This magazine scan fooled me just as Hulk fooled me in the Infinity War trailer. Those who know will understand.
Mega Man 11 came out, and many people have been playing and finishing—in less than a day, even—this game that we waited years to see released.
The plain truth is that the franchise remained on hiatus for many years, receiving no new games or news, only collections that mostly fell far below the quality fans wanted.
I am not criticizing everything about the collections, but it is undeniable that the first two, which focused on the classic saga, were quite disappointing at launch. You can see that simply from the fact that they were divided into two parts and each released as a standalone game, with many titles missing, such as Mega Man & Bass, which is extremely important to the series' canon and was left out.
Are you really going to say you did not miss this duo's game?
Nevertheless, even with its ups and downs, a series of statements from Capcom itself makes us quite optimistic about the future of the series.
One is the statement that a new "Mega Man X" is being considered if Mega Man 11 is a commercial success. Judging by the reviews, it appears to be at least a success in terms of fan acceptance, although figures for digital and physical-unit sales, for example, remain secret.
This was stated by Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, one of the people responsible for Mega Man's return, during several interviews in Japan.
But What Can We Actually Expect? 🤔
Those familiar with the history of the sagas, as we have already explained here at Epic Play, know very well that the story contains several gaps: the hiatus between the classic saga and X, between X and the Zero saga, between Zero and ZX, between ZX and Legends, and so on. They are not explained directly, but through small pieces of information we gather over the course of these games and, in some cases, theories we end up having to create.
Remember that franchise spoilers follow.
And what happened to them?
- Classic Saga
I personally can no longer believe that, for now, Capcom will highlight the important moments connecting the series. The most we have had is the ending scene from the arcade game Mega Man: The Power Battle 2, where Dr. Wily mentions a project that we know would become Zero himself. So let us move on to more realistic possibilities for the games...
It was shocking to discover that Dr. Wily created Zero.
- Mega Man X9
Rockman X8 ends with a major cliffhanger for the next game, whose script apparently is already complete, since members of Capcom made it clear in some interviews that Mega Man X9 did not come out because of X8's low sales. That ultimately led to a remake of the first game in the series for PSP, but left us interested in knowing what happened to Axl, who does not appear in the Zero saga but "resurfaces" in Mega Man ZX, which takes place after the events of the Zero saga. We know only that his body was infected with the Sigma Virus, and there is still no connection explaining his true fate.
We know that the Sigma Virus entered Axl at the end of Mega Man X8, but what happened to Axl afterward and how he appears in Mega Man ZX is a mystery.
- Mega Man Zero
Another matter is the Zero saga. There are several theories that Zero did not actually die, but instead began wandering the Earth alone without his helmet (remember that this is not official, only a theory).
Was this really the end? Some theories suggest it was not.
- Mega Man ZX
And then there is the ZX saga, which ends with the betrayal of one of the government's leaders, used only in a post-credits scene to set up the third game in the saga... But it never came out.
This was a post-credits scene worthy of a Marvel film.
- Mega Man Legends (Rockman Dash in Japanese)
And there is no need even to mention the Legends saga, where Mega Man Legends 3 was cancelled. 😭
Volnutt went into space and did not return; Mega Man Legends 3 would have brought him back.
Furthermore, the overall saga presents itself as a major science-fiction story that, in a way, can be seen as criticism or even a warning about the main recent advances in robotics and the autonomy of technology surrounding modern human life, but I will leave that subject for another publication. Detroit: Become Human merely presented in a more adult way what Mega Man had been bringing to gamers for decades.
It is very likely that Capcom will release new "packaged collections," because there are good games in the saga that still have not been ported to this generation, such as the Mega Man World saga for Game Boy, the classic Mega Man arcade and racing games, the Mega Man Xtreme games for Game Boy, the Zero saga, ZX, and more. There is also the possibility of future remakes.
But these are only thoughts and theories based on the company's history. Since it has apparently become fashionable for companies to "listen" to fans, merely dreaming about continuations to some of the sagas is not enough, right?
With Mega Man 11, which had just come out at the time, the game came nowhere close to establishing a connection with the X saga. In fact, in terms of story, it is very much a "filler" game. If you have already played it and did not understand, or want to delve into the game's spoilers, I recommend this video.
In the worst-case scenario for the franchise's canon, Capcom will keep creating Mega Man filler stories forever.
