Hackers Let Mega Man X Join the Brawl

Over the many, many months leading up to its release, fans across the world kept their eyes on the official Super Smash Bros. Brawl website, the Smash Bros. DOJO!! (their emphasis), in the hopes that Capcom’s famed Blue Bomber would join the fight alongside fellow third-party heroes Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake, of Metal Gear fame.
Alas, it never happened. Who is to blame remains a hotly contested subject of debate; Snake was added at the behest of his creator, Hideo Kojima, who wanted the character to be in Melee, but made his voice heard only too late. Meanwhile, it is assumed that Sonic’s red running shoes got tossed into the ring on account of some deal struck between Nintendo and SEGA that also resulted in the Blue Blur teaming up with Mario for some competitive fun at the Olympic Games.

But Mega Man? In Mega Man’s case, his absence seems to be something of a case of miscommunication. Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai once revealed that other than the characters/companies cited above, no other third parties had approached him about having their characters included. And prior to the game’s launch, Capcom’s Keiji Inafune stated in a podcast that no one from Nintendo had contacted him about such an idea, and while he seemed receptive to the idea, expressing his love for the Smash Bros. series, he seemed content to hope that “Nintendo is listening,” and wait for them to give him a call.

Whoever was at fault, the fact ultimately remains: no form of Mega Man is in Brawl.

But this has not stopped some enterprising hackers from making their dreams come true, adding numerous characters by hacking the properties and appearances of characters who exist within the game. This following video is no exception, as it reveals an odd remix of Metroid‘s Samus Aran as the first upgraded form of Mega Man X, while Link takes up the saber of Zero.

But more impressive than that is the custom stage upon which they are fighting, remade with new textures, a new background, and even the music of the opening highway stage of the very first Mega Man X. That, perhaps, is the most impressive part:

Perhaps someday, when Nintendo sees fit to deliver unto us a sequel to Brawl, we’ll get to see how the Titanium Titan of 20XX (or one of his many similarly-hued counterparts) stacks up against Nintendo’s finest. The only question then would be whether or not Snake and Sonic will make an encore appearance to find out who the top third-party character really is.

News Source: Protodude’s Rockman Corner