When you think about the all-time classic video game characters, Mega Man is by and large one of the greats, and is one of the most recognizable video game characters of all time. The character has had various series made in his honor, including the original games, the X saga, the Zero spinoffs, multiple handheld franchises and more. But there was a long gap between games at one point, and though we’re back to form with Mega Man 11, many are curious as to why the gap was there in the first place.
Speaking with VentureBeat, Mega Man producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya noted this:
“As I’m sure you’re well aware, Inafune-san departed a long while ago. Obviously a lot of other people were working on Mega Man at the time, and there were a lot of people within the company that had a strong desire to make a new Mega Man, but it was very difficult. The atmosphere just didn’t feel right for anybody to raise their hand and say, ‘I want to be the person that makes the next Mega Man.’ That was kind of the general atmosphere for a long while. It was a big reason why there was a long absence for a new Mega Man game.”
Obviously, someone stepped up and made Mega Man 11 happen, and it’ll arrive in a few months. Tsuchiya was a big reason for the game being made, but the other big factor was a certain set of Mega Man titles doing well sales wise:
“What was really nice was, when we released Mega Man Legacy Collection, it did really well. It had 1 million sales worldwide. It was very much a way of numerically showcasing, to people internally, that there is a strong fan base. There are people waiting for a new Mega Man game. We were able to show that with those numbers. We wouldn’t have been able to do that without our fans. I’m very thankful to our fan base.”
We’ll have to see how the game does when it arrives, and whether another long gap follows.
