As you sat in traffic jams, grilled hotdogs and celebrated the 4th of July, Keiji Inafune was busy announcing a brand new Kickstarter campaign. With Mighty No. 9 only two months away, the former Capcom developer has set his sights on a brand new target -- resurrecting Mega Man Legends.
Known as Red Ash: The Incredible Legend, Comcept hopes to raise at least $800,000 to fund a cartoony action game that resembles the short-lived 3D Mega Man adventures that hit the PlayStation in the late 1990s. The team assembles many of the key developers on both Mega Man Legends and The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, filling fans with a lot of hope for the quality of Red Ash.
But while all my friends were celebrating, I found myself a little concerned. Don't get me wrong, I hope this gets funded and I can't wait to give it a play, but where are they going to go from here? I can only imagine the next step will be to revive the Mega Man X series, which I'm sure a lot of people would get on board with. I worry, though. I fear this could all lead Inafune to Kickstart ...
Mega Man Soccer
Okay, maybe the day after the U.S. Women's National Team won the World Cup isn't the best time to trash on soccer, but this game was pretty bad. It's an admittedly great idea that just wasn't much fun to play. And it's not just me saying that, as Mega Man Soccer's reviews were middling at best. But even if you loved the 1994 oddity, we should still leave this soccer game in the past. Sports games have only gotten more complicated in the last 21 years, and there's nothing in Comcept's collective portfolio that suggests they could do Mega Man Soccer justice.
Mega Man: The Power Fighters
Pitched as a Mega Man fighting game, The Power Fighters was an arcade game that reduced Capcom's expertly crafted levels down to a single arena battle. While this may sound like a novelty, there are actually three iterations of this concept, including Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters in arcades and Rockman: Battle & Fighters on Neo Geo Pocket Color. I wouldn't be opposed to a boss rush mode that plays out similarly to The Power Fighters, but the last thing we need is another Mega Man fighting game.
Wily & Right no RockBoard: That's Paradise
We also don't need another Mega Man video game that mimics a board game. While Mega Man Monopoly sounds awesome, this game is anything but. Aside from the characters, this has almost nothing to do with Blue Bomber. This is also the first appearance of Reggae, Dr. Wily's robotic pet bird. Which is all the more reason to never speak of Wily & Right no RockBoard: That's Paradise ever again.
Super Adventure Rockman
One thing that has been consistent between both Red Ash and Mighty No. 9 is the want to turn it into more than a video game. The two Kickstarter projects have included anime shorts, which could send us down the dark path to Super Adventure Rockman. This was a Japan-only release that hit both PlayStation and Saturn. It's an interactive movie that occasionally turns into something of a first-person shooter. It's weird.
Mega Man: Battle & Chase
It was only a matter of time before we got to a kart racing game. Released in 1997, this clumsily developed cash-in proves how difficult it is to make a good racing game. Once again, the concept is full of promise, but it fails to come together in a game you would actually want to play. You will know things have gone too far when Mighty No. 9 gets a kart racing spin-off.
If Inafune absolutely must resurrect another franchise, maybe he should look away from Mega Man and towards Onimusha. Get rid of the tank controls and give Jean Reno a reason to wake up in the morning. Or, I don't know, maybe come up with some new ideas instead of mining nostalgia. Nah, I'm just kidding, bring on the Mega Man X kickstarter.
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