Are There Too Many Mega Man Sub-Series for a Proper Reboot?

With Mega Man‘s iffy status as of late, one idea frequently paraded around to anyone who will listen is that of simply rebooting the franchise; that is, starting over again from square one, and letting the world of Mega Man unfold before us once again.
But are there simply too many different series, their settings scattered across time and space to make that happen? Capcom USA Senior Vice President Christian Svensson weighed in on the idea with such thoughts on Capcom Unity’s Ask Capcom forum in a thread suggesting “How about a Reboot to the MM Legend Franchise into a new entry in the MM franchise“:

I (and probably I alone so please don’t ascribe said belief to “Capcom”) think one of the problems MM has had as a brand is that we’ve had too many competing splinter sub-brands within it. I’m not sure starting yet another is the way to get the franchise as a whole back on track more than creating greater brand confusion but we’ll take it under advisement.

It makes sense, in a way, with so many of the series tied together already; would a reboot of one mean they all need to be rebooted? Or can they stand well enough on their own despite what connections they may have?

On the other hand, one might also remember that Capcom did more or less try this once before with Mega Man Powered Up and Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X. When those came out, it was unclear to a number of fans what relation they had to the original versions and what was considered “canon,” including Time Man and Oil Man’s place in the great pantheon of Robot Master numbering, the fate of Dr. Cain, and Vile’s relation to Sigma. Were these meant to replace the original installments, or stand apart?

Of course, hindsight has more or less placed them apart, given there were no continuations. Maverick Hunter X assets manage to find their way into other Mega Man X material, though Mega Man and Roll from Powered Up seem to commonly be shown alongside their respective Classic counterparts, rather than in place of them.

What do you think? Should any of the series get a fresh start, or would it be more trouble than it’s worth?

Thanks for the tip, Trigger.EXE!

Source: EGM Now

Filed under...Mega Man

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