The Unseen Worlds of Mega Man Legends
I think it’s fair to say that Mega Man Legends was pretty ambitious for its time. It was an all new series that departed greatly from what many people recognized as Mega Man then. It was also Mega Man’s first step into a 3D adventure, a game design that still had a lot of unexplored territory. Of course before things could jump to 3D, they had to be plotted out in 2D by artists and planners.
Above is Mega Man Legends‘ Apple Market. On the left is a concept design, and on the right is what we got in the game. Quite a disparity, but understandable given the technological limitations of the day. Furthermore, the concept art isn’t simply to picture something for a game, but also something to draw ideas from and help flesh out a world. Plenty of material like this is made, creating the world we see in Mega Man Legends, as well as the world we don’t see!
Since it’s a holiday, let’s sit back and have fun taking a look at these concepts after the break. Just a warning, however, it’s pretty image intensive!
Here’s Apple Market again, for you to view in larger size. Next to it is a scene from Apple Market’s back alley, seemingly between the market and Downtown. I don’t believe this is an area that made it into the game. Playing Mega Man Legends I always got the sense the town on Kattelox was like a 1950s, TV sitcom middle American town. But these concepts give the air of something more warm and less modernized. There’s a very European feel to the layout and detail.
A concept design on a main street in Downtown. Again, a very European style environment with the clocktower and double decker bus and such. I really like the small details, like the umbrella tables out on the sidewalk.
More of Downtown; here we have a rough concept of a residential district. This looks a bit closer to what we got in the game, with its flat-sided buildings and equal areas segmented by streets. Again, keep in mind this art doesn’t represent what they tried to make the game look like, just what they imagined it could be like.
Speaking of residential, although Downtown is full of houses you don’t get to go into any of them. But that doesn’t mean the planners didn’t conjure up what they would look like on the inside. Of course, this style of open floor design made its way into Battle Network and Star Force as well. This looks like it could be out of one of those titles.
More of Downtown. It’s got such a quaint and organic feel to it. Though I guess it would be a little odd for people to create such a town with the limited resources on a small island like Kattelox. But who knows?
Moving to Uptown, we have the hospital and art museum. The text on the hospital notes that the rounded structure on top could be made larger, and resemble a syringe. They really went full blown with that concept in the final design in the game. Meanwhile, it seems the art museum originally started out as a general museum, and was a bit larger. It even would have had a planetarium at the top. It makes me wonder what thoughts they’d have on space, considering things like rockets and space travel are very fanciful concepts here; the stuff of myths.
Of course, surface-dwelling society is just one side of the Legends world. There’s also an entirely different world beneath the ground.
Here are some of the earlier concepts for underground ruins. They were definitely running with more of a mechanical theme, and come off more like the insides of a factory or a battleship, with all the pipes, ladders, grates and such. I suppose they have a bit of spookiness, but they don’t command the kind of awe you’d expect when uncovering an ancient and advanced civilization.
Here the design is starting to get closer to what was found in the game, at least in consideration of the sub areas that connect the major ruins. The notes indicate a yellow colored water or some other type of strange liquid flowing beneath. Hrm.
I really love this image. This is definitely starting to get closer to the kind of weird and awe-inspiring elements the ruins ought to have. The strange mechanical pillars are really cool.
Now the concepts are much closer to what we see in the game, with greater emphasis on an advanced and polished look with repetition of geometric shapes. And of course the trademark red Reaverbot eye. The top image is pretty interesting; it was conceived as a life support system room for a boss, centered around a shielded monolith which presumably has its own defense system. The second image is of a reactor room, which would eventually translate into the room where the treasured Refractor rests. The last room is a control room. I can see these becoming the control center found in the Clozer Woods Sub-gate. But you really have to marvel at what this thing is with its floating clockwork and eye. Is it a building or a Reaverbot?
The last images we’ll look at leave Kattelox entirely. These images are intended to conceive what kind of world all these events take place in. This is the most fanciful stuff, which is of course why I saved it for last!
First we have what appears to be concepts for a home for the Caskett family. On the left is a castle-style home. There is a place for the Flutter to moor in the space between the home and the windmill (which is partially cut off). On the right is a factory-style home. Here Roll appears to be gazing out the window while bathing. I guess maybe she’s not actually that shy. Since the Flutter itself is a flying house, I never before imagined MegaMan, Roll and Barrel having an actual home somewhere in the world. But it’s certainly possible they would have a piece of land staked out for themselves; it would be tiresome to always be flying around.
Here is a concept for a typical city. It appears that as the city grew, they just kept making buildings over buildings. That’s perhaps why it’s such an interesting combination of houses and factories. I think there’s even a cannon in there!
A city suspended in the air, constructed on an enormous brace. Possibly something left behind by the people who came before. Notes indicate it looks like it once may have been a veritable paradise, but has now fallen into disrepair.
An underwater city; assuredly not in present use. Considering Mega Man Legends takes place in a time where the world has been largely flooded, these types of submerged cities ought to be all over the place.
This is not so much a city but one of the first takes on designing ancient ruins. Surrounding it are mountains of wreckage presumably that remain from whatever form of society may have once been present. A little depressing to look at.
And again, saving the very best for last. This impressive image is really what inspired me to put this article together. A depiction of the general world, these cities built atop enormous cogs suspended in the air seems almost too fanciful for what we’re used to from the games. Then again, if a place like this truly exists in the world, it’s understandable how air travel would have become so prevalent. This image simply adds so much more mystery and awe to what we already have seen from Mega Man Legends. I love it.
Taking all this in, it really feels like the games have only shown us a shred of the bewildering world the Legends series takes place in. It also makes me wonder what kind of fascinating stuff we’ll witness in Mega Man Legends 3. I do know one thing, though. Recall that I began the article commenting how the technology didn’t allow the game match the detailed and expressive landscapes the designers envisioned. Looking at what we’ve seen from Legends 3 so far, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue any longer!
All of the artwork from in this article is featured in the Rockman DASH Capcom Official Concept Document Great Adventure Guide (ロックマンDASHカプコン公式設定資料集大冒険ガイド). Many thanks to AWD! for scanning it for me to show off.
Tags: Artwork, concept art, design, images, Mega Man Legends, Rockman DASH, world
Filed under: Editorials
From the concept art alone, you can tell that the devs really wanted to change the feel of Megaman in order to introduce the franchise to a new age of gamers.
Thank you very much for this excellent view.
Boy, do I hope that the book this art came from makes it here stateside. Udon, here’s your next project!
It’s magnificent! Everything on here screams out that they were growing idea after idea after idea truly wonderful! thx for sharing!!!
This is fantastic! Thank you for putting this together.
It seems as though the concept of the museum lady being hot was there from the beginning.
Truly awesome article… thanks for the share.
One might look the Legends so be more shallow than the other series, but it has just as more potential as the others, if not more.
MML was really missing out on the underwater stuff.
Great article! I just wish a “complete work” art book would come out for this like they did the other series. Yeah, I know they got something like that in Japan, but that means it’s not easy to pick up on the western side. Maybe with Legends 3, we can get one here….?
This artwork is amazing.. I guess some would call it a little steam punk, but from the concept art I gather Legends is, instead, a realistic world of lush and cultural lands grown and developed after a post-apocalyptic event.
I really love what the artists did. Too bad they didn’t have more time with the original games to convey this type of world, rather than to be left with a market place that has carpet flooring….
Professor Data is awesome.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I think were looking at the game of the year! ^^
All of these are absolutely breath-taking, and influential.
If UDON ever does do a Legends Complete Works, I want these to be included as well. There’s several Legends art books out there, and I would love all of them to be compiled into a single Complete Works book.
Wasn’t that house interior design reused for the house interior the servbots ransack in the city area of TMoTB?
Woah, Prototype Curator! I’ve never seen a lot of these before. Heat, you rock, this is brill!
The European setting, emphasis on flying machines and steampunk atmosphere strengthens my impression that MML is inspired by Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Even that sketch of the industrial sector reminds me of the mines in the movie.
@Quint
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Yes, I think that’s what they used in The Misadventures of Tron Bonne.
Nice article, I’d like to add that some of the vision the developers had for Kattleox was probably used in Marvel vs Capcom 3, the Kattlelox stage there is really nice and detailed.
And I hope that MML3 would utilize the European feel and inspiration. Because that Apple market concept? That’s my ideal city market.
@Quint
Aw you beat me to the punch! Yeah, I can just see a small group of Servbots running in there and looting. Always loved how that one immediately goes in and watches TV while the others work.
@Dashe: The real sad thing is I’ve been sitting on this for a short while. :> I’m pretty surprised this stuff hasn’t gotten out by now. I’ll have to put together more.
I FOUND WILY’S PIPE!!!!! In the picture of a typical city which is mostly green, the pipe is near the top-left corner on a building. Interesting how even that carried over to Legends, even in concept alone….
These are…very very awesome. I’ve actually been thinking a bit about some of the stuff in the Legends world that we haven’t seen…That cog city in particular is pretty interesting.
One random thing I thought was funny, in the ruins concept page with Professor Data. The screenshot in the top right with the Reaverbot…doesn’t it look…friendly? It looks like a random NPC that Mega Man is just walking up to talk too. I am intrigued by that for some reason…
In the most recent screen shot posted, unless you can ACTUALLY Climb into that empty space created by metal beam on the bakery builing of the left, otherwise, it would just be legend 2 with better graphic, new story and feature
…but i guess I am expecting too much
@Lumine: That looks like that is sort of the point, given the platform that juts out and the boxes you would need to break in order to continue. But that’s just my opinion on it.
I admit alot of creativity was pumped out during the 32 bit era, considering how much I hated the graphics back then. Thanks in no small part to Final Fantasy VII and Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver I was able to develop a love for the3D genre of adventure games which of course included Legends.
It always amazes me how big the scope was for the minds that werebehind that era of gaming. While the artwork isn’t any better than it is now, it has a destinct flavor all its own. To think the artists who were onboard likely knew most of what they made would likely not be seen in game makes it somehow very special.. like an easter egg.
@Heat: You’d be surprised at how small the number of people who speak even a little Japanese is in this fandom. Or maybe you wouldn’t, you’ve been doing this for a while. Either that or they all just pick boards other than mine to do their Japanese translating in.
I do remember MLT nabbing an artbook and scanning it in once, but I never got around to actually looking through the whole thing, and as far as I knew there wasn’t anybody around at the time who could really translate it anyway.
The cog city reminds me of Giga City…
very kool!
your getting quite some publicity on the devroom =p congratz haha
hey everyone cobeoe here big mega man fan especially mega man legends. just thought i’d offer something for mega man legends 3 lie the new character Barret he like protoman (blues in japan) why not give him protoman’s a shield as well from classic mega man i think it would be awesome. Also for mega man while they work on the main game they give his charge buster like in the other mega man games and give special moves when he beats a major boss like in mega man classic and give him new armor modes like in battle network. legends mega man heat guts style.
the concept art’s are awesome looks totally different from the game it self. it reminds me of some of Hayao Miyazaki’s films
A lot of the architecture reminds me of One Piece (which is probably derivative of Miyazaki).
Too bad Legends 3 was cancelled. But hey, from all of this artwork I wouldn’t mind a Legends reboot, as much as I love everything built up so far.
I would love to see CattleOx Island in a Just Cause type of massive map. With all of the appropriate Megaman fixin’s of course
The gear works planet is very much like MegaMan 8 in my eyes, the world with the clown for instance. Bioshock Infinite might have a pretty good go at the concept.