It just keeps getting worse...

[Abominator]

Just when you might have decided that MegaMan Universe or MegaMan Online was the vilest, most thankfully-cancelled bastardisation of our beloved blue bomber, comes this:

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/9/4179628/mega-man-fps-maverick-hunter

So, other than one of the characters being blue, how is this in any way a MegaMan game?

It's painful at this point.

[Speed Racer]

We won't know, seeing as it never made it beyond proof-of-concept.

[Winged Warrior]

Megaman Prime could have been awesome. Just look at this guy.

[Speed Racer]

I would've been willing to give it a chance. Capcom probably figured this was the only way to really bring Mega Man to modern consoles.

[NovaMan XP]

I actually wouldn't have minded an FPS, but the design and look of the footage just looks like dark gritty meh.

X's... design is just ugh.

I hate this whole "appealing to what everyone likes" bull#####. If everyone keeps #####ing doing it we'll just end up with gritty dark FPS realistic mehsauce for every damn game series ever.

That said, the actual game itself, ignoring that it's supposed to be Mega Man, didn't look too bad. I think if they actually stuck to the original design of X instead of making him Iron Man or something I think it wouldn't look nearly as horrifying.  ...maybe.

[Abominator]

It's so disgustingly derivative.

I agree that they could have done some kind of FPS in the X style we know and love but this thing is a disgrace.

[TheRedPriest]

Don't you know, the only way to modernize a series/franchise is to make it an FPS.  Look how well it worked for Metroid, it was utterly the most perfect and not totally the wrong way to bring it into 3D PERFECTLY.

The entire argument/concept/premise that it has to be a FPS to modernize it or make it relevant is beyond flawed.  That's the real issue, not the rushed/incomplete/raw/rough/concept video they made.

[Majikn]

Never mind the fact that his completely inhuman appearance is far-flung from something Dr. Light would EVER want to design (I'm pretty sure the dude wanted humans and robots to live in harmony, not create something that frightens people), and never mind my admitted bias against FPS games... this doesn't even look good FOR an FPS.

It seems like they might know enough to tell what ideas don't stick, but I feel like I already have the solution that can revitalize MegaMan.

My opinion is that if they want to transition Mega Man to 3D, I think their best bet is on 3DS, with a Super Mario 3D Land type of dynamic perspective, NOT an FPS. They would need to have MegaMan shoot in 8 directions parallel to the ground, and to design the enemies to be generally within MegaMan's control limitations and with respect to the core gameplay of jumping and shooting. They could get into a partnership with Nintendo for advertising or even assisted development if it's really necessary—I mean if they're so worried about losing money on a MegaMan title they could just share the burden financially and there's probably no better way to guarantee financial success for this kind of game than to have Nintendo backing you, and Nintendo seems to have been more than happy to work with other companies recently.

I don't recall having trouble using the Fire Flower in 8 directions, so it seems like just a matter of balancing at that point. Worst case scenario, you can have dynamic aiming within degrees of the direction you fire, so that you don't get that annoyed feeling when there's an enemy that's hugging the 22.5 degree mark JUST far enough away for your shot to miss, but even THEN the limitations of the buster are part of why MegaMan had subweapons in the first place, so... better yet, just make the subweapons fill the void somehow with unique angles and movement patterns.

They could even add occasional throwbacks to a sidescrolling perspective with a perpendicular view, without overdoing it like Sonic occasionally does.

They could also use the touch-screen for changing subweapons and using E tanks. This could also work for a WiiU version, but I doubt like hell we'll ever see MegaMan on a WiiU after all these recent years of disappointment.

I think this could potentially be done right. It's not exactly as easy to do well within a 3D space, but it's very, very possible, and it would be simplified if they kept it linear (and they'd damn well better).

The entire argument/concept/premise that it has to be a FPS to modernize it or make it relevant is beyond flawed.  That's the real issue, not the rushed/incomplete/raw/rough/concept video they made.

This too.
I don't think the first person shooter has evolved to the point where it's actually viable as a gaming choice, anyway. I generally prefer to wait until devices can add peripheral vision before I want to do first-person anything, because I don't like playing something as if I'm wearing horse blinders.

[Winged Warrior]

In 2010, Capcom tapped the talent behind Metroid Prime to bring Mega Man into the modern age — only to have the game suffer the fate of similar recent attempts to find a new audience for the 8-bit hero.

only to have the game suffer the fate of similar recent attempts to find a new audience for the 8-bit hero.

find a new audience for the 8-bit hero.

new audience

Oh Capcom, why don't you accept that seeking out a new audience ends up alienating your established one?

[Yubi Shines]

It's probably worth pointing out that this wouldn't have been anywhere near X's final appearance. Tech demo, yo. That said, I wouldn't particularly care for an FPS.

I'd have been pretty interested in the plot as the article presents it, though.

[Mikero]

Oh Capcom, why don't you accept that seeking out a new audience ends up alienating your established one?

The established audience, on average, is anywhere from in their late twenties to forties at this point.

They are, as always, a business first.

[TheRedPriest]

True, but there is a difference in adding or expanding a fanbase and cutting off, discarding and pissing on the established one to bring in an all new one.  Which is what making Mega Man a FPS would have done.

[Majikn]

It seems probable that if you're ever alienating your established audience, there's a substantial risk that you'll end up with no audience. A business first would be right not to make that move. Even if it turned out well, there's still the question of who would buy it. Even people who actually LIKE FPS games would prefer to opt for some iteration of Call of Duty or Battlefield or Halo.

By blatantly making it an FPS like this one looks like, they'd be up against some heavy competition. The FPS fans would also be looking for multiplayer. So many things would have had to go perfectly for it to be successful, and they seem to barely even handle copying the EXACT formula of MegaMan Classic, as has been shown.

[Orange Devil]

I see it as change, like the way Megaman Legends is nothing like any other Megaman game. It could have been a really cool variation on the Megaman Canon like Legends was.

[TheRedPriest]

Legends also wasn't trying to be Mega Man 8 or Mega Man X6 and saying with a straight face "this is actually Mega Man in 3D".  Legends was it's own game/series/entity that was Mega Man flavored, and it was ok it didn't play or look like Classic or X because they weren't trying to pass it off as either.  This project is literally "It's Mega Man X even though it's not at all".

[Majikn]

There's nothing wrong with a healthy moderate attitude towards change. Not all change is good. Not all change is bad.

I'm trying to imagine how a MegaMan X game could be realized as an FPS, but I keep feeling like there's only so many ways you can play with the idea of coordinating shots in a first person perspective.

I concede that Metroid Other M may have been a better step in the right direction for a platform shooter gone 3D, but even that concept feels like it would need to be more carefully refined for a MegaMan game.

[Winged Warrior]

 

Oh Capcom, why don't you accept that seeking out a new audience ends up alienating your established one?

The established audience, on average, is anywhere from in their late twenties to forties at this point.

They are, as always, a business first.

Don't get me wrong. I think Megaman would take very well to the First or third person shooters.  I think, with a competent team behind it, Our favorite blue shooting dude could grow up and tell a mature story.  They would have to reinvent megaman in a sense, without spitting on the legacy he has in the first place.  To that I say No risk, No reward.

Capcom has rebooted megaman plenty of times before in X, Battlenetwork, Legends, Zero, ZX, and Starforce.  I am confident that if they really put their hearts into it they could REALLY PANDER to us 20 somethings that have been loyal to the series.



HOWEVER


We know how badly Megaman has handled it's IPs in the past. We know the depths megaman has hit to make a buck.  I played Battlenetwork 4, It was atrocious.  We, the customer, feel we cannot trust the company with quality content and as such will ridicule and refuse to buy their product.

Capcom teasing us with MML3 didn't help their case much either.


Capcom and Square Enix really share a similar level of quality in my mind's eye.  Thanks to SB and several months of Final Fantasy XI, I've gotten a chance to REALLY think about Square enix, their current games, and the games they used to produce...

Honestly I think these companies don't know how to approach these old, and VERY well established IPs.  I think they KNOW that the old stuff is GOLD. They KNOW how well it would sell if they could recapture the magic, and they're trying different things to do that.

SE can't let go of Final Fantasy, and I can't blame them... but they're going to run it into the ground,  and we all know it.
Looks like Capcom did the sensible thing here and realized that the magic wasn't there, and canned the project. My hat goes off to them.

[spoiler]And now I just await the day they recreate him ala DMC, Losing all my remaining respect. [/spoiler]

[TheRedPriest]

Don't get me wrong. I think Megaman would take very well to the First or third person shooters.  I think, with a competent team behind it, Our favorite blue shooting dude could grow up and tell a mature story.  They would have to reinvent megaman in a sense, without spitting on the legacy he has in the first place.  To that I say No risk, No reward.

BULL****. I'm sorry, that comment is so caked in Bull**** I won't let it slide.  You don't "reinvent" Mega Man as a grim and gritty FPS without EXPLICITLY spitting on the legacy he has.  Moving to your next point for a moment...

Capcom has rebooted megaman plenty of times before in X, Battlenetwork, Legends, Zero, ZX, and Starforce.  I am confident that if they really put their hearts into it they could REALLY PANDER to us 20 somethings that have been loyal to the series.

None of those were "reboots".  They were spin offs.  Some of them were totally different genres/types of games.  That's ok, because they WEREN'T the same series.  Battle Network is an isometric action RPGish game.  Legends is a 3D Dungeon Crawler Action/Adventure game without ANY of the core "beat boss gain weapon" game play Classic and X were built on.  Do you honestly think if Legends had come out as Mega Man 8 and Capcom just said "we've updated Mega Man welcome to the future" that people wouldn't have been pissed?  Even that aside, Legends is frankly NOTHING like what Mega Man is.  It's a Mega Man flavored game.  But again, that's ok, because it's a spin off.

This X FPS would have LITERALLY taken Mega Man X and flushed everything about it down the toilet to make it something it's not.  If this was a spin off, some new Mega Man in an alternate reality, some distant future, whatever, then even if people hated it (and I really think most fans would have), then it harms NOTHING of what is already established.  You do NOT change genres for a game series and call it "updating" it.  It ruined Metroid, it ruined Resident Evil, and it would have been no different with Mega Man.

I mean, it's all academic at this point, at least for THIS aborted horror, but if Capcom REALLY feels there is no future in REAL Mega Man, then just doing an actual reboot or new sub series the the only respectful to do it.

[Winged Warrior]

Don't get me wrong. I think Megaman would take very well to the First or third person shooters.  I think, with a competent team behind it, Our favorite blue shooting dude could grow up and tell a mature story.  They would have to reinvent megaman in a sense, without spitting on the legacy he has in the first place.  To that I say No risk, No reward.

BULL****. I'm sorry, that comment is so caked in Bull**** I won't let it slide.  You don't "reinvent" Mega Man as a grim and gritty FPS without EXPLICITLY spitting on the legacy he has.

I can agree. Serously. I can. From the usual #####ing dribble that the shooting genre gives, That wouldn't work with the Blue Bomber. I don't want to see Rock in one of those gritty brown sandbox shoot'em games.

But I will say that with the RIGHT direction and a team that UNDERSTANDS megaman and it's fans an FPS (for adults) Can be possible... However the above article doesn't show ANY of the prerequisites involved.

None of those were "reboots".  They were spin offs.  Some of them were totally different genres/types of games.  That's ok, because they WEREN'T the same series.  Battle Network is an isometric action RPGish game.  Legends is a 3D Dungeon Crawler Action/Adventure game without ANY of the core "beat boss gain weapon" game play Classic and X were built on.  Do you honestly think if Legends had come out as Mega Man 8 and Capcom just said "we've updated Mega Man welcome to the future" that people wouldn't have been pissed?  Even that aside, Legends is frankly NOTHING like what Mega Man is.  It's a Mega Man flavored game.  But again, that's ok, because it's a spin off.

This X FPS would have LITERALLY taken Mega Man X and flushed everything about it down the toilet to make it something it's not.  If this was a spin off, some new Mega Man in an alternate reality, some distant future, whatever, then even if people hated it (and I really think most fans would have), then it harms NOTHING of what is already established.  You do NOT change genres for a game series and call it "updating" it.  It ruined Metroid, it ruined Resident Evil, and it would have been no different with Mega Man.

I mean, it's all academic at this point, at least for THIS aborted horror, but if Capcom REALLY feels there is no future in REAL Mega Man, then just doing an actual reboot or new sub series the the only respectful to do it.

I apologize for my miswording. Spin off. I always thought of it as a Reboot thanks to the feeling of a fresh start in all of the spin offs, but Reboot is the wrong word.

Again I agree with everything said here. Had Capcom picked this back up and said "Megaman 11 guys!" I would also be in the mind of "##### you Capcom." There is no room for FPS in any of the classic series. I also wouldn't tolerate a Gears of Megaman.

I honestly believe that an FPS megaman could exist, if it had an awesome team behind it. With recognizing what makes a megaman game, while understanding the audience they're seeking, I think they could make a game that would explore new territory. I also don't think that all new territory is bad.

But I do think that such a thing would have to take some really special people, with a real understanding of the idea of megaman... And that is something that I don't think Capcom has anymore.

[Xero]

If you want to make a proper Megaman FPS, make it in the style of Super Adventure Rockman.  But this....this is an abomination.

[Majikn]

The camera follows MegaMan's perspective as he gazes into the dark depths revealed by his crotchplate yawning open and he reaches inside of himself to get to his supply of E-Tanks.

[saldite]

but guys, why would they make a new megaman fps when there already is a megaman fps?

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[NovaMan XP]

those grafficks arent dark and gritty i hat it

[Mikero]

OK well I was really playing Capcom's devil's advocate earlier, I do agree that alienating an established audience is a ridiculous move. A lot more often than you'd think, it actually doesn't even make sense to play to anyone BUT your audience.

Anyway, I'd be cool with a new MM series being a 3D "Prime" type deal, but I'm just not into them trying to reboot the whole franchise with it. Or rather what Rez said as them "passing it off" as the original/X series.

I'd probably have been a lot more into ZX, for example, if it never tried to wedge itself in. I think the forced connections really ruin franchises. It's something I'm sick of in the Legend of Zelda series too, it was better off without a detailed timeline.

Also I never understood why everyone was riding Square's dick back in the day so I don't see how they've fallen from grace at all. I think they had a FEW really dope games back then but that's it. Honestly, Final Fantasy was run into the ground well before now.

Also X7 had third person shooter portions that played like #####, so don't bank on that.

[Majikn]

I used to sort of disagree with you about timeline theory stuff (I at best thought it was harmless), but then I played Skyward Sword.
I only hope it doesn't get worse.

Also X7 had third person shooter portions that played like #####, so don't bank on that.

It was a third person shooter, but it was only one way to do it. Also, I don't think third person shooting works so much with X as it does with Classic MegaMan. My thinking is that X is supposed to be fast paced and explosive, and Classic is supposed to be precise and jumpy and shooty, with platform gimmicks strewn about.
MegaMan X7 was an attempted suicide of both put together.

I don't know. The way I'm envisioning it, I think it can work. I'm no creative director, I guess, but I keep thinking that even if MegaMan's mechanics fall short in 3D, the level design can be built around it and can make up for it.

[Sudo Iwaki X]

I already replied in a similar topic, but I would actually try the Megaman X FPS game as long as the game has the following elements:

1. The graphics better look good and flow well with the game.

2. The story better be good.

3. The gameplay should retain most of the core Megaman aspects.

4. If there is an online multiplayer, there better be a good netcode.

5. The special weapons better not be too useful or too useless.  In other words, not as OP as the Metal Blade in Megaman 2 and not as situational as Vengeful Needles in Megaman X Command Mission. 

[TheRedPriest]

I don't disagree with people who say a MM FPS COULD be done, but:

1) It would still be awful, whatever form it takes
2) It would have to be a new sub series like Legends or BN/SF that used a totally different style of gameplay/aesthetics

I dunno.  FPS in general are just garbage.  Look back at the ORIGINAL Doom.  THAT was a FPS.  Now they're all just linear corridors with cover combat and infinite health with checkpoints every 5 steps.  And no one even PLAYS single player on them.  It's all online multiplayer.  No one gives a wet dog fart about the single player modes.  The genre is rancid and killing the industry.  "Updating" stuff via making it an FPS is just... pants on head retarded.

[Majikn]

I didn't feel like I needed to say this, but being able to aim in all directions kind of destroys the jumping aspect about a game that's supposed to be about jumping and shooting.

Any attempt at realism seems to destroy any sense of what MegaMan's supposed to be. I think it needs to keep the cartoon vibe.

This has been the most fun topic to post in in a while.

[Mikero]

I used to sort of disagree with you about timeline theory stuff (I at best thought it was harmless), but then I played Skyward Sword.
I only hope it doesn't get worse.

I thought it was mostly harmless, if lame, when it was just everyone theoriziphising at each other. But once they actually published a book on it, which includes a 3rd timeline where Ganon isn't defeated during OoT by the by, it all went to hell. I still haven't played Skyward Sword and that might be part of the reason.

Also X7 had third person shooter portions that played like #####, so don't bank on that.

It was a third person shooter, but it was only one way to do it. Also, I don't think third person shooting works so much with X as it does with Classic MegaMan. My thinking is that X is supposed to be fast paced and explosive, and Classic is supposed to be precise and jumpy and shooty, with platform gimmicks strewn about.

True. As evidenced by the removal the one-screen system from Classic to X, where Classic MM would have that slower bit of transition from one single screen to another and X just kept scrolling along.

I think they could do FPS/TPS in MM but it would have to be designed BEYOND meticulously. The running and jumping around in both X and Classic would be so different at any other viewpoint. It just wouldn't be fast or tight enough, and in X's case wall jumping would be a nightmare.

I mean, Mirror's Edge did an OK job in that department but the thrust of that game is actually AVOIDING combat so it's not a particularly great example of good high octane first-person motion in this case.

I'd lean more towards third-person, for a few reasons, but would still be an ordeal.

IIt would have to be a new sub series like Legends or BN/SF that used a totally different style of gameplay/aesthetics

This.

I didn't feel like I needed to say this, but being able to aim in all directions kind of destroys the jumping aspect about a game that's supposed to be about jumping and shooting.

This.

This has been the most fun topic to post in in a while.

And this.

It's all online multiplayer.  No one gives a wet dog fart about the single player modes.

RE: Homefront.