RockmanPM Forums
Base => News and Announcements => Topic started by: Protoman Blues on December 09, 2011, 09:22:44 PM
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Capcom's Boss Talks Mega Man (http://games.ign.com/articles/121/1214368p1.html?utm_campaign=twposts&utm_source=twitter)
Perhaps appropriate that we are approaching our hero's birthday, Capcom US head honcho Christian Svensson is trying to alleviate the fans worries that Capcom has no plans to ever touch the franchise again and that they are indeed plans in the works. Now whether or not this is corporate PR bullpoopy or legitimate is up to you. Personally, I do feel that they are thinking about the future of the brand. However, my problem is that I think they'll come to the same conclusion that I have, that the franchise is no longer profitable.
I do think there's a way to make the series profitable again, however I don't know if it can be done. Essentially, a franchise needs marketability and Capcom needs to garner new interest in the franchise. There are three prominent ways to do that: movies, TV, and video games. Since a live action movie of Mega Man will not be made, and more or less should not be made, that leaves TV and Video Games. Actually, it only leaves TV since the main problem is that the video games are really no longer profitable and only current Mega Man fans are interested in them, outside of the nostalgic group that might play a downloadable classic series game. But nostalgia will only last for so long. The Mega Man franchise needs something new to build off of, so TV is the answer. Since you cannot make a live action Mega Man TV series, nor should they, the only logical answer is to make a brand new QUALITY Mega Man cartoon series.
I say quality because the NT Warrior cartoon brought over here was just dubbed anime and wasn't really all that good, and as much as I love the RS-MM cartoon for its cheesiness, it's a terrible cartoon. Cartoons like that only interest the MM fanbase, just like the Archie Comic, and do nothing to draw in new fans which is what Capcom has to do. So, if I were Capcom, what I would do is hire the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender to make a new Mega Man cartoon. Avatar is hands down one of the greatest cartoons ever made, and I do say ever. It has quality writing, fantastic characters & character development, great humor, awesome animation, and essentially everything a good cartoon & series needs. If they could use the same quality to make a new Mega Man cartoon, I think it would be a huge success. They would already have a brand recognizable character and an established fanbase that would watch in us, plus when they slap the "FROM THE CREATORS OF AVATAR" logo in front of it, you would have the interest of the Avatar fans as well. Then hopefully, if the cartoon is indeed good, it will gain interest just like cartoons like Avatar & the new My Little Pony did from totally new fans and well the rest is marketability.
The question is though, do you base a new cartoon off of an established series like the Classic or X series, or do you just make a whole new series all together? Personally, I would just go for an all new series, because if you go with an established series you run the risk of just telling the same old story again, just in newly animated form. If you make a new series, then you'll have new games to base that off of, and you ride the hope that the new fans will also check out some of the older series as well. Either way, it's a long shot, but one that I think has potential. Like I said though, it has to be good. Of course, I'm not in charge of Capcom, so what I say doesn't matter unless I start a petition or something. Heh, maybe I should start a petition, just for the fun of it and see what happens.
Anyway, what do you think of this proposal?
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I think Svensson's just trying to placate American fans while the Japanese branch doesn't even acknowledge Megaman's existence anymore. There's the Archie comic book, but I can't see that gaining enough interest to revitalize the franchise.
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Comic books are definitely not the answer. I'm an avid comic book fan and I can tell you that the industry as a whole is not doing well. Plus, in all honesty, the comic is not that good. It's enjoyable for a fan like me, but it's a comic for kids and I guarantee kids are not really reading it, just MM fans.
This is why I suggested a new quality cartoon, because if it does well enough over here it can very easily be ported over there to Japan to garner interest from that side of the world as well.
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If Capcom still wants to get stronger on American market why not gather the old Ruby Spears team and make a new cartoon?
I'd watch it.
Anyway.
If MM has really come to an end then I can't do or say much about it. I had great times. Of course I would prefer to see the series going. Maybe some new direction even. I mean outside of other media such as TV and theatre.
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So when do we get to the part where we can create our own characters in a free-roaming 2D (or 3D) Mega Man game? ó ωò
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Plus, in all honesty, the comic is not that good.
I jus ordered a subscription and all the backorders... ; ;
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It's a fun read.
Anyways, I would love for PB's idea to happen...but I just can't see it happening. Capcom still has plans for Rock, yeah, what with his supposed inclusion in SFxTK (if the Bad Boxart Megaman rumor is true though that'll help NOTHING with their situation), so at this point it feels like the only place for the franchise is cameos and merchandise right now. Still, who knows, I can only hope they're planning something big for the Blue Bomber, like a big revival for the current/next consoles. One can dream, right?
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They needed a new formula a long time ago. I honestly think Legends 3 would have accomplished that. They kept on remaking the same thing, with lower budgets, and now they're acting all confused because they stopped making a profit.
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It's the same thing Capcom has been doing since its inception, really.
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If Capcom still wants to get stronger on American market why not gather the old Ruby Spears team and make a new cartoon?
I'd watch it.
Anyway.
If MM has really come to an end then I can't do or say much about it. I had great times. Of course I would prefer to see the series going. Maybe some new direction even. I mean outside of other media such as TV and theatre.
I'd watch a new RS Mega Man cartoon as well. The issue is that I don't think anyone else would. That's why I suggested Avatar. It would hopefully be as good as Avatar, and thus draw in a new fanbase as well as keep the old one who will watch anything Mega Man. Also, I don't think Mega Man has really come to an end. They just need to think of a way to make it profitable again, which I believe can be done.
So when do we get to the part where we can create our own characters in a free-roaming 2D (or 3D) Mega Man game? ó ωò
Haha, when I get my Blues-centric game, my darling! XD
I jus ordered a subscription and all the backorders... ; ;
Don't worry. It's still a fun comic, but it's still a kids comic and it's clearly aimed at children. Why a series like Avatar would be good is because Avatar is a cartoon that can appeal to every age group.
Anyways, I would love for PB's idea to happen...but I just can't see it happening. Capcom still has plans for Rock, yeah, what with his supposed inclusion in SFxTK (if the Bad Boxart Megaman rumor is true though that'll help NOTHING with their situation), so at this point it feels like the only place for the franchise is cameos and merchandise right now. Still, who knows, I can only hope they're planning something big for the Blue Bomber, like a big revival for the current/next consoles. One can dream, right?
There's always hope. All you have to remember is that it's a business, so they will go for what's profitable first.
They needed a new formula a long time ago. I honestly think Legends 3 would have accomplished that. They kept on remaking the same thing, with lower budgets, and now they're acting all confused because they stopped making a profit.
To be honest, so do I. Especially considering that the 3DS is actually doing well now. SHOCKINGLY, having games out for the system helps to sell systems. I don't know if Legends 3 would have truly netted them a profit, as it was a risk, but the [acid burst] poor way the whole thing was handled was just the worst business practice I've ever seen.
In all honesty, a Legends series cartoon done by the Avatar team would actually be a very interesting idea. It's got a unique and broad enough world to work with, compelling and interesting characters, and since there have only been 2 games for it, there's plenty of room to either work with it or around it without tampering with the original source material too much.
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Yeah, Legends 3 could've been their chance, it had pretty much everything it needed and they threw away the opportunity. I mean, it had
-A monopoly of the "3DSware" store for its "demo"...that they decided to pass to improve the product (understandable) and in the end we all know what happened.
-It was going to be an early title, which meant it wouldn't have as much competition as it would've had later.
-It had the hype of being a new entry in a beloved franchise for the first time in a decade.
-It had a loyal fanbase that had certainly been growing during that decade of nothing.
-Its characters were more recognizable now than before because of their cameos.
It was the PERFECT chance for a revival and they threw it away =|
There's always hope. All you have to remember is that it's a business, so they will go for what's profitable first.
Yeah, which is why it's more of a dream than an actual expectation of them...
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Yeah, Legends 3 could've been their chance, it had pretty much everything it needed and they threw away the opportunity. I mean, it had
-A monopoly of the "3DSware" store for its "demo"...that they decided to pass to improve the product (understandable) and in the end we all know what happened.
-It was going to be an early title, which meant it wouldn't have as much competition as it would've had later.
-It had the hype of being a new entry in a beloved franchise for the first time in a decade.
-It had a loyal fanbase that had certainly been growing during that decade of nothing.
-Its characters were more recognizable now than before because of their cameos.
It was the PERFECT chance for a revival and they threw it away =|
It wasn't a perfect chance at all. It was a risk. Business wise, the Legends series probably has the most potential for growth since this would only be the 3rd installment (4th if you count Tron Bonne), but the problem still remains that it might not have garnered more of a fanbase than us. Now mind you, once people actually owned a 3DS, like say NOW after the system selling games & bundles have come out for it, it definitely had a better chance of gaining interest, especially around the holidays.
Sadly, camoes do not a fanbase make. Sure, people would have recognized the characters from their fighting game cameos, but would that fighting game crowd have come on over to the Legends game style? That's the question, and clearly they thought the answer was no.
To garner a truly new market, you need a marketable outlet and one that has a greater chance of attracting new fans, not just us. Games would be one way, but at this point in time the MM video games market will most likely not create a new fanbase. So, the most logical way would be a new cartoon series that appeals to everyone. The best example of that is perhaps the new My Little Pony series. It's clearly a cartoon series for young girls, but because of its quality writing & humor, plus good storytelling and characterization, it's attracted an incredible market beyond its original intent. That's what Capcom has to try to do with Mega Man. If a new cartoon is popular enough, then not only will you increase profitability in your merch (and you know I'm talking about Legends 3 figures), but it would most likely go towards the games as well.
Yeah, which is why it's more of a dream than an actual expectation of them...
Yeah, it might be a dream, but it also might be an opportunity to make money for them in the process. Again, what Capcom has to do in order to alleviate the PR holocaust they committed is to give the fans some sort of compensation for their grave error. This would be a flawless way to do just that. You'd instantly spark the interest of the fanbase you let down, they'd stop moping & complaining and get excited, and it might actually get new fans on board which is what they desperately need. Dream or not, it's an idea & a business model, one that can possibly be introduced into the minds of the hire ups at Capcom.
If only we had "Inception" technology... 8D
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If only indeed 8D
It wasn't a perfect chance at all. It was a risk. Business wise, the Legends series probably has the most potential for growth since this would only be the 3rd installment (4th if you count Tron Bonne), but the problem still remains that it might not have garnered more of a fanbase than us. Now mind you, once people actually owned a 3DS, like say NOW after the system selling games & bundles have come out for it, it definitely had a better chance of gaining interest, especially around the holidays.
Oh, I know it's definitely a risk, but what I mean by perfect opportunity is that this was as good as it was going to get for a Legends revival (and also, let's not forget that since it was going to be for the 3DS the costs of the game would've been lower too). The game was definitely not going to be released this year for sure (unless they rushed it that is), so had Capcom not "chickened out", like you said, it would've had a decent chance at gaining more recognition, be it because of online hype or word of mouth. Yeah, cameos are kinda insignificant in a way, but being even a little more recognizable is definitely a plus, even if just a very little one XD
An awesome cartoon would definitely help if it ever happened. The problem is that "if it ever happened" part...
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Oh, I know it's definitely a risk, but what I mean by perfect opportunity is that this was as good as it was going to get for a Legends revival (and also, let's not forget that since it was going to be for the 3DS the costs of the game would've been lower too). The game was definitely not going to be released this year for sure (unless they rushed it that is), so had Capcom not "chickened out", like you said, it would've had a decent chance at gaining more recognition, be it because of online hype or word of mouth. Yeah, cameos are kinda insignificant in a way, but being even a little more recognizable is definitely a plus, even if just a very little one XD
An awesome cartoon would definitely help if it ever happened. The problem is that "if it ever happened" part...
Now that I disagree with. The 3DS would have given it a good chance to succeed, but the best chance for it to succeed would probably be a multi-platform system base, similar to how MM9 & MM10 was available to everyone. Now here's where I can offer you hope, as there should be two brand new platforms coming out in the next year or so in the Wii U and the X-Box 720 (whatever they call it). This is why I would love a new cartoon series. It would be the perfect time for it, as by the time the new systems are out and have time to grow and sell, a new cartoon could be on the air and getting fans of every kind interested in the series and then they could hit the market with a new mulit-platform HD system, each of which will offer multiple styles of play for that game via PS Move, Kinect, or the Wii-Mote/Wii U Screen Controller thingy. Plus, it'll have HD graphics as well as a decent online service for other possible features they can utilize.
All of this needs to be planned out in a well formulated business model, for the idea of profit is the only way to get through to the people in charge.
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Well, I don't know. Sure, maybe it would sell more if it was multiplatform on the next generation of consoles, but it would also cost more and who knows if that amount of "extra" sales would've been enough for a decent profit (granted, we don't know if that would've happened on the 3DS either, but in that case it'd need less sales to profit than in the other one). Maybe as downloadable title and adding PC to the list of platform? How well do those kind of games sell?
Who knows, maybe a better opportunity could've been presented in the future, yeah, but chances are now we'll never know...
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Yeah, it would cost more to make but if the market, the old & new fanbase, is there to support it, then it would still net them a profit. As it stands, a big enough fanbase isn't even really there to support a 3DS game, which is why it was cancelled. The cancellation of the game wasn't the problem as much as the god awful way the whole process was handled. As much as we like to think it would have, Legends 3 on the 3DS was never really a profitable venture to begin with. So if they're going to try and make the MM series profitable again, they're going to have to go all out and get new fans. They had the right idea with the Devroom and such, but it wasn't enough.
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Right now Capcom is incapable of doing anything right so I don't even want to see them rebooting the series until they get a clue.
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I think Archie's comic has better potential than one would think. True, the comic book industry as a whole is down the shitter, but remember that Archie is at the head of a well-over-20-years-running game adaptation series, and I can tell you firsthand that because Archie loves advertising for themselves, there's plenty of Mega Man ads in those Sonic comic books. I've already seen letter columns featuring people who found Mega Man that way; there is definitely potential for expansion there. And the issue of being for kids? Not an issue. Quite the opposite, it's the whole damn point. Any older gamer already knows who Mega Man is; whether they like him or not, they've cast their lot already, and derivatives are unlikely to sway them. The foundational audience for games, as with the vast majority of toys/entertainment, IS the young, the people who bug their parents for the stuff, plain and simple. And Mega Man hasn't been relevant to young people since Battle Network.
That being said, the comic, as well as any cartoon discussed here, are American. And while we can certainly use any edge we can get in any territory, Mega Man hails from Japan, and the core of his essence, the games, will be coming from there as well. That means issues with the fanbase will need to be addressed there, or merchandise and re-releases will continue to be the only thing we see. I don't get the vibe that the likes of Sven and Seth wouldn't throw a game out there themselves if they were able; they're not.
Yeah, Legends 3 could've been their chance, it had pretty much everything it needed and they threw away the opportunity. I mean, it had
-A monopoly of the "3DSware" store for its "demo"...that they decided to pass to improve the product (understandable) and in the end we all know what happened.
-It was going to be an early title, which meant it wouldn't have as much competition as it would've had later.
-It had the hype of being a new entry in a beloved franchise for the first time in a decade.
-It had a loyal fanbase that had certainly been growing during that decade of nothing.
-Its characters were more recognizable now than before because of their cameos.
It was the PERFECT chance for a revival and they threw it away =|
This, this, this, and yeah, also this. Legends 3's cancellation frustrates me to no end because it was a great opportunity for the franchise. Risky? Absolutely. Most worthwhile projects are. Any business can only stay in the safe "coast mode" for so long, your audience inevitably shrinks over time. And that's pretty much how Mega Man got in the crappy situation that he's currently in.
Legends and Universe chose two completely different tactics in terms of their target audience. Legends was aimed at early adopter deliberately, while Universe was the "late-life, big audience, multi-console" game. Inafune leaving both bases covered when he left (had the games not been canned) was probably the best thing he could do to try and ensure Mega Man's future.
And the latter option there is not as sure-fire obviously correct as one might think. If the brand name is not recognizable, the game is unable to break out from the heavy competition for shelf space. Okami? Zack & Wiki? Capcom's been there before. And in fact, Mega Man has pretty much been falling down that slope for this entire console generation. Mega Man's almost always a late-comer in terms of hardware life cycles, and what game since the introduction of the DS HASN'T underperformed? Mega Man 9 was the closest thing to decent press that he's gotten in that entire time. Legends 3 stood as a great source of potential because it was, in terms of not only its gameplay style, but also its release schedule, and its (attempted) marketing direction, generally breaking the stagnating trends that Mega Man has been suffering over the last 6 years.
And I think any early 3DS adopter can appreciate what a welcome oasis the Prototype would have been amongst the 3DS's desert of an early software lineup. That monopoly that Solar mentioned would have lasted for FIVE [tornado fang]ing MONTHS. Being literally the only 3DS exclusive title available for download for that length of time, it would have been absolutely impossible for the game to NOT get some level of attention from general gaming news sites, to say nothing of word of mouth and the general greater will to experiment from a gamer who lacks other options. That was the whole damn point of the game being on 3DS to begin with. Nobody's going to tell me that the 3DS's sales justify cancelling the game; because besides the game not being on track for 2011 anyway, that kind of landscape is EXACTLY what Capcom bargained for in the first place. There was a method to that particular bit of madness, and they just walked away from it.
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I think Archie's comic has better potential than one would think. True, the comic book industry as a whole is down the shitter, but remember that Archie is at the head of a well-over-20-years-running game adaptation series, and I can tell you firsthand that because Archie loves advertising for themselves, there's plenty of Mega Man ads in those Sonic comic books. I've already seen letter columns featuring people who found Mega Man that way; there is definitely potential for expansion there. And the issue of being for kids? Not an issue. Quite the opposite, it's the whole damn point. Any older gamer already knows who Mega Man is; whether they like him or not, they've cast their lot already, and derivatives are unlikely to sway them. The foundational audience for games, as with the vast majority of toys/entertainment, IS the young, the people who bug their parents for the stuff, plain and simple. And Mega Man hasn't been relevant to young people since Battle Network.
It really does not. Again, I think it's fun, but it's not a very well written comic. Not to mention it's telling the same story over again for the most part with just some tweaks here and there. Also, it just being for kids is absolutely not the whole damn point. The point is that I guarantee you that the majority of people picking this comic up are MM fans, and not kids, and the kids that would pick this up will absolutely not make up the numbers to attract a new fanbase. The sales for this comic are staying at a current low rate, which is most likely to continue just as it has with the Sonic series, another series I almost guarantee is primarily picked up more by its fanbase than it is children. The reason comic books as a whole are dying in the first place is because they overall do nothing to attract newer, younger readers except for what DC is doing right now with their revamp, and we'll see how long that holds out. I do not see kids in comic book stores. I see only comic book fans around my age, some older some younger, and I shop at quite possibly the most popular comic book store on the eastern seaboard. This is why it needs a cartoon like Avatar or My Little Pony, because that is a cartoon aimed at children, aired on children networks, and they are so popular that they have both gained an audience outside its target audience. The Archie comic book will not do that, not just because it's not written all that well but because comics books as a whole do not attract anyone outside of current comic book fans, which is why the industry is doing so badly right now.
That being said, the comic, as well as any cartoon discussed here, are American. And while we can certainly use any edge we can get in any territory, Mega Man hails from Japan, and the core of his essence, the games, will be coming from there as well. That means issues with the fanbase will need to be addressed there, or merchandise and re-releases will continue to be the only thing we see. I don't get the vibe that the likes of Sven and Seth wouldn't throw a game out there themselves if they were able; they're not.
Again why I suggested a cartoon. Animation can have a worldwide audience, like Batman: The Animated Series and so on. Avatar has a 6 million+ fanbase worldwide and I believe it is still growing. Cartoons have much greater range and influence than a comic book ever will. The only thing that could have more range would be a live action movie, and lord knows that cannot be attempted via Hollywood, so it has to be animated.
This, this, this, and yeah, also this. Legends 3's cancellation frustrates me to no end because it was a great opportunity for the franchise. Risky? Absolutely. Most worthwhile projects are. Any business can only stay in the safe "coast mode" for so long, your audience inevitably shrinks over time. And that's pretty much how Mega Man got in the crappy situation that he's currently in.
Like I said to Solar, as it stands there is most likely not a big enough fanbase to support even a 3DS title. There never really was which is why when the game was first announced it was not only risky, but it seemed more like a "Thank you" to the fans who had been loyal and patient, which is why the PR abortion was so painful to fans because the "Thank you" was turned into a "Screw you" with nothing offered for compensation.
Legends and Universe chose two completely different tactics in terms of their target audience. Legends was aimed at early adopter deliberately, while Universe was the "late-life, big audience, multi-console" game. Inafune leaving both bases covered when he left (had the games not been canned) was probably the best thing he could do to try and ensure Mega Man's future.
And the latter option there is not as sure-fire obviously correct as one might think. If the brand name is not recognizable, the game is unable to break out from the heavy competition for shelf space. Okami? Zack & Wiki? Capcom's been there before. And in fact, Mega Man has pretty much been falling down that slope for this entire console generation. Mega Man's almost always a late-comer in terms of hardware life cycles, and what game since the introduction of the DS HASN'T underperformed? Mega Man 9 was the closest thing to decent press that he's gotten in that entire time. Legends 3 stood as a great source of potential because it was, in terms of not only its gameplay style, but also its release schedule, and its (attempted) marketing direction, generally breaking the stagnating trends that Mega Man has been suffering over the last 6 years
Universe had potential, but they did not show enough to make me believe it was going to be a worthwhile effort, or anything more than a customizable Mega Man 2 game. And Legends being aimed at the early adopter is probably what cost it its life, being that the 3DS hasn't boomed in sales until most recently. The 3DS was always going to have system seller games like Mario 3DS and Mario Kart. Was Legends 3 going to be one to anyone outside of Mega Man fans? If you go by the Facebook page, 100,000 Strong for Bringing Back MML3 is currently idling at around half its estimated number, and hasn't really increased for a good 3 months now. Again, the MM fanbase is really not all that big and Legends 3 was more than a risk. It was never really going to net a huge profit. The series itself is much more of a cult hit than a huge success in the first place. When most people think of PS1 Mega Man games, they think of X4.
Mega Man 9 got decent press because it was a return to the roots of MM, it ignited the nostalgic feeling in non-MM fans who played that game when they were younger, and it was downloadable and immensely cheap. The only time Legends 3 got decent amounts of press were its announcement and its cancellation. You're describing the problem with the franchise just as I did, in that no one really cares about it anymore outside of nostalgia, which is why the merch & comic book & downloadable games are the only thing netting the franchise any sort of profit at all. Hell, they're re-releasing X1 on the iPod/iPad to play off of nostalgia once again. It's gameplay style, marketing direction, release schedule are ultimately irrelevant because no one outside of MM fans like us really even care about the franchise anymore.
And I think any early 3DS adopter can appreciate what a welcome oasis the Prototype would have been amongst the 3DS's desert of an early software lineup. That monopoly that Solar mentioned would have lasted for FIVE [tornado fang]ing MONTHS. Being literally the only 3DS exclusive title available for download for that length of time, it would have been absolutely impossible for the game to NOT get some level of attention from general gaming news sites, to say nothing of word of mouth and the general greater will to experiment from a gamer who lacks other options. That was the whole damn point of the game being on 3DS to begin with. Nobody's going to tell me that the 3DS's sales justify cancelling the game; because besides the game not being on track for 2011 anyway, that kind of landscape is EXACTLY what Capcom bargained for in the first place. There was a method to that particular bit of madness, and they just walked away from it.
Sorry, but you're absolutely overvaluing early 3DS adopters. Early 3DS adopters bought the system because it was a new piece of hardware, they needed to replace their old DS/DSLite/DSi, and they were waiting for Mario 3DS, Mario Kart, and other quality Nintendophile Nintendo brand titles. Only Mega Man fans bought a 3DS for MML3 or were waiting for MML3, game drought or no game drought. Gaming news sites and word of mouth would not have garnered enough interest in it, especially not a Prototype you have to pay money for. If it was free, maybe. But those points would go more towards Link's Awakening or Super Mario Land 2 before they'd go towards a Prototype of MML3, which is why when they announced the Prototype to begin with and what it represented to the game as a whole, I knew the game was destined to fail/not come out. Hell, the game didn't garner that much interest from non-MM fans until word got out of how shitty Capcom treated their fanbase regarding its cancellation. Whoever bargained for that empty landscape overvalued the early 3DS adopter as well, because it was such a [acid burst] poor business decision that it is possibly what killed the game in the first place, because they banked on a system too early that had no "system selling" games out for it yet. You talk about having a 5 month monopoly, but it's the equivalent of having a Monopoly on Mediterranean Ave. and Baltic Ave. in which no one really cares about it. If they had actually waited till more and more people were buying the 3DS like now, once the "system sellers" were out, then more people would have a better chance to hear about the game via word of mouth, internet news, and so on. There's still going to be a decent game drought for the system after Mario Kart 7. But at least in this drought, many more people actually own the system.
Also, you like many other Mega Man fans are not thinking in terms of true marketability and profitability. Legends 3 was never going to be profitable. Gaming news sites, word of mouth, and no other 3DS options at the time are not good marketing strategies when you are trying to attract new people to buy your product. Nostalgic merch and most certainly comic books are definitely not a feasibly sound marketable way to attract new people to buy your product, ESPECIALLY not comic books. What has to happen is that they need to build the franchise up to a point where it is in no way a risky move to make a new Mega Man game. Fighting game fans will always flock back to Street Fighter vs. Whatever and so on. Shooter fans will always flock back to Halo or COD and so on. Nintendo fans will always flock back to Zelda, Mario and the lot. Yes, Mega Man fans will always flock back to their series as well, but there are not as many MM fans as there use to be, and there are so many different series now that it can have a splinter effect on which fans buy which series, and Legends 3 was always the more cult-favorite one. As I said in my original post, there are 3 primary ways to market a franchise/product. #1. Movies. #2. TV. #3. Video Games. #1 cannot and should not be done and #3's marketability is already the problem, in that it really has nothing marketable & worthwhile outside of 8-Bit nostalgia which not only has already worn off but would now most likely be seen as insulting considering what happened with MML3 in the first place, so #2 is the only real way to go.
This is why a cartoon series is the most logical and effective way to go. Cartoons already primarily appeal to children, children who you want to be your future customers, children who you want to ask their parents to buy you said franchise merch & video games. Avatar had literally no previous brand recognition before it was created, and it has turned into a tremendous success due to the quality of the cartoon itself and how it appealed to more than just the children it was intended for. The same can be said for the new My Little Pony cartoon. It's a new cartoon clearly targeted at young girls, but it's so good that it appeals to everyone. This kind of immense appeal is truly what the Mega Man franchise needs, and since Mega Man is primarily a series intended more for a youthful audience, it absolutely can be made into a quality cartoon series. It should either be a new series all together, or one maybe based on the Legends series.
Like I said before, a new cartoon series based on the Legends series would actually make a whole lot of sense, because the Legends series is not deep enough in its own "lore" where it cannot be altered with, worked with, or added upon. It is still very much a young, fledgling series and it can definitely be built upon. It has unique and interesting characters, as well as a unique, interesting, and overall fun world. It can deal with serious issues without taking itself too seriously. If the series is handled well and is a quality cartoon, it will most definitely spread and gain a brand new audience, because as shown with Avatar & My Little Pony, people crave and love watching quality entertainment no matter what the supposed "target audience" is for said series. One of the reasons I suggested it be done by the people who made Avatar is because if you slap on "FROM THE CREATORS OF AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER" in front of the commercials, you already possibly gain a 6 Million+ fanbase who would be interested in it just because it's made by the people who make one of the greatest cartoon series ever created. If it's good, nay great, then it will be talked about, it will be spread, and it will then gain interest, and those interested will perhaps look into what spawned the series in the first place, which will make them look at the 2-3 previous Mega Man Legends games which should (hopefully) be available for download in some way, shape, or form, if not getting new HD re-touch games all together. At that point, it will not matter if the cartoon is American, because if it garners a big enough American audience with a quality cartoon, Capcom of Japan will put out a game anyway if they see that their franchise has a chance to make them some money over here in the West, even if it does not back east except for the fans who would buy the series regardless cause they are Legends fans. Here could very well be the new, lasting, paying audience the franchise needs to get back on its feet and I think that a quality cartoon is the best way to go in that regard.
You know what, [tornado fang] it. I'm actually gonna start E-mailing around and I'm gonna see if this has any hope of being accomplished. I'll never know unless I look into it.
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Well, I respect your opinion, and certainly value such thoughtful input (which is distressingly rare these days), whether I agree with it or not. But, gotta disagree on a few points (not all).
Cartoons have much greater range and influence than a comic book ever will. The only thing that could have more range would be a live action movie, and lord knows that cannot be attempted via Hollywood, so it has to be animated.
I'm certainly not denying that a cartoon has far greater potential than a comic, relatively speaking. I'm just saying that I don't see the comic as a complete write-off either.
That being said, a QUALITY cartoon is still a significant investment, and I think that if they can't make that investment with games, they're probably not going to make it outside of such. It's not just the money, either, it's also the talent and the time. The drive to remain faithful to the character's image. The games failing are a symptom of Capcom's lackluster efforts, and until their attitude changes, they're more likely to sell a Mega Man cartoon to whoever tickles their wallet and leave it at that.
Whether or not it holds any value as a potential expansion, do you know why I personally like the Archie comic? Because they "get" Mega Man. As I understand it they're not fans themselves, they've studied up, and obviously done a much better job of it than a lot of the people that Capcom hires. The woes of Mega Man games aren't solely the fault of advertising; there have been serious issues with the creative talent behind their making and localization over the last five or six years. Every Mega Man game that came out over this console generation was "so-so", enjoyable to us, but definitely not up to the quality standards of Mega Man's "golden years". MHX's character models look like they belonged in Sonic Rush. ZX and Powered Up were both horrendously badly localized, and the latter was further badly balanced and the textbook definition of a failed attempt at nostalgia (the game is a good game in itself, but a terrible remake). ZX Advent was too many bells and whistles and not enough core, largely failing to capture the "growing stronger" theme due to its watered down arsenal and its booby-prize of a hidden form. MM9 applied a nostalgic coat of paint to a level design clearly not measuring up (Egoraptor's sequelitis video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM) is the perfect example of what 9 lacked), and further had the gall to charge its players for difficulty levels. MM10...surprisngly well improved, but still had a few more kinks (regardless it seems the public made up its mind already). Universe, while we know little of it, already was seen to control poorly and de-emphasize the weapon mechanics. It may have surprised me had it been released, but all signs pointed to it sharing many common strengths and flaws with Powered Up.
The last time Mega Man was truly firing on all cylinders was the Zero series. God knows I can complain about it enough on the grounds of artistic preferences and shifting the arsenal focus from weaknesses to a wider array of primary weapons, but it was the last time I truly felt that the games successfully accomplished what they had set out to accomplish (maybe ZX1 as well, but again, badly localized).
A Korean-only game garnered more excitement from most fans than Universe, that says something. It says that Capcom truly has no idea what they're doing. I don't doubt your premise on the cartoon, but for the level of quality and investment that is necessary for the desired effect, it would take a freaking miracle. What I doubt is that the video games, being the current problem, cannot be attacked directly instead of circumvented. If Capcom could get their [parasitic bomb] together, they could make it work. I'm fairly confident, as you could gather above, that they weren't on that road with Universe. Did they have their [parasitic bomb] together with Legends 3? We'll never know. THAT'S what ticks me off. Yes, Legends is a cult classic, but it's a cult classic that hasn't even attempted to find an audience over the last decade. Times change, preferences change, technologies change, the inherent rules of game design change (point of interest: the latter two are not addressed by porting the PS1 games). I am not willing to write off the series based on a precedent that has not been tested since the year after the general public got over their fear that the Dreamcast's launch date was going to reset every computer in the world.
And Legends being aimed at the early adopter is probably what cost it its life, being that the 3DS hasn't boomed in sales until most recently. The 3DS was always going to have system seller games like Mario 3DS and Mario Kart.
(http://home.comcast.net/~Anguirus/objection.gif)
You're taking the target of the retail game and applying it to the timeframe of the Prototype, and they are two different things. "Early" is a relative term. No way was the final retail version of the game poised to arrive before 2012. And nobody worth their own brain stem would have believed that the combination of Christmas (which isn't even here yet), nostalgia-addict Mario platforming, and Mario Kart wasn't going to push the hardware.
Was Legends 3 going to be one to anyone outside of Mega Man fans? If you go by the Facebook page, 100,000 Strong for Bringing Back MML3 is currently idling at around half its estimated number, and hasn't really increased for a good 3 months now.
I think this is a bit of a tangent, but I find 50,000 joins on what is effectively an internet petition, which the majority of the world dismisses as a complete waste of time by its very definition, to be fairly impressive.
The number "100,000" is meaningless. Somebody probably just attached that to the group because it came up way back when we were all worried about the ZX franchise. And frankly, they were better off setting their sights high than low, because the last thing the fans need right now is to be content. 100,000 is a long-term goal, which is what they need because God knows nothing's going to come of Legends in the short-term. If/when they hit that number, it's not going to mean anything to Capcom. It's admirable, to be sure. But nobody in their right mind believes that a Facebook page, whether popular or not, translates directly to sales.
The actual value to the Facebook page is merely that it serves as a rallying cry; it provides a single point for the otherwise fragmented fanbase to focus, and a means to organize them when the need arises. In and of itself it is unlikely to have any direct impact, and most of the people who join it know that.
Sorry, but you're absolutely overvaluing early 3DS adopters. Early 3DS adopters bought the system because it was a new piece of hardware, they needed to replace their old DS/DSLite/DSi, and they were waiting for Mario 3DS, Mario Kart, and other quality Nintendophile Nintendo brand titles. Only Mega Man fans bought a 3DS for MML3 or were waiting for MML3, game drought or no game drought. Gaming news sites and word of mouth would not have garnered enough interest in it, especially not a Prototype you have to pay money for. If it was free, maybe. But those points would go more towards Link's Awakening or Super Mario Land 2 before they'd go towards a Prototype of MML3
Not buying that. Not when Dr. Wily's Revenge was one of the first/only titles to give Link's Awakening a run for its money on the e-Shop's charts, and not when the Legends 3 "prologue" was set to sell at the same price that Nintendo charges for a goddamn clock skin.
While the 3DS's performance/target audience may have been a contributing factor over at Capcom, it was at best an extremely short-sighted one, and I absolutely refuse to accept that it is valid as the primary reason for the game's cancellation. The fact that the Prototype was effectively finished yet went unreleased is key here, as that says Capcom wasn't even willing to try and offset their loss. Further, you can attack the premise of the Prototype Version all you want, and make an excellent point of it. But WHEN THE WORK HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE, the loss of taking that last step out the door is negligible. That's why the security of Mega Man's Virtual Console ports is not in doubt. You may be right, Capcom's intent with Prototype may have been badly conceived and illogical on all levels, but sales potential is a matter of probability, not of fact. Nobody has a crystal ball (hey, Nintendo didn't think Smash Bros. or Pokemon would sell in the U.S.), and the time for the "probability" argument of the Prototype already came and long since went. Prior to the Prototype's cancellation, the project had nothing to lose, and so attacking the concept after it was already finished as a reason to not release it is not a valid argument. Not when it comes from Capcom, and not when it comes from the fellow fans.
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I'm certainly not denying that a cartoon has far greater potential than a comic, relatively speaking. I'm just saying that I don't see the comic as a complete write-off either.
It is a complete write-off because as I stated, if the goal is to get new fans to buy your franchise product, comic books are absolutely 100% NOT the way to go. Trust me, I've seen what has happened and what is currently happening to the industry. DC pissed off a lot of people with their "New 52" revamp because it was once again going to change everything, to alter their entire universe for one, sole, unifying purpose: to get new readers to pick the comic books up. It's an absolutely risky maneuver and one that can and probably did cost them some fans, but the hope was that it was attract new readers into the fray. So far it's working, but we will see how long it lasts, but here's the thing. Even though it is working, comic sales are still not good on either side of the spectrum. The #1 selling comic will only sell about 100,000+ a month. About 15-20 years ago, a comic selling that low would have be cancelled. Mega Man currently hovers around the 10,000-20,000 range in the 200 seller range. Comic books are a dying art form and unless the system drastically changes, it's only going to get worse. If DC's gambit fails then all of comics might suffer because there's not much that can be done.
That being said, a QUALITY cartoon is still a significant investment, and I think that if they can't make that investment with games, they're probably not going to make it outside of such. It's not just the money, either, it's also the talent and the time. The drive to remain faithful to the character's image. The games failing are a symptom of Capcom's lackluster efforts, and until their attitude changes, they're more likely to sell a Mega Man cartoon to whoever tickles their wallet and leave it at that.
It's definitely an investment, but sometimes you have to take a risk in order to make money. If it doesn't work, then you only do one season and cancel it before its time. If it does, you finish one series and move onto the next, like Avatar: The Legend of Korra. I'll continue upon this in my closing statement.
Whether or not it holds any value as a potential expansion, do you know why I personally like the Archie comic? Because they "get" Mega Man. As I understand it they're not fans themselves, they've studied up, and obviously done a much better job of it than a lot of the people that Capcom hires. The woes of Mega Man games aren't solely the fault of advertising; there have been serious issues with the creative talent behind their making and localization over the last five or six years. Every Mega Man game that came out over this console generation was "so-so", enjoyable to us, but definitely not up to the quality standards of Mega Man's "golden years". MHX's character models look like they belonged in Sonic Rush. ZX and Powered Up were both horrendously badly localized, and the latter was further badly balanced and the textbook definition of a failed attempt at nostalgia (the game is a good game in itself, but a terrible remake). ZX Advent was too many bells and whistles and not enough core, largely failing to capture the "growing stronger" theme due to its watered down arsenal and its booby-prize of a hidden form. MM9 applied a nostalgic coat of paint to a level design clearly not measuring up (Egoraptor's sequelitis video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM) is the perfect example of what 9 lacked), and further had the gall to charge its players for difficulty levels. MM10...surprisngly well improved, but still had a few more kinks (regardless it seems the public made up its mind already). Universe, while we know little of it, already was seen to control poorly and de-emphasize the weapon mechanics. It may have surprised me had it been released, but all signs pointed to it sharing many common strengths and flaws with Powered Up.
The last time Mega Man was truly firing on all cylinders was the Zero series. God knows I can complain about it enough on the grounds of artistic preferences and shifting the arsenal focus from weaknesses to a wider array of primary weapons, but it was the last time I truly felt that the games successfully accomplished what they had set out to accomplish (maybe ZX1 as well, but again, badly localized).
I like the comic book series too for the reasons you mentioned. As for everything you mentioned with the games themselves, I really don't disagree with anything you said. I haven't played all of them so I cannot offer up any real opinions on the games itself. However, all of what you mentioned is essentially irrelevant. The main point & problem is that despite everything you mentioned about the games, the only ones buying them are Mega Man fans. Most of the gaming world has moved on from it whether the game is enjoyable or not. Like we mentioned before, the only one that got noticeable attention was MM9 and that was due to nostalgia.
A Korean-only game garnered more excitement from most fans than Universe, that says something. It says that Capcom truly has no idea what they're doing. I don't doubt your premise on the cartoon, but for the level of quality and investment that is necessary for the desired effect, it would take a freaking miracle. What I doubt is that the video games, being the current problem, cannot be attacked directly instead of circumvented. If Capcom could get their [parasitic bomb] together, they could make it work. I'm fairly confident, as you could gather above, that they weren't on that road with Universe. Did they have their [parasitic bomb] together with Legends 3? We'll never know. THAT'S what ticks me off. Yes, Legends is a cult classic, but it's a cult classic that hasn't even attempted to find an audience over the last decade. Times change, preferences change, technologies change, the inherent rules of game design change (point of interest: the latter two are not addressed by porting the PS1 games). I am not willing to write off the series based on a precedent that has not been tested since the year after the general public got over their fear that the Dreamcast's launch date was going to reset every computer in the world.
It's not going to take a miracle, just competent business strategy, which again I'll discuss in my closing statement. I just went with the most logical way to build a franchise, make it popular, and attract a new fanbase. A Korean MMO most likely won't do that because from what I've seen they eat up any MMO, and over here it wouldn't have done well because it'd be competing against WoW and Star Wars: The Old Republic, and no one is playing a Mega Man MMO over here over those two or any of the other semi-popular ones here, except for MM fans who would buy it. Hell, they totally [tornado fang]ing missed the boat on an MMO series here. They should have done one when EXE was still popular, as it was pretty much the perfect [tornado fang]ing platform for one. As for Capcom getting their [parasitic bomb] together, to be quite honest, they know exactly what they're doing. You say how Legends 3 hasn't even attempted to find an audience over the last decade. Neither has the Power Stone series, and the reason why is because they are cult classics and there's much more profit to be made in other areas of their company that are not cult classics. Why make a new Legends 3 game when they can [parasitic bomb] out a Marvel vs. Capcom 3, make customers pay $60 for it, then make that $60 purchase absolutely useless by releasing a new $40 expansion pack titled Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3? With little to no effort, they've just made their fighting game franchise fans pay $100 for being [parasitic bomb] on and they know wholeheartedly that their fans will eat that [parasitic bomb] because they are addicts and will buy a plate of [parasitic bomb] if it has a MvC title on it. It's the same reason why at the end of the VGA's, a trailer for Metal Gear Rising was shown and not a trailer for Zone of the Enders 3, because a Metal Gear title will sell immensely more than a ZOE3.
You're taking the target of the retail game and applying it to the timeframe of the Prototype, and they are two different things. "Early" is a relative term. No way was the final retail version of the game poised to arrive before 2012. And nobody worth their own brain stem would have believed that the combination of Christmas (which isn't even here yet), nostalgia-addict Mario platforming, and Mario Kart wasn't going to push the hardware.
Not the point. My point was that nobody outside of Mega Man fans were buying the Prototype to begin with, especially one they would have to pay for.
I think this is a bit of a tangent, but I find 50,000 joins on what is effectively an internet petition, which the majority of the world dismisses as a complete waste of time by its very definition, to be fairly impressive.
The number "100,000" is meaningless. Somebody probably just attached that to the group because it came up way back when we were all worried about the ZX franchise. And frankly, they were better off setting their sights high than low, because the last thing the fans need right now is to be content. 100,000 is a long-term goal, which is what they need because God knows nothing's going to come of Legends in the short-term. If/when they hit that number, it's not going to mean anything to Capcom. It's admirable, to be sure. But nobody in their right mind believes that a Facebook page, whether popular or not, translates directly to sales.
The actual value to the Facebook page is merely that it serves as a rallying cry; it provides a single point for the otherwise fragmented fanbase to focus, and a means to organize them when the need arises. In and of itself it is unlikely to have any direct impact, and most of the people who join it know that.
If the Facebook page and rallying cry is useless, then that essentially proves Capcom's point to begin with. No one is interested in Mega Man currently, even after they just publicly humiliated themselves with the PR debacle. As mentioned before, people can rally all they want, but as long as they continue to support & buy Capcom products, like they will because gamers are addicts, then any rallying cry is useless and it only goes to show that Capcom knew exactly what they were doing. Pissed off fans or not, they are still buying their products.
Not buying that. Not when Dr. Wily's Revenge was one of the first/only titles to give Link's Awakening a run for its money on the e-Shop's charts, and not when the Legends 3 "prologue" was set to sell at the same price that Nintendo charges for a goddamn clock skin.
Again, nostalgia sells. It's the only thing about Mega Man that sells currently.
While the 3DS's performance/target audience may have been a contributing factor over at Capcom, it was at best an extremely short-sighted one, and I absolutely refuse to accept that it is valid as the primary reason for the game's cancellation. The fact that the Prototype was effectively finished yet went unreleased is key here, as that says Capcom wasn't even willing to try and offset their loss. Further, you can attack the premise of the Prototype Version all you want, and make an excellent point of it. But WHEN THE WORK HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE, the loss of taking that last step out the door is negligible. That's why the security of Mega Man's Virtual Console ports is not in doubt. You may be right, Capcom's intent with Prototype may have been badly conceived and illogical on all levels, but sales potential is a matter of probability, not of fact. Nobody has a crystal ball (hey, Nintendo didn't think Smash Bros. or Pokemon would sell in the U.S.), and the time for the "probability" argument of the Prototype already came and long since went. Prior to the Prototype's cancellation, the project had nothing to lose, and so attacking the concept after it was already finished as a reason to not release it is not a valid argument. Not when it comes from Capcom, and not when it comes from the fellow fans.
The only other explanation for the game's cancellation, outside of the 3DS' early performance, is that Capcom are absolute, total [tornado fang]ing dicks and this was indeed trolling on a scale never before seen in gaming history, to fans and possibly Inafune. Logically, that makes absolutely no sense. I refuse to believe that any company like that intentionally makes complete public asses of themselves for the sole purpose of douchebaggery. I agree that not releasing the Prototype was a stupid move, especially when you've already let it be publicly known that the actual game will sink or swim based on sales. And yeah, they had to do it even though they knew, just as I did, that the game was sunk already when they made that announcement. Again, I'm not disputing that this was a disaster in terms of both PR and intelligence all together, but the game was never making a profit from Day 1. It was essentially a "Thank You" for being such loyal fans, cause before this debacle Capcom was considered one of the better companies in terms of their relationship with fans via Capcom Unity. You know why they didn't release the Prototype? Because they knew that it was not making a profit at all and they weighed the option of #1. releasing it just to save face and take the financial loss OR #2. not release it, deal with the backlash, and know that eventually the people pissed at them would still continue to buy their products like the little addicts that they are. That's how business works. They weigh their options and go with the one which ultimately works out better for the company, and public humiliation was less costly than saving face with their fans.
You don't need a crystal ball to predict the future, just logic and common sense to give you the best estimate of what's going to happen. You have to know your market. Nintendo might not have known that Pokemon was going to sell well in the US, but as soon as I saw what the game entailed in a Japanese magazine my dad brought home from Japan, I went over and showed it to him and told him, "Dad, you are looking at the next, big craze here in the US. This game will be immensely huge!" because I could see it appealing to absolutely every type of gamer here in the US at the time. Sometimes sales potential is indeed a fact. Here, watch this: "NINTENDO ANNOUNCES NEW GAME COMBINING THEIR POPULAR FRANCHISES INTO ONE MASSIVE RPG SERIES ENTITLED Nth UNIVERSE!!!!" The game doesn't even have to be all that good, and I can 100% guarantee it would be a huge success. Or hell, when Nintendo decides to break down and finally make a Pokemon MMO game with their new Wii U platform, we can pretty much just start taking bets on how long it will take to become the #1 selling game of all time. It's no different than how Capcom knew exactly what was going to happen with the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 situation. People would be pissed that they just spent $60 on the previous, now useless game, but they wouldn't be SO pissed as to not buy the new one. It's the same with the movie industry. Take Transformers 2 & 3, for example. Transformers 2 and 3 are quite possibly two of the worst movies I've ever seen, but they are 100% guaranteed to make a huge profit, which is why they don't have to try with the script or plot or character development, or really anything that goes into making a movie good. It's a movie that is literally "critic" proof.
Finally getting back to your point about a quality cartoon being a significant investment, it most certainly is but it still has the best chance of succeeding if done right. First of all, like I said, it either has to be an entirely new series or based off the Legends series, which still has amazing potential for growth in regards to it's lore. It won't just re-tell the same story over again, like the Mega Man comic. Business wise, the investment would also be a joint venture, a partnership, with another company, which is why I suggested getting the team that did Avatar to do it. Both sides already have a loyal fanbase, and a cartoon could combine both fanbases in order to make a profit. If both sides see it as a profitable venture, then talent, time, effort, and being loyal to the character's image can all be accomplished by both sides, working together, working off of each other to create a quality product. Not only that, but you build a business partnership in regards to merchandising as well, like say when said cartoon company wants to make a video game out of said popular cartoon. A lot of them are just okay, but working together you have a greater chance of creating a quality game as well, especially with a company like Capcom who, despite dislike for some of their practices, can still make quality games here and there. You said it's going to take a miracle for that kind of quality and investment to be put into a cartoon and while that might be true to a certain degree, I can promise you that it's going to take an even greater miracle to put that much quality and investment into making a new video game and having it attract fans without it going off what the characters & series are all about in the first place.
When you have a limited fanbase, you cannot just half-ass it like Capcom did with the MvC3 franchise which was a guaranteed seller no matter what. It needs full assing, and at this juncture in time I think it's much more worthwhile for them to go with a cartoon rather than a new game. A Legends 3 cartoon would work on so many levels, if it's good, and it would make Capcom actually look good and save face, as this would be their "apology" for what they did regarding the game cancellation. Again, it doesn't take a crystal ball to know how the people they wronged would react to this, rather it's all about knowing your market. The fans would not only accept this apology but be giddy with excitement over the prospect of a new Mega Man Legends animated series, ESPECIALLY if it's done by the creators of Avatar. It's an idea that benefits everyone.
Hahaha, I'm far from saying it's possible or only just a Protoman Bluesian pipe-dream, but I'm actually gonna E-Mail & call people and see if it's possible cause in the long run, as a Mega Man fan and as a fan of animation, I've really got nothing to lose. LoL, if they tell me no, then I'm no worse off than I was before I looked into it. 8)
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Hmm.... If they wanted to spark new interest in the series with an animated series, it's a big gamble whether they go with a new series or basing it off an established one. Granted, neither would go well if they go with the 'popular' animation style (IE the equivalent skill and detail of a 10-year-old with Flash) due to how Mega Man, as a whole, is more action-based than comedy (though, comedy bits would be very welcome). I could go on a whole tirade about how present-day cartoons are crap, but that's detracting from the current topic.
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Legends really is perfect for an animated series.
as for this PR, well, despite it being the must sincere sounding PR Ive heard in a while from Capcom, I cant help but just find absolutely NO comfort AT ALL in his saying "Mega Man is still an important brand to us". because it doesn't mean a thing. Mega man may be important to them, as it was one of the franchises that made them, along with the likes of Street Fighter, but that doesn't mean they are about to do anything with it if it means it wont be profitable. 5 years could pass with no Mega Man news and Capcom could still say "Mega Man is an important brand to us".
That all said, we cant quite ignore the fact that the west is getting far more quality Mega Man merchandise than we have ever gotten.
Japan has always gotten stuff like the Bandai Model Kits, Soundtracks and Source books, But now, with Udon having come up to the plate, we are finally getting translations of some of those books, AND the Mangas, which have been demanded by Western fans for the longest time. And then there are the recent releases of the D-Arts X series figures and the Kotobukiya model kits, which have all been brought over to the West too.
We are even getting other non standard merch too from GE Animation, things like those plush busters and the helmet caps, keychains, wristbands, wallets, posters, shirts, phone cases, or even PLAYING CARDS. I even saw a Powered Up Alarm clock.
It's the most Mega Man merch we have gotten since the Jazzwares Classic/X/Zero figures and the Bandai EXE figures.
So we cant quite ignore all of that, since Capcom still has to license it, so it shows that at least they are doing something in that department, although again, like PB mentioned, the thing is mostly just fans will be buying those.
I feel that Capcom has just hit a brick wall as far as what to do with the brand in terms of Video Games. Mega man never broke from it's tried and true formula too much as far as the main series goes, while it's fellow games of the same era, have. When they made the Legends games, they lost money. When they made X7, it was received terribly. (For good reason of course, it was half baked) and Command Mission was just an experiment with full blown turn based RPG gameplay in Mega Man. They tried retro revivals with 9 and 10, but they cant keep doing that forever if they want to make Mega Man profitable and sellable OUTSIDE of just the fanbase. But they just cant figure out WHAT to do to bring Mega Man into public consciousness again.
I'm sure that eventually they will eventually come up with something.
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I like the comic book series too for the reasons you mentioned. As for everything you mentioned with the games themselves, I really don't disagree with anything you said. I haven't played all of them so I cannot offer up any real opinions on the games itself. However, all of what you mentioned is essentially irrelevant. The main point & problem is that despite everything you mentioned about the games, the only ones buying them are Mega Man fans. Most of the gaming world has moved on from it whether the game is enjoyable or not. Like we mentioned before, the only one that got noticeable attention was MM9 and that was due to nostalgia.
The half-baked production is IMHO *WHY* most of the gaming world has moved on and only fans are buying it. God knows that, ESPECIALLY among the Nintendo demograph, there is no reason that a recognized mascot in a quality nostalgia trip can't perform strongly, and the fact that Mega Man gave Zelda a run for its money on the 3DS Virtual Console front says that the Mega Man name is by no means forgotten. What it is, is lacking in consumer confidence. The problem is that Capcom has spent the last 6 years proving that they don't know how to handle it.
The cartoon strategy only works because the audience it's supposed to attract will be a blank slate; if Capcom treats them on the video game front the same way they've treated Mega Man's audience on the current consoles, then a brilliant and ludicrously fortunate move is going to turn into a distressingly short-term solution.
And yes, it is brilliant. Not arguing with that. And I'm DEFINITELY not arguing against Mega Man needing to widen his audience. It's just that I believe that on the video game front Capcom needs to pay closer attention than to simply exploit their critic-proof names.
A Korean MMO most likely won't do that because from what I've seen they eat up any MMO, and over here it wouldn't have done well because it'd be competing against WoW and Star Wars: The Old Republic
No denying that, I'm only mentioning Online for the sake of referencing how badly Mega Man's latest efforts have been received even before they hit the market, by his own fans. Universe was an ambitious title, but it was seriously alienating the current fanbase in a general complete failure to attract a new one. Right now is really the worst possible time to try and "Americanize" Mega Man, if you ask me. Saturday morning cartoons are almost entirely either anime or something trying to imitate anime, and manga is about the only way any kids (even if not enough of them) read comic books anymore.
As for Capcom getting their [parasitic bomb] together, to be quite honest, they know exactly what they're doing.
I was referring to their ability to handle a quality Mega Man game production, not their ability to exploit their fanbase. Yeah, they know how to do that all too well.
The only other explanation for the game's cancellation, outside of the 3DS' early performance, is that Capcom are absolute, total [tornado fang]ing dicks and this was indeed trolling on a scale never before seen in gaming history, to fans and possibly Inafune. Logically, that makes absolutely no sense.
I agree that spiting Inafune is bull, if that were the case the game would have been torn down as quickly as Universe was (and no, I don't think Universe was cancelled out of spite; I think rather that without Inafune nobody else was willing to push forward in the face of an obvious lukewarm reaction to the game). But there are other reasons:
First of all, Capcom's own underperformance. Despite milking the fighting game fans for all they were worth, Capcom was not having a good year in 2011. Their revenue as a whole was down the shitter and most of what they did make came from a goddamn Smurfs phone game (link (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/26/non-mobile-capcom-profits-smurfed-up-in-first-half-of-fiscal-yea/), and be aware this timeframe covers April-September 2011; Prototype was conceived after the greenlight meeting in February and cancelled in July). They probably weren't feeling very adventurous in the midst of that. However this, along with the 3DS are both money issues, and while they were doubtless a factor, it still doesn't excuse refusing to release what they already finished thus far in the form of the Prototype. So why not release it, play the two-faced PR game while they offset their losses, and can the game afterwards?
Second reason: Devroom. If there is one thing a business values anywhere close to as much as money, it is their established practices, which the Devroom flew in the face of. True, half the time the Devroom was an over-glorified blog about as useful as Smash Bros Dojo's widescreen settings update, but the reason WHY it turned out to be so is because the Devroom was facing opposition internally at Capcom, which Gregaman himself referenced following Legends 3's cancellation (http://www.capcom-unity.com/devroom/blog/2011/07/19/to_the_devroom_and_legends_3_fans_everywhere). Before the cancellation, it took a considerable amount of fan demand to even allow the showing of development screenshots (they went so far as to censor the 3DS systems in use during the greenlight meeting photographs). The Prototype Version was not to be used as a gauge in sales alone; Eguchi's statements confirmed that the Devroom response would be observed as well. The plan was that the Prototype and the Devroom were to be used to push each other. If, as times for the company grow more uncertain, Capcom of Japan wants the particular pandora's box of the Devroom closed (they announced their plans to wipe out their branch of it almost immediately following the game's cancellation, and Yoshiyuki Fujikawa's twitter was removed almost as soon as he even mentioned Legends 3), then the Prototype had to go with it.
No amount of cult appeal and poor hardware numbers justifies refusing to release a marketable (even if on a limited scale) project after it has already been completed, which the Prototype was. The expense was already made and at that point they're merely denying themselves any opportunity to offset the financial loss before they pull the plug. Capcom "chickened out" not on the 3DS (they actually threw their weight behind it afterwards with Monster Hunter 4, which is a big deal in Japan), but on the concept of communicating with its fans.
Because they knew that it was not making a profit at all and they weighed the option of #1. releasing it just to save face and take the financial loss OR #2. not release it, deal with the backlash, and know that eventually the people pissed at them would still continue to buy their products like the little addicts that they are.
Option 1 is an excuse to discontinue further expenses, which is to say development and free incentives. The Prototype was neither of those.
When you have a limited fanbase, you cannot just half-ass it like Capcom did with the MvC3 franchise which was a guaranteed seller no matter what. It needs full assing
...
Oh, nothing, that one's just a quote for truth. owob
Hahaha, I'm far from saying it's possible or only just a Protoman Bluesian pipe-dream, but I'm actually gonna E-Mail & call people and see if it's possible cause in the long run, as a Mega Man fan and as a fan of animation, I've really got nothing to lose. LoL, if they tell me no, then I'm no worse off than I was before I looked into it. 8)
You know what? Go for it. 'cuz even if it is a pipe dream, you come up with the best damn pipe dreams around.
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I keep thinking we were going to get the merch anyway. :/
I refuse to believe anything the PR guys say (remember Universe?) until CoJ can actually prove it. And as someone on TMMN pointed out, "key brand" could mean anything--for all we know, they want to offload the series on someone else (as much as I'd like it to be Comcept, they refused to let them resume MML3) because the merch and comic might not be making them enough.
Hell, even a theoretical cartoon might not make them enough money in a short enough amount of time; I don't know enough about business to know if Capcom's expectations are realistic or not, but they--and the fact that it took the entire MM series three years to make another million bucks--worry me.
What I think might happen is that CoJ will be so badly "safe mode"-locked that they won't realize how deeply entrenched in the shitter they are until it's too late. Maybe they'll sell off all their underused/stagnant IPs in an attempt to save themselves; whether or not they understand exactly why they're about to go under...I wouldn't count on it.
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Mega Man does not need better marketing. Ask any gamer if they know who Mega Man is, they will say yes. Then ask them if they bought Mega Man 10, only the Mega Man fans will say yes to that. Mega Man needs a new game that makes him relevant; combined with excellent marketing of this NEW relevant game. He needs a big push of a big AAA title to make him profitable. Mega Man needs his epic trilogy. A cartoon would not hurt, but brand recognition isn't as important as making a quality game that gamers, not just fans, will actually be interested in.
TLDR: Gamers know who Mega Man is, they are just waiting for him to be relevant again.
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He needs a change of name, is what he needs.
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A change of name? I like Mega Man as it is. It's appropriate and I like it as it always will be. They can't have it be Rockman because I think the name was taken in the US.
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Copyrighting doesn't work like that. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to have Captain Marvels on both the DC side and the Marvel side.
You cant just copyright a "name". Lots of products, companies, characters, etc. in the world share the same name. There's a Power Quest game, a Power Quest band, and a Power Quest software company. And probably other [parasitic bomb] too.
Oh, ah- and lets not forget this (http://www.megaman.cc/home)
There would be absolutely NO problem if they decided to Rename Mega Man back to Rockman in the west. Only issue would be the fact that he's been called Mega Man for over 24 years.
He was not named Mega Man in the west because of copyrights, or drug references, he was renamed because one guy thought Rockman didnt sound cool to him, and decided to change the name.
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Anyway, my point is that gamers who know of megaman and don't care for him will continue to do so until they're essentially tricked into playing a megaman game, which won't happen if his name is on the cover.
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Unless you can do the bait + switch trick. I love that, that you can be able to fool the sucka into thinking he's playing Duke Nukem or MechWarrior as he won't have time to look at the X3+ disc as he loads the disc on the computer. XD
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Capcom actually already tried that with Universe, it didn't go well.
Poor Rockman. (http://axl-fox.deviantart.com/art/Poor-quot-Rockman-quot-178483815)
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I'm late as [tornado fang] coming to this topic, but Sub pretty much nailed it with his response on page one. Sucks too, because the franchise has potential that Capcom is full and well capable of realizing just going through their stable of games, but as long as Megaman as a franchise is just that game they see as a quick fix to produce and put out there, it'll never hit those high marks. :(
High pie in the sky time: I'd still kill for a Classic series animation with Ariga on art design or a Zero series animation, just for the background stuff they did in that universe to get some spotlight. Also delicious Nakayama scenery art.
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you cannot just half-ass it like Capcom did with the MvC3 franchise which was a guaranteed seller no matter what.
Figured I'd comment on this one again. As it turns out, even UMvC3 isn't as sure-fire as Capcom would like.
http://thesilentchief.com/2011/11/29/ultimate-marvel-vs-capcom-3-sells-less-than-30k-out-of-the-gate-in-na/
In all fairness, from what I can tell VGChartz (the source reference for this article) still isn't registering U.S. sales of the game. They list Europe and Japan sales combined over the first five weeks are totaling in the ballpark of only 60k.
I guess even the 2D fighter nutcases have their limits to how much crap they'll take when an update to render their old game obsolete is released in the same calendar year. Serves Capcom right, I'd say. Trouble is, losing money won't convince them to take risks.
I'm trying to not hate Capcom, I really am (and I certainly believe there are cool people who work for them, including those in the CoA branch that I've met), but I seriously believe they are going downhill. As long as they continue to release lazy [parasitic bomb], then there's only two possible outcomes:
1. It sells, and because people are satisfied with lazy [parasitic bomb], they continue to make lazy [parasitic bomb].
2. It doesn't sell, and Capcom feeling the pinch, doesn't want to spend the money necessary for decent game development.
This is what I mean when I say that the largest damn fanbase in the world (including our theoretical anime-built new one) isn't going to help any if Capcom doesn't change their attitude.
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I'll say I didn't go and get it either, despite how much I did want it. It was a combination of no X and most importantly LEGENDS 3 CANCELLED FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-
Boycotted that [sonic slicer].
PS: VGcharts is less accurate than a shot in the dark. All their figures are just pulled right out of their ass.
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Just wanted to tell Shell that VGChartz is complete BS and UMVC3 has factually sold 100k-250k according to NPD leaks.
More accurately UMVC3 360> CoDMW3 Wii (~100k)>UMVC3 PS3
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Yeah, failure to count anything in 5 weeks wasn't an encouraging sign.
Well, we can dream, right?
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I think what Capcom should do is look at the well-received and higher selling games throughout the franchise as a whole. From there what they might do is take into consideration why these games sold well, and how they can make that happen again. For example the first Megaman game, at the time it had great graphics, great sound quality and it offered a new way to play a game with unique ideas. Megaman 2, a refined version of the previous game with improvements all over the place. Megaman 3, a (possibly) highly anticipated sequel to what was a great game. But then from 4-6 interest waned because they were making too many too fast without any real relevance between each game. They quickly became irrelevant "Eh another Megaman whatever.".
With Megaman X they reinvented the whole universe refined it further and made it relevant again.They did this by adding new elements that were welcomed while keeping many of the old mechanics which we as fans still enjoyed. And while many of the X games were enjoyable they made the same error as the classic series. Too much too fast.
Going through this kind of process they would (hopefully) be able to take this information and apply it successfully.
They need to think broader than what the Megaman fans want. "How do we make people who have never played Megaman, play Megaman?" Easier said than done obviously. I mean how WOULD you make a wholly new kind of Megaman game but have it still be Megaman? I couldn't tell you but if they really took the time to think about it they could. That's what they're good at. I mean in my eyes they clearly have talented employees. They just need to evaluate the series as a whole, take the best elements of each separate series, and find out how to make it a real profit.
/end ramble
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But if that's the case, it hopefully won't go the way of Bomberman: Act Zero. I mean, yeah, he has to be recognizable, but only to a certain degree. ZX got a free pass due to the Super Sentai theme, but they could try the Skylanders method (Just try to make him a certain way possible, there were a LOT of complaints for Spyro's redesign if I remember). I mean, 10+ possible player characters interchangable on the fly? Collector's Value? Sounds good to me!
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Mega Man certainly isn't lacking in recent games that harken to his past. But between Powered Up, MHX, and MM9, something was missing. They seem to look at what they want to reference (MM1, X1, and MM2 respectively) without bothering to look at the finer elements of the gameplay. Universe, IMHO, was following that same track, although it's hard to say for sure since we never saw it in its final form. The NYCC2010 build certainly had a long way to go before it could convince me otherwise, though.
Between those four I'd say MHX came closest to capturing the appeal of its predecessor(s), but even it came up short in the face of the SNES X1, unless you wanted to play as Vile.
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To me, it seems like Capcom has no real understanding of how to make profits. DLC is a major thing nowadays, for better or worse, but Capcom still thinks that they can continue to sequel-stagnate (as TV Tropes puts it) and rake in just as much money as they did before. (Maybe; I'm not sure about sales figures for every iteration of SF2)
And maybe I'm just incredibly bitter, but I have to wonder if the earthquake really did force them to make UMvC3, or if it was just a convenient excuse. If it's the latter, then it's unlikely they'll ever change.
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Given how little regard I have for Capcom at this point, I'd personally be inclined to think the latter.
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I'll say I didn't go and get it either, despite how much I did want it. It was a combination of no X and most importantly LEGENDS 3 CANCELLED FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-
Boycotted that [sonic slicer].
I didn't get it cause of the fact that it was a $40 new game that made the original $60 purchase absolutely worthless. Lol, I'm not paying $100 for a game I suck at! The only thing that would've made me go out and buy that game is if Blues was a character. XD
Yeah, failure to count anything in 5 weeks wasn't an encouraging sign.
Well, we can dream, right?
Heh, dreams are about all we have now! No worries though, as next year I'll see if I can make my cartoon dreams come true! 8)
And maybe I'm just incredibly bitter, but I have to wonder if the earthquake really did force them to make UMvC3, or if it was just a convenient excuse. If it's the latter, then it's unlikely they'll ever change.
Given how little regard I have for Capcom at this point, I'd personally be inclined to think the latter.
Oh, it's definitely the latter. That's not even a question. Capcom knew exactly what they were doing and what was going to get them more money.
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I agree with PB and Hypershell, something needs to be done to make relevant again. I don't want the Mega Man fanbase to fall into brokeness like the Final Fantasy and Sonic fanbase but I will admit I am Sonic, Final Fantasy and a Mega Man fan. Sonic use to be brand name that anybody could respect but SEGA's recent failures with the franchise has caused Sonic to lose any credibility that he had before. It is nice to see that SEGA has learned their lesson somewhat and started making games like Sonic Colors and the recent Sonic Generations that boast fun gameplay and simple storylines. It will be along while before Sonic can will the hearts of all those who had forgotten him over years but at least SEGA is trying to keep him relevant again.
To me, it seems like Capcom has no real understanding of how to make profits. DLC is a major thing nowadays, for better or worse, but Capcom still thinks that they can continue to sequel-stagnate (as TV Tropes puts it) and rake in just as much money as they did before. (Maybe; I'm not sure about sales figures for every iteration of SF2)
And maybe I'm just incredibly bitter, but I have to wonder if the earthquake really did force them to make UMvC3, or if it was just a convenient excuse. If it's the latter, then it's unlikely they'll ever change.
I think what Capcom should do is look at the well-received and higher selling games throughout the franchise as a whole. From there what they might do is take into consideration why these games sold well, and how they can make that happen again. For example the first Megaman game, at the time it had great graphics, great sound quality and it offered a new way to play a game with unique ideas. Megaman 2, a refined version of the previous game with improvements all over the place. Megaman 3, a (possibly) highly anticipated sequel to what was a great game. But then from 4-6 interest waned because they were making too many too fast without any real relevance between each game. They quickly became irrelevant "Eh another Megaman whatever.".
With Megaman X they reinvented the whole universe refined it further and made it relevant again.They did this by adding new elements that were welcomed while keeping many of the old mechanics which we as fans still enjoyed. And while many of the X games were enjoyable they made the same error as the classic series. Too much too fast.
Going through this kind of process they would (hopefully) be able to take this information and apply it successfully.
They need to think broader than what the Megaman fans want. "How do we make people who have never played Megaman, play Megaman?" Easier said than done obviously. I mean how WOULD you make a wholly new kind of Megaman game but have it still be Megaman? I couldn't tell you but if they really took the time to think about it they could. That's what they're good at. I mean in my eyes they clearly have talented employees. They just need to evaluate the series as a whole, take the best elements of each separate series, and find out how to make it a real profit.
/end ramble
I'll admit Capcom does love their sequels even there isn't any real difference between games such as Street Fighter II, Turbo, Super, Champion or whatever but you have to be an obsessed programmer or fan to discover those differences.
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The real difference between what happened to the Sonic fanbase and what's possibly happening to the MM fanbase is how each fanbase has been treated. As far as I know, never before were Sonic fans promised a game they've been waiting 10 years for only to have it cancelled after it had been overhyped. In fact, I can't recall another game company doing that in general.
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Figured I'd comment on this one again. As it turns out, even UMvC3 isn't as sure-fire as Capcom would like.
http://thesilentchief.com/2011/11/29/ultimate-marvel-vs-capcom-3-sells-less-than-30k-out-of-the-gate-in-na/
In all fairness, from what I can tell VGChartz (the source reference for this article) still isn't registering U.S. sales of the game. They list Europe and Japan sales combined over the first five weeks are totaling in the ballpark of only 60k.
I guess even the 2D fighter nutcases have their limits to how much crap they'll take when an update to render their old game obsolete is released in the same calendar year. Serves Capcom right, I'd say. Trouble is, losing money won't convince them to take risks.
I'm trying to not hate Capcom, I really am (and I certainly believe there are cool people who work for them, including those in the CoA branch that I've met), but I seriously believe they are going downhill. As long as they continue to release lazy [parasitic bomb], then there's only two possible outcomes:
1. It sells, and because people are satisfied with lazy [parasitic bomb], they continue to make lazy [parasitic bomb].
2. It doesn't sell, and Capcom feeling the pinch, doesn't want to spend the money necessary for decent game development.
This is what I mean when I say that the largest damn fanbase in the world (including our theoretical anime-built new one) isn't going to help any if Capcom doesn't change their attitude.
The word I look for here is serves them right. Not to offend anyone here but I think it serves CAPCOM right what they did.
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What's more, Sonic has recently been on quite an uphill trend from about Unleashed in 08 to everything happening with the brand in 2011. It's [tornado fang]ing bizarro world I'm telling you. I dunno if I want a world where Sonic gets re-invented and has good games coming out at a consistent clip without over saturating the market but [tornado fang]ing Mega Man stagnates and goes the way of the dodo. XD
I'll admit Capcom does love their sequels even there isn't any real difference between games such as Street Fighter II, Turbo, Super, Champion or whatever but you have to be an obsessed programmer or fan to discover those differences.
Fighting game iterations are a minefield one should try not to tread in when we talk about re-treads and sequelitis. They were done in the past because there simply was no other way to incorporate changes, be they small like a new move or two for a character or large like an entire engine revamp, movement changes, etc., without putting out a new release altogether. Capcom's current gen fighters in the form of SFIV & MVC3 should have embraced the DLC model for pushing out these updates, and while SFIV eventually got that right, they still stumbled since the infrastructure for something like that didn't exist until they made a Super iteration. Since then, every new iteration (AE, Ver. 2012) has been an update that simply added itself to the base set in Super. In Marvel's case, there's a lot of external circumstances going about, some of which I hesitate to believe had as big an effect on its development as they say it did, but I digress. Apparently, the earthquake is cited as the biggest reason why DLC updates didn't happen, but honestly, the actual changes to the gameplay engine and tweaking of numerous gameplay elements tells me that Capcom/8-ing and Niitsuma were going to have to release a new disc copy eventually to tone down the [parasitic bomb] going on in the game.
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It will be along while before Sonic can will the hearts of all those who had forgotten him over years but at least SEGA is trying to keep him relevant again.
While? Sega got people's interest back with Unleashed,(for better or for worse, at least the fanbase was in agreement over the daytime segments) got their love with Colors, and generations simply sealed the deal that Sega knows what they are doing again, and won their hearts back over.
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Now if only Capcom can only do the same for their blue bomber, Mega Man neneds to be relevant again.
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Now if only Capcom can only do the same for their blue bomber, Mega Man neneds to be relevant again.
Quoted for truth. :) Very indeed.
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While? Sega got people's interest back with Unleashed,(for better or for worse, at least the fanbase was in agreement over the daytime segments) got their love with Colors, and generations simply sealed the deal that Sega knows what they are doing again, and won their hearts back over.
And before that there was Rush and Secret Rings. Sonic, even among the editorial audience (which received him considerably worse than his fanbase most of the time; the Adventures got shafted after Sonic lost his "console mascot" status), has been more hit-and-miss than he was the complete disaster that the populace tried to pass him off as. The editors dismissed it as a "handhelds rule, consoles suck, except when it's the one Wii game that doesn't look like a GCN game" trend.
As a side note, I still maintain that Black Knight is sorely underrated, but I don't expect to change anyone's mind this late in the game. You just can't sell Sonic with a sword to some people. The genie thing probably only worked because it wasn't evident on the game's cover.
Sonic was more of a bumpy roller coaster; I don't think anyone in their right mind didn't notice something off after Shadow, the second post-Dreamcast game. Mega Man has been a slow decent into mediocrity, with quality levels that "satisfy" the fans but were insufficient for the masses. We were at least four (sidescrolling) games into it before we even started to notice. Then Mega Man 9 happened and we thought all was well again. No such luck.
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The difference between Sonic & MegaMan, or more to the point Sega & Capcom, is that as far as I know, Sega has never announced a sequel to a Sonic game fans have been waiting forever for, got the Sonic fans hopes up really high as well as getting them involved in the process, and then cancel the game. Mega Man 9 was never, or rather should never have been a sign that Capcom was on the right track because Mega Man 9 should only really be viewed as a cheap game meant to fill the classic 8-bit nostalgia void. It and MM10 were exactly what they needed to be and I'd wholeheartedly love if they continued along that route for classic series MM games. The problem lies with the other series.
Sonic Generations was an attempt by Sega to capture the nostalgic feel of the old games, something they've been trying to do for some time now but have mostly failed at. However, what Sega did was continue to attempt new styles of gameplay and like Shell said they've mostly been hit or miss. Generations seems like a good balance between old and new, but how long Sega continues to go that route is anyone's guess. With MegaMan, lately all Capcom has been doing in terms of new MM games is relying solely on nostalgia. The last, truly new experiment gameplay wise that went into MM was the EXE series. This is why so many fans were looking forward to Legends 3, because it was a chance to explore and possibly improve upon a gameplay style that hasn't really been attempted for 10 years. Capcom can do nostalgic MM games fine. What they need to do is make something new. By all accounts, Legends 3 should have been exactly that or at least a step in the right direction, but we all know what happened there. Sonic may have been a bumpy roller coaster, but as of now the MM one has the power completely off on the majority of the theme park.
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I'll be the first to tell you that I, personally, have plenty of criticisms with 9. But it was a nice change of pace as far as critical response goes, mainly because it was riding a nostalgia wave.
I don't really doubt that the established formula still works, although yeah, people are going to be reluctant to pay 50 bucks for it in this day and age (ESPECIALLY as long as Capcom is fixated on 8 bosses). The problem, as it went prior to 9, is that their attempts at it either failed to match up to their predecessors (Powered Up and its radically claustrophobic play style) or were completely bogged down with needless sidequests that barely gave you any worthwhile rewards anyway (ZX Advent is a serious offender here; near all of the chips are only available post-game and they don't do anything THAT special).
With 9, the NES style at least mandated that it was impossible for them to screw up the character-to-screen-size ratio, something that somebody really should have looked at more carefully with Powered Up. I'll never tell you that 9's level design was up to par with the actual NES games, though, because it wasn't. There's a difference between challenging and just blind-siding the player. And the over-reliance on the shop diminished the feel of legitimately growing stronger. And the nerve to charge for difficulty levels was Capcom's cheapness in full and obvious force. 10 was definitely an improvement, although the fact that it's the only game where I wish for a weapon to deliberately fire down a pit isn't necessarily a good thing, but other than that things were looking up at least quality-wise. Unfortunately, the audience didn't follow. Can't say I blame them, there were still a few kinks to work out. We as fans have a bit more patience, but if in two games of the same style you can't perfectly nail it, the general populace is going to very quickly lose their desire to see further sequels.
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To be honest, as far as Legends 3 goes. I'd rather have the creators of God of War series, make L3.
Also, on the TV series, I agree of the Avatar notion. 8D
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To be honest, as far as Legends 3 goes. I'd rather have the creators of God of War series, make L3.
What? On what grounds?
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Game controls from the God of Wars, I really like the straight forward free roaming play. Also, the quick weapon switching, would work good with the Legends 3 arsenal.
The puzzle and enemy fights, I can see that same kind of thing, for any ruins and/or the moon.
But, most important, the graphics. Primary reason why I want the G.O.W creators, to make the game.
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The graphics are never the most important part of anything. A shitty game with pretty graphics is still a shitty game.
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The graphics are never the most important part of anything. A shitty game with pretty graphics is still a shitty game.
I completely agree with this.
Also, good music is important too.
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Game controls from the God of Wars, I really like the straight forward free roaming play. Also, the quick weapon switching, would work good with the Legends 3 arsenal.
The puzzle and enemy fights, I can see that same kind of thing, for any ruins and/or the moon.
I'm pretty sure GoW isnt the only franchise to have those elements.
But, most important, the graphics. Primary reason why I want the G.O.W creators, to make the game.
They also are not the only people to make nice graphics. Graphics come from the budget. If the game has a big budget, it is more likely to look prettier.
Also, really? The MAIN reason is because they made nice graphics on GoW?
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I'm pretty sure GoW isnt the only franchise to have those elements.
In fact, Capcom already has their own God of War... it's Asura's Wrath.
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And, that brings us back to CyberConnect2 (http://www.siliconera.com/2011/07/22/cyberconnect2s-ceo-would-be-happy-to-work-on-mega-man-legends-3/). (not a bad idea, I'd say)
Graphics help, but they don't make or break a game. In fact, I'd argue that very few 3D PS1 games could touch Legends 2's visuals.
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In fact, Capcom already has their own God of War... it's Asura's Wrath.
Except their quality is nothing alike at all. AW has one of the worst combat mechanics I've played in any video game. God of War is far and above, superior in every way. Play the demo of AW, and you'll see how sloppy the combat is. The constant QTE sections are a little annoying, however I can't deny that it's satisfying.
Game controls from the God of Wars, I really like the straight forward free roaming play. Also, the quick weapon switching, would work good with the Legends 3 arsenal.
The puzzle and enemy fights, I can see that same kind of thing, for any ruins and/or the moon.
But, most important, the graphics. Primary reason why I want the G.O.W creators, to make the game.
I agree on the free roaming aspect, although I'd want L3 to be more environmentally interactive than GoW ever was (destructable buildings or objects) and scaling the walls like they've shown with the Prototype. Quick weapon switching is definitely a good idea, but the fighting in the Legends franchise should always stay ranged, not close combat (unless on occasion with Barrett's melee attacks).
Graphics are far from the "most important". Gameplay always comes first, control second, with graphics simply finishing up the presentation.
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I don't know how relevant this is, and it's a bit old, but Capcom (http://www.rockmancorner.com/2012/01/capcom-devising-10-year-plan-for-mega.html) basically doesn't yet have plans (http://www.themmnetwork.com/2012/01/25/next-10-years-of-mega-man-being-discussed-by-top-men-at-capcom/) for MM's 25th anniversary...on the year on that anniversary.
This "ten year plan" thing isn't too reassuring either; knowing Capcom, we wouldn't get a new MM game until the end of those ten years.
(I know it'd be hard to bounce back from two cancellations in a row, but shouldn't planning for something like this start a lot sooner? Hell, they don't even know what their plans should be yet)
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