Street Fighter X Tekken’s Mega Man Planned with Inafune Well Before Everything Went to Hell
Apologies if the title seems a little melodramatic, but it’s the most concise way we could think of to sum up the Mega Man video game front in 2011. You know, following Inafune’s departure, the cancellation of Mega Man Universe, the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3, the character being ditched twice in two consecutive Marvel vs. Capcom releases, all that fun stuff.
Anyway, making this a separate post from this one, because we want to make sure as many of you see it as we can. You see, it would seem that the appearance of Bad Box Art Mega Man in Street Fighter X Tekken is not, among other things, a jab at former Capcom Producer Keiji Inafune. In fact, he actually helped to engineer it.
Thanks to a tip from MMN reader/commenter Alice Vulcan, we have the following statement taken from Street Fighter X Tekken Producer Yoshinori Ono’s Twitter account:
I consulted with Mr.Megaman(his name is Mr.I…) about it 1 years ago.Its result! ;D RT @kazuyafan94:Lovin Megaman inSFxTK!But why cover art
So, before Mega Man Legends 3 got the axe, before Mega Man Universe imploded… possibly even before Keiji Inafune had left the company, this idea was formed and apparently developed into what we have today.
(Edit: According to this post in the Ask Capcom forum, it was actually Inafune who suggested it in the first place.)
There is a saying that goes “tragedy plus time equals comedy.” And while opinions may differ as to what actually qualifies as a “tragedy” and whether any of the events of last year count, most will agree that those were not good. And maybe they do count as tragic, at least on a fandom scale.
Anyway, the point is this: In a way, the joke is kind of funny. Or at least, it would be, given the right timing and context (though we think they might have tried a little too hard; this is like a parody of a parody). Last year, before Legends 3 bought the farm? Maybe even before Universe, too? A lot more of us would probably be laughing.
Instead, following one letdown after another and with words from Capcom about the franchise’s future still fresh in our mind, this was the first big thing out of Capcom that we have seen regarding the Blue Bomber. For this to be the first thing you show us after promising how important Mega Man remains and speaking of plans for the 25th anniversary? It’s just like salt on an open wound.
Really, without some sort of context– some sort of better context– how could anyone expect any other kind of reaction?
The oddly out-of-place bio which references one of the aforementioned cancelled games also appears sloppy. Especially considering this is the second time Capcom has made this very mistake (albeit in reverse).
That all the other guest characters look more or less like outstanding representations of themselves/their franchises does not help, either. This is a joke which should probably have been saved for when the franchise once again appeared strong, rather than in some sort of dying throes.
So, we’ll just end this little bit of a rant here by telling Capcom “great joke, but you really need to work on your timing.”
Tags: Capcom, Mega Man, Mega Man Classic, Street Fighter X Tekken
Filed under: Mega Man News
It’s just bad timing, no matter how you look at it. It would have been better if they had announced something great planned for the anniversary. It also would have been better if they’d made BBA Megaman LOOK LIKE BBA Megaman.
They could have even made him look like a cool guy, just with bad clothes.
Plus, like others have said, they still should have at least been able to alter the plans a bit, even they had been made a year ago. If a comedian plans a joke about a dead dog, but then finds out the club owner’s beloved dog died the day before, would he really go on with the joke anyway, with the club owner sitting right there in the audience?
Just because it was planned before the cancellations doesn’t mean it’s still a good idea after the cancellations.
that being said, I’m at peace with this. I think that the SFxT team keeping BBAMM in the game is a jab at the suits at Capcom who caused the cancellations. It’s like “Yeah, Capcom. This is what you’re doing to Megaman. Stop it.”
“Calm down” is the worst thing you can say to a random stranger throwing a temper tantrum. “You don’t know me like that, bro.” It just makes it worse.
…..Fu*k
Alice: Regarding timing, as noted in the article, they had plenty of time to make the reveal, especially given they teased it at… what was it, Comic-Con 2010?
So waiting until the last minute… not their best move.
While this BBA Mega Man isn’t a slap-to-my face, I’m not gonna pretend every upset fan is upset for no reason. What I’ve been seeing is rudeness from folks who say, “Just quit your stupid whining already! We/You finally got Mega Man!”, and some individuals saying, “Capcom hates Mega Man and you know it!” Now some name calling is going on. Why? :/
@sinclair and Duckaiser:
Agreed! Mega Man and Pac-man NOT being on all consoles seems so pointless. Aren’t Mega Man 9 and 10 -along with some Pac-man games- on Xbox Live Arcade? My thoughts are, “BBA Mega Man has a respectful but unfitting Legends bio instead of being called a super robot.”. But still…All that aside, I would show him support by playing the Xbox 360 version (after release) had it included both he and Pac-man.
@sinclair:
Is your last sentence a reference to Zero’s “What am I fighting for?” o-o
Hey guys who wrote this article, this doesn’t explain why Ono gave BBA MM the Legends 3 backstory.
Who approved of it? This background of BBA is the BIGGEST Insult to the fans who were looking forward to Legends 3!!! SO MUCH RAGEEEEEEEE!!!!!
it just bothers me that everyone else is cool and likable, but Megaman is this fat loser for everyone to laugh at, but I guess it’ll make it sweeter to stomp people with him.
OK, this is barely relevant, but I’d just like to try and point out: very few fans are begging Capcom to make a new MM game out of elf-entitlement. It’s more “please prove that Megaman is an important brand outside of merch/still alive”.
On-topic: I wonder what SFxT-BBAMM was like back in 2010. Hopefully he didn’t look like a complete clod/had someone else’s backstory.
As much as I love that this is in the game, it’s still an absolutely brilliant troll by Capcom, especially with his profile description.
Problem, Mega Man fans?
It’s not like bio screw-ups haven’t happened before, anyway. Brawl’s trophies had a bunch of innacuracies. Also, in Cannon Spike, while Mega Man (classic) is playable, the manual has a picture of Volnutt instead. See, it happens. Hell, I’ve even seen a picture of X in an .EXE game manual. And, well..BBA MM certainly isn’t a robot. All I’m saying is, I still find this hillarious, but don’t take that as an insult if you’re offended by him.
Wait…if Inafune planned this before this game was first announced, then…Maybe GLaDOS’ was right after all.
tragedy+time=comedy could mean comedy=tragedy+time, which could lead to the statement which leads to the Paradox. If the statement is true, then it’s a lie, if the statement is false, then it’s a truth; which creates…….
…………You know what, I dunno anymore. But yeah, stop trying to be a bunch of jerks. You can complain about BBA MegaMan, but he’s there because SFxT was suppose to be a fighting game, and most fighting games are suppose to be hardcore. And yes, same to Pac-Man as well. He has an robotic armor, so what?
@Magitek: Yeah, they seem to be screwing some localization up really, REALLY bad. Like “Resident Evil: Revelaitons”. What is this, 1995, Capcom?
If his profile is intentional, they are definitely trolling though.
Capcom: “HURRR, LET’S TROLL OUR CUSTOMERS BY STILL NOT ACCEPTING THEIR DEMANDS FOR US TO APPOLOGIZE FOR OUR BLATANT STUPIDITY BY SENDING THEM A SHITTY AMERICAN MEGAMAN TO PLAY IN OUR JIVEY STREETFIGHER X TEKKEN GAME! LOLOLOLOLOLOLO”
Several Months Later…
Capcom: “LOLBANKRUPT!”
Seriously, I’m a honking psychic about this crap, so unless this is some form of a cruel apology, which clearly isn’t going their plummeting stocks any favors, just wait a few months and they might get their jive together.
But on the other hand, if they don’t, which is most likely what is going to happen to Capcom, we’ll all be laughing at the sight of Ryoma Niitsuma (which is apparently Japanese for JUDAS…) living in a box on the streets with his former employees as the head office of Capcom is nothin’ more than an abandoned, boarded-up warehouse where over 20 years of brilliance came to a tragically ironic end in the later century.
Seriously.
I have to admit, this is pretty funny, and when this all dies down it is going to be freaking hilarious. But now? Not a bright decision, Capcom. The end of the article puts it perfectly.
This looks terrible.
@Anonymous
That was beautiful. I also think you may be right about Capcom going bankrupt; Game Informer’s November issue did an article on Capcom and how their profits were taking nosedives, and of course their treatment of the Blue Bomber.
Karma’a a bitch, Capcom. If you don’t get your act together, then you’re just better off ending up like Midway and Acclaim, which don’t exist anymore,
this is horrible, this sucks, hopefully Capcom will cease to exist
i love it, is not the box art i remember but hey! is not bad, just wait and see
@Braito: No I’m not referring to Zero’s line. The quote “WHAT’S HE PLAYING AT?” is actually a phrase coined by Simon Furman during his time as writer for Marvel UK’s Transformers comic series and would be repeated various times throughout his career with Transformers along with other phrases that the fandom calls “Furmanisms”
A list of these phrases can be found in the following link:
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Furmanism
I hope he mistakes Heihachi for Dr. Wily. (Actually Heihachi is kind of what I imagine Dr. Wily would look like in that universe.)
BIG FU to Capcom!
@Munchy: It’s funny though. In the trailer, BBA Megsy was like jumping over Heihachi and it looked like a battle of Americanized Mega Man and Wily. XD
Am I crazy or did I see Megsy use an Ice Slasher? Guess he’ll have MM1 weapons.
Now that someone’s mentioned it, Mega Man vs Heihachi is actually pretty funny…Wily’s hair in the “bad box art” for 9 or 10 looks kinda like Heihachi’s…
This is absolutely hilarious. No one has any reason to be upset about this.
I appreciate Ono and Inafune for allowing BBA Megaman to fight in a fighting game, a very good one at that. Regardless of what happens, I like BBA Megaman. Period.
Now as far as the fighting goes, will Megaman win against Heihachi, or will Heihachi give Megaman the Mishima-style family treatment after Heihachi’s victory?
Only time will tell in Street Fighter X Tekken.
This joke was funny back when it was new,but when was that? 2008? Yeah…. Just like getting Rick Rolled now is REALLLLLY funny. -_-
It’s telling they had a whole year since Inafune’s leaving to reverse this decision and not only did they not do so, they proceeded to exacerbate it with a move (The MML Backstory) that’s ether complete malicious genius or utter stupidity (or worse, a mix of the two).
It’s a shame too, because Pac-man riding a wood robot sounds awesome.
@gutsman004
What the hell are you talking about, kid?
This has always been funny (a cringing face-palm sort of funny), ever since 1987.
I don’t know if this has been stated before, but in regards to the “digger” reference, I would like to point out BBA Mega Man’s cameo as a secret disk in ZX Advent. In this reference, the secret disk is a book filled with pictures of ancient or legendary heroes. But to that it notes:
“… but these heroes look more like coal miners in colorful outfits.”
I believe this could ACTUALLY be another reference to that, believe it or not.
^Ooh, now THAT’S a very interesting find there, OmegaMan!