Operate Shooting Star Dept. Store Ad

With about a month until its release, an ad for Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star, has been spotted by Tarbosan at his local department store in Japan.  The poster shows new artwork of Rockman and Netto as they strike a pose against a starry sky while SSRockman looms in the background alongside a blazing meteor.

Hopefully, we'll get a clearer shot of this soon.  In the meantime, there's a few more shots available for viewing at Tarbosan's blog, but they too are a bit on the blurry side...

Because You Asked For It...

...high-res versions of the lovely front/back cover artwork of the Irregular Hunter X+Rockman Rockman original soundtrack.

My copy arrived earlier this week, and I simply could not resist sharing these pieces with you all... pure awesomness.  Use them for whatever!

Auction - Rockman Battle & Fighters Trial Edition

A rare little nugget has made it's way onto Ebay: Rockman Battle & Fighters trial edition cartridge for the Neo Geo Pocket.

The cartridge contains an early demo build of the game, likely stationed at Japanese in-store kiosks. We saw this exact same cartridge a while back, and it does have its fair share of subtle differences from the final build of the game. (Click on the link provided for a breakdown of the trial version's contents.)

Bidding begins at $48; free shipping.  Complete auction here.

Yet Another Soundtrack

Hot on the heels of Chip Tuned Rockman comes "Capcom Songs", an 11 track music CD featuring various songs of several Capcom titles. Rockman wise, it's pretty bare bones, but does contain newly arranged versions of Battle & Chase theme songs. Sweetness!

The disc is out now as of Oct 8th; available exclusively through E-Capcom for 3,150 Yen (roughly $35 USD).

[E-Capcom]

Get Your Characters In Rockman Gigamix

Hitoshi Ariga is looking to adapt fan-made robot designs to use as "extras" for future volumes of the Rockman Gigamix comic. As such, he's created a special Oekaki board where by fans can draw entries or upload existing designs for Ariga to review.

There are a few things to keep in mind before submitting your creation: these characters will end up being destroyed in some manner, and thus should not be overly complex, for their appearance in the comic will be a short one at best (one or two panels).

For the uninitiated, Oekaki boards are web browser based drawing programs. These plenty of them throughout the Mega Man community, the ones I'm for familiar with are  The Mega Man Network and Rockman Perfect Memories. 

Ariga's Oekaki (located here) requires you to enter in your name, a title and description of your creation. Of course, everything is in Japanese, so go at this at your own discretion...at least, until some generous soul provides a handy English tutorial.

Feel like participating? Draw and send your entry here.

Credit: The Mega Man Network

Here's Your Capcom Game Club Assignment

Mega Man 1 kicks off Capcom's first ever Game Club event, a community-wide feature where fans and Capcom staff play through the game together, and discuss their experiences on the Unity forums.

Each week, jgonzo will post an assignment, a sort of challenge for fans to tackle. The following Monday, fans and staff are free to discuss the challenge in a sort of "book club" manner. Tonight's assignment:

" Assignment #1 is to get through two robot masters. The order is up to you. Try to keep track of how many times you die and what things you hate or enjoy about the levels that you play through. On Monday we'll reconvene, but in the meantime, you can use this thread to talk to other game club members about Mega Man 1. Remember that all forum rules are in place (no discussion of illegal items, profanity, etc). "

Sounds like a lot of fun! Feel like partaking? Check out this post here for full Game Club details.

"Suspicion"

A charming illustration by B People, inspired by those tricky Mets in Mega Man 9 who hide behind fake 1-Ups waiting ever-so patiently for a moment to strike.  Oh, how I hate them...


[via Pixiv]

Stop Motion Man

If you loved the Mega Man 9 'Rockin-Paper' stop motion short, then I'm sure you'll absolutely enjoy this:

[via Capcom-Unity]

Mega Man Volnutt: Excellence In Design

In the August 2000 issue of PSM magazine, Mega Man Volnutt (of Mega Man Legends fame) was declared the tenth best designed character of the PlayStation 1 era.

I found this recognition to be particularity interesting due to the fact that Volnutt's design is under constant fire from fans and the gaming press for being a bit on the unorthodox side ("no helmet"). Still, I can't help but love it. Truth be told, I even dressed up as Volnutt for Halloween back in 5th grade!

Bonus Sports Cup With Purchase of OSS

Those who pre-order Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star through E-Capcom will receive a limited edition sports drinking cup.  Oh, and this isn't your run-of-the-mill cup either: the image of the two Rockmen on the side of the cup changes to a blue color when cold contents are poured in.
 
 Pretty "cool", eh?

[via E-Capcom]

Maverick Hunter, Powered Up Coming To PlayStation Store On Oct 29/Nov 5?

Last week, Capcom Unity posted (and removed) a blog entry announcing the release dates of several PSP UMD Legacy titles heading to the PlayStation Store, Maverick Hunter X and Mega Man Powered Up, included:

• October 8: Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Dark Tower
• October 15: Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max
• October 22: Capcom Puzzle World
• October 29: Maverick Hunter X
• November 5: Megaman Powered Up
  

Joystiq, seeking to confirm the legitimacy of these release dates, spoke with Capcom's Chris Kramer:

"titles are correct and the dates should be fairly accurate." He added, "it's "hard to pin down digital release dates almost until they happen."

Sounds reasonable to me.  So, what about pricing? No word on that just yet, but if previous Capcom UMD Legacy titles are any indication, a $19.99 price point is likely.

More news as it comes in; I'll keep you informed.

Credit: Joystiq

NT Warrior 'Mega Value' Set Sighted At Retail

PRC reader Jen spotted this Mega Man NT Warrior value pack at her local Costco in the clearance isle. The oversized boxed set contains four Mattel NTW products at a bargain price:

• 5.5'' CrossFusion Mega Man w/Battle Chip 
• 12'' Electronic Deluxe CrossFusion Mega Man
• 100 piece mini-puzzle set
• a booster pack of trading cards.

The price? A cheap $11.99 -- a "Mega Value" indeed!

A bit odd to see NT Warrior merchandise these days; Mattel discontinued the line a few years back, and has since to release new products. Maybe this item is an exception?

Thanks for the tip, Jen.