Mega Man General Thread - Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection announced

[AlmightyMagichan]

To think this franchise used to be known for pumping out endless sequels and spinoffs. Now it's been 7 years and we're lucky that Protoman is even bothering to show up.

 

[Karl Jobst's Asian Wife]

2027 release? Shame.

I was looking forward to playing as Rockperson where Roll, the strong and independent they/them girlboss (formerly the servant/housekeeping robot) is the main character and Mega Man becomes the subcharacter of his own franchise and emasculated at every turn and needs to be saved by Roll. The game will tackle important issues likes common sense Mega Buster control, decolonization of the evil humans and Dr Wily (who know identifies as trans) is a sympathetic and misunderstood villain that was driven this way due to late-stage capitalism.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

I have a bunch a legends collection (1, 2, and Misadventures) might be in the works.

I unfortunately missed out on Star Force. Someone said there's less places to explore? Like....only one town or something?

 

[Hopkinsville Goblin]

I just saw this thread coincidentally today. I just realized earlier today that Heat Man is based on a Zippo lighter. I always thought it was odd he was in kind of a box with a lid.

 

[Danann]

More interestingly however, is that Capcom announced a Robot Master design contest [archive just in case]. They're definetly aware of how pozzed fandom culture got since 2012 (when they held the last one for Xover) because they gave a template that the design needs to be based on, in order to minimize disastrous concepts. Also they've already adressed AI, and how it's not allowed, but someone will definetly slip through, and this will cause controversy.

Unfortunately they also decided to post this extra smug post about it with Mega Man forcing Dr. Wily to draw, therefore implying he used generative AI for his robot master blueprints or something retarded.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

2027 release? Shame.

I was looking forward to playing as Rockperson where Roll, the strong and independent they/them girlboss (formerly the servant/housekeeping robot) is the main character and Mega Man becomes the subcharacter of his own franchise and emasculated at every turn and needs to be saved by Roll. The game will tackle important issues likes common sense Mega Buster control, decolonization of the evil humans and Dr Wily (who know identifies as trans) is a sympathetic and misunderstood villain that was driven this way due to late-stage capitalism.

I mean this quite literally happened to X with Zero who completely subsumed him in importance, but it helped Zero was just cooler.

 

[Croaking Spider]

I mean this quite literally happened to X with Zero who completely subsumed him in importance, but it helped Zero was just cooler.

A lot of Zero's characterization post X series isn't touched upon very well in the games for the English audience. Japan had audio dramas that came out around the same time as the game that helped build Zero as a character. In the dramas, he has a hard time coming to terms with the possibility that he's just an imitation of the "real" Zero. In the games, pretty much the only line of Zero's response basically amounts to "oh, okay, neat" when Dr. Weil goads him. He starts off cold and reserved, but slowly opens up to Ceil and the Resistance as the series progressed. From his in-game text alone, it's not as noticable. There's a bit in an audio drama between Ceil and Zero that takes place at the end of MMZ4 right before Ragnarok falls that's honestly pretty heartbreaking and would have been nice to see in the game, if only in text. A good bit of Elpizo's backstory is exclusive to Japanese audio dramas as well. He's a pretty bland and blank slate of a character for his ultimate role unless you include supplementary lore that was never released in your region or language.

Me personally, I love Zero for his design and gameplay, but I don't think he got the proper development in the MMZ series to end up how he did. I feel like if we had gotten some games that showed the actual events of the Elf War and bridged the gap between the X and Zero series chronologically, it would have gone over better.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

A lot of Zero's characterization post X series isn't touched upon very well in the games for the English audience. Japan had audio dramas that came out around the same time as the game that helped build Zero as a character. In the dramas, he has a hard time coming to terms with the possibility that he's just an imitation of the "real" Zero. In the games, pretty much the only line of Zero's response basically amounts to "oh, okay, neat" when Dr. Weil goads him. He starts off cold and reserved, but slowly opens up to Ceil and the Resistance as the series progressed. From his in-game text alone, it's not as noticable. There's a bit in an audio drama between Ceil and Zero that takes place at the end of MMZ4 right before Ragnarok falls that's honestly pretty heartbreaking and would have been nice to see in the game, if only in text. A good bit of Elpizo's backstory is exclusive to Japanese audio dramas as well. He's a pretty bland and blank slate of a character for his ultimate role unless you include supplementary lore that was never released in your region or language.

Me personally, I love Zero for his design and gameplay, but I don't think he got the proper development in the MMZ series to end up how he did. I feel like if we had gotten some games that showed the actual events of the Elf War and bridged the gap between the X and Zero series chronologically, it would have gone over better.

well this is Capcom, only Konami is better at dropping the ball, we still have that entire Megaman Legends 3 debacle, a great unresolved cliff hanger that anyone who likes those games (me) seethes over to this day.

I just like how Zero completely outmoded his function, he was never meant to be some elite warrior who can defeat any and all targets even by the time of the Zero series where he's woefully outdated in all the metrics, he was just a virus delivery system, something strong enough to wound Light's creations so they'd get infected, nothing more.
It really paints the idea that he's not just a machine, there really seems to be a soul to them, Zero included, even if he isn't a Reploid, he is quite literally more than the sum of his parts.

 

[Newcomer 42]

well this is Capcom, only Konami is better at dropping the ball, we still have that entire Megaman Legends 3 debacle, a great unresolved cliff hanger that anyone who likes those games (me) seethes over to this day.

Yeah, Capcom doesn't treat their franchises well.
IMO a reboot of MMX would do wonders as it's been too long.
I liked how the reploids caused enough destruction to leave humanity as a newbie in the matter of barely 2 years. Worse, the robot military meant to prevent Maverick incidents immediately went rogue because of a misunderstanding.

I just like how Zero completely outmoded his function, he was never meant to be some elite warrior who can defeat any and all targets even by the time of the Zero series where he's woefully outdated in all the metrics, he was just a virus delivery system, something strong enough to wound Light's creations so they'd get infected, nothing more.

I'm sure that Zero was meant to be the carrier of the Maverick Virus AND a powerful combat robot, too, as he becomes empowered when exposed to the former and has powerful combat capabilities on his own. We're talking about Wily, who would add weapons even to a chef bot.
True, he's technically not a Reploid, but if he walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and runs like a duck...

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

I liked how the reploids caused enough destruction to leave humanity as a newbie in the matter of barely 2 years.

the Reploids, essentially, ended the human race entirely, they were that destructive an invention, by the time of ZX, humans and reploids began to intermingle, and humanity essentially ceased to exist, I wouldn't even say evolve or got upgraded, as the resulting beings are few and far between, and live entirely on one big space station, and can literally be brainwashed with programming.

Carbons are not humans, and they inherit the earth after, its never even espoused on exactly what happened for it to get so bad, but it did.

 

[Newcomer 42]

the Reploids, essentially, ended the human race entirely, they were that destructive an invention, by the time of ZX, humans and reploids began to intermingle, and humanity essentially ceased to exist, I wouldn't even say evolve or got upgraded, as the resulting beings are few and far between, and live entirely on one big space station, and can literally be brainwashed with programming

There are a few steps missing between the start and Legends. Humans becoming cyborgs to the point they can be confused with robots and breed would eliminate all issues about differences. But something terrible happened. Aliens? Carbons rebelling?

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

There are a few steps missing between the start and Legends. Humans becoming cyborgs to the point they can be confused with robots and breed would eliminate all issues about differences. But something terrible happened. Aliens? Carbons rebelling?

no, Carbons had no idea they were essentially terrarium pets of The Master, to test if the planet could be habitable.
its simply not elaborated on but obviously something super apocalyptic occured, since all the ruins are of the "pre-Humans/Reploid race of robots", and without a big damn hero like Zero or Megaman X, I guess no one was there to avert it.

 

[Super Guido]

Zero included, even if he isn't a Reploid, he is quite literally more than the sum of his parts.

Isn't "X (and probably Zero) aren't reploids" a manga-specific thing? Reploids are the in-universe equivalent to gynoids and androids, as far as I know.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

Isn't "X (and probably Zero) aren't reploids" a manga-specific thing? Reploids are the in-universe equivalent to gynoids and androids, as far as I know.

a Reploid are all the robots made based off X, which makes X a Proto-Reploid, and probably far more advanced, since Light made X, and Reploids are just some fucking retard who woke X up copying his notes, this is the vast majority of humanoid Robots in X, but not all, obviously, the weird animalistic ones aren't, among other things, like the ones that go one to be Reaver bots.

Zero is just Wily's greatest creation, possibly made with the "Evil Energy" he found in 8, he's just a Robot of the regular Megaman era, souped up, with a virus to fuck with Light's creations, this makes Zero super impressive since he goes the distance all the way to his end riding Ragnarok into the dirt, completely defiant to his long dead creator for basically his entire existence, some part of him lives on with X as the ZX Metal, and it would have been super cute if said Sentai power up survived to MML3, but lol Capcom.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

Isn't "X (and probably Zero) aren't reploids" a manga-specific thing? Reploids are the in-universe equivalent to gynoids and androids, as far as I know.

No, in addition to what Zenos said above, it is completely canon that X and Zero are far more advanced than any other Reploid. Dr. Cain only vaguely understood all of X's nuisances and no Reploid was ever put under a century's long morality test. The games go out of their way though to specifically state that X and Zero are special and so intricate that nobody really understands how they work. If they get fatally damaged or injured, that's it. Nobody can fix them. That's why Dr. Light's hologram had to be the one to fix X at the end of X5. To that end, their answer for Zero is...he repaired himself but he also asks Light who repaired him. So if we go by this, Zero was restored by Isoc/Serges/Wily to an operational state and was able to fix himself. Or he got saved by someone and has no idea why and just lies to X for some reason.

I think it's safe to assume from an audience perspective that Wily was at least vaguely aware of things Light was doing. I always assumed that Wily just stole X's design from Dr. Light and made Zero and was able to just put his own twist on it and fill in the blanks himself. Heck, Dr. Light was able to transfer his consciousness into a hologram or at least make something akin to it. Yet, we see that Dr. Wily did something very similar but to a different degree, hopping from robot body to robot body. So it makes sense that Wily was probably just stealing ideas from Dr. Light constantly.

 

[X Prime]

I can answer most of these.

I'm sure that Zero was meant to be the carrier of the Maverick Virus

This is actually the biggest asspull of the X series: the Virus thing is an accident. The Virus was in Zero's capsule, and he was only infected during the X4 cutscene fight with Sigma. The in-universe effect of the Virus on Zero was to turn him good, because he was already evil. This was unintended on Wily's part. None of this is in any game of course.

Isn't "X (and probably Zero) aren't reploids" a manga-specific thing? Reploids are the in-universe equivalent to gynoids and androids, as far as I know.

This is correct. Reploids are any robot with human-level sentience. That means X and Zero are Reploids and that's really it.

Keep in mind that Mega Man Zero and therefore ZX are an alternate future timeline to X according to various Capcom statements. It's a very weird thing but what they seem to have decided to do was count X8 and Command Mission as the actual X future. Due to this, whatever is going on in Z and ZX, like the black suits being Reploid skin or whatever, does not necessarily apply to Mega Man X.

So if we go by this, Zero was restored by Isoc/Serges/Wily to an operational state and was able to fix himself.

We do not actually know who fixed Zero in X6. The problem is the original translation causes a lot of people's eyes to kind of glaze over, but Isoc makes it very clear in one scene that he doesn't know who repaired Zero or even where Zero was. It's another unanswered question. In other words, this:

Or he got saved by someone and has no idea why and just lies to X for some reason.

Is what actually seems to have happened.

 

[Croaking Spider]

I always assumed that Wily just stole X's design from Dr. Light and made Zero and was able to just put his own twist on it and fill in the blanks himself.

Wily also had experience with Light's designs when he repaired Protoman's malfunctioning reactor. He also created Bass, so he already had a pretty good idea of how to build a combat-oriented robot.

The in-universe effect of the Virus on Zero was to turn him good, because he was already evil

I wouldn't say "turn him good", but the virus did act as a suppressant because he was uncontrollably violent without it. When Sigma confronted Zero after his awakening, he was infected with the Maverick virus when he damaged the core on Zero's forehead, which corrupted him and lead to the Sigma virus and his subsequent rebellion. Zero's behavior stabilized once Dr. Cain repaired him and joined Cain's Maverick Hunters.

 

[X Prime]

I wouldn't say "turn him good", but the virus did act as a suppressant because he was uncontrollably violent without it.

This is how the MMZ Collection Timeline puts it:

As a result, Zero’s personality completely changed, and he would end up working as a Maverick Hunter.

What I gave were the reported words of Inafune. He apparently said on some online journal which nobody can pull an archive out of words to the effect of Zero being so perfectly evil, that the virus turned him perfectly good.

Those kind of words are also in this document Capcom put on display:

<i>Mega Man X1</i> Internal Design Document Posted at 30th Anniversary Event

An official design document from Mega Man X1 has been spotted at Rockman Unite – the 30th anniversary event currently taking place in H...

www.rockman-corner.com

This document was originally reported as being for X1, but X2 co-director Tsuda said on Twitter that he never saw it, however someone he did not name on the team weirdly kept pushing for what's on it. Meaning that this was likely something Inafune scribbed down at some point and abused his increasing seniority and management clout to push.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

Keep in mind that Mega Man Zero and therefore ZX are an alternate future timeline to X according to various Capcom statements.

I reject this for obvious reasons, Zero and ZX lead into Megaman Legends, which is a direct continuation of many games from X to the end of the franchise so far, MML2.

Megaman Command Mission is the end of w/e the fuck that timeline was going to be, so it seems more like the side alternate timeline to me.
Not that it matters, even though we are getting a new Megaman Classic game, it'll be rote, by the numbers, no real plot development, Wily will be on his knee's doing the ABLOOBLOOBLOO at the end, same as always.

Capcom has effectively abandoned the franchise, they hit it with a defib every 3 years or so with a new Megaman Classic game, and get busy back to ruining their money makers like Monster Hunter with retarded decessions.

 

[X Prime]

You can reject it all you want but that is what Capcom has said more than once over the years. It's said on DiVE's official website, for example.

One explanation for why this is so is that Capcom brass hates IntiCreates for corporate politics reasons, as they were Mega Man X2 developers who quit Capcom acrimoniously due to grueling working conditions. However, this explanation is not the only possibility because the director of a good chunk of X games, Koji Okohara, said that X is a "possible future" timeline of Classic, which has the same effect. You may find this here:

Mega Man X4 – 1997 Developer Interview - shmuplations.com

In this 1997 interview, several members of Capcom’s Mega Man X4 development team discuss the making of the game and answer some common plot questions.

shmuplations.com

(Archived: https://archive.is/XDrfq)

Therefore, it can be understood as Capcom not wanting to close off the poossibility of being able to do what they want with each part of the franchise later.