[Kailea]

Originally Posted by Malacite

Well, they're going back to a formula that's cheap and works. I admit I'm a bit disappointed, but I'll let it go just because it's fucking Mega Man 9.

it maybe cheap or "lazy"

but honestly I am glad that its coming in the format its in. Nice classic simple game play and I can just kick back and enjoy the hell out of it.

also I tried reading the date on page 21 in the bottom right, seems to read January 2009

[Pai Pai Master]

I don't see it as cheap. I don't see a lot of other developers daring to go back a number of generations for a new installment in a long-running franchise. In the face of their normally safe business model (see: Street Fighter 4 basically being yet another remake of SFII), this is one of the most unique things they've done in a long time.

[Malacite]

But if you watch the interviews with Inafune, he says his biggest concern with a next-gen MM is the cost. He doesn't feel that he'd be able to recoup the costs (though he never explains why) and is waiting for someone to throw money at him to make a new game. So yes, this is being cheap. But like I said, it's fucking Mega Man 9! It'll sell just fine after all the crap Capcom's been releasing.

Now, what platform to download it too >. > (leaning on PS3, but my downloads off PSN take ages for some reason...)

[Armando]

You totally missed the part where the scope of those answers were limited to Mega Man Legends 3. Mega Man Legends bombed financially, and as long as it's not coming out of his own money, he WILL have people to answer to if they lose shittons of money because of him. That's not being cheap, that's called being responsible. Personal projects shouldn't come at other people's expense.

As for MM9, yes, they can produce it with very little money but that's besides the point. The point - and he said it himself in the scans - is to make a new, awesome NES Mega Man. That's something rare and there probably won't be another one of its kind coming out. Besides, the staff is 20 effing people. That's 18 more than necessary - Inafune and a good composer could probably do it.

Don't get me wrong, I would've loved it if MM9 looked like MM8. I just think this is a rare treat.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I don't see this as being cheap so much as sticking to the roots of the series and going back to classic form. I think of it like this - this is the Mega Man we knew and grew up with, that's the sort of Mega Man game they're making.

I mean, Warner Brothers could have taken Superman back to square one or made a Superman movie for a new generation, but they opted to go back to the one that was everyone's favorite - the Christopher Reeve Superman of the 80s. Sure, I'd like to forget Superman IV as much as most of the PSX Mega Man X games, but sometimes there's no reason to start from scratch and make something totally new.

This works just fine. I don't care if its low budget, games don't need large budgets to be good. Or did Katamari Damacy not prove that?

[Kailea]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

I don't see this as being cheap so much as sticking to the roots of the series and going back to classic form. I think of it like this - this is the Mega Man we knew and grew up with, that's the sort of Mega Man game they're making.

So true, Mega Man 2 was made purly on the desire of the programers wanting to make a second one, they made in on their own time, and alot of heart was put into it. Its why MM2 still is one of the best Mega Man games of all.

I see them as placing that same heart into this one, making it 8-bit and "old school" ^.^

[Armando]

The first and only NES Mega Man game I got to play for a really long time was Mega Man 3. It wasn't until I discovered emulation, way after having played MM7, MM8, and X1-X4 that I got to play the others. Honestly, since I didn't make the jump from MM1 to MM2 at the time, I didn't really see it as that big of a deal. It had an awesome intro and some of the best music so far, but MM3 had sliding, far cooler Robot Masters PLUS MM2's Robot Masters, Proto Man, and one of the best NES endings ever - showing the entire robot list so far complete with their numbering, with Proto Man's theme playing while Mega Man wonders where he is. They didn't call him Blues for no reason.

[Malacite]

No I didn't Armando. He said had doubts about recovering the costs of any next-gen Rockman game, not just Legends 3.


I'd still love to seem them go back and redo some of the older titles for the Wii or PS3 in full 3D (MGS4 visuals in a rockman game {Can I have it?}) and interactive environments and battles/screwy Wii controls. It'd be so much fun, but who knows if it would sell enough (Inafune's biggest concern from a business standpoint). Some of those old stages (like Shadowman's) would be freaking epic. As would some of the boss fights (If you thought Crash Man was hard before...)

[Armando]

Yes, but think about it Malacite. What on-going console Mega Man series could possibly be used for a next-gen game? The Classic series has always been 2D, except for Powered Up, which just has 3D graphics but still plays 2D. As for the X series, I consider everything after X5 to be non-canon anyways, but setting that aside, X7 caught so much flak for being 3D that they went back to 2D with X8. Uh-oh - there goes any possibility for 3D remakes. The Battle Network and Zero series are done, and releasing the next installment of the Star Force or ZX series to a next-gen console would just be bad marketing.

Now add to that the fact that he'd be shooting himself in the foot AND slapping his fans in the face all at the same time if he were given a budget large enough to fund a next-gen title and he released anything that isn't Legends 3.
______________________________
On top of that, I can't find the interview right now, but they asked Inafune if he had any plans to give other games in the series the same treatment he gave Mega Man 1 and X1 with Powered Up and Maverick Hunter X. He said both remakes sold pretty badly, and because of that, although he would've liked to, more remakes are probably out of the question for now.

Again, he's not being cheap or paranoid. After what happened with the Legends series, X7, Powered Up, and Maverick Hunter X, he has very good reason to believe there's a high financial risk involved in both making Legends 3, or remaking older games. It's a financial gamble and right now, it would be someone else's money he'd be gambling with.

[Feba]

Originally Posted by Malacite

(MGS4 visuals in a rockman game {Can I have it?})

Um, ew? This would look like absolute crap with Megaman. Not everything needs gritty realism you know.

I think the series you're looking for is "Metroid Prime".

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I kinda feel sorry for the guy, if he doesn't do a Mega Man game, everyone gets pissed off and if he does do a Mega Man game, he risks losing money.

I'd love to see a new and completely original game come from the folks behind all these Mega Man games. Not that I don't like Mega Man, but its just kinda ridiculous how much attention Capcom puts into the franchise. Even Mario is all like "Dude, take-a leetle break, you look-a so tired."

[Raydeus]

Hmm, can't they just ask fans to preorder the game or something so they see how much money they can potentially make so they can at least go with the high-res 64bit looks instead of 8-bit or something.




PS > To me everything after MM3 and X (the first one) has been completely uninteresting, specially the "spin offs".

[Armando]

I totally agree with you, BBQ. And even when he's making Mega Man games successfully, people still bitch about something or another. Some people yearn for the older games, but if he goes and make a retro style one, people complain about that too. That, or they complain about the repetition, but when he does something different, people complain about how different it is.

As for an all-new game, there IS Dead Rising. It was only recently that I found out Inafune produced it. Don't know how much involvement there was from other Mega Man game staff. Unfortunately I don't own an X-Box 360 so I can't even rent it.

[Raydeus]

What prevents him from using retro-style gameplay with updated graphics though, it doesn't need to be ground breaking to be different yet faithful to it's roots.

It's the execution what counts. Look at GTAIV, no matter how you slice it it's pretty much the same game as III, with better graphics and some upgraded features, but other than that it's still the same game and we love it for that.

Why can't they do the same with Rockman?

[Armando]

What prevents him from using retro-style gameplay with updated graphics though, it doesn't need to be ground breaking to be different yet faithful to it's roots.

He tried with Powered Up and it didn't sell well. For the not-quite-so-retro gameplay, there's the Zero series and the on-going ZX series. The Zero series in particular was fantastic because it was very serious, had great presentation, and it finally brought the whole X series to a close. The ZX series is a bit more light-hearted, and it's kind of a new beginning in some ways. The gameplay is even more innovative and challenging than the Zero series though.