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Do Capcom have a Problem with MegaMan?


On 04/12/2013 at 10:27 PM by V4Viewtiful

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This Isn't an opinion piece by me per se but just an open question.

See, I'm reviewing the Sonic and MegaMan cross over in Archie comics and it's the Blue Bombers 25th anniversary I did some research on the character, i'm not the characters biggest fan and I have played and owned very few of the games but I've always respected the franchise and it's fans.

Now I suppose you all assume doing this research I found something that made me ask the question well you're right, we all know about all the MegaMan games they announce and don't produce or the fact that MegaMan seems to be relegated to cameos and spin-offs but I saw something that both facinated me, excited me and then just plain upset.

 

Armature Studios made up of ex-Retro employees the same guys who made the Metroid Prime games and who are working on the Latest Batman Arkham prequel, we're developing a FPS based on MegaMan and it was quite far in development... in 2010 Capcom cancelled it.

Full Story [here]

Well I have to be honest this is very upsetting I mean given the people behind it and the fact that they got very far into the dev process and that FPS is an area Rock hasn't seemed to make the jumped to yet I'm left feeling... well?

Admittedly it does hold the same spirit of the game and it may have fallen into the generic pile of grey and brown shooters.

Like I said, I'm not the biggest fan so I can't make an informed opinion about the franchises treatment (Capcom as a whole is another story), so I'll leave it to the rest of you to give one.

 

This is V saying "What the Hell?!"


 

Comments

Super Step Contributing Writer

04/12/2013 at 11:34 PM

I was prepared to say, "holy shit, that sounds awesome, the team that perfectly captured Metroid in 3D working on Megaman?!" Then I saw the footage, and wasn't so impressed.

Mostly, it's the aesthetic; sure, the X series was darker story-wise, but I never gave a rat's ass about the stories (I only played X and X2, before the series was ported to Sony consoles and given anime cutscenes), and the X series still had a certain animated charm to it. Its levels may have been wastelands much of the time, but there was a lot of personality in them, whereas the game I just watched look like if Halo Chief was transplanted in a stage of Portal, only it was a straightforward FPS involving none of the personality and interesting mechanics from Portal.

It just looks so bland and generic, and I'd prefer to see X's face. I mean as much as I don't care about the story, it is clearly made important that his human-like traits are what make him unique, so why make a generic cyborg, that doesn't even have the iconic arm cannon, but some boring gun?

I love Retro and what they've accomplished, but this just looks like it was headed in the wrong direction, so cool as it sounds, I'm not too upset it was scrapped. Street Fighter X Mega Man is still awesome anyway, and that's free. Smile

V4Viewtiful

04/12/2013 at 11:58 PM

the aesthetic is wrong but the genre had potential, it may have been better being 3rd person. I guess it's that Capcom never seem to follow through with half their endevears good or otherwise.

SanAndreas

04/12/2013 at 11:47 PM

Retro's look was right for Metroid. Metroid has always been Nintendo's darkest, grittiest series. 

Their style is all wrong for Mega Man, who is a very cartoonish, anime character. The footage of this Mega Man game reminds me of Bomberman: Act Zero, which saw another cute anime character dudebroized in the same manner. That game was an abysmal flop. And that's being kind. At worst, this rendition of Mega Man calls to mind the ridiculous Westernized renditions of the character that appeared on the covers of the first two NES games, back when Japanese game companies absolutely refused to show Japanese art on the covers of the games they sold in the US.

I, too, am curious as to what Capcom's thinking with Mega Man. The Mega Man project I'm upset about losing is Mega Man Legends 3 - and that's because the Mega Man Legends games were the only Mega Man games I really enjoyed. Does Capcom simply not see a good ROI on Mega Man, or is this more ongoing bitterness from them over Keiji Inafune?

V4Viewtiful

04/13/2013 at 12:02 AM

It seems they don't seem to try and when they do turn tail at the last minute, it's Capcoms behavior that just makes you wonder "what's up"? If it was only this game, fair enough...

SanAndreas

04/13/2013 at 12:19 AM

What would have made this game more interesting to me is making it cel-shaded and keeping it somewhat cartoonish. Look at Okami. Capcom originally planned to make it photorealistic, or at least what passed for photorealistic on PS2. The Ukiyo-e cel-shaded style they chose instead made it one of the most memorable video games ever made.

I guess what Capcom's doing makes some sense to the people running it. And they have done some good work this generation. SFIV was good until they overmilked it, and Dragon's Dogma is a good, if flawed, Western-flavored action-RPG with some of the best combat I've seen out of that genre. But some of their decisions have been downright baffling. I guess they must make sense to somebody high up in the company.

Raised_on_Nintendo

04/12/2013 at 11:57 PM

I think MegaMan is best in 2D.  MegaMan 64 disappointed me, and I didn't play any other MegaMans until MegaMan 9, which I liked.

I, too, have wondered about Capcom and MegaMan.  MegaMan might not be as profitable as the other franchises they push (Resident Evil, Dead Rising, Monster Hunter, Ace Attorney, Lost Planet), which would be the easiest conclusion.  It very well could be a lack of inspiration, or that translating the proper feel of a MegaMan game to 3D is proving tougher than it appears.  The cancelled MegaMan projects show that Capcom is trying to develop something, but maybe they can't reach a certain standard of quality.  

I think we'll eventually see a 3D MegaMan proper, or an evolved spinoff.

V4Viewtiful

04/13/2013 at 12:10 AM

i couldn't say i buy they have a "standard of quality" because Capcoms quality have been slipping for years and they're moving away from what many franchises pioneered or where about or they create over user friendly games (SFxT). It must be more Like what SanAndreas sugested like Inafune or something.

Cary Woodham

04/13/2013 at 10:53 AM

It would be neat if Capcom would do more with Mega Man, but I have to admit that I'm pretty happy about them releasing DuckTales Remastered.  I think that's a step in the right direction.

V4Viewtiful

04/14/2013 at 02:24 PM

Updating a much loved classic after so many years works in their favour, especially since they haven't made mutiple versions of itTongue Out

smartcelt

04/13/2013 at 11:00 AM

Capcom makes some odd decisions. Mega Man is one of their key franchises and you think they would want to take a chance on giving him an FPS. Would have been a great one I think. Given the proper money and effort,that is.

V4Viewtiful

04/13/2013 at 12:52 PM

Maybe if the visual style was different they would have kept the the project going but all they had to do was redesign the look of Megaman and it wouldn't have been that hard, dev's do it all the time.

Halochief90

04/13/2013 at 11:40 PM

Like many have mentioned, a lot of flashbacks to Bomberman: Act Zero come to mind. I never played it, but that game is pretty legendarily bad. To me, making a gritty Mega Man game like this could be great with the Metroid Prime developers at the helm, but at this point, Mega Man is retro series for retro fans. It doesn't make much sense to make a game like this when likely the core fanbase won't be interested.

That said it seems to me that this is another failed attempt at trying to make Mega Man a blockbuster franchise again when the reality is that is probably not going to happen again.

BrokenH

04/14/2013 at 12:19 AM

I think a Mega-man as a 3rd person shooter could be fun if the right company worked on it. Platinum is a good canidate. Vanquish looked fun though I haven't had the pleasure of playing it yet!

V4Viewtiful

04/14/2013 at 06:31 PM

Platnium do seem like a perfect fit for a revamp of sorts, they have a history of a diverse and varied style.

Coolsetzer

04/14/2013 at 05:02 PM

Well, I think that they did right by cancelling that one. I looked alright, but the demo just didn't play like a MM game at all. I'm just disappointed that they won't continue with the X or Legends series right now. It would be great if they released something special for the series' 25th. Unfortunately, it seems like the only ones who know what to do with the IP anymore are the fans.

V4Viewtiful

04/14/2013 at 06:34 PM

I only use this as an example of a lack of direction or determination to release Mega Man, even if they did make an FPS a change in look could have helped it. It's become a fact that they don't follow through, they are mostly cashing in on NES nostalgia and even then it's just safe ground or cameos and it's a real shame.

Chris Yarger Community Manager

04/15/2013 at 07:10 AM

It's always bummed me out that they haven't been able to truly carry on the Megaman franchise. They have games out on the handheld consoles, but nothing for console. But I suppose that if they were to release a full-scaled Megaman game, people would be complaing that it didn't like any longer than 2-3 hours (I'm referring to the old Megaman games with that statement).

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