Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Welp, "Rockman XZ: Time Rift" is Probably Cancelled

A Mega Man game getting cancelled? It's a tale as old as time, friends. No less than a week after footage dropped, we've come to learn that Rockman XZ: Time Rift -- the mobile ARPG from licensed-Capcom developer NebulaJoy -- is no more. 

Speaking to Rockman Corner under anonymity, a source said that NebulaJoy chose to pull the plug on Rockman XZ in August due to Devil May Cry: Pillar of Combat under-performing. Although Pillar of Combat proved to be popular in its native country at launch, the title failed to generate adequate revenue. In response, NebulaJoy shut down a number of licensed, in-production mobile projects. Time Rift included. 

Worse yet, our source says that NebulaJoy cut a number of jobs in August. The individual who posted the Time Rift footage and produced those unusual Mega Man X DiVE ads was among them. At this time, the layoffs have not affected NebulaJoy's Mega Man X DiVE Global Version.

We've reached out to NebulaJoy for comment. Although nothing has been officially announced, the outlook here isn't looking too hot.

To compensate for this unfortunate bit of news, our source provided us with two exclusive screenshots from the game. These hail from a late development build. Note the more refined designs of X and Zero compared to the "leaked trailer". 

 

 

If you turn the second screenshot upside down, you can see X playing Rockman XZ: Time Rift on a phone. The refined Zero model is just *chef's kiss* nice.

There's a small chance we may have a bit more to share on Time Rift. For now, relish in what almost was.

78 comments:

  1. In before someone says "Capcom cancels another one!"

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    1. My opinion of Capcom never recovered from Legends 3.

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    2. @TAG

      Why? Does Mega Man 11 somehow not count? What about the Archie Comics? Smash?

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    3. Megaman 11 was really good, still it was just a step in the right direction, but its still miles away from what people wanted.

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    4. Mega Man Classic in Smash was Sakurai's doing, not Capcom's, doesn't count. That said, Capcom never stops sticking X and Zero into games themselves.

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  2. Well, more mobile games dying off doesn't mean much in the face of that "Taisen" thing.

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    1. Mobile games are popular in those countries, so they are not going to decline.

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    2. Mobile games are popular in those countries, so they are not going to decline.

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    3. There are lots of things "popular" in other countries. That doesn't mean they are good and should be imported or adopted.
      Also, based on everything I am hearing coming out of China, I am not surprised. Gaming is really changing there, what with limitations on what is considered games they CAN play, outlawing gambling in games, and limiting play time... yeah. No one is thinking about that.

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    4. We're in a core-gamer echo-chamber here. Mobile games are literally the most profitable and popular game platform on the planet by a wide margin.

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    5. So, if psychologically bombarding an addict with stimuli that can probably ruin their life permanently is profitable, should you do it?
      Are you a human or a salaryman?

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    6. @Anonymous
      there are many things that are popular and profitable, doesn't mean people won't hate them and won't speak what they think on them. i don't care if gacha is profitable, because i am not here for profit.

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    7. To quote a rather infamous line from one the devs at Blizzcon-

      "Do you guys not have phones?"

      *Cue large amounts of booing from the audience*

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    8. This, right here, is why we need to stop with these mobile phone gacha's. I'd rather they just adapt them to consoles and give us easier and less scummy ways to just PLAY THE DAMN GAMES!

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    9. @Anon, salarymen are also victims of corporate BSery (Japan is especially notorious for this), you're thinking of marketing departments.

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  4. that's really sad, the art quality of this game was looking to be excellent, the animations were super good, the models were great, the VFX was great. OH well.. Looking forward to other mega man games that Capcom is cooking up. I don't mind this news too much, I'm used to getting nothing from the mega man franchise, hell I'll appreciate the fact that they made that awesome trailer with splendid animations!

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  5. Welp, that didn't take long. :U That's a bummer.

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  6. Good.

    We don't need anymore gacha shit.

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  7. Yes. These games are not as popular as people think.

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    1. Still, a cancelled game is such a bummer.

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    2. Mobile gaming is literally the most popular and successful gaming platform on the planet; in 2019 mobile games mare more money than PC and console games combined.

      Yes, among "core-gamers" mobile gaming is not popular, but "core-gamers" often forget they are a minorty because they mostly interact in an echo chamber with other "core-gamers". Almost 90% of "gamers" globally play on their phones.

      I don't like mobile games either, but you have to at least recognize why a multi-national corporation would consider a mobile game over any other kind. A successful mobile game can be inexpensive to develop, but if it's a hit: it brings in enormous and continuous profits.

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    3. You only think on the profit at the expense of peoples mental safety.
      Its a capitalist hell.

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    4. @Anon
      while i mostly despise gachas and their defenders, this is one point where @Anonymous was in the right. Shrap has stated that they're not as popular as people think - however, while they garner quite a lot of negative attention, @Anonymous brings up a good point - gacha games are extremely inexpensive to develop, particularly XDive which is basically a heavily bastardized PSP X1 with new assets per month in the same PSP quality and some artwork from one artist, plus less music than almost any game in the franchise even to this day, and yet it's said to be some of the best hits CAPCOM had out of this franchise, compared to the absolute failures of later Legacy Collections in particular, which are also inexpensive to develop.

      what i disagree with is the idea of core gamers being a small "echo chamber" - a large chunk of people on Earth don't even have phones or phones that support XDive, and the amount of people living in cities that have electricity, Google support, phone shops and Wi-Fi providers along with support of minimum Android 5.0 is also not as high as some people think, but in large scale, XDive is also not as big of a gacha as quite a few others and isn't anywhere near as known by gacha addicts, rather being enjoyed by the CAPCOM gacha addicts. while MEGA MAN/Rockman is a niche franchise for most, many great games in it were also inexpensive to make and were able to sell quite well - from World IV for Game Boy to the 3-month-developed 7 for SNES/SFC to outsourced and low-budgeted intentionally de-made 9 and 10 for WiiWare, there are beloved titles that took as much money as the start of XDive and were successful, even if not as successful as the gacha, while also satisfying the "core-gamers" and being considered actual video games, whereas the gacha is a timekiller and addict machine to most people i've talked to, from "core-gamers" to usual people who don't play games anywhere near as much.

      @Anonymous brought a good point - it is the obvious reason that they're simply selling well and inexpensive to make... however, the "core-gamers" are still people you can profit from without regressing to gacha, as shown by the sort-of recent "MEGA MAN 11/Rockman 11: Gears of Fate!!". However, @Anonymous never said it was morally or even legally justified to make gachas and that they're healthy, but merely brought up that multi-national corporations are going to abuse holes in the system for easy profit. now, what is a gacha? video game gambling? the next step of pachinko? either way, it's something that, would usually be considered illegal or at least not allowed for people under 18... but it isn't and is actually allowed and abused in Japan, just like pachinko.

      and what is the country of CAPCOM's birth and headquarters

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    5. The gacha trend is starting to have bad reputation in Japan, to the point that some companies even consider making their franchises do that, however, this things are just licensed by Chinese people who are in love with the idea of putting Gacha in every game genre (look at genshin).
      China is the destruction of the quality standards on the videogame industry, and I hope that every producer in the world starts realizing that they shouldn't make stuff to appeal to them.
      They have literally implemented a law a few days ago that about "Political Correct Games" were any kind of thing that they don't like, they just outright ban it from existence.
      "Oh, did you happen to put "shit" inside the dialogue of a game?
      That's illegal and you will go to jail."
      It's already happening, a lot of artists and people who develop games there are being arrested for petty stuff like making a guy look "efeminate" or even writing dialogues containing swear words.

      If the game industry wants to live, then everyone should cut contact with China and not agree with those ridiculous demands of "making games gacha because those are time killers that enter the 30 minute of gameplay per-day law we have".

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    6. In the core demographic "echo chamber", these games are absolutely not as popular as people think. There are several mobile games (gacha or no gacha) cancelled or closed by Capcom. Breath of Fire, Puzzle Fighter, X Over, this one, and several others most of us haven't heard about. There is a reason Capcom has been "trying to crack the mobile market".

      In the large scope of overall players, you won't get many casuals who are addicted to candy crush playing this. You won't get that many more standard console either. That's wishful thinking. Yes you will gain some, but you also lose a good chunk of your core audience.

      Concerning the overall market, again, it's not so much popularity as an addiction once a player gets hooked.

      China is also a market that will soon be going bye bye. Look up their recent rules they are placing on gaming. No gambling. Strict content guidelines. Players under 18 can play games no more than 3 hours a week IN TOTAL.

      One thing to keep in mind with X DiVE's "popularity" is the global audience pooling into just the Taiwan regions version.

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  8. This is fine. We still have Mega Man X Dive that updates every week, the movie, and maybe that main game they where talking about. I'm not giving up hope on Mega Man just yet.

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  9. Good, we don't need it. Maybe capcom is realizing we want real MM stuff and legit sequels. Nobody with standards wants this.

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  10. Sad, I was actually looking forward for this one.

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  11. Goddamn it. I personally would have taken this over DiVE any day. Shame this got the axe.

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    1. Yeah, XDiVE seems to just keep watering itself down, and seems like a junk-drawer of ideas from the Rocman universe. I don't like mobile games anyway, but XDiVE -- even now that I can play it on a PC -- always looked super shallow to me.

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  12. I guess this and X dive couldn't co-exist.

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  13. Making it for mobile was a mistake. There's no overlap between the mobile market and traditional arcade/console markets, so using a classic IP for a mobile game is often a liability. Yeah, we all carry smartphones nowadays, but they SUCK. They are nothing but terrible as gaming platforms and with each passing year, people carry smartphones around more because they need to rather than because they want to. They are ostensibly convenient devices that have evolved to be more like shackles clasped above the heels, both in how their hardware and software have gradually become more frustrating and in their effects on mental health.

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    1. Took the words out of my mouth. Anyone else seen "how the iPhone started a dark age of the internet"?

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    2. there was a time in early 2010s when most companies tried their best to make fun ports for mobile, when there were thousands of legitimately obscure amazing indie games made for mobile, and there still are some. i don't like using smartphones either and i keep internet on mine disabled unless it's required to be used, but mobile can work great for games and produced some incredible results in the past. the mistake was making it a gacha - something meant entirely to make money.

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  14. on one hand, a good gacha is a dead gacha. on the other, i feel like this already happened before... if the so-called "taisen" fails, i feel like we're gonna experience the 2010s of the franchise again.

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    1. You mean the 2010s where the franchise's then biggest market turned hostile towards any and all prospects because of blind rage?

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    2. Blind rage?
      Try fully justified rage coupled with exhaustion.

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    3. @FusionArmorX
      no, i mean the 2010s where CAPCOM shut down all games in the franchise that were being developed except a pseudo-gacha (xover) and nobody wanted to work on a game for this franchise ever again while most things were pinned on "the evil raging fans".

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    4. @Sprite Recreator
      I don't think you get the history here.
      The hostile fanbase from 2011 onwards was why Capcom didn't even try to make any new games following the cancellation of those TWO. Yes, two. Mega Man Legends 3, and Mega Man Universe. Rockman Online was a Neowiz project and fell apart for unrelated reasons, possibly similar to how Time Rift is rumored to have.

      Legends didn't have the sales history to justify making a third entry in the series unprompted, and the Legends 3 project only existed as it did because of Inafune attempting to force Capcom into developing it by way of testing how recognizable his name actually was. Past that, pushback to Rockman X-Over was so strong that Capcom USA announced that they WOULDN'T be bringing the game over to the US. If there was any indication of the state of the fanbase, Capcom USA breaking radio silence to say they weren't doing something speaks to how dire things were relationship-wise. Then there was Street Fighter x Mega Man, a fangame made official and the bitter MM fanbase said "WOW Capcom STOLE FAN WORK and it's not even GOOD" rather than celebrating the fact a FANGAME was made official.

      Things have been so far hostile that when the Mega Man Legacy Collection was announced, probably half of the fanbase called for everybody to boycott it and buy used copies of Mega Man Anniversary Collection instead because "it has more content" and "Capcom needs to make a NEW GAME not RESELL OLD ONES". Some even called MMLC as Capcom holding the brand for ransom. Then there was the Tokyo Game Show 30th Anniversary CAPCOMTV stream, months before Mega Man 11's announcement. Once the US fanbase had concluded that Capcom wasn't going to be announcing any new entries in the series, they quickly turned ballistic.

      Then, even with Mega Man 11, you had people chomping at the bit to declare the entire game as being slapped together in a hurry so we'd shut up. For some, this went as far as criticizing the game for NOT being 8-bit, saying that Mega Man wasn't showing enough animation during his run cycle. This is all the while "the evil raging fans" continued to preach that the brand belonged to them, or that things like the Smash Bros reveal meant that the brand was in better hands with Nintendo, or the Gunvolt series somehow proving that the series was in better hands with Inti Creates, it was "anything BUT Capcom" for the longest time.

      That's not mentioning all of the other irrelevant stuff. Things like "white is the color of death in Japanese society and the Legends 3 stage is snow-covered in UMvC3 CAPCOM IS CELEBRATING THE SERIES' DEATH" and "Capcom thinks Mega Man fans are UGLY FAT PEOPLE" in response to Mega Man's appearance in Street Fighter x Tekken, not to mention when the game actually released how many people thought that the character's lore referencing Legends was somehow yet another slap to the fans' face, as if Capcom had become capable of nothing less. The fans couldn't even take a GUNPLA-themed April Fools joke without assuming that Capcom was taking potshots at the entire base.

      So yeah. "The evil raging fans" is a pretty apt description here.

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    5. To be fair, there were the excellent Archie Comics... until those ended too. After that, we entered an even darker period where we got a pachinko machine and a TV show, both of which made new one-off versions of the character that were never used again for good reason. But the darkness was broken with 11.

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    6. @FusionArmorX
      and what does that change for CAPCOM itself? two games announced in almost 8 years... both were cancelled. instead. a pseudo-gacha and a joke DLC costume was released in terms of content for actual CAPCOM game releases. hmm, i wonder why people were angry...

      oh sorry, it was unprofitable! and i don't CARE. i've wrote a post above and i do still stand by the opinion that there is definitely profit in making gachas and not making actual video games, but i also stand by the opinion that the moment the corporation chooses easy profit over something i want is the moment i won't even give it a cent. oh, entitled you might say... and since when is CAPCOM entitled to my money? my money, my decision, i will speak whatever opinion i have on what they do and spend my money whatever way i want.

      pffft. yeah, people hated a pseudo-gacha that only had even basic effort put into a few custom sprites and around 5 music tracks and they had to quickly close that down and instead go for the path of a usual gacha so at least gacha players can give them money. how does that make people saying things on the internet and speaking their opinion about a oh-so poor giant video game corporation that has survived for years "evil raging fans" and make it the REAL events of 2010s for the franchise? after all, isn't it the franchise holder that's supposed to actually be in charge of the franchise? oh, speaking of that, SFxMM, decent game. do you wonder why simply taking a fangame and making no changes and simply distributing it on a official site that later broke down added to the already large lot of people's issues with CAPCOM?

      MMAC had it's own issues but it was more than a outsourced emulator package with the most basic of features that LC was, outsourced to the all-failing Digital Eclipse no less. oh, it didn't even have overclocking, something that has been in emulators for a while until a 2 year after release update.

      some people didn't like a game. how does that make it more important than almost 8 years before that game having, i quote, "only TWO" actual game projects that were both cancelled, a pseudo-gacha that not even people who play games like that wanted to play, terrible mobile ports of the series and a Digital Eclipse pseudo-collection? pretty sure that what matters more is what CAPCOM did, and what CAPCOM did is have two projects cancelled and occasionally have some cameo/merch released for almost 8 years. doesn't sound like something any self-respecting buyer would want.

      great, evil internet boogeyman say laughable stuff. how is that more important than what i've wrote above about CAPCOM, the corporation actually in charge of the franchise?

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    7. @Sprite Recreator
      The people were angry because they worked to rile themselves up while ignoring important details about a project, and then decided that scorched earth was the only way to cope when their hubris came up to them. The fans didn't miss anything, it was CAPCOM whoj

      You are right about it being your money, your decision. That isn't the point, though. The fanbase has decided to take up arms and treat any new Mega Man, or even Rockman project, with extreme criticism regardless of whatever market it was actually targeted towards, or if it was even meant to be anything major. Rockman X-Over and Rockman GoGo both got abused by the English base even though both were clearly not meant for the English market to begin with.

      I think I might as well bring up that when Sonic Mania was announced, that bitter side of the MM community's reaction to it was "why can't Capcom listen to us fans like Sega does to theirs!?" all because Mania painted a pretty, nostalgic picture of the good ol' days and was TECHNICALLY developed by fans. Granted, fans who had formed their own game development studios and had a body of work that served as a proof-of-concept of their ability in the form of the masterful widescreen ports of Sonic 1, 2, and CD to Android and iOS devices. With what's been established as the attitude of the Mega Man fanbase of the 2010s, even if the fans had an identical body of work relating to the Mega Man games, the rest of the fanbase would've slammed not just those ports into obscurity because "CAPCOM need make NEW GAME not OLD GAME AGAIN".

      Whether you like the fact it happened or not, CAPCOM is on record saying that the sales of MMLC directly contributed to the greenlighting of Mega Man 11. Not as some backhanded "this is your reward for complying with our demand" but as a "this collection sold better than we thought, maybe the time is right to make something new" and interviews with MM11 staff very much suggest it is the latter at work, and those interviews also say that a lot of thought was put into making sure the game was just right.

      So, even though the brand is VERY far away from its state during the 2010s, that loud part of the fanbase continues to use CAPCOM as a scapegoat for ignorance and idiocy. No wonder the JP fanbase laughed at all of the angry foreigners during the CAPCOMTV Rockman 30th Anniversary stream.

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    8. @FusionArmorX
      they riled themselves up because there was nothing else. "XOver and GoGo weren't meant for Western markets", but then what was meant for Western markets? a official site for a fangame? a few cameos? all of that in almost 8 years. not everyone acted maturily during Legends 3, yes, but that still doesn't change that still, CAPCOM was in charge of the franchise, what happened was that there were two large projects cancelled and then there were no video gaming projects released that weren't just quick mobile projects (one of which, even if "wasn't meant for western market", had a reason why it was despised, many in fact, and the other was a runner game to cash in on the trend using recycled models) meant for only Asian countries. fans being angry over that and SOME of them being immature on the internet is secondary, at least for me, and i don't really see a reason why it should be the other way - as i've said, CAPCOM is in charge, not immature fans.

      sonic mania was announced a year before the almost 8 year silence in terms of video gaming was broken. what's established? let me tell you something - fanbases consist of people. on this very site we witness the mysterious fanbase... and to measure something like established attitude, you have to see how many people actually acted like that. after all, it is the minority that is the loudest in quite a few cases. what about the people who were against those fans and defending CAPCOM? and how does that impact CAPCOM's decisions and their importance, again?

      that is correct, however... that did not happen for X series, and probably will not, even though that collection didn't sell as well as the first LC, it still sold pretty well - instead, X series fans got another gacha, just as usual reusing assets and engine. i wonder if that happened already?

      and there you have said it - LOUD part of the fanbase. not only is it common for the loud to be a minority, but there is also the high possibility that the group you're talking about had no impact - as 11 was made because of LC's sales, not only LC wasn't something the loud group asked for, it was also bought by many people outside of that - many people that think of the series as specifically the NES/FC entries have bought it, and same goes for 11, which i've even seen popular people that have never played a game in the series before buy and play. so let's go back to the core argument:

      "no, i mean the 2010s where CAPCOM shut down all games in the franchise that were being developed except a pseudo-gacha (xover) and nobody wanted to work on a game for this franchise ever again"

      "I don't think you get the history here.
      The hostile fanbase from 2011 onwards was why Capcom didn't even try to make any new games following the cancellation of those TWO."

      never have i seen CAPCOM beyond some small CAPCOM of America posts specifically cater to the "loud" fanbase, and most sources document the reason to be Inafune and CAPCOM themselves, primarily Inafune leaving and the franchise being considered unprofitable. therefore, what is more important in the grand scheme - CAPCOM's decisions and a lack of full video games that are at least more than mobile recycles for almost 8 years or a loud group of fans talking about that on the internet? let me remind you, CAPCOM is in charge of the franchise, not the fans.

      i won't even say much about the JP fanbase - smug attitude while praising CAPCOM for all but things considered "bad to like" is not what i'd call respectable or people i want to talk to, but hey, to each their own, i suppose.

      in the end, the question was - what was more impactful to the franchise, it's owner's decisions or the possibility that those decisions were impacted by one part of the multinational fanbase of the franchise? personally, i think it's the former.

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    9. I see this stupid tirade against fans in multiple fandoms, made by consumers who don't understand fans or why they are even angry in the first place. There are legit reasons why people like myself are angry. I have been angry for a very long time and annoyed longer still. In fact, the first time I realized something was wrong was when Legends was announced. But I let it slide. Then my radar went off again with Battle Network. I let it slide again. It got worse, and worse, and worse, and worse and here we are.

      I am totally fine with every one voicing their anger. It is perfectly valid and exists for a damn reason. I am growing increasingly tired of having to explain basic business and brand management. This series is a literal clusterf***. It used to, but no longer has any identity or relevance. That's not OUR fault. Some of us tried to warn you, tried to point out why this or that was a mistake, and idiots who just consume every piece of slop cause it says "Mega Man" on it call us toxic. Whatever.

      Mega Man now is basically a hodge podge of a bunch of crap that has been repurposed, repurposed, repurposed, repurposed and repurposed again. It was cute at first. The franchise couldn't even get off the damn ground after being dormant without fools and their apologists repurposing it AGAIN no less than THREE TIMES (Movie, Pachislot, TV show).
      After watching franchise after franchise after franchise after FRANCHISE AFTER FRANCHISE AFTER MOTHER F***ING FRANCHISE get repurposed and dismantled into oblivion, in search of that magic "Audience X", you would think people would wise up.

      But no. I am toxic. Blah blah blah. Spin spin spin. Finger wag.

      You know what? I am now convinced Mega Man is beyond repair. It's no longer worth fighting for or over.

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    10. @Sprite Recreator
      The vocal minority I mentioned, and their actions, were the ones that were heard because they spoke the loudest. So as far as CAPCOM was concerned at the time, that vocal minority WAS the base. They do listen to their fans, especially when said fans go on the attack against a Twitter rep for reminding the base that fan involvement was required for Legends 3's existence. If you want to blame CAPCOM for anything there, blame them for implying that participation in the Devrooms wasn't required.

      Also, it hasn't happened YET. You can't just assume that CAPCOM will operate in a linear fashion, that the XLCs will translate directly into an X9. If 11's development history from the interview is anything, CAPCOM is very carefully considering how to move forward with not just X9, but any other future project. They're also likely testing other Rockman-related projects, as we speak. In terms of active products, X Dive is doing pretty well and like Battle Network was to every other variation, is helping keep the brand afloat.

      As far as the last question? It is the latter, by a huge margin. Why? The JP fanbase's reaction to those two games being cancelled was effectively a "well, that sucks" and little more. The US fanbase? You couldn't even remotely sound like you were defending CAPCOM's decisions without being labelled as being some brainless shill who would eat any kusoge the company produced. The same US fanbase that also maintains that their personal opinions define the truth of a situation, even if said truth is provably out of touch with reality. This allows idea such as CAPCOM firing Inafune to be considered credible, just because it feels right. This is even though Japanese business culture is known for *not* firing people unless they were actual criminals, and every other case is just legally harassing unwanted staff into leaving the company of their own volition.

      Finally, CAPCOM fought to keep both of those cancelled games afloat in the wake of Inafune's departure, otherwise they would've been cancelled immediately when he left. The most recent article on Mega Man Universe article on this site even says as such. Now, CAPCOM might not have been taking the best direction with the project owing to Inafune's guidance there, but they were at least trying to keep them afloat and only cancelled when it was clear that there was no realistic hope of salvage.

      The US fans, however? The idea that CAPCOM was even trying to save anything back then is absurdities spewed out by brainless shills who just don't get it, maaaaan. I'm still waiting for CAPCOM to clamp down on fangames hardcore like you all say, and have been waiting for over a decade at this point since we thought it was going to start happening when Mega Man 9 was announced, much to the surprise of the devs of Mega Man 9, later Mega Man 10, finally Mega Man Unlimited.

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    11. @FusionArmorX
      they were listening to their fans, oh they do... except when they supposedly, i assume "fail to notice" that 95%, if not more of fans complaints to this day can be easily summed up as... "LESS GACHA, MORE GAMES, COMICS, ANIMATION.". must have slipped past their radar - after all, it's a tough conclusion to come to once it's blared by nearly every single one of those vocal fans, it might be a distraction from their real wish - "NEVER release more than one budget game that is maximum 5 hours long and has a high chance of getting it's budget back, if not reaching some of the franchise's either highest sales or becoming beloved by thousands of fans until 7.5 years pass since the previous one. this is a RULE!"

      alright alright this was a bit too jokey, but i really fail to see how CAPCOM supposedly, over the course of so many years has only seen "they got angry at us and our workers". are they spiteful? intentionally refusing to "feed the westerners with what they want"? since when did they have so much pride? they want to prioritize japanese?.. wait a second, SEGA of Japan behaves in similar ways, but with a bit more failures in terms of quality. they even make quite a lot of money from pachinko and merch... hm, you might be onto something. while i'd argue this proves some of Shrap's points, but since you're refuting my points, on this argument, i concede.

      though, i am pretty sure Legends 3 got quite a lot of submissions from all over the world.

      it doesn't operate in a linear fashion, obviously! however, until i see actual results, it does not count. a empty promise, you could say. XDive keeps the brand afloat, yes, but when all there is, is one game, a lot of promises and multiple XDives (some dead, some alive, some cancelled) in the span of nearly 8 years, i can't say it's unreasonable to be unhappy with the company.

      to get it over with, no, Inafune was not fired, obviously. he left for his own reasons.

      i've already stated that personally, i prefer hatred brought in full detail and the idea of not giving a company money until they actually prove themselves to the person and dozens of fanworks that stand almost as high as quite a few officials, rather than smug one-off comments laughing at those who you'd expect would be happy to talk with them and barely any fangame work to prove themselves, alongside barely any in-detail opinion posts. however... in the end, how do either of them impact the company beyond the possibility of being heard, one that is rather low, and an even lower possibility of them being listened to? i have said this many times - CAPCOM. is. in. charge. of. the. franchise. why should negative opinion on them with some immature statements mixed in be more important than lack of actual games for almost 8 years in a primarily video gaming franchise? because the tv shows in it are dead and die quickly with only two full attempts in western market, one comic series that is long over, barely any manga as of recent, a film that still has nothing about it particularly announced aside from some vague purely text statements that might change any time. that was the core argument - why does the possibility of fans impacting decisions of a company, a low one at that, supposedly more important than those concrete decisions done by the company?

      that is the specific question i ask, one that has not been answered. what you have brought is "there were wrong statements brought up by people that can be disproven" and "the japanese fanbase is more willing to care less about the games and more about loyalty, as expected from... a japanese fanbase.". where's the argument on comparison of importance between CAPCOM and the US fanbase?

      Delete
    12. @Sprite Recreator

      Also a pretty good comic book and joining Smash. But still.

      @Shrap, what other franchises are you referring to?

      Delete
    13. Shrap probably means Contra and Castlevania, primarily, but also sadly they discontinued Gradius, Darius, Thunderforce, ended Descent with Descent 3. Descent Overload was ok but not a Descent 4, and though Freespace 2 never got a sequel, the FS community with the source code keep it alive here with mods and source code ort enhancements: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php

      Bomberman is another, though I only played the 3D ones, but now it seems no more. R-type is still alive, but R-type Command is not a good setup, but R-type Final 2 (released this year with additional remade stages and ships still being released) is decent.

      But yeah, enough mobile cheap bullshit and release most MM games on PC or console that are made for gamepads, good resolution, and legit canon sequels to the main timeline. Is wanting an X9, ZX3, or Legends 3 really so much to ask? Even something that small is too good to come true? Does Capcom know that if they released those and on multi-platform, not puny ass handhelds or mobile, their popularity would jump quickly for a time and those would probably sell well? Maybe more people would play at home and mobile will decrease once we automate the economy more and change the system to allow more free time vs people being over worked drones with weak ass safety nets not compatible in the 21st century increasingly automated economy. Still need consumers to keep it all going, and that will force new systemic paradigms new deal style. Then maybe more can have a life and play more of MM at home vs on the go stupidity like a jack rabbit always in a hurry. We only live once, so enjoy life and have more balance.

      Delete
    14. @Austin Reed
      Star Wars
      Star Trek
      Doctor Who
      Terminator
      Marvel Comics (the books, i.e, the core)
      DC Comics (the books, i.e, the core)
      and others

      For different reasons, but from a observer perspective, they all failed to give the customers what they asked for and instead gave them something else.

      Delete
    15. @Gary

      Sadly outside of Castlevania I can't comment on those other series.
      I am kinda mad at Final Fantasy though. Or rather, Square Enix. They really changed.

      I have always been real nitpicky on what I play. So most of those I never played at all. Contra maybe once.

      Delete
    16. @Sprite Recreator
      You know what WAS aimed at Western fans? Fully Charged. Guess what? They also bashed THAT, too. And if you want to give me the "it's for kids" thing, I'll give you that, but they did at least have some fandom memes in one episode. Also, you saying the "MORE GAMES, COMICS, ANIMATION" reminds me that a lot of people here seem to have forgotten the Archie comics. They were excellent. Too bad the comics these days have been either tie ins to Fully Charged or random silly garbage.

      @Shrap

      Ever seen The Mandalorian? Or The Bad Batch? Star Wars might just be getting back on its feet.

      @Fusion Armor X

      I am totally sick of the "it was slapped together to shut us up" excuse with 11. While it has its flaws (monotonous music, over-simplified continuity, no continuity relevance, no female RMs, etc), a game slapped together wouldn't have such a large amount of work put into it. There'd be more glitches and leftovers if it were true.

      Delete
    17. @Austin
      Nope. And never will. I no longer care about it. That bond is forever cut.

      Delete
    18. Shrap, look at the following games and crap gameplay on this commodore 64, LOL. I'm picky enough never to touch this: https://youtu.be/UDumOYP0ZA0?t=757

      Delete
    19. @Austin Reed
      fandom memes weren't even bashed, most people i saw talk about fully charged in terms of how they remember it is "it's mediocre and has barely anything worthwhile, but that meme museum episode had some cool references". as for comics... as i've said, archie is long gone and we haven't seen anything aside from what you mentioned. it's sad, really, archie was cool.

      @Gary Daniel
      those are cool for the system and their short devtime. XDive is made to run minimum on an android 5.0 phone and is pretty much on the level of a beefed up PSP game, with the best phones of nowadays being able to emulate gamecube and play nearly PS3-tier games. there is no excuse for things like XDive. there is no technical limitation.

      Delete
    20. @shrap

      Why is it "forever cut"? Can't you forge a new bond? I assume you don't have Disney+, which if you do, allows you to watch both of them, and almost everything else from the franchise, for free if you have paid the small subscription fee. Admittedly, if MTG ever got back to its roots and removed nonsensical crossovers and wokeness, I'd happily return and pick up the stuff currently shelfwarming. I came to accept that Neopets, due to its new ownership, is unlikely to return, but it banned me anyways.

      @Sprite Recreator
      These memes did only make an easter egg reference, correct. It's also a shame it was one of the last things designed for a non-Japanese audience, even if that audience was a new set of children.

      @Gary Daniel
      I simply don't get much of the C64 nostalgia, even understanding that consoles in Europe were DEAD until the release of the Genesis.

      Delete
    21. @Austin
      It just is. It's an example. Take it for what it is.

      Delete
    22. I never played Commodore, to be honest, AFAIK.

      Delete
    23. Oddly enough, mobile games, like the mobile Contra and Dive too seem to have crap explosion and particle effects, like how bad they were on the PSP. Look how poor the Maverick Hunter X boss explosions are (just an expanding orb poor imitation of X8's boss explosions), yet X7 had far better explosions, yet for some reason, we don't see games on GC and PS2 or maybe even PS3 have these kinds of debris effects, like on Raiden II: https://youtu.be/hUgDvU4udDI?t=120

      Delete
    24. @Austin Reed those are streaming shows made by the same duo who made Clone Wars and Rebels which everyone loves. They're not movies, the core of the franchise. Star Trek has Lower Decks but I sure as f*ck wouldn't recommend getting the lazily named Paramount+ just to watch it alone. The equally lazily named Disney+ at least has other things worth watching like the MCU shows, Muppets Now (which I still need to watch but I did see the Muppets Haunted Mansion special and it was good) and Monsters at Work.

      I don't really agree with shrap's emotional response devoid of logic when it comes to obsessing over the core of a franchise and ignoring anything good that comes out on the side but I do sort of understand it on the most basic of levels.

      Delete
  15. Maybe one day they could repurpose the assets for something that isn't gacha. Not likely, but eh.

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  16. I don't absolutely hate the idea of mobile in general, but I don't like mobile trying to replicate the gameplay experience of the obviously superior console games. If they insist on making mobile apps, I'd prefer something like Lara Croft Go. That one captures the spirit of the Tomb Raider games without requiring the reflexes or complicated controls that the core games are based on. I could go for a Battle Network-ish mobile game, or maybe something weird like Rockboard. I dunno, but platformers just aren't fun to me on phones.

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  17. Ouch. Welp, another for the canceled list. Hopefully one day we'll get a good megaman game

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Does that list include Rockman X Interactive? The Game Boy version of Rockboard? Also, do you dislike 11?

      Delete
    2. @Austin: late reply is late, but the answers would be Ehh which one is interactive again? Rockboard? probably, but GB games are sorta old so, maybe not directly for this list? lol. the list was more rhetorical than anything though
      No, I like 11 well enough.

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  18. kinda not losing sleep from this compared to other megaman cancellations though feel bad from it being from another series game underperforming as x interacting with his best friends future form would've been charming.

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  19. To those wondering how fans feel when megaman games are canceled imagine this: someone is making a grand feast for you and your hungry and it smells good and it has some of your favorite stuff or new things you never heard of and are willing to try out..... then they just throw it on the floor or in the garbage. Everytime.

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    Replies
    1. This was going to be a gacha game, so this thing being cancelled is actually a win.

      Delete
    2. It's become increasingly the norm that mobile games do not count as real games. Especially as their practices have poisoned games on other systems with things like lootboxes.

      Delete
    3. I'm also happy it was canned. Maybe Capcom is waking up and realizing we want things like X9, ZX3, Legends 3. I guarantee that if those were coming out and for multi-platform, their popularity would spike for a time at least. We would all be happy. Relative to that, many don't want this nonsense that has been coming out the last 2 years. With all our tech these days, it is sad that even an X9, ZX3, or L3 is seemingly too much to ask. If they could do it back then and afford the risk with more puny tech and manual labor, surely they can risk it now, with labor saving tech. For profit can be both a pro and a con. Maybe they can use their modern tech and some automation to lower overhead costs then and make the risk less, well one day as it gets better, I suppose. Even just more productive programs or program languages could help. Get more done with less staff and speed up production while retaining quality. Then there is no excuse not to risk it, especially since good sales of the X collections makes it clear that X9 is worth the risk.

      Delete
    4. that isn't good when you consider that it was being developed by the *dmc mobile* guys, and that game near flawlessly transitioned the dmc 3 formula to mobile very well, they have the talent both from art team and coding team to make shit work.
      sad it got cancelled even with with such well researched and merged artstyle.

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  20. Replies
    1. It's been years after the cancellation plague, and this was a gatcha game most likely.

      Delete
  21. No surprise there. And since it's for a mobile game, I'm not fussed about it.

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