In Case You Haven't Heard, Mega Man X2 Due For Wii Virtual Console

Yeah, I'm a little late with this one, but it’s worth talking about just the same.

Some months back, the ESRB rated Mega Man X2 for the Wii Virtual console.  Things were quiet on that front up until a few days ago when Capcom Japan confirmed the game for a December release.  Meanwhile, the Australian Classification Database has officially awarded the game with a PG certification, thus confirming the X2's Virtual Console distribution in that region. So if it wasn't clear enough: Mega Man X2 is coming to the Virtual Console.

Australia and North America tend to get Virtual Console releases weeks to months after Japan, so we can probably look forward to a late 2011/early 2012 release. No idea what's up with Europe, I'm afraid. Those folks are still patiently awaiting X1!

So if all the X-related merchandise wasn't enough to deplete your Zenny, be on the lookout for X2. Awfully lot of Mega Man X love lately, what with all the figures, trinkets and classic game re-releases. Gauging interest in something are we, Capcom? Hm...

Thanks for the tips, everyone.

Request Mega Man Albums For Capcom Store

Much to the dismay of international fans, official Mega Man albums have been predominately sold exclusively in Japan for several years.  With your help, however, that may soon change.

In a thread on Capcom Unity, Christian “Sven” Svensson has put the call out for album requests, which might just make their way over to the Capcom Store.  Your task is simple: if there's a specific Mega Man album you want to see -- be it the remastered Rockman Zero soundtracks, or We are ROCKMEN! -- request it at this thread here.  No guarantee your requests will come to fruition, but really it couldn't hurt to show some support.

It might be a good idea to limit requests to soundtracks that came out within the last year or two. Anything before that is likely out-of-print.  Doubtful Capcom would produce fresh new copies of, say the Rockman X7 soundtrack just for North America.  It'll be far easier to stock up on discs that continue to be produced (and sold) today. But hey, you never know.

Drop your wish lists off here.

Artwork courtesy of Coramune

Hitoshi Ariga Interprets Mega Man 9 & 10 Foes

Hitoshi Ariga, writer/artist for the Megamix and Gigamix line of Mega Man manga, has been drawing up a storm over at his official deviantART account. More recently, the artist tried his hand at interpreting some of the more quirky enemies from Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10. Doubtful these pieces relate to his mysterious new project, but they're well worth a gander if you're an Ariga nut. Commentary below:


Mega Man 9 Piece
- Octopus minion: "I made the legs similar to existing squid/octopus type robots, and went with Springer type eyes."
- Stone mid-boss: "I felt it didn't have enough "mecha flavor", so I added to that while still sticking to the "Mega Man" vibe."
- Elephant mid-boss: "I thought this mid-boss didn't fit in well with the other mid-bosses of the series with respect to its proportions, so I tried to bring it closer to the dog mid-boss from MM2 and the hippo mid-boss from MM4."


Mega Man 10 Piece 
- Light Bulb mid-boss: "It kinda bugged me that his eyes were ovals, so I made them circles instead."
- Ax minion: "The eyes on this one bugged me too. Looking back at the series, it was my opinion that this enemy should have had lenses for eyes."
- Snowman minion: "Since there is already one eye on the body, this character would end up with three eyes once its head had taken shape. I altered the eye on the body so that it would look like a button instead once the head was in place. The eye is similar to the eyes used on the raccoon minion from MM6."
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Seeing this only fuels my desire for an Ariga-esque Mega Man game. I think we're well overdue for something like that. Ariga's style is practically begging to be immortalized in polygons, sprites, or what have you. One day, maybe.

Ariga's deviantART is home to a wealth of personal illustrations of not only Mega Man stuff, but other video game characters as well. Be sure to check it out!

The Coolest Rush Cake You'll Ever See

We've seen some amazing Mega Man-themed pastries here at Rockman Corner; the amount of creativity and hard work that goes into these scrumptious creations never ceases to amaze. Just when I though I'd seen it all, Yummy Pixels comes along with this:

Mega Man's faithful canine companion Rush is a master of transformation -- but this latest form certainly takes the cake. Kat, the self taught baker of Yummy Pixels, whipped up this Rush Jet cake for her husband's birthday:

"I was thinking of doing Rush early on but hesitated at first. The last time I did a character cake (Kirby), it was kind of sad to cut into it… But! I went ahead and made a cake of him anyway since Buckley likes the Megaman series so much. I chose his jet form since he’s lying down and is mostly flat.

This cake ended up larger than I originally planned. I accidentally made his head too big, which meant making everything else bigger to be proportional. He is made from lemon-orange cake and rice krispies. His head, body, and 2 front paws are carved from cake. The rest of the parts are rice krispie treats molded into shape."

While it may look delicious, I think we can all agree it would be hard taking a knife to this masterpiece. And standing on it wouldn't be too bright, either.

More photos of the cake available at Yummy Pixels. While you're there, be sure to check out Kat's other masterpieces, like the Sandvich!

Hardcover Mega Man Tribute On Sale This Weekend

In honor of the biggest shopping period of the year, UDON Entertainment are offering Mega Man Tribute at half off. The hardcover edition, no less. UDON's Matt Moylan sends the good word:

"Just $39.99 (regular $79.99 – that’s a $40 savings!!)  Save half-off this exclusive hardcover edition of our Mega Man Tribute book, featuring hundreds of international artists paying tribute to the Blue Bomber! This limited edition hardcover version features exclusive cover art by Mega Man manga artist Hitoshi Ariga (Megamix, Gigamix), and is only available direct from UDONstore.com."

Not a bad deal if you ask me! If you've yet to snag Mega Man Tribute for yourself, now might be an ideal time to act. Of course, if you already have it, you can't go wrong with gifting it to somebody!

Though the sale lasts all weekend, one can never anticipate when stock will deplete. Purchase your copy ASAP while supplies last!

Thanks for the heads up, Matt!

Great Adventure On The Five Islands Part 1-6 and 1-7

Apologies for not posting this one sooner... let's just say Thanksgiving at the Protodude family home has been rather hectic (for lack of a better word). Nonetheless, here are the final two parts of Get Me Off The Moon's 'Great Adventure On The Five Islands' fan dub.

Click here for Part 1-7!

Don't be mistaken: this is not the end of Great Adventure. Get Me Off the Moon are prepping a "second season", which kicks off a whole new story arc. Get Me Off The Moon has not shared when Episode 2-1 will hit, but sometime next week would be a safe assumption.

Stay tuned!

Rockman Online Q&A Session Part 2

It took a little while, but NeoWiz has finally gotten around to answering another batch of Rockman Online questions.  Unfortunately, this part of the Q&A didn't have very much better info than the last, nor does it contain your questions we collected. Eh, maybe next time.

In the meantime, our pal Amunshen strained the Q&A into a convenient summary of actual pertinent info:

• The game is still on track to be a 2D scrolling platformer made with 3D models.
• None of the game’s music will come from existing Mega Man games; it will be entirely original.
• None of the game’s original characters (at least those conceived up until now) will be playable.
• None of the game’s villain characters (such as Vile) will be playable.
• There is no system for choosing to represent the URA or UCA.
• Although the game looks based on the X series from appearance, the scenarios do not slant towards any particular series. That being said…
• Sigma is the main villain of the game.
• All playable characters have charged attacks.

A third Q&A post from NeoWiz is in the works, so hopefully they'll get around to the questions Amunshen collected. Hang tight!

Thanks for the translation, Amunshen!

Original Mega Man Cartoon Pitch Unearthed

At long, long last we have ourselves footage of the elusive promotional video used to pitch the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon before the show was "Americanized". A rare look at what could have been, The Mega Man Homepage has uploaded the original footage in its entirety. And it's awesome.

Click here to watch!

The promo tape features two-minutes worth of never-before-seen footage of a significantly different Ruby-Spears cartoon. In its early stages, the show featured aesthetics incredibly faithful to the art direction of the games, with a style largely influenced by Keiji Inafune's character designs.

When the show was finally picked up and green-lit into production, however, Ruby-Spears gave it a complete overhaul. The anime style was ditched; suddenly Mega Man became a buffed-up American Super Hero, cheesy one liners and all. Hey, at least the theme song was catchy.

We aren't exactly sure why the art direction changed, but The Mechanical Maniacs' has a pretty good theory: 

"In the early 90's anime hadn't taken off yet. The biggest shows were Batman: the animated Series, X-Men, and Spider-Man. These shows were probably considered Mega Man's main competition and the show we got falls into line with these shows as opposed to any other shows on at the time. Furthermore, if you watch the OVAs, you'll see that they're preoccupied with teaching foreigners about Japanese culture. An admiral attempt, but I don't think it went over very well as many characteristics that might have been deemed "Japanese" were taken out."

Regardless the reason, I'm very happy to finally see this footage with my own eyes. It's a true sight to behold! Bit of a shame this version never came to fruition.

Thanks for the tip, RADIX!

D-Arts News Round-up: Comic Version Zero Revealed, Ride Armor Confirmed?

Tamashii Nation 2011 isn't kicking off until tomorrow, but already we have ourselves some tantalizing D-Arts news. Full color prototypes of Zero Type 2 and Vile have been spotted at the exhibit and, well, they look fantastic:

Aside from the apparent confirmation of a Z-Saber, we've no word on additional accessories and doodads set to ship with Zero Type 2. Same goes for Vile; no indication of accessories, pricing, and release date just yet. I imagine that news will be coming along shortly. Even so, there they are in vibrant color.

Also spotted at the exhibit, a D-arts Zero "Comic Version" and... a Ride Armor?

The marker below Zero there indicates a THIRD D-Arts Zero is in the works, and much like Comic Version X, it will be based off of Yoshihiro Iwamoto’s interpretation of the character. Speculation says the figure could go on sale tomorrow alongside Comic Version X, but we've no official confirmation on that. Click here for a close-up.

And then there's that Ride Armor conveniently placed behind Vile. It's hard to say at this point if the figure will actually be sold, or if it's nothing more than part of a promotional display. Bandai has been known to decorate D-arts displays with items and knick knacks that never made it to retail. Hopefully that's not the case.

Stay tuned for more D-Arts news shortly!

Credit: The Mega Man Network

Rockman X4 Mobile Screens, Zero Version Due In 2012

Hot on the heels of our previous report, Rockman Unity has released a small helping of Rockman X4: Rockman X Version screenshots. Graphically, things look just as spiffy as they did on the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. But, because this is a mobile phone port, screen resolution had to be significantly cropped down:

Rockman Unity also confirmed the production of Rockman X4: Zero Version, due for release in January, 2012. Confirming previous speculations, Rockman X4 is being partitioned into two separate games starring X/Zero respectively. The split was done in order to preserve the quality and authenticity of the original game, released back in 1997.

X Version begins distribution on December 1st for 525 Yen (roughly $6.55), exclusively to NTT Docomo FOMA905i and 705i series phones via the Capcom Party internet service.

Source: Rockman Unity

Rockman X4 Going Mobile In Japan

According to CAP Kobun and Tarbosan, Capcom announced on their mobile site that they intend to release a cell phone version of Rockman X4 on December 1st in Japan. The game will be released for Docomo FOMA905i and 705i series phones.

For the most part, the game is a port of the original PlayStation version; however, only X will be playable. The port carries the subtitle of "X Version", so it would seem a separate version starring Zero will be released at a later date.

Rockman X4: X Version will run you 525 Yen (about $6.55). Very little doubt you'll see this one stateside, I'm afraid. Gotta admit, I grow jealous over all the lovely Rockman games on mobile phones in Japan. Is it simply too much to ask for something along these lines to make it to my side of the pond?

Source: CAP Kobun, Tarbosan

Rockman Unity Teases D-Arts Zero Version 2.0

The minute I laid eyes on Bandai's Full Armor Rockman X, I just knew a "Zero 2.0" D-Arts was just around the corner. Lo and behold, it is.

Rockman Unity's Ucchy-san is teasing the production of yet another D-Arts figure from Bandai. In spite of Ucchy's best efforts to obscure the image, one can easily make out the visage of Zero, sporting his famous Rockman X2 armor. Yep, Bandai's finally making the Zero figure you've been waiting for.

Beginning with Rockman X2, Zero received a bulkier armor that incorporated shoulder guards, gold trimming, and the character's trademark weapon, the Z-Saber. No doubt, fans disappointed in the design of the original D-Arts Zero figure (based off of his X1 armor) will be happy to know an X2 variation is coming along. And hey, it looks like they fixed the hair mold, too.

Unfortunately, Ucchy neglected to provide additional details, cryptically asking readers to "stay tuned." More info is expected to surface at this weekend's Tamashii Nation 2011 event in Akihabara. Until then, well, you heard the man: stay tuned!

Source: Rockman Unity