The Making of an Old Man
Old man “Mega Man,” featured as a playable character in Street Fighter X Tekken, is perhaps old news by now. The game is out, jokes were made, and, barring any kind of return in future games, the curtain has closed. But that doesn’t mean Mega Man’s stomach isn’t still poking out a little.
We’ve heard the story numerous times now; Ono presenting Mega Man for inclusion in SFXT, and Keiji Inafune turning it down (when he still worked at the company), inviting the designers to come up with something more unique. That may have told the story of why, but it didn’t speak much on the story of how.
Coming from the Street Fighter X Tekken Artworks book, we have a look at the concept and developmental process of Mega Man. A variety of of styles, and even series, were considered in the conception, and some may really surprise you.
Hit the break for bizarre concept art goodness!
We start here with the “end result.” This is the concept they settled on when making the game’s character. As much flack as super-sized Mega Man has gotten, I always thought he had an inviting face, in a sort of unrefined way.
Here we have Mega Man at more angles than you probably ever wished to see him from. To the right, I guess is how his outfit is supposed to look before it’s stretched out all over his body?
Here we have some concepts of Roll. Not sure who she’s fooling with that broom, she doesn’t seem like the cleaning type in the game.
Here we start getting into the unused stuff. This image contains a variety of outfit patterns that were being considered.
It looks like the “M” design almost made the cut. I do kind of wish they’d went with it.
Here’s a take using Mega Man’s traditional appearance as a base.
More classic Mega Mans, or at least other fighting game characters dressing as Mega Man? Not really sure where this concept was going. I wonder if Pac-Man has similar, muscle bound designs?
Here is bad box art Mega and Roll looking as they might have from their prime. Doesn’t look too bad, actually! I wonder what the reaction would have been with these designs.
Now this one is interesting. Here we have a younger, teenaged Mega Man, wearing his outfit like a hoodie. No idea what the inspiration here was.
And this… I guess is a more anime-ish take on Mega Man and Roll? He still has “M” on his clothes and all. This looks like it could be a totally new series.
SIBLINGS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO HOLD EACH OTHER THAT WAY.
This is by far the most weird one too me. A strange, old Nintendo Power-ish looking Mega Man who apparently his a tiny Roll on his shoulder like a sprite or conscience. This one also looks the most “American” to me.
And here I can only guess is what’s apparently Star Force Mega Man done up in bad box art style, with space glasses and everything. I guess Roll gets a unique design since she wasn’t really a part of that series.
That’s all, folks!
Many thanks to AWD! for providing the artwork scans!
Tags: Artwork, concept, Mega Man, Roll, Street Fighter X Tekken
Filed under: Editorials
Wow… some of those are kind of cool, actually. I especially like the “in their prime” version, though I’d rather he had a handgun there.
ALL of these drawings are awesome! Really, my biggest issue with him now that the game is released is how stubby his attacks seem, so a sleeker design would have helped, I guess.
The 1st Mega Man on the pic with 3 classic-colored ones looks like he’s straight out of the golden-age of comic books! So cool!
That blue haired one…
Hnnnnnnnnnnggggg–
This is the most amazing post I have ever seen in the history of anything ever… it’s… it’s all so beautiful. *_*
If Roll is supposed to be Megsy’s little angel sitting on his shoulder, I guess Yellow Devil would be sitting on his other shoulder.
The interesting part of all of this is that it shows wildly varying ideas of who mm is even to the illustrators and designers. The bulk of mm’s franchise rests w the limitation on graphics. Zelda has faced the same identity problem when moving from 2d to 3d. It’ll be very interesting to see how they move forward. Most fans at this point will be glad to see any kind of release on any platform- hint to Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. If Capcom is hoping for support financially, it could be a mutually benefitting deal for both. Afterall, I purchased a 3DS for MML3, which now plays the role of a paperweight.
More pictures of SFxT Roll! That will definitely help with the contest! Only a few days left…hmm….
Anyway I love this kind of stuff, I need to see more of this artbook! (I already have a Street Fighter artbook and a Mega Man artbook, so an artbook that combines the two, in a peculiar way, sounds fun!)
dem thighs
All of those designs are MUCH better than the one in SFxT
They could have gone with literally ANY of these. Any of them! And they went with the most ridiculous one they could manage. I’m starting to see why people considered him such a middle finger to the fanbase.
Even the ‘M’ version of the costume would have been preferable.
All those Rolls are hotness. Good stuff.
The In-their-prime Megaman design is the best, IMO. The musclebound Megaman actually resembles the proportions of his original sprites very much.
Dude the last one looks like something out of Kamen Rider or Super Sentai. Rad. <3
Nice drawing but the are all ugly. I rather Japan version for less muscle and normal looking robot/human. Roll is too dirty and unnatural. No wonder we, as men, are not hot. See ? We are ugly, aren’t we ? Why must women are hot and we are not ? THINK! Jeez!
Best. Thing. Ever.
Very amusing.
So Mega Man SFxTekken. Despite your harsh feedback when you were first revealed, we’ll let you off the hook, for now.
As for Mega now, he rather does have a fresh look to him than the constant “grr” face he had throughout the franchise. Good to see he has a smile on for a change.
And one has to wonder how that beer belly hasn’t gotten in the way of his routine, realistically, muscle-bounded beer bellies can’t happen!
I kinda wish some of the cool ones were used instead of abomination of thought man.
I really wish every one stud up and said F you Capcom when this horrible idea happened but no its some funny BS.
WHOA! All these designs are really cool. I still like BBA Mega. Why? Because he has a charm that is just… wow.
@Gaia: I already have forgiven BBA Mega. Only thing that should go is the beer belly. He needs to get to the gym.
*sigh* Out of all these, they just HAD to go with the old, fat one.
That pic of the blue haired MegaMan looks allot like the design i did for fun like a year or two ago.
Okay, I want a game/new series with the “prime” designs. Those look pretty sweet.
I love how he somehow has ab muscles outside of his gut, like E. Honda.
I heard somewhere that Mega and Roll are not actually siblings. Also this comes in in MMPU. Anyone know more about this little subject?
Okay, totally lovin’ emo hoodie teenage Mega Man.
@Servbot: They’re siblings in Classic and all(?) alternate continuities based on it; they’re not related in Legends, but SFxT-BBAMM seems to be part Legends. I’m not sure what was going on in MMPU on that subject. :/
Interesting, these are some neat concept art pieces alright.
…Is that Dan Hibiki dressing up as Bad Boxart MM in the third to last picture?
… *Fan spasm*
The “prime” design or the one in the middle of the image above it would have been so much better. Or even the X design.
I love the “in their prime” take, the “teenage” take, and the “anime” take.
Now Capcom: MAKE A GAME OUT OF THE “IN THEIR PRIME” TAKE! I’LL GIVE YOU ALL (well not all, I have to live too, y’know) MY MONEY!
the anime one looks very Kamille, but that teen one takes the cake as the best design on this page!!
The eighth concept pic from the top….THAT is simply awesome.
I just hope that the artbook makes it over here, hopefully through Udon.
Everything is Dan Hibiki.
I like the “in their prime” look. Those would be some pretty neat looks for a new game.
The one with the scarf is really badass
The “anime” style looks like ZX-styled NPC’s. As for the “bad box-art prime” look, Mega Man looks almost like he did in the actual bad box art. As for Roll in that one, she looks like a Vocaloid.
… Bad Boxart Mega Man in his prime would have been awesome.
I too like the “in his Prime look” If they made this a series I’d buy it. My only complaint is that he need to have the gun instead of the buster. BBA megaman uses a buster gun, not a buster arm cannon. Despite my love for the in his prime version, there is still something about the fat old man that appeal to me as well. He’s a very endearing character IMO.