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Mega Man Portable History

We take a look back at portable Mega Man.

...Continued From Page 3 With Mega Man ZX now on store shelves, Capcom is giving players an opportunity to once again embrace the history of the franchise. Playing a new Mega Man game is just like going out and buying the first ever release, and for the first time, that's not a bad thing.

Mega Man ZX is set years after the end of the Zero series, and the changes it makes to the Mega Man formula are as significant as any others present in the births of other Mega Man series. Mega Man himself is replaced, for the first time with humans, and also for the first time with a female. The stage select format is also removed, and players are presented with a persistent world to explore.

Whether or not Capcom has created a new Mega Man franchise that players will embrace is yet to be seen, but if history is any evidence, they surely have. The faults from Mega Man ZX, if any, will be solved in ZX 2. Those faults in ZX 3, until eventually they've perfected the series; and upon that release they'll build a franchise of releases for players to embrace. Until the series grows stale, it's safe to imagine ZX as the future of Mega Man, and as the history at the same time.

The Battle Network series is also receiving the Mega Man revival treatment from Capcom. Hopefully, Ryuusei No Rockman, the proposed successor to the Battle Network throne, will make enough changes to the series to warrant fan's appreciation. It's realistic to imagine that it will, otherwise why would Capcom take the effort to rebirth the series, when they could always create Mega Man Battle Network 74.

I've followed the history of Mega Man as I grew as a gamer, and experienced the changes as they took place. I remember the first time I played Mega Man X, and was utterly wowed at the changes, but pleased at the familiarity. While I critique many of the directions the series has taken, and the choices Capcom has made, I still play the titles as giddily as I ever did. Everyone should.

Mega Man is a proponent of gaming history, perhaps not as famous as Mario, but he could always just bury that silly plumber under all 100-or-so of his releases, and stand proudly as gaming's Blue Champion.