Street Fighter X Tekken’s Mega Man Planned with Inafune Well Before Everything Went to Hell

Apologies if the title seems a little melodramatic, but it’s the most concise way we could think of to sum up the Mega Man video game front in 2011. You know, following Inafune’s departure, the cancellation of Mega Man Universe, the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3, the character being ditched twice in two consecutive Marvel vs. Capcom releases, all that fun stuff.
Anyway, making this a separate post from this one, because we want to make sure as many of you see it as we can. You see, it would seem that the appearance of Bad Box Art Mega Man in Street Fighter X Tekken is not, among other things, a jab at former Capcom Producer Keiji Inafune. In fact, he actually helped to engineer it.

Thanks to a tip from MMN reader/commenter Alice Vulcan, we have the following statement taken from Street Fighter X Tekken Producer Yoshinori Ono’s Twitter account:

I consulted with Mr.Megaman(his name is Mr.I…) about it 1 years ago.Its result! ;D RT @kazuyafan94:Lovin Megaman inSFxTK!But why cover art

So, before Mega Man Legends 3 got the axe, before Mega Man Universe imploded… possibly even before Keiji Inafune had left the company, this idea was formed and apparently developed into what we have today.

(Edit: According to this post in the Ask Capcom forum, it was actually Inafune who suggested it in the first place.)

There is a saying that goes “tragedy plus time equals comedy.” And while opinions may differ as to what actually qualifies as a “tragedy” and whether any of the events of last year count, most will agree that those were not good. And maybe they do count as tragic, at least on a fandom scale.

Anyway, the point is this: In a way, the joke is kind of funny. Or at least, it would be, given the right timing and context (though we think they might have tried a little too hard; this is like a parody of a parody). Last year, before Legends 3 bought the farm? Maybe even before Universe, too? A lot more of us would probably be laughing.

Instead, following one letdown after another and with words from Capcom about the franchise’s future still fresh in our mind, this was the first big thing out of Capcom that we have seen regarding the Blue Bomber. For this to be the first thing you show us after promising how important Mega Man remains and speaking of plans for the 25th anniversary? It’s just like salt on an open wound.

Really, without some sort of context– some sort of better context– how could anyone expect any other kind of reaction?

The oddly out-of-place bio which references one of the aforementioned cancelled games also appears sloppy. Especially considering this is the second time Capcom has made this very mistake (albeit in reverse).

That all the other guest characters look more or less like outstanding representations of themselves/their franchises does not help, either. This is a joke which should probably have been saved for when the franchise once again appeared strong, rather than in some sort of dying throes.

So, we’ll just end this little bit of a rant here by telling Capcom “great joke, but you really need to work on your timing.”

LanceHeart