Mega Man turns twenty tonight at midnight, and to help build anticipation, Capcom has thrown up a countdown timer on the official Mega Man 20th Anniversary page. This is Capcom's second countdown in as many months, the last one being in the middle of October that ended in a cavalcade of big announcements, including the announcement of Street Fighter 4. Can we expect an announcement of equal measure when this countdown concludes?

More after the jump. 

Capcom has already done a lot to imply that they think this date is important. The created a five minute video to promote the event. They've made buckets of new 20th Anniversary specific merchandise like shirts, pins, and other baubles. Keiji Inafune, the driving creative force behind Mega Man for the past twenty years, did a promotional signing in New York City to draw attention to Mega Man's birthday. And for god sakes, Capcom is actually keeping track of the exact date that Mega Man was "born". What other video game character gets that kind of treatment? I'm guessing that with all this build up, Capcom will do more than end today's countdown with a simple "Happy Birthday, Mega Man!", a few token "W00ts!", and a self-congratulatory hip bump or high five. 

Some here at Destructoid believe this countdown will end with Mega Man being announced as an official character in Super Smash Bros Brawl. Others think that's poppycock. I personally could go either way on that area of speculation, but in addition to any Brawl related bombs being dropped, I firmly believe something in the form of a new Mega Man game from Cacpom will be announced within 24 hours. There is already a rumor floating around that a new Mega Man title for the Wii is in development.  People like me are hoping that if this game materializes, it will feature the one true Mega Man, the one that is actually turning twenty tonight, and not one of his many fun but inferior bastard children.

So I've already got my expectations set pretty high, meaning I could very well be in for a disappointment. But as a certified countdown addict, I'm ready to stay up tonight and watch the clock tick to zero, regardless of the potential for a lackluster climax. In fact, I do that every night anyway. Not satisfied with just celebrating the New Year's countdown every December 31st, I actually countdown the hours to every new day. I wear a sparkly pointy hat, decorate the house with streamers, bring noise makers, write down my "New Day's Resolutions", light off some fireworks, the whole enchilada. Other than having a visit from the local police every night at around 1am, and the death threats from my neighbors, I'm yet to see the downside of my daily holiday fun. 

So for me, tonight will be just another crazy countdown to Monday. But how about you? You going to stay up and see if Mega Man's birthday will herald any hot info?