With the latest Nintendo Direct showcasing the new Smash Bros. and some good Mega Man lovin' in there, lots of people have taken to saying things along the lines of "Nintendo showed in one Direct that they care more about Mega Man than Capcom does." What do you guys think about how Mega Man's been treated lately? And it occurred to me just today, given the comments about which companies care however much about him, what would people think if Nintendo somehow wound up buying the Mega Man franchise from Capcom?
If nintendo somehow bought the mega man franchise (All dem mega man games be on nintendo systems) then...I would be super happy. Why? Most likely we'd see more Mega man games post Nintendo purchasing rights over Mega Man. I mean...come on...its nintendo. As for the Smash Direct video, I think its nice to see Mega Man. Mega Man is a classic video game character that I feel has been neglected(The DS NT warrior franchise doesn't count. They all sucked, save for the GBA ones.) I mean he's not technically nintendo per-say, but if they can have Solid Snake in brawl, then....well you get it. GO MEGA MAN!!! WOOT!!
The situation with Mega Man is kind of a mess; ever since Keiji Inafune left Capcom in 2010 they've refused to touch the franchise -- either out of ill will toward its creator or uncertainty over how to handle the brand, we can't say. But considering they've cancelled multiple games since then (Universe, Online [although to be fair I think I heard this was on the Korean developer's end], the infamously ill-fated Legends 3 project and the first-person shooter Maverick Hunter have all been canned), not to mention refused Inafune's own offers to finish Legends 3 himself, it's obvious something is going on & I've gotten the impression that there are very few if any Mega Man fans who can say they are okay with how it's been treated lately. I can't speak for all Mega Man fans everywhere but in my experience with them and as a huge one myself I think many people would be on over the moon if Nintendo bought the rights to Mega Man; I certainly would be. Their treatment of him in Smash Bros., at least from the available footage, has been outstanding in my opinion -- with a careful attention to detail in every homage that makes it obvious how much the developers love and respect the series. Now, his appearance there has come under a bit of debate, mostly stemming from his blank expression (as Nintendo is very committed to preserving the look of his NES sprites), so your mileage may vary I suppose. Personally, although I realize some of his other incarnations have been more expressive, I love how they've handled him in Smash so far. Regardless of what happens, Mighty No. 9 will be there to ensure that the series' legacy continues in some capacity, and to be fair Nintendo purchasing Mega Man would probably result in a few unfortunate side effects (e.g. the American comic book series would probably get cancelled then and there). I also get the impression that there are some folks at Capcom that really do care about the franchise and are simply powerless to do anything in terms of games -- hence the frequent merchandising & occasional character cameo appearances. But if it would result in games being made with any amount of the love and care put into the series in its prime, I think the sacrifices would probably be worth it. And as Capcom has been struggling financially, it's not a wholly unfeasible possibility that Mega Man might eventually end up in someone else's hands. I honestly think it would be sad to see Capcom go under and I'd like to see them recover and begin treating Mega Man -- among their other mishandled franchises -- with more respect. But if Nintendo bought Mega Man, I'd have few qualms with it. I think it's clear Nintendo respects the series a lot.
There are so many "Mega Mans", all of which have one thing in common. Money. Why wouldn't Nintendo like/treat that well? That's my mindset at least (coming from someone who has played every megaman game including the spinoffs)
Never really played much of the Mega Man games except for the Battle Network series. Handing over the rights to Nintendo might be a step in the right direction in terms of a new release, but the series which has been iconic over the years, has always been a capcom game and I'm not sure the fans would be to happy with such a big change.
Capcom is focusing their resources on games that are of higher quality. Spoiler I dunno, but to me, it seems mostly like Megaman is just a difficult franchise to handle. There's been a bunch of games in it, a bunch of different sub series, etc. It makes sense that they don't know how to handle it, now that Inafune is out. The series being difficult to handle might not matter much, if this series was one of Capcom's bigger ones. But it's not, Megaman hasn't been one of their big sellers for a looong time. You people should just go with Keiji Inafune's new title. That's probably the best Megaman you'll ever get.
Not sure if sarcasm but Dragon's Dogma is one of the best ARPGs to come about in a good while. Fact.* *May or may not be an opinion. Anyways, I don't want Capcom making more Mega Man games without Inafune unless it's a reboot of the series. There were several ways they could have advanced the stories of both Mega Man and X which never came to pass. Like what happened to Mega Man before the 100 years before the X series(like how he died). Or events between the X and Zero series. ...Or a sequel to ZX Advent. I actually wanted that Maverick Hunter FPS game to happen. It's too bad it didn't. Oh well. At least we have Mighty No. 9 to look forward to. Also, I'm really tired of seeing Mega Man. I'd much rather see X in the spotlight than his inferior older brother.
I doubt that Nintendo would buy the right to Mega Man, despite how much I would like it to be, for pretty much the same reason Capcom has been reluctant to make a new Mega Man game. What would they do? Just make a new game? Considering that Kenji Inafune has worked on all of the Mega Man game, it would be hard to continue the franchise without him in the picture. Another reason I doubt that Nintendo will buy the rights to Mega Man is because anyone, anywhere who is interest in Mega Man is aware of Mighty No. 9. This game is being made by Kenji Inafune, and looks, as far as we can see, Mega Man with different characters. I mean for Christ's sake, the character's names are even musical puns,(Beck and Call). I doubt buying Mega Man would persuade many older fans to buy a new game, what with the creator of Mega Man making a clone at the same time.
