Editorial: Mega Man Legends 3, 3 Years Later

The following is an open letter to all readers of the Facebook page "Get Me Off The Moon: 100,000 Strong for Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3", and will be reposted there.

Dear friends, Servbots, Beckers, and other miscellaneous netizens,

As I started writing this, it has been three years to the day since Capcom took the inexplicable step of killing development of Mega Man Legends 3.  And let me tell you, my faith in humanity has never been the same since.  As far as I’m concerned, Capcom has joined the ranks of such Western-based publishers as EA, Activision, and King, who eschew creativity and good will in favour of short-term profits.  “Revive a unique series that’s lain dormant for over a decade?” they seem to say.  “That’s not what the people want!  You want us to rehash the same niche-interest versus-fighters and a former survival-horror series!”  And I’m thinking, that’s gotta stop.

To this very day, Capcom -- and when I bring them up, I am referring to their Japanese headquarters -- has not directly given a valid reason for their actions.  (And for the record, I choose not to count that Capcom Europe tweet.)  Until such rationale comes to light, I have no choice to blame Capcom’s ill will with Keiji Inafune.  And for the record, I do harbour some ill will of my own towards Inafune-sama; after all, if he hadn’t left the company so early, he might have been the insurance policy necessary to see Legends 3 to completion.  (But that would be like blaming the Jews for World War II.  The problem wasn’t that they existed, but that someone reacted poorly to them.)

But despite not yet having reached our ultimate goal of bringing Legends 3 back to the public, a lot has happened to our fandom among these past three years.  Our cause has brought together fans from all corners of the world.  (Seriously, we’ve got people from the likes of Malta and Bahrain.)  We have produced fan games galore, and even launched a model rocket in its honour.  A comic-book serial starring Mega Man has been launched -- and a thumpin’ good one, I’d vouch.  Mega Man himself has also been honoured with a playable crossover appearance in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. 4 games (so renamed because screw this business of recycled titles).  I myself have snuck countless references to our cause on my own blog, the Strawberry Dragon Project, which you are reading right now.  It would seem that Mega Man’s 25th anniversary was celebrated by literally -- OK, not really, I’ve become conscious about the overuse of the word “literally” these days -- virtually everybody except Capcom, who holds the keys to the licence itself.

Perhaps chief among all our accomplishments would be the successful kick-starting (in more ways than one) of Mighty No.9, a new IP bestowed upon us by no less than the co-creator of Mega Man himself, Keiji Inafune.  I don’t know about you, but having viewed this development in the context of what Legends 3 could -- nay, should -- have been, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with getting this in its place.  It’s like getting a consolation prize on a game show.  But when considering the big picture, the story of Mighty No.9 is, in essence, about a force for creative individuality (Inafune-sama) pitting himself against a giant bureaucratic entity (Capcom) and the souless stasis it enforces.  So yeah, I ended up backing it in the end, and I regret nothing.

But if anything brought closure to this matter, or at least the next best thing, it would be the news that not one, but two of the fangames are attempting to re-create what Legends 3 could have been.  One seeks to incorporate the story and some gameplay elements of the equally-cancelled Legends 3 Prologue into classic 2D Mega Man gameplay.  And one is a straight-up, full-3D reconstruction of the game.  Who knows how far that last one will get, but just announcing it with whatever progress they've made thus far is a heartwarming achievement in and of itself.  If you have not already done so, I invite you to watch their (currently Japanese-only) trailer, the intro of which really hits me in the feels.  But now I feel I am at a point where I can let this whole ordeal free from my soul.  I'm not going to un-Like the Facebook page or anything like that, perish the thought; it's more of an emotional thing, you know?

In conclusion, to those reading this letter, I offer two pieces of advice.  First, don’t obsess over this matter.  If you let this cause cloud over your mind, you’ll never think a happy thought again, and you’ll never get to enjoy life.  Even if it’s just another cause to obsess over, like how Hayao Miyazaki’s farewell masterpiece The Wind Rises got snubbed for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, simply because the jurors respected animation so little as a serious art form that they couldn’t be arsed to do their job properly.  ...Fat lot of good that did, then.  Of course, don’t forget about our cause completely; come back to it once every couple of months or so, and make a positive contribution.

And to that effect, my second advice is: know your enemy.  We need to direct our focus onto the top-level management of Capcom in Japan.  It’s all well and good to score interviews with Inafune-sama and other such people who wanted to make Legends 3, but I think it would have been even better to land an interview with Capcom’s CEO or somesuch.  That way, we’d be asking the right questions to the right people.  As I learned from the villain in a James Bond movie (brownie points for guessing which one), “the key to a good story is not who, or what, or when, but why.”  Only by knowing the “why” of all parties involved, and acting based on them, can we make true progress in the world.

Legends never die,

Kevin M.

Editorial: Mighty No.9

Edit 24 Jan 2018: This article reflects Mighty No. 9 as it was presented in its Kickstarter campaign, from 2013.  If you want my review of the game we actually got, three frickin' years later, you may read it here.  This was also written  way before Capcom announced Mega Man 11, to be released later in 2018, but that's another story.

Something wonderful happened over the Labor Day weekend. Oh, and I'm spelling it "Labor" instead of "Labour" since I'm referring to an American holiday. But since this news mostly involves Japan, it doesn't matter anyway. So anyway, a project recently launched on the site Kickstarter to fund an independent game for PCs entitled Mighty No.9. Amazingly, the project met its base goal of US$900,000 in just about 24 hours. But that's not the best part: the project is led by a mister Keiji Inafune. You know, the creator of Mega Man who had a falling-out with Capcom and quit only to found his own company, named Comcept. That's right: Mighty No.9 is nothing less than a trademark-safe spiritual successor to Mega Man. So it should be no surprise that I fully endorse this project.

...

OR DO I? Read on.

As described on its page and pledge video on Kickstarter, Mighty No.9 is a 2-dimensional, jump-and-shoot platformer game starring a robot boy named Beck. His (and the game's) title apparently refers to him being the 9th in a series of robots, and his eight predecessors should serve as the game's bosses, akin to the Robot Masters from the 2-D Mega Man series. As in Mega Man, Beck can earn special weapons by defeating bosses, but he can also transform his own body to overcome obstacles. For example, he might be able to grow tank treads in order to safely cross a pit of spikes. If you're already a fan of classic Mega Man, I'll bet that prospect alone has already got you foaming at the mouth. ^_^

But what about the rest of us? I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get a little tired of the traditional 2-D style of Mega Man. Over the past five years or so, among the few Mega Man games Capcom has put out themselves, as well as any notable fan-games (or both, in the case of Street Fighter X Mega Man), nearly all releases have followed this format. They have also emulated the 8-bit graphical style of the NES era (Mighty No.9 will not, by the way). When throwing this into the equation, bear in mind that back in the day (let's say, ah... Mega Man IV on wards), Mega Man was the butt of many jokes for the same reason: slavish adherance to a formula without much -- if anything -- in the way of new mechanics to spice things up.

And that's why the Mega Man Legends series has garnered such great respect as a cult classic: it carried over the most basic of concepts, but in all other ways was unique. Whilst the two PlayStation games were rough around the edges technically, this had more to do with hardware limitations than anything else. It was the designs of the worlds and the personalities of the characters that contributed the most to make the games memorable in the minds of many players. Present company excluded, frankly, but I had more fun playing these games than most of the other Mega Man entries. Don't believe me? I reviewed 'em both. And not to spoil anything, but the ending of the second game also left us with more questions than answers -- not to mention the worst cliff-hanger ending since The Italian Job. It's all these reasons combined that made Capcom's decision to cancel pre-production of Mega Man Legends 3 such an unforgivable act. Even to this very day, it feels like something's been missing from my life ever since -- and I wasn't even following the project until that fateful day.

So with that being my mindset, let me ask the question: Will supporting or buying Mighty No.9 bring back Legends 3, even in the long term? I mean, on the surface, this could be interpreted as supporting Inafune-sama and Comcept to make more 2-D games that are not at all like the Legends series (minus the licence). But that's looking at the issue purely from a marketing perspective, and ignoring the human element. In his pledge video, Inafune describes Mighty No.9 as the realisation of a lifelong dream. But didn't he already say that about Legends 3? Well, who knows. Maybe this and/or subsequent projects may give Comcept enough clout that Capcom will give them the rights to develop Legends 3.

...And maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.

Yeah, it's not that easy. Consider the fact that Inafune has in the past been a little... worrisome about the state of Japan's video game industry. In fact, some have speculated that such outbursts are the reason he quit Capcom and, subsequently, why his former bosses cancelled Legends 3 later on. For what it's worth, Capcom has denied this reason, but until they actually give us a reason themselves, I'm inclined to believe it. Assuming all this bad blood between the two parties is a real thing, I don't think Inafune has this kind of clout anymore, even as a third-party contractor. I'm not saying this idea is impossible, just improbable in the current climate.

With that said, it's up to us to politicise this development. Contribute to the game's Kickstarter fund. Remember that there an array of rewards available based on your pledge. (US$10,000 gives you, of all things, a dinner with Inafune-sama. I don't know why, but that concept just seems so amusing.) Then when it comes out for the general public, buy a copy (unless your pledge already guaranteed you one). And when you do, let Capcom know about it. They have Facebook pages, including a Japanese one. Make them understand that there is a place in the video game market for the simple charms of a robot boy, be him Mega or Mighty. And remember...

Legends Never Die.

This is IchigoRyu. You are the resistance.

Game Review: Mega Man Legends 2

Previously on the SDP, I reviewed Mega Man Legends, the Blue Bomber's 3D debut. Now the time is right to cover its sequel!

Mega Man Legends 2

• Publisher: Capcom
• Developer: Capcom
• Release:
• PlayStation, 24 October 2000
• PlayStation Portable, 8 September 2005 (Japan only)
• Genre: 3D Action-Adventure
• Players: 1
• Save:
• PSX: Memory Card, 1 block
• PSP: Memory Stick, 360KB

This review was updated on 13 July 2016.

To sum up from my previous review, I thought Mega Man Legends was good, but not great. The two things working against its favour were its controls and its length. While not deal-breakers, Capcom nonetheless went back to the drawing board for a sequel, and what they came back with shattered all our expectations. ...Depending on what you, personally, were expecting.

The story of Legends 2 is more complex than that of its predecessor, depending on how deep you are willing to take it. It starts out once again on the Flutter, where Megaman Volnutt must put out a fire caused by Data, his monkey save-bot. (He probably was only trying to pour a bowl of cold cereal and milk. Harder than it looks, eh?) So with that crisis extinguished, in more ways than one, your new goal is to find the four keys that will hopefully unlock a treasure called the Mother Lode. There's also a race of moon-people who guard the Mother Lode, and Megaman's sister Roll is on the search for her parents, who went missing while hunting for the Mother Lode themselves. If you choose not to stick around for the cutscenes, all you need to know is that this game is longer than its predecessor: Legends 2 lets you play around in 8 dungeons, 5 of which are mandatory. A speed-run might take you about four to six hours, whereas working to build all the special weapons and complete all the side-quests will clock in at a grand total of 12 to 15 hours. And unlike the original game being focused around one environment, Legends 2 takes place on all manner of different islands, from the snowy Yosyonke to the desert Saul Kada and the ocean-platform Nino. So, that's one criticism fixed from one game to the next. Can Legends 2 fix my other complaint, namely the controls?

Megaman can move whilst locking onto an enemy.

Yes it does -- and without sacrificing the things the original did right. DualShock controllers are fully supported this time around, using what has since become an industry standard of using the Left Stick to walk and run, and the Right Stick to rotate the camera. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this was one of the first games to utilise this format. [citation needed] There's even an option to map the fire buttons to the triggers, making the game play more like the shooters we know and... I don't know about "love", but tolerate today. Even so, I ended up eschewing this in favour of the original control scheme. You know, the one where you use the shoulder triggers to turn? But the controls in Legends 2 manage to top the original in another welcome way. You remember how the first game had a lock-on function which didn't let you move around at the same time? Well, now it's been replaced by a lock-on function which does let you move around at the same time! Troubles may arise when you have to pick one target out of a group, but these moments are few and far between. More importantly, being able to stay aimed at an enemy whilst able to dodge its attacks is pure gravy, and contributes to a feeling of power, unstoppability, and most importantly, fun.

Speaking of unexpected upgrades, Legends 2 has numerous surprises for you if you compare it to the original. For example, certain attacks can deal status ailments, as seen in many traditional RPGs, such as fire, paralysis, and the dreaded Energy Drain, which not only empties your special weapon gauge at an alarming rate, but cuts your regular Buster's range to an unusable distance. Okay, so maybe that's not so fun, but I appreciate the effort to add stuff to the game. Like the side-quests and bonus games, such as the jet-shoe races and the trivia quiz. I'm not kidding about that last one. There are also auxiliary ruins, which do not provide plot coupons, but are good for money and gear. Not that I need all the extra swag as an excuse to take them on; dungeon crawling is the strong point of both Legends 1 and 2, so it was nice of Capcom to give us even more of it. Furthermore, the graphics got a huge boost from the first game. Textures are more detailed, and even the money pickups look better than before. That's the level of detail we're dealing with, people.

He can also suffer status ailments.

The good elements of Mega Man Legends 2 are so amazingly good, but -- pardon the spoiler -- I won't be giving this a perfect score. Although many elements were improved from its predecessor, there is one aspect in which it took a step back. In the first game, if you wanted to change special weapons, you could call upon Roll's support car and carry out this function from anywhere in the overworld. But this time around, that feature is gone. With scant exceptions, you'll have to backtrack to the Flutter's landing site whenever you feel your equipped cannon, missile launcher, or drill is not up to task. However, at any time, you are able to go to the pause menu and switch between your special weapon and the Lifter, to pick up objects. (Which, by the way, isn't used too often, but is another welcome addition to the Legends formula.) Would it be too much to ask for the ability to switch between even one more special weapon?

See, this is why I think the Mega Man Legends games sold as poorly as they did (the first game sold less than a million copies worldwide; Legends 2 sold under half a million). It's things like that which create an experience which is just similar to the classic Mega Man formula, but only on the most basic levels. It is my conjecture that if instead of the Legends we got, the first 3-D Mega Man followed the more traditional... traditions of playing levels in any order and using special weapons from the bosses, albeit utilising the exact same engine and control scheme of Legends, it would've been a more palatable experience for the rest of us. Then again, I'm guessing a lot of people who like the Mega Man Legends series like it for its story, so forget about it.

And then there are the underwater ruins -- two of them in fact, the second being optional -- where the frame rate takes a dive, pardon the pun. If you thought the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time was the worst water level in all of gaming... you'd be right, but at least it runs faster than this! (I'm told this was fixed for the PSP version, however -- once again -- it was not exported out of Japan. Yes, I know the PSP is region-free, but there's still the language barrier to get over.) Still, while this moment was not what I'd define as fun, it's only a fleeting moment of un-fun in one of the most fulfilling video game experiences around.

Recently, I've been trying to take stock of my favourite video games of all time. So far, my list includes titles like Super Mario World, Doom, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Half-Life 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Just Cause 2... notice a pattern? They all built off a previous title, but surpassed its predecessor in terms of both quantity and quality. In that regard, I can say with a clear conscience that Mega Man Legends 2 is both a stellar sequel, and a worthy addition to my list of favourite games. Once you experience such customs as the new lock-on system, you'll wonder how you ever managed playing the first game without it. And I'm not saying all sequels need to do that, but a good sequel should fix what was wrong about the first entry whilst expanding upon its strong points, and it is in that regard which Mega Man Legends 2 succeeds with flying colours.

Edit 13 July 2016: Oh yeah, and Legends 2 is finally available on the PlayStation Store, just US$10 for PS3, PSP, and PS Vita. Considering that original hard copies of the game have become quite rare and expensive, you now have no excuse not to check it out. Seriously, buy it now. That's what the Dragon Award is for (pardon the spoiler).

Positives:
+ A far longer game than its predecessor.
+ Many interesting environments and characters.
+ Analog control support is available, if you're interested.
+ The lock-on function improves the flow of action.

Negatives:
- The lock-on function may not always pick out the right target.
- Dealing with status elements can be frustrating.
- Changing special weapons is less convenient than in the first game.
- The slow-paced water level.

Control: 4 Refractors out of 5
Design: 4 Refractors out of 5
Graphics: 5 Refractors out of 5
Audio: 5 Refractors out of 5
Value: 5 Refractors out of 5
The Call: 90% (A)

Game Review: Mega Man Legends

Mega Man Legends / Mega Man 64

• Publisher: Capcom
• Developer: Capcom
• Release:
• PlayStation, 19 September 1998
• Nintendo 64, 16 January 2001
• PlayStation Portable, 4 August 2005 (Japan only)
• Genre: 3D Action
• Players: 1
• Save:
• PSX: Memory Card, 1 block
• N64: Built-in
• PSP: Memory Stick, 360KB

This review was updated on 12 July 2016.

As simulated three-dimensional graphics (not to be confused with the stereoscopic 3D effects of today) became cost-effective in the mid-1990s, the video game characters we knew and love evolved to adapt it, with varying results.  Mario did it with Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64, 1996), and it was good.  Sonic did it with Sonic R (Saturn, 1997), and it was bad.  Bubsy the cat did it with Bubsy 3D (PlayStation, 1996) and OH DEAR NEPTUNE DON'T EVEN GO THERE!  And then there's Mega Man, who had made a name for himself with (as of 1997) eight games in the original series and four in the Megaman X series, all following the same concept.  Run and gun through eight or so levels in any order, taking weapons from the bosses and using them to exploit others' weaknessess.  So along comes Mega Man Legends, and in the transition to three dimensions, it takes great liberties with this formula.  Do these changes work in its favour, and more importantly, does the gameplay survive the jump to 3D?

The first thing you should know about Mega Man Legends in comparison to the other spin-offs is that it places a heavier emphasis on story.  The universe it takes place in is a world reduced to assorted islands, with sky pirates travelling amongst them in airships and collecting oversized gems called Refractors from underground ruins.  Our hero and player-character is one such Digger, Megaman Volnutt.  Basically, he's like Indiana Jones as filtered through a shonen robo-punk anime.  He flies about with his sister and spotter Roll Caskett, and her grandfather Barrel, on a ship called the Flutter.  After a tutorial level, the Flutter crash-lands on Kattelox Island, where Megaman and Roll set out to find Refractors and other parts to fix their ship.  The plot alternates between this scavenger hunt and exploits against a family of ne'er-do-well pirates known as the Bonnes, consisting of miss Tron Bonne, mister Teisel Bonne, Bomb Bonne, their giant robot baby (!), and a legion of forty Servbots.  Picture the Servbots as the minions from Despicable Me crossed with Lego minifigures.  In other words, [verb]ing adorable!!

Much of the action takes place in underground ruins.

Given the story I just described and the gameplay's adherence to it, Legends dispenses with the traditional Mega Man structure.  Indeed, the only thing linking it to the other series is that its main character is, in the words of Brentalfloss, "blue and cyan with a gun for a hand".  Certain conventions of the original series do reappear in spirit, however.  In addition to the traditional Buster Gun, you can use special weapons, but instead of picking them up from bosses, you find junk items in the over- and underworlds, and get Roll to craft weapons from them.  However, you must also return to Roll if you ever want to switch your special weapon, so this link to the original series (where you could swap weapons at any time) shows its cracks upon inspection.  On top of that, the Buster can be upgraded by finding parts to enhance its attributes, in a bout of RPG elements.  It's a little-known fact that you can entice me to play any old thing by working in RPG elements.  Military shooter?  Hmm, I don't know, there are a few too many around these days...  Military shooter with RPG elements?  [adverb]ing sold!

But despite the presence of RPG elements and a Saturday-morning anime aesthetic (remember when I coined that phrase?), could I still possibly harbour reservations about Legends?  Yes, from a certain point of view, but once again these complaints fall apart upon inspection.  The first thing that caught my concern were the controls.  Mega Man Legends was first released in 1997, so it pre-dates the analogue Dualshock controller.  As such, you'll have to use the D-Pad to move forward, backward, and to the sides.  To change directions, hold the L1 or R1 buttons to turn.  There is an option to have the D-Pad turn and the shoulder buttons strafe instead, but that's it for control customisation.  Yeah, it's a weird control scheme, and the handling of these controls can be a bit stiff, but honestly?  I got used to it rather quickly.  I like how the camera only moves when you turn, as opposed to automatic camera movement which, as a rule, lacks precision, never looks in the direction you want it to, and is just one more thing to wrestle with.

Plus, this setup makes circle-strafing a breeze, and believe you me, you're gonna be doing a lot of it. Manual aiming is handled by holding R2, although there is a degree of auto-aim to help you out if you turn it on.  All things considered, the control scheme is kind of an elegant solution given the limitations at hand, but since both the Nintendo 64 (funny I should mention that... read on) and Sega Saturn had analog-equipped controllers at the time, it's hard to take this on its own merits.  But that's what I must do as a critic, so let's move on to the game's scale: colour me unimpressed.

You've got the one overworld, Kattelox Island, from which you can find entrances to three main ruins, plus another ruins which, despite lacking bosses or plot artifacts, holds useful treasures and can be entered from all over the island.  The running time is padded out with special missions where you take the fight to the Bonne pirates, plus other mini-games and side-quests, but -- and I don't know about you -- I felt the game is at its best when you're exploring the dungeons, hunting through each room in anticipation of the traps and treasures lying within.  Let me put it to you this way: if the game had taken place 100% within these ruins, then I think the game would be stronger for it.  In the end, I spent around 6 hours in my first play-through. Taking on all the side-quests and building all the special weapons should add a couple of hours on top of that, and if you're willing to save enough money to fully upgrade all those weapons, then you can pad out your playtime considerably.

There are also a great deal of separate story missions.

But despite the scale of the game world being a bit lacklustre in my opinion, the world itself is vibrant in its look and feel.  Kattelox Island is dominated by its eponymous town.  One of the first places you visit on the island is Apple Market, a shopping arcade lined with businesses which you can’t buy from, save the Junk Shop, but you can still poke around them and read Megaman’s commentary on what’s in front of him.


The joke’s on him.  Those are just regular old Newsweeks someone dragged around in the mud.  But seriously though, all this flavour text brings the world of Kattelox Island to life.  So do the character designs, especially those of Megaman, Roll, and the Bonnes, which are well-suited to both the styles and the technical capabilities of the time.  And then there’s the voice-acting; it’s not spectacular or anything, but it’s not boring either.  Many of the actors on hand do try to wring out as much emotion as possible, which is more than I can say for other games of its time.

For example.

Mega Man Legends was also ported to the Nintendo 64, re-titled Mega Man 64.  In comparison with the original release on PlayStation, the N64 version has both pros and cons.  On the one hand, MM64 works with the analog Control Stick, which I personally find to be more comfortable to handle than the PSone's D-Pad.  The Z and R triggers handle turning, and you aim by holding both, which I personally found a more ergonomic, if not elegant, replacement for using a separate button.  Still, the translation of the face buttons is a bit confusing.  On the other hand, by virtue of being sold on a solid-state cartridge with, even in the most high-end cases, one-tenth the data space of a CD, MM64's audio-visual aspects pale in comparison to the PSone original.  Textures are less sharp and the voice-acting is of a more muddled quality (I'm just surprised they kept it in the first place), and on top of that the frame rate is choppy in all but the tightest confines.  So, should you choose the inconvenience of sub-par ergonomics or sub-par graphics?  Pick your own poison, I guess.  I should also point out that a port was also made for the PlayStation Portable, although sadly it hasn't left Japan.

Edit 29 Sep. 2015: The previous couple of sentences have more or less been rendered moot, now that the PlayStation version is available to download from the PlayStation Store.

It's funny, I went into this review with the mindset that Mega Man Legends was good but not great, but the more I scrutinised my sticking points, the less valid they became.  Maybe the control scheme is the best you can manage when you're stuck with one of the worst D-Pads in recent memory (but that's just me).  Maybe there is a meaty, engaging experience to be found in unlocking and upgrading all the special weapons.  I guess to be fair, I'm basing most of my criticism of this game against its sequel, but that's a review for another day.

Positives:
+ Changes the Mega Man formula in all the right places.
+ The underworld areas are fun to explore.
+ Even without analog support, the controls work well.
+ Good voice-acting, especially for its time.
Negatives:
- Changes to the Mega Man formula might put off some players.
- Could stand to have a few more areas to explore.
- Poorer texture and sound quality on the N64 version.

Control: 4 Refractors out of 5
Design: 4 Refractors out of 5
Graphics: 4 Refractors out of 5 (PSX) / 2 Refractors out of 5 (N64)
Audio: 4 Refractors out of 5 (PSX) / 3 Refractors out of 5 (N64)
The Call: 75% (B-)

Editorial: A Message to Capcom

On 18 July 2011, it was announced that Capcom was pulling the plug on development of Mega Man Legends 3 for Nintendo 3DS, along with its planned downloadable demo.  I first read about it on TVTropes a few days after the event, and my reaction was like, "Wait, what?", then I verified it on Wikipedia, and I facepalmed.  ...Okay, so I wasn't anywhere near itching to buy the game on day one, at some other point maybe, but I disapprove more on principle.  See, from its inception last year, Legends 3 was supposed to be this project where the fans would have input on so many of the game's details.  We watched as the fans submitted designs for the female co-lead, and let her keep the same name "Aero" in North America as in Japan.  A poll was even launched to let us choose from possible designs for the hero character.  And now all that's gone.  The official stance from Capcom was that fan interest wasn't strong enough in the project.  Erm... what?  What part of "fan input" were you missing!?  And now I'm reading that Capcom may have planned the cancellation ahead of time, despite the prototype demo being 90% complete.  I don't know, I'll just let wiser people than I explain it.  Click the links above.

Coincidentally, at around the same time, Capcom announced the upcoming release (due November 2011) of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, an updated rerelease of a game they first launched earlier this year.  Among the game's announced content, so far we have word of 12 new characters (many of them could be qualified as obscure) up to a total of 36, along with balancing updates and a spectator mode for online matches, on top of the existing content from the original MvC3, for an estimated US$40-50.  The content announced so far comes across as anemic compared to the likes of Super Street Fighter IV, not to mention unrelated games like the new seventh-gen Mortal Kombat.  Mostly this is a victim of poor timing: apart from being announced just a few months into the base game's lifecycle, it made its debut just a couple of days after the death of MML3.  Officially, the cancellation of MML3 was entirely unrelated to the development of UMvC3, but a lot of fans choose to believe otherwise, and I can't blame them.  So even if it's not the cause of MML3's death, UMvC3 is still the wrong game at the wrong time.


And yet it's ironic.  When you look at it one way, as per a comment on Blistered Thumbs by solss:

Stop with the “Capcom, what happened to you! make more RE and Mega man!”. Us fighting game enthusiasts had to play the same games for the last 10+ years while capcom churned out lame [...] megaman side scrolling game boy games and RE’s which were identical in gameplay in almost every iteration barring RE4/5. After a decade of waiting, capcom finally shows its loyal fanbase some support by FINALLY releasing a new street fighter/mvc, and all you casual players start whining. We had to wait, it’s your turn now.

Apparently, we're crying foul against a sequel (MvC3) we've waited over ten years for.  So no doubt, there's a sizeable chunk of people who had grown tired with the first two MvC games.  But by saying that, we're ignoring a few facts: 

1) This isn't a new game, per se, but an update to one we already got. And this is a franchise we're all too familiar with from them; heck, Street Fighter IV's on its third iteration already.

2) The game Capcom simultaneously axed also saw its last installment (Mega Man Legends 2 in 2000) over ten years ago.

3) I wouldn't exactly call the market for MML3 "casual". It's true a lot of games in the Mega Man franchise as a whole were released in the 2000s, but we have to look at this a different way. There are actually three distinct sub-franchises within Mega Man. There's the 2D platformers: the classic series, X, Zero, and ZX. There's the semi-RPGs, Battle Network and Star Force, and frankly I could live without them. Then throw in the Legends series and you have three distinct styles of gameplay.

Still, the timing couldn't be worse for UMvC3, apart from the reasons I've already given.  See, they've just published another update to SFIV (A port of Super Street Fighter IV for PC), and they're also running trailers for the crossover Street Fighter X Tekken.  So, Capcom, the way I see it, your problem is...

ENOUGH [verb]ING FIGHTING GAMES!!!

Guys, are you familiar with the concept of "diversifying your portfolio"?  If you were to produce only one genre of games at the rate you're going at, people will eventually get confused from all the similar choices available and not buy anything from you at all.  Think the Video Game Crash of '83 in microcosm.  Yeah, I just broke you.  (And yes, I am aware of some publishers who do specialize in one genre or two - Nippon Ichi says hi - but they're running on a smaller scale and haven't really done anything to draw our ire, not like you.)  As a matter of fact, this pretty much already happened last year, with Activision and the music game genre.  With so many individual Guitar Hero titles released in '08 and '09, in addition to its spinoffs and competitor franchise Rock Band, the backlash was so bad that they put the series on permanent (?) hiatus.  This coming from a company whose CEO wanted to continue to sell games with expensive peripherals all for the sake of more money.  Truly, justice has been served.  Long story short, Capcom, please don't do this to yourself: expand your focus to a wider variety of genres and franchises.  To intentionally belabour the point, yes, bringing back Mega Man Legends 3 would be a good place to start. 

As for the fans, there are many support options available at legends3.com.  You can join the Facebook group "100,000 Strong For Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3" (as of April 2012 they have broken their titular milestone), become a "Servbot" (named after the series mascot) and sign their online petition thread, or even contact Capcom USA's Senior VP directly.  Come to think of  it, the fact that Capcom's been keeping all these options open to us - Capcom is using that "Servbot" count to predict possible sales - is suspicious, as if they've always intended to release it after all.  Welp, we can't rely on them to play their hand.  We have to take action ourselves.  Please, if not for the game, then for business integrity in general.

This is IchigoRyu.

You are the resistance.

Next Episode: Okay, I think I've got it all out now.  I should probably take it back to a time when Capcom didn't have dollar/yen signs surgically implanted into their eyes.  Let's review one of their earliest games: 1942 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.