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Mega Man creator Akira Kitamura has launched his official Patreon, "Kitamura's Blueprints", where he’ll be sharing new articles twice a month in both English and Japanese. These entries will delve into the complete story behind the creation of Mega Man, as well as his personal philosophy on game design.
The first post—available for free—is part of the “Creating Mega Man” essay series. In Chapter 1, Kitamura reveals how a chance encounter with a certain individual helped shape the foundation of Mega Man 1's gameplay. Each post will feature brand-new artwork illustrated by Kitamura himself, starting with a fitting inaugural piece of Mega Man shaking hands with Astro Boy. Another free entry, part of his game theory essays, explores the tension between creative ambition and industry realities, how original ideas arise through experience and persistence—an issue that remains highly relevant in today’s industry.
Both essay series are definitely worth checking out. If you can, consider supporting the project—Kitamura’s been working hard behind the scenes to bring this to life for fans and anyone curious about game design.
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ReplyDeleteHe didn't talk about that. The artwork is a reference to how in awe he was when he saw the Capcom vs. Osamu Tezuka Characters with Mega Man and Astro Boy in the middle shaking hands.
Deletederp on my part
DeleteStuff like this is always fun to read about. I am curious if he'll delve into if he owns megaman, if Capcom owns megaman, or if it's joint owned like strider. Also curious how he went from the classic stuff to the x stuff and so on if he had a hand in it.
ReplyDeleteI doubt he owns the character, since he’s never mentioned in credits past Mega Man 3. I imagine if he did, it’d be like in Marvel movies where it says “Spider-Man created by Stan Lee” and what have you. And he had nothing to do with any games past 3.
DeleteCapcom owns Mega Man. He is not even the sole creator of Mega Man. He is responsible for the ruff idea of it, boy robot etc...
DeleteStrider was in collaboration with publisher Moto Kikaku. Akira Kitamura was an employee under Capcom. There is nothing to dive into.
DeleteIf he was, Cocoron would have been an apocryphal Mega Man 3 instead of, well, Cocoron. It's 100% owned by Capcom.
DeleteGame directors in the corporate world (i.e. companies like Capcom) almost never own the IP that they create. If he did, then none of the past nearly 40 years of games past Mega Man 1 and maybe 2 would have happened due to his departure from Capcom.
DeleteTo be fair, I know Japanese media sometimes keeps original creators and other staff very close. Like how Jinraiger was cancelled just because the creator died, same with the manga Seraphim: 266613336 Wings (really bad title). And with voice actors often keeping a role until their death. Granted, that’s anime/manga, not games. And Rockman *has* had big cast shakeups even. I guess that’s just the difference between lower level creative works and corporate level properties. Mega Man will probably become a zombie series like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Dragon Ball, outliving its creators.
DeleteYour not wrong about Dragon Ball being a Zombie series. The new work does little more than revisit characters and stories told 30 years ago.
DeleteWe have revisited Bardock, Brolly, Freeza, Cell, the Androids, Red Ribbon Army, Tournaments, Pilaf, Future Trunks, Kid Goku.... Bleh.
It's just nostalgia bait. Dragonball jumped the shark decades ago. I don't know what you call this now. Jumping the Megalodon or something.
I enjoyed Yu-Gi-Oh... Up until they introduced the card game. Then I stopped reading it.
Hey that’s neat. Love BTS stuff like this.
ReplyDeleteEyyy that's pretty cool
ReplyDelete