The Unstoppable Sparta Man

What if Mega Man were an invincible, unstoppable force? Capable of not only walking on top of pesky spikes, but also defeating foes simply by walking into them? Well, unfortunately, Mega Man wasn't built to be that tough, but 'Sparta Man' is.  The star of the new game from Newgrounds, Sparta Man 2, does everything that Mega Man can't do.

It's quite a satisfying little game, a great diversion if you've got a few minutes to burn! Give it a whirl at Newgrounds.

Credit: jgonzo via Capcom-Unity

Dead Rising Movie Trailer Features Servbot Cameo

Capcom today announced that a live action Dead Rising movie is in the works during a Microsoft press conference. A teaser trailer was presented, which you can check out below. Be on the lookout for a very brief Servbot cameo around the 30 second mark...

The film, directed and co-written by none other than Keiji Inafune, will debut this year exclusively on Xbox LIVE.

[via Kotaku] thanks, Trike.

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom Releases

They said it wouldn't happen, but it is! The highly anticipated fighter, Tatsunoko Vs Capcom: Ultimate All Stars hits retailers nationwide tomorrow.

The latest game in Capcom's popular 'versus' series, TvC pits Capcom's iconic characters against Tatsunoko Productions anime superheroes in an all out brawl.  Why should you care? Amidst TvC's colorful roster are three Mega Man series reps: Mega Man Volnutt (of Legends series fame), classic series Roll, and the red crusader himself, Zero!  What's more, Mega Man X also makes a special appearance during Frank West's Hyper Combo attack, in which Frank dons his X-inspired armor:

Although TvC is arriving on shelves tomorrow, reports have come in that some stores, namely K-Mart and Wal-Mart, have already begun selling the game as early as Saturday. Call ahead of time, and see if they have it in stock before making the trip!

(and yes, before anyone asks, feel free to post your Friend Codes and the like in the comments)

Mega Man: The Big Red Bomber

Reader Charles was cleaning out his basement over the weekend when he discovered this rather fun piece of Mega Man history:

Yet another phase of Capcom's Mega Man 15th anniversary marketing blitz, the blue bomber here graced packages of Big Red soda pop in the fall of 2003.  Apparently, the promotion featured a special offer that let you save $5 on upcoming Mega Man games, and a sweepstakes to win a trip to become a "developer for a day" at Capcom HQ. What a prize, eh?  I wonder what became of the winner...?

Now I don't remember seeing this particular promotion offered at my local grocery store, but I do recall memories of a similar promotion with ASAP Pop-corn. I still have that package lying around somewhere; I'll post it up when I find it!

Thanks, Charles!

TVC: Mega Man, Zero and Roll's New Endings (Spoilers!)

Although Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars is slated to release on the 26th in the states, a few lucky folks have already managed to not only obtain a copy of the game early, but also completed several character's stories, namely, Mega Man Volnutt, Zero and Roll. As such, footage of the three's new endings (provided by the artists of UDON Entertainment) have surfaced online, and you can check them out after the break...

Cancelled NT Warrior Figures Up For Grabs

VendorMan's is currently offering, among other goods, three unreleased NT Warrior prototype figures: ElecTeam Mega Man, WoodShield Mega Man and AquaCustom Mega Man.

These not-so-common figures will run you $24.95 a pop. There's only one available of each, so if you want them, you'd better act quick!

For details on how to order, hop on over to VendorMan's.

Mega Man 10 Achievements Revealed

Xbox360Achievements.org has gotten their hands on the official achievements listing for Mega Man 10. Twelve in all (worth a total of 200 Gamerpoints), the achievements are practically the same as those offered in MM9:

For the rest of the batch, head on over to Xbox360Achievements.org

Ippo Yamada Working On Arranged Zero Music

Famed Mega Man series composer Ippo Yamada, who has been involved with the music for the ZX series, and Mega Man 9, among others, is said to be working on new arrangements of Zero series music.  On his official blog, Yamada had the following to say: "Tonight I'm planning on an all-nighter working on Zero melody arrangements."

Immediately, I'm left to wonder if he's involved in the Zero Collection project, possibly producing remixes for the game, or maybe he's simply putting together another arrange CD album.  Who knows at this point.

Hopefully, Yamada will enlighten us sooner rather than later! We'll keep you posted.

Credit: The Mega Man Network

Survival Net Battle Neo Footage

An attendee of the World Hobby Fair has come through with some excellent footage of the final decisive match in the Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star tournament 'Survival Net Battle Neo.' The tournament just wrapped up last weekend at Japan's World Hobby Fair where fans of varying ages competed to become the top Net Battler.

Check out the heated fight after the break...

Rush Marine Now On BlackBerry

The BlackBerry version of Mega Man Rush Marine has gone live, and is now available for purchase on a number of BlackBerry mobile devices.  The game will run you $6.99, and can be purchased off of your 'berry's on-device store, or from specialty sites like Bplay. A list of compatible devices and services here.

Still no word on an iPhone version, unfortunately.

Credit: PocketBerry

Matt Moylan Talks Iwamoto's X Series Manga (Updated)

Reader Flame put the question to UDON's managing editor, Matt Moylan, about whether or not UDON plans on translating Yoshihiro Iwamoto's famed Rockman X manga series, citing that like Ariga's Megamix, there has been a great demand to see stories come stateside. Matt's answer:

"It is something we will think about after seeing how well the Megamix and ZX mangas sell. If these series do initially well, next we would do Ariga's Gigamix, and then think more seriously about Iwamoto's X manga.
There are a few things to consider.

1)it is a big investment, as Iwamoto's X manga runs something like 12 tankobons(manga volumes)
2) his art is pretty retro, but there are people who like that style
3) price - since the X series is less popular than the classic mega man, and the art style might not be for everyone, we'd expect this series might not sell as well, so we might have to raise the price a little if we did this series.


I have checked out some of it though. It's definitely a little more old school that our other manga series, but it has its own charm. Story wise I'm afraid I haven't read enough to comment yet. "

Personally, I'd love to see these in English, but I can see where Matt's coming from on this one. So, what say you?

UPDATE: Matt has come through with a follow-up:

"If we did do the X mangas, I'm pretty sure we would do them in the 5 mega-volume collection format. But even in this format, there would still be a lot of investment needed.

By investment meant I meant not only the cost of licensing fees, but also the cost of translation, lettering, printing etc. Even if we licensed only the first MMX mega book as a test run, that book is huge, like almost 600 pages (I have a copy on my desk here actually heh). Just the first volume be about as much work as the whole Megamix series. So there's that to consider.

On MMX's popularity, there are definitely tons of X fans out there, I know, and they are a dedicated bunch. But as a spinoff it's always going to be less popular than the core series. We can see this with our two mm complete works books. Released at the same time, same price, similar contents, MM Classic OCW is selling better than MMX OCW. Neither sells BAD, but there is a gap between them for sure. So when thinking of X manga, we have to assume that sales on it VS the classic Ariga stuff will have a similar sales gap. Also a longer series with a more expensive price point per volume (regardless of page count) affects sales as well. It's a much tougher sell to the casual buyer.

But even with all that, it's not to say any of this is a deal breaker, it's all just things we have to keep in mind."

March Release For Cut Man, Elec Man Vinyl Figures

Toys 'R' Us employee Banjo sends word that both Cut Man and Elec Man 'JUVI' vinyl figures have appeared in the TRU computers with an unspecified March release.  Banjo was also generous enough to pass along a couple stock photos of each figure:

Both figures are set to retail for $9.99, and will be sold online and in-stores. We'll keep you informed when they become available!

Thanks, Banjo.