Your First Virtual Console Title for ‘Mega May’ Is… (Updated)

LanceHeart

May 1, 2014

A month ago, we brought word from Capcom that the six remaining Mega Man Game Boy games would finally be arriving on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in May. What’s more, fans would get to decide which games would come in which order with a vote.

And the winner is…

Mega Man™ Xtreme – It’s Mega May! Every Thursday in May, a different Mega Man game will launch in the Virtual Console section of the Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS. Today’s release: Mega Man Xtreme. This spinoff to the Mega Man X games was originally released on Game Boy Color. In the action-packed platformer, Mega Man X must join forces with Middy, a genius hacker, and his partner Zero to restore peace. Help them defeat strong robotic enemies, obtain new abilities and clean up crime!

Okay, I try to avoid editorializing in news stories, but I just have to say: Wow. I did not see this coming. Of all the Mega Man games to choose from, this is the one people voted for? Not Mega Man V, the first/only Game Boy Mega Man game to be made up of completely original content? Not Mega Man IV, which changed the Classic series? Not Mega Man Xtreme 2, which at least remixed the material and added Zero as a playable character? But this one?

Now don’t get me wrong; Mega Man Xtreme is a fine game in its own right, and is about as good an adaptation of the 16-bit material to an 8-bit platform as you could expect. But of the six games to choose from, it probably has the least amount of original content, with most of it being carried over from Mega Man X and Mega Man X2, games already available on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Consoles, to say nothing of Mega Man X Collection (if you can find a copy).

I’m not even upset by this, just surprised. Taken aback. Gobsmacked. If anything, I figured this was a dark horse pick for the first one to be released. If so, I guess someone just cleaned up in Vegas.

See you back here next week, presumably for Mega Man II.

Update: Oh, how about that? They’ve already listed them all, and they’re… in completely numerical order (Xtreme 2 aside)? Was there really a vote on this thing?

Update 2: Okay, this explains it. On Twitter, Capcom Unity’s Brett Elston explained that the “poll was only for the first release. We decide to go chronologically after the winner.” I’m still blown away that Xtreme took the vote, but at least the rest makes sense now!