Friday, June 18, 2021

Capcom Seeking Licensing Partners for Mega Man's 35th Anniversary in 2022

It feels like, what, yesterday we were celebrating the 30th anniversary? Come next year, though, our blue fella turns 35... and it won't pass without some recognition.

Earlier this week, Capcom Japan started the process of recruiting licensing partners for Mega Man's 35th anniversary. A message at the bottom of the company's official Mega Man licensing page reads, "2022 marks the 35th anniversary of Mega Man series. We are looking for licensees who would like to celebrate it by creating special products and events."

Capcom previously put a similar call out to license holders back in 2016 for Mega Man X's 25th anniversary and again in 2020 for Mega Man Battle Network's 20th. Mega Man X's 25th was marked by Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2 and a plethora of licensed goods. Meanwhile, projects intended for Battle Network's 20th have been delayed indefinitely due to the impact of COVID-19. The company issued a statement in March, asking fans to remain patient.

Video game-wise, we have a rough idea of what 2022 could bring (and then some). The all-ominous "Taisen" project has the makings of an anniversary flagship title, what with it's massive budget and all. (I can't disclose those bits here. You're on your own)  Rockman XZ: Time Rift is on track to release on iOS/Android in China between 2022 and 2023. Rockman X DiVE appears to be inching closer and closer to a PC/Steam port. On the "Legacy Collection" front... well, you never know.

For now, folks, hang in there. There's stuff on the burner.

57 comments:

  1. Anyway, 35 is my first favorite number, so I hope they come up with something new in next year.

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  2. It's wild that when Battle Network was out, I was so focused on being disappointed that it wasn't an X/Classic title that I never really enjoyed the series. I never dug into the chip systems too deep, I played it just enough to beat them. But now, I think I can actually appreciate the series and would enjoy another playthrough, especially if they unlock all the bonus stuff and double-especially if they were to throw in EXE 4.5 and the BN1 remake with Star Force cross over.

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    1. You could get the battle network collection on eBay that has everything you want including the extra content. You sell on eBay and Amazon so I just figured you knew of it’s existence.

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  3. $20 action figure pine that has characters from all series and made by a good company (i.e. bandai or hasbro or mattel) seriously the kotobumkiya kits are overpriced and kinda trashy looking imo and the eastern model zero and copy x would cost me both my kidneys and the faces make them look like babies. (despite the artwork on the box looking great) i need a good action figure line for Mega Man that is affordable and has good quality paint apps, plastic, sculpt etc.

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  4. Source: Nintendo Power, January 2008/v244, page 62-63

    Question #16:
    What are some ideas you had for Mega Man but ended up totally rejecting?

    Takeshi Horinouchi (TH):
    In honour of Mega Man's 20th anniversary I had planned to do a game where all the iterations of Mega Man could battle each other, but then I gave up on it. There just wasn't enough manpower on the Capcom development team to bring the game to fruition. At some point in the future, I'd still like to give it a shot.

    Question #19:
    If you had whatever time and budget you wanted, what would you do with Mega Man next?

    TH:
    That's difficult to answer because there's so much I want to do. I'd like to be able to add the network play option to the different Mega Man series. I think each player using a customized Mega Man he or she has a special affinity for would make for an exciting game. Of course, that would be one difficult game to design [laughs].

    Takeshi Horinouchi (also known as Ken Horinouchi):
    https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Takeshi_Horinouchi

    The game Rockman Taisen (ロックマン対戦) could be his dream project, no?

    I believe Question #19 is also relevant since Rockman Taisen is a big budget game. Perhaps this is the special 35th anniversary game?

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    1. Wow nice find !!!

      Sill, I'm not really excited about this project.

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    2. question 19 is basically Dragon Marked For Death

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  5. yes! Im saving up for those sweet games and merch! huzzah!!!!!

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  6. Wow I can't believe it's been almost 5 years since Mega Man's 30th anniversary!

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  7. I Swear To God,If Capcom introduces a New Rockman/Mega Man for Taisen,I'll Never Ever forgive them. Ever! We have Too many Mega Men as is. Period.

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    1. Finally! I am not the only one.

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    2. Taisen is that "leaked" Rockman project Capcom is supposedly doing.
      Rockman Taisen

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  8. At this point, I just hope Mega Man get's a new game from now till the end of 2022. I am sick of the days where Mega Man get's an anniversary and all he gets is something like a music CD from my least favorite Mega Man series (Zero) while Sonic got lots of new games including a crossover series with the series that Mega Man should be getting crossovers with (Mario). I know they're not making M&SatOG titles anymore (good riddance), but it doesn't help that Mario + Rabbids is getting a sequel. And yes I should be grateful Mega Man has a crossover with Mario (as well as Donkey Kong, Kirby, Zelda, Kid Icarus, and Castlevania), but wouldn't it be great if Mega Man had a crossover with just Mario? Or at least a Nintendo vs Capcom?

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    1. Mega Man and Mario are diametrically conflicting universes. That makes no sense.
      Mega Man and Bomber Man... maybe. But why? Again, There is no large movement is asking for that.

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    2. "but wouldn't it be great if Mega Man had a crossover with just Mario? Or at least a Nintendo vs Capcom?"

      No. To both BTW. One is just a crappy idea and the other is another licensing headache for Capcom, Capcom has plenty of great IPs they need to focus on themselves.

      I would actually prefer celebrating MM with a soundbox from my favorite series (Zero) than some ridiculous throwaway Mario crossover Olympic/Rabbits style game, that might as well not be related to MM at all.

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    3. Whatever. They're my two favorite childhood franchises and I'm sick of them crossing over with just ANY franchise. Who are you to say who should and should not crossover with who? We got games like Kingdom Hearts and Night at the inventory, and THIS crossover is too far fetched for you? Besides, I read Mario and Mega Man are the top two video game franchises with the most titles. They both have at least 100 titles each.

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    4. I'm nobody. As is every single person here. But every nobody here has been asking for Legends 3, ZX3, X9, EXE7 or MM12. They don't want Crossovers. Not right now. It's the wrong way to go, and the wrong path for this brand at this time.

      Nintendo Vs Capcom Street Fighter style... Ok. But THAT is not a Mega Man game. That is a Fighter game. Different subset. Which sadly would make it infinitely more possible than any of those titles people actually want. Capcom is gonna Capcom. Besides, it's already been done. Sorta.

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    5. "Who are you to say who should and should not crossover with who?"

      A. No one said what should and shouldn't do anything. If anything you're the one talking about Mega Man should get this and that. Why should it? Sonic was on Mario's level at one point. For example Sonic was the mascot of a successful home console developer that was instrumental in breaking through Nintendo's home console monopoly, at its peak mainline Sonic games competed with mainline Mario games. Sonic the Hedgehog for example selling 15+mill units (as a pack in title for the MegaDrive/Genesis) while Super Mario World sold 20.6mill units (as a pack in title for the Super Nintendo). Mega Man on the other hand was never been the mascot of a rival console developer to Nintendo's major home consoles or any Nintendo console to be accurate and Mega Man in the entirety of its existence has never ever sold at least up to 2million units of a single entry. In fact Sonic was born out of a necessity to counter Mario, it is directly linked with it, their rivalry started before the not even inception but conception of Sonic.

      B. Far fetched? Who said anything about far fetched? Both Kingdom Hearts and Mega Man cross Mario are far fetched, the difference is Kingdom Hearts exists, Mega Man cross Mario games don't. You are acting like before Kingdom Hearts existed there was a bunch of people like "you know what would be cool to see? A crossover action RPG with Disney and Final Fantasy characters taking place in a totally made up plot that revolves around a unique protagonist named Sora as he traverses various Disney inspired stages and mini games." That thing literally came out of nowhere. Now it simply exists.

      You are asking for something that doesn't exist, and lashing out on people who give you their opinion on the idea.

      BTW just as a side note you could love two things without thinking they would make appealing crossovers with one another.

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    6. So basically, if (a) was created to try to kill (b), it deserves to crossover with (b) more than a franchise that has been loyal to (b)?

      "BTW just as a side note you could love two things without thinking they would make appealing crossovers with one another."
      You think I don't know that? I like DC and I like Teenage mutant ninja turtles, but that didn't mean I wanted a crossover between the two.

      I don't see why this is even an argument. I thought we where pass the "Mega Man should never crossover with Mario" phase from the 2000s. But no. Every thing I say, someone has to disagree with it because they can't even agree with the most essentialist of opinions such as a franchise we all supposedly love crossing over with the mascot of the company who's system it started out on.

      And by the way, Mega Man and Mario are not two franchises that have nothing in common. When you compare Mario/Mega Man, Luigi/Proto Man, Peach/Roll, Yoshi/Rush, and many of the enemies including but not limited to Goomba/Metool and Koopa Troopa/Sniper Joe, you see a lot of parallels. What do Mario and Sonic have in common? The main characters wear white gloves.

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    7. Those comparisons are ridiculous to say the least, here is why, mario is a plumber who battles a dargon turtle to save a princess, mega man is an advanced robot created to protect people from an evil scientost bent on workd domination, proto man and luigi is a good comparison tbh, roll is mega mans SISTER and she to my knowledge was never kidnapped by wily, peach is the love interest of mario who gets kidnapped by bowser, goombas are incredibly easy to defeat enemies,mets are a bit more difficult to defeat because of their helmets also they dont get defeated the same way as a goomba, koopa troopas walk from side to side on a platform (green ones fall off the edges, red ones do not)
      Sniper joe are robots who use shields to block projectiles and use their snipers to attack MM(and i believe they remain stationary but i could be wrong)

      I do think a crossover with mario makes some sense i just think the comparisons were a little wonky, also we dont need a crossocer at the moment cause we need more mainline games imo...

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    8. I'm sorry but Megaman and Mario really aren't that parallel. None of the pairings you made really line up all that well.

      Hell, Sonic and Mario have more in common a sidescrolling platform games with an element of speed (run button/running), multiple temporary power ups that are lost upon taking damage, enemies that are primarily defeated by jumping at/on them in a linear multi-act/level-per-world structure that progressively ramps up on difficulty over time.

      Even thematically, Megaman has more in common with Sonic as blue heroes with a sense of justice in battle with robots created by an evil scientist bent on taking over the world.

      I could see Megaman / Metroid working better than Megaman / Mario would.

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    9. I'm sorry but Megaman and Mario really aren't that parallel. None of the pairings you made really line up all that well.

      Heck, Sonic and Mario have more in common a sidescrolling platform games with an element of speed (run button/running), multiple temporary power ups that are lost upon taking damage, enemies that are primarily defeated by jumping at/on them in a linear multi-act/level-per-world structure that progressively ramps up on difficulty over time.

      Even thematically, Megaman has more in common with Sonic as blue heroes with a sense of justice in battle with robots created by an evil scientist bent on taking over the world.

      I could see Megaman / Metroid working better than Megaman / Mario would.

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    10. Welcome to the goddamn internet.

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    11. "So basically, if (a) was created to try to kill (b), it deserves to crossover with (b) more than a franchise that has been loyal to (b)?"

      Sonic wasn't created to kill anything, this is not a dystopian sci-fi movie, it was designed to contest the single largest video game character TO THIS DAY. An important feat since we'd ALL be in a hot mess if Nintendo had a monopoly on gaming like it did at the start.

      Loyal? Nintendo was undisputed king back then, what did you want, Mega Man to need more resource to produce and get even less of a chance to sell/profit by supporting Atari, Turbo Grafx or Master System? What happened AS SOON AS competition to Nintendo arose? Mega Man immediately became multiplatform, in fact some Mega Man entries became home console exclusives to the PlayStation for a while. IN FACT Sony was DIRECTLY (as in they explicitly demanded Capcom make it) responsible for the creation of a Mega Man series, more than Nintendo could ever say it did. Point is Capcom supports popular consoles, it's business, Nintendo just so happens to have very popular gaming devices that for large periods have near monopolies in their respective markets.

      "I don't see why this is even an argument. I thought we where pass the "Mega Man should never crossover with Mario" phase from the 2000s."

      I never said Mega Man shouldn't, I said I am not interested, why can't you understand the difference? I have been a Mega Man fan since 1995-present, always followed the community I don't remember any campaign saying Mega Man should never crossover with Mario in the early 2000s.

      What do you mean supposedly love? I can't speak for others but Mega Man is my bar none favorite entertainment property IN EXISTENCE. Just as a side note, I personally believe Super Mario is the most ground breaking, highest quality and greatest video game series every created, I also think of Mario the character and the franchise as ambassadors/the face of gaming. But if you were to ask me which I'd rather have I'd say Mega Man every single time, EVEN X7 and X6 and all that stuff people dump on, that is how much more I love Mega Man over what I believe is the most respectable gaming franchise.

      That said wanting Mega Man to specifically crossover with Mario is not an essential opinion because an essential opinion is a contradiction in terms in this context.

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    12. Why is zero your least favorite i mean thas some good stuff rite dar big boi.

      My least favorite do be that bn and sf crap m8

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  9. I Hope they speak a bit about the X series, they stoped in the time since X8, so i Hope the Tell they are making a Mega Man X9

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  10. Capcom honestly just needs to license their games out to other developers, could you imagine a Megaman game developed by wayforward? Better yet, I still remember Cyber Connect wanting to finish the work on Legends 3, and after finally playing SolatoRobo, I can definitely see them as a good fit.

    Clearly Capcom is highly disinterest in the franchise and only tosses a bone in what feels like every five years to a decade. If they’d stop putting all hands on deck for every blasted monster hunter or Resident Evil, maybe enough people could actually put out more Megaman.

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  11. Hmm... give me an affordable Iris plushie, and I'll basically be set.

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  12. If it isn't about BN, StarForce or X then I don't care. Hold up are they skipping BN and going back to Mega Man? Unless I read this whole thing wrong and they're celebrating everything Mega Man.

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    1. JOKER! WHAT'RE YOU DOIN ON ROCKMAN CORNER
      *batman noises*

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    2. They're not skipping BN, it's just that COVID's messed up their release schedule so they, most likely, aren't able to get a definitive date on their BN announcement(s) so they're just saying "Please be patient, we'll have something eventually, we just don't know when." Just because they don't know when they'll be done with BN's Anniversary stuff, however, doesn't mean that they won't start on the much bigger 35th Anniversary for the franchise as a whole.

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    3. Question why is the zero series your least favorite?

      Personally my least favorite is either star force or battle network mostly because i dont like rpgs...

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    4. Wrong thread ignore comment 4:24 am on june 21 2021

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  13. wow i still have the 30th/previews of 11 in my memory.

    outside more figurines(if not megahouse then would love more of sentinel.:3),possibly an animation,battle network(hopefully a collection.) and that taisen game can only think of personally wanting x9,a legends collection and maybe working with another company on a title(like 12/legends 3.)

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    1. All sound like good choices..the only one I’m still uncertain about is X9, mostly for the simple reason I dread they’ll go back to basics and bring Sigma back. Either way, the fact it’s been pretty much five years since a last major title was released is a bummer, so I hope they go big or go home for the 35th.

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    2. Dollars to donuts X9 isn't happening.

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    3. @shrap
      "Your lack of faith is disturbing"

      -Darth Vader

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    4. But they said an X9 was dependent on the success of MM11 and the X collections, and those sold well. Also this screen indicating his battle isn't over yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l70H9czjzjM

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    5. @Gary Daniel
      Almost three years. Crickets. It's not happening. Not yet.

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    6. Saying 'not yet' is better of you, but don't assert 'never'. You are probably right about 'not yet' though. But it would be silly of them if they didn't since the prerequisites sold well. They are probably just scared of making a title people won't like because of all the criticism of the games after X5 how they went downhill after X5. I see X9 as a continuation of the war with copy reploids.

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  14. Who's the guy on the left most in the image?

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    1. Over-1. Mobile character.

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    2. In other words a chatacter no one gives a flipping crap about......

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  15. Just let sentinel make more megaman figures. And if possible make some in 6inch size.

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    1. Too expensive for me m8... like i said on another post... $20 action figure line.

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  16. Kinda bored so here goes nothing...
    What if Capcom can't continue X8 because the plot has a reference to what the elites have planned for humanity?

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    1. Uh i think your nuts

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    2. inb4 OP is right.

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    3. "Uh i think your nuts"

      I think people who think high powered forces of monumental influence like the mega rich, high status politicians and law handlers (or in other words certain elites) are not messing with social, civil, bio, technolo and medical engineering in order to enact what should be considered a nefarious agenda outside of those circles while conspiring to do so because doing it alone or with mostly fragmented groups working towards different goals would heavily hinder the ability to succeed..... After all the stuff that happened this year..... I think those people are nuts TBH.

      Obviously the Capcom not making things cause of encroaching on elite plans and such is mostly in jest (I think) since he/she did say "Kinda bored", You'd have to be completely oblivious and paranoid to think everything revolves around that subject but the premise of the joke is not crazy.

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    4. I dont even know how to reply to this so i geuss i am just a stupid person. But, the heck m8, i was just saying how that wouldn't really make sense, i highly dought the "elites" have some nefarious supervillain plan that would somehow be represented or shown off by a Mega Man game. Also i knew it was a joke i was just saying how unlikely that situation is. Im done now, CONVERSATION OVER.

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  17. Looking forward to whatever they may have planned. Sans the Battle Network games. Those aren't my thing, but it should be a nice collection for fans.

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  18. OH MAN. Can't wait for the Mega Man 2 GAME AND WATCH!

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  19. Oh man! Can't wait for the MEGA MAN 2 Game and Watch!

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