Solar Man’s Art Contest Judging Yields a Most Curious Clue

If you’ve been following the Mega Man 10 art contests at the Capcom Unity, then you know that they have nearly reached the end of the road with the judging for Solar Man, which runs through the weekend, if I’m not mistaken.

But just because they’ve run out of Robot Masters for fans to render doesn’t mean the fun and games are over yet; next week is their mysterious “??? Event,” for which JGonzo says there is “no clue for you” before relenting and offering “a tiny hint.”

Prior to the announcement of Bass as the “downloadable” (yeah, yeah, I know) third character, fans had considered this heroic hulk as another possible contender for playability, particularly in light of the game’s Japanese subtitle, “Threat from Outer Space!!” That just leaves us with the question of whether this is simply a fun opportunity for fans to cut loose, or if perhaps there is more to come in Mega Man 10 than we were led to believe.

Mega Man 10 Releases for PlayStation 3 Today

Hey PlayStation owners in North America and Europe. You may be freaking out over the announcements for the Sony Move, but don’t forget that Mega Man 10 is coming on the PlayStation Network today. The game will run you a scant $9.99, and deliver plenty of retro action love.

Price Glitch Affects UDON Books, but Should Be Cleared Up Soon

Last weekend, Amazon and other online book retailers began offering books like Mega Man Official Complete Works for the cutthroat price of $14.99. A pretty good deal, but not a deal that was intended to happen. And while Amazon honored the orders at first, it seems that may not be the case anymore. Staffer Maverick-Jin was e-mailed this morning by Amazon to be told his order for Mega Man Megamix Vol. 1 and Mega Man Official Complete Works was canceled, citing lack of stock and offering him a $25 gift card for the trouble. And sure enough, only stock from Amazon’s third party sellers is available as of now.

We inquired to UDON Entertainment’s Matt Moylan as to the situation, and here is what he tells us. First of all, Matt assures that the books are not out of stock, and they still have a few months supply of both MM and MMX Official Complete Works, as well as Megamix Vol. 1. The source of the problem appears to be with the distributor, Diamond Distributors. Once this glitch had been realized, Amazon put a hold on all products managed by Diamond, which besides UDON includes publishers such as Marvel and Dark Horse. While UDON has no control over the matter, Matt suspects the issue will be worked out in the next couple of days, and asks for the patience of us fans.

Additionally, Matt also offered up some good news. Mega Man Zero Official Complete Works will be going back into print, and should arrive starting the first week of May, so those who may have missed the chance to grab it will get a new one. It sounds like there’s strong demand for Mega Man artbooks and comics!

As always, much thanks to Matt and UDON for the heads up.

Rockman 10 DLC Scheduled for Japan

The launch dates for Rockman 10’s downloadable content has been revealed, and continuing the trend they’re getting the goods slightly after us. At least according to an information page from the Wii, Forte Mode and and Special Stage 1 will be available on April 9th, Friday, while Endless Attack Mode and Special Stages 2 and 3 will be available on April 27th, Tuesday. Price points will be roughly the same as we’re getting.

News Credit: Rockmegaman, via Dark Messiah Blog

Capcom Reveals English Bass Trailer, is Taking Questions

A few days ago, we brought you the Japanese trailer which shows off Rockman’s rival, Forte, kicking ‘bot and taking names as only he can in the special downloadable content for Rockman 10.

And now, thanks to Capcom Unity, there is an English version of Bass breaking the walls down in Mega Man 10. It’s the same trailer, only now you don’t have to be able to read Japanese in order to understand it:

JGonzo of Capcom adds “I can tell you, playing as Bass requires a slight shift in strategy. Got any questions about playing as him in the game? Leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them!”

If you’re into that, then head right over here and leave your Q’s, and maybe they’ll be A’d. And yes, I’ve already left one asking if he’ll have a story included.

Pictures Aplenty from Mega Man 10’s Launch Party at the Nintendo World Store

Last week, we reported that Capcom and Nintendo would be celebrating the March 1st WiiWare release of Mega Man 10 after-the-fact at the Nintendo World Store at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. Of course, save for the most devoted (with plenty of spare cash and the ability to make long road-trips on short notice), there were about 49 states and such that were left out of the festivities.

However, there were some Mega Fans who managed to make the pilgrimage, and lucky for us, they took pictures of themselves adorned in Mega Man 10 t-shirts, holding up Sheep Man plushies, and of course, playing the game. For a greater look at how things went down, visit this post at Capcom Unity.

Those who had their pictures posted even received a Mega Man prize from Capcom, their choice of an extra Mega Man 10 poster, Mega Man trading cards (unopened packets; I wonder if they’re the Artbox cards from some years back), “weird” Mega Man candy, MegaMan Starforce 3 Red Joker, MegaMan Starforce 3 Black Ace, or a bunch of Capcom Unity points, which are used for their exclusive auctions. Not bad, for doing something they no doubt wanted to do anyway, and it shows the importance of keeping a camera handy for occasions such as this.

Megamix’s Hitoshi Ariga Now Answers Your Questions!

Mega Man mastermind Keiji Inafune has had his chance to answer questions from the fans… twice, even. Now, it’s time for the maestro of Mega Man Megamix to take his turn at bat, courtesy of the Capcom Unity and the Blue Bomber’s 22nd birthday celebration held back in December of last year.

Here is what he had to say, and JGonzo from Capcom notes that #3 will likely thrill our very own resident zippo, Heat Man:

1) Oakie620 asks: What inspired your work on Mega Man Megamix? And do you have any interest in working on manga based on another Mega Man series such as X, Zero, ZX, Legends, Battle Network or Star Force?

Ariga-san:

I was originally a manga artist for a magazine called Comic Bom Bom published by Kodansha in Japan. I mainly worked on one-shot mangas but also worked on 4-panel Mega Man manga at a time. I received many positive reviews for those works, and the publisher asked me to work on the Rockman Tanjo Densetsu (direct translation: Legendary of the Birth of Mega Man). I started to receive more work from Kodansha, and one day they brought me a one-shot Mega Man feature for a Comic Bom Bom extra edition. That was the Mega Man Remix which eventually served the basis for Mega Man Megamix. There had had already been a Mega Man serial manga in the original Comic Bom Bom issues, written by Shigeto Ikehara. His manga was initially created to serve as a game strategy guide. I loved the detailed illustration of his work. His being the original, I thought mine should be somewhat different as a special version. Hence, I paid a special attention the art design to differentiate it from his work. I designed the robots slightly different from the original art including Mega Man himself.

What influenced me most was the Gundam serial manga by Kazuhisa Kondo in Comic Bom Bom. In Kondo’s Gundam manga, Mobile Suit I saw in the TV animation was illustrated in more detail with an additional maintenance hatch. That impressed me quite a bit who was then an elementary school kid. To add details to modify the original forms has become quite common nowadays, like you see in the Gundam figurines. I think that it was Kondo who established the trend of “turning the original art into more elaborate one”. I thought it was a great idea to adapt Kondo’s concept into my art. After discussing the idea with the editor, I worked on Mega Man to add more details along with all the robots created by both Dr. Light and Dr. Wily and submitted them to Capcom for approval. From then on, Inafune-san was in charge of overseeing the character design directly. He gave me feedbacks and we worked together to gradually add more robots.

I’ve always liked those independent robots compared to human controlled vehicular robots. Mega Man was my favorite game of all times, so being a young artist, I felt very passionate about drawing Mega Man manga. I poured all the energy into the work. That is how Mega Man Megamix got started.

Well, I would really love to work on other Mega Man series, but there are so many great artists out there already working on some of the Mega Man series so I don’t know if I get a chance to work on another one. No one has created an epic manga based on Mega Man Legend so if would love to work on that.

2) Eduardo asks: I like drawing the character from time to time, so I have a minor problem when looking at the blade in Forte’s helm, in my understanding, the entirety of the yellow (inside) of the blades is one smooth concave shape, and the whole outer side (black) of the blades is convex, some artist draw it angled somewhere atop of the helm, then only the back-half is convex, and the front half is either plane or concave, wich is the accurate one? or is it all just perspective?

Ariga-san:

I, too, have a hard time drawing Forte. I also really like his helm, but I admit that it’s really hard to draw it in a three-dimension form. I think Capcom has the answer for this one, but ultimately, I think it’s the best to draw it however you like it as an artist.

3) Cory asks: Who was your most favorite Mega Man Character to draw in the comics and why?

Ariga-san:

My favorite is Heat Man. Out of all the boss characters, I think he is the best. I must say I like almost everything about the character, namely the tackle action, sound effects, and even the stage music in the game. Whenever I draw Heat Man, it reminds me of the time I was deeply enthralled by the video games. I also like Dr. Wily. He’s evil but somehow lovable and very “humanly” character. Dr. Light, on the other hand, is always well-behaved, but seems too controlled to get loosen up.

4) Koop asks: Ariga-san, when you write your stories for Megamix/Gigamix/etc, where do you get the inspiration for each of the different characters’ personalities?

Ariga-san:

The characters didn’t have much of a personality in the early stage of the development, but they had more of functionalities for robots. (For example, Cut Man was designed for outdoor work so he’s rain resistant etc.) So I imagined each personality based on his moves from the game. I brainstormed the story for the manga while playing the game, fighting each boss character over and over. For instance, I determined Skull Man’s personality based on the fact that he doesn’t move until the player takes the first move. I also got inspirations from the weapons they use. I had conversations in my head, “If this is his weapon, his personality could be like…” and so on. Flash Man must have a mean bone since he stops time and attacks. From mid-dated to later-day Mega Man robots, there had been some personalities officially fixed from the game, so if their characteristics didn’t conflict with the overall Megamix world, I tried to stick to the official settings. There are bosses from Mega Man 5 that are a bit prankish though…

5) Mikael asks: What had specifically inspired you to become an artist/illustrator?

Ariga-san:

One day I just found myself lost in drawing. I’ve always liked to draw since I was little. I was so moved by New World by Osamu Tezuka and inspired to become a manga artist. I had never realized until then that manga artists could tell such great stories. Something so great can come out of manga. I aspired to create a grandeur world and tell my own story through my manga. That desire has led me where I am today.

Hopefully that third question doesn’t give Heat a big head. In any event, we’re not sure if more questions and answers will be forthcoming as they were with Inafune, but if they do, we’ll be sure to let you know here.

Thanks once again to Capcom Unity for hosting these Q&A for us– that is, for the Mega Man fandom– as well as Mr. Ariga and Mr. Inafune for taking the time to provide these answers.

Those whose questions were picked are going to receive a reward of “mega bonus unity points” to be used on the auctions that are exclusive to Capcom Unity members– consider that a good reason to sign up, should something like this come around again.

Mob Robos Revealed: Get Your Magnifying Glasses Ready

You may remember, some months ago, Hitoshi Ariga held a “Mob Robo” contest for his upcoming comic Rockman Gigamix Vol. 2. Basically, Ariga accepted entries for throwaway characters created by fans, who would appear briefly in the comic and then get destroyed. Truth be told I kind of forgot about the contest, even after Gigamix 2 released in Japan a couple weeks ago. I was only reminded when my close friend AWD! giddily harassed me with the knowledge that one of his characters, Volt Man, got featured in the comic (pictured above).

Seeing the pages for myself, it appears Ariga did what he could to cram as many entries as possible into the pages. There are quite a few, and I’ve already found characters created by a couple other friends of mine. So if you entered a design, there may be good odds yours made it too. And that’s what I’m here to let you check. Below are the pages that contain all the Mob Robo ideas Ariga accepted. Be warned that they open up to HUGE images. Then you just need to get to browsing, and hopefully you’ll see your character!

Additionally, some original entries were also printed inside the book’s back cover, so I’ll share that as well.

Now the next thing you need to do is beg Capcom and UDON to get Rockman Gigamix published here in North America!

Many thanks to AWD!

Rockman 10 “Box Art,” Live and In Your Face

Much attention has been paid to the large, triptych box art for Mega Man 10, which once more follows in the footsteps of the art for the release of the original games on the NES some 20+ years ago. Likewise, Capcom of Japan has continued to emulate the style used for the original Famicom Rockman games from the same period, and while we’ve had glimpses of their latest piece, the full work is ready to behold in all its splendor:

Click to enlarge.

It’s a good size for desktop wallpaper, or for simple artistic admiration. And you can expect to see more of it on future Rockman 10 merchandise in Japan, too.

Source: Dengeki and 4gamer.net, via Protodude’s Rockman Corner

Fan-Made Mega Man 9 HD Remix

For those out there who bemoan the 8-bit retro chic look of Mega Man 9 and 10, I’d just like to point this out to you: it could be worse. Of course I don’t mean to disparage the work of Eric Ruth, the man behind this fan-made HD remake of Mega Man 9, and also known for doing an 8-bit rendition of Left 4 Dead (I’m starting to see a theme here). Having watched the video, I can attest this is a pretty skillfully made recreation of Galaxy Man’s stage.

Eric is not planning on finishing this project, having concern about legal repercussions from Capcom. I don’t see too much of an issue, although I think Mega Man 9 is pretty much fine the way it is. But I know there are those who want it in HD regardless. Of course to be truly HD, it’d need a lot more cut scenes.

News Credit: GoNintendo

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