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3DS

Mega Man 1 to 6 Coming to North American 3DS eShop

by Tyler Ohlew - December 17, 2012, 6:35 am EST
Total comments: 32 Source: Capcom, http://www.capcom-unity.com/brelston/blog/2012/12/...

Let the Mega Man 2 versus 3 debate rage on!

The entire set of Mega Man games for NES will be making their way to the 3DS eShop's Virtual Console service. While various installments have been available in Europe and Japan, this marks the series' arrival on the North American eShop. Mega Man will be available for purchase on December 27, with its sequel seeing release a little over a month later on February 7. Mega Man 3 onward will be released "in regular intervals throughout 2013," according to Capcom's Brett Elston.

The original Mega Man was released in 1987, with its sixth and final NES installment released in 1993. The series stars an android named Mega Man whose mission is to stop the nefarious Dr. Wily and his band of killer robots. The series is noted for its difficulty, and for the power-ups Mega Man can yield upon defeating Dr. Wily's creations.

The announcement comes just in time to make Mega Man's 25 Anniversary.

The NES series of Mega Man titles is also available on the Wii Virtual Console, however, Mega Man 6 is absent.

Talkback

Darkurai the Oracle PonyDecember 17, 2012

I may actually take a crack at Mega Man this time around. I really am just terrible at those games, so being able to make a save state is going to be so much help.

Pixelated PixiesDecember 17, 2012

This is great and all, but when are they going to complete the Mega Man series on VC? I was hoping to have them all in one place, but I'm certainly not buying them all again on eShop.

tendoboy1984December 17, 2012

Why can't Capcom just release all 6 Mega Man games at once? They're all out in Japan, so what are they waiting for? And while they're at it, Capcom should also port Mega Man 9 & 10 to the 3DS.

I'll definitely be buying them again, just because they are portable. With Mega Man NES and the new Smash Bros. coming to the 3DS, I can finally sell my (original) Wii. But I sure will miss Wii Sports Resort...

Also, Mega Man 2 & 4 are the best out of the Classic series, in my opinion.

nickmitchDecember 17, 2012

It keeps the sales from cannibalizing eachother. Put out all six, and some people might just get their favorites, or the more critically favored.

broodwarsDecember 17, 2012

Oh good, more existing console VC titles on the handheld eShop. I'm glad Nintendo already has all the old handheld games covered already, or this would just look like a pure cash grab and a total "No Confidence" vote from Nintendo for actual GB/GBC/GBA VC games on the 3DS eShop.

These definitely fall under the "I've bought versions of these games too many times" category, and the prospect of them being mobile isn't enough of a value incentive for me to re-purchase.

Quote from: broodwars

Oh good, more existing console VC titles on the handheld eShop. I'm glad Nintendo already has all the old handheld games covered already, or this would just look like a pure cash grab and a total "No Confidence" vote from Nintendo for actual GB/GBC/GBA VC games on the 3DS eShop.


Agreed in this instance.  I think there are VC titles i'd love to have on a handheld platform, but this isn't one of them, and I wouldn't mind seeing some more handheld gems show up, or at least some more original, compelling titles for the E-shop come with more frequency.

leahsdadDecember 17, 2012

Looks like VC is alive on the 3DS.  Which is good and all.  Anyone wonder why it's seemingly dead on Wii U?  Because I just find "Wii Mode" repulsive.

NWR_JoshJosh Max, Associate EditorDecember 17, 2012

so... Megaman 2 is best. Right, guys?

spitmanDecember 17, 2012

nope, Mega Man 1 is the best :D

RazorkidDecember 17, 2012

Bought!

spitmanDecember 17, 2012

I  wish the Wii versions would offer save states like the 3DS versions do. Sure it's cheating but you almost have to for some NES games...  any why should they really care if you cheat in a 25 year old game?

Quote from: broodwars

Oh good, more existing console VC titles on the handheld eShop. I'm glad Nintendo already has all the old handheld games covered already, or this would just look like a pure cash grab and a total "No Confidence" vote from Nintendo for actual GB/GBC/GBA VC games on the 3DS eShop.

Actually, if you go through the list of Nintendo-published GB and GBC games you'll see that most of the ones that have a reasonable chance of coming out are already out. The only significant exceptions I can think of in terms of original GB games are the Donkey Kong Land games and Pokémon Red/Blue. There's probably a handful of GBC games as well, but short of starting up the GBA Virtual Console there isn't that much Nintendo can do without third party involvement.

Quote from: spitman

I  wish they would offer save states like the DS versions do. Sure it's cheating but you almost have to for some NES games...  any why should they really care if you cheat in a 25 year old game?

These are on the 3DS VC, so they do have save states.

Mop it upDecember 17, 2012

Why are they putting these up instead of the Game Boy Mega Man games?

EasyCureDecember 17, 2012

because they're lazy?

Pixelated PixiesDecember 17, 2012

I don't think it's so much 'instead of' as it is 'as well as'. I have to imagine that they'll eventually release all the gameboy games as well. As it's Mega Man's 25th anniversary, however, they've probably decided to bring out the classics. The Gameboy Mega Man games aren't as fondly remembered as the NES games.

tendoboy1984December 17, 2012

Quote from: Mop

Why are they putting these up instead of the Game Boy Mega Man games?

Because the NES versions are superior to the Game Boy versions. The Game Boy versions have worse sound, music, graphics, and stage designs. Everything feels cramped due to the overly large sprites.


If you want a handheld version of a popular console series done right, play Super Mario Land 2.

SarailDecember 17, 2012

Watch "Shoot" and "Jump" be mapped to the B and A buttons respectively - instead of Y and B. >_

Spak-SpangDecember 17, 2012

Nope, Mega Man 3 is easily the best...followed by Mega Man 2 then Mega Man 6.  Sure why not.  Actually I just love all Mega Man games...and having portable versions would be awesome.

SarailDecember 17, 2012

Quote from: Spak-Spang

Nope, Mega Man 3 is easily the best...followed by Mega Man 2 then Mega Man 6.  Sure why not.  Actually I just love all Mega Man games...and having portable versions would be awesome.

Oooh! +1 for you, sir. MM3 is my favourite Mega Man, too! Best boss selection (Shadow Man is rad), and the Top Spin weapon is crazy and ridiculous at the same time (PROTIP: Use it on the last boss FTW).

No Mega Buster, but...screw it! Pellet shots all the way, man. All the way.

Pixelated PixiesDecember 17, 2012

This might be controversial.

Mega Man 2 is great. Mega Man 3 is better. Mega Man 9 is the best.

EasyCureDecember 17, 2012

Quote from: Racht

Watch "Shoot" and "Jump" be mapped to the B and A buttons respectively - instead of Y and B. >_<

as long as they don't fuck it up like on the GCN collection...

Quote from: EasyCure

because they're lazy?

*ding* *ding* We have a winner!

I'm glad MM6 is coming out at all. That game is much better than people think.

Luigi DudeDecember 17, 2012

The reason we won't get all the Gameboy games is because Capcom lost the source code to some of them.  This is why the Mega Man Gameboy Collection that was suppose to be released on the GBA with all 5 of the games never did because Capcom couldn't find all the source code for all 5 games.


Seriously, doesn't anyone remember this?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffiNuTbS2ho


The lose of source code was the reason this got canceled so it's no surprised that's what's stopping all the games from hitting the 3DS eShop as well.

TJ SpykeDecember 17, 2012

Actually, that was never anything more than a unconfirmed rumor.

tendoboy1984December 18, 2012

Quote from: NWR_Josh

so... Megaman 2 is best. Right, guys?

Nope. Mega Man 4 & 5 are my faves. They have the best music and unique stage designs. But Mega Man 2 has the best instrumentation.

Luigi DudeDecember 18, 2012

Quote from: TJ

Actually, that was never anything more than a unconfirmed rumor.

Capcom was still pretty supportive of the Mega Man franchise around this time so it'd make no sense why they would have just canceled this game unless something really was holding it back, like the lack of source code for some of the games.  Considering they released the NES games and the X games in collections around this same period, it makes no sense that they wouldn't have released a Gameboy collection as well if they could have.

Art_de_CatDecember 18, 2012

Mega Man 2,4,3,5,1, then 6

As much as I like the NES Mega Man games, i was hoping to see more of the gb Mega Man games first.  Have 1-5 on Wii for a second buy, not sure if i will buy again on 3ds, though I may get 6 to say I have the whole set.

TrueNerdDecember 18, 2012

Fun fact, I've only ever played the Game Boy Mega Mans. I played the HELL out of 3 and 4. I have extremely fond memories of them but I haven't touched them in ages. Another fun fact, Mega Man 4 on the Game Boy had a "Super Guide" of sorts. If you died enough times on a single stage Dr. Light gave you a beefed up mega buster.

Oh, I also played Mega Man X. Without having ever played the NES Mega Mans, I'm going to arrogantly/ignorantly call the Mega Man 2 vs. 3 argument pointless because X is wildly superior to them all. ;)

MASBDecember 18, 2012

Quote from: Luigi

Quote from: TJ

Actually, that was never anything more than a unconfirmed rumor.

Capcom was still pretty supportive of the Mega Man franchise around this time so it'd make no sense why they would have just canceled this game unless something really was holding it back, like the lack of source code for some of the games.  Considering they released the NES games and the X games in collections around this same period, it makes no sense that they wouldn't have released a Gameboy collection as well if they could have.


I'm sure they did lose the source code, which is what has happened to the vast majority of Japanese games prior to the late 90's. But that wouldn't stop them from releasing a collection of the games on the GBA. They could have just packed a user-invisble emulator into the cart to run the Roms directly, which is what happened with a least a few NES to GBA ports.

Loss of source code only becomes a problem if you want to make changes to the actual game/Rom. In that case, the only way to make changes is to reverse-engineer the Rom itself, the same way hackers have to do when they make fan translations of Japanese games (the only differences being is that the hypothetical Capcom people would be paid for their work and could potentially have better tools than the hackers (though knowing the Japanese, the latter is in no way guaranteed)).

NemoDecember 18, 2012

My vote goes to Mega Man 3.

Also, I won't be buying any of these, because I still have all the NES cartridges. Although, it's a tempting convenience.

EasyCureDecember 18, 2012

i don't like getting into the 2 vs whatever debate, but i will say i have more fond memories of 2, and its likely because it was the 1st in the serious i owned as opposed to borrowing from my friends. it was also the 1st nes game I beat as a child, on my own, unlike mario 3 where my brother would sometimes help with the trickier stages.

as for the gba games.. i would like to check them out but I've never really heard good things, so I haven't gas much interest. its nice to see mm6 get some love too, that one of an overrated gem. i bought it new and was surprised at how much more enjoyable it was than mm7 for the sned, which i had bought a few months prior

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