Capcom is going to host a livestream celebrating Mega Man’s 30th anniversary on December 4. You’ll be able to watch it on Twitch at 11 a.m. Pacific. Capcom announced the stream by sending out cards to some outlets, including Siliconera. The card includes the note, “You won’t want to miss it.”
Mega Man was once one of Capcom’s most important franchises, but the series has laid mostly dormant since 2010’s Mega Man 10. Outside of collections and bad mobile games, the franchise has hosted more cancellations (including Mega Man Universe and Mega Man Legends 3) than new releases in recent memory. Yet Mega Man remains an iconic character. The series has inspired merchandise, rock bands, and comics. A new cartoon based on Mega Man is also coming out next year. Combine all that with the retro revolution, and it seems like Mega Man is ready for a comeback.
The first Mega Man came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. The 2D sidescroller combined platforming with shooting action. It inspired sequels and spinoff series, including the edgier Mega Man X, the 3D role-playing games Mega Man Legends, and card-based Mega Man Battle Network. It used to feel like you couldn’t turn a corner without seeing a new Mega Man game.
But that ended around 2010. That’s when Keiji Inafune, who was something of a shepard for the franchise, left Capcom. The studio then cancelled all current Mega Man projects, as if in retaliation.
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Capcom has been easing back into the series. The last couple of years saw the releases of Mega Man Legacy Collection and Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, which together brought the original Mega Man series, 1 through 10, to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Mega Man showed up as a playable character in Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, and X appeared in this year’s Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite along with other characters from that series.
Mega Man has also been a part of Nintendo’s new classic consoles. Mega Man 2 is included with the NES Classic Edition, while the SNES Classic Edition has Mega Man X.
Hopefully, Capcom is about to treat Mega Man more like Street Fighter, another classic series that it still supports with modern games.
