On paper, Mega Man Legends had everything going for it: top-of-the-line graphics for its time, fast-paced action, storytelling, and a cast of fully-realized, marketable characters. And yet, the game was not a hot seller. What went wrong? Where did Mega Man Legends—or Capcom—miss the mark?
In his little-known and largely undocumented 2012 book, How to Create a Mega-Hit Product That Sells to 100 Million People, Keiji Inafune offered some introspection. Behind the game’s failure, he admits, was a dangerous assumption: that the fans would buy it no matter what.