Since Kazuhiro Tsuchiya's departure in 2023, the makeup of Capcom's internal Mega Man development team has been unclear. Masakazu Eguchi, fresh off Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, emerged as a public face for the team back in April, though his exact role remains unknown.
Fast forward to today, and we can add two new names to the mix. In the credits for Secret Level episode Mega Man: Start, we see Shingo Izumi and Hiroshi Ito. Izumi, who joined Capcom in 2018, was the producer behind Monster Hunter: World and the recent Ghost Trick HD remaster. Ito was a producer on Monster Hunter Stories, its sequel, and the Sunbreak expansion for Monster Hunter Rise. The other two names, Makhoul and Abe, oversee Capcom's TV and film operations. While not directly part of the internal Mega Man development team, they are credited on Start by association.
Izumi and Ito have not worked on any known Mega Man game before, so their association with the development team, which oversees the production of Mega Man software at Capcom Japan, signals the arrival of new talent in the post-Tsuchiya era. While we can only speculate on their exact roles, their experience as producers may indicate leadership positions.
With Capcom's recent push to revive dormant IPs—seen in the unexpected reveals of an Okami sequel and the long-delayed Onimusha—a path forward for the 37-year-old Blue Bomber may be taking shape. At the very least, rest assured that the Mega Man dev team not only remains intact but continues to evolve.
Nothing ever happens.
ReplyDeleteIt's happening.
ReplyDeleteHard to get excited about additions to the Mega Man "development" team when they're not showing off any new games they've "developed."
ReplyDeleteget ready for Maverick Hunter World: Rising Wilds
ReplyDeleteIdc what the odds are IM GOING TO GET HYPED
ReplyDeleteI don’t know, I feel if this was *actually* a move with importance, we wouldn't have heard about it in the credits of an Amazon short. For all we know, Capcom could’ve just added some misc. devs to the list to make it look like there’s an actual team. And I can’t help but feel that Mega Man isn’t quite on the shortlist for “dormant IP”(though if they end up making a new Gotcha Force, I will forgive any perceived slights).
ReplyDeleteThere are few opportunities to hear about this outside of new software announcements. Capcom rarely, if ever, highlights new staff in a big way; it’s usually something we notice in passing (like in credits) or when they speak up during press runs (interviews, press junkets, etc.). With Secret Level being, in all seriousness, one of the more high profile Mega Man projects in recent memory, it stands to reason the Dev Team were consulted on the project, with Izumi and Ito specifically credited as the do wield some form of power within the team.
DeleteWe are in a simultaneous state of nothing ever happens and it's happening at all times. Welcome to Schrodinger's Tango.
DeleteCapcom would be a dream job if I ever could relate, excuses.😒
DeleteWell, lets see what happens.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know what Tsuchiya-san's been up to since his departure from Capcom? I'm not on Twitter much now due to a wrongful suspension but I did check his account recently and he does post every now and then. He was recently at the PlayStation® Partner Awards too. Hmm...
ReplyDeleteMM Legends pls
ReplyDeleteYes.
DeleteI'm not at all worried that there might not be anything in development, I'm worried that it's Mega Man 12 instead of X9. I love the classic series too but I don't want Mega Man's future to exclusively include it.
ReplyDeleteWhy not both? I'm also worried every creative member of the Mega Man development quits or retires for good due of Capcom's dumb attitude.
DeleteNo Universe? So, there's no a announced new fresh about the franchise...? :/ Even no decent Studio Trigger adaptation of that Blue Bomber who has never let go by Capcom's dumb attitude?
ReplyDeleteRegardless, my expectations are low.
ReplyDeleteThey haven't really touched megaman and done much new in years. The mobile game wasn't fun. They could do something better, but fans will make a better game than they will.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I was thinking the same thing. All fangames are legit.
DeleteFans are the only thing keeping the series somewhat relevant at this point.
DeleteWould love a new Mega Man entry, been with blue bomber since the 80s, gotcha force is also another fave of mine from Capcom, hope something gets developed for one of these two
ReplyDeleteAnd no Darkstalkers? 🥺
DeleteI’d want a new Final Fight, Rival Schools, Power Stone as well. They have tons of IP’s I want to see return.
DeleteDarkstalkers really got the short end historically. I think it’s just symptomatic of being “the *other* Capcom fighter,” even though it’s still pretty legit. I’m sure SEGA would *love* to have a decent IP like that now, instead of having to resurrect their blatant Street Fighter ripoff.
DeleteNo offense Jack but Virtua Fighter isn’t a Street Fighter ripoff, you should really do some research before posting.
Delete@1:00
DeleteEh, agree to disagree. I’ll admit convergent evolution probably played a part in their similarities, but I see more of those than differences. You could’ve told me Akira was a version of Ryu and I wouldn’t think twice. Pai doesn’t help matters either.
Though I admit I’m not big on most fighting games. And I’d probably be much nicer to VF if they went with that Arab guy instead of Akira.
@ Jack, Yes let's just compare 2d fighters to 3d fighters that play completely different. If you want be that way, every video game in existence has copied something from other games. To single one series out is bs.
Delete@4:02
DeleteNotice I didn’t mention anything about how either game plays, because I’ve never played them. I’m comparing these games on surface level traits, because that’s all I care about or know.
And yes, that second sentence is absolutely correct. However, I didn’t think it was really relevant to mention how Sonic copied speed running from Mario or Pong is a ripoff of Tennis for Two. Because that, uh, comment on a blog, was just about how I thought Darkstalkers was cooler than Virtua Fighter, and not a comprehensive list of what is and isn’t a ripoff in all of video games. :p
You are so confident even when wrong.
DeleteTenis for Two and Pong play nothing alike.
2D and 3D fighters are 2 different genres.
That's like saying NES Final Fantasy 1 and Elden Ring play the same just because both are RPGs.
I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but this feels like a little bit of a stretch.
ReplyDeleteYou don’t sound pessimistic, this is literally leading to nothing like that survey they had last year asking what people want.
DeleteWell, I'm out of copes. There are no more game conventions and Tokyo Game Show doesn't happen until September of next year. Any cope bets?
ReplyDeleteSwitch 2 launch reveal is my last cope.
DeleteNoted, hope you're right.
DeleteOr should we say, Switch 2.0
DeletePlease let it be something real.
ReplyDeleteIt won't be.
DeleteJust bring Inafune back, they brought Kamiya for Okami 2 so why not?
ReplyDeleteThey really need to do this at a minimum, bonus points if they can get Kitamura too.
Delete...Pretty sure he quit. Why would he go back, and why would they bring him back after all the public feuding? It's not wrestling...
DeleteBecause Inafune was the only one who gave a damn for most Mega Man games. Even MM11 is indirectly because of him (spite game for MN9). Though I don’t really picture Inafune *wanting* to come back, even if he’s paid handsomely. I think the MN9 reaction soured his taste for action games as a whole, though he has credits as recently as Gunvolt 3 with “action supervisor.”
DeleteI think Kitamura coming back is more likely though. I can totally imagine Capcom dangling his involvement like Ohshima for Sonic Superstars.
Inafune bit off more than he could chew with MN9. A lot of people, even those with professional level experience, seem to underestimate how much Kickstarter takes from each project. They then promise stuff they can't deliver on, and no one is happy.
DeleteI doubt he'd want return. I very much doubt Capcom wants him back. Especially now tjatnthe old hats are moving out.
DeleteAlot of fans dont want him back as well...
I don't really understand why professionals aren't reading the fine print of KS service, and then people put it on the detractors when everything goes south. So the detractors get flak for not reading the fine print, when even industry professionals don't seem to understand how KS works.
DeleteThe whole thing was a circus show.
Who cares what "alot of the fans" want, he was the best man for the job. Everything he did since, save for Yabai, has been great, even ReCore wasn't even bad (just ... average). heck everything Mighty No. 9 that wasn't Mighty no. 9 has been great (like mighty Gunvolt and Mighty Gunvolt Burst). His executive producer roles on Gunvolt are kinda whatever, but he definitely helped plan and conceptualize the gameplay hook.
DeleteAlbeit, he needs Mega Man more than Mega Man needs him TBH, considering how well MM11 turned out.
Inafune is the "best" man for the job?
DeleteDamn, we are in worse shape than I thought...
@1:59 pm, I also really enjoyed Recore and the Gunvolt games.
Delete@shrap @Jark Spore Actually Inafune has been very upfront about the prospect of him returning to Capcom to finish Mega Man Legends 3 as long he's able to work with most of the same team (don't even think he would need to quite his position at Comcept seeing how Kamiya too is working from his own studio)
Deletehttps://www.siliconera.com/keiji-inafune-still-like-make-mega-man-legends-3/
But I suppose the bigger issue comes from Capcom themselves not in a hurry to make a new Mega Man game until a nebulous "brand awareness" quota has been met (through a bunch of empty cameos that only grab the interest of Mega Man fans rather than the other way around), in the same way I think Inafune hasn't been pushing hard for it like Kamiya did if he doesn't gets full ownership of the multi-media brand (and I suspect that's the real reason why he hasn't tried push neither Mighty No. 9 or Red Ash for that matter as any brand potential for those is dead in the water at this point/has to split any of the rights)
@Jark SporeDecember 18, 2024 at 11:34 AM
DeleteThe problem with such idea is that Kitamura himself has admitted to be completely out of touch with the gaming industry for the better part of 30 years. Compare this to Inafune, who like it or not, is *still* working on games to this day (Fantasy Life i coming out early next year)
And you know, without an ounce of disrespect towards the man, but I'm not sure if I like the idea of the community gassing up AK as the "true" creator of Mega Man and thus the person whose involvement in the next project would be received with roaring applause...when truth of the matter is that the guy's knowledge of Mega Man literally begins and ends with the first two games
Hell, Sonic Superstars banking so heavily on Naoto Ohshima's involvement ringed very hollow when you remember that, even before Balan Wonderworld, his company Arzest/Artoon was always delivering on aggressively mediocre games? I guess it's just a fallacy to think "only the creator does it right" when all of them are a bunch of old farts
@6:43
DeleteInteresting if this still holds water, that article is pretty old. I do think an olive branch *could* be extended here, though Legends 3 is probably the key factor. Legends never die, after all.
@7:12
Oh absolutely, I’m not saying either is actually a necessity (even if my first comment did lmao). I’d be excited about either returning, but I’d still give a new game without them a fair shake down. Even though I’m hard on MM11, one game without Inafune being mid isn’t enough to say Mega Man without Inafune is destined for mid.
I guess it’s just since Mega Man now is so… insular, it would make sense to have the men responsible for that image involved (though ironically, Inafune always seemed like the one that pushed Mega Man!). Its like not much has happened since they were both gone, whether it was 2 years or a dozen. It just feels like Mega Man needs some actual *vision*, not just a pretty good mechanic and a subpar soundtrack.
…maybe in that sense, X9 would be a good first step. :p
No one is denying Mighty No. 9 as a massive f up. The difference is, that doesn't screw my perspective up of every other accomplishment Inafune had. Clearly he took an L on that project but to suggest he was not THE guy driving Mega Man for basically its entire run is just.... to each their own I guess.
Delete@shrapDecember 18, 2024 at 10:37 AM
DeleteSo did Hideki Kamiya before him, and now he's working on Okami 2 from his new(er) company
So did Shinji Mikami as well, and so did Yoshiki Okamoto before him
Even as recently as the start of this decade, Yoshinori Ono, Kazuhiro Tsuchiya and Hideaki Itsuno have quitted as well.
We might think of Inafune as an outlier if only because he's the most relevant to us Mega Man fans and that he got pretty high on the corporate ladder before jumping off (and how critical he was about the then-current paradigm of the Japanese gaming market and how Capcom in particular was guilty of it), but I think it's safe to say it's either natural for everyone at Capcom to want to leave at one point (and we need to wonder why), or it's just a natural process for people in the industry once they feel they can no longer grow at their current position.
But does Capcom truly resent Inafune? I recall he said a bunch of his old buddies still at Capcom congratulated him over Mighty No. 9's KS, so I think we should rule out that MM11 was made "to spite" him, and in interviews Oda and Tsuchiya very explictly stated Inafune was the "Mega Man guy" at the company and without him it was hard for anyone to step in and take the role
@8:13 MN9 has its fans, believe it or not.
Delete@RS Proto Man
DeleteThere are dozens of us! DOZENS!!!
@7:12 PM
DeleteHe came up with the idea, character, sprite, story and worldview even if he didn't make the drawing which is what Inafune did afterwards. He IS the true creator, not "true" between quotes regardless of being not really involved from a big part of 3 and on. He knows exactly how the story starts and ends notwithstanding of how it fits with the current version of the story. Why do you think there are facts only he knows like when he revealed that Rock and Roll can turn themselves off at will? It couldn't possibly be that he's the creator?
@Anonymous December 19, 2024 at 5:00 PM
DeleteThere's literally a bunch of stuff that he has no idea the story behind their creation that are far more iconic to the Mega Man franchise than that little (unimportant) fact, such as the name origin of both Rush and Blues, simply because he wasn't there to witness it beyond the vague guidelines of "companion dog" and "lost brother"
Just saying, all the info he has given us are little obscure tidbits that were probably not followed on after his departure
And if you want to think that his authority is absolute because he's the one who actually came with the platonic idea of Mega Man (which even when people loved Inafune it was already a slippery-slope: games are a collaborative effort) consider the following: Bob Kane is the cartoonist creator of the Batman character, but all of Batman's iconography, his suit, his gadgets, the Rogues Gallery, Gotham City, the Batmobile, the Batcave, bat-etc., were all created by ghostwriter Bill Finger. Don't you agree that Finger's contributions were far larger than those of his "creator" if all of the stuff everyone loves about Batman and knows it for were though out by him?
And yet, Finger's name lied in obscurity for many years and died in poverty...
@7:13 PM
DeleteSomething connected to the story as deactivating at will isn't an "unimportant" fact. Again, regardless of how things changed after he left, he planned and made a whole world. The franchise doesn't exist without him. Inafune on the other hand is replaceable, a weak example like he gave a name to two characters that he didn't create isn't going to change much and while he inspires his co-workers to make more games, he is still not really essential.
That's a false equivalency, Kitamura already had a general idea of what the character looked like by designing the sprite, not to mention he told Inafune that his design matched what he had in mind and again he came up with the majority of the worldview as well as messages.
Ironically, if you ignore the support robots (who besides Auto, aren’t even real characters), MM11 is basically a Kitamura-era game. No Duo, no Bass, no Proto Man (literally in every game from 3 to 10), and heavily focused on the *origin* of Light and Wily’s beef.
Delete@My problem with 11 is it’s like any advancements the series made were basically purged starting with mm9 getting rid of Mega Mans charge shot, the rush adaptors are gone. But then 11 takes it a step further and gets rid of characters that have been part of the series since the 90s. Like where are Bass and Protoman? Duo has been forgotten about completely.
Delete@Anonymous December 24, 2024 at 9:17 AM
DeleteDuo is part of an abandoned plot thread so when it wasn't picked up, he was jettisoned out. Mega Man 8 in Japan only sold 44 857(31 023 PS1 + 13 834 Saturn) and while its American counterpart sold much better at 362 094 units, Capcom puts priority on Japan's market first. Also, when comparing Japanese Mega Man 7(176 277) and Mega Man X4(218 603 = 197 385 PS1 + 21 218 Saturn), Mega Man 8 underperformed badly. Even though its failure only applied to Japan and while I cannot back this up, I read once that Japanese Mega Man X4 was underperforming at first during its first earnings window so 8 took the blame for both.
Now, this is just a theory, but I think Capcom is still scared or angry at 8's performance so you'll probably never see Duo again other than in a spin-off and probably not even a cameo in a main entry. I mostly do agree with all your points about 9-11, they were all regressions. At the same time, I don't think the other characters are absolutely necessary, like, Bass wasn't in 9 and no, his shape appearing in a computer screen in the background of the final cutscene doesn't count.
Inafune was an ok replacement up to, but not including X4, the Zero series and Battle Network. The former two because the result of their making was that Inafune intended Zero's design to be originally X's. When it wasn't picked up he went into a petty, childish "Oh yeah? Well my toy is better than your toy!" and while yes, Zero was meant to become more powerful at some point as hinted by the ending of X3, he was never meant to surpass X. Some would say the way X4 and X5 turned out wasn't his fault because for the first one he left a script which really was a draft that then got adapted which means a new script was made by Ookohara however I heavily doubt the story in the original draft wasn't ever Zero-centric and for the second one, he wasn't even involved other than he ordered that he wanted Zero dead by the end of it and the series to end hence he is only credited in the "Special Thanks" part of the credits, but he was still a series producer that could've at any moment paused the production of both games to make it more consistent with X1-3 and by the sounds of it, he didn't even leave notes. In X5, at one point the developers thought to make the X vs Zero fight a fist fight with no advantage for Zero, at least by the looks of it, but in the final version they went with a standard boss fight except that Zero would 1-hit kill the player after around 2 minutes go by, pretty much implying that Zero became more powerful than X, at least precisely by that exact moment and that's the problem. Why didn't Inafune intervene? Why does this happen immediately before Zero gets his own series and why does he deserve a series at all? Why was it ever ok to make X a villain during the prototype phase of Zero 1 even if Capcom intervened? I know the story that Inafune told Inti Creates to make a story about X and Zero and then they came with the evil X idea, but based on research both parties are unreliable narrators and no I don't believe for a second Inti Creates got cold feet at the last moment(it was only a month before release and a week before the beta phase), Capcom definitely told them to drop it else the game wouldn't get released. Why is X's body first destroyed and then immediately after in the sequel, his interactable-with-mortal plane soul is eradicated permanently sending him to the cyberspace plane? Everything is so convenient for Inafune, it's almost like that was his plan all along. Then, if it wasn't enough Zero 4 ends with Zero getting killed yet again proving X's final speech about leaving Zero as the world's guardian in Zero 3 wrong.
DeleteThis all lead to the more disastrous ZX series with the whole turning the mythos into Super Sentai nonsense with the morphers leading to ridiculous dialogue like referring to girls as "Mega Men"(maybe it wouldn't be as bad if the game was called something else like "Mega Heroes" and the same for the transformations, but it still would be wrong for them to be protagonists and have the same offensive power levels as the guys) because Inti really wanted to push for a female audience for which there are no words to how stupid, backstabbing and backwards this mindset is and don't forget the horrendous backtracking game design. So it wasn't enough that Zero usurped X's protagonism, X was proven wrong after his death and not even Zero gets unharmed because he failed by dying leaving the responsibility to the next generation. Congrats, they couldn't have screwed everything up more! Some might say that the ending of the first Mega Man implies that the name is a mantle that can be picked up by anyone, but this isn't true because even with X there's the whole fact that his full name is Mega Man X even if Inafune nowadays claims that his name is X, his full name appears in a screen in the opening of the first X game and in the character selection screen of X4. Canon is established, not dictated. And this was never brought up in any story, like, Zero is never called nor implied to be called Mega Man in his own series because of Rock. Finally, the problem with Battle Network is that it isn't Mega Man, not anywhere close, period(and no, it being a homage to the franchise by integrating aspects of every series or rather, references that existed at the time doesn't count).
Delete*And this was never brought up in any story, like, Zero is never called nor implied to be called Mega Man in his own series because of his feats in-setting reminding characters of Rock's or X's past feats or any sort of mantle and while there's mention of some of Zero's actions being compared to X's, he is still not called Mega Man.
DeleteAlso, if the name was a mantle, Kitamura would've stated this or established it at some point, he did neither so it isn't a mantle.
For the sales data, check out the sources of this site:
https://vgsales.fandom.com/wiki/Mega_Man
@AnonymousDecember 29, 2024 at 12:56 PM/December 29, 2024 at 12:58 PM/December 29, 2024 at 8:33 PM
DeleteYou really seem to want to antagonize Inafune with every decision made interpreted in the least charitable way possible. Like you act as if Inafune made Zero a bigger deal than "Mega Man" X because that's the hero he had planned from the very beginning but totally (and willingly) ignore that a great part of the fandom already gravitated towards him because they thought he was a cool character? And again, you are also ignoring that people also think the writting in the Zero series is also the best the series has had, and that all of the build up to it establishing Zero as a character and his relationship with X in the previous series added to the pay off? Like, even the compromise of having the final boss of the first game not be the real X but his copy, people would have enjoyed the idea of X becoming this fallen hero and passing the torch just as well.
And even then, the Zero/ZX games were only polarizing for those who got too hung up on the superficial differences (the change in the artstyle) and its bullshit difficulty (X6 has infinite continues and generous checkpoints), had they stuck with the Yoshikawa's artstyle and perhaps release on it a home console (even though the fact it *had* to be pixelart meant it couldn't belong anywhere else than on the GBA) no one would be crying "it's not Mega Man" just because the hero isn't blue
Won't even comment on the Battle Network stuff because again, a whole generation of people *love* those games as much as you whine "it's not Mega Man", most-successful subseries for a reason.
@Anonymous December 30, 2024 at 6:58 PM
DeleteInafune antagonized himself. He definitely made Zero a bigger deal than X in X4, this is NOT up to debate. The fans liking him or not is irrelevant to him getting his own series. Might as well give everyone a series Green Biker Dude, Colonel, Axl, who cares some like them. Who cares if it doesn't make thematic sense, am I right? /s You clearly didn't read why Zero isn't so much considered Mega Man as much how it doesn't follow what's set up in the previous games. You can't grasp what was stated about ZX either. You clearly didn't read the comments, can't comprehend parts of them and others you simply haven't done your research showing a clear lack of knowledge. You simply don't know what you are talking about and it shows. Also, going into what ifs like "people would have enjoyed the idea of X becoming this fallen hero and passing the torch just as well." is pointless because it didn't happen. You're speculating on something that never happened.
"Won't event comment on the Battle Network stuff"
Yet you commented anyway, sigh... have some self-awareness. Money, fans has nothing to do with it. It's simply not Mega Man if you actually truly understood the franchise which you don't.
Calling ZX “disastrous” because of “Super Sentai nonsense” is pretty funny, considering the Henshin Hero genre was one of the biggest influences of the 20XX series along with Astro Boy/Mighty Atom (weapon and color changing was inspired by Ninja Captor, Dark Man is very obviously Hakkaider, the entire ___man name system is probably based off Ultraman and other similar shows, etc.).
Delete@Jark Spore
DeleteMega Man takes from Tokusatsu tropes, keyword "takes", but it isn't Tokusatsu 1:1. Rock doesn't go "Henshin!" or any kind of thing. The name isn't a moniker for a group either, ZX went overboard.
@Anonymous December 31, 2024 at 1:17 AM/December 31, 2024 at 9:54 AM
Delete>You clearly didn't read the comments
Well no because it all becomes gibberish at one point, your arguments are repetitive and awful
>Might as well give everyone a series Green Biker Dude, Colonel, Axl, who cares some like them
This is such an obvious false equivalence in such bad faith; GBD isn't a real character and neither is Colonel and sadly neither is Axl. There's literally no depth or nuance to them. Zero on the other hand has a very clear backstory which ties perfectly to X's: he Dr. Wily's creation and was created to surpass whatever Dr. Light's robot would be (X) and destroy it. Because neither character knows much about their own origins, they were able free from their fathers' sins and were able to form an unbreakable friendship, however, their fate is sealed regardless and deep-down know eventually they will have to fight one another.
>is pointless because it didn't happen
That's still how X5's ending was written in mind: X is forced to go on without Zero, and because X's free-thinking ability was always stated to be a liability, he could easily become corrupt by the idea of ending Reploid violence by simply eliminating all Reploids (which is far more interesting than him becoming a whiny loser in X7 crying that "violence is bad"), this is already Copy-X's motivation and the only thing that changed in the re-write is that X follows Zero in spirit to aid him at key points.
The entire point of the Zero series is the poetic irony of the robot created by the series' villain becoming a greater hero than the one made by Dr. Light (even though one of the most memorable quotes is Zero stating he doesn't considers himself as such), that's a compelling story and exactly what was achieved.
>Rock doesn't go "Henshin!" or any kind of thing.
It's so funny how you claim "You simply don't know what you are talking about and it shows" (...) "if you actually truly understood the franchise which you don't" when you clearly deny very obvious stuff: Mega Man does a very clear "henshin" pose on Rockman 1's title screen and on the title sceen of Mega Man 2 he does turn into a hero (both titles directed by AK, and it was him who especially mentioned tokusatsu as influences behind Mega Man)
More than anything, your manic ramblings have shown me 2 things:
1) You're fucking autistic
2) You fail to see that perhaps Inafune's actual strenght was the ability to reinvent Mega Man for a brand new audience every time: Mega Man for the kids who grew up with classic and are now teenagers (X), Mega Man but in 3D (Legends), Mega Man for the kids who grew up with classic and are now teenagers (Zero/ZX),Mega Man but for the kids playing on the DS (Starforce), and so on (and never in a "new thing good, old thing bad" affair since he even knee when to bring the old stuff back like with the PSP remakes and the decision to make MM9&10 8-bit)
If Mega Man had strictly sticked to the definition of ass-clowns like you (which is supposedly "as envisioned by creator AK") I'm extremly doubtful Mega Man would have ever become such a prolific franchise with such a legion of passionate fans.
Mega Man 11 might be the best-selling game to date (because it managed to surpass the sales of a game from 19-fucking-88), but because it played it so safe it just couldn't warrant a continuous stream of content. And Capcom won't greenlight a new entry until they can ingrain Mega Man into the mainstream again, and they never succeed because the only version of Mega Man they are interested in presenting to audiences is vanilla Mega Man (the only "true" Mega Man), a character who is almost 40 years old and is only remembered by an equally aging fanbase. They need to inject new blood into the franchise (and guess what, that's something Mighty No.9 had going for itself over Mega Man, and would even dare to say, even right now if it ever comes back: it was a NEW game for both old and NEW fans)
@Anonymous December 31, 2024 at 10:12 PM
DeleteAs expected you have nothing to add.
"GBD isn't a real character and neither is Colonel and sadly neither is Axl"
Colonel and especially Axl are characters, what are you even saying? Protoman for an example of someone that has a closer parallel with Zero wouldn't deserve his own series either.
"because X's free-thinking ability was always stated to be a liability, he could easily become corrupt by the idea of ending Reploid violence by simply eliminating all Reploids"
Funny because Inafune didn't originally tell Inti to make X the bad guy, you're arguing a head-canon. Possibilities were there in X4, but nothing concrete.
"Mega Man does a very clear "henshin" pose on Rockman 1's title screen and on the title sceen of Mega Man 2 he does turn into a hero"
That's just a pose not a transformation, it's more of a wink at tokusatsu than being it like the rest that has been exemplified. Putting on a helmet isn't a transformation, are you stupid?
So far, your reading comprehension is awful and you are making gigantic assumptions making imaginary scenarios only to get mad at them.
Like here for example:
"the Zero/ZX games were only polarizing for those who got too hung up on the superficial differences (the change in the artstyle) and its difficulty (X6 has infinite continues and generous checkpoints)"
You're assuming what you personally observed from a small group is what everyone thinks. ZX isn't even hard.
"no one would be crying "it's not Mega Man" just because the hero isn't blue"
See this? This right here is a perfect example of you imagining things, I never stated anything about the color nor implied it.
"I'm extremly doubtful Mega Man would have ever become such a prolific franchise"
Last time I checked Legends 2, both ZX games but mostly the first one and Starforce 3 all bombed. Your supposed "strength" of Inafune backfired a couple of times. You aren't even good at defending him.
Your blatant ignorance shows that you aren't ready to have this conversation.
@Anonymous December 31, 2024 at 10:12 PM
Delete"Well no because it all becomes gibberish at one point"
So anything you have to say is pointless, got it!
Nothing in your comments addresses anything I stated. They are all either imagined scenarios or strawmen.
"people also think the writting in the Zero series"
The writing in the Zero series is bad to mediocre, the few that actually believe this are plainly wrong.
"all of the build up to it establishing Zero as a character and his relationship with X in the previous series added to the pay off?"
What "pay off"? Look up what that means before spouting nonsense.
"people would have enjoyed the idea of X becoming this fallen hero and passing the torch just as well."
Not a single soul liked the idea of X being turned into a villain neither online nor offline. In fact, whenever I comment that I'm just curious to see how that would've played out I get nothing but replies that people don't ever want to see it. You're completely disconnected with the fans.
"GBD isn't a real character and neither is Colonel and sadly neither is Axl."
Apart from this being not true, this wasn't your original argument. You were committing an Argumentum ad populum so you got the appropriate response and now you changed it to it being about how much narrative weight they have. Anyway, Colonel and Axl both have backstories, stories and in Axl's case he has character development so this whole rambling about them "not" being characters is asinine. Not like I expected someone that uses the term "fandom" to have any neurons.
"fathers' sins"
Dr. Light committed no sins and Zero having amnesia doesn't mean he "breaks" free from those "sins", not even metaphorically.
"the Zero/ZX games were only polarizing"
This is clearly not true because majority weren't interested in general and something you failed to notice is that those complaints come from people who bought the games even if some emulated it. Part of it might be because of the over influx of games(so much for "prolific") and the other part is that for Zero, while his series did ok in its original run, both re-releases didn't do that well because people were never that interested in him meanwhile for ZX, people outright rejected it and the reason for it being that the whole thing is so not Mega Man. People saw right through this, they recognized that the mythos has been messed with and categorically rejected it even if they can't exactly put into words why they are so turned off by the whole thing to which I explained why. The fact that the protagonists' creators are unknown and don't matter is also thematically incompatible with the franchise.
"That's still how X5's ending was written in mind"
Not only this is a fantasy you made up, you also couldn't possibly be more wrong. Inafune himself was never sure how to finish the series however if he simply had stuck to the plan he was going with X1-3, the answer was in front of him the whole time. But, his ill intentions got the best of him and changed to the petty usurper Zero plan for X4 onwards. X is meant to both pass the morality test and surpass the potential flaws of the unfinished morality chip essentially achieving the same that Rock did: Surpassing the creator. Besides, you're ignoring X5 has two endings with the bad one being implied to be the one that potentially leads to Zero 1(Alia highlights the way X returns is not a good sign) so pretending this whole fantasy was always the intended definitive ending is ridiculous.
"X7 crying that 'violence is bad'"
DeleteThat's a lack of media literacy on your part, X in X7 temporarily retired because of the unfair prosecution of Reploids by the government and—before anyone replies this doesn't happen—this is implied in the game's text with it being expanded upon on the soundtrack booklet.
"The entire point of the Zero series"
That might be what Inafune wants you to believe, but the execution doesn't show this.
"becoming a greater hero"
Zero himself rejects this because he isn't even a hero rather he is a mad dog(at least you have something in common with Zero) that settles everything with violence worse than before his character reset and if anything, he passed on the burden to future generations by pointlessly dying. Any claim that it is "poetic" is laughable, not only it isn't compelling, it completely failed.
"Inafune's actual strenght was the ability to reinvent Mega Man"
You're such an Inafune sycophant you have to come up with this "reinventor" narrative. Neither Zero, ZX or Starforce are reinventions and for the former two as stated before, Inti had a lot of say. I don't hate the guy, but I will definitely call him out on his flaws like his corrupt revisionism with Mega Man X's name for example as demonstrated before.
Sticking to the two main messages that the original series set up(which Legends, Zero, Battle Network, ZX and Starforce all contradict at least one), being loyal to the gameplay and keeping story consistency all while being conscious and respectful of your audience is hardly "strict". In fact, there are so many things they could do, but they won't because Capcom doesn't want to put the effort.
"because it played it so safe it just couldn't warrant a continuous stream of content."
Being "safe" is completely unrelated to a lack of content.
"And Capcom won't greenlight a new entry until they can ingrain Mega Man into the mainstream again"
There's 0 proof for this, but keep living in your imaginary world.
"that's something Mighty No.9 had going for itself over Mega Man, and would even dare to say, even right now if it ever comes back: it was a NEW game for both old and NEW fans"
You're so delusional you are really bringing Mighty No.9? Lol, this is too stupid even for a troll. Mega Man 11 was a game for both demographics and did fine so your point is fallacious. At the end of the day you didn't debunk a single thing that I stated. I'll give you one last piece of advice:
Relax child, you're going to get a heart attack. You shouldn't project, specially to the point you told me your disorder, but you did so anyway. You simply aren't mature enough to have a serious discussion.
@Anonymous December 31, 2024 at 10:12 PM
DeleteTo elucidate further, the match of the century ended up becoming a joke. First, with X5's good ending, the cause of their fight is that neither wanted to go home which gets made fun of to this very day. And second, in the bad ending, the cause was the contrived "Zero Virus" created from the impact between the colony virus and the Sigma Virus which goes against not only what's stated in X2-3, but also in X4 with the whole subject of Zero having two desires with one being to fulfill his duties as a Maverick Hunter and the other to simply fight X due to his subconscious remembering Wily's orders. Do you get it now, you fucking retard? Inafune was so focused with Zero 1 he couldn't leave any notes nor slightly supervise X4 and X5 which is ludicrous and no, his promotion isn't an excuse. Either way, X4 turned out to be Zero's game which is why he is in the cover of the SS version and overall has more content.
Of course a turd swallower like you fell hook, line and sinker for the Zero series "poetic"(read pathetic) writing. Don't get all this blind defense for Inafune as he has acted quite the scumbag before, like, he mistreated the X4-8 team telling them that their games aren't fun even though he didn't want to be involved with X4 and X5 according to something I read some time ago. He was NEVER a genius either, as a single example, he reused Zero's design for his NFT scam.
Inafune says that he already knows what the plotline of the final game is and claims he had thought it out during X1's development in the 10th Anniversary Book, but also in that book other staffers said that they were content with ending the series in X4 until Inafune wanted another X game to end it so he could make a series all about Zero. In other words, he was bluffing and never knew the ending with both the contradictions of past games exposing this and him willingly deciding to have no involvement with X5 without telling anyone anything about the ending other than to kill Zero. In another developer interview Ookohara said there were no plans for an X4.
And one final thing about what he said about X's full name: People sometimes response strangely to new information, they act as if it cancels out or negates or replaces the old information like if it's newer it must be truer. This is why everyone must be kept in check when it comes to statements.
If what I wrote bothers you so much, it's because deep down you know it's true.
The whole "the main character doesn't have to be blue" while I don't care either way although I prefer it, Capcom sure as hell doesn't see it that way since they rejected X's original design and while it could be theorized it was only the overall design, the fact they chose blue indicates they agree he should be so.
DeleteIn X4 through the Zero series, X and Zero staying friends isn't a pay off. X doesn't give Dr. Weil the finishing blow while both retaliating for Zero's sake and putting an end to their enemy like Zero did with Dr. Wily. So again, what "pay off"?
DeleteAll these new ideas they have all crash and burn like the slot game that was to generate them millions instead ended up costing them millions which yet again made a pointless change like a female Dr. Light so why try to turn the franchise into something it was never meant to? It is always going to be niche, why not try to respect both the franchise and the fans then?
DeleteThis all makes it blatant that you know squat about the franchise and can't comprehend it because simply you are unable to. You both lack critical information and can't interpret.
Also, franchise poison(screw rules and integrity, buy everything) and company poison(propping up terrible ideas), I'm glad Capcom will never take you seriously unlike me that so far one of my votes in one of their multiple surveys has been fulfilled so cope.
Apart from the fact you aren't engaging with any of my arguments because you can't grapple with them, you are one of those that believes Inafune wrote X5 when he is only in the Special Thanks. Inafune never had the cred you think he had being only a character designer in 1-2, one of the sub-planners in 3, one of the planners in 4, one of the object designers and scroll designers in 5, one of the object designers in 6, one of the object designers in 7 and then, finally being one of the producers of 8 with the X series starting with being one of the planners in X1, allegedly the director of X2-X3 and one of the producers of X4. It's actually amazing how when he gets power, the franchise goes to crap.
DeleteGullible people think he is this "visionary" just because he appeared publicly when he was nothing more than a glorified cartoonist & PR guy and while he worked more than usual in 3, he certainly wasn't as dedicated for the rest. Fujiwara Tokuro "Professor F" is the real genius and visionary with all the other producers and directors also deserving recognition: Kurokawa Masahiko/Masayoshi "Patariro/P-Taro/Guchikoshi"(planner in 3, adviser in 5 & 6, planner in 7, planner in X1), the unknown "Hatukoochan"(sub-planner in 3), Takenaka Yoshinori "Bamboo/Bambee/Dr. Kun"(sub-planner in 3, planner in 4, adviser in 5, helper aka assistant in 6, planner in Rock Board, producer in 8, planner in X1, the other producer of X4), S. Kobashi(planner in 4), Ichirou Mihara "I.M."(director & planner in 5), the elusive "Turkey-613"(planner in 6), Tsuda Yoshihisa "Hisayoshi"(planner in 7), Ryo Miyazaki "R-Chu Ryo"(planner in 7), "Cardon"(planner in 7, some sites identify him as Riccardo Cangini but there are no sources for that), "Monji"(planner in 7), Kaji Hayato(director in 8), Kanemori Yuuichi(planner in 8), Matsue Kazuki(planner in 8), Itou Ryouta(planner in 8), Funamizu Noritaka(general producer in 8)and Tsuge Sho "Burusera Zofy"(planner of X1), and many others.
Now I get George Lucas when he said that the people at Lucasfilm don't get Star Wars, but explicitly The Force. It's the same with Rockman and Inafune and the Inafune brainlets. The majority of people doesn't think and doesn't want to so of course they lash out at someone who does.
DeleteThe fact that it’s been 6 years since 11 and that Capcom hasn’t been working on any Mega Man games that entire time to me really says a lot, there should have been something by now. I don’t see anything happening out of this besides maybe a couple more Legacy collections for the remaining games not on modern platforms.
ReplyDeleteJust because they haven't announced anything doesn't mean they haven't been working on anything.
Delete@10:57 am, keep being in denial then and wait another 10 years for nothing to happen. 6 years has been more than enough time to make a new Mega Man game, they let that momentum from 11 and the collections go to waste.
Delete@1:03 PM You're the one in denial. With nothing announced, we don't know what kind of game they might be making. Meanwhile, they still actually have a development team and are hiring new people into it. We have no idea what's been going on in the past 6 years regarding Mega Man game development. It's unlikely that the next game started development immediately after 11's release and we barely even have any idea what projects have started and/or been canceled in that time either, let alone how big in scope they may be nor what might be approaching an announcement window in the next few years.
DeleteKeep constantly being negative like this though, and all you're accomplishing is being miserable your whole life. You're no Capcom insider, so you can't say they've done nothing. Meanwhile, what we outside Capcom CAN see is that they've been doing pretty much everything else imaginable with the franchise in that time span and clearly have something going on to be moving people into the Mega Man dev team.
@1:52 pm, right back at you. Keep living in denial all your life and nothing good will come of it.
DeleteWell with nothing announced after so long, it isn't a good sign. Sure, there is always hope of yet 'another' revival, but in life, best not to get one's hopes up and be very skeptical unless legit proof that there is something in the works. Another issue is they have a long hiatus then revive it after a long time, the gameplay and other details may be too different than they would have been if they released a sequel the year after, or other creators and teams would make it, and forget or not pay attention to the story of the prior games to make a decent sequel. My worry is that at this point if we got an X9, it would be quite a bit different than if it was released in 2005 like it should have been. It should have came out in 2005 or 2006.
DeleteAt this rate, people are going to need big time anti-aging gene editing in order to see them complete the X or Classic series like they did with the Zero series.
@December 18, 2024 at 1:52 PM I don't know what kind of drug did you consumed, but any sane person would realize by now if not sooner that they didn't do anything behind the scenes in the past 6 years.
DeleteCan't wait to see what excuses would you used when nothing announced for the next 20 years lol.
Maybe they should revive Legends 3 on modern hardware, you know since they never released the prologue demo back in the 3ds days before cancelling it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I wanted Legends 3 to rise from its ashes now, or the worst if Capcom revived and redone it a garbage gacha mobile game like X Dive.
DeleteUgh. Why did they have to mention Mega Man is 37 years ago? Someone fetch my walker!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. So many games I grew up with are in their mid to late 30s now. It's crazy how the years just keep flying by.
DeleteCREATE MEGAMAN X9, AND TRY YOUR BEST TO MAKE UP FOR RUINING X7 AND X8.
ReplyDeleteMAKE X9 LIKE A COMBINATION OF THE ORIGINAL AND X4, GO BACK TO 2D
This would be awesome, I just don’t see Capcom bothering.
DeleteI know it's not possible, but i would like to see mega man star force 4 or a legacy collection.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think SFLC is not only likely, but probably the next game to come out. BNLC was the best selling game ever, and I don’t know if Capcom could get away with charging as much as they’d want for a Legends LC (even if BNLC is already overpriced IMO). *Maybe* they’d hold off on account of DS screen emulation, but probably not if Konami just did a collection where that was 75% of the content.
DeleteWe also need a Legends collection and the Gameboy Mega Man games in a collection.
DeleteI hope that, like Pac-Man, a new Mega Man game based on Secret Level is under development!
ReplyDeleteLooking it up, this stuff's just plain bizarre.
DeleteA dating sim I was thinking. 🙄
DeleteAnything but that.
DeleteI don’t know, I think a VN sounds like the logical next step after X DiVE. :p
DeleteJust… make sure the translation is basically comprehensible. I’d say English X DiVE typos/nonsensical dialogue would be a good drinking game, but I ain’t trying to kill anyone!
Sweet, more news that will lead to nothing at Capcom.
ReplyDeleteI know it’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?
DeleteThe real question is will they actually made a new game or is this just another big talk with no action lol
ReplyDelete99% it’s going to be big talk with no action as usual, like every time they hold polls every couple years asking what fans want.
DeleteThis is going to add up to a lot of nothing as usual, not sure why people are getting hyped. And before someone jumps in and tries to defend Capcom, compare the state of the Mega Man franchise now to how it was in the 90s to mid 2000s and you'd understand people's frustrations.
ReplyDelete