Mega Man XOver… Seriously Capcom?

I suppose I should be grateful a new Mega Man game is even being made, right? Just let Capcom make this announcement and go about my merry day. Well, I can’t. I was alerted to Mega Man XOver last night by Nate, another staff member. I was checking out the info for it and after about 10 minutes of looking at the same images over and over again I’ve come to the conclusion that all those doom and gloom scenarios I was hoping so hard to be false are most likely true.

Mega Man is being handed over to mobile devices and even then it isn’t getting much attention. The story for Mega Man XOver, pronounced Crossover, is that Dr. Wily, Sigma, and other big baddies have trapped all the heroes from the different Mega Man series in a different dimension. Here’s the official description from Capcom:

It’s a world where all the worlds of Rockman have crossed over. The gulf of space-time has been closed thanks to the efforts of Dr. Wily, Sigma and other villains to Rockman and co.! Dr Light and Dr. Cossack work together in creating a new robot to oppose this crisis. A production model, this robot uses “battle memory” that has been scattered over the world, and possesses infinite potential to transform and increase his power. The player battles evil as this new type robot. Create your own Rockman, and battle with others to protect peace!

The game is going to use some social aspects with your friends to collect more battle memory. I’m sure there will probably be some in-app purchase to get more, as well.

My issue isn’t with the story idea or it even being on mobile platforms at all. The effort put into this game judging by the first screenshots is god awful. It looks like Mega Man X on iOS. If anyone reading this has played that, then you’ll know exactly where I’m coming from. That “port” isn’t even a port. It’s a defecation of coding with Mega Man’s franchise title on it. The sprites are crap and look like they were made in Flash by an amateur. The backdrops are stapled in and make it seem like zero progress is being made in the stage. Finally, the gameplay with the touch buttons is mostly unresponsive and very trying. With the first torrent of screen shots for Mega Man XOver, it is very easy to get the same feeling. Everything looks the same minus the brand new “Mega Man” robot, who sports a feathery boa.

I think the worst part is the inclusion of the Auto Play button and Skip feature for boss battles. That is just… wow. Is it a game or an animated movie at this point?

Is this really the best Capcom can do for the 25th Anniversary of Mega Man, one of their longest running franchises? I’m sure this won’t be the only thing we get for the 25th, but with the way things are going right now it is safe to say that it might be. There are countless fans crying out for more Mega Man but this isn’t what they want. It makes the situation even worse when you cancel multiple games, ignore the fans, give cryptic updates on the franchise, and then come out with something no one asked for. Mega Man XOver. Where is X9? Battle Network 7? Star Force 4? Mega Man 11? Command Mission 2? Zero 5? ZX 3? You know, the titles fans are wanting?

While it should be a great thing to see a new Mega Man game right now, this just goes to frustrate me and what seems to be most of the people talking about this announcement. One of the first things I see being said in comment sections around the internet is “why?” and I echo that 110%. If you aren’t going to listen to fans and give some effort (effort at least past some new art and Flash-like sprites) then don’t do anything at all. Capcom is just making this whole thing more of a mess.

Listen, I like Capcom. I’ve been playing their games since i started playing video games. Mega Man was one of the first titles I ever played as a kid. I’ve stayed with the franchise since and it hurts to see the way the Blue Bomber is right now. We’re still holding on, Capcom. Why do you hate money? Listen to the fans. There are obviously tons of us. You satisfied your craving for a new IP with the successful Dragon’s Dogma. You celebrated Street Fighter’s 25th Anniversary greatly. Don’t do more injustice to Mega Man.

Sincerely,

Mega Man’s fandom, which grows more restless every day.



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