I think what I love most about this story is how Rockman goes and sticks it to Dr. Wily unnecessarily. His goal was rescuing Roll, and it’s not implied he captures Wily after shooting him down. He just wanted to make it personal.

Thanks to Terra Stardroid for the original scans!

Fuji TV has announced that this past Saturday in Japan, Mr. Aono suffered a stroke that was the result of aortic surgery he had performed back in May. While information that Mr. Aono’s condition is already improving, it’s uncertain if he’ll return to work, and Fuji TV is already finding replacements for his current roles in anime such as Chibi Mariko-chan and Dragon Ball Kai.

Already aged 74, Mr. Aono has a very impressive history of performances in both animation and game voice acting. Our hearts go out to Mr. Aono for a speedy recovery, and our thanks for portraying one of gaming’s most memorable characters.

News Credit: CAP Kobun, Anime News Network

VideoGamer.com sat down with Inafune last week and reveals that he believes Japan is now entering a ‘dark time’.  With the steady rise of the Western games industry, he notes a discouraging trend:

“Every year that I come to E3, year in and year out, the one thing I’ve noticed is that it seems like the Japanese game developer share seems to be getting smaller and smaller”

Inafune did manage to keep some optimism, noting that Capcom’s efforts in trying to break this trend:

“I think to myself sometimes, if we keep on this course, the Japanese gaming market will disappear totally. That is one of the valid concerns that I have, which is why as a Japanese publisher, as Capcom, we really want to fight the good fight, and try and make our games work within this more primarily Western market.”

You can read the full interview at VideoGamer.com.

And while the hoverboard introduced in the movie Back to the Future Part II isn’t quite the same (well, maybe Griff’s was), I thought the following video might be close enough to the idea to be of interest to Mega Man fans:

The hoverboard seen above was created in 2008 by a young French artist named Nils Guadagnin to be part of an exhibit called, fittingly enough, “Back to the future.”

“Integrated into the board and the plinth is an electromagnetic system which levitates the board,” he explains on his website “A laser system stabilises the object in the air.”

“In the making of this work, I was thinking about different ways of presenting sculpture. In fact it’s a reflexion on the multiple possibilities of how to give a sculpture full spatial autonomy.”

Though the hoverboard apparently seems to work, the ease and care with which it is placed on its pedestal suggests that, unlike even the board acquired by one Marty McFly, this piece lacks the “POWER” to hover very far off a given surface, or support much heavier weight.

But hey, hoverboard! It’s only a matter of time now, right? They still have five years to perfect it and get Mattel to put it into production. Then all the Rush and Proto Shield-styled customs can be made.

Looking back on this image makes me fairly nostalgic. I’ve had very few of those “wow moments” in my gaming life, but Mega Man X was one of them. Maybe I was at that right age, but the game really blew me away at the time. The presentation, the gameplay, the attitude, it all upstaged the classic games. And while Mega Man 2 will probably always be my all time favorite game, even that never “wowed” me like the original X did.

I’ve been feeling lately that it’s time for Capcom to turn back to Mega Man X again. Admittedly I’m slightly iffy about a Mega Man X9, since I don’t personally feel that X2-X8 ever reached that bar the original X set, though some are still quite good. But I would definitely like to see something. At the very least they can throw Mega Man X up on the Wii Virtual Console. That’s been way overdue, as it’s not just a great Mega Man game, it’s a great game period.

I feel that some of the strongest support among our fandom here is for the X series. Do you ever get nostalgic for the series? How would you like Capcom to return to 21XX?

Called “Mega Konatan,” the game appears to be a pretty faithful parody of classic Mega Man games, aside from some weirdness and the main character being one of the Lucky Star people. What I find very amusing, though, is all the “comments” plastered over the screens. This to is a parody of the site Nico Video, a Japanese service similar to YouTube which lets users upload their own videos, and then other users may comment on them. These comments will actually roll over the video at the time in the video the comment was left. It fits the theme of the game, which seems to be about becoming the greatest internet idol. How do the Japanese think of this stuff? Edit: Actually, the comments themselves appear to be the platforms you stand on. Very interesting.

I guess if you’re jonesing that bad for a classic MM fix before Mega Man 10 comes out, you can go import this Lucky Star title. Just don’t get mad at me if it turns out to be totally weird and bizarre!

News Credit: 2chan

But is the game any good?

Capcom was nice enough to send me a copy so that I could review it on the site I primarily write for, WingDamage.com. As for the Mega Man specific stuff: Zero is everything I want him to be and more, Mega Man Volnutt feels very different than Mega Man Classic (featured in Marvel vs. Capcom) in a good way, and Roll is adorable. You can find my full, detailed review of the game here.

And before you throw tomatoes at me for linking my own review, you should know I was asked to make this post.

News Credit: WingDamage

But the question remains, just why is Ippo working on Zero music, especially all night long? Perhaps for the Mega Man Zero Collection? Perhaps a new album in the works? Perhaps just for his own enjoyment? Hopefully the answer will come our way soon.

News Credit: Spiceman @ Blog

All in all, these games are surprisingly durable. Of course, this can only be a good thing for those who are seeking to fill in the gaps their collections possess with some of the oldest titles in the series.

It’s too bad newer games aren’t more durable, and that grabbing a copy of Mega Man 8 for the SEGA Saturn needs to be accompanied by extra scrutiny. On the other hand, with the growing prominence of things such as Flash memory, perhaps a return to a more durable standard isn’t so far off.

…oh poor Turbo Man, life is most cruel to you.

So go on, try it yourself. Celibrate the release of Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen on DVD by smiting Mega Man’s very own Decepticon, except without having to put up with Shia LaBeouf.

~Ryudo

EDIT: It’s not just Turbo Man you can pull this off on, though he IS the easier one to do it on;