[Dr. Regal]

In recent months we have read reports about Capcom not having faith in Megaman overseas. Numbers do show that MegaMan sells best in Japan.

Capcom's main excuse is Japaneses characters do not appeal to other cultures. Is this really true? Thanks to the Power Rangers, animation and other Japaneses children programs have come to the United States. How long have the Power Rangers been around? Do you remember Dragon Ball Z? The Dragon Ball series is considered one of the best animation series of all time. It was huge in America. Why did these characters find more success than our blue friend?

Cpacom has poorly advertised MegaMan overseas. I don't remember ever seeing a commercial advertising a Battle Network, Starforce, and Zero games. Capcom's last commercials have focused on collections instead of new games. Personally I think certain games like Command Mission and X8 would have received praised if they were advertised. Both games had the potential to be put on notice. Command Mission received good reviews except from X-Play and Nintendo Power. A lot of websites' lists for the best Megaman games often list Command Mission in the top ten.

I have read many complaints about Capcom not releasing enough titles for overseas countries. I remember reading about how MegaMan X3 had only a few copies outside of Japan.

The cancellation of MegaMan NT Warrior is bigger than what most people may know about. Did you know this was the second highest rated show on the WB network after Yu-Gi-Oh? It is mind blogging that this show was canceled. Jazawares had a similar MegaMan problem. The Jazawares Megaman toys were best sellers. The toy line eventually stopped in its tracks. Similar to the games the toys were not strongly advertised.

For many years Capcom has lied about the Legends series sales. Capcom has claimed that the Legends series sells were not as good as the Classic and X series. That may actually be true. However, here comes the lie. Capcom has lied that the series did not sell well. EXCUSE ME, MegaMan Legends, MegaMan Legends 2, and MegaMan 64 are all best sellers. Who do they think they're fooling? They could be honest and just say they were not interested in making another Legends game at the time.

However, with the bad comes the good.

MegaMan 2 is considered to be one of the best NES games ever bad. Although many believe the other Megaman games on the NES are not as good as number 2, they still believe all of the NES MegaMan games are better than the majority of NES games.

Not too many video game series have toy lines. Capcom has brought the MegaMan fans plenty of toys. Every Megaman has an action figure out there to buy! The Mattel and Bandai lines received praised from the fans.

Every MegaMan Battle Network and Star Force game is a best seller. Personally I really enjoyed the Network series. Not too many video game series have that honor. Starforce does receive its criticism. Starforce still out sales most of the games on the DS market. You've got to give credit where credit is due.

Oh! I almost forgot to say something! Megaman has released over 100 titles! Only Super Mario has the same honor.

I've told you the bad, the good, and the Flavor Fave Ugly. Do you think it is time for the two to part ways?

Please don't take me the wrong way. I love MegaMan as much as everyone on this forum. I just want the best for the franchise.

[sluggish]

As long as they give the composers with it i wouldn't care

But seriously Capcom has failed megaman seriously over the years.In their defense they are a big company which develops lots of big budget games.I don't expect them to give major attention to the series while struggling to save series like DMC (whose next installment is seen like a failure) and resident evil (whose last installment is seen like a failure).

İ think too that it would be better if they pass the series to a humble company.For both them and for us.For them because they would be able to share the man power to other franchises which make money.For us because we wouldn't have to wait for half of our lives for the next installment(X9).Heck give it to the Keiji Inafune.He's the one who deserves most of the credit for the series and can take the risks to give franchise a jump start.

But as long as it stays with Capcom.......

[Flame]

As much as you posted this in a very polite and good manner...

How many times are you going to discuss the matter..?

bad marketing is Capcom US's fault, not Japan. Just like the bad localizations.

But ill humor you.

if theres ANYONE who I think could do justice to the Megaman franchise if they owned it, it would be Inti creates.

But then again, Inti creates is made of ex- Capcom employees.

[Dr. Regal]

Flame, I did not take a side. I never side what is best for MegaMan. I stated the bad and good. I'll sit back and watch what the members have to say.

[Flame]

Fair enough, but the fact is you have discussed the idea of Capcom selling/loosing/parting ways with mega man a few times now.

[TheDoctor]

I agree with Flame about giving it to Inti Creates. They do the series justice with gameplay if nothing else. (that said, the Zero series plot was excellent)

If it were given to anyone else, it would have to be a company that would really care about Mega Man, or at least, Mega Man's fans. (do we know of any companies like that?)

For obvious reasons, it should not go to Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft as that would mean console exclusiveness.

However, not only do we have to consider what company it goes to, but who would be in charge of directing the series. I'd almost say that Myamoto would be a great choice for Classic Mega Man if it weren't for console exclusiveness. My personal choice for the X series though would probably be Kojima.

[Dr. Regal]

I don't think console exclusiveness is that bad if it goes to Nintendo. Nintendo's systems are generally cheaper. I am sure the PS4 will be $5000 when it first hits the market. The third XBox might be near $700 that is a more serious estimate. If he goes to Nintendo then the chances of seeing him in Super Smash Bros will greatly increase.

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

PS4 as $5000? That's kinda... A large estimate. Even if it was a joke.

Nevertheless, Nintendo has a shitload of Mega Man games. Why not give it to a third party company that is known for actual decent ports to each console?

[Noble 6]

As has been stated by CoA execs in a recent interview, it's not that Capcom believes Mega Man isn't popular here, but that they can't understand how a character who is so inherently Japanese, and by that they mean a character that is borne of the culture and distinct because of it, would be popular anywhere else. Voltron and Robotech (Macross) came before Power Rangers and while the Transformers are an American creation, many of the toys were originall adapted from Japanese designs. What you find in all of those aforementioned franchises is the combination of several features that were already popular in America well before any of those things came here. Dragonball is unique and largely no one can explain its enormous popularity here, but shows that had previously gained some small amount of popularity in the States like Speed Racer, Astro Boy, Gigantor, and the previously mentioned Voltron and Robotech paved the way. The fact that Dragonball has hundreds of episodes and was always changing and doing something different didn't hurt, it's always new.

Mega Man is a completely different animal in that his original name, Rockman, was in reference to a cultural phenomenon in Japan at the time, the boom of rock music, his design sprung from anime and manga art and he was inspired by popular anime and manga conventions, like Astro Boy.

I can't speak to what Flame said about CoA and the advertising angle, but it does make sense that anything made for this country would be overseen by the American branch. When Mega Man first hit though it was during a time when so much was coming to this country from Japan that it may have just easily been swallowed up in the flood. Yes the early Mega Man games were popular and superior to much of what was coming out at the time, but after 3 games with the identical set up, identical graphics and little innovation from game to game, by 6, the average person, even if they liked the Mega Man games, weren't inclined to buy "the same game again." The people who bought 4, 5 and 6 were the people who either didn't own 1, 2 or 3 or people who loved 1, 2 and 3. I can say with full confidence that the Game Boy games were perceived the same way, I had friends who bought Mega Man games for Game Boy and I borrowd both, and accidentally gave back the wrong game to the wrong friend (I accidentally gave II to the guy who owned III and vice versa), and they didn't notice.

I suppose that sort of makes your point, and while I do abhor some of the decisions that Capcom has made regarding my beloved franchise over the years, I will defend them and say that for a company who's biggest concern is the Japanese market, they've always done right by them and even though it irritates me, I can't blame them for not caring about the Western market either. They've always done for the Western market the things that they believe will sell better here, and this games featuring situations and characters that are not so distinctly Japanese, the Resident Evil, Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Dark Void and such. It also explains why the next Devil May Cry is going the direction it's going.

Now, to sluggish's post. The next DMC is considered a failure by the fanboys who are probably also the same people who eschew pop culture because it's pop culture. Capcom didn't make the decision to alter Dante so much lightly, they looked at the sales of the franchise and the latest title and decided a mass market appeal would make them more money than by making a game that appealed to the people who bought the last game(s).

The same can be said for Resident Evil. For all we know Resident Evil 4 was what Mikami had originally envisioned way back when he made the original. Somewhere along the line they decided that the slower pace and focus on puzzles wasn't cutting it anymore for whatever reason and decided to appeal to a larger audience by changing the focus from puzzles to shooting. The hardcore fans were pissed but the games sold better.

If you want to blame anyone, blame the American public for requiring their entertainment to be spoon-fed to them. Dark Void was a great game but because people thought the controls couldn't compare to the more popular shooters, they panned it, rather than give the game a little more time and learn the control scheme. Now, while I think it's rather silly that modern games don't offer the ability to map your controls, I'm patient enough that I will learn the controls if the rest of the game appeals to me.

Enough ranting. While I wouldn't mind seeing someone with as much passion as we have for the franchise take it over, and the same can be said for my favorite TV shows that got cancelled, my favorite movies that get butchered, the reality is CoJ is doing for the franchise what they feel is best for their market and any residual profit they make is just icing.

[Flame]

I find Japan's view on Mega man being a distinctly Japanese character to be funny, considering in universe, Dr. Light is American, and even lives In the United States. (as proven by MM8's world map)

Quote

Now, to sluggish's post. The next DMC is considered a failure by the fanboys who are probably also the same people who eschew pop culture because it's pop culture. Capcom didn't make the decision to alter Dante so much lightly, they looked at the sales of the franchise and the latest title and decided a mass market appeal would make them more money than by making a game that appealed to the people who bought the last game(s).

people hate the new Dante because his new design is merely the diector's self insert. This guy literally molded Dante's face after his own face.

[sluggish]

Hey hey hey.These are the fanboys(girls) who buys the largest amount of copies.İf you screw them up with a.....brat off course they are gonna be pissed.I have seen soooo few people who likes the change.But that doesn't mean they are the slaves of pop culture.

Think about Zero.His body drastically changed in his own series.Some people instantly accepted the design.It grew on some others over the time(like me)Off course haters gonna hate But with the general welcome from the fan, it seems artists managed to capture the essence of the original Zero in this version.But the new brat doesn't seem any close to Dante.

Why did Resident Evil 5 sold better?Easy.Because the CoD fans bought the most of it .Seriously RE series is about horror and helplessness.If you put two levels entirely filled with Machine gun shooting in that game, Helplessness part is gone.Partner thing didn't help either as you can't feel the horror of the empty streets if your eyes are on the Sheva's ......weapons all the time.And the Zombies with Machine guns.I literally slept during last levels with all hiding behind somthing parts.This felt like CoD too.

I would accept zombies with small arms with less frequent shots.But machine guns?It maye have sold better because of all the action suckers.But old fans definitely felt something isn't going right.Also take a look at the Chris would you.Isn't that Rambo's long lost brother?

I understand Capcom is trying to get better sales.I cant blame them.But making changes without hearing fan feed back is not the way to take.And that brings us to X issue at the MvC3 .........

[Noble 6]

Flame, Thanks for the clarification on the new Dante, I can't defend that, that's bullcrap.

Sluggish you repeated my point. Are you surprised Capcom made sweeping changes without consulting fans? It's not exactly out of character. They aimed for a larger market, or at the very least let the director aim at the bigger market. Fanboys, or to be less perjorative, the hardcore and dedicated market, is a small one, they don't sell the most copies. That's why Star Trek got altered with the 2009 film, mainstream appeal because the dedicated fans numbered too little to justify another multi-million dollar sequel or TV series. That's why the old Mega Man Ruby Spears toon was so different. That's why Jar Jar was created. Videogames is no longer strictly the realm of geeks and basement dwellers, billions of people play them, a big investment requires a bigger return.

Mega Man suffers from a lack of mainstream appeal. For us to get another mainstram console release his appeal must be bigger. This is probably why L3 is coming to 3DS, to gauge his mainstream appeal in the modern market.

Fortunately I think with the right perspective and just a few minor tweaks, the X series probably has the most mainstream appeal and the recent X series attention is probably also testing the water.

[Phoebe Nocturne]

Noble 6 is saying a lot of the same things I've been trying to communicate to people in various fandoms for years. As fans, it's easy to say "but there's a lot of us who want things our way!"... but the fact is, there's usually a lot more people outside of the internet-bound fandom who might potentially buy the product if they do it another way.

There's two ways a series can usually go for the next installment. Either "it sold, so let's keep doing it that way", or "it's not selling anymore, let's do it another way." Mega Man X was created to appeal to the fans of the classic Mega Man that had outgrown the original demographic. They tried to keep doing classic Mega Man games, but most of the attention was focused on X while they gradually released Mega Man 6, 7 and 8. If I had to guess where marketing took them next, I'd say the Zero series was created to appeal to the hardcore X fans (also because Inafune was planning on ending the X series, which didn't happen because it was still selling), and the EXE series kind of became the new mass-market focus of the Mega Man IP.

With an example like Resident Evil 5, RE4 changed things around after four very similar games (including Code Veronica, which was supposed to be a numbered entry in the series). The formula was starting to get a little stale and interest was dropping off, so Capcom reinvented the series, and it sold wildly. Then, they pushed it even further in Resident Evil 5 and some dedicated fans felt it was weighing too heavily on the action side now. But it still sold, and several Resident Evil fans (myself included) had no problem with it. I'll admit, though, my favorite part of the game is the more-traditional-feeling Lost in Nightmares...

With Devil May Cry, I still think Capcom's sitting on ideas for Devil May Cry 5. DMC4 just didn't sell as well as they had hoped, though, so they might be trying to bring more people into the series and test the market.

[sluggish]

Noble 6, on 13 May 2011 - 01:52 PM, said:

Sluggish you repeated my point.

Which means we are at an agreement in that one

[Noble 6]

sluggish, on 13 May 2011 - 10:54 PM, said:

Which means we are at an agreement in that one

Lol, ok then.

EDIT: Just another thought I wanted to elaborate on:

Phoebe Nocturne, on 13 May 2011 - 02:39 PM, said:

[color="#9932CC"]Noble 6 is saying a lot of the same things I've been trying to communicate to people in various fandoms for years. As fans, it's easy to say "but there's a lot of us who want things our way!"... but the fact is, there's usually a lot more people outside of the internet-bound fandom who might potentially buy the product if they do it another way.

When you're as devoted to something as we are, it's hard to accept that there are good reasons for why something bad happens, because bad is relative. I made the point about the American public requiring entertainment be spoon-fed and while it is true for the most part, it's not exactly a bad thing either. We have so many options at our disposal for entertainment today that if something worth consuming isn't instantly accessible it is bad because most people don't have the time to spend. That's why most FPS games have very similar controls, that's also why there are so many of them out there, despite their similiarties, the genre is popular. So in the case of Resident Evil, while the whole "zombie movie" vibe was popular, if the controls were too complex to just pick up and play it didn't reach some people. So when they decided to reinvent for the next-gen they made it closer to other third-person shooter controls. Why else would the next RE game on the consoles be closer to Call of Duty and Left 4 Dead? That's what sells now.

Obviously, Mega Man in the incarnations we saw last in every series didn't sell or there would be more. Legends 3 was championed until someone caved, Legends 2 popularity is not what gave us 3, otherwise we would have had the game a decade ago. The "Greatest Hits" label is a way to sell unsold copies or make more money with little investment, it's not directly related to popularity, no matter what the name might suggest. That's why Nintendo is selling Wii Sports new as of yesterday and Twilight Princess for $20. 3 to 5 years after the initial release, more people own Wiis than they did at the time. Nintendo doesn't have to make a new game, but they slap a "Greatest Hit" on the label and sell for $20 and it's almost a pure profit investment.

The Mega Man franchise needs to do something to grab people for it to be sellable today. Probably why they're revisiting Legends. It finally evolved the concept into 3D. It did something that Legend of Zelda 64 was heralded for before it did it, the lock-on was in Legends 1 almost a year before! I firmly believe that modern action-adventure platformers like Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank drew inspiration from the Mega Man series and much of what they did in their first games on PS2 was in Legends 1 on the PS1 first!

I think Capcom is finally beginning to realize this to some extent, that's why RE: Operation Raccoon City is being co-developed in the West. I still believe that some people in CoJ have a feeling of ownership where it concerns Mega Man and they're afraid to let someone whom they feel "doesn't get it" (Americans) play with it. They know that we like Mega Man but I'd be willing to bet that they have no idea how devoted to its roots we are, because if they did, I would think they'd listen to us more.

This post has been edited by Noble 6: 16 May 2011 - 05:02 PM

[Dr. Regal]

Capcom did not present MegaMan Legends 3 at E3 as reported at the MegaMan Network. This is not a good sign. How can Capcom expect to bring in new fans when they do not inform them of the product? This is very poor marketing.

[thewhat?]

Dr. Regal, on 12 June 2011 - 09:10 AM, said:

Capcom did not present MegaMan Legends 3 at E3 as reported at the MegaMan Network. This is not a good sign. How can Capcom expect to bring in new fans when they do not inform them of the product? This is very poor marketing.

People who go to E3 are hardcore gamers,and hardcore gamers are mostly aware of MML3. They never put good marketing on MM games to begin with. Capcom seems to send MML3 to doom 'cause it has got RPG elements and everything,it's almost like if they don't want to do MML3(hence the Prototype Version,in 3DS and it not being at E3) and just want to move to something else,coming with the excuse of poor sales when they settled MML3 in the worst situation possible.

[TheDoctor]

I think that if Legends 3 ends up not being made; then, and only then, would it be time for Capcom and Mega Man to part ways.

[Flame]

It is more likely they are saving it for events like Comic Con and PAX, which are more fan oriented, while E3 is more oriented towards industry.

E3 is to show off big projects, while MML3 is a smaller project geared more at the fans who have requested it for over 10 years than the industry as a whole. this isnt their next big game, like Nintendo with their Zelda game and new console. This isnt a big announcement either, since it has already been known. Theya re likely to save the prototype for those fan oriented events where mega man fans are more likely to attend.

also, read.

http://www.themmnetw...bsence-from-e3/

[Edge]

What Capcom should do if they cant handle the Megaman series is give it to someone who can.
Comcept.