Mega Man 10 Skeptics

There's an article on IGN about Mega Man 10 being in 8-bit. Apparently, I'm not the only one disappointed in the next game being in that style, but I'm almost surprised there is anyone else who feels the same way.

I certainly don't hate the idea of a new 8-bit game. I know the series will deliver on that level, and I agree with Keiji Inafune that there are still a lot of avenues to explore in the 8-bit direction. Inafune seemed to hint to me in the live stream, that more 8-bit games were on the way until he had gotten what he wanted out of them creatively.

There's nothing wrong with 8-bit gaming, and Mega Man is one of the best examples of this, and I know I'll have my copy on day one of Mega Man 10. That said, Mega Man isn't only good in 8-bits.

Let's ignore the X series for a moment, as that series can demonstrate my point, but does feature a lot of different tweaks. Most people consider Mega Man 7 and 8 to be terrible games, it's almost a matter of fact, but were they bad because of the graphics? The enlarged sprites of Mega Man 7 might have caused it to suffer in quality, but I think that's more poor design with the art that affected gameplay, more than the art itself. Mega Man 8 has a lot more screen real-estate, but gets more flack for terrible cutscenes mostly.

Mega Man and Bass, or more specifically, Rockman and Forte, however, both have widespread praise from fans who have played it. Here's a Mega Man game, not in 8-bit, that has some fantastic gameplay (though so god damned hard), although even this game feels a bit slower than the 8-bit games.

I think the concern is not that Mega Man 10 will suffer in quality itself. I thoroughly believe that a great deal of Capcom, and definitely Inafune himself, are a lot more passionate with the Mega Man franchise than they've been in a long time, which is great news for us fans all across the board. Mega Man 10, and I personally think a great deal of new Mega Man games coming in the future, will be great games, and have more polish than some of the older titles.

Yes, Operation Shooting Star seems like a money grubbing attempt, but I believe Capcom was testing the waters for a Battle Network revival more than anything. It might be somewhat apologetic, but I think Operation Shooting Star isn't for most of us who have already played those games, but for people that missed it, but it still is telling of a quality Capcom has continued to plague its company with since day one. Rehashing the same games over and over.

The so called "8-bit skeptics," are afraid of the series getting really stagnate again. The article cites all six classic games as being great, and they are, but the series really starts declining after Mega Man 3. Mega Man, despite his copy ability, has the worst time adapting to the times.

Think about it, the last true blue console game for the entire franchise was Mega Man X8, almost 6 years ago. Since then, we've seen the blue bomber find a home on hand held consoles, and not even trying the home console market, until Mega Man 9, which definitely doesn't have more power into it than a Game Boy Advance, or a Nintendo DS. What the skeptics are worried about is Capcom getting too comfortable, and releasing another Mega Man 4, or 5, or 6, or X3, or Battle Network 4, or 5, or even Star Force 1, 2, and 3 (let's face it, those games aren't even close to using the Nintendo DS's full capabilities).

On top of this, it seems to me Inafune wants to create another series out of Mega Man, which in and of itself isn't bad, but it certianly takes development away from the series we like. The fans at MegaManX9.com surely would like another X game. Fans everywhere are asking for a new ZX game, and even Star Force has its supporters. And we won't even talk about the Legends' fans. If Powered Up 2 is a realistic, near future game as Inafune said, even that takes resources away from other series.

I know I personally just want to see Mega Man live up to his potential, rather than play it safe. I want the Mega Man series up there competing with Mario and Zelda in sales numbers. According the the list of best selling franchises on wikipedia, Mega Man is number 35, sitting behind things like Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Harry Potter and a bunch more. Mega Man straight up has more games than any of those franchises, and it should be higher on the list, but it isn't, because Mega Man almost never innovates.

Take a franchise like Sonic, which pretty much hasn't been good since the genesis, and it's out sold Mega Man like hot cakes. That's because Sonic tried a lot of different things, yeah some of them were really stupid, but enough worked to pull in crowds.

I'm not saying I want to see Mega Man selling out to make money (but lets be honest, how is 125 games that are mostly fluff, not selling out already?). When the word "new" comes in contact with Mega Man design, people immediately think of X7 and get worried, but I think X7 failed because it was a rushed out, impassioned, poorly tested, piece of shit, not because it was 3D.

Mega Man 4, 5 and 6 may be "pure," but they are just rehashes of old formulas. 9 and 10 are better games, not because they have old graphics, but just because they are fucking designed better! It doesn't matter what the game looks like, so long as it plays well, but on the same token, there isn't any reason the game can't look great too! While I'm excited for Mega Man 10, this is why I don't want another 8-bit game.