Community Question: Would You Want a Licensed Mega Man Game for the 30th Anniversary?

With the news yesterday of Capcom working with partners to license the various branches of the Blue Bomber for their respective anniversaries, I’ve seen a common refrain from folks in the comments, on Twitter, and on Facebook in response to the news: The lamentation of a lack of no new games announced.

Aside from the fact that I personally would not expect Capcom to announce anything for the anniversary this far out (E3 seems like a more likely bet, in my opinion), I think that if any sort of game were to be announced on a page about licensing opportunities (not that any specific products were named anyway), that would mean that the game itself was a licensed product and probably not a Capcom-published game.

This would not be the first time that Capcom has licensed Mega Man to appear in a game not of their own creation, wherein they presumably just approve or deny what the licensee comes up with and collect their paycheck from its use (gotta protect the integrity of the IP, after all). Mega Man Knowledge Base has a list of licensed games, and some of the most notorious titles to ever bear the Blue Bomber’s likeness are among them, including Hi-Tech Expressions’ two PC games and US Gold’s Game Gear release. Others have seen a more positive reception, including Rockman Strategy and Rockman and Forte: Mirai Kara no Chousensha. With the possible exception of the latter, these games are generally considered non-canon to the Capcom published games.

So that brings us to the (hypothetical) question: If getting a licensed game of this sort was the only way you’d be getting a new Mega Man game for the anniversary, would you still want it? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Edit: Just to clarify any confusion, I’m not talking about third-party stuff that Capcom contracted out but still had a hand in and published themselves, such as Inti Creates’ work with Mega Man 9, Mega Man 10, and the Mega Man Zero and ZX series, or Arika’s turn on Mega Man Network Transmission. We’re talking a bit more outer-fringe here.

Note that this is apropos of nothing but my own general curiosity upon seeing responses to yesterday’s post, and is not indicative of anything Capcom could be planning. This is all me.

LBD "Nytetrayn"

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

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