The Mega Man franchise is adored the world over by many. Hell,in Japan,there's even a fan day dedicated to the franchise on June 9th. But just because the franchise itself is beloved,doesn't mean that it's All great. Infact there are 20 Games in the Mega Man franchise that shouldn't have been made. And here they are in no particular order.
20 - Let's start out with the 3 games that I put into a "Why'd They Even Bother?" catagory. The Bandai Wonderswan was a handheld system created by the late,Gunpei Yokoi after he left Nintendo in '97. The system was a Japanese exclusive and was never planned to be released Worldwide. It also had mediocre sales. So why did Capcom licence Mega Man to a failing system? To help it boost sales,natch. Unfortunatly,it was a lost cause and a waste of time and money. The game I'm talking about is the quality challenged (though not as quality challenged as the DOS games),
Rockman and Forte: Challenger from the Future. Not only is this game "so tough that it's unfair",but the Music sounds bad,the Story is stupid,Robot Masters look like crap,and Rockman Shadow is detestable. The controls aren't that great either. The Graphics are the only praise I'm gonna give it. The game might have helped Wonderswan sales if the game was better made. Thank God it's Non-Canon.
19 - Next we move on to the Wonderswan's successor,The Wonderswan Color,which was also Japanese only. And thanks to the uber-popularity of the Game Boy Advance,this handheld flopped Big Time. Capcom tried to boost the sales of this system with 2 Mega Man EXE titles. While the 2nd one was ported to the GBA,the first one was a WSC exclusive. The game was simply called
Rockman EXE WS and it was a platformer based losely on the first part of the first season of the Anime. The game was really hard with many unfair parts to it. Capcom were wasting both time and money supporting a dying handheld system. Speaking of....
18 - While the Sega Game Gear was dead in Japan in '95,in the US it was struggling. The Nintendo Game Boy was Dominant in the handheld market,and Nothing was gonna stop it. To help give them an edge,Sega reached out to Capcom for a GG Mega Man title,and they reluctantly accepted the task. Instead of making the game themselves,Capcom out-sourced production to U.S.Gold,a british company that ported the various Street Fighter titles to the Commadore and Amiga Systems. The end result was a rushed mess. While the graphics and sound were good,everything else about
Mega Man GG wasn't. This was the first instance of Capcom supporting a dying system. And on top of that,the game was Only released in the US and Canada...With Low Sales. Capcom Really shouldn't have bothered.
17 - The next game brigs us to the Game Cube. The game in question is
Mega Man Network Transmission,and like with Rockman EXE WS,it was a platformer akin to the Classic Mega Man series. This game was Bad. Unfairness abound. The levels are frustrating at times and the Mega Buster is really lame until you have it upgraded(which is difficult in itself). Plus,it just isn't doesn't feel like a Battle Network game. They should've just made this like the other BN games,an RPG.
16 - And now for the Reverse Situation.
Mega Man X Command Mission was a Turn-Based JRPG in vain of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Despite the great music,plot,and characters,Command Mission doesn't really feel like an X-Series title gameplay-wise. The turn-based battle system doesn't work for the X-Series at all,which is fast-paced,heart-pounding action series. If Capcom wanted to turn the X series into an RPG,they should've copied Kingdom Hearts' battle system instead.
15 -
Mega Man X7 was one of the worst games in the franchise and was in insult to the fanbase. The title character Had to be unlocked,Zero was weak,Axl was useless most of the time (though he does get better in X8),the controls aren't that great,the Voice Acting was really horrible,and the camera was crap. Plus the bossess and their weapons were all Lame. We also Hated how X was officially kicked out of his own Series. X7 was just pitiful. X7,as it is,should've Never been made.
14 - Talk about a pathetic Cash Grab! As you know,Mega Man X5 was supposed to be the last game (or at least main game) in the X Series,but Capcom got greedy and made
Mega Man X6 without Keiji Inafune's consent..and the result was a Mess. Bad story,even Worse level design,and terrible gameplay. X6 was nothing but a cash grab to capitalize on the X Series' popularity (despite it losing popular momentum during that time).
13 -
Mega Man X8 is basically X6 all over again,except with better visuals,gameplay,and characters (except for lumine). Like with X6 and X7 this game wasn't made with love,but with greed. Cuz if it Was made with heart,the game would've been much better. The storyline for the X Series had become a complete mess at this point. Just another reason why Capcom should've just ended the Series at X5. Oh and Lumine Sucks!!!
12- Now here is an example of "The Heart was in the Right Place,but the Brain Wasn't!".
Mega Man 9,as it exists,is full off missteps. The 8-bit graphics are fine,but downgrading Mega Man himself AND giving us bad level layout choices...that was wrong. I get it,Inafune wanted a throwback to Mega Man 2,but the bad level layout wasn't the way,It just made things frustrating for a lot of players. Downgrating Mega Man by taking away his Slide and Charged Shot felt WAY too much like a step backwards. The Robot Masters,Weapons,Story,and Music were great,while everything else wasn't. The Heart was there,but the Brain wasn't.
11 -
Mega Man 10 is like Mega Man 9,without the great weapons and unfair level layout. This was a missed oppertunity to return the Classic Series to form. Capcom wasted money and time on this. Sure it has it's high points,but 10 doesn't do the Classic Series many favors. Maybe if 10 gave Mega back his signature abilities abd gave us great Soecial Weapons,it would've been better. But as it is,it has no right to exist.
10 - A Mega Man Title with Ugly CG Art,Weak Story,and a Do-Nothing One-Off Character who is never seen or heard from again has No Right to exist. This is what
Rockman Stratagy is. It's an obscure Stratagy RPG for the PC created for the Asian Market. Yeah,let's pretend that this abomination never existed.
09 - Want more instances of Capcom wanting Cheap Cash Grabs? Sure thing. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:
Rockman EXE: Operate Shooting Star. It's a cheap crossover between the EXE/Battle Network and Star Force/Ryuusei No Series. Seriously,It's just a port of Battle Network 1 with extras and Geo Mega Man thrown in. Both EXE and Ryuusei were loosing popularity,so This game was a failed attempt to save both Series. Moving on.
08 -
Super Adventure Rockman is a Japanese-only FMV Game with limited appeal. Seriously,the Only good thing about this game are the anime cutscenes. The gameplay looks pretty lame. Why Capcom produced this game instead of producing a Rockman Anime with this story,and in this style,is beyond me.
07 - Have you Ever wanted to play a Video Board Game using Mega Man characters? Me too,and one exists.
Rockboard is a Japanese-Only Video Board Game for the Famicom..and it is Boring! The game itself is also very text heavy and the rules aren't so easy to follow. If this game were slightly simpiler and fun,it might've been a worthy entry...but it's not,so it isn't. Also,Wily and Light fighting for the fate of the World by playing a giant board game is pretty out there.
06 - The Mega Man series also had some
Cell Phone Games,most of which were Japanese Exclusive. As you'd expect,these games are small and very likely play badly. I never played any of the games,but I really don't need to,knowing how bad they are. Thankfully,Capcom would get better at Mobile Gaming during the era of Tablets.
05 - In the early 90's DOS was one of the most popular PC platforms in North America,so it was a no brainer to bring Mega Man to the platform. Capcom USA,with the blessing of Capcom Japan, chose Hi Tech Expressions to create original DOS Titles of their hit franchise. However,there were 2 slight problems with this game. 1 - The play control was lousy and 2 - Despite it's popularity,DOS couldn't handle Music. A Mega Man game without music is just stupid,as music is one of the things that make the franchise great in the first place.
Mega Man DOS had no right to be made and I hope Capcom Japan reprimanded their American Counterparts for the error in judgement. But there was another....
04 - Before Hi Tech expressions (rightfully) lost the Mega Man Licence,they created
Mega Man 3 DOS (skipping Mega Man 2 DOS for some reason). This game suffers from the same problems as the 1st game..but with one more added: LAZY BOSS DESIGN!!!!! Not only are the boss designs Frankensprited from the Mega Man 2 and 3 Robot Masters,but Every Boss has the Exact Same Attack Pattern. A pattern copied from Volt Man of the 1st DOS Game. All and all,it was a mistake to bring Mega Man to DOS.
03 and 02 - I'm grouping these 2 together,due to how similar they are. In the early-90's Tiger was given tbe licence to create Mega Man handhelds:one based on Mega Man 2 and the other based on Mega Man 3. While the LCD graphics looked better and the games controlled better than the DOS games, The Mega Man Tiger Handhelds shared one of the major issues with it's DOS counterparts.....Lack Of Music! Like with DOS games,The Tiger LCD Games couldn't handle music and Mega Man games are incomplete without it. Plus,despite controling better than the DOS games,these games are slow. This is a flaw with Most LCD handhelds,including ones made by Tiger. While a nice little novelty,the
Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 Tiger Handhelds aren't that fun. Like with most Tiger Handhelds,these games are great to collect,but not to play. Stick with the Game Boy titles if you need your portable Mega Man fix.
01 - And finally we have
Rockman XOver,a game that was just one huge insult to the Mega Man fans. Not only was it a Social RPG,which isn't very popular outside Japan,but the whole premise was stupid as well: The villains team up and kidnap the Various Mega Men (yes,that includes the normaly badass mega man zero) and so Light and Cossack create a Reploid (yes,you heard right) to rescue them. While Over-1 (the reploid built by light and cossack) looks kinda cool and his abilities are sweet,we just didn't Need or Want yet Another Mega Man (face it,we have too many as is). Plus the games title is very misleading. XOver means Crossover and we had little to none of that in this game. Terrible Story,Reused Assets,Misleading Title,And tbe fact that this game was a Social RPG made this game a souless Cash Grab..and on the 25th Annaversary of the Franchise no less. This game shoud've Never been made. Period.
And that gonna do it for this list. Are there any Mega Man titles that You think should"ve never been created? Sound-Off below.
Until Next Time,
Stay Gold,Space Cowboys
