Mon 30 Jun 2008 - 3:50 pm
We tried to wait for the blue bomber.
We watched his franchise spawn many branches and go through numerous changes. And then, we weren’t so sure we wanted to wait any longer.
A lot of the adults playing games today started that habit in their childhood. Primarily, marketing departments aim for the 20-24 age bracket of young men, and believe they’re only capable of playing Halo and more Halo. This results in a lack of gameplay variety amongst AAA releases. Because a lot of these aimed-for consumers played Mega Man entries during the late 1980’s and mid-90’s, and Master Chief’s diminutive predecessor was also armored and did have a gun he could shoot, maybe executives thought it wouldn’t hurt to release a title like that today. Were they right?
There are no franchises I love more than Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man, but I don’t see the sense in a release that mimics graphics from 1988. One could argue that Mega Man has never been about originality, but over the years, it did introduce Rush, new moves (like the slide), additional playable characters, and more. It was the same old, same old at its core, but it did evolve. Why buck that trend? In this effort to revitalize the original series, and after the fine Mega Man X8, why are we going so far backward in time?
This is a game about robots, isn’t it? You know, from the future? Where things are supposed to be… advanced?
Regardless, I await the game, knowing that Keiji Inafune is involved and this isn’t just some throw-together knock-off (even though it looks like that so far). If he’ll be able to infuse some excellence, much as he did with MMX4 and the original Zero, I’m all for it. More closure beyond what Mega Man 2: The Power Battles’s story offered? Please, I’d love that too. What about a memorable soundtrack? Oh, that better be there! It’s going to be hard to top the music from the series’s NES entries, along with inspired tunes by modern bands like The Protomen, and unofficial remixes by Japanese doujin artists.
In other words, you’ve got your work cut out for you, Capcom. Fans are jaded, and the market group you’re aiming for already rejected the wonderful Mega Man Powered Up!. This has to be amazing, and is it going to be?
Does anyone even care?
This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext’s official position on the subject.
8 Comments
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I disagree with you. I recall that Mega Man 64 was advanced but failed in sales as well as Mega Man x7, so sometimes better graphics don’t always make a better game; The reason that megaman 9 is 8-bit is to appease the retro gaming community that getting some headway. It’s about the nolstalgia
Comment by andrew — June 30, 2008 @ 6:58 pm
I don’t disagree with making a game that has retro appeal, as graphics certainly aren’t everything. (Also, “Mega Man 64″ was just a port of “Mega Man Legends” which applied a lot of fog and generally muddied up the graphics.) However, the current look of MM9 is unappealing even by the standards of the original NES series. Not only that, but many of the retro-styled games that are selling well (or at least reasonably) are more akin to aping 16-bit quality artwork, if not something a little bit finer.
This feels like too little much, much too late to me. I’m a huge MM fan, but I am not excited. They’ll really have to pull off something wondrous to interest me.
Comment by Valerie Hilgenfeldt — June 30, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
Val has spoken!!!! Game over.
Comment by Chris Scantleberry — June 30, 2008 @ 11:29 pm
I’m going out on a limb and betting this is going to blow a lot of people away, in ways they didn’t expect. Personally, I think the graphic presentation looks like a lot of fun, and if Capcom wants to use it as a visual metaphor for MegaMan returning to its roots I’m not complaining. Bring it!
Comment by James Cunningham — July 1, 2008 @ 1:27 am
“I’m going out on a limb and betting this is going to blow a lot of people away, in ways they didn’t expect. Personally, I think the graphic presentation looks like a lot of fun, and if Capcom wants to use it as a visual metaphor for MegaMan returning to its roots I’m not complaining. Bring it!
”
Sounds like a very positive way of thinking about it. I like that. Here’s to hoping.
Comment by Valerie Hilgenfeldt — July 1, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
The next Mega Man should be something like what Sega is planning to do with Sonic Unleashed. Bring on the awesome Klonoa/Sonic & The Secret Rings awesomeness. Pls.
Comment by Chris Scantleberry — July 2, 2008 @ 2:17 am
We have to take a step back and think about how the Japanese might have approached this. An American design team might have thought “how can we make Mega Man feel retro again, but use modern technology to create a sort of psuedo-retro atmosphere that looks visually impressive?”.
Bad example (because it’s a Japanese-made game) but think Paper Mario.
I have a hunch that the Japanese approach was to not just take the game’s style and gameplay back to 1990, but take the actual process of creating the game back too.
In my opinion the result will be a noble effort, and certainly a product with far more love and feeling behind it than most games being made today.
On the other hand, I’m willing to bet the gameplay will be fun and nostalgic but isn’t going to blow anyone away, and its time in the spotlight will be short lived.
Comment by Mike — August 25, 2008 @ 2:33 pm
4QjK95 Thanks for good post
Comment by johnny — December 29, 2008 @ 7:19 am