Thursday, July 29, 2021

Mega Man Franchise Now at 37 Million Units Sold (+1M From Previous Year)

Capcom announced their Q1 FY2021 Consolidated Financial Results today. The company not only achieved its highest first-quarter sales of all time, but the Mega Man franchise grew an additional 1 million units. It jumped from from the previously reported 36 million to 37 million as of July 29, 2021. 

Find all the details after the break!



Although Capcom have yet to share how Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection performed, this growth suggests that it's sold respectably well. Meanwhile, catalog titles such as Mega Man 11, Mega Man Legacy Collection and Mega Man X Legacy Collection remain at a steady pace.

Remember: back in May 2020, just a few months before Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection's debut, Capcom reported that, as of March 31 2020, the franchise achieved 36 million units. 

From that point until today we only got notice of a small bump in cumulative sales around 100,000 units for Mega Man 11 and the Mega Man Legacy Collection. Today, 16 months later, the franchise has reached a 37 million unit milestone. We're up an additional one million units from the previous data available.

While we patiently wait for the next flagship Mega Man title and possible  future developments from the Battle Network series, we have the English version of Rockman X DiVE on August 16 (US, Canada, UK and Ireland) to tide us over.

The future it is bright. We only need a little bit of patience!

45 comments:

  1. *whistles* 37 million sounds like pretty respectable sales numbers to me. :)

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  2. It's hard right now to say if the future is that bright for the franchise, but I'll remain cautiously
    optimistic still. Sorry, but I'm honestly not hyped at all for Taisen, even if I have no clue what it
    may be. There's a lot of us, myself included, who wish the company would just listen to the fans and
    give us the sequels we constantly spam about on all social media boards, yet it feels all Capcom does
    is gives us what we didn't ask for. I understand the pandemic has slowed down a number of things,
    but I feel like it really comes down to the Capcom thinking it knows what's best for us. I hope we'll
    get more announcements for games like X9, more legacy collections before Taisen is even released.

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    1. If you're going to grow an audience, you have to reach out for new members. Mega Man's strengths as a franchise have allowed it to endure in popularity, but they also mean that its fanbase tends to be insular and it puts the franchise at risk of dying again if it can't convince more people to try it. Mega Man 11 was a wise start, signalling that games like Mega Man X DiVE do not represent the future of the franchise, so now it's free to branch out and experiment more, to produce games that we didn't even know we wanted. Personally I rather like being surprised by features like the Mega Arm or Double Gear System and am ready to see more fun gimmicks like that.

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    2. Idk man, the beautiful thing about Mega Man is that there's something for everyone, whether it's the mainline games, Legends, BN or you name it. If Taisen turns out to be something never seen before in a Mega Man game (like, I don't know, a badass fighting game), we should be a little more open minded. After all, it was precisely a non stop stream of sequels that almost killed the franchise before.

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    3. Idk man, we should be a little more open minded. I want X9 as much as the next guy, but the beauty of the Mega Man series is that there's something for everyone, and that was because CAPCOM were always willing to experiment. If Taisen turns out to be something completely new for a Mega Man game (like, I don't know, a badass fighting game), I'd say we should welcome it with open arms. After all, it was the non stop stream of sequels that nearly killed our blue guy not so long ago.

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    4. Agreed. Except I don't give them excuses. They had not problems releasing RE8. And coding from home is easy.

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    5. I don't have to be open minded about anything.
      Insular? Fine. I am sick and tired of people taking things I enjoy and changing it to suit their purpose. I am tired of Mega Man not being Mega Man anymore. It all started with Legends... X at least felt like Mega Man. In fact, that felt like Mega Man 2.0.
      Until I know more, I don't care about this "Taisen" thing at all. I just don't. Cause I PROMISE you it's going to be something completely out of left field.
      If you want to play Final Fantasy, go play that. Don't make Mega Man into Final Fantasy.
      If you want to play Call of Duty, go play that. Don't make Mega Man into Call of Duty.
      Etc, etc.

      I did not wait over a decade hoping for X9 to play a "bad ass fighting game". SCREW that.

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    6. No, we just need to be more open-minded. The world doesn't spin around mm12, x9 or zx3. Remember that the ip died in the 2010s thanks to the endless sequels in the span of MONTHS.

      Remember that Megaman always tried to spin it's own formula to try to give something fresh and new. It's thanks to that ideology that beloved sub franchises like Battle network and Legends exists. Hell, even the X saga tried to spin the classic mm formula and it worked way too well.

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    7. @CK20XX The double gear system was fun, I don’t mind gimmicks to pre existing series of games, and it was a welcome edition to newcomers, that’s not what bothers me. I’m just a guy who basically loves lore and story and would love to see some loose ends tied up before we really move on. Remember, lot’s of these games ended with rough cliffhangers.

      @DiegoMoncada Problem is I don’t see a fighting game as anything new or revolutionary. I’m not hyped, but I am opened to being surprised if the game ends up being better than I currently imagine. I just think if it is a fighting game, it’ll have the same problem as Xdive - a fan service game with tonnes of crossovers but does little to expand the lore or give us answers to questions fans have had for quite some time.

      Funny thing is despite me mentioning X9, I don’t care for it as much as more Legends/ZX content. I just know it’s what so many fans are asking for.

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    8. @shrap:

      "If you want to play Final Fantasy, go play that. Don't make Mega Man into Final Fantasy."

      This wasn't your argument before your argument before went something like

      "If you want to play Final Fantasy, go play X Command Mission. However don't make a separate Mega Man, use existing characters to make into your Final Fantasy type game for brand stability's sake, if you're going to go that route."

      Anyway I am 90% sure that Final Fantasy shot was aimed at Battle Network, so I will go ahead and say 𝐭𝐑𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 π₯𝐒𝐀𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐠𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭π₯𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐀 π›πžπŸπ¨π«πž 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭π₯𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐀 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐑. Not visually, not gameplay-wise, not thematically not anything. I guess Poke-tards will say the version thing but yeah I don't take those guy's seriously (mind you Battle Network went 3 games from the start without introducing the version thing).

      Also you can be tired of "people taking things you enjoy and changing it to suit their purpose." I hate that as well and it seems to be the trend with certain political movements in entertainment media nowadays, but in Battle Network's case that literally never happened. That is what Command Mission does more so. Battle Network does not change anything in or about mainline Mega Man it just takes massive inspiration from it, so much so that it cannot be ignored and cast off into a totally separate brand and entity. Battle Network literally does the opposite and coexists along side any previous and established Mega Man continuity.

      I see people saying the franchise has a fractured fanbase often, but for the vast majority of the time I've been around I have barely ever seen the type of elitist attitude of not supporting or being appreciative of a new successful entry in a series that people aren't partial to outside of jaded Classic and X fans. It is vastly these type of Classic and X fans complaining about straying too far, this and that shouldn't exist as is and being tired of this thing getting attention or things like this. Battle Network/Star Force fans seem to be the most chill, at best being happy for (while being ragged on all the time mind you) other series' successes, at worst are indifferent. Even folks partial to Legends tend to get tribal, but even they show respect to other series (although in their case I think it's more of a survival thing, since they barely have clout).

      Before anyone says anything, I am just describing my experience. I also fully understand that there are plenty of chill X and Classic fans that either do their own thing or enjoy the spin-offs just the same. Heck I am one of them, I started WITH CLASSIC transitioned to X then Legends then Zero before I ever even touched an "alternate timeline" game. All this without every losing love for any of them... Except for Legends BUT not because I think it infringed on Mega Man's ability to be Mega Man but because I didn't like its gameplay loop as much and things based on its own merits.

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    9. @Mark Havoc,

      You made a few assumptions there. I won't suggest anyone play CM (IMO its just not good). But I would take a new Command Mission, or a new Battle Network over whatever Taisen is going to be. Granted assumptions on Taisen are all we got right now. And I don't recall every suggesting CM was a great idea in the first place, so yes it is my argument. It always has been. But even then, CM is a one off. An oddity. A bonus, if you will. Not a pillar or a launching pad for new players.

      I don't care about BN/SF MOSTLY because those stories are (get this) DONE. There is no need for any more. Not yet, when there are incomplete stories to finish first. I'll let you in on a little secret: I actually like BN. I still think it is out of place. SF was meh, and felt more like a downgrade than an upgrade with the over the shoulder 5x3 grid. (Personally, I felt the battle mechanics kept getting worse, what with reduced card stock and then the touch screen with each game)

      I will always feel like BN/SF should have been their own franchises and would have been just fine. You don't see Mega Man: Ace Attorney, do you? Or Resident Mega Man. But it is what it is now. You say it takes massive inspiration, but it never had to be included at all. Change a few names and there is literally NO Mega Man in the entire story. Battle Network took off because it basically was Pokemon-esque... Which anyone with a brain can tell you that is EXACTLY what Capcom was going for.

      It is absolutely fair that the original fans, who started this ride, be upset because it changed into something completely different with no signs of stopping. The BN fans will get their turn at the franchise changing away from what they grew up with, which ironically is timed right around now, yes? And there have been many people who have said before "No Legends 3, no $$$".

      And I am not even saying I wouldn't buy Taisen, not knowing what it is. I am just saying I think Capcom is making a mistake.

      I'm done for now.

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    10. @Mark Havoc

      I mean, it’s definitely a problem that even I’m guilty of. Yet I can see why they’re also “chill”, there games feel the most complete - being the only series of games with an actual ending and a sense of closure. I can’t help but groan when someone says battle network is “under appreciated”, when it got an anime, complete series of games, toys, being the face of Megaman for the 2000’s. Us Legends fans? We just mostly want ONE. FINAL. GAME and I’m sure most of us would shut up. We want closure. Most fans of classic, X, ZX just want closure. Hence the attitudes we have right now. I dunno, maybe it should just be a golden rule - if your series of games isn’t selling to well, cliffhanger endings should be off the table. I know I’d be fine with Legends/ZX being a duology if it didn’t have the endings they did.

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    11. Open minded is fine, but they need to continue the main timeline series side by side simultaneously. If they continued the story and gameplay of the main series real MM) while they did new things, then it is no big deal, but now they are making BS and cheap knockoffs on tiny ass screens at the expense of the main legit series. That's the problem.

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    12. How is it even Pokemon-esque? Surely not because of the Battle Chip/Battle Card collecting. It was no different than collecting pogs or other small things that were comparable. Hell, even Yu-Gi-Oh! eclipsed Pokemon's popularity at the same, so saying Pokemon had the biggest influence really isn't plausible. BN and SF were excellent entries that deserve to have the Mega Man brand on them, as they brought in newer players (me included in that field) and eventually caused me to branch out and seek the other entries. Battle Network and Star Force WERE A NECCESSITY for Mega Man to survive in the early 2000s.

      And honestly, the whole two versions thing only started because BN3 got a special re-release that added in bugfixes, while also adding new stuff to make it sustainable to buy again. No different that the same deal Square did when it came to the Final Mix versions of Kingdom Hearts I, II and Birth by Sleep.

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    13. I can definitely see Shrap's point. it's pointless in arguing about things in hindsight about things NOT changing the series. There are plenty of serieses where the gameplay style changed and never returned to what those fans liked. Some people like that model better, some not so much.

      Mega man and its subsequent spin-offs are a unique case, in that capcom makes a spin-off rather than changing the current formula. But even in this case, there is a risk of a series being completely replaced by one of the spin-offs. Classic mega man was virtually replaced by Mega Man X. We got a rushed MM7 and a anniversary celebration game, but after X4, X had firmly replaced the classic series until the sales dropped off a cliff with X7 and X8.

      Capcom has proven they'll drop gameplay styles based on sales. Look at resident evil. it went from a very difficult to control survival horror game to a more action focused romp that really doesn't involve zombies anymore? point is, resident evil 4 and 5 were really popular, so the prior resident evil style games were retired, and fans of those styles of games will never be made in the series again. they even update the style in the remakes. you could argue the games are better now, but that's irrelevant. fans of the RE 1-3 style of game will never get another game of that style from capcom again.

      the saving grace of the mega man series is that it's kinda a mascot? None of the games sell particularly well, especially with capcom's AAA standards. If Battle network sold more than 3 million units per game, that's the end of classic mega man. Mega man legends 2 sold so awfully, the series is pretty much dead.

      This is why fans are scared of changes when the kind of games they want is basically dead. If we got a FPS MMX game today, and if it sold gangbusters, well, mega man X is now a FPS game until sales die.

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    14. You're taking Command Missions way too literally. I mentioned it as a representative stand in of you wanting to retain characters and such as is when developers are to experiment with different genres. The quality of CM or you liking it specifically is irrelevant and besides the point.

      Again I mention BN/SF not for liking disliking reasons, my point was they were NOT Final Fantasy or anything else really. They are quit nearly wholly unique. Other than that tho I pretty much entirely feel the same way you do in regards to BN/SF. I too think other series should take priority and I too think (at least in gameplay) BN had the sauce and SF was meh.

      "You don't see Mega Man: Ace Attorney, do you? Or Resident Mega Man."

      Yeah but I also don't see Pokemon Mega Man and only one game I can say is Final Fantasy Mega Man. I do see Zelda Mega Man tho (legends) and Metroid Mega Man (ZX).

      "Change a few names and there is literally NO Mega Man in the entire story."

      Well I seriously disagree with that, I do not think the designs would work at all without obviously being homages to Classic and X series designs, some story beats are directly lifted from previous mainline entries. The entire premise of it being an action RPG was due to the nature of the mainline games being action oriented, in fact the structure of the game design itself was inspired by a lot of the conventions brought about by the main games... This I believe anyone with a brain can tell you.

      "Battle Network took off because it basically was Pokemon-esque... Which anyone with a brain can tell you that is EXACTLY what Capcom was going for."

      I don't know why BN took off, and I don't even necessarily disagree (well I do partially it IS NOT POKEMON even ESQUE) that Capcom banked on the idea that people would think of BN that way, but I don't even think explicitly exclusively Pokemon but Yu-Gi-Oh, Petz/Tamagachi, Beyblade and such, that kind of media franchise. In fact Capcom devs have stated as much. End result is it's not like Pokemon AT ALL, except for maybe the versions thing (biggest mistake the series ever made I believe BTW) in the end so Capcom's intentions are not relevant to that point.

      "The BN fans will get their turn at the franchise changing away from what they grew up with, which ironically is timed right around now, yes?"

      Yeah but I don't see them acting petty at least not on mass, not even to the IMO (and apparently yours) inferior (at least in gameplay) SF series.

      "And there have been many people who have said before "No Legends 3, no $$$"."

      Well I don't see that often anymore but I will say if they are acting like this I will be disappointed in that as well. Not because I disagree statement but because I don't think being demanding (in this context) and threatening will get them anywhere. Now if they said X, Zero, BN etc shouldn't exist as is then I'd have major gripes with that.

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    15. Just to clarify, my brand argument is also part of it amd is the other half of the coin on how to fix things and build the core strengths ratjer than chase whatevwr trends.

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    16. @Mark Havoc
      It seems you just wanna rip me a new one now or nitpick little things to score some internet victory. I've no time for such nonsense and no need or requirement to justify anything I said as though its somehow invalid.

      The franchise and its immediate future as well as my relationship to it are what I care about. Agree or don't. It matters not. If you see my name, move along. Its simple. That's what I intend to do.

      (Typing on a phone sucks. It didnt used to work. Now it is? Odd.)

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    17. IMO people who prefer the classic/X gameplay don’t have much room to complain about the series changing. Not only do 4 out of the 7 series in the franchise stay run and gunners, Classic, X, Zero, and ZX, but those games(Classic/X especially) are the most well known of the franchise. It’s far more likely that these series will get revivals in the future. The argument that BN and SF “replaced” the older style of gameplay is fundamentally wrong after Zero games(and MM&B if you count it) continued to release during BN’s run. This isn’t a Paper Mario situation where the gameplay style was completely overhauled from a certain point onward, where older fans have something to point at. These series run concurrently. There’s something for everyone. In 2007, if you hated Star Force and wanted to play a side scroller, guess what? ZXA releases that same year. If you aren’t into Taisen, do you think that they WON’T go for X9 after the Legacy Collections’ sales? All I’m saying is that the run and gunners are safe. There’s no need to panic about them being phased out.

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    18. @Shrap

      "It seems you just wanna rip me a new one now or nitpick little things to score some internet victory."

      That is false. If anything I try to convince you by way of showing you my perspective because I think you are one of the few people I CAN convince. I never debate or go on extended exchanges with people I don't have some level of respect for.

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    19. @Brooks64
      The problem there is grouping the games as "run and gunners" and saying that's okay. technically, legends is a "run and gunner" as well, as you run and gun in that game, it's just 3D, and if you don't count legends, you really can't count X7 either.

      classic and X gameplay are very different from each other. it'd be like saying that mega man X and Super Metroid are pretty much the same game. you could argue that metroid is open world, but then, so is MMZ and ZX, but they're grouped with the rest of the series too. There ARE people who are fans of classic and not X, and vice versa.

      The saving grace for fans is that pretty much every series has sold only modest numbers on average. No series destroys the sales of any other series, though every series pretty much dropped off a cliff in sales. If any of the spin-offs sold significantly more than the others, that'd be the end of every other type until sales for that spin-off dried up.

      And pretty much BN/SF and MMZ/ZX had taken over the series. a LOT of classic fans don't care at all for the MMZ series. MMZ is so far removed from the classic mega man formula, it's really hard to compare them. Image how BN fans would feel if NT2 was announced? No new BN/SF style game, but instead a platformer game. Some might be happy, some might wish we got new BN games. But if NT2 sold really well through some stroke of luck, it'd be likely to replace all series's going forward. it'd be a "run and gunner", and a lot of fans of each series would be thuroughly unhappy about it.

      No gameplay style, no genre, nothing is safe. for all we know, the X Dive model could be the future of mega man going forward, depending on how much revenue and profit it pulls in.

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    20. Pokemon-esque in business practice. Multiple carts, multiple tie in anime, and the "gotta catch em all" with battle chips, both digital and later on physical with all the tie in merch, kiosks and events to get exclusive chips, etc. It started small and ballooned with EXE3 Black.

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    22. Yeah. Handhelds don't bother me. But phones do. They are terrible platforms for anything that requires coordination.

      Multiplatform makes the most sense nowadays. I think everyone is happy with that. Steam is a good fall back plan so long as your not interested in a Nintendo property. I don't think Mega Man will push your specs that hard. I've been getting my 2D Side Scrolling fix playing Record of Lodoss War on Steam.

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    24. @gary Daniel

      you also have a strange view on how mobile gaming works. it's not stuck on a "punty ass tiny screen". yeah, the graphic quality isn't fantastic, but X Dive is playable not only on cell phones, but tablets too, which can have pretty large screens. Not only that, but both phones and tablets can be connected via HDMI cable to a TV. I used to play X dive on my TV all the time.

      Furthermore, X dive is compatible with controllers too. you can plut in an Xbox 360 controller to your phone and play it with that controller. personally, I don't like Xbox controllers for mega man as the D-pads kinda suck. But the point is, you can use controllers with mobile, though the switch pro controller doesn't work all that well on most mobile games. The only issue with the phone and mobile games in general is that most are not designed for gaming and you need to design for average phones to have a playerbase.

      Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is ported to mobile, as are Sonic 1,2, and CD. They play fantastically on mobile with a controller plugged in. The Mobile platform is pretty good, and I would love decent ports of classic mega man games on them.

      And yeah, phones will be a LOT weaker than your PC. But the MMZ games are great, and don't need a beefy PC to play. We don't need a mega man game to have top of the line graphics, and even MM11 wasn't very intensive. what's more important is gameplay. Actually, it'd probably be better to get low budget low graphics mega man games. the better the graphics, the more money capcom needs to invest into it, the more money capcom has to invest in it, the broader appeal it needs to recoup the cost, the broader appeal it needs, the less it will cater to the minority hardcore mega man fans. I'd rather they just make quick low budget sprite graphic games (doesn't have to be 8-bit, but I'm fine with them reusing sprites like castlevania often did) designed for the core fans so capcom can have a respectable ROI on the games, and our beloved series can stay alive.

      if we could get good mega man games on mobile, I'd be fine with that

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    25. @Erik the Red

      Agreed. Top of the line graphics never really mattered with Megaman, granted I would like to see more variety and to take a good long break from 8-bit. Funny thing is, I wonder if Capcom would finally make Legends 3 a reality if they did it in the style of the first two. I think it would be funny to see a modern game made in the style of “polygons”. Like pixels, it has a charm of its own, and would potentially be less expensive to make, hence less of a risk to put into market.

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    27. @Gary Daniel

      I had two responses, one about mobile, the other about what X Dive actually is, but the first one about X Dive I guess wasn't approved. Not willing to write everything over again, but long story short, you probably don't know that much about X Dive and it might surprise you how MM it really is.

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  3. Why can't we post as anonymous?

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    1. To make comment moderation more efficient, reduce spam comments, and suspend users who abuse the system

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    2. Lol looks like bots with Bing Ads are getting through. The internet, man. What a place.

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  4. Hopefully more MM titles will be coming out with all this good news!

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  5. Is Taisen just a Power Fighters remake or something?

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  6. Yeah, when there is evidence of main timeline game sequels, I will hype. All these sales and I guess it isn't good enough to continue the main series, even though MM11 and X collections sold well. Whatever happened to their remark that an X9 would depend on how well MM11 and the X collection did. It did well, yet nothing. Wasting too much effort on things like Dive and making random toys, nothing I care about. I'm pretty sure taisan isn't related to the main timeline. The term 'high budget' doesn't correlate to a main timeline sequel. Sounds more like super smash bros fighting nonsense, and the word taisen does have such connotations. It's been real boring with the series lately. Maybe they ran out of ideas, hence all they do is rehash stuff these days, like Dive recycling stuff that is 20+ years ago. Recycling characters like Iris who came out when I was a teen in the later 90s. Something new for once (an actual sequel) that actually plays like MM with the legit storyline intact would be nice. Too much to ask, despite it being 2021 with all this fancy computer tech to make games with? Sorry, I'm just tired of it.

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    1. Originally I thought it might be a strategy game. Im putting money on Taisen being a Fortnite clone. Yay πŸ˜‘
      Whatever it is, your right. Watch, it will be something ridiculous. It's just too predictable not to be in this day and age.

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  7. I'm happy. I trust Tsuchiya job. We must continue to support the franchise

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  8. MegaMan Battle Network for Switch when 😩

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  9. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on that topic. If doable, while you gain competence, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me small business website

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  10. Grand Congrats to this Great Franchise. But I Really Hope that Capcom doesn't create a Brand New Mega Man for Taisen. We have enough Spin-off series as is. They should just use the Rockmen that exist. Plus,Ruby Spears Mega Man (and rs roll) would be great for fighting games and beat'em-ups. See,no need to create a New Rockman soley to represent the future Rockman Fighting series,just use existing ones.

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  11. I simply want to tell you that I am new to weblog and definitely liked this blog site. Very likely I’m going to bookmark your blog  bing ads

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  12. why the starforce rockman in C position???? it should be ori megaman or megaman x~

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