There are a lot of dead franchises.
A LOT of dead video game franchises.
Sly Cooper, Star Fox, Rayman, Banjo Kazooie, F-Zero, Kid Icarus, Parappa, Etc.
All stuck in development limbo, waiting for sequels that will never come.
But the one demise that stings the most, to me at least, is of Mega Man.
Ok so actually the Mega Man franchise is made up of multiple different Mega Men.
(Each with their own series).
There’s the first Mega Man, where a young robot named Rock takes up the mantle.
(Often referred to as “Classic Mega Man”),
There’s the Mega Man set 100 years in the future (Mega Man X),
There’s the sequel series to Mega Man X which follows a major character from X
as the new protagonist, (Mega Man Zero) (my personal favorite),
There’s a sequel series to Mega Man Zero which is only two games (Mega Man ZX),
There’s the sequel series to that set on a flooded Earth where humanity is nearly extinct
(Mega Man Legends),
An alternate timeline Mega Man where the internet is turned into its own kind of digital plane
and Mega Man is like an electronic guy that only exists in the internet (Mega Man Battle Network),
A sequel to the alternate timeline which takes place in the future in which humanity lives
aboard a space station, and Mega Man takes the form of a young boy and an alien that can fuse to turn into
Mega Man. (Mega Man Star Force),
And that’s about it. Mostly. A lot of Mega Men. A lot of blue dudes. And some red ones.
(Mega Man 20th anniversary art with the protagonists of each series. From left to right: Zero,
[Mega Man Zero design], Volnutt [protagonist of Legends], MegaMan.Exe [protagonist of Battle Network],
The original Mega Man, the two selectable protagonists of ZX, Geo Stelar [protagonist of Star Force],
one of the protagonists of ZX Advent, [The second ZX game] and finally X [protagonist of Mega Man X.])
The goal for this post is mainly just to briefly go over
some of my favorite parts of the Mega Man franchise
and why exactly it’s sorely missed in the present day.
Part 1: The Art Of Mega Man
(Mega Man’s evolution.)
The original Mega Man art has a certain charm to it. The shading is a lot more flat. Mega Man himself starts
out a lot stockier and shorter, and he gradually gets taller and thinner.
In the games, his sprite remains basically the same throughout, with the exceptions of Mega Man 7, 8, and 11.
Basically the whole art direction of the Mega Man franchise can basically be said to have gone from
90’s Sunday morning cartoon to modern anime, even if a lot of the actual sprite work in most of the games stayed
pixelated and simple.
(Some of the Robot Masters.)
The Robot Masters in the classic Mega Man games are very fun and silly,
with them being named after various objects, elements and things.
(Fire Man, Quick Man, Sword Man, Air Man, Snake Man, etc.) The Robot Masters
are basically the minions of the main villain (Dr Wily) that Mega Man
has to defeat one by one before he can confront Wily.
(X’s evolution.)
Mega Man X has a lot of great art, with the series taking a grittier, more mature direction.
Instead of Robot Masters, the minions are called Mavericks and are animal themed.
(Storm Eagle, Chill Penguin, Flame Mammoth, etc)
(Some of the Mavericks from Mega Man X, with Sigma in the background.) (He’s not usually that big.)
Even though a lot of the artwork doesn’t translate directly to the sprites of the characters,
the detailed designs give them a lot of personality.
(Zero’s design in the Mega Man X series.)
The character of Zero is also introduced in X.
He’s X’s buddy/mentor/foil. His design goes through some changes, starting a little bit short but gets taller and
thinner as the series goes on, much like the og Mega Man.
(Art for Mega Man Zero 3)
Zero gets his own series as a sequel to X, and this is where the art takes my favorite direction.
Lead concept artist Toru Nakayama adds a very mechanical sci-fi look and feel to the series, and is the most
detailed and complex it gets. Zero actually gets a major redesign, which I like a lot. (He’s just so cool.)
(Art for Mega Man Zero 1)
(Sprites from the cutscenes of Mega Man Zero 2 and 3)
(Art for Mega Man Battle Network) .
Mega Man Battle Network takes a more bubbly and bright approach.
Since most of the fighting and conflict happens in the internet world, the designs of the enemies and the villains are
a lot less mechanical and more electronicy if that makes sense.
They’re a lot more streamlined and simple. This iteration of Mega Man gets some yellow accents which I like.
(Art for Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection.)
Star Force has pretty much the same style as Battle Network.
To basically sum it all up, Mega Man goes from simple looking cartoon characters to like full on anime mode
and it’s pretty insane just how much it changes. I love that it just goes so far.
Part 2: The Story
The entire lore of Mega Man would take quite literally FOREVER to spell out and would need to be its own post
but the main thing I like about the story is also how it evolves and continues from series to series.
I’m going to try my best to sum it all up so here goes:
Mega Man Classic is just the og Mega Man fighting an evil doctor inventor guy over and over again for 11 games. (Dr. Wily)
Mega Man X is 100 years in the future where a more advanced version of Mega Man named X who was made by
the same guy who made the og Mega Man (Dr. Light) has taken the place of his predecessor and has allied with the
parallel creation of the evil doctor Wily, Zero.
They team up to fight the evil robot Sigma, who has a copy of Dr Wily's consciousness inside him.
Zero was originally meant to be the evil robot made by Wily and implanted with Wily’s consciousness but when Zero
“woke up” Wily's consciousness made him aggressive and he fought Sigma on sight.
Wily's consciousness transferred from Zero to Sigma in the fight and turned Sigma evil.
Sigma uses the virus of Wily's consciousness as his own kind of weapon that spreads to other robots and turns them
into evil guys. The conflict is grander in scale than Classic Mega Man in that the fight between X and Sigma isn’t
just one on one with a few minions thrown in but instead a full on war between Sigma’s huge army and basically
the entire rest of the world.
Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X: THE DAY of Σ OVA [HQ]
(I recommend watching this, an OVA made for the intro to a remake of the original Mega Man X.
It explains it better and also looks pretty cool)
Zero’s series set after Mega Man X retains the same scale and actually has a lot of lore and a self-contained story
that has a satisfying (if bittersweet) ending. It builds upon the lore of the first two series for a satisfying three series
long narrative arc. Mega Man Classic and X both have unfortunate cliff hangers and since there’s a time skip
between Classic to X there’s a lot of unknowns with those two. However, Zero fills in the gap between it and X
with an actual explanation of what happened in that time skip so the story feels even more grounded in the overall
arc of the franchise.
Mega Man Legends is set after Zero and ZX where the robots live on the Earth and the last humans live on a space
station orbiting Earth and humanity actually goes extinct in the end which is kind of sad???? So one of the timelines
ends with only the robots left alive stuck on a sunken Earth???? That sucks.
Battle Network and Star Force are their own timeline so I don’t really want to get into it.
Even if the full story is kind of confusing and complicated when viewed as a whole,
the way each series connects with each other makes it enjoyable and satisfying as a singular cohesive
narrative.
Part 3: Mega Man Is Cool As Fuck and He Kicks Ass With Determination.
Mega Man as a whole has a distinct kind of vibe to that no other franchise, video game or otherwise, seems to have.
What other franchise has the same kind of variety? Or structure? An interconnected narrative spanning seven series?
For me, one of the biggest parts of Mega Man’s success is its more grounded aspects.
Sure, when you look at it on the surface you see all these cartoony elements, but really, each individual Mega Man
goes through challenges and struggles. They fail just as much as they succeed. X starts out in his series
as unconfident and timid, even if that changes by the end. The OG Mega Man fails to keep Wily in line as he alwaysfinds a way to escape in the end. Zero makes huge personal sacrifices in his story as he fights against the evil Dr.
Weil.
Mega Man is a hero as much as the world around him is filled with challenges.
He is inspiring in all his incarnations in that he always tries, even if it ends in failure.
A lot of video games are power fantasies where you play as some sort of powerful being and swiftly take down all
the bad guys.
Mega Man is more exciting in that, even though he is a powerful robot, the world around him is filled with forces
and people much stronger than him.
What makes the Mega Man franchise forever endearing is its endless optimism.
That in the end, after all the battles are done, everything will be okay.
Mega Man is an icon of hope, perseverance, the strength and courage to keep fighting. Mega Man fails,
but always gets back up. The world of Mega Man is defined by conflict and battles, but also by the determination
to keep trying.
Which makes it all the more sad that there hasn’t been a new one in 8 YEARS. HELLO???
WHERE DID THEY GO!!! BRING THEM BACK!!!!
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