Interordi
Account
New topic
Reply
Doctacosa
Offline
QuoteAs we're closing down the decade, I thought it might be fun to reflect on the past ten years, Mega Man style, and define what single event we believe affected the series the most.
The first 12 years of the series saw the birth of Mega Man, one of the best known videogame icons; most of the run of the Original Series; the first steps of the X series; and the rise of the Legends period. It concluded with what I like the call the dark ages of the series: 1998-1999, with almost no new Mega Man games being worked on, which lead some of the community leaders to step down and move to other things.
In my opinion, here's what had the biggest impact on the series.
My pick: Mega Man Battle Network (1)
Like it or hate it, that game's release shaped the franchise like none other.
When the first screenshots for an odd game titled "Battle Network Rockman EXE" showed up on the web, many fans were skeptical. "What's this?" "RPG?" "But Mega Man's about action!" "Looks ugly." "THAT's Roll?!" and so on were the comments that you could hear at the time. As the release date approached, people talked about it, got excited, played the game... and the rest is history.
Being limited to handheld releases (outside of Network Transmission), most tend to underestimate the popularity of the Battle Network universe. Did you know that, in Japan, Rockman EXE 4 remains to this day the best-selling third party game on the GameBoy Advance? The series brought us many games, up to three a year, produced a TON of merchandise, an anime TV show, a movie, two different manga series, and even it's own spin-off series!! Not everyone liked Mega Man Battle Network (1), but you can't deny it's impact on the series as a whole.
Runner-up: The no-show of Mega Man Legends 3
We're in 1997. The PSX and N64 rule the market, the Sega Saturn is not doing so great, 3D amazes everyone and 2D gaming was being pushed out of the way. Capcom's response was to bring forth a new direction for the Mega Man series: Mega Man Legends. Fully 3D, featuring expressive characters and solid voice acting, this new game was ready to take over with a new generation of gamers. A spin-off and a sequel quickly followed, improving on the original in both gameplay and story. And then... nothing.
It's no secret that I'm not a fan of those games, but the lack of a Mega Man Legends 3 still feels surprising to me. The second game ended of a cliffhanger, and everything seemed to be set to continue for a long time in 3D, leaving 2D games to portable systems. This seemed like the logical path for the series to take, at least from the market's point of view. So, what happened?
Honorable mention: Inti Creates
These guys have done it all: they kept the original Mega Man gameplay style alive and well, pushed the plot further, released 8 games this decade, made at least 14 music albums... The core of the franchise now more-or-less lives with them, leaving other teams to take care of some sequels (X series, Battle Network and Star Force, ...).
On your end, what would you say marked this decade the most? Was it a specific game's release? Some event? Anything else? Tell us about your pick!
Note: I'm posting this in the Original Series forum as it is the birthplace of the entire franchise, yet, it almost didn't get any attention this decade... outside of Mega Man & Bass (GBA), Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10, of course!
The admin formerly known as Dr. Cossack.
Looking for me elsewhere? Maybe look at my Fediverse account for some more-or-less random postings! If you're a gamer, check out my Osmium profile. I'm building that tool!
