No.9 disaster crapcom isn’t respecting fans and hasn’t for 2 decades almost I mean.. lol what about the fan base having its nose pushed into dog crap on the ground doesn’t say “yes please more masuh” 🤣 You are welcome to appreciate what you want just don’t tell me to put my self respect in the same pile of dog crap as the rest. 🙂 I got standards and when they aren’t met I don’t buy or participate sorry but having an identity outside consuming endlessly means having standards. 😋 Get that divorce yet?
DeleteNo one is telling you to consume anything.
DeleteAnd no one is telling you to like anything. But now you're just being factually incorrect.
This show got a lot of Flack the moment it was announced (I'm sure some people like it, but overall the reception with old fans wasn't that good.)
And sure we could use another sequel in-between the collections, but Mega Man 11 came out 5 years ago, not 2 decades. Heck even 9 and 10 didn't came out 2 decades ago.
And finally the "buying anything regardless of quality"... People didn't.
That's kinda how we ended up in that situation to begin with. Games like X7 did Not sell well. This show did not do well. Heck, If anything that's the opposite, even the good games weren't selling too good.
And for the asking for more bad product or whatever, again no one is doing that? Fans, from the most reasonables to the whiniest (with everything in between) have been asking for better treatment of the franchise for years.
Buy whatever you want, don't buy what you don't want, sell what you don't want anymore. No one is telling you to do anything else. You're entitled to your tastes, choices and preferences.
If you want to leave, do. If you don't, then keep visiting.
But that doesn't mean you cannot express yourself in a mature, respectful way. And at least be of good faith about things that are objectively verifiables.
Maybe they were bashed for it on another site like Tumblr or Twitter? I don't think it was on here because 5:40 is correct that a lot of people (at least on here) turned their nose up at it. The introductory art was awful, and I had mentioned the school thing was already done in the past and it wasn't a particularly popular iteration.
DeleteI loved playing the games when they first came out, I started with MM2 in 1989 (I think?) and then went back to MM1 and worked my way forward. I think I stopped playing around MM5 but it was a great part of my late teens/early 20's back in the day. Was a great experience to work on the show regardless of whether or not everyone liked it :)
DeleteI liked the pixel art. It didn't have to be like classic because the show wasn't classic MM.
ReplyDeleteI did wind up begrudgingly liking the show as it went on. It was marketed terribly, however. Wish they made the art publicly available. It's too bad so much of it is just gone. Especially the earlier stuff.
The comic was nominally better than the cartoon, in my opinion.
DeleteThanks for the kind comment! I had a blast doing the pixel designs, I hope my enthusiasm showed in the video. Agreed, they put it on at 5:30am and pretty much guaranteed it wouldn't have a large audience, the show wasn't perfect but I think its heart was in the right place.
DeleteThanks for posting my link Protodude! I've worked in TV and theatrical animation for 28 years and this was my first foray in pixel art, I had a lot of fun making it but I accept that it's not everyone's cup of tea. I make the art that I would want to see, I recommend everyone else do the same :) - Paul Johnson https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0425965
ReplyDeleteAnd check out my other 99 animation breakdowns! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI3qrmj07WraL6ZxhBNerVUwE-IA_ofn
Checked out the Regular Show breakdown, learned so much and it was really good. I recommend this series for anyone slightly curious about animation. Thanks for all your work and good luck Paul!
DeleteAhhh right on, thanks for the feedback! I love that show, was thrilled that the DV included some of the storyboards to help me break it down, JG Quintel is a genius.
DeleteHonestly these sprites look really ugly (it matches the rest of the show) and they don't really look like "Mega Man" sprites and feel more like the generic "So Retro" type of sprites that people make.
ReplyDeleteI want to apologize. I meant to say that the show looked kind of off, not ugly.
DeleteI want to elaborate and say that the reason I think the show looks off is because I think the characters in the show look like they are from different shows for ex: Fire Man, Drill Man match in "style", but then you have characters like Hypno Woman and Ice Man who don't seem to match the same "style". The spritework doesn't help because imo they generally have the same inconsistincies. I do want to say that I actually didn't hate this show, infact I thought it was pretty alright for a Mega Man cartoon, I just had small nitpicks with the character designs (I don't like cutman's hair or IceMan) besides that though I would the give the show an overall 7/10.
Deletebtw i mean no offense to the people who worked on this show... i just personally don't enjoy the style.
ReplyDelete