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3DS

Mega Man Legends 3 Canceled

by James Dawson - July 18, 2011, 8:20 pm EDT
Total comments: 29 Source: (Capcom Unity), http://www.capcom-unity.com/devroom/blog/2011/07/1...

A post on Capcom Unity's Devroom blog announced the tragic news.

Mega Man Legends 3 has been canceled. Capcom announced the news on their Capcom Unity Devroom blog, where they had been chronicling the development of the 3DS title. This not only includes the retail title, but also the standalone Prototype version that was to be released on the 3DS eShop. The reason behind the game’s cancellation was that the title did not meet the number of required criteria that Capcom had set for the game to go into full production.

Mega Man Legends 3’s discontinuation is made worse by the fact that the developers were using it as way to increase interaction with the gaming community. Many of the game’s decisions were put up to a vote as a way to give the gaming community greater input into the project and contests were held to design in-game assets.

Despite the fact that this is the second Mega Man title to be canceled this year, along with Mega Man Universe, Capcom insists that the future of the franchise is not in question.  In a FAQ included in the announcement, Capcom states that "Mega Man is still an important franchise within Capcom’s portfolio and we will continue to pursue opportunities to create new titles in the series."

Talkback

the asylumJuly 19, 2011

Yeah, that'll show Inafune, Capcom.

That'll show him real good.

broodwarsJuly 19, 2011

I can't say I'm altogether surprised at this.  This project was Inafune's baby (and he's obviously no longer around), and it has seemed troubled to me from the day it was announced (and I never got the impression that the previous three Legends games were all that popular).  Expecting the fans to pay for a glorified demo that would dictate if the main game would be made was a real warning sign.  I wonder if sales (good or bad) for the crappy Resident Evil Mercenaries 3DS game (as well as unimpressive 3DS hardware sales) may have soured Capcom on the project as well.

I hope this project re-emerges at some point on some system, because it would be nice to see a good 3D Mega Man game for a change rather than a constant attempt to regurgitate the character's 2D glory days.

EnnerJuly 19, 2011

Maybe they'll let an outside developer have a go at a 3D Mega Man game. Though, that doesn't seem likely given how, if I recall correctly, Rock Man has a lot of appeal to young audiences in Japan. You don't see or hear many great kid-friendly games from Western developers. The closest I can think off the top of my head are the Ratchet & Clank series and the Sly Cooper series. Oh, and maybe the Jak series?

Ooo, I would like to see what Insomniac or Naughty Dog would do with Mega Man. Or maybe Capcom and Nintendo can have an agreement to let Retro Studios have a shot in either a 3DS or Wii U title.

Quote from: Enner

Ooo, I would like to see what Insomniac or Naughty Dog would do with Mega Man. Or maybe Capcom and Nintendo can have an agreement to let Retro Studios have a shot in either a 3DS or Wii U title.

I would love to see what Retro could do with Mega Man. They've done really well with pretty much every game they've been assigned.

Kai001July 19, 2011

How disappointing. I really don't get why they would cancel it. Please, help revive MegaMan Legends 3 by "liking" this page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Revive-MegaMan-Legends-3/13983428609826 

UltimatePartyBearJuly 19, 2011

This is terrible news.

SonofMrPeanutJuly 19, 2011

This is not only a sad moment for the 3DS and Capcom but also a sad day in the history of video games.


My thanks goes out to the hard working, dedicated team who was behind this game.  It was clearly a labor of love, and I'm sorry it had to end this way.

I do no mourn for the dead, although the pain is real. Young Mr. Volnut would want it this way.

TJ SpykeJuly 19, 2011

Why is is a sad day in the history of video games? Games have been canceled before. It's disappointing for those who were looking forward to it, but in the grand scheme of video games it's not a huge deal. I was interested in how it was going to turn out though.

motangJuly 19, 2011

I am pretty sure it has to do with the sluggish sales of the 3DS.

Chocobo_RiderJuly 19, 2011

That's very disappointing.

I can't believe Capcom would put so much effort connecting with its audience on this game just to pull the rug out like that.  All my precious votes on robot fashion are now wasted!!

MML3 was absolutely one of my reasons for getting a 3DS whenever the price drops ...  ah well, you could have had our money, Capcom!

steveyJuly 19, 2011

I'm not so mad that this game got canceled than I'm at the fact this ruins any chance of a MML collection for the wii/3DS/wiiU.

Quote from: Kai001

How disappointing. I really don't get why they would cancel it. Please, help revive MegaMan Legends 3 by "liking" this page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Revive-MegaMan-Legends-3/13983428609826 

When have facebook pages ever had an effect against anything?

broodwarsJuly 19, 2011

Quote from: stevey

I'm not so mad that this game got canceled than I'm at the fact this ruins any chance of a MML collection for the wii/3DS/wiiU.

Perhaps, though if you own a PS3 there's a pretty good chance that the Legends games could be released as PS1 Classics for download on PSN.  After all, they're simple ROM dumps with pretty low costs to make operable on PSN, so they'd probably get decent sales.

CericJuly 19, 2011

Quote from: broodwars

Quote from: stevey

I'm not so mad that this game got canceled than I'm at the fact this ruins any chance of a MML collection for the wii/3DS/wiiU.

Perhaps, though if you own a PS3 there's a pretty good chance that the Legends games could be released as PS1 Classics for download on PSN.  After all, they're simple ROM dumps with pretty low costs to make operable on PSN, so they'd probably get decent sales.

Though Capcom did get burned pretty hard on the PSN outage though.

broodwarsJuly 19, 2011

Quote from: Ceric

Quote from: broodwars

Quote from: stevey

I'm not so mad that this game got canceled than I'm at the fact this ruins any chance of a MML collection for the wii/3DS/wiiU.

Perhaps, though if you own a PS3 there's a pretty good chance that the Legends games could be released as PS1 Classics for download on PSN.  After all, they're simple ROM dumps with pretty low costs to make operable on PSN, so they'd probably get decent sales.

Though Capcom did get burned pretty hard on the PSN outage though.

All the more reason to toss something cheap and easy on the platform to recoup some of the losses without having to devote any major projects.

Mop it upJuly 19, 2011

This doesn't really make a lot of sense. It makes it sound like CapCom is impatient and wants to push out games as soon as possible or they get canned.

So I may be wrong on this one, but is this the first time since before Mega Man 1 was greenlit that a Mega Man game isn't being developed somewhere?

Mop it upJuly 19, 2011

Just because we don't know of any others doesn't mean that one isn't being developed. Mega Man has to be one of the most over-exposed franchises in history, even more than Mario, so I'd be surprised if there were absolutely nothing in the works.

Chocobo_RiderJuly 20, 2011

It's just odd ... sometimes third parties and Nintendo are like that couple who just can't seem to get the relationship right.

There are all these stories now implying slow 3DS sales are scaring off third parties.
... yet, the Wii's humongous sales didn't make third parties try very hard.

But I know, no one thinks third parties should have to lower themselves to the lowly lows of the low-def Wii ... low.

Yet, the 3DS is pretty peppy (not slippy) for a handheld, has very "traditional" controls, and boasts (arguably) dazzling visuals.

So ... it's just baffling...

Hey, third parties! Ya know what helps hardware sales!? Releasing quality software!!!

SundoulosJuly 20, 2011

That's very disappointing. :(  I was really looking forward to this one.

This concept for this game probably just wasn't good enough.  Capcom seems to be going a bit conservative on the 3DS right now, only bringing the biggest franchises to the system. I'm sure once it gets a bigger user base we'll see some of the lesser franchises make a return.

Mop it upJuly 20, 2011

How is Mega Man not one of CapCom's biggest franchises? It's been around a lot longer than Resident Evil, and they've probably released more Mega Man games than any of their other franchises.

CericJuly 21, 2011

Quote from: Mop

How is Mega Man not one of CapCom's biggest franchises? It's been around a lot longer than Resident Evil, and they've probably released more Mega Man games than any of their other franchises.

A quick count on a complete list gives me 122 Releases in the Mega Man Universe.  I did it be hand so lets say their is a 10% margin of error so 110 releases.  I think that beats Resident evil.  It may be all their known properties combined.

AdrockJuly 21, 2011

I read that the Mega Man Legends series didn't perform as well sales-wise as the other spin-offs/series, might even be the worst selling (though not necessarily poor sales). It has it's niche of fans but its sales would definitely explain the series' dormancy.

Personally, I'd rather see Maximo 3 but that has an even lesser chance of being made than ML3 since Capcom closed the studio and sales of Army of Zin were disappointing. It certainly has a smaller fanbase than Mega Man Legends.

Luigi DudeJuly 21, 2011

Quote from: Mop

How is Mega Man not one of CapCom's biggest franchises? It's been around a lot longer than Resident Evil, and they've probably released more Mega Man games than any of their other franchises.

The problem is in the last several years the sales of Megaman games hasn't been to hot.  Which is why currently, Megaman is no longer one of Capcoms biggest franchises because of low sales.  The last big Megaman series was Battle Network for the GBA, but Capcom killed that series with how badly they milked it.  That's why it's successor Star Forced wasn't anywhere close to BN in popularity, and that series seems to have died off now.

Mop it upJuly 21, 2011

What has even been released in the past few years? I can think of Mega Man 9 and 10 which I thought were pretty successful, but that's it.

Ian SaneJuly 21, 2011

I think of Mega Man kind of like a really old comic strip that you've seen in every newspaper your whole life but has not been relevant for a very long time.  It just kind of keeps going.  Mega Man had not really done anything groundbreaking since the SNES.  The games were still pretty good (at least until MMX went 3D) but it was nothing new and nothing you would really miss out on if you skipped it.

Resident Evil remains a big deal partially because it successfully reinvented itself with RE4 and only one new "main" RE game has been released since then.  It's not a dinosaur going through the motions yet.

Though ironically Mega Man was relevant again by being incredibly unambitious.  Mega Man 9 kicked off the fad of retro-style sequels to old franchises being released as downloadable titles.  Still that isn't enough to make it a major franchise in this day and age.

Capcom never seemed fully behind Mega Man Legends 3.  It honestly seemed like it was playing a rigged game from the start.  They didn't want to make it and were looking for an excuse to cancel it.  Don't know why, but it sure seems that way.

TJ SpykeJuly 21, 2011

This was Inafune's pet project, and once he left I guess there was no one left to really support it. I liken it to when the head of a network green lights a TV show and then leaves the network, the new guy comes in and doesn't care for the show so he cancels it.

CericJuly 22, 2011

I'm halfway surprised that Inafune didn't have a way to take Mega Man with him.

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