Wednesday, May 3, 2023

MMBN Legacy Collection - Masakazu Eguchi 4Gamer Interview


We're back with another interview with Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection director Masakazu Eguchi. This time, we have a detailed conversation from a recent interview with 4Gamer, where shares his insights on how he got involved with the first Rockman EXE game and other topics of interest.

You can check out the English translation of the interview below! Many thanks to our friend Windii for the translation!


To commemorate the release, 4Gamer conducted an online interview with Masakazu Eguchi , a.k.a. "Meijin," who was in charge of the scenario writing at the time and was also the face of the series in various media, to hear about the background of the launch of the Advanced Collection and his memories of the original version.

Thank you for joining us today. First of all, please tell us how the "Rockman EXE Advanced Collection" project came about.

Fans of the Rockman EXE series have been asking for a port of this titles for a long time. In addition, various departments within the company have also proposed porting the series. It was because of this that the decision was made to port it.

When did development start?

I can't say exactly here, but it was about two years ago.

Two years ago, in the year 2021, was the 20th anniversary of "EXE," and I believe there were a lot of requests for a port of the games. Did those voices have an influence on the realization of the port?

Yes, that's right. There had been a movement within the company to port EXE, but I think the fact that people's voices grew even louder on the occasion of the 20th anniversary helped to make the project a reality. We received a great response when we announced the project.

Every time new information was announced, it became a hot topic on social media and other places.

I was both surprised and gratified by the response. It has been almost 18 years since "Rockman EXE 6" was released, but the feedback from people who still love the series as much as they did back then has been really enthusiastic.

I was happy to hear from not only the fans but also the staff of that time saying "Congratulations" and "I saw the announcement," making it a bit like a class reunion. I thought that the friends and loved ones who created EXE together back then are still connected to me today.

The word "connection" is also used in the catchphrase.

Yes. The catchphrase for the first "Rockman EXE" was "We are always connected," and the catchphrase for the Advanced Collection is "We are still connected" in the same vein.

This "Advanced Collection" is not a pure port, but it also recreates elements that allow you to play through the EXE series in full, such as the implementation of special chips and modified cards distributed at events. Were these implementations decided at the planning stage? 

We were absolutely determined to include these elements when we decided to port the games.

The limited distribution of event chips may have been difficult for those who lived in urban areas, but especially for those who lived in rural areas. It was also expensive to collect all the modification cards, and peripherals were needed to read the cards.

I think there were people at that time who were in agony because they were told in magazines that they could get great chips and modified cards with amazing effects, except they couldn't.

I also lived in a rural area, so I longed for the chips distributed at the events.

Similarly, I also spent my childhood in a rural area, so I understand exactly how you feel. That's why I wanted to respond to such sentiments by including as many elements as possible in this port, so that you can enjoy the game in full again.

In the original version of the games, there were some titles where you could get rare chips by playing through linked battles. Is that part of the games reproduced?

Yes. The specifications have not changed. However, this time we paid special attention to the balance of the matches, making adjustments that were not made in the original version. There are techniques and combos in EXE that were banned in tournaments at the time that could destroy the balance, so we had a lot of trouble figuring out how to deal with them.

Regarding the famous Rockman EXE 2 Prism Combo (*), it was announced that while it can still be used in the story, it has been adjusted in linked battles.

*Prism Combo: A combo using two pieces: a Prism, which spreads attacks to the surrounding squares, and a forest bomb, which keeps the attack designation on the spot. When a Forest Bomb is thrown into the spot where the prism was placed, the Prism continues to spread the attack designation of the Forest Bomb, killing most of the enemies instantly.

Yes. We have modified the Prism Combo and other techniques and combos that were banned in competitions at the time, but since this is a port, we also cherish the "memories of that time."

We spent a lot of time adjusting how best to implement them, not only within the team, but also by listening to the opinions of our in-house staff, who were closer to the end-users.

Why did you take that much time to make these adjustments?

We took into consideration the difference between the old and the new environment. Back then, you had to connect two Game Boy Advance consoles with a link cable to play against each other, but this time you can play online against people from far away.

In the old days, you had your opponent right in front of you, and you could communicate with them even when they performed a Prism Combo, saying how strong it was or how unfair it was. By talking in this way, you could forgive them, or even try to play against them without using the Prism Combo next time.

However, in online games where you are playing against an unspecified large number of people, the communication part of the game is diminished, so that kind of exchange is no longer possible. That's why we changed some of the specifications for linked battles only, so that the balance would not be severely affected.

It is true that there is a difference between online battles and face-to-face battles with a link cable connected.

However, there are people who are doing a great deal of research on "EXE," so I have a feeling that new battle strategies will be created. I am grateful for that, but I am also a little scared (laughs).

We haven't completely eliminated any techniques, so I hope that you will make full use of the ones that are available to you as long as you can complete the story quickly.

For tackling the story, it was announced that there is a new element, "Buster MAX Mode," which increases the power of a single Rock Buster shot by 100 times.

Yes, that's right. The NetBattlers of those days are now adults. They are probably busy with their jobs, and some of them want to just skim through the storyline. We have made it possible to freely use Buster MAX Mode, modified cards, and distributed chips from the beginning, so we hope that you will be able to play the games in your own way and at your own pace.

I feel like I can sense the seriousness of the development staff when I look at the information that is released on a daily basis. Not to mention the implementation of the linked battles and distributed chips mentioned earlier, I didn't expect to see even collaboration items with other companies, such as the "Bokura no Taiyou (Boktai)" related modification cards.

KONAMI and others were very kind in granting us permission for the collaborative modification cards and chips. The "Crossover Battle" that allows players to link with the "Bokura no Taiyou (Boktai)" series has been omitted, but other elements that can be completed on the Game Boy Advance version of "Rockman EXE" have been left basically unchanged, although some elements have been slightly modified.

Did you encounter any difficulties in the development of the Advanced Collection?

Once we decided to include the linked battle function, we could no longer choose to emulate the original versions, so we had to rewrite the codes for all the games in the series to port them. That was the first thing that took a lot of time.

The other part of the work was localization. In addition to the original Japanese and English, the Advanced Collection is available in both Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters, and since it is an RPG with a large number of characters and contains 10 different versions of the 6 titles, it was a lot of work, including checking.

We often hear that porting a title requires rewriting the code, so in the end it's not so different from making a whole game.

That's right. We also had to spend a lot of time to make up for the fact that there were some parts of the games that were not documented at the time.

The storage medium for keeping materials is likely to have changed from what was done twenty years ago.

For "Rockman EXE" and "Rockman EXE 2," we were still using paper and floppy disks to compile materials, so some of the data has disappeared. We also found parts that no longer worked technically and problems that had been dormant since the Game Boy Advance days, and we had to fix them.

How did you reproduce the lost data?

We did our best to recreate the lost data by going back to our memories and interviewing the staff of the original version. It was really hard to reproduce the correct behavior and solve the problem by digging in the code.

It seems hard to even imagine recalling memories from 20 years ago.

That said, it was not all that difficult. As I look back, the memories of those days come back to me vividly. It was fun to reminisce with old staff members about things we used to talk about when we were working on this project, or about the places we used to go to when we were working on that project. I mentioned the word "reunion" at the beginning of this article, but "Advanced Collection" really reminded me of that kind of feeling as I was making it.

The word "reunion" was also used in the manga Rockman EXE: 20 Year Reunion drawn by Ryo Takamisaki, which was recently published on the official website. A "Rockman EXE: New Stories 2023" book will be released in June 2023, which will also include newly drawn manga.

As for the "20 Year Reunion," we asked Mr. Takamisaki to do it to coincide with the launch of the Advanced Collection. New Stories 2023 is not directly related to the Advanced Collection, but it is a project that started when Mr. Takamisaki told us he wanted to draw a new story. He himself is very attached to Rockman EXE, and we are very grateful that he is willing to draw new developments in the manga as well.

Can you tell us about the development of the original version back then? How did the development of the first "Rockman EXE" originally start?

Originally, we were considering various prototype titles to create a launch title for the Game Boy Advance, and "Rockman EXE" was one of the titles that came out of that. The team that worked on "Tron ni Kobun" for the Rockman DASH series were the first members, and I was on the development team for "Rockman DASH 2", so I joined the team later.

When did you join the team?

When we finished the prototype of the battle system and were about halfway through development. However, since I was sitting next to the EXE team in the office, I knew that the project was in progress from the time it was launched. Then one day, out of the blue, I was transferred to the Rockman EXE team.

Was it that sudden?

At that time, Capcom had a lot of team transfers like that. It was like, "We are short on staff," "We're going to send Eguchi," "Really? Please do." "Then it's settled!" and we would sometimes come to agreements in the elevator.

The game was a cross between an action game and a card game, something that had never been done before with Rockman. Was this concept already in the prototype stage?

That's right. Card games were popular at the time, and games with a collecting element were also booming. It felt like the completed concept of docking an action game with the element of building a deck of cards has suddenly come down to earth, and nothing much has changed from the beginning.

Action games like the classic series and X had a hardcore feel, but were also difficult and tended to be hard for beginners to get into. With EXE, our goal was to create a new Rockman that even those who are not good at action games can use their knowledge and tactics to successfully conquer, just like a card game.

So that's exactly what you were aiming for. When I talk about Rockman with people of my generation, we overwhelmingly tend to talk about "EXE."

I think it was great that we were able to put the previous Rockman series aside for a time and offer it as "our new hero." I'm grateful that many people still have feelings for the games.

Perhaps the fact that the series was based on the PC and the Internet, things that children were longing for at the time, is one of the reasons why it remains in everyone's memories.

We were conscious of this when we made the games. I wanted to portray the use of cell phones, PCs, the Internet, and programmatic terms as something that children would long to use in a mature way, and I wanted them to be able to experience this through the games.

I sometimes talk directly with the fans of that time who come to the events related to "EXE," and many of them have gone on to become system engineers, game developers, or take on other programming-related careers. When I see such people, I am happy to think that the vision and longing for the near future that we had in the making of "EXE" has reached the children, even if only a little.

The near future that was depicted in "EXE" is sometimes talked about because of the technology that has really come to fruition as of the year 2023. The dishwasher in "Rockman EXE 3" that can be controlled from outside the house via the Internet is an IoT appliance.

I'm often asked about this, but I didn't make the games with the intention of "making a prediction." It was really just a conversation among the team members about what we hoped society would be like in the future and how much fun it would be.

As for the NetNavis, I created them by imagining what it would be like if a program had a will of its own. But in the end, I think there is a certain commonality in the aspect that everyone in the world thinks "it would be nice if things were like this." I think that the technology that we were depicting in EXE just happened to overlap with people's desire to make society a better place.

The NetNavis are also what Siri and Alexa are today, isn't it? If you think of it as a further evolved form of those, I feel that the times have caught up with us quite well.

In the world of EXE, there is the concept of "a program being a human partner," and the reality has not yet reached that point. I think it would be interesting if we could have more conversations, such as when you try to upload a bad video and the Navi gets angry with you, or acts as the straight man or funny man in banter.

I'm hoping for an AI that reacts like Rockman with a "sense of humor" built into the Navi customizer.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were many works that depicted the cyber world. Looking at such works, I feel that people look at the Internet and network technology as something mysterious more than now.

Even in EXE, there were spiritual depictions that were almost magical. I wonder if the perception of the cyber world and the Internet was different then than it is now.

Maybe there was a magical impression. The Internet is just a communication network, isn't it? However, I saw it as a cyberspace, or another world formed by connecting terminals to terminals, where it was possible to do things that could not be done in the real world. I thought that if we called it "electro xx" or "cyber xx," most things would be acceptable (laughs).

In EXE 3, the early Internet appears as a boss. Considering that we personified the Internet and made it the boss, I think we had an image of "cyberspace as a mass of dreams." Well, it was a near-future idea that we came up with a long time ago, so there are some aspects that seem old-fashioned when I look at it now.

When I replayed the game again, I thought that if the game were made today, the depiction of buying a ticket at the station when getting on the train might have been omitted.

Nowadays, electronic money for transportation is the mainstream (laughs). The first thing that struck me was the "plug-in" nature of the system. It became wireless along the way, but in the beginning, we had to plug in a wired plug. If we were to make a wireless system today, it would definitely be wireless from the beginning, and in that sense, I feel that the times have changed.

It began with the birth of the Game Boy Advance and ended with its demise

I think the fact that new games were released every year is a big part of the reason why this series is still fresh in children's memories, but I think it must have been quite hard for the development team. What was the most difficult thing about "Rockman EXE" and "Rockman EXE 2," which were released less than a year apart?

Certainly the development was difficult. Today's game development has a prototype period and a full production period, but with the exception of the first "Rockman EXE," it was like we were running as fast as we could on a schedule to complete the games without prototyping.

As you say, "Rockman EXE 2" was tough in terms of schedule, but I have memories of having a lot of fun making it. The hardest part was the second half of "Rockman EXE 4".

The graphics in "Rockman EXE 4" changed a lot, but did that increase the amount of work?

No, that's not it. After the development of the domestic version of EXE was finished, we started developing the English version. We were going to prepare for a sequel at the same time, and that's when we decided to work on the spin-off title "Rockman EXE 4.5 Real Operation" with the development team of "Rockman EXE 4." The English version of "Rockman EXE 4", the launch of "Rockman EXE 5", and "Rockman EXE 4.5 Real Operation" were worked on simultaneously, and at that time I really felt like I was going crazy (laughs).

I can feel how hard it was just by listening to this... while you were involved in the development of the games, you must have had many opportunities to watch players compete against each other at tournaments and other events. There were impressive combos that players found, such as the Prism Combo, and some of them were unexpected by the development team.

The one that left the strongest impression on me was the Prism Combo. It was really shocking because it was the only thing that could kill any Navi in a blink of an eye.

Then there was the so-called "ABD strategy," which utilized the Dark Soul Unison AI in Rockman EXE 4 and Rockman EXE 5 to "randomly use the most frequently used chips." I knew how it worked, and I understood that it was theoretically possible, but I was not sure if I wanted people to go that far (laughs).

You would have to go back and adjust the game again to make the AI learn stronger chips.

The most notable example of this was in "Rockman EXE 5", where a Rockman with 1 HP suddenly appeared at a tournament and activated Dark Soul Unison, or used the ABD strategy with "DarkInvs", which was later banned. I was surprised when I saw it for the first time, and was very impressed by the style of fighting, which was so focused on Dark skills.

While the dark chips were powerful, they had some heavy disadvantages, such as permanently reducing the HP limit by 1 when used. The TV commercials at the time were also quite impressive, asking whether or not to use the dark chip.

Rockman EXE 4 and 5 were interesting because they showed the human nature of the players. In the finals of the tournament, there was a match between a player who did not use any dark chips and a player who used dark chips heavily, and I remember thinking it was very melancholic.

This may be a difficult question, but which title is particularly close to your heart?

I am deeply attached to all of them, but if I had to choose, I would say Rockman EXE 3 and Rockman EXE 6.

I remember Rockman EXE 3 because I wrote the plot with a strong desire to complete the series. The fate of Wily was settled, and Rockman was swallowed by Proto in the final battle, dead or alive. As the staff roll went by and you thought it was going to end like this, you heard Rockman's voice at the very end... it was a pretty neat ending. The reaction and feedback from the fans was positive, and I personally have a lot of fond memories of it. In the end, I ended up doing EXE 4 after that (laughs).

How do you feel about "Rockman EXE 6"?

Rockman EXE 6 was memorable in that the series really came to an end. I vividly remember when I wrote the final text, "Rockman EXE: The End". I was really hesitant to write it, thinking that the series would be over after I wrote it, so I wrote it, erased it, wrote it, and erased it, over and over again.

I remember the ending of "Rockman EXE 6" when the time period jumped and the grown-up Netto and his friends appeared, and the feeling that the story was really over became very strong.

The team discussed and decided whether to end the game in a way that left room for a continuation or to end it completely.

If we had not done that, I think we could have done a little more, but at the time we were in the midst of a full-scale transition from the Game Boy Advance to the Nintendo DS, and elementary school students were about to enter a new school and graduate, so I thought it was time for me to graduate as well.

I guess it was a pretty neat way to end it, considering that it started with the launch of the Game Boy Advance and ended with the transition to the Nintendo DS.

By the way, I have a question about "Rockman EXE 6". Did the idea of having Iris in the game exist from the time of "Rockman EXE 5"? I remember being surprised at how well the relationship between Colonel and Iris was set up in the original "Rockman X4".

When we introduced Colonel in "Rockman EXE 5", we had not yet decided that "Rockman EXE 6" would be the final work, and Iris was not in our plans.

However, as we were finalizing the settings of Colonel, Barrel, and Regal in "Rockman EXE 5", I had the idea to make "Rockman EXE 6" a story in which the score with Wily would once again be settled.

And when it came time to talk about the backbone of why Wily forgot his kindness and became such a character in "Rockman EXE 6", I remembered the setting of "Rockman X4" with Colonel and Iris, two conflicting programs of "destruction" and "peace" that were originally within a single reploid, and wondered if this could be incorporated.

As a result, it fit very well. I felt that when I played the game.

I remember unintentionally talking to a senior who was near me when I came up with the idea of this trait and told him that people are gonna be hooked on Iris. I am personally satisfied because I was able to make use of the original traits in a very beautiful way.

By the way, you have been the face of the EXE series as "Meijin", appearing in Corocoro Comic Magazine and at events, among other places. How did you get selected?

It was quite sudden. In April 2001, my boss asked me if anyone could attend an event during the Golden Week holidays.

Then, my boss would ask the team members seated there one by one, and the seniors would decline. When the second senior declined, I glanced over at him and saw my boss and two seniors looking at me as if I was going to go.

It was silent pressure (laughs).

I was also a young member of the team, and I thought it would be a good experience, so I decided to appear at the Golden Week event.

At first I appeared at events and in the CoroCoro Comic Magazine under the name Dr. Eguchi, but it was decided that children would not admire a doctor who was only a knowledgeable person like that; he had to be strong, and from there I appeared as Meijin Eguchi.

At first, the costume was not the special white coat you are wearing now, right?

At first I wore one borrowed from the hospital. It was a diligent professional-use one with elastic cuffs, and I had to return it every time I finished an event or a photo shoot. It wasn't until around the time of "Rockman EXE 3" that I finally received a commercially available lab coat, and it wasn't until the end of the series that I had a special one made.

The one I'm wearing now is the special lab coat that made back then, and when the "Advanced Collection" was released, I had the damaged parts repaired and wear it with care.


You also appeared in the game as a character named Meijin. Did you order the design and such?

Basically, the designers reflected what I looked like at the time. For example, for Rockman EXE 2, I think I was wearing camouflage military trousers and flashy sneakers, which was my fashion when Rockman EXE 2 was developed. I remember that at the time of Rockman EXE 6, I was consulted about the design of the shoes, and I told them that the design should be similar to the sneakers I wanted at the time.

I was so annoyed that they would draw a fat Meijin design every time, saying it was because I've gained weight (laughs).

It must be tough to write plots for your fat self (laughs). You have been active both inside and outside the game, but does the title "EXE" still have a special place in your heart?

Of course. As Meijin, the opportunity to meet and directly interact with fans and receive feedback on my games was really valuable, and I naturally began to think about game development with their faces in my mind. It was with EXE that I learned the basics of what it means to be a game developer.

I see.

Even now, people call me "Meijin", and they readily accept me wherever I go. I still feel a connection with everyone, and I am really glad that I have been Meijin for more than 20 years.

As a fan, I'm glad to hear that EXE is still at your core as a game developer. Now that the time is almost up, could you give a message to the readers who are looking forward to the "Advanced Collection"?

Thank you for your patience. I am very happy to finally be able to deliver the Advanced Collection to you.

I hope you will enjoy the memories of those days and the various elements that were not possible back then, and to experience the new and expanding Battle Network world from here on. 

27 comments:

  1. We can't all be connected if there's no cross play

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  2. "they were told in magazines that they could get great chips and modified cards with amazing effects, except they couldn't."

    My experience with this in a nutshell. That's also why I absolutely hated event pokemons as a kid.

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  3. Such a good interview and giving us a back ground on the game dev end and internal thought process

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  4. My fellow Megaman fans. My hype has blinded my thinking and I need your help. Should I take this phrase: "I hope you will experience the new world of Battle Network that will unfold in the future." to mean anything at all? My head-cannon now is that this is a mistranslation or my reading comprehension skills are much worse than I thought. It's the only thing stopping a full grown man from shrieking like a child.

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    1. It isn't just you; it's poor phrasing that overemphasizes the implication of new releases. Consulting with one of my translators, HF, it should read as:
      "We hope you can enjoy past memories including what wasn't possible at the time, and to experience the new and expanding Battle Network world from here on."
      "New and expanding" could mean anything. HF also notes that it's a common Japanese phrase, so it doesn't imply much at all.

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    2. My advice is don't hype or expect too much without sufficient evidence. There is no good reason or evidence the past 5 years that indicates I should expect much with MM anytime soon if ever. Same reason why I did not hype or take the Taisen rumor seriously for a 2022 release, and looks like I was right not to, but Protodude keep insisting. Usually a new game has screens shots a year prior with MM games. Logic, reason and evidence must come first before emotion. That doesn't just go for games, but things that sound too good to be true in general or just things in life in general that are somewhat extraordinary claims and hopes, especially if the pattern is they fail to deliver or don't have a track record of being reliable, like if one posts a headline hyping that they found a cure, or by 2030, aging will be cured (just because Ray Kurzweil says so is not good enough) for example. I would advise going by independent verification (an important thing in the scientific method) in many cases since one source doesn't qualify as sufficient evidence. If it is a small thing that does not affect us is is ordinary and very believable, granting trust may be ok, like if you told me you have a brown cat, since whether it is true or not has no effect on us.

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    3. Much appreciate the responses and the advice! I knew I could trust the Megaman community to help! :)

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  5. Amazing I love the game best game I've been a fan since day 1 and i absolutely love Megaman battle network one of my childhood that im glad it's back at it again!!

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  6. Kids out here trying to over hype it because of chip trade. 🤣 Who brags about shortening and weakening the experience? 😅 Don’t got the time? Understandable. But time would allow you to finish it anyway. 😅 I’m enjoying my GBA cart with from eBay with all cut content fully translated. I still prefer it over the legacy collection because online pvp is looking rather cheesy as predicted. 😜 This probably won’t be a “published” comment because I’m not “automatically in favor” of the collection. 🤷‍♂️

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    1. People post unfavorable opinions all the time.
      Haven't you seen the longs arguments on other news?
      And don't take it as a attack, but it's hard to take your comment seriously with that tone.
      And none of your arguments really makes sense. If you want to finish it over time, then you can STILL do it. The anti grind is a optional feature. It doesn't weaken the experience, it add a supplementary option. The things that where there are still here.
      Likewise, even assuming that the online is cheesy, it's not like the GBA would have a non cheesy online alternative, or a active playerbase. And the collection also have a local pvp.
      You don't have to like it or even care about it, if the content don't interest you. But you can't act as if having additional stuff is worse.

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    2. " Don’t got the time? Understandable. But time would allow you to finish it anyway. "
      That would imply that the issue with time is wanting to finish the game *earlier*, which is not the point.
      It's how you spend what gaming time you do have.
      Rpgs features elements like random encounters and grinding to, sometime artificially, extend the game lifespan, which is (generally) fine as a ten years old with a whole afternoon of free time.
      When you have two infants children, a job with a tight schedule and other responsibilities, you'd rather spend you gaming time not fighting 30 of the same enemy before getting where you're actually trying to go.

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    3. I don’t see additional stuff personally. 😐 Art gallery is a Google image search away even if the collection didn’t have it. 😅 And the translated GBA cart technically has more content because it has all the content the Legacy collection has and the cut content from the East including Battle Network 4.5 including the fact that All battle gate accessories and chips work fully. 🤷‍♂️ BN can be balanced in PvP but that depends on if you are both good mannered players or if you prefer cheese decks that are even demonstrated online as we speak especially BN1 wait behind block with poison totem draining almost 5 hp per second etc. 😅 If balance is completely up to individual player discretion than it’s not balance it’s I won’t nuke you if you don’t nuke me and in today’s world “win” means everything. 😬 Trades? Yeah it just shortens the grind and lessens the struggle aka not getting the full experience. 🤷‍♂️ Fact is the GBA cart made by fans is better because we get 100% content and access. Battle gates pvp trade etc its all ours. Not with the capcom collection though. I got buds I play locally with so I don’t have to be locked down by online privileges like the majority so I definitely don’t blame people being in favor of the collection. However it is a lesser package that’s 100% fact no one can argue that or protect the product from that fault. 😄✌️ Less is less just because you can’t partake doesn’t mean the only option open to you is better. I don’t want capcom to take advantage of me when there is a better option is all I’m saying so like what you want I just won’t be part of it. 😃👍 As you can see I’m not complaining about more content but lack there of lol! 😂

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  7. Doesn’t matter how you spend your time in this game what are you after a different flavor? Anytime you put into the game you are going to experience the same content regardless unless you shortcut it so time spent is time spent and no matter how you spend it you will experience the same content unless you cut it in half.. wouldn’t you want it to last longer anyways? More bang for your buck? Now that makes sense. I got 4 kids and I do just fine juggling a job and wife of 11 years my problems aren’t the rest of y’all’s sorry to say respect but less is less and I won’t call a dollar a 100$ Bill. I won’t say the collection is better when I hold better options it sucks most of you can’t have it but capcom decided that for you not me or the fans that made the alternative option. Less will always be less and being in favor of “less” is what put game devs efforts into the dirt to start with they don’t have to struggle even a 10th as hard as the devs back in the day and they have 10x the tools less is less and there is no good excuse I won’t see capcoms product to be greater than what it is. You are all welcome to over hype praise and hope for the better but you lot have been taken advantage of for 2 decades that’s not for me though. I’d rather MegaMans IP die than support mediocrity and multiple releases of collections crutched to the shelf by an App game like X Dive. 🤷‍♂️ I don’t really care what anyone has to say in the matter I’ve won my debate less is less and I’m not in favor if you are cheers it’s not the first time and it won’t be the last just remember you will have your day in the sun when you’ve seen it 1000 times you won’t have a choice unless you Quit gaming. 😂✌️ And yes I’ve seen the arguments I just know MULTIPLE comments of mine haven’t been published because I stab at the knees of the situation I’m not automatically in favor so I don’t bring in more views or encourage the fans so I’m not surprised you don’t know as you are “in favor” 🤷‍♂️

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    1. I read all of that and still have no idea what you were trying to say

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    2. Are you using ChatGPT to write your comments for you? Actually I take that back, even something like that would understand the concept of paragraphs.

      IIRC from the old days, Protodude has a bot handling comment approvals to block spambots and rule-breaking material you wouldn't find in any decent place. It automatically approves comments after some time if the comment in question lacks any of that, with everything flagged for possible spam/rule-breaking material being held back for Protodude to handle personally.

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    3. Your comments aren't getting published likely because they are a wall of run-on sentences and emojis that sound like the ramblings of a 14yr old, not someone who is married with kids.

      There has always been a contingent of fans who trash the collections and call for people not to buy them, but every single release has been a success, spawning both MM11 and more collections, and now we have one which became the fastest-selling MM game and will likely become the best-selling one as well. The numbers are in, and they prove nobody really cares what these so-called fans have to say.

      If you enjoy playing your Chinese bootleg cart from eBay that you can't stop talking about, have at it. But saying you rather see the franchise die is a really immature take. Speaking from one middle-aged married guy to another, grow up.

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    4. The bot filters out spam comments that fall into certain criteria. If your *non spam* comment unintentionally READS like spam - consecutive run-on sentences, little to no punctuation, etc. - it'll nab it. Those comments I don't get to see unless I go looking for 'em. It's the first line of defense.

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    5. Anon 11:37 I take care of 4 kids and have been married 11 years I guess I know Quality eh? 🤣👍 Sorry I don’t buy into everything capcom releases but Im not into cheap content what can I say is old school games brought more experience and made me think more that’s fact especially compared to today’s gaming.🥴 You flip flapping wish the princess was in another castle my dude she is 50 feet away with today’s gaming hahaha! 🤑 Zelda BotW “cough” Seriously though it ain’t what it use to be and if you intend to release a collection you may as well release the full content but nay capcom fans are content with “less” who am I to take that away from them? 🤫😬🤗😂 “emoji” 😛

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    6. I agree that lately, Capcom just doing Dive and collections is kind of lazy, and they broke their promise to release an X9 if MM11 did well. Oddly enough, MM11 did well more than any other classic game and there is no MM12 in sight. Seems Capcom is not making business sense since otherwise sequels would have followed by now. So this common rule of buying the games more and selling well seems to not do a damn bit of good the last 5 years. Gacha (gotcha is more like it), making stuff for portables vs for the big screen with higher resolution (been an increasing problem since the 2000s decade and I'm happy Legends 3 failed to be released on a puny 3DS since I would just emulate it then and settle for lower res BS), and Dive just being like a bunch of silly minigames where yo just score points, lame explosion effects as is common in mobile phone games and PSP had bad effects too (compare the subpar effects of MHX to X8 and X7 having nice effects), bundled with no legit story and rehashing random old MM and non-MM characters also seems lazy (LOL Doppler and Iris and far more have been dead since the 90s, yet here in Dive like nothing happened), just as Capcom never fixed the lag issues on the 1st half of the Steam X collection.

      I did go into the config file and tinker with it in notepad after doing research and seemed to have fixed it though at the time I played it in 2020 on steam, but I shouldn't have had to. I paid money for that collection and it isn't a fan made mod or emulator that should need me to tinker with it if they did their job properly. The sprites don't seem to look as good as they did on the original systems they came out on though, even with borders to make the aspect ratio more accurate, and bilinear filtering makes the split look worse even though not pixelated, same for the Zero collection. Settling for pixelation seems better in this case, though they were made for a CRT display; not LCD, but I'm not gonna put it in ugly grid mode. I do recall the PSX sprites looking better back in the day than in this collection though and more smooth.

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    7. @Gary Daniel: I think they just literally don't have the staff that's actually interested in making further games. Releasing games at the rate we saw in the oversaturation era is a GREAT way to burn out the developers.

      MM11 sold a lot, but looking outside of that, games like Monster Hunter Stories 2 sold very well too, but the Capcom leaks from a few years back indicated that it was supposed to receive one or two expansions that have clearly been scrapped at this point. And that happened to a game from Capcom's biggest cash cow franchise. That was probably the only part of the leaks that haven't come true (aside from something related to Power Stone targeting this year or next year from what I remember, that might just not have been announced yet).

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    8. At least we can tell when this anonymous OP replies by his... unique style of writing.

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    9. LOL, that is true. I look at the writing style and I am giggling out loud + you have a nice response and good point. Unique indeed. I didn't even know you could make emoticons on this board.

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    10. @Anonymous May 5, 2023 at 11:37 AM
      You think wanting a franchise to die is immature? Why? It's only an opinion and you're allegedly a middle aged guy that can't accept a basic opinion like that? You failed at maturity then. Grow up!

      Also, what's your evidence that every single release spawned more collections? The only one that was confirmed to have spawned a new game from a previous release was 11 with Legacy Collection 1. Confirmed with the hints in Legacy Collection 2 as well as some articles at the time. Also also, no not every single release has been a success just check the numbers of the Zero/Zx Legacy Collection. Specially the Xbox numbers.

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  8. The fact that I got an aggressive insult over counter points means I obviously mentioned true facts and it means I struck an nerve. 🤷‍♂️ I don’t mind what you like but “I don’t understand + insult” made me stop there anyone can see what I’m talking about. I don’t need to argue over it more is more your social circle limits what’s available in this as far as available content goes that does not limit me. 🤷‍♂️ I don’t care to read insults over facts you can try again but I doubt it will be about BN like the start of your reply. 🙂👍 Again insult over facts doesn’t mean anything just like what you like or address the lack of content etc. 😈 I don’t care about anything else. If paragraphs made you smarter you would see a lesser deal is a lesser deal wouldn’t you? 🤓 Trading 5$ for 50$ works in favor of the receiver not the other “wisdom”/“fact” 😃 Please believe and buy whatever you like and enjoy it. Just dont expect those of us swimming in this mediocrity longer to listen to dreams over reality. 😂✌️Drown when it’s your time I guess paragraph that? 🤣

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  9. User and Bot are essentially the same my dear Proto anything you decide is welcomed by the bot you could set the bot to specifics but I’ve been deleted over nothing. Don’t know if it was you or the bot but hey that’s life. 🤷‍♂️ Don’t care if you are guilty or not to be honest the fact is I’ve been deleted multiple times. 🙂 Don’t care about Blake just fact.

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  10. Blame* for the hyper sensitive folk. 😅

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    1. Anon the way you write those comments with all the sarcasm and defiance, it sounds like you are angry and hurting. I may be way off because it's hard to grasp the tone of internet posts, but if it is indeed the case I wholeheartedly encourage to reach out, whether to a friend or a loved one, or even a professional therapist if need be. You don't have to shoulder whatever is troubling you alone, and while frantic posts on the internet may provide temporary relief, the ongoing positive changes a dive into the wounded part of yourself and toward healing are worth the original effort and discomfort they may cause. I'm not writing this out of derision, and like I said I may be wrong about what you are going through, but if there is a grain of truth in what I am sensing from your posts, here's an invitation to open up to healthier, alternative ways of dealing with the hardships life might have thrown at you.

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