Previously hinted at company mascots Pac-Man and Mega Man have been confirmed as PS3/PSV exclusive characters for Street Fighter X Tekken, joining Cole from inFamous, and Sony Japan mascots Toro and Kuro. Unless the 360 version of the game gets an all star group like The Prince of all Cosmos, Linn Kurasawa, Alan Wake, and Ilo and Milo as its own exclusive characters, then there is no way it's going to be able to compete (at least not for my money). Seeing as the game is coming out really soon, chances are slim that the 360 versions will be getting any exclusives at all. Microsoft has got to be feeling pretty hosed right about now!
Another group who's already reportedly feeling hosed over this development is the Mega Man fan community. A lot of them are already saying that the fact that Capcom is choosing Bad Box Art Mega Man over all the other Mega Mans in the history of Mega Mans for this coveted position on SFxT's roster is a slap in the face, especially seeing as his in-game story closely matches the mythology of the Mega Man Legends universe.
As a 35 year old man and a Mega Man fan since 1988, I can say that I don't feel that way at all. Not only do I think that Bad Box Art Mega Man fits with this particular game much better than any other incarnation of the character, I also see this move as a brilliant form of self-mockery on Capcom's part. Read the rest of the post for an explanation of the logic on that.
Pac-Man and Mega Man are clearly meant to represent Namco and Capcom and their efforts to come together to create Street Fighter X Tekken. Pac-Man, riding a giant version of Tekken's Mokujin, represents Namco's current philosophy towards working to simultaneously appeal to fans of their classic arcade days (with titles like Galaga Legions and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX) and fans of their more modern offerings (like Tekken and Katamari) at the same time.
Bad Box Art Mega Man does something else entirely. The character is old and out of shape. His costume has clearly taken a beating over the years. It shows multiple signs of damage (just look at that messed up helmet!). This is a man who has been through a lot. He's seen better days. That's not going to stop him though.
Despite being a bit long in the tooth, he's still clearly trying to win over the beauty-and-youth obsessed Western market, just as he did on the box of the original Mega Man when it was first released in the United States. Man, he's not going to have an easy time of that, is he? Not with that face. Not with those clothes.
He has all the makings of a failure: a fat, funny looking goofball desperately trying to look cool in the eyes of American teenagers, and failing hard at that goal. Yet, there is a fire in his eyes that makes him a charmer. He's got the spirit and the determination that only comes from having true passion for your work. He may be making an ass of himself, but he's a genuine ass, and that's to be respected. How could he not be genuine? Nobody looks, acts, and dresses like that because they think it's going to help them get ahead in life. If you look like Bad Box Art Mega Man, it's because you want to look that way for you.
In short, Bad Box Art Mega Man is legit. People may make fun of him for not being as cool and sexy as Western super heroes and Japanese anime characters, but he isn't going to let that stop him from giving it everything he's got in his efforts to win both our hearts, and the Street Fighter X Tekken tournament.
If that's not the best representation of modern day Capcom, I don't know what is. Kudos to Capcom for making such an unexpected and interesting creative decision by using this version of Mega Man to represent them in what may be one of their biggest games of 2012. They could have gone the safe, predictable route and just included the standard "Mega Man" in this game, the one who is proven to be a crowd-pleaser, the one who has already appeared in multiple crossover titles. Instead, they went ahead and did something that not only has me wanting to shake their hands, but play the crap out of their game. Mega Man and Poison are definitely going to be my mains.
Great job, Capcom. You've made at least one Mega Man fan very happy this day.
Jonathan Holmes is the most lovable Associate Editor on Destructoid. Catch him on videos, original editorials, and on back episodes of the Destructoid Show and MTV's Road Rules. Jonathan is a retro gamer's gamer.
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You make a valid point Holmes. But this is just unacceptable to me, CAPCOM doesnt seem to give a fuck about Mega Man anymore and this to me just makes me think like that even more.
That explanation actually makes sense Holmes, and I like it. I was happy when I saw that Mega Man, then again I love me some "joke" characters. Dan where you at?
Are they going to be in Tekken vs. Street fighter? Or is this only for Street Fighter x Tekken? I'm not a hardcore fighting fan so and I haven't played too much of street fighter. But just enough that I don't like the fast paced combat.
Bad boxart megaman is cool, I just wish they could have found a better way to fit pacman in other than a random mecha. Hell, I think I would even prefer some kind of reimagining where he is some tough looking guy in a yellow suit, kind of like what they did to taizo hori (dig dug) in Namco X Capcom.
Is there a plausible explanation for the 360 not getting ANY extra characters? I don't even care about Microsoft exclusives! There's no reason for Pac-Man and Bad Box Art Mega Man to not be on the 360 too. :(
I think the characters are fucking awesome but I'm incredibly disappointed at these not being in the 360 version. Cole is a cool bonus for PS3 users, but theres no reason these two should not be in the xbox version at all.
But in the end it comes down to this. Capcom could have and should have added a much better megaman that would have pleased all the fans, but did not, instead they added a joke. To be honest though I'm not even a bit mad because I simply don't care. I was mad when they trolled with R. Mika, I was mad when Lupinko leaked all this and there was no Karin/Sakura team, but I just can't be mad at Crapcom anymore, there is no point. My anger won't change anything. Legends is still dead, Dante is still a derp looking emo, and there are still obvious trolling attempts happening in SFxT as well as quite a few fan favorite characters being held back for DLC. That's Crapcom. They are a terrible little developer that makes games that I love, but could always love more(cept for Resident Evil 6. That game looks to be perfect.)
Why are Mega Man and Pacman exclusive to the ps3? That doesn't make much sense as those are not platform specific characters.
And in the wake of everything that has happened with Mega Man in the past year, the cancellation of Universe and Inafune fallout, this really does feel like Capcom is just trolling MM fans.
Capcom has said that the 360 version at least won't be getting any MS-related exclusive characters because they couldn't come to a deal with MS to use them in their game.
Which I basically take as meaning that MS wanted way to much money from Capcom so they could promote their characters for them.
I think bad box art Mega Man looks dope and think it was the right choice over any other version of Mega Man for this game except I doubt I'll be buying this and it still doesn't reassure me at all that Capcom hasn't completely gave up on Mega Man as an IP.
The Mega Man troll is funny, but no, it doesn't inspire me in any way to get the PS3 version, as exclusive characters are consistently gimmicky, unbalanced crap.
Live has the fighting audience. Its not non-existent on PSN, but people on PSN don't seem to know socializing is a part of fighting games so its kind of boring to own a fighter and play it on PSN.
Ezio in SCV has a better chance of turning out well than any of the exclusives tacked on to SFXI. For one, he's not platform exclusive, so there's no divided loyalties in building him for the game. Secondly, he's a more proper fit than any other SC guest ever has been.
Capcom is basically giving Mega Man fans the middle finger with this announcement. Those ingrates just can't let anything go and they deserve every second of this. Corporate spite has never felt so good.
Well written! While I think Capcom is still trolling the Mega-Man community I agree that this is the best edition of Mega-Man for this game. I just think his inclusion as well as this specific look is a blatant attempt to antagonize the fan community who have longed for a new Mega-Man game.
soooo Sony has like 50 exclusives and Microsoft has none? Pretty bullshit move by Capcom right there. Maybe in a further move to RAM 360 owners up the ass they'll just make the entire SF roster only available as DLC
If the are going with bad covert art megaman, why not urban legend pac-man?, a astronaut in a yellow space suit that eat's pills, trying to not go crazy seeing the ghost of his working fellows of the space station?. . . well that sounds more DeadSpace than nothing.
And Alan wake fighting?, well that will be awesome to flash ryu, and at the same time write in a paper how the darkness swallow him
It is at this point that I have reached an epiphany: I am becoming to jaded, and I don't like it.
Part of the anger I felt towards Capcom was due to a desire for the return of the "good ol' days", when I was a kid. That Capcom may be as awesome as it was when I first played Megaman 2 on the Gameboy, when I discovered the Legends series, when I first played as Megaman in the first MvC.
Capcom's cancellation of Megaman Legends 3 felt like a slap to the face, because it made me realize that those days were over and never coming back. I hated that, and I hated Capcom for it.
Now, I stop and realize that I was acting just as idiotically as the Sonic fantards I despise so much. My rage was impotent. Nothing I, nor anyone else, did would make things better. This was the hand life dealt me, so I'd might as well play with it.
I'm still gonna buy Capcom games used since they are still dicks, and I'm still gonna call Holmes out for being bought off by Capcom. However, I'm done raging.
I no longer care if Dan is in it or not. Capcom, you have gone above and beyond by doing something a game company hasn't done in a while: surprise me in a good way. I can't remember the last time I was actually like "wow didnb expect that" for a game and actually happy about it. Capcom, I love you.
GEKKO-Fox
The problem is their timing, and possibly if they really are meaning this as a troll. We as Mega Man fans have suffered a hell of a lot through this past year, the least they could do is choose a Mega Man that we could all love rather then choose one only people with tongue in cheek humor can appreciate. There was a time this would have been funny, but now I think it's just being plain distasteful to the Mega Man fans who have bared with Capcom through all the crap they have put us through.
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Contest:
9:30 PM on 01.26.2012
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......MEGAMAN YAY!>...
WAIT....
wait...
..wait..
...>mfw
My childhood has been brutally butchered.
Maybe.
Five I think.
I love Mega Man's look but I'm not sure about some of the others.
Whatever. I guess I'm okay with this.
And Xiaoyu is already in so I don't really care about anything else.
HNNNNNG
Pac-Man is kind of lame though. Why the big robot body? Shouldn't he eat people? Oh whatever.
And in the wake of everything that has happened with Mega Man in the past year, the cancellation of Universe and Inafune fallout, this really does feel like Capcom is just trolling MM fans.
Which I basically take as meaning that MS wanted way to much money from Capcom so they could promote their characters for them.
Bad box art> regular MM.
Oh..
But what about Pac-Man!
Oh........
Live has the fighting audience. Its not non-existent on PSN, but people on PSN don't seem to know socializing is a part of fighting games so its kind of boring to own a fighter and play it on PSN.
Ezio in SCV has a better chance of turning out well than any of the exclusives tacked on to SFXI. For one, he's not platform exclusive, so there's no divided loyalties in building him for the game. Secondly, he's a more proper fit than any other SC guest ever has been.
Haha,Capcom be trolling,yo. But in all seriousness, Bad Cover Art Mega Man is win.
Capcom isn't trolling, they are flat out antagonizing the community. I hope they burn for all the undue venom they gave Capcom last year.
And Alan wake fighting?, well that will be awesome to flash ryu, and at the same time write in a paper how the darkness swallow him
Aw hell, now I just imagined how awesome it would be for Alan Wake to have been in this game...
@Levi: They shouldn't have put any Mega Man in a game about Street Fighters and Tekken, so I don't see the problem here. This is fucking great.
Excellent writeup, Holmes. I still wanted X for MvC, but we're totally cool with this.
Part of the anger I felt towards Capcom was due to a desire for the return of the "good ol' days", when I was a kid. That Capcom may be as awesome as it was when I first played Megaman 2 on the Gameboy, when I discovered the Legends series, when I first played as Megaman in the first MvC.
Capcom's cancellation of Megaman Legends 3 felt like a slap to the face, because it made me realize that those days were over and never coming back. I hated that, and I hated Capcom for it.
Now, I stop and realize that I was acting just as idiotically as the Sonic fantards I despise so much. My rage was impotent. Nothing I, nor anyone else, did would make things better. This was the hand life dealt me, so I'd might as well play with it.
I'm still gonna buy Capcom games used since they are still dicks, and I'm still gonna call Holmes out for being bought off by Capcom. However, I'm done raging.
"I am becoming to jaded"
Welcome.
The problem is their timing, and possibly if they really are meaning this as a troll. We as Mega Man fans have suffered a hell of a lot through this past year, the least they could do is choose a Mega Man that we could all love rather then choose one only people with tongue in cheek humor can appreciate. There was a time this would have been funny, but now I think it's just being plain distasteful to the Mega Man fans who have bared with Capcom through all the crap they have put us through.