One of the best ways to ensure a certain level of success in the video game industry is to go and create a character that becomes iconic. If you’re able to do that and not paint the character into a corner within their titles, you could develop many games featuring them, and gamers would love to play them every time. All the main publishers out there have characters that fit into this mold, and for Capcom, one of their gaming icons is Mega Man. The “Blue Bomber” has been around since the NES days of gaming and continues to be a character that people talk about with awe and reverence.
The irony, however, is that despite all the love for the character, Capcom hasn’t made a new title in his franchise since the 11th mainline entry back in 2018. That game was a success, and yet Capcom didn’t follow it up. Why is that? At an investors meeting, the company had this to say about the IPs’ future:
In other words, they do want to keep making games for Mega Man, but they just have nothing to announce yet. You might recall that after his last new game, Capcom went and focused on the collections for one of his other series, which also did well by all accounts.
However, collections can only go so far, and people want to see something new. The last game featured new mechanics and even upgraded the graphics to far beyond what they’ve been in the past while still honoring the original style.
With consoles being as powerful as they are, there’s no reason that Capcom can’t push things even further and deliver a unique experience. Plus, as the above tweet picture shows, there are numerous versions of Mega Man that they can build off of. They can continue the adventures of the OG character, dive back into the X era, or even bring back Zero, and the list goes on. Heck, if they really wanted to make fans happy, they could try and make the third game in the Legends saga, as that game ended on a cliffhanger that fans have been fuming about for decades!
In fact, they could do a remake/remaster of the first two entries in that series to build up hype and then drop the third one to help finish it off. That’s perfect symmetry right there. Or, if they feel something “fresh” is required, they could create yet another new version of Mega Man. The ball is truly in their court.