Rockman Expo '97 Report

Scrummaging through archived versions of now defunct gaming sites, I stumbled across a rather neat eyewitness report of 1997's Rockman Expo in Ebsu, Tokyo.

The event was a pretty big deal back then as it celebrated the series tenth anniversary with a slew of activities and events geared towards children and families. Although similar Rockman expos were held thereafter, none ever matched the size of 97's whose totally head count ended up at a little over a thousand kids and adults.

I pulled out some of the more interesting tidbits about sites and activities from the article, below. Click here for the full read!

• One of the headline events was a Battle & Chase "grand prix" competition. Held at a specialty race corner, players competed in the final round of a nationwide B&C tournament that begin earlier that year at Tokyo Game Show. The winner of the race would go up against "Ando", the #1 B&C player among Capcom staff.

• A demo corner was on hand where visitors could play the latest builds of Rockman X4 and other then-upcoming titles. Right around the corner, a Rockman themed photo booth was present. Showgoers could develop their own business cards with commemorative stamps and stickers. Other activities included a favorite character poll, a quiz competition, a merchandise lottery, and a calisthenics session led by Rockman himself.

• Rockman series artist Hidek Ishikawa and Shinsuke Komaki spent three hours painting a massive mural to commemorate the event. The mural, and a oversized Rockman balloon, greeted visitors at the entrance.

• The event played host to live performances from a wide variety of artists involved in the franchise including Ganasia (RM8) and Capcom's in-house vocalists.
  
  

The report is a great blast from the past so do give it a read when you get the chance.

It's really unfortunate these type of Rockman themed events went the way of the dodo bird. Capcom continued to sponsor many Rockman-only expos for many years to come but with each passing year the number of attendees decreased. 2008's Summer of Rockman Festival marked the last of the Rockman expositions with no sign of them returning any time soon.

With the series 25th anniversary coming up, I think we're due for another. Maybe this time around things will be a bit more international friendly, inviting fans from across the world attend. One can only hope!

Design A Bonne Machine For Legends 3

Capcom today announced the second community-wide Mega Man Legends 3 event. After choosing the design for the game's new heroine, fans are being called to action once again but this time around you;ll be designing a new mech for the Bonnes! The Bonne family's mechs have been a series staple ever since the original Mega Man Legends, piloted by the three Bonne siblings (Tron, Teisel and Bon Bonne) and sometimes even Servbots.

Unlike past boss design contests, this one requires participants to consult a scenario laid out by the staff to ensure entries fit within certain conditions:

Capcom USA isn't taking submissions yet but that shouldn't stop you from using this opportunity to brain storm.

Should your design make it into the game, you'll earn yourself a position among the game's credits. What's more, the winner will also amass a hefty sum of 'devroom Zenny', the supposed currency for use in the forthcoming devroom. Further details on that tidbit in particular will be shared at a later date.

If you'd like to participate, check out all the details at Capcom Unity.

Hammer Man X, A Bootleg Oddity

Whilst taking my regular stroll through Ebay, I came across this rather odd Mega Man X bootleg, one that I've not only never seen before, but also just so strange that I felt compelled to post it here.

Behold, "Rockworld." Rockman Mega World, it is not, but something entirely different. The seller's description of the game sums it up nicely:

"Classic, addictive gameplay - Mega has to take his hammer, and run around creating holes in which to trap various nasties (robots, insects, mammals and monsters) before knocking them through the floor to their doom!

Collect various powerups and bonuses to boost your score and gain extra skills. You can even plug in a second pad and play with a friend! Genuinely good fun, and really hard to get hold of!"

Quite the kooky situation X has gotten himself into. Maverick Hunting alone must not be putting enough food on the table, I assume.

Now, I can't exactly place my finger on it, but the game looks like its based off of something genuine. At a glance, I thought it was either Wrecking Crew or Mario & Wario but that isn't so. Any ideas? Nevertheless, I'd kill to see some gameplay of this!

If you wish to bid on this oddity or see some more screens, click here.

Operate Shooting Star Translation Patch Is A Go

That's right, the translation is back on. Reader LuigiBlood has taken up the reins following the original translator's departure, and has begun developing an English patch for Operate Shooting Star.

The project is currently at 0.2% completion. LuigiBlood has set up a site where you can check out the patch's progress; there's even a few screens of the game up and running in English.

While the project does seem promising, LugiBlood was careful to note the he is also translating a variety of other games, so OSS's development might be a little slow.  Regardless, you can follow the game's development here.

Furthermore, LuigiBlood is in need of some help in translating OSS's new material such as the prologue, the Shooting Star Rockman scenario, and the Star Colosseum Mode. Help is welcome, especially if you're fluent in Japanese.

Shoot LuigiBlood an e-mail at luigiblood[at]gmail[dot]com if you're up to the task!

EDIT: Corrected Luigi's e-mail address. Link not working? Try here.

Amazon Lists 'Robot Master Field Guide'

Ever wanted a Mega Man encyclopedia? Well here's the next best thing. Amazon is currently accepting pre-orders for "Mega Man: Robot Master Field Guide", a single volume, 144 page book that's chock-full of classic series character profiles:

"The MEGA MAN: ROBOT MASTER FIELD GUIDE is your ultimate handbook to the classic Mega Man universe. Inside you'll find profiles of every major Mega Man character, including all the Robot Masters from Mega Man 1-10, Mega Man and Bass, the Mega Man Gameboy series, plus important special characters like Proto Man, Rush, Roll, Duo, and more. Each profile features classic CAPCOM artwork, and includes bios, quotes, likes & dislikes, weapons, and of course each Robot Master's secret weakness!" 

 
The book is being published by none other than Udon Entertainment and is said to release on March 2, 2011. Needless to say, this looks to be an exciting addition to any Mega Man fan's collection of books.

Pre-order your copy here!

Mega Man Legends 3 Devroom Details Trickle Out

Ever since Legends 3 was announced, Capcom's been hyping up the "devroom" -- a specialty site where fans and Legends 3 dev members can meet up to work on the game together, in a sense.

Capcom's been mostly quiet on just how this whole devroom experience will work exactly, but tonight the curtain raises just a bit. Over at the work-in-progress devroom, MML3 direct Mazakazu Eguchi introduced a new staff member, Kinako Ikawa (pictured).

Kinako is but one of many MML3 web planners who will soon be updating the devroom periodically. However, in the meantime, Kinako herself had a few words to share tonight in regards to the final devroom, offering up some new details and even a sneak peek at the site's layout and design.

Hit the jump for the lowdown!
 

Here's Your Kotobukiya Roll Box Art

Kotobukiya's Roll figure isn't slated to go on sale until December but that isn't stopping the manufacturer from showing off the model's packaging.

As you can see, it's cute. Maybe a little too cute.

The box design features some new art of Roll in both her classic and Mega Man 8 attire, which reflects the model's big selling point: interchangeable parts. The figure sports the ability have Roll in her usual outfit or her Mega Man 8 outfit simply by switching around a few parts. The figure also comes with three facial express and three different hand gestures. She'll set you back 3,150 Yen (roughly $36.74 US).

Word to the wise: you may want to hold off on importing. Kotobukiya recently announced plans to distribute the models outside of Japan, hence saving you from those potentially nasty shipping and handling fees.

Image Credit: Kotobukiya Blog

3D Rockman Announced For New SoftBank Phone

Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank unveiled a spiffy new smartphone tonight by the name of "GALAPAGOS". Sporting a high definition 3D display, the phone will feature a wide variety of 3D media without the need for glasses, much like the Nintendo 3DS.

Capcom will be a major supporter of the device and plans to roll out quite a few titles. According to various Japanese news outlets, "Rockman 3D" was announced as one of the initial titles for the phone, available as pre-installed software.

Unfortunately, the game is not quite as neat as its title suggests: it's nothing more than a port of Rockman 1 with the option to display the game in stereoscopic 3D, emulating the illusion of depth. Pictured above, you can see a screenshot of the game running on Galapagos, sans the 3D effect. Much like the Mega Man 2 iPhone port, gameplay will be carried out via the touch screen, however some models of the phone will apparently support a slide-out keypad -- an implication that an alternate control scheme is possible.

Rockman 3D launches with the phone in mid-December, exclusive to Japan.

Update: Added/omitted minor details; larger screenshot added.

Rockman 9 Mobile Coming To Japan

In a bit of interesting news, to say nothing of unexpected, Capcom are apparently releasing Rockman 9 on mobile phones in Japan.

CAP Kobun reports the game will be released for Docomo FOMA 903i and 703i phones, with a tentative December release date. No images or media of the game exist at this time, however previous classic series mobile phone ports should serve as a fairly good indication of what we can expect it to look like....playability, however, is another story.

Well, not much else to talk about right now. I'm a bit pretty surprised we didn't see a DSiWare version surface first, actually. Oh well..

More news on the subject as it comes in!

Credit: The Mega Man Network

Kotobukiya Models To Be Sold Outside of Japan

Good news, everyone! Kotobukiya's U.S subsidiary have announced that their popular 1/10 scale Rockman models will finally be sold outside of Japan:

"Mega Man, also known as Rockman in Japan, is a cybernetic video game character, is the title character of what has been referred to as the original Mega Man series developed by Capcom since 1987.  Since then, he has become one of the company’s primary original characters and continues to be one of the video game industry’s most recognizable icons.  

Now that Kotobukiya x Capcom collaboration has come to its fruition to release “Mega Man super pose-able model kits” outside of Asia, make sure to keep checking Kotus.com and our FACEBOOK for updates!

 

KotoUSA have yet to divulge details on release dates, retailers or pricing but I imagine those announcements aren't too far off. Regardless, this is excellent news. More updates as they come in!

Credit: GoNintendo

A Message From The Mega Man Legends 3 Team

Despite the positive words left by Capcom's Joveth Gonzalez, fear for the development of Mega Man Legends 3 is still widespread.

In another effort to ease concerns, The Legends 3 team members themselves have come forward to address the issue via special message posted on the MML3 devroom:

"From all of us here on Mega Man Legends development team,

We realize that events of the past few days have given many of you great cause for concern, and we apologize for taking so long to get back to you.

We have been reading all of your comments from the past few days, many of them expressions of anxiety and many of encouragement. Honestly, though many of us are still a little dazed and confused about all of this, the “can-do” fire inside us is still burning as hot as ever!

Not only will the dev team continue on with Legends 3 Project, we will push forward even harder than before to complete Mega Man Legends 3! And just like up until now, we hope that you will continue to help the Legends 3 Project grow. Together, let’s make the best Mega Man Legends ever!

P.S. In the next post, we will be bringing you more details about our new powered-up Devroom community!"

The passion for MML3 is still there, and that's all that really matters. As stated on numerous occasions, the Legends 3 team is made up of some of the most talented staff members around, consisting of not only MML1 and MML2 veterans, but key staff members from Monster Hunter, Lost Planet and the Basara series. Inafune or not, these guys are here to see this game to completion. You've nothing to fear.

 Source: Capcom Unity

More On Inafune's Resignation

The lengthy interview where Keiji Inafune announced his resignation from Capcom has been translated into English courtesy of the NeoGaf community.

Although the biggest draw of the interview are his reasons for leaving Capcom, he did offer a few words related to Rockman. You can find those specific portions after the break, however for the complete interview, you'll have to check out this thread here.