Why No Mega Man in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3? Niitsuma Explains… Sort of

Why oh why, when the community is crying out for a hero in blue, did Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 not come through?

This is something else, folks, so have a seat. Preferably near a table or desk, so you can bang your head against it when you have finished.

Back at the beginning of May, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Producer Ryota Niitsuma explained some things about the development of the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Among the things translated from the interview was that “Niitsuma wanted to include more Mega Man and Darkstalkers characters.”

Well, that’s great! This means he’s on our side, right? So surely, if the fans show their support for Mega Man characters, maybe we could at least get a character named “Mega Man” into the mix as downloadable content or something, right?

Unfortunately, in confirming that the leaked list from Wednesday was complete and true to Siliconera (thanks, Bolt Storm), Niitsuma apologetically said “I’m sorry, there is no Mega Man in Ultimate.”

“We had a lot of requests from fans for Mega Man or at least one of them to be in the game. Out of all of the requests we got for Capcom characters, he just didn’t enter the top part of the ranking. Unfortunately, he didn’t make the cut.”

But wait! What are these rankings of which he speaks? He speaks of requests from fans, and as we’ve seen in the past, Mega Man X stood tall above the rest as the personification of domination in fan polls conducted in both Japan and North America, the latter being conducted on Capcom Unity.

So, the most-voted character (who happens to be a Mega Man) didn’t make the cut. And yet…

Look at those rankings again. Phoenix Wright (#2), Strider (#3), Frank West (#5), and Vergil (#6) all managed to make it in, even despite the last two having less than half the votes of X.

And as we all well know, they are not the only additions to the Capcom side; despite not making it past the first round, Red Arremer/Firebrand (#28) and Nemesis (#31) made the final cut.

But apparently, in the case of Firebrand, it wasn’t about winning a popularity contest. Siliconera notes that “requests from fans of Gargoyle’s Quest didn’t have anything to do” with the character’s inclusion. “Capcom wanted a creature-like character who could fly for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3,” and “with that criteria in mind, they thought of Firebrand and added him to the game.”

Finally, so long as the link is sitting right here, don’t expect to get any of these new characters, stages, or features as downloadable content. Instead, it will all be available only on the $39.99 retail disc. On the upside, some who have done the math say that it actually comes out cheaper this way.

So, there you have it. Still no Mega Man, and we can’t even be sure why, given all the conflicting information. But at least they apparently got past whatever barrier was holding them back from using Phoenix Wright, as well as figuring out how to make Strider fit with the concept (again). Maybe someday they’ll figure out how to make Mega Man fit into their franchise fighting game.

Go ahead and give your thoughts in the comments, though do note that from here on, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 comments should stick with MVC3 posts, rather than Mega Man Legends 3, and vice-versa (unless it’s somehow related to the topic). We’ll just toss those which don’t fit, and it’s not as though there aren’t enough articles for either game to stick to.

LanceHeart