Rockman Elysium

Via Protodude:

Keiji Inafune sat down with the Brazilian Nintendo magazine, "Nintendo World" to discuss all things Rockman. Most of the stuff we've heard again and again, but a few tidbits stood out:

NW: The remakes Maverick Hunter X and Powered Up didn't reach the expected sales. Even so, are there plans to take them to Nintendo consoles or remake them as sequels?

KI: There are no plans to make remakes [of a remake?!] or sequels of these titles at the moment.

NW: Why is the X series over? Is there any intention of continuing it?

KI: It's not that the X series is over, but we're giving it a break. We hope to make more sequels in the future.

NW: Where in the chronology do Mega Man 9 fit in? Will Mega Man 9 be the last episode of the Classic series? Is Mega Man & Bass part of the main chronology?

KI: Basically, the chronology was made to follow Mega Man 8 and be the last/latest in the series. The world of Mega Man & Bass exists paralel to Mega Man 9.


JUST SAY IT'S OVER. JUST SAY IT. LET US WITHER AWAY IN PEACE. STOP TEASING US. AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

ETA: My god, the new version of Capcom Japan's website is excruciatingly unfriendly to users.

http://www.capcom-unity.com/s-kill/blog/2008/09/05/inafunesan_answers_your_questions

Keiji Inafune, the creative whirlwind behind a host of Capcom titles and the father of Mega Man, stopped by to visit us this week.

In preparation, we asked if you had any questions for him, and took your best and most frequently asked questions straight to the man himself.

Here are your answers!

1) Did Zero really "kill" the family between the events of the Classic Mega Man and X series?

KI: No, Zero did not kill them. According to the way I created him, Zero is not such a person--it is not in his profile.

2) Any plan to create more games for the Mega Man X series? What about Rockman Dash/Mega Man Legends?

KI: I would love to do more games in the Mega Man Legends and X series, but the business of these games must be considered. Passion and creativity are great, but the reality is that they must be balanced with profitability.

In the case of Mega Man 9, the chance to create it as a downloadable title made this great idea a financial possibility and we did it. We must always search for ways to minimize our risks while also creating great games.

3) What's your favorite hobby when you aren't making games?

KI: I work a lot but in my spare time I enjoy photography, going to the movies, and basically anything unrelated to work. Beyond being enjoyable for their own sake, these hobbies also give me new ideas for games. For instance, the photography mechanic in Dead Rising came from my personal fondness for taking interesting pictures.

4) What was the inspiration for Sigma?

KI: Some people think he might have been inspired by Sagat from Street Fighter because of his look, but that's not actually the case. Sigma and Zero basically represent the idea that nothing is absolute. Sigma was a powerful leader of the Maverick Hunters but after Zero passed the virus to him, his allegiance changed. Circumstances can change anything, and nothing is absolute.

5) Have you ever considered a Rockman fighting game? What about other genres of Mega Man games like shooters or MMOs, or RTS?

KI: I have always considered Mega Man as I conceived it to be basically an action game, so I have not personally thought a lot about other genres of Mega Man games.

6) What happened to Dr. Wily in Rockman X series? Are Dr. Wily and Dr. Weil the same person? Were they ever supposed to be?

KI: A large amount of time has passed between the classic series and Mega Man X. Dr. Wily had died in the interim but was brought back by the virus. Dr. Wily and Weil are not the same person. It is ironic though, because Dr. Wily created Zero, and Dr. Weil used Zero, but ultimately it was a copy of Zero's original body with a different mind that defeated him.

7) Do you think we'll ever see Mega Man in a Smash Brothers game?

KI: That is probably a question better suited for Nintendo than for Capcom. If they were to ask, I see no reason to say no. We'll see what happens.

8) Would you consider making a two-player coop Mega Man game for consoles?

KI: I think this is quite difficult--even close to impossible with the current style of Mega Man. With a different style of game, I think this could be possible.

9) If there are more MM games, is there any chance you will revive the Robot Master community contest where people submit their own Robot Master designs?

KI: If Mega Man 9 becomes a big success and we were to make Mega Man 10, I think our activities with and connectedness to the fans through the internet mean we could certainly bring back this contest.

10) What does your office look like?

KI: Actually it is almost completely decorated by the creations of fans. It is stuffed with drawings, paintings, toys, and every other kind of creation that people have given me over the years. [editor's note: that collection now includes THESE awesome Mega Man 9 hats created by Rio, and presented to Inafune-san during his visit--he was most amused!).


Thanks to all the Unity members who contributed these questions, and thanks very much to Inafune-san for always taking time out of a very busy schedule for the fans!

Via PRC- the official Capcom press release for RM9:


LOS ANGELES, CA — July 15, 2008 — At the 2008 E3 Media and Business Summit, Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, announced Mega Man 9™ for Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Nintendo WiiWare™, and PLAYSTATION® Network. The original 2D classic Mega Man returns, bringing the series back to its core with retro-action platform gameplay and NES-inspired old school graphics. Relive the Mega Man experience with maniacally themed environments, a host of power-ups, and classically inspired bosses, each with their own unique weapons and weaknesses. Mega Man is currently scheduled for a simultaneous launch on all three platforms this Fall.

Mega Man 9 is a continuation of the original Mega Man series and will feature the classic gameplay fans know and love focusing on defeating bosses and acquiring a diverse arsenal of weapons. Mega Man 9 will feature over a dozen new challenging levels, a horde of new enemies with designs directed by Keiji Inafune, the original Mega Man character designer, online leader boards and a gamerscore achievements system.
In the year 200X, as the advanced science of the era has created industrial robots that co-exist with humans. However, an evil genius, Dr. Wily, plots for world domination and creates his own robot army to take over mankind. Luckily for humanity, Dr. Light outfits one of his domestic robots "Rock" to fight Dr. Wily’s creations. Mega Man is born.

Set after the events of Mega Man 8, multiple riots have sprung up all over the world. Whilst many people suspect that this is another plot from Dr. Wily, Dr. Light is stunned to recognize that some of the robots rioting on the TV screen are his own creations. Even more stunning, Dr. Wily appears on television to proclaim that Dr. Light is the evil mastermind behind these latest catastrophic incidents and it’s up to Mega Man to clear his creator’s name!

(Muse says: OH HELL CONCEPTUAL BLEEDOVER CONTINUES ERODING DISTINCTION BETWEEN X AND CLASSIC SERIES SIGH)

Launching this Fall for all three major platforms, Mega Man 9 is the must- buy Mega Man for both old and new fans alike. Its retro look and feel will draw old fans back to the series while its intuitive controls and the 80’s retro style gameplay will open up the game to a broader audience.

Head there to read the article. No direct links to the image from here for a variety of reasons.

They also say:
- You can play as Blues.
- The graphics are in the 8-bit sprite style, but not the classic Famicom/NES one.
(from the screenshot, I think it looks 16-bit...)
- It doesn't have anything to do with the X series.
- Tango is in it, and works just like the Rockman World Game Boy version.
- The game doesn't support full wide screen YET, but it will.
- It does support 480p.

This is now the second person (if it's not the same person) saying that Blues is a playable and that the game doesn't link to X. I checked the EXIF data of the larger image and confirmed that this IS a cell phone picture, from an LG phone, taken today. Granted, it'd be easy to make a photoshop on a screen, then take a picture of it, but are we getting into the realm of absurd paranoia to say that?

My personal speculation is that this is coming out of Backbone Emeryville as developer working with CoA, because of their very-recent handling of 1942, Bionic Commando and the revised Street Fighter for XBLA/PSN. "The Shadow" has stated two developers are on it - a recent PDF press release from Backbone's parent company mentions "several" classic franchises that they're working on, and the prior 3 have already been revealed.

Most are now focusing on waiting for an announcement at E3 in July.

I just dropped Capcom a note about whether there was really gonna be any motion on the X or Classic series and got a reply. This is straight from the mouth of Capcom's marketing department:

Hello, thanks for your note. There are a lot of internal discussions about Megaman. At this time there is nothing I can share with you, but we hope that you will stick with us.

On the heels of R20, I just found this interesting link to how Capcom predicts their sales figures together and plans for new items:

So THAT'S how Capcom works their numbers!

Protodude's Rockman Corner says that Rockman Rockman is surprisingly coming up out of nowhere to outsell Devil May Cry 4 in Japan; I'd say this article both illustrates and illuminates how that situation could come about. Retail simply doesn't give a title enough time to catch an initial hold any more. There's too much material in the market, and too little space on most retailer's shelves...