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Game Informer has published a new interview with Mega Man producer Shingo Izumi and Dual Override producer Hiroyuki Minamitani, and tucked away near the end is a small but encouraging comment about the future of the Mega Man X series
When asked whether he would be open to revisiting the series, Shingo Izumi said, "From my perspective, yes, that is something we would definitely love to visit."
"Mega Man X is an important series within the Mega Man brand," he continued. "We definitely value that series, and if there is a chance, we would always love to consider that."
It's not confirmation that a new Mega Man X title is in development, of course. But with Mega Man X8 still standing as the last new mainline entry more than 20 years later, it's certainly nice to hear the current series producer say the series is still valued and something Capcom would like to revisit.
You can read Game Informer's full interview here.
Maybe for the 40th anniversary of X1 (2033)
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a lot more difficult now since you broke the president of numbering main entries and subtitling spin-offs/sequel series so now people are not going to even know what belongs to what unless you expressly tell them. Because if you had a problem with Mega Man 12 alienating people feeling the need to play a backlog then surely you have the same sentiment for a Mega Man X9 unless the arbitrary cutoff point is 12...
ReplyDeleteI find it funny that they're concerned about alienating new people when they have Legacy Collections for 4 of their Mega Man franchises. Complete with casual features so anyone can finish them and catch up. This is an absolute sales misstep for the collections. I've always felt the changes brought to Mega Man X5 were to get "new " players interested and it didn't turn out that great.
DeleteThe long time gap does not help, so let's hope the team plays and studies the X series and X8 before doing so. I welcome more X, ZX, and Legends though, even though wishing for a thing does not make it so. More action, less hoping, please.
ReplyDeleteThey need to finish the X saga and at least connect it with the zero series.
ReplyDeletePlease no. Capcom refuses to tie Classic and X together, so I doubt they'll do the same for Zero series.
DeleteI'm good with them finishing the X saga, but I'd rather they don't tie it directly into the Zero series. Would feel hacky. Just suggest at it, like Zero 4's ending setting the stage for ZX without saying "and next Model W and Legion and Albert and-!"
DeleteZero series happens in an alternate timeline this was confirmed by X Dive team, in X8 copy chips were used to counter the sigma virus, but in Zero series mother elf was used to do it, so there's no connection, X9 must bring back Lumine and Awakened Zero these two villains should setup a dark mature interesting storyline.
DeleteActually Classic, X, Zero, ZX, and Legends now take place all in the same timeline. In the days of X5, I think it was a branch though where the bad ending goes into Legends and the good goes into Zero. Bad ending even has the stage select map showing the continents fractured from global impact pieces and talk of X wanting to create Elysium, was made near the time of Legends 2, and the map of Legends 2 even has crater impacts (so the global flooding and landmass destruction was originally because of pieces of Eurasia fracturing continents, even though in real life, it would not be close to enough to do that damage). The Elf Wars after the Maverick Wars then the Zero series is all canon. Originally in the time of X5, Megaman Zero was gonna be one game and not a series. I'm happy they kept X going and turned Zero into a series vs a one game spin off dead end.
DeleteAlso they won't tie X directly in. Too much of a time gap for that. Same way Zero and ZX was not tied directly. I don't even think X will have a game in the Elf Wars, and I find it silly people think an X9 would be Elf Wars while ignoring the unresolved new gen reploids stuff and time gap. Sillier still is people thinking Master Thomas in a hypothetical ZX3 would cause flooding while ignoring the massive time gap and that the ruins in Legends look nothing like the structures in ZX, and ruins being underwater means may where built before sea level rising, so ZX takes place long before a master system let alone an elder system. If the old X5 bad ending obviously leading into Legends was still canon, no doubt what are called ruins that are underwater would be built on the fractured continents long ago with some of those tiny island fragments sinking into the sea later on.
DeleteAlso Dive isn't canon. Copy chips don't stop the virus from existing. The virus could exist in small pockets all over the world the whole time. Sigma's mind seems dead at the end of X8 from stretching his viral self too thin into the new gen reploids, but the virus and his DNA persists up to the Elf wars no matter. X8 does nothing to prevent that. The virus lives on in the new gen reploids as well. Also Zero is a carrier the whole time, which is also why Wily living on through the virus frequently appears in his dreams. Zero was unknowingly spreading the virus on his adventures. He learns of that and has himself (body sealed) studied before Elf Wars. Also the virus is why Lumine looks possessed when he allows it to over ride his systems. Either they really are not immune or they can choose to let the virus take over them (go maverick at will). The purple tentacle is also a highly concentrated part of the virus (solid form).
DeleteSigma probably put most of his viral self in Lumine. Maybe now Lumine is embedded into the virus like Sigma was and could resurrect like Sigma does for now. Command mission isn't canon, but if it was, it takes place after X8, and one of the characters in it says she hopes one day, she can find a cure to the Sigma virus. If anything is an alt timeline, it would be Command Mission. Dive has no relation to the actual canon story and is more of an arena.
Series are never going to get "connected". Don't treat the lore more seriously than the actual company that makes it does.
Delete@Nature is beautiful Gary is right, X DiVE itself isn't canon. It's a non-canon spinoff side story about a guy who gets pulled into his computer while playing Mega Man X and ends up in the "Deep Log", presumably just containing data from various games on his PC such as all the Mega Man games, Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, and Monster Hunter. Guess the guy was a big Capcom fan. All the series information in the game is sourced from Capcom Taiwan, who as far as I know only made the one game (technically two if you consider Offline as a separate version) and made some mistakes. The original source of the "split timeline" misunderstanding comes from the particular history of the Zero series development. Originally Zero 1 was intended to be a sequel to X6 with no other games happening in-between, and you can still see it in Zero 1's writing. A new team was put in charge of development of X7 and since they didn't have any notes from the original team, they included Zero in the game as though he hadn't just been sealed away in X6. This causes some people to mistakenly think there's two timelines, one that branches out into Zero and one that branches out into X7. However, Inti-Creates didn't choose to split the timelines, instead they retconned the Zero series to account for X7 and future games starting with Zero 2, doubling down into it in Zero 3 in such a way that makes Zero 1 being a sequel to X6 impossible. This culminates eventually into Model A in ZXA, which in-lore was based on Axl's design and includes a gem cover specifically because of Lumine's attack on Axl in X8's ending. The interview in which the devs confirmed this uses wording that specifically confirms they wanted to be careful not to include anything in their games that contradicts future X series games, which proves that they think of it as one coherent timeline and not branching paths.
Delete@MatureMMFan Capcom does at least somewhat take connecting the series together seriously. There's the cutscene in The Power Battle or The Power Fighters (I forget which one) that shows that Wily is already working on creating Zero, there's the entire lore around X taking place in the future of Rock's time with X himself being a direct technological advancement over everything from the Classic series, there's the Mega Man blueprint that shows up in Zero 4's opening and some quotes that explain what happened in the X series time to lead up to the Zero series, which is how we know what we do about the Elf Wars and such. There's the lore the devs confirmed about Model A's gem cover in ZXA existing in-lore because of Lumine's attack on Axl at the end of X8, and if you pay attention to the character designs across all the series you can even see a gradual transition into the way the characters look in the Legends series. It's particularly noteworthy when looking at the fashion of Aile and Tron Bonne. It's true that the interconnectivity isn't as deep as something like the MCU, but Capcom does have a history of deliberately weaving them together. There's even a small scale crossover with Battle Network in Zero 3, at least in the original GBA version, in which Battle Network enemies can show up while in Cyberspace. Presumably this is also how Zero's Z-Saber became a Battle Chip in the Battle Network games.
@Gary Zero series is NOT the good ending. It's the bad one. Command Mission is the good one.
DeleteNah, Zero is the good ending of X5 since he carries Zero's saber in his hand and fights mavericks for a century alone and has Zero's saber in the Zero game (that was also back when Zero was in the early stages where X was to become the big bad after being hardened from fighting alone for a century, but also may have had Zero's saber for all we know), but maybe X6's Zero's ending was then gonna lead into the refined copy X version of the Zero game we actually got and the Zero saber was the result of getting it after the Elf Wars (retconned). Command Mission is not even canon or part of the argument since that is much further in the future than X5 and was made years later. I was talking about way back when X5 was the latest game in 2001 and the bad ending obviously goes into Legends, if you actually played and paid attention to it and looked at the stage select screen of fractured continents and discussion of Elysium (funny Legends 2 came out around the same time) and the good ending was X remembering Zero (like he does in MMZ).
DeleteEven back in early 2001 when I played X5 when I was only 18, I saw the Legends connection of the X5 bad ending because Legends 2 came out around that time and I played it first months before (Nov 2000) and noticed Elysium was in there too. I'm pretty sure heaven is not Neo Arcadia here since that was not even a thing back then in 2000 but Elysium was. It's so obvious. That was long before a CM let alone an X7 was conceived of, so that has nothing to do with what I was talking about.
X5 was originally gonna be a timeline branch but that was retconned when they continued the X series without removing Zero from the fight. But they could have still made games between X5 and Zero of X fighting for 100 years alone without Zero and went into the Zero series that way, but chose not to for some reason and muddied and retconned the timeline instead.
Maybe go back up and read what I said. I explained why the X5 bad ending Legends, X5 good ending originally was Zero. Clearly you only read part of what I said based on your answer. I even brought up CM above. It isn't canon, and CM is not an ending (watch the ending of CM on youtube as it has no connection to a timeline branch). CM is just a normal ending after killing the copy reploid Redips (no longer considered new generation at that point since it takes place a while after X8 with another orbital elevator).
In fact, if X5 was really when Zero died and they kept it that way until Zero 1 no retcon, it would make sense on why Zero looks mostly broken in the lab in Z1 and incomplete until a cyber elf restored him. The original intention may have been that humanity found and collected his remaining torso and still intact head later after X5, put him in a lab, but could only partially assemble him because he could not be seen or analyzed with their tech. Much of his body was obliterated in X5, Sigma and Wily deleted from the virus after combining their rage using Final Sigma W but was destroyed (so no Wily to resurrect Zero then). That as opposed to X6 Isoc/Wily restoring him (retcon).
DeletePerhaps the original intention was Sigma and Wily who live on through the virus would die in X5 (viral self spread too thin, Sigma dying for good (his words were very final saying I won't die alone) when the Final Sigma W body exploded the first time, then Wily's viral self possessing the same body dying when the skull remnants called ?? (not Sigma) was then shot by Zero after the possessed skull killed X saying 'drop dead'), so what remained of the virus became mindless for that century of X fighting after that battle and it resurfacing after 5 years of peace (took that long to regenerate since it was mostly gone and infected a mechanoloid in the good ending after 5 years of peace), X later deleting the virus eventually through unknown means within that century leading up to Zero 1 before that was retconned to Elf Wars, Zero's body sitting in a lab broken for nearly a century until Zero 1 since nothing but a torso and head could be collected from the X5 final battle.
@TimeGear
DeleteNot quite. As you might know from the interview relating to Power Fighters, it's meant to take place in a parallel world, which allowed them to do things with characters and the setting that they normally wouldn't, so it's unlikely the specific scene was meant to have much meaning. There's definitely consideration between developers towards other teams and various entries, but it doesn't necessarily mean a connection.
I am also not sure if Zero 1 was meant to be a sequel to X6. The concept of Zero being sealed seems to originate from an internal, unrelated Zero project at Capcom that existed around X5, X6 then also definitely had the concept in its ending, yet Zero 1 also seemed to have it in its intro, and I believe the intro was one of the earlier things they chose to reveal about the game (or at least, its Japanese site has it). Zero 3 has Rekkoha from X6 for Omega though, doesn't it?
But then Zero 4's depiction of Eurasia crash doesn't match X5 nor X6 (neither game had the colony itself crash outside of X5's bad ending). X6's interpretation is that the debris and Sigma's antics led to severe damage to the Earth, which also matches what X5 briefly states in the Enigma success cutscene, but X5's good ending timeskip scene implies it was all repaired in 3 years. This doesn't match with X6, which seems to retcon just that scene specifically and otherwise follows good end story, nor Zero 4, which implies the area was devastated for years, so they did consider X6. However - Zero Collection's Japanese website had a summary of X series events, and among that, X5-X6's event descriptions don't match the actual stories, and don't even mention Gate in regards to the Nightmare, so it's hard to say what Inti had in mind in terms of connections to the X series.
X7 is another odd case, as it seems to reference Zero series (the concept of X becoming too detached and losing himself), but it also implies Zero being targeted by X in Zero's ending, and Zero being sealed was implied by Snipe Anteator. Yet, X7 also seems to have its own idea of Axl's past, with Red knowing something he doesn't let on, and Axl having some relation to X - all stemming from Ogon no Hibi, the prologue story, along with Zero's ending having Alia report to Zero about locating a Maverick called Grogz. Said details of Axl's past are ignored and seemingly retconned by X8, and so is this Grogz, as instead, Alia wants the Hunters to gather samples from Crabs-Y in X8. Then there's X8's oddities of mentioning Sigma making a virus using Zero - something that doesn't line up with X5's Sigma, but instead with X6's Gate, yet also mentions the plan to awaken Zero failing, if I remember correctly, which relates to X5 instead. And also rumors on the Japanese side of Vile in X8 being Dynamo, but that might genuinely be made up as I am yet to find a source for it beyond an edit on Japanese Wikipedia and random Japanese pages mentioning it.
Rockman Perfect Memories acknowledges X6's Zero ending, and how many interpreted it as leading into Zero 1 - yet also mentions that in X7, Zero is mysteriously awake, and tells to wait for the game's release to find out the reasons. Whether Perfect Memories is to even be trusted is unknown, considering we don't know for sure who wrote it, but this all implies that something odd went up with X7 and X8 that caused them to be at odds with X5-X6, Inti and each other. I'd like to know your sources on the subject, as this is an interesting topic.
@Gary. Nope. The X5 ending for X can't lead into Zero series cuz Zero is dead. There's nothing good about what happens in the Zero series. It's the bad ending.
DeleteYou do know that X5 was supposed to be the final X game because Inafune wanted to make Zero, right? Inafune did not like X, and Zero was his favorite character. He wanted Zero to be the main character. So he worked on Zero and told the team to end X at X5. They were never supposed to be an X6 but they made it behind Inafune's back, so then we got a mess of retcons after X5 as a result. Zero was revived in Z1 by a cyber elf and you can see his remnants right there. May as well say Zero is dead so he can't come back in X6 or come back in X2, or come back in ZX. So if X5 is the last X game, that leaves Z1 and Legends being the two choices at that time until the retcon. It's an obvious fork, especially when we consider that X5 was the end of the series originally. Many others here also know X5 was intended to be the final X game because Inafune wanted to make Zero. I will say it again: X6 was never supposed to happen.
DeleteIf they do make another X game, I hope Vile returns as a secondary antagonist, and I hope Sigma doesn't even show up. He took a backseat somewhat in X8 with Lumine getting the spotlight, but I'd like to get a game with another original villain and no involvement from Sigma at all. I don't mind if Sigma shows up again in the future, but I'd like at least one game without him in it.
ReplyDeleteThere's a chance that they would also use the opportunity to canonize RiCO and iCO, if they do then I hope they at least change their names to fit in better. RiCO's design fits in with everyone else well enough but iCO might need to be reworked a bit to fit in better. On that note, I honestly hope the DiVE Armor never gets canonized. Not only is that armor line way too busy looking and overpowered, but it's also attached to the digital nature of the deep log. It should stay exclusive to X DiVE.
I would like to see X getting some new armors though. In particular, I really like the idea of X getting a new armor that slims down his boots a fair bit. His base armor should absolutely keep the absurdly huge boots, that look is iconic. However, at least one of the new unlockable armor sets should slim things down a bit in that regard, go for something more reminiscent of Zero/ZX or even Battle Network/Starforce.
I'd also like to get a scene where we can finally see X's helmet off and his hair out. What's X's hair color? What's his hair style? Does it look like Vent's hair from the first ZX? Does it look like Rock's hair? Is he blonde like Zero? Or maybe even a redhead? It's a small thing really, but it's one of those points of curiosity that would be satisfying to finally have a definitive canonical answer to. It's weird how old the X series is and we've still never seen the main character's full face.
Rico? Maybe? Ico? No. Her design is a farcry from the traditional reploids in the X series. The only time where human-looking reploids are acceptable is Zero and ZX.
Delete@Nico I did mention they'd need to tweak the design.
DeleteHonestly, they should just go for a reboot and continue with the MHX series, remaking X2 - X7.
ReplyDeleteThere’s a 0% chance we get a new X game that starts with Zero dead. We’re more likely to get an X1 remake that either doesn’t kill Zero or explicitly teases his return/survival (the Sonic Movie 3 approach).
Deleteyeah, considering how bad most of the X series is. though I think they should remake MHX since it was a Playstation handheld exclusive and played kinda jank anyway.
DeleteI would totally get behind that. Honestly, I feel like if they're going to make an X game that's actually successful, it would have to be either remakes or something similar to Dual Override: Drop the numerical value and create a "classic" X game with the usual characters, easy-to-digest storyline, and updated graphics.
DeleteTrying to do all these lore deep-cuts that the hardcore fans want might make us happy, but will probably result in a weaker-selling title.
@Jack Not killing him would be dumb as that was a pivotal moment for X. Also, I personally wouldn't care if MHX2 were a thing with Zero being dead. Maybe the glazers in the fandom would be salty, but I would be happy cuz X gets to be in the spotlight of his own series.
DeleteI think they'd make an X1 remake rather than X9 now, because MHX is now like 14 years old and they need to lure newcomers to the X series.
ReplyDeleteI hate to be the bearer of bad news but MHX is almost 21 years old. Yeah, time flies.
DeleteI had a dream about this today unironically. Basically it was an X9 teaser with just white axl looking to the camera with his back turned and his eye glowing slightly.
ReplyDeleteThey gotta at least address what happened to Axl and why Lumine had tentacles. What a mysterious sequel hook that never went anywhere
ReplyDeleteThis is very exciting news I would love to see Mega Man X9 in 16 bit like the first 3 Mega Man X and make it a real hard challenge
ReplyDeleteHonestly I think they should go down the route Command Mission was gonna with the Classic Megaman characters being in the X series, and from there they should make the X series a Metroidvania. The X series was already about exploring, so why not go full 'Megaman Xplore' and have X and crew are more an interstellar robotic police force tied to dealing with space robots like the Stardroids and whatever the thing Duo was fighting was. Make em visit other planets and go all Metroid while Classic stays with the levels.
ReplyDeleteThen side projects to finish story of the unfinished past series' and whatever card battle thing comes after Star Force.
This is a nothing comment. If you asked him for a game that showed Wily’s feet and was about tax collecting, that would also be “a story we would love to tell.”
ReplyDeleteI just want Axl to get more attention and not be dead.
ReplyDeletepersonally, I'd rather they just reboot the X series. it's much more narrative driven than classic, but it keeps soft rebooting and acting like the prior games don't really exist.
ReplyDeleteCain mysteriously vanishes after X3, douglas and lifesaver vanish after X6 I think. dynamo stops existing after X6. just reboot and rewrite, continue with what maverick hunter X was doing. you can have iris and repliforce existing since X1 or something. erase the hiding myself to repair myself thing from X6. just make it all make more sense and have characters appear earlier maybe as background characters.
Here’s what I think. Maybe they are considering to canonized/rebooting Command Mission story and make it into MegaMan X9 timeline which takes place like few weeks after the Jakob Project incident instead of taking place in a far distant future like the normal Command Mission version. Then they would tweak the gameplay style into 2.5D just like MegaMan X Dive style. Or even they could turn it into an action-role playing with various interactions between characters in combat, including the addition of the "Boost Strike" feature, allowing multiple party members to perform destructive attacks together under certain conditions, which is similar to Tales Of Arise gameplay style.
ReplyDeleteNew storylines, new lore within the characters like Colonel Redips and Signas are actually brothers, Colonel Redips and Spider are separate characters this time, Marino has a connection to Sigma, as he was the one who killed Marino’s family, thus seeks revenge against Sigma if he ever returns once again by finding a cure to the Sigma Virus according to her background lore. Epsilon being the ultimate creation of Sigma, thus he decided to continue his master’s legacy. So many things can be done.
Then add new bosses, more stages, returning characters like Vile and Dynamo who working for Epsilon, etc. Heck, they could even use Colonel Redips to become the leader of the Neo-Repliforce army and Iris -Another- as his loyal right-hand woman to fight against the new Maverick uprising and the self-proclaimed as the new King Of Maverick, Epsilon and his army.
Should the player meet the requirements for the Best Ending, the gameplay will be extended to further progress the story, the Neo-Repliforce army appears to be the true culprit of all. Colonel Redips is the final boss but he has “something up his sleeve” and attempt to use his “final card” by calling out the “Maverick Emperor”. Of course, what is a MegaMan X game without the infamous and mightiest Sigma himself? He then returns after the defeat of Great Redips, by being “summoned” out by the fallen Colonel Redips, using the power of Sigma’s remains and the Supra-Force Metal, then the Sigma’s remains from MMX8 manages to take Sigma's form into a more powerful devilish form through the remains itself, albeit not-so complete form, claiming that the Sigma Virus and Supra-Force Metal will once again make him whole. Sigma then proceeds to brutally kill Colonel Redips. And so, the tradition of the true final boss in a MegaMan X game continues.
In the future DLC, taking place in the Elf Wars, making Dr. Weil as the penultimate boss and Omega as the final boss of the DLC.
hand on glass. i miss axl. bring him home to me capcom...
ReplyDeleteIf what some other people are saying is true, he'd come back as an Irregular.
DeleteIt's still vague and unclear what happened to Axl after X8, all we know is that whatever it was that happened, the creator of Model A later down the timeline (who's name I won't spoil for those who haven't played ZXA yet) saw it as a vulnerability that needed fixing, leading to him giving the transformation a gem cover to protect from those types of attacks. It's possible that Axl was corrupted, it's possible that Lumine transferred himself into Axl and took over somehow, it's also possible that Axl was just sick for a while and needed repairs. If Capcom wanted to bring Axl back for his gameplay, they could write in a way to make it work without contradicting X8, or they could actually go the Irregular/Maverick route and just give his gameplay style to Pallette again.
DeleteHe needs to come back
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