What if Mega Man Got a Bit Darker?
With the current uncertainty with where Mega Man will be going these days, there’s a good deal of speculation about an entirely new theme or style. So what if Mega Man got a bit more dark? A bit more “grown up” perhaps. Artist Edgar Gómez, aka Van-der-Dot, takes a stab at that.
The Mega Man X picture, done late last year, is an easily understandable gritty take on the already “serious” X series. The more recent picture to the right is of the original six Robot Masters reimagined. Rather than “gritty,” these are straight up fantasy designs.
Making Mega Man is something a lot of fans have thought of (myself included), and I definitely think such a game could appeal big time to gamers. At the same time, however, I also think it’d really alienate the family friendly image Mega Man has, and its appeal to all kinds of game players. Nevertheless, who knows what the future will hold?
Found via Game Trailers (thanks Liana!)
Tags: Artwork, dark, Fan Art, fantasy, Mega Man, Robot Masters
Filed under: Community Developments
Pretty awesome looking X
Sorry for going off-topic but did anybody see this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrsyPavWtHs&feature=plcp
Also to comment on the artwork, Megaman looks pretty radical, to say the least.
The same can’t be said about the robot masters though. Out of all six RMs, Cutman and Elecman have the most striking appearances, and that’s saying a lot given that the others all seem to be just fairly muscular men with different-colored skin textures.
And why’s Bombman’s only decoration consist of a mohawk and a yellow plasma grenade?
No
no no no no no no no
There’s no need to make the franchise dark, we already have two series that are considered dark. Mega Man X is already dark, Mega Man Zero is even darker.
@BlazeHeatnix: That’s a little bit of an extreme reaction. But I think Act Zero is the poster child of melodramatic dark reboots because it really fits those traits common to rebooted material:
A) The subject material isn’t really fit at all for that kind of tone, which makes the juxtaposition between the old and new games completely absurd. So yes, the plot and tone are large parts of why fans hate it when companies attempt this.
B) Due to this, the game alienates old fans, puts off new fans, and sells horrifically.
Now, there are some variations to this rule, but many things that have followed suit tend to follow a similar pattern.
See also Final Fight Streetwise, which ended with the disbanding of the Capcom studio who made it despite their awesome work on Maximo.
Not to mention Shadow the Hedgehog, which is slightly different in that it sold decently due to it having the words “_____ the Hedgehog” on the box, but it was abhorred all the same.
And let’s not forget Ninja Gaiden 3, which abandoned the series tradition of competent, slicey action for an overwrought plot intended to make you think about the poor, defenseless death squad members who are butchered by Ryu. (I think this qualifies as a “grimdark reboot” because it was not only a lame attempt to “broaden the user base” but an attempt to contain a moving plot, both of which failed miserably.)
The thing all of these have in common is that they try to focus on the darkness of their stories over the actual substance of the games and are colossal failures for it.
Now I’m not saying something like that can’t be successful; the first couple of Silent Hill games are not great games in the traditional sense, but they’re loved anyway because the atmosphere and horror have carried them into many gamers’ hearts.
When you attach that idea to something with an established goofiness like a Sonic or a Final Fight, though… it tends to end in tears.
All this being said, I’ve ceased being emotionally attached to Capcom a while ago, and I’m morbidly curious as to how a Mega Man reboot in this vein would turn out. I’ve wanted a true Bad Box Art Mega Man game since Universe was announced.
What Capcom needs is a reboot of Megaman.
If it is classic hire Arc Work systems to let them make the awsome sprites and make this game 2D/2.5D with Mega action as we loved it in the 8bit era not dark or whatsoever. Konami did it with Hard Corps and they didn’t fail with it. This game should be on PSN/Xboxlive or maybe disc.
For MMX they should also try 2D/2.5 with animated sprites and more darker than classic. Hire Arc Work Systems for the animated sprites. We don’t need cell shaded polygon **** anymore.
3D only works for legends by the way IMO.
I’ve already had the idea. Have any of you read my ‘Neo-Soldier’ story in the forums?
I agree, it would become rather unfamiliar to make things too gritty.
I wish MegaMan was a bit darker. It can add some spice to the series. I think the classic series can use some darkness.
@Shinpachi: I was talking about the actual in-game artwork, not concept art. And yeah, as you can see from the colorful illustration of the original Transformers, I’m obviously not saying that Megaman should become some grimdark post-apocolyptic deathpool. I’m saying it should be colorful art tempered with slightly more serious design. The original in-game Megaman was more like the original Transformers or MLP Friendship is Magic, while the MMPU style that everybody seems to desire is more akin to Super Hero Squad or the My Little Pony cartoons post 80′s but pre Friendship is Magic. *shudder*
If they’d actually make him look like the slightly taller slimmer “modern” concept art then it’d be awesome, imo.
@Charge_Man: hmm… Maybe I’ll change my name to Sinder, since I see that there is another SLiDER here who submitted some cool art.
Anyway, in many of the intros, the cityscape is shown with explosions occurring all over the skyscrapers and stuff. If Wily took them by surprise as he seems to be doing, they couldn’t have evacuated in time for EVERYBODY to escape harm. It’s the kind of mass-mayhem that would go over the head of a 7 year old, but not one a bit older, I think.
Yeah, I mean, I’m not saying Megaman should be like THIS artwork, but that it could use a bit more “Disney rated G darkness”, nowadays. I mean, Clayton from Tarzan accidentally hung himself on a vine, Ursula was impaled by a wooden beam. So it’s not like it’s all squeaky toys and balloons.
I’m not saying it should be gritty blood death gore and all that. I’m merely saying they could take a TAD TEENY WEENY bit more of a serious tone than they did with MMPU. MMPU was way too bubbly compared to the original NES games.
And WHY are robots made of metal so FLOPPY!! Maybe it’s soft metal.. maybe that’s how Megaman is able to morph his hand into a gun… hmm…
Make them look metallic for goodness’ sake…
Honestly, though, I’d rather see a gritty reboot than a My Little Mega Pony… oh wai—
Also, about the Predaking comic: He may be a bit round and colorful, but that lion face is nothing less than sinister all the same. Kind of like the Lilo and Stitch aliens. Colorful and cute yet still menacing.
It kinda seems like a cliché thing to do.
I love that X picture though. Utterly fantastic!
thank you christopher nolan now look what you have done, first “let’s make batman more real life” and now x? this is the effect of his cause, now everyone wants to make everything more “realistic” and make us the fans mad and ruin it for everyone.
and the monsters look like creatures from resident evil tyrants, but the art is nice!
stop trying to bring fake stuff we enjoy into the real world and stop the reboots!