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Mega Man may seem like an afterthought to Capcom now, what with a string of cancellations (not least of which was the anticipated Mega Man Legends 3, which was slated to be released on 3DS in 2011) facing the Blue Bomber, but that wasn’t always the case. The company actually had pretty big plans for the hero a couple of years ago, and in 2010, Capcom collaborated with several western studios to develop a number of off-shoot Mega Man games, one of which was a gritty first-person reboot codenamed Maverick Hunter.
Taken on its own, this news may bring back painful memories of the ill-conceived Bomberman: Act Zero for Xbox 360, but Maverick Hunter was in considerably better hands than the Bomberman reboot; according to Polygon, the project was being handled Armature Studio, the studio founded by several Retro Studios alumni (and the developer of the recently announced Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate for 3DS and PlayStation Vita). Armature was no stranger to first-person games, having worked on the critically acclaimed Metroid Prime for GameCube, which was similarly met with skepticism from fans when it was announced as a “first-person adventure.” Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune approached Armature with the idea based on this experience, and the studio developed a playable prototype that built largely on the foundation laid down by Metroid Prime while staying true to the Mega Man X gameplay.
As it happens, Inafune’s departure from the company likely put an end to the project, but it’s certainly interesting to think what could have been. For more details on the game, including more early footage, check out the full Polygon piece below.
Source: Polygon (via My Nintendo News)
Kind of a shame. This looks promising. I know everyone’s natural first reaction is to groan, but people did the exact same thing when Metroid Prime was announced as an FPS (or FPAdventure, as some dubbed it).
I was surprised when I first saw the footage– it looks and sounds almost exactly like Metroid Prime. o_o I’m sure it could have probably been great had Capcom allowed Armature to complete it, but the art style doesn’t exactly seem like the best choice for a Mega Man game.