How will the series end?

[Waifu]

We all know that the Classic series is going to end and that we are pretty much delaying the inevitable but how will the series finally end? The Classic series is similar to the Mario platformers in that it doesn't need that much of a story, its always Dr. Wily creates robots and Mega Man has to stop them but it leads to the X games that do have plot and story arcs to boot. How will they end the classic games? I know we are not Capcom but if the series is going to eventually lead to X, how will they tie it in?

[Blackhook]

Explosions...lots of them.

[Rin]

They are never going to tie it in. They just gonna milk it until they suck it dry, and then dump its dead body into the river.

[AquaTeamV3]

Who says it needs to be ended/tied-in at all? They've pretty much given us all the info we need from games like Power Fighters, and they drop little tidbits of info like Roboenza being the "wake up call" that Dr. Light needed to built a robot immune to viruses (read: X).  Really, they can keep churning out games for quite some time now, since we already know the distant future of the series. The way I see it, Megaman & Co. will keep fighting for everlasting peace for a loooong time.

[Align]

They're never going to make a game depicting the end, but I guess we could theorize what would have to canonically happen to set things up for X.

[The Great Gonzo]

I think the closest we'll ever get to a tie-in is Rockman Online--and that's only assuming that Capcom of Japan acknowledges it as canon to the mainline games.

[Gotham Ranger]

Quietly.

Megaman & Bass was our last classic game for what.. Counting the GBA port, 6 years? A decade before that. The series could have easily gone much the way of the Legends/DASH and ZX series, where it simply never gets brought up again. Luckily, we fans have seen a resurgence in interest and got 2 new classic games and hopes for a third Legends.

Megaman never goes out with a bang, but with a whimper.

[Acid]

Megaman never goes out with a bang, but with a whimper.

Isn't it always like that?

[Bueno Excelente]

It's really never going to end.

Capcom could go bankrupt and Megaman to fall out of popularity for sixty years, but later, some dude would get the copyrights and continue the whole thing.

It will never end.

[Krystal]

Maybe we're actually meant to be discussion theories as to how the X series comes about?

Because...yeah I'm pretty sure it'll go on forever until it croaks xD

[Flame]

...Classic... ...end

PFFFFFFTTT-
HAHAHAHAHA!

[Zan]

Zero will kill everyone.

[Bueno Excelente]

Wanna know how the X series comes about? It comes about like this:

"IN THE FUTUUUUURE... LOOONG AFTER THE ORIGINAL SERIES....THIS HAPPENS!"

That's it. That's just it. Waiting for the final connecting game is like waiting for the comic where a superhero gets old and quits. It just doesn't happen, no matter how many future timelines we got.

[Hypershell]

PFFFFFFTTT-
HAHAHAHAHA!

Word.

I don't even think the end is wise, much less inevitable.  Demand for such a long-standing game series has a tendency to fluctuate as time goes on, generally increasing in the long-term.  If you have a winner, and you write yourself into a corner with it, then it makes answering any demand for a pickup that much more awkward.  X5, Ace Attorney 4, and Metroid 4 have all made that mistake.

The only reason the end is "inevitable" is because of the mere fact that X-series exists (which doesn't say much given what happened between X- and Zero-series).  Capcom's going on their 18th year of "delaying the inevitable"; no reason to stop any time soon.

[Align]

X5? Why would Sigma be dead after X4 if he could survive his previous deaths?
If any game should have ended the story it would've been X3 and its antivirus, or X5 when he's dispersed all over the planet. Maybe X6 since he's practically dead already when you do him in.

[Flame]

Zero will kill everyone.

No no, Rock will become X.

[The Great Gonzo]

No no, Rock will become X.

No, Roll will go into hiding as a seemingly-unimportant Navigator, using the name "Ryan Akhart".

Capcom's going on their 18th year of "delaying the inevitable"

That reminds me of some whinging I saw on TV Tropes. Specifically, the Wall Banger/Video Games section.

Speaking of, how long is Capcom gonna continue to cocktease us with all of these Red Herring Twists for the definitive connection between the original series and the X series? First there was the whole thing with Wily convincing the robots to rebel against their expiration dates in 9, which could've been an awesome starting point for Wily's look into the mindset of how to make a robot rebel for his Maverick virus, but the aforementioned Overly Long Gag was shoehorned in at the last second, then in 10, it's learned that the Roboenza virus was Wily's creation, which could've been the originator of the Maverick virus, but instead, Wily hands out the cure for it himself, at the end of the game. What the hell? Quit teasing us, Capcom, and give us what we want, no more carrot-dangling.

I smell entitlement.

[Bueno Excelente]

No no, Rock will become X.

No. Everyone will get real friendly and drunk, and they'll go "You know what would rule? Let's just make a [parasitic bomb] ton of robots and plug them into some kind of evil twisted digital world darker than ours so they can war for all eternity."

[ZeroCracked]

Zero will kill everyone.

I'm with Zan here.

*Leaves*

[Hypershell]

X5? Why would Sigma be dead after X4 if he could survive his previous deaths?
If any game should have ended the story it would've been X3 and its antivirus, or X5 when he's dispersed all over the planet. Maybe X6 since he's practically dead already when you do him in.

No, no, I mean that X5 did the writing into the corner, not that X5 picked up from it.  Of course, not everyone noticed, since Zero's died before and the explanation of Sigma's defeat was nonexistant.

[Cypher]

I hope the franchise lasts forever.

[Flame]

Was it really necessary to revive a thread that's been inactive for 4 months?

[Archer]

Was it really necessary to revive a thread that's been inactive for 4 months?

Is it really necessary for you to point it out every time someone does?

[Flame]

Is it really necessary for you to point out that I pointed out that he did?

[Protoman Blues]

Is it really necessary for you to point out that I pointed out that he did?

No, but for the record, I've told you not to do that in the past.