Monday, May 2, 2011

The Last North American Mega Man Commercial

I've been tracking this one down for years. I could've sworn I had this on VHS somewhere, but it looks like somebody beat me to the punch. Nevertheless, lo and behold: the very LAST televised Mega Man commercial to air in North America.


The spot, arguably of higher quality than previous North American Mega Man commercials, aired in late 2005 to advertise Mega Man Zero 4, Mega Man Battle Network 5 DS, and Mega Man X Collection. Rarely was the commercial shown outside of family-centric networks (Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Kids! WB), but I do recall catching this on TV Guide Channel at one time.

Since '05, no other Mega Man commercials have aired here (and no, Volnutt's TvC cameo doesn't count). Meanwhile, new commercials continued to be produced with every Rockman title released in Japan, although the momentum cooled just recently.

While it is true a pseudo-commercial was created for Mega Man 10, it did not, however, air on TV.  Shame, really, because that would have been mighty awesome.

I guess somewhere along the line Capcom felt the need to pull the plug on televised marketing. Certainly hope we'll see another one on our air waves someday... I'm looking at you, Legends 3.

19 comments:

  1. They call YFNM Your friendly Neighborhood Metool, BECAUSE HE'S A METOOL!May 2, 2011 at 9:04 PM

    I do remember this spot, but watching this again makes me wonder somthing about the recent MM (PSX and up) ads.

    Why the crap are the kids potrayed as almost manic?

    This (See him going MEGA MEAGA MEGA), the 10th annaversery one (I NEED MORE MEGAMAN GAMES, MORE! MORE! MORE!) and I even think some of the kids in the 15th annanverersery spot. I know that there just excited kids (And that MM IS a kid series), but it just seems kinda odd to me how the target audience is potrayed in these adverts.

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  2. Hahahah, yeah I remember seeing this commericial when I was watching Nt Warrior. Ah, memories. Also the old lady is epic, lol.

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  3. HOLY POTATO CHIP PEANUT FUDGE STUFFINGS F***, I REMEMBER THAT!!

    ......... I actually remember that more than watch NT Warrior.

    Wow~, and to think I watched Yu-Gi-Oh! back then more than that..... Huh. XD

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  4. Ah! I remember this back that day! ^_^
    I watch that in Cartoon Network. Can't remember what show. XP

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  5. Wow, I remember this too. This kid reminds me of me actually, except not as maniac--uh actually, I guess I did act like that when I was younger. lol But honestly, Mega Man has a special place in my heart as my favorite video game series of all time. There's a picture of me playing it at 2 years old. =P And by now, I own a real copy of nearly every major Mega Man game. So yeah, I've played a lot of Mega Man. lol

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  6. I do remember seeing commercials for the Mega Man X Collection in North America though, sometime in 2006?

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  7. I don't think it was this commercial in particular, but I remember seeing that old lady netbattling, I think.

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  8. I do not remember this one, but I do remember the 15th Anneversary one, I only saw it on Cartoon Network and Kids WB

    Also, I have issues of Shonen Jump that had ads for Megaman Battle Network 5 (I do not remember if it was for the DS version or not), but that's the last time I've seen an ad for Megaman

    This could be the reason Starforce and ZX failed, I only knew they existed after Nintendo Power announced them years back, when Starforce 3 came out in America, I had to buy it online since Walmart refused to carry it, and there was no GameStop in my town at the time (and then a GameStop opened in my town a few months later, in which I promptly bought Pokemon SoulSilver soon after)

    Capcom always screws the US releases of Megaman games up almost every time, mainly because they NEVER HAVE COMMERCIALS anymore, then again, they have shown hints that they apparently don't like Megaman anymore, with this, combined with Universes cancellation, what is going to happen to Megaman (asides from Legends 3)

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  9. Oh god, ew. I remember this commercial. Perhaps it's better there are no Mega Man commercials anymore.

    @TCYNFMYFN (wow) -

    American culture has never taken kids seriously or treated them maturely. This commercial is just another example of that.

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  10. @masterge77: I remember seeing ads for BN6 and Star Force in game magazines.

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  11. @Ash Paulsen: You think so? I think American culture over-glorifies childhood.

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  12. Wow, I have never seen this commercial til just now! It's pretty good. Decent and to the point. Kinda reminds me of the adults talking about games and such in the old Nintendo "Play it Loud" advertisements. Awesome commercials too...really miss the edgy grunge look of things. X1 was even in one! Thanks for sharing, PDude. I hope more MM Commercials get shown as well. On a side note...I am willing to bet that the kid in the video is a voice actor, a notable role being the second voice actor for Li Syaoran in Cardcaptors.

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  13. Loving how they put that grandma shot in there when there are no 2-Player Megaman games on that console or listed in the commercial....

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  14. ^
    Actually, Battle & Chase is on the x collection. it's two-player.

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  15. Thanks for posting this! I'm the guy who does the voiceover at the end of the spot. Here's a montage of of Megaman and other video game spots I voiced, including Resident Evil 4, Onimusha, Bionicle, Monster Hunter and more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebXT4lnizdY

    And clips of me voicing 50 different gaming characters in 150 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oayTjEnIFyg

    Thanks for the plug Rockman, love your blog.

    -Adam Harrington (voiceover guy)
    www.harringtonvo.com

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  16. Thanks for posting this! I'm the guy who does the voiceover at the end of the spot. Here's a montage of of Megaman and other video game spots I voiced, including Resident Evil 4, Onimusha, Bionicle, Monster Hunter and more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebXT4lnizdY

    And clips of me voicing 50 different gaming characters in 150 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oayTjEnIFyg

    Thanks for the plug Protodude, love your blog.

    -Adam Harrington (voiceover guy)
    www.harringtonvo.com

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  17. >"Capcom felt the need to pull the plug on televised marketing"

    Yeah, that hurt. I was "The Voice" of Capcom for many years (just posted a link to some of the many ads I voiced for them in my previous comment). But it was nice while it lasted. :-)

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  18. Honestly, it was commercials like this that kinda gave MegaMan it's really bad reputation amongst non-fans.

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