The development team behind Mega Man: Dual Override continues to come into focus. During Xbox's Gamescom Day One broadcast, it was revealed that Shinya Ikuta is serving as the game's director. He appeared alongside Hiroyuki Minamitani, who was previously confirmed as the game's producer back in March.
Ikuta is a longtime Capcom developer and programmer whose history with the company stretches back to the early 1990s. He's no stranger to Mega Man, either. He worked as a programmer on Mega Man 7, Mega Man: Battle & Chase, Mega Man Battle Network 4, Rockman EXE 4.5 and Mega Man Battle Network 5, and also received a Special Thanks credit on Mega Man Zero 3.
Outside of Mega Man, Ikuta has had a hand in a pretty sizable chunk of Capcom's catalog over the years, including Onimusha, Dead Rising and Devil May Cry 4. His more recent credits include work on Monster Hunter Wilds.
Dual Override appears to be Ikuta's first time in the director's chair, but there's at least some reassurance in knowing he's not coming into Mega Man completely cold.
I mean, hell, his work here is speaking for itself. I was someone who didn't like 11 and wouldn't have wanted the series to continue if it meant games of that quality, and this one looks to fix most of my complaints from that game. I'm really curious about involvement of studios like ARIKA, too.
ReplyDeleteI thought MM11 was fine. It's not my favorite out of the Classic series, that goes to MM10, however I had a lot of fun with MM11. The Double Gear was implemented in a pretty neat way where you don't actually need it at all and can beat the game without it if you get good enough, it's basically just an assist for newer/younger players and a fun little gadget to play around with for anyone else who wants to. The stage design is generally fine although plays it mostly pretty safe, I would have preferred 2D sprites preferably similar to something like MM8 but the 2.5D graphics don't look outright bad, though they definitely show their age next to Dual Override. The voice acting is generally quite good, some people say Mega Man should sound more childish but honestly I see him as more of a teen so the deeper voice suits him. That's just my opinion though.
DeleteI don't think it would have been outright bad if the series stayed at that level of quality, but Dual Override does so far appear to be being produced at a much higher standard so it's not like the series is going in a bad direction or anything. As far as I'm concerned, either way would have been a win and we're getting a better case scenario. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long for the announcement of a new X series, ZX series, Legends series, or Starforce series game though.
Sigma being the true final boss behind the exhibition riot would be an insane plot twist! Using a time machine to travel back to the Classic Timeline to "Override" classic Robot Masters and infect them with the Maverick Virus is a brilliant narrative choice that perfectly bridges the Classic and X series. 🔥
ReplyDeleteNot really, it would just create a paradox and contradict established lore. Time Travel plots are also insanely cliche these days, and it would kind of ruin it. It would be fine for a non-canon spinoff but it shouldn't touch the main series.
DeleteApparently, Wily literally used a time machine to travel into the future, kidnap Mega Man and turn him into Quint. Time travel already exists in Classic Mega Man. Sigma also wouldn’t need to create the Maverick Virus. He could bring his evolved Sigma Virus backward and use it to Override the Robot Masters. That’s not automatically a paradox, but that’s entirely dependent on how the writers handle the timeline. You can call it cliché, sure. Lore-breaking? Not necessarily. It depends on the execution. And Sigma secretly manipulating an incident in the Classic era would actually be one hell of a way to connect Classic and X.
DeleteThe only place we need interactions between Sigma and Classic Mega Man are in spinoffs like X DiVE. "Connecting" Classic to X by having Sigma appear as the bad guy in a Classic game would be really bad fanfiction level cliche writing that would turn a lot of the core fanbase away from the game entirely. It's enough that we get nods towards Light and Wily working on X and Zero in the background, we don't need a huge MCU Avengers style crossover to bridge the gap. Introducing Sigma would likely mean having to introduce X and Zero going back in time to stop him as Mega Man wouldn't stand a chance against Sigma, and at that point you're talking about something better suited to a spinoff title that otherwise devalues the entire point of it being a Mega Man Classic game. I get that it's something you're probably passionate about as a fan of Sigma, but it's just not a good direction for the franchise to go into, especially with the overdone time travel stuff that is saturating media today to the point that it's losing all of its flare and just is not interesting anymore. Sigma belongs in the X series and maybe an Elf Wars game if they decide to make one at some point, not in Mega Man Classic. Save those interactions for non-canon spinoffs and stuff like Smash Bros.
DeleteI get your point, but you’re treating personal preference like an objective rule for the franchise. Sigma appearing in a Classic game wouldn’t automatically mean some huge MCU-style crossover with X and Zero. He could simply be the hidden force manipulating events from the background, while Mega Man remains the main hero and stops his plan without necessarily fighting Sigma head-on. Unless Capcom wanted to take some inspiration from Archie’s Worlds Unite, where Mega Man literally powered up into Super Armor Mega Man and went toe-to-toe with Sigma.
DeleteCalling it “fanfiction-level cliché” also depends entirely on execution. What matters is how well the story is written. It’s totally fair if you prefer Sigma to stay in the X series, but that doesn’t automatically make a carefully written Classic–X connection bad for the franchise.
The only way I could see it making sense would be if it was like that Archie Comics Worlds Collide sort of thing.
DeleteOr Project X Zone, but I don't think people really want another Mega Man RPG that isn't Battle Network-related.
DeleteSigma being the true final boss behind the exhibition riot would be an insane plot twist! Using a time machine to travel back to the Classic Timeline to "Override" classic Robot Masters and infect them with the Maverick Virus is a brilliant narrative choice that perfectly bridges the Classic and X series. 🔥
ReplyDelete