Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Analyzing The Boss Contest Promotional Splash

While we eagerly await further news from Coro Coro Comics' much hyped mystery Rockman title, I figured I'd go ahead and analyze this famous picture used to promote the boss contest in a number of occasions (here and here). A common belief is that the image, featuring the profiles of four Rockmen, was created specifically for the contest and subsequently, the new game. However, upon further investigation, this assumption might not be correct as each of the profiles have been seen somewhere in the past.

Let's start off with classic Rockman's profile shall we? This particular profile shot actually hails from classic series reference materials used when developing all sorts of heroic poses and the like. You can find this picture on page 248 of R20.

Moving along to X's profile. This one should be familiar to you as it can be seen on X8's title screen and in numerous promotional artwork (example).

Next up, Rockman.EXE. At first, I thought that shot came directly from the "EXE4/4.5/5 soundtrack", but upon further investigation, I realized it comes from a non cropped version of EXE 3's box art (picture).

Last but not least is Shooting Star Rockman's profile: It looks a bit like a similar profile shot from SSR2 (picture), but that Rockman notably lacks the white "neck stripes" and flattened earpiece featured on the boss contest splash. New art perhaps?

Whatever the case, the boss contest splash is certainly interesting. Does it merely represent he boss contest or is it hinting of some sort of crossover? Only time will tell.

10 comments:

  1. The pictures of the characters have been used seperately in the past, but I'm more interested in exactly why all four are being used together just for this specific event.

    Has there ever been any event before this one in which all four are being used together?

    ...Which... I think I just repeated exactly what you just blogged.

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  2. One thing isn't clear - and probably will never be: why no included Rockman DASH picture?

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  3. If it's a crossover a bunch of Rockman fans will piss their pants (Myself included). That is, if it's done well and turns out to be epic.

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  4. That "new" Ryuusei design is from SSR3. The picture is quite similar to the one used on NCG Diabolos packs.

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  5. Finally! Thanks for the analysis. I never knew they were all previously used like that. I still think these are the most iconic Rockmen and will be featured in some sort of crossover game together.

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  6. Lol, we've been over this a million times. It's not hinting anything. :P

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  7. It's because they're all profile pics and the collage was created around Rockman's anniversary. Quit overanalyzing.

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  8. ^
    Derp, you clearly have no idea what's going on do you??

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  9. i can't read japanese, but on the pic shown in this posting, i see the number 3 at the bottom. could be RNR 3, but without being able to read japanese, i can't do much. the guys over at the smash world forums might be able to translate it, the picture looks clear enough for them to be able to read it. back before super smash bros. brawl came out, they were able to translate all sorts of news from japan, so it can't hurt to try and ask them.

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  10. It's nothing honestly, just says Ryuusei no rockman 3. This pic comes from Wavemasters 2009, the jumbo screen used to display announcements and tournament gameplay to the crowd.

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