It doesn't take a dedicated follower of video game culture to recognize who Megaman is. The blue robotic boy with a laser cannon for an arm has been a prolific part of Japanese gaming giant Capcom's roster since the days of the NES. His image is equated so closely with Capcom, that many are surprised to learn that he isn't the company's official mascot. Yet for all his fame and popularity among gaming enthusiasts, Mega Man is more famous these days for the uncertainty surrounding his future, rather than his legacy as an industry icon.
There is no getting past the fact that 2011 was a bad year for Capcom's Blue Bomber. The series was hit with two high profile cancellations, Mega Man Universe, a 2.5D platformer featuring level creation and character customizability in the vein of Little Big Planet, and Mega Man Legends 3, the much awaited continuation of the cult classic subseries. This latter decision was particularly controversial and called into question the company's commitment to both Mega Man and their fans in general.
Increasing doubts in the series' health was the departure of Keiji Inafune from Capcom, a popular developer and Mega Man's co-designer. Known as a major advocate for Mega Man within Capcom, his exit from the company was mourned by the Blue Bomber's supporters as a sign of trying times ahead.
It's easy to pin Megaman's decline on the high profile cancellations of 2011. However, the root of the Blue Bomber's struggles is dug deeper into the past than many fans might realize. The last Capcom developed Mega Man title released in the United States was Mega Man 10 in 2010. At first this might not seem like such a long time ago. Many other healthy series, ranging from Grand Theft Auto to Legend of Zelda, often go for a few years without major new entries. Mega Man 10, however, was far from a blockbuster release. A download only title, it was developed to look and play like a long lost title for the NES. Obviously it doesn't take a financial analysis to realize it was likely made on the cheap.
Mega Man 10 and Mega Man 9 before it in 2008 were notable for being the first brand new Mega Man games developed for consoles since 2004. Mega Man had gravitated to handhelds throughout the early 2000s, with series like Meg Man Battle Network and Mega Man Zero. Both of these Mega Man iterations saw a degree of success on the Game Boy Advance. Still, there were signs that the franchise was beginning to grow stale. This became even more evident when Mega Man made the handheld generation jump to the Nintendo DS. The Mega Man ZX series saw only two games and the Mega Man Star Force games that followed were swamped with negative reviews.
This brief historical summary shows a gradual decline in Mega Man's prospects over the past decade. Most maddening of all is that it's at least partially due to Capcom's own mismanagement. Failure by them to apportion sufficient recourses to Mega Man has been its undoing. The series, which began on the cutting edge of game development, was left to slowly fall behind as other icons of the NES era powered ahead. It's been like a NASCAR driver's pit crew refusing to change his tiers and then wondering why he hasn't been winning any races lately.
In many ways Mega Man's confinement in the past has become his main sales pitch. Capcom's strategy over the past several years has been to market Mega Man as a nostalgia trip. Mega Man 9 and 10 were made in the same vein as the original NES classics, for the same audience who originally fell in love with them. Don't get me wrong. It's great for a company to celebrate its heritage now and then. Paying homage to the oldest, most loyal branch of a fanbase is never a bad thing. Tears of joy would be shed if Capcom took a similar route with Resident Evil and put out some traditional survival horror for old school purists.
Nostalgia, however, can't be the central pillar supporting a series' image. The gaming market has grown exponentially since the days of the NES; with millions more playing video games than in the industry's infancy. Mega Man can't tap into this growth without offering new experiences that today's gamers can latch onto. By staying anchored to the past, the series is insuring that it will only sink further into obscurity.
Capcom's celebration of Mega Man's 25th anniversary is so far a testament to his decline. Rereleasing classic NES games for the hundredth time is hardly the treatment that such a storied icon deserves. Mega Man Xover and Street Fighter vs. Mega Man, while technically brand new games, aren't much to get excited over either. Xover has so far failed to prove it's anything other than a cheaply made iOS shovelware game. Street Fighter vs. Mega Man, on the other hand, wasn't even developed by Capcom initially. Truthfully, the only recent worthwhile tribute to Capcom's iconic blue robot is the thoroughly charming Archie Mega Man comics.
Mega Man Xover? More like Mega Man OVER.
Obviously you can't have a successful video game property if you don't have compelling new games coming out for it. All evidence points to a loss of faith in the Blue Bomber at the company that gave birth to him. Capcom has seemingly come to see Mega Man as a niche series. As long as they keep treating it as such, its potential will remain untapped.
There are a number of ways Capcom can turn Mega Man's fortunes around. One is what I like to call the Donkey Kong treatment. In 2010 Retro Studios released Donkey Kong Country Returns, breathing life into a Nintendo series down on its luck. Donkey Kong Country had been a popular series of platformers on the SNES. Yet in more recent years, their namesake, everyone's favorite tie-touting gorilla, had begun to spiral into irrelevancy. After a number of gimmicky rhythm games and forgettable handheld titles, interest in Donkey Kong seemed to be running dry.
Out of almost nowhere, Retro Studios came along and proved that even if you can't teach an old ape new tricks, you can at least improve the ones he already knows. Donkey Kong Country Returns was a perfect love letter to the original Donkey Kong Country games. It brought the series' classic gameplay up to modern standards and reaped both praise and profits. Stunning colorful graphics further made sure that the new entry was attractive to a modern audience.
Mega Man needs a similar treatment: a reimagining of its classic game play with modern mechanics and graphics. Capcom need not deviate outlandishly from the characteristics that made the old Mega Man games successful, but they need to adapt the series to the times. New Super Mario Bros proves that gamers are still open to playing 2D games, as long as developers put a genuine budget and effort behind them.
One persistent problem that Mega Man has struggled to overcome is his series' general lack of focus. The Mega Man franchise is divided into numerous different sub-series, each with their own following and style. There's Classic Mega Man, Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero, and Mega Man Legends, just to name a few. Having all these offshoots has essentially divided the Mega Man's fans into multiple smaller factions. Some want more Class Mega Mega Man, while others think the NES games are overrated. One group might only want more Legends games, while another might think the series was a mistake to begin with. All these competing camps have made it impossible for Capcom to please everyone with any new Mega Man game.
Some kind of reboot is necessary to create a unified vision for what Mega Man means in the 21st Century. While reboots can conjure up considerable controversy, (Capcom learned this firsthand when fans reacted negatively, if prematurely, to Devil May Cry's new direction) they are often the only way to reverse a troubled property's fortunes. Unless Capcom puts serious effort into a new Mega Man game, the Blue Bomber will continue to sink deeper into his rut.
With that said, please still make Mega Man Legends 3, Capcom. LEGENDS NEVER DIE!