Megaman Is Dead

So this just happened and the internet is mad.

But before I address why this is such an outrage. I must tell a story. If you trace back to the beginning of the "Mighty No. 9" Kickstarter, you'll notice that it got funded like crazy. I don't remember if it broke records but it did end up making close to 4 million dollars when it was only asking for $900,000. Why such a crazy campaign for funding, you ask?

Well, there's another story...

Back during the old NES days, Capcom came out with an amazing platformer called Megaman. A tiny boy in blue who could shoot energy blasts from his arm won the hearts of millions of Nintendo fans. The proceeding years after begot sequel after sequel. Then Megaman X came out for the Super Nintendo and continued onto the the Playstation. Somewhere along the way, Megaman transferred to the 3d open world in an RPG called Megaman Legends and even got a sequel! With so many games and sequels, you could only imagine the size of the fanbase.

Yet Capcom stumbled and fell hard with Megaman X7. A venture into the hybrid of 2D and 3D which also tried to take advantage of the power of the Playstation 2 fell flat with fans and reviewers. Somehow a menacing onion and terrible voice acting just ruined the image of the game to many people. Somehow that game marked the beginning of the end for that franchise. After one last sequel, Megaman X8, Capcom shut the lid on the franchise from 2004 to 2008. Finally, after many remakes, handheld games, and re-releases, Capcom turned things around with Megaman 9 (2008) and 10 (2010). Both went back to the roots and seemed to be the rebirth of a dead franchise. Megaman 9 and 10 were received with pretty positive reviews and fans were given more. News of an online Megaman game, Megaman Universe, was coming in the works and Megaman Legends 3 as well. The latter being a sequel fans wanted for 10 years.

But things started to slip and a crucial turning point happened in 2010. Keiji Inafune, the creator of Megaman, left Capcom reportedly saying he hated his job. Capcom then cancelled all projects involving Megaman, including the long awaited Megaman Legends 3. Fans were angry, petitions were signed,  and boycotts were started, but nothing got Capcom to continue working on any of the previously announced projects.

So Keiji Inafune started a Kickstarter for Mighty No. 9 in 2013 and got his project funded (and then some) in less than a month. It wasn't Megaman by name, but it was everything Megaman was to meant to be. People loved Keiji's Kickstarter because it was like a big F U to Capcom for dashing people's hope to relive 90's nostalgia.

But the project for Mighty No. 9 kept (and still is) slipping. Delays started because they had "too much funding" and needed to use it to increase the scope of the game. They kept pushing the game release back to make the game bigger and better.

Original concept art for Mighty No. 9

 Another thing that disheartened fans was the change in art style from the beginning of the campaign to the alpha version of the game. A game that had a solid release date set at the beginning of the year for September 2015 is now being pushed into 2016 because of "online integration issues." There has been 3 years of development, many delays, and people are just asking the question "When?" When can they re-experience the solid platform shooter they used to play 15 to 25 years ago? And with so many delays and changes, will it ever live up to the hype? 

The actual art style of Mighty No. 9

And lastly, what is more perplexing, is the fact that Keiji Inafune is setting up other Kickstarters to start more games. One is called Red Ash which plays on the nostalgia of Megaman Legends. It failed it's funding from Kickstarter but some organization ended up funding it anyways. I think the company is called Fuze.

Artwork for the Megaman Legends spiritual successor: Red Ash

So that's why the internet is mad. And that is why Megaman is dead. Capcom can't come up with new content and the man who can can't  manage his own project.

But there's always a chance. Maybe some new Capcom CEO or Director of Marketing will find a way to get Megaman back into the market. And we'll eventually get Might No. 9. But will it really be a true spiritual successor?

We'll see.