Does Capcom Really Want You to Buy These Games?

Some of you might be too young to remember, but back in the early 90’s, before the rise of the internet into mainstream prominence, gaming was… a bit different.
For one thing, getting to see videos of new and upcoming titles before they came out was something of a rarity, usually reserved for special VHS tapes of footage played on a loop at video rental outlets (and maybe the occasional retail space as well– anyone remember Babbage’s?). And truth be told, they were often not nearly as smooth and polished as the game trailers which now surface on the internet almost daily.

One such reel of footage has been discovered, dusted off, and uploaded to YouTube by our good friend Protodude. It features Mega Man X2, Mega Man 7, and Mega Man X3, and boy, were they terrible.

Protodude notes that the footage likely comes from early builds of these games, which would explain the lack of music, glitches, and flicker evident in some parts of the video.

See for yourself:

Perhaps showing X dying on the first boss was a marketing strategy to spur the consumer on, to make them think “I can do better than that.” Or maybe this player just stunk; we may never know.

On another note, the voiceover in the Mega Man 7 portion sounds a little like Dr. Light from the old Ruby Spears cartoon, doesn’t it? With the way Capcom USA tried to cross-promote the two products, it would be of little surprise if this was deliberate.

LanceHeart