Ripot’s Round-Up – 12/24/16

Man, this holiday season, am I right? It’s been pretty busy, and it feels impossible to get everything that needs to be done finished before the New Year.

That’s why I’m doing another Ripot’s Round-Up right now. Several of you have passed along some great tips, and along with a few things I’ve found myself, I just haven’t been able to get around to putting everything up.

And while I could hold them and post them throughout the remainder of the year, the fact is that I’ve still got a good few original content articles I’d like to get done by the end of the year — that’s right, the Mighty No. 9 piece was but the first of… well, a few, at least. So I’d like to make the most of the downtime by focusing more on that stuff before the ball drops in Times Square and we’re all happily saying “get on outta here!” to 2016 (but don’t worry, if anything big breaks, I’ll still cover it).

So, without further ado…

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First up, Roberto Zampari Caldas has passed along a trinity of tidbits from Protodude’s Rockman Corner, starting with the real-world Navi Time GPS teaming with the fictional NetNavis of Capcom’s Rockman.EXE!

For a mere 150 Yen, you can have Rockman.EXE, Netto, and more turn your phone app into a PET of sorts! Unfortunately, though Navi Time is available in some other countries, the Rockman.EXE theme pack is not.

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Next up, Roberto and Protodude bring us this look at a cool statue which depicts one of the most iconic moments of Yoshinori Iwamoto’s Rockman X manga:

The design is by Iwamoto himself, of course, while the statue will be produced by Amakuni. At the moment, however, there’s not much more to say until further info comes. You can view more pics here, though.

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Third and last from Protodude by way of Roberto are something that may appeal to you if you’re sick of Funko’s Pop! vinyl line: Dorbz!

Two versions of Mega Man, along with Rush, Proto Man, and Dr. Wily will run you a cheaper cost of $7.99 USD each, and you can find them all at Entertainment Earth.

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Before there was Project X Zone, there was Namco X Capcom. Did You Know Gaming? takes a look back at this turn-based strategy game that never left Japan in their new(-ish) series, Region Locked:

The part that stings most about not getting this here — besides being a fan of the series and missing a chapter, of course — is right there in the thumbnail, front and center: MegaMan Volnutt and Roll Caskett from Mega Man Legends feature in this one, while only Tron would appear in the sequel.

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Dega Vega sends this one from Liam Nguyen Animation, which remakes a shot from the opening of the PlayStation/Saturn/PC version of Mega Man X3:

The video is just a timelapse of the recreation of that one frame, but they say that they’d like to recreate the entire opening sequence if they have the time. Interestingly, X looks a little more like his Mega Man Zero series self here, wouldn’t you say?

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While I was going to wait and post this after I posted “Thoughts and Opinions on Mighty No. 9,” Anon beat me to it in the comments there, so I’m just adding it here.

While I focused primarily on the quality of the end product, Stop Skeletons From Fighting has assembled a very good look at pretty much everything else which surrounded the project from start to finish in this edition of “Past Mortem.” I definitely recommend checking it out, as it’s very even-handed, and I learned a few things I wasn’t aware of here as well.

Host Derek Alexander also notes that they’ll be doing a follow-up which examines Keiji Inafune himself, and once it’s posted, I’ll be sure to pass that along here as soon as I can.

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David PDR Gonzalez sent this song he created and posted to SoundCloud. Called “END/AREA ft. Walter West, Kryciz,” it’s about Mega Man Battle Network 5. Do note that it is rap/hip-hop features some explicit lyrics, so you might want to read over those (featured below the player) before listening to it, particularly if you’re somewhere that Not Safe For Work content is ill-advised.

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Gonzalez also passed along this video essay about Mega Man‘s potential/impending return, which I’m only linking here due to — if I’m being honest — being a little uncomfortable with the idea of embedding here with some of the content featured.

It is entertaining and does raise some good points to ponder, though, and do note that this was made before the Mega Man of Action cartoon was confirmed and Mighty No. 9 was released.

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By way of Retroware TV, iRetroGamer’s new series Level Select takes a close-up look at the Bubble Man stage from Mega Man 2:

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Next up, Skytric passed along this video of a demo for a Mega Man Legends fan game called “Mega Man Legends: Operation Mother Lode”:

Jeric Bryle Dy is the creator of the game, with Skytric providing the title music and Kira Buckland voicing Tron Bonne. You can try the demo for yourself by getting it here, and you can keep tabs on the game here.

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Speaking of Tron, Orion Ake passed along this video they did a couple of years ago of her and Roll receiving word that Mega Man Legends 3 was cancelled and leading a full-scale assault on Capcom of Japan’s headquarters to change their minds.

Personally, I dig the part set to Paul Stanley’s “Live to Win.”

If you’re interested in the making of the video, particularly why it took three years, then check out Orion’s blog post for more info.

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Another video by way of Retroware TV features James Ronald of Epic Game Music performing a mix of “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC and the Elec Man theme from the original Mega Man… with one hand:

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Finally, and I wish I had given this its own post, Performance Designed Products LLC has announced that they’ve released a series of new “Pixel Pals,” which are light-up 8-bit styled renditions of characters such as Mega Man, Mario and Luigi from Super Mario Bros. 3, and Vault Boy from Fallout 4. Here are the two versions of Mega Man, regular and Solar Blaze:

Of course, if you wanted to, you could just pretend the one on the right is wielding Atomic Fire or something, if that better suits you. I doubt anyone will judge.

These six-inch display pieces are being sold exclusively through GameStop and online for a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of $14.99 USD, and come with two AAA batteries so you can light ’em up right out of the box. More details can be found here.

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And that does it for this edition! So unless Capcom decides to surprise everyone on Christmas Day with the announcement of Mega Man 11 or X9 or, heck, Legends 3 or something, then you’re probably not going to see much of me for the next few days. But the day after Boxing Day, all bets are off! …unless you’re celebrating Hanukkah and have plenty of dreidels, in which case… well, you know what you’re doing.

Oh, and I might have something of a tradition prepped for the weekend ahead of time.

Happy Holidays, all!