Dorkly: Leaked Memos Explain Early Mega Man Box Art Designs

If there is any part of Mega Man which is sure to outlive the franchise itself, it would be the notoriety of the original series’ earliest box art. But how did such design decisions ever come to pass? Why is Mega Man sporting a Tron-esque outfit and handgun on the original? Why is he breaking is ankle in the second? Blasting Spark Man in his nuts-n-bolts on the third? And so on.

Well, as it so happens, the intrepid journalists over at Dorkly have apparently managed to uncover some of the original memos passed between someone known only as “Andrew” to Devin, who was apparently a part of Capcom USA’s art staff at the time. Read over these, and all will be revealed…

…well, for the first six games, anyway. Granted, by about Mega Man 5 and 6, things had actually begun to look like Mega Man, though 7 was a bit of a throwback. Actually, Mega Man 6‘s box art was pretty accurate, despite what Dorkly’s findings seem to indicate.

Personally, we’d have liked to have seen Andrew’s thoughts when it came to Mega Man 8, when the company just began using regular stock art for their Mega Man covers. But perhaps he was no longer around by that point? Or maybe he was just focusing on Mega Man Legends (“Computer models are all the rage now! Everyone loves ’em! Do it!”).

Thanks to Tony Ponce for the tip!

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