They've continued without Akira Kitamura since Mega Man 3 and have gone on almost 30 years since then.
Of course Keiji himself peaked after a while, seeing as how he ended up responsible for for Mighty No. 9 and its unmade expanded media as well as the whole Red Ash debacle.
Megaman X8 was actually shockingly good. Like I realize that after X6 and X7 the expectations were so low they may as well have been next to fucking dinosaur bones, but it actually does some amusing things and ends the story (and Sigma) with surprisingly good flair. It's not a perfect lead-up to Megaman Zero, but it's a damned good game and the fact that it legit pulls off a plot twist most probably didn't expect was something most probably didn't see coming.
I've always been of the opinion the series crapped the bed whenever it tried to be too innovative too fast (hi Battle Network 4) or they lazily shat out sequels for cash. (hi Megaman X6)
Otherwise, they made good MM games.
Based on what I've seen so far, I'm going to be, at least, cautiously optimistic.
Yeah, I'd say X is probably the most inconsistent Mega Man sub-series we've had by far. A lot of people attribute that to Capcom hastily deciding to continue the series with X6 when it was originally supposed to end at X5, but I don't really think the drop in quality was as sudden as others think it was. I can stomach most of the more controversial games throughout the series's history (the only game I'd say I truly dislike is X7, and I fucking hateX7), but the problems with X slowly began to manifest themselves right by the second half, I'd say. As much as I do like it (and X6, to be honest with you), X5 was just ridden by a whole slew of mind-boggling design choices that made it a step backwards from X4. I mean, who the fuck thought it was a good idea to have X and Zero not share Life Ups when it's physically impossible for Zero to obtain a fair chunk of them, or to force the player to revisit Duff McWhalen's boring-ass autoscroller at all, let alone twice if they're doing an X-only run, just to get all the shit in the stage?
Overall, my rank for X would probably be: 1. X1, 2. X4, 3. X2, 4. X8, 5. X3, 6. X5, 7. X6, 8. X7.
On a slightly different note, I do really like the new artwork that's being put out. Makes me kinda-sorta hopeful for an X9 in the future.
Out of the second collection? X5 and X8 are worthy of the bunch IMO. X5 has it's issues such as Alia pointing out the obvious and some copy and pasted level assets from X4. It still isn't a cluster fuck like X6 or a shit fest X7 is.
The franchise as a whole came from the combined efforts of Inafune, Kitamura, and Fujiwara, none of whom seem to be involved in Megaman 11. A series continuing without any of the original people behind it has a large chance of failure.
The franchise as a whole came from the combined efforts of Inafune, Kitamura, and Fujiwara, none of whom seem to be involved in Megaman 11. A series continuing without any of the original people behind it has a large chance of failure.
Fujiwara doesn't appear to have been involved with Mega Man since the mid-90s, and Keiji's crapped the bed several times behind the wheel (i.e. Maverick Hunter X and he may or may not have watered down the original X Collection because of MHX). I'll also bring you several fangames (Mega Man Unlimited) that people seem to like for some reason.
I'll also bring up (of all things) Sonic the Hedgehog having at least 1 person from the first game still on board and still not being outwardly successful in years because of how divisive as fuck the games are.
Remember Mega Man Universe? That LittleBigPlanet inspired game that would have had players create their own levels and post them online, all while having a remade campaign based on Mega Man 2 but with a shitload more customization?
I want that game to get made more than anything else.
Fujiwara doesn't appear to have been involved with Mega Man since the mid-90s, and Keiji's crapped the bed several times behind the wheel (i.e. Maverick Hunter X and he may or may not have watered down the original X Collection because of MHX). I'll also bring you several fangames (Mega Man Unlimited) that people seem to like for some reason.
I'll also bring up (of all things) Sonic the Hedgehog having at least 1 person from the first game still on board and still not being outwardly successful in years because of how divisive as fuck the games are.
Maverick Hunter X was a critical success, receiving 4/5 star ratings consistently, that didn't sell. Inafune wanted to make Maverick Hunters up to X6, but Capcom said "no".
The Megaman fangames, sans 8-bit Deathmatch, just seem to be more of Megaman 2,3,4,5,6,9 and 10, with no innovation.
Sonic has been outwardly successful for some time now. (Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors, and Sonic Mania)
Maverick Hunter X was a critical success, receiving 4/5 star ratings consistently, that didn't sell. Inafune wanted to make Maverick Hunters up to X6, but Capcom said "no".
The Megaman fangames, sans 8-bit Deathmatch, just seem to be more of Megaman 2,3,4,5,6,9 and 10, with no innovation.
Sonic has been outwardly successful for some time now. (Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors, and Sonic Mania)
The MHX misfire was putting it on the PSP where the low sales were a given (low sales = no sequels), how much innovation can you squeeze from a videogame where you move right and shoot stuff, and you ignored Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Sonic Lost World, and Sonic Forces.
Mega Man 11 is being released after 8 years of nothing, it isn't drawing from the nostalgia pool the way the last two did, and some people need to wash the taste of Mighty No. 9 out of their mouths. It will do fine.
as a old fag of megaman i don't know what to say about the double gear, the system make the game to easy for me, unless there is another setback for using it (the only thing i saw was a cool down no health or weapon energy consumption) its going to be cakewalk for some people
- HOLY SHIT THE VOICE ACTING IS ACTUALLY GOOD (if you thought bad voice acting was only an issue back in the '90s, X7 says hi). Mega Man here sounds like more of a teenager, which is a bit of a departure from what we're used to out of him, but I'll take it. And of course, Light no longer sounds like Elmer Fudd!
- The graphics have really improved since we last saw this game. I like how bright and colorful everything looks, which is how classic Mega Man should be.
- I'm not really sure of what to think of this game's soundtrack so far. Hopefully it's a bit more diverse than all the electronic stuff I've heard.
- I'm glad they're not trying to hide the fact that Wily is the villain this time. As for the plot involving this new Double Gear system Wily made in college, a bit of a shame that this doesn't seem to lead right into the creation of Zero or anything else in the X series, but I'll see where they take it. I'm interested in seeing how it gets incorporated into the final battle, where I'm guessing Wily will use the same technology against Mega Man.
At least, I'm assuming Wily is still the villain and they don't pull an X8 on us. Then again, this is classic Mega Man, so we can't expect the story to get that involved.
- The Double Gear gimmick, meanwhile, looks like something that could help noobs get into the game. From what I'm seeing of it, at least it looks optional.
- Two Robot Masters are shown: Block Man (DWN.081) and Fuse Man (DWN.082). Wait, I thought these were Light's 'bots? Whatever. Also, I dunno, "Brick Man" was a much better name for him TBH; it just would have fit this guy's theme better. And it seems like Fuse Man's weapon is his weakness, judging by the fact that it stuns him like it would a Maverick in X. Speaking of X, they seem to have desperation attacks like Mavericks from X2 onwards, too, and holy shit, did Block Man's catch me off-guard (even if it did make him seem slower and a lot easier to hit). Fuse Man's attack pattern reminds me of that of Sigma's first form in X2, y'know, where he would plunge straight down from above your current position and shit like that? Judging by what I've seen so far, the Robot Master fights definitely seem a lot more dynamic this time around than before.
- The box art breaks tradition by actually looking really good. And it gives us a glimpse of all eight of this game's Robot Masters. Pretty nifty designs.
Overall, I'm just about convinced that Capcom made this game solely to tell Inafune, "Now this is how you make a Mega Man game, you no-talent hack!"
I'm still baffled by the atrocious character designs in MN9. Beck looks so fucking ridiculous with his noodle limbs and his hands are so large he has to stand in such an unnatural looking pose so they won't clip through anything.
