Monday, July 19, 2021

What's Going on with Those Weird Mega Man X DiVE Ads?

A batch Mega Man X DiVE commercials appeared on YouTube over the weekend. And, uh, they're pretty surreal. I mean, they're not only unintentionally hilarious but they misrepresent the actual game. They spoil an unannounced character, too.

From laughably poor character animation and typos to completely misleading "versus mode" gameplay, these commercials drew immediate comparisons to other, similarly deceptive mobile game ads. They're not as off-kilter as, say, Mafia City... but something isn't right here.

Check 'em out below...

Watch more here, if you're so inclined!

 

So yeah. There's a lot to process here.

The PvP footage is completely made-up. It's more or less a mock-up made in Unreal Engine 4. Then there's character names that are either mislabeled or misspelled ("Simgma", anyone?).  Several characters are misranked, too. X, Zero, Alia, Axl and Vile are apparently "S Rank". Oops?

The one thing that caught EVERYONE's eye, though, was a seemingly "accidental" character reveal: Nana from Mega Man X Command Mission. Hey, it's great to see her drawn in Mizuno's art style. She's incorrectly referred to as "Alia", by the way. OOPS?

So, what's the deal here? Are these ads legitimate? Did Capcom actual approve them or are they fan-made?  We did a bit of investigating and... yup. They're official.

Here's the deal, folks: NebulaJoy, developers of Mega Man X DiVE's global version, made these commercials from materials and raw footage supplied from Capcom Taiwan. They were created to promote the game's August 16th launch in the US, UK, Canada and Ireland. They were uploaded over the weekend as a "test". NebulaJoy underestimated the impact they would have among fans and quickly made them "private". They're back online now.

It's difficult to say if the content within the ads will change before the global version goes live. An unintentional character reveal is one thing. But falsely advertising the actual game itself? I dunno about that one...

33 comments:

  1. everyone i have shown the game too likes it so why advertise it like this it makes no sense

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  2. I see that this week, I'll be talking to my therapist about "Cigma" from the Ruby Spears cartoon. Thanks for drudging up those repressed memories, NebulaJoy.

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    1. Still a better spelling than Simgma since that sounds like a proto-shitpost from tumblr.

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  3. Mega Man ads? I'd kill for Mega Man ads...
    All I get is insurance commercials, propaganda or some combination thereof...
    No, I DON'T want insurance!
    *sigh*

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  4. I saw a couple new ones that used footage from DiVE! What a concept!

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  5. I don't want to fight anymore...
    I thought they couldn't have fallen even deeper, but yet they did. Now it's all just a giant clickbaity parody, not Rockman at all. They're just using this reanimated corpse of a franchise, they're not really ressurecting and embrasing it.

    I still can't fully leave DiVE yet, I want to release a full-on documentary of what X DiVE was in all of its glory once the time comes and servers'll get closed. I'm in pain. Send help :'D

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    1. You sure you aren't overreacting a little?

      Can we really consider megaman as a """"dead franchise""", even?

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    2. Yeah, wake me up when they actually make something interesting, like games from Classic, X, Legends, ZX, and other new main timeline series. The 90s and 2000s was generous in this. Now it is just BS lately and all I'm seeing is posts on Dive for 2 straight years. It is getting dumb. Whatever happened to them saying that if MM11 and the collections sold well, We would get X9? Funny since it is like the hiatus that Dragon Ball Super has been getting lately with the anime. Funny how the hiatus on both coincided (starting in 2018). At least we got a movie for DBS though and the manga continues, but MM is getting nothing lately that is canon and games for 3 years. Dive doesn't count, and neither does smartphone tiny ass screens with no gamepad (a touchscreen for MM? what a joke). It isn't MM unless you have a gamepad and it is a platformer and with the main timeline story.

      I guess standards these days are low when it comes to the size of the screen one plays games on + ruining the gameplay of certain game franchises, so many are a-ok with this Dive nonsense, hence it is supposedly popular, which will only encourage more low quality mobile nonsense. I play strictly on my PC these days that I customize and it can run circles around any puny phone with my hardware, even with the older yet high end 980 ti video card (I will wait for video card prices to go down as the chip shortage is rectified and maybe get a rtx 3080 or wait for the 4000 series instead), nevermind my 27 inch 2k 144hz 1ms screen. I doubt a smartphone drive can keep up with my Plextor PCie 3.0 SSD drive 1 TB, far faster than SATA by a factor of 4 or 5.

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    3. To Unknown on July 20, 2021 at 3:56 PM: Maybe. I'm holding this franchise close to my heart as it means a lot to me. The thing is, it caused me a lot of trouble already, it even released just one day off my birthday (I mean, the release of Asian version on 24th of March) which wasn't a pleasent gift at all to say the least. It didn't help that I had some health issues when that thing dropped and it didn't cheer me up at all during that time (nothing serious, but nothing good neither).
      It's not Rockman. What they're doing is not it. The premise of the game suggests that all of this franchise was just a fiction and nothing more. I can't feel anything towards the characters because they're not even feeling real anymore, throwing those "haha we're a self-aware videogame characters talking about a videogame mechanics" everywhere despite of entire franchise not being about it at all. If it would've been like that from the very beginning, I wouldn't have minded it. But... it's not.

      The fact Capcom forgot who these beloved characters were just adds even more fuel to the fire, making me even more angry after I eventually got used to that "self-aware fictional videogame characters" thing. Just look what they did to Pallette! And no one even said that she wasn't acting like her usual self (see June Bride event), meaning that Capcom actually restructures the canon, telling us, people who truly love these characters and these stories, it always were like that, framing us as a bunch of buffoons.

      The way Capcom handles this franchise lately isn't showing the fact it's alive. We have Collections, OK, and we got some interviews from former staff thanks to it, yep. We had a cartoon show and we have a film in the works, fine. We have two new manga series as well, cool. And we have DiVE along with Rockman 11, sure.
      What was the last main title in this franchise EVER that wasn't a re-release? 11. It was out in 2018 if my memory serves me right. It's 2021 and the next console game will be out at the end of 2022 at best and we still have no idea what it is. The only new stuff we're getting right now is those two mangas and DiVE - a mobile title which throws all of this franchise's 33 years of legacy out of the window in order to appeal to the current trends and write their own story with emptied husks of these characters we love (again, Pallette is just the absolute prime example of it).
      DiVE's not a tribute. It's a spit in the face.

      By "using the reanimated corpse of this franchise" I meant that we're not getting anything that really was what made Rockman, well, Rockman. We're getting something completely different while the essence of what it was stays pretty much unused in the current day and age. Remembering the good ol' days through Legacy Collections is nice, but you should have something new with that essence as well to let these days continue, making more people discover it and then experience these stories how they were for themselfs with the re-releases.

      Sorry for me making this rant, I just wanted to tell why I don't like what Capcom is doing right now and why I think you can call this a dead franchise. It's dead as what it once was, but it's in use, sure... it just has a different essence altogether.

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    4. Yeah the franchise is messed up. Capcom broke the damn thing and they spent many years trying to figure out how to fix it. So what did they do? They released a few collections, ONE NEW GAME and went right back to doing exactly what they did when they broke the damn thing in the first place.
      What I wouldn't give for a half hour in a conference room with these people...

      Here is a good idea: Quit taking your characters, putting a new coat of makeup on them and releasing new spin offs. THAT NEEDS TO F'IN STOP NOW. I am sorry, as fun as Battle Network MAY be, it has no business being a Mega Man game. And I have ALWAYS felt that, since the very beginning. They could have made BN with the original or existing cast at the time and it would have been fine. They could have made BN it's OWN FRANCHISE and it would have been fine. As it is now, it is NOT Mega Man and never will be. It is Namedrop the GBA game to me. I don't care what it's called, or who thinks otherwise. If that offends you, to bad.

      All this spin off nonsense has done is DILUTE the brand. You have some players over here, some over there, and a few between both. You do NOT grow a brand this way. Take a look at Mario Bros. They used the same Mario across the entire franchise. You don't have to think "Is this the virtual reality Mario or the Brooklyn Plumber Mario?" We now have players who refuse to play unless they get the sequel of the spin off they "think" is Mega Man.

      In short, as stated many times, I am sick to death of spin offs. I have little to no hope for Rockman Taisen. And I want the Capcom folks who lurk these message boards to know that.

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    5. Jesus, that's one hell of a rant.

      To everyone on this rant non-sense, take a chill pill. IT'S JUST A MOBILE GAME. Don't like it? Don't play it.

      There are franchises that were on a WORSE state. Megaman is far from being a dead ip. We're NOT in the earlier 2010s anymore. In fact, this mobile game may help bring new fans to the ip and then they may wanna try the real deal.

      You gotta be a little more open minded and suit yourselves with a bit more of patience. Spinoffs won't kill the ip.

      Take a look at metroid fans. We're being waiting 19 YEARS for a sequel to metroid fusion, and just now we're getting one.

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    6. I think my comment wasn't approved even though I wasn't as harsh there, he-he.
      OK, I'll try again.
      Anon, the thing is, they're trying to get new audience through the stuff which doesn't really feel like Rockman. Plus, if there will be enough of new fans who loved what DiVE had in store, it can affect the future main-line games as well, with all this rewriting of characters thingy we can see right now. Believe me, spin-off like this can pretty much do that. And if not to the whole story, then to characters' personalities. I can give you the example, but then this comment will be too long, haha.

      And I'm not really hating DiVE. It has some nice stuff that I liked too (here, I got SS Tron yesterday and think it's the most wholesome thing DiVE has ever done. And I really enjoyed Battle Network and Monster Hunter RISE collabs - those are my favorite events actually). I can see the light here, it's just... I'm a bit concerned for the future of this franchise because of some stuff DiVE does to its legacy sometimes.

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    7. @shrap

      Nah, I am not mad or offended or anything like that I just think you are wrong. I'd much rather spinoffs use ideas and inspirations but be seperate entities rather than using the same exact characters in wildly out of context scenarios with wildly varied design.

      Your Mario example is bunk on multiple levels too. First off nothing Mega Man can do short of being a first party Nintendo franchise would see it even sniff the kind of reception that Mario has. More to the point tho, I often times get stuck wondering who the heck the "Brooklyn Plumber" is. Is Doctor Mario the same guy? I don't know. Are the events of Paper Mario taking place in the same universe as Super Star? They certainly don't seem that way. More over Mega Man stripped of all spin-off universes is still expansive as heck, Mega Man Classic alone has 11 main games, a kart racer, two arcade bossrush type games, a bunch of board games/a video game board game, a soccer game, like 6 gameboy games, Mega Man & Bass, a really fleshed out remake of the first 3 games, a really REALLY fleshed out remake of the first game, was in a bunch of crossovers, had a couple of comic lines, a bunch of ports and compilations and that is just Classic, not getting into the main timeline. It clearly has its own distinct presence and sense of cohesion. Something like Battle Network is a blip in the disruption of that cohesion compared to Mario and its multitude of spin-offs abusing the heck out of the brand. At least I can follow the events of Mega Man somewhat and only really have to follow two universes, unlike Mario where I don't know what to make sense of, cause well, it's not suppose to make sense. That example of Mario does not even being to compare to what Mega Man is and does.

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    8. @Mark Havoc,

      The thing with Mario, is you look at Mario (paper or not) and you see Mario. You know Mario. You know you will get a Mario experience. You will know the characters. You will know the atmosphere. I don't care if Mario is a bifurcated universe or not. It might as well not be. That's from a very casual Mario observer. I can look at ANY Mario product and know "Hey! That's Mario!" Even the spin offs, you still know your playing Mario. You can feel like it's the same Mario you always knew. The Mario Cartoons fit right in with the Mario I was playing. The only one that's unforgivable is the movie, which itself would have been a good Sci-Fi if not for Mario.

      Mario is a huge success. Mega Man, not so much. Because of marketing and brand management. That's the crux of the issue. Assuming your First Party thing is an issue (and I am not so certain of that), imagine what Mega Man would be like if it had the same brand management. It might not have reached Mario levels, but it would be a hell of a lot healthier.

      All I am saying is Capcom needs to focus. They can't keep being all over the place, throwing darts at a poster hoping to hit gold. They MUST go back to basics (which they did with 11 and was a crucial first step) and build the CORE of what this franchise is. They even admitted as much, from what I remember. Focus on the fundamentals and the core fan base THEN worry about everything else. Right now it's ass backwards, a merch franchise with the next game hinting it will be yet another unwanted/unneeded spin off crossover, if the leaks are any indication.

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    9. I agree with Shrap that it needs to be like what MM was in the 90s and even 2000s, and I'm, sure he agrees it needs to be a platformer, gamepad, and recognizably MM. Even X7, despite its flaws, did that and better than Dive or CM (no turn based crap). Also many of us MM fans who love the series who grew up with even classic and X, and later got into Legends, Zero, ZX (at least I like all 5 of those, but never once cared to touch battle network since I wouldn't call that MM based on what I've seen), are tired of what MM has become lately. You would expect a revival to be bustling with games and main timeline stuff, but often in life, things are too good to be or come true, which is why I try to refrain from hype unless there is decent evidence and be logical, which goes for most anything in life really, and extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. If some random person said X9 is coming soon and the way we like it, even if they showed a screenshot, they better back it yup with far more evidence than that. Talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words.

      If Capcom is smart, they will just keep the main timeline rolling, make the game's stories connected (which means X9 would be a continuation off of X8'story since the big cliff hanger with new gen reploids, so I expect them in X9 too), and make the games feel like sequels that reference past events like MM often does, MM11 could have done better at reference past MM games since at first, I questioned if it was (even Megaman at the intro when Wily appeared didn't act like 'he is back' though Auto from MM7 and the cast is there, but no Protoman of Bass, but enough evidence to show it comes after MM10). Hopefully a 15 or 20 year gap between an X8 and X9 being released, if we get X9, won't make the creators of X9's story have amnesia and ruin it.

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    10. Yes, @Gary Daniel, I do agree the next game should be a traditional plat former on console. I think the next several should be. I would put a hard limit on new timelines. No new timelines. No new universes.

      I do not think that crossing genres is taboo. I do not think it should be the norm. I see no reason why they have to re-invent the franchise from scratch each time they try. Mega Man classic was able to become a soccer star, a professional race car driver and street fighter (multiple times even).

      There is no magic solution to the problem that is Capcom. I have been mulling this stuff over for decades. I can't say I would have done better given the chance. But I know what I would have done differently.

      At the very least, right now, when fans are asking for one of three projects over and over and over again you have to be a special kind of stupid to do something completely different. And guess what, none of those projects are spin offs, movies, comics, TV shows or action figures.

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    11. So basically, you want Capcom to just focus on Classic and Megaman X, while giving the other subseries the shaft essentially?

      I might agree on the font that Capcom is better off working on the IPs that already exists, rather than creating any new timelines or universes... But the Battle Network series is as much Megaman as Megaman X or Legends. They do have different playstyles, with their unique plots, but everything form the emphasis in the use of multiple abilities, the style of characters, names, themeing, setting and even the story beats to an extent feel distinctively Megaman.

      It'd be a dumb move to abandon the spinoffs entirely, especially since they have marketing potential on their own. With Battle Network in particular having some thematic elements like its use of the internet and mobile devices that the Classic Megaman never could really use, beyond one off gimmicks that would just feel tacked on and uninteresting.

      If it's too choatic to create new timelines all the time, it is possible to go the opposite way and somehow make a connection between them (think there are enough lore elements to make this possible at least between OG and BN). In either way, all the existing spin offs feel like they are part of a common franchise, itd be a shame to neglect all of them just to make it even more Classic centric, when Megaman Classic is like the only Megaman series that have gotten any real recognition as of late.

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  6. This looks really bad to be honest. Looks more like a poor school project...

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  7. apparently on what they said is that they just gave the advertising job to their "other team department" and they don't know what's going on or what the other department is doing. apparently after that booming and being spread all over the Megaman community they eventually privated the vids
    also they unprivated again and privated again which is weird

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  8. My hot take? NebulaJoy should've contracted a PR team, who was actually familiar with the game, to make an advertising campaign. This almost feels like that "retro" Mega Man 10 "TV spot" that uses the intro stage theme from Mega Man X mixed with something someone did in MikuMikuDance which, while not necessarily bad, just doesn't really promote the actual game

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  9. Well, mobile game ads definitely are notorious for inaccuracy. When I played Brave Exvius more there's a feature to watch ads and get rewards (which I did while watching a show or something so it didn't waste any of my time) I saw them all the time. It's embarrassing. I mean, I did chuckle at these for so...bad.

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  10. So basically black propaganda to overshadow what the game actually is, I'm not surprised as to the fact that mobile games are widely false advertised, I don't like the (((people))) who run youtube. Old mobile games were never misrepresented and their advertisements were spot on, so where did we go wrong?

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    1. care to explain the triple parentheses?

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    2. Bit late but: https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/echo
      That ain't good.

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    3. Oh, I know what it means. I was hoping someone would bring attention to that behavior. ;3

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  11. This is like reverse Evertale, where the bizarre ads looks way more fun than the actual game. Here... it looks worse? Why would they make it look worse!?

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  12. Speaking of, I think I am going to put Nana on my 3D printed model todo list.
    I still need to print Iris... And I made an Alia 2.0 with some general improvements.
    Budgets are a thing, though...

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  13. Wow, that was just painfully awful to behold.

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  14. Yeah, let's hope NebulaJoy doesn't do this ever again.

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  15. I think the general issue with Capcom and megaman is that they really don't know what to do with the series period.

    The megaman series, as a whole is pretty complete. The classic series is pushing close to X1 already, the X series is getting close to the Elf Wars and Zero 1. BN Finished. SF got closure. They tried to continue with Zx and that didn't go great. L3 was all that was really left and it didn't look like a safe bet to them to try yet. They looked at reboots(Maverick Hunter X, Powered Up, etc) and that tanked.

    Capcom needs to make money to warrant making a game. To know that whatever they spend to make, they get back plus extra. So what do you do? Simple. Make collections fans will want to get and put out easy to make games that will turn a decent profit(X-Over, Taisen, X dive, etc.). They get their cash, we get something megaman and it doesn't interfere with the established timeline.

    So we'll probably never see a game about say, the Elf Wars or what happened to Mega Man just before X1, because it'd end those series and they don't want that.

    Everyone wants a X9, but if they did it, they couldn't finish the X series with it, since that's their M.O. so whatever they do in the game has to be big to warrant the game existing, but not Elf Wars big. Then they gotta factor if it can exist in the timeline and make sense.
    And ok, you don't subscribe to X8 being apart of Zero1(go look at the TELOS drama tracks then), then if they want to say that, x9 isn't apart of the timeline. Then they just formally proved in a numbered title that there are separate timelines in the X series. Well now they've just started a war with the fan base. Half like it, half hate it, and sales for the game, either way suffer. And it's vice versa if it's the other way. They want younger people to look and play the games too and if their fan base is fighting over the game, it's bad pr(we saw that already with L3, X-Over, etc)
    They won't do that, so we don't get it.

    Does it suck? Yep. Will it continue? Most likely. Until someone at Capcom decides to actually give the series a proper reboot or finally decided to change or break the established timeline.
    Probably why we've been getting these weird time-y wime-y games from megaman as of late(does several years count as recent?) anyways. Like Xdive being outside the games and altering stuff in them, X-Over rewriting stuff between classic and X series, ect.

    I'm honestly hoping that whatever new we get will just be a good megaman game. I like X dive well enough,but like most everyone else, I'd prefer a numbered title. Give me a SF4, Zx3, L3 and I'll be good.

    I'd love an X9, but I'm not crazy enough not to think that game has too much riding on it already. But I can still hope for the best. Still these commercials are...something...

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  16. I think a lot of these mobile game ads get contracted out to independent media companies or individuals that don't know or care what the game is really about, maybe get a handful of assets, and very little direction.

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  17. "They spoil an unannounced character, too."

    The third video is gone.

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