Capcom Keeps Going Full Square-Enix

[JadePharaoh]

So yeah. Apparently we need ANOTHER rerelease of Megaman 1-6. We got the Anniversary Collection back in '04. We got them released on Wii Virtual Console and PSN. We got them on the Wii U and 3DS Virtual Consoles. Now we need yet ANOTHER rerelease on the PS4, XBO, PC, and 3DS.

As I've been seeing, fan reaction has been one of disappointment, and this time I can't really blame them. A while back I talked at length about the fandom's attitude toward Capcom resulting from them cancelling Legends 3, now I feel like it has already gone back to everyone's problem with them before Legends-gate occurred; Capcom shamelessly milking the franchise for all it's worth. Rather than work on a new game, they take the easy road that requires the least amount of effort and do a compilation of MM1-6 instead. Note that at a glance, this is already an inferior version of the Anniversary Collection, which had those games plus MM7, 8, and the two arcade games for the first time on consoles (though I'll get more into that later).

If they're gonna make a compilation, why not bring back Megaman Mania? This was supposed to be released for the GBA alongside the Anniversary Collection. It would have been a compilation of MM1-5 for the GameBoy, redone with full-color graphics. Unfortunately, the release date for it kept getting pushed back, and pushed back, until it was quietly cancelled. Something like this would have been perfect for the 3DS, rather than just rehash the same games owners already bought on the Virtual Console!

This is really making me think of the ironically-named DarkStalkers Resurrection. A compilation of the second and third DarkStalkers games, it was released to a good deal of fanfare, but apparently sold poorly, most likely because a lot of fans were still angry at Capcom for cancelling Legends 3 and were actively boycotting them. Capcom looked at the sales figures and decided that demand for a DarkStalkers 4 just wasn't there. So I guess the only DarkStalkers-related goodness we can expect for awhile is the obligatory Morrigan guest spot in the mascot fighters.

The reason I mention that is because this looks to be shaping up to be the same scenario. Fans are already disappointed. If Capcom releases this and it sells poorly, they could come back and say "Sorry; guess demand for Megaman just isn't there anymore... We tried but I guess you just didn't want it..." Capcom has been playing it very safe these last couple years. They have been playing it way TOO safe. I get it to an extent; they're not doing well financially and they're apparently poorly staffed. They no longer take risks on anything. They go the safe route with their biggest-name franchises at the moment; Street Fighter and Resident Evil in this case. They test the marketing waters for their other franchises by releasing ports/compilations of pre-existing games and use the sales from that to determine if an actual sequel is worth their time and money, rather than just do the sequel from the get-go. They're jumping on the mobile bandwagon, saying that and HD remakes are the future of gaming. And fans are growing more and more dissatisfied with them. Meanwhile, Nintendo has seen massive success with Splatoon, something totally new from them that is NOT based on a preexisting IP; something like this they probably could have just slapped a Mario skin over it to make it sell and call it a day (something they've done plenty of times before; in fact that's how Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. came to be), but they didn't. They took a risk on it and it payed off bigtime.

Now that my rant is done, I'm perhaps a massive hypocrite by saying that I probably still gonna buy the PC version of this when it comes out. Because 1) I'm weak, 2) I actually am glad to finally see an official PC version of these games come out and I hope to see MM9 and 10 come out on the PC also (they've been released on every other digital platform, so why not?), 3) I want to avoid the problem I mentioned above with DarkStalkers, and 4) I'm genuinely curious in seeing the quality of the compilation and its bonus features and compare it to the Anniversary Collection and the PSN rereleases. I was so hype when Anniversary Collection first came out, but the more I look back on it now, the more I feel it was a rushed and botched port. The development was outsourced to Atomic Planet, and they were kinda crappy. MM1-6 were the Complete Works versions of the games with compressed resolution and all of the bonus content from those games (bestiaries, boss rushes, and other assorted challenges) gutted, MM7 had massive slowdown and even had the ending removed because Atomic Planet didn't know how to emulate the Mode 7 properly, and MM8 suffered from horrible audio desync and Alvin-and-the-Chipmunk-esque voiceovers. Not to mention that the GameCube version flipped the controls with no way to change them ('A' button was shoot and 'B' button was jump; the complete opposite of the way it's been for years). Bonus features were minimal, a pretty small art gallery and either the first episode of the Ruby-Spears cartoon, a G4 special on the series, or the first episode of the Battle Network anime, depending on whether you got the PS2, GameCube, or X-Box version, respectively. Also, I hear the reason Megaman Mania was cancelled was because Atomic Planet lost the whole code partway through development. The PSN rereleases also used the Complete Works versions (rereleases of MM1-6 with a multitude of extras that were released for the PS1, but only in Japan), but didn't bother to translate it, so unless you know Japanese, good luck navigating the menus or enjoying any of that previously-mentioned bonus content.