Saturday, December 20, 2008

Inafune Talks MegaMan 10 and 11, Legends 3

The fine folks at 1Up took sometime to sit down with Keiji Inafune to discuss the latest happenings at Capcom. A portion of the interview concerned future MegaMan revivals such as MM10 and the long awaited MML3. What did he have to say? A portion of the interview:

1UP: As you'll recall, we've pestered you about all things Mega Man at one point or another in the past. Particularly regarding Mega Man Legends 3, which seriously needs to be made. You've usually responded by saying that the market has to demand it before you can get clearance to make it, since the execs who sign the checks don't think there's much profit to be had from the blue bomber. And yet, Mega Man 9 has a deliberately retro look. What was the thought process behind this? Sometimes you tell us the world's not ready for more Mega Man, but then you guys crank out the most hardcore, old school Mega Man possible.

Keiji Inafune: We've had a lot of requests to remake Mega Man, and I very much wanted to remake the title. But when we approached it from a business standpoint, it was very difficult. Not that there wasn't popularity. But to remake it with the same hardware or qualities of Devil May Cry or Resident Evil, it would be very difficult, and we were looking for options when the possibility of releasing games via download became a possibility. We saw an opportunity, a chance to release this title again. As a download title we could make a real retro sequel, and I really loved the idea. We could base the new Mega Man on the original design of the franchise and if the response from the users gave us a solid sign that they wanted and would buy this game in that retro style, then we could move on to bigger opportunities with this franchise. That's what our thought process was and how we decided to make something that the users truly wanted.

1UP: If the game (MM9) is successful and you go on to make, say, Mega Man 10, what would you do to keep the game from being a rehash of previous Mega Man games?

KI: This title has been revived based on our users' feedback. They indicated that they wanted to see it again, so if we can continue to find ways to involve users and use their feedback to evolve the game, I think we can go on to continue to make MM10, MM11, and so on. The main point is how and if we can continue to incorporate user feedback into the creation of the game.

1UP: You have some Mega Man Legends characters in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Will their appearance build a case for a Mega Man Legends sequel, at long last?

KI: [Laughs] I think you’re reading into it too much. I have hope to make a new Mega Man Legends, but that’s not the reasoning behind including those characters in Tatsunoko VS Capcom. I think you’re reading into it too much.

Check out the full interview (which has many more interesting topics) at 1Up.


  1. The fact that Inafune speaks so frankly about being able to make Mega Man 10, 11, "and so on" gives me a very good feeling along with high hopes that the Classic series is back to stay. :)

  2. No MML3? I'm sad.......

  3. Awesome but too bad that Okami is not going to have sequel .. I will see.

    By the way, at capcom of blog.. they mention Tatsunoko vs. Capcom to bring to the USA, yes. It will take time but yeah. :)

  4. well looks like he's keen on mm10/11, but mml3 might be slightly lower on the list of things to do. plus megaman has about 25 staff and after commenting on how its impossible to do a game with 10, hmm...

  5. I am beginning to not trust and dislike Inafune more and more <_< he's being such a hypocrite.

  6. Is it just me or have interviews really been more of a disapointment after he got this higher level job within capom.he wouldnever had used megaman and the word buissniss toghter before. imiss the old times..thinking back to when mm7 was inproduction all that planning, the detiald work, the passion about it, thats all gone now,yes yes i know we now have mm9 but regardles to what they say only reason it happend was so capcom could see if they were able to squeeze some more cash out of our fellow megaman. They arent doing it for the fans, and never has.Keiji Inafune maby truley id it for the fans but that "era" is long goneby now.wich is pretty obvius when you rea his interviews closley!

  7. @GraveTheUndead,

    Blame to Japan of Capcom.. Not him. He just created the game and JoC decide what to do and control more than he does.

    JoC can be jerk sometimes!

  8. I'm sure Inafune-san means the ROM hacking, including those Rockman2 hacks and game editors in Japan, as something much popular. I believe the "kick" for releasing Rockman9 was that PC port of Rockman7, as something REALLY proud from Rockman fans. ;)

    Plus, Japan's market = bomb. This is the current problem about releasing a new Rockman title.

  9. I think he went a little bit insane about Megaman 10, 11 and "go on" with old-fashion NES style. I'm not sure about that, but we'll see to it in the future. I fear I'm beginning to worry about that retro thing or something.

    What? Capcom and he are not interesting in Okami's sequel and that Clover? What's the heck going on? Oh, man...

    And... as for Megaman Legend 3, I know you can do it, Keiji Inafune. We still can believe you. Then... make Megaman X9 and Megaman X Command Mission 2! Please??? We'd like that, don't you agree, you guys?

  10. Sure! X9, MMXCM2, and MML3 would be awesome! Even though I've never played MMXCM, X7-8, or MML2. XD But I know from the entries I have played that more would be good. :D

    I'm not too worried about Capcom going retro-crazy with Rockman. I sure hope they don't, because I think one retro title was perfect. :D

