If you’re a fan of the blue bomber’s classic jump-and-shoot sidescrollers, you’ll be pleased to know that there will be plenty more Mega Man in 2018. It’s been a little while since we last saw some classic Mega Man action on our consoles and PCs – there was Mega Man 9 and 10, and also the excellent Street Fighter X Mega Man, but those all came out several years ago. Of course, we’ve also had the two Mega Man Legacy Collections – I wrote some words about the first collection back in 2015 and still appreciate having the classic NES games on a modern console, but I haven’t yet got around to trying out the second Legacy Collection due to other games consuming my spare time. That said, I thought Mega Man 9 was okay (well, the stages that I was competent enough to finish were okay) and 10 had some fun moments (when I was playing on Easy mode, at least) so I welcome the announcement of more Mega Man in 2018.
Mega Man in 2018 – 10 != X
If Mega Man 10 didn’t already dispel the confusion around “Mega Man X” being released in addition to six NES games that used roman numerals, Mega Man 11 puts it to rest. A new entry in the mainline series, Mega Man 11 also moves away from the retro pixel aesthetic of the previous two games and instead represents something modern but still appealing. The presentation shown off in the trailer proves that you can update the look of a Mega Man game without ending up with the chunky cartoon mess of Mega Man Powered Up or the similarly garish Mighty No. 9. More notably, we see the slide (a move traditionally executed by pushing down and jump, allowing for slightly faster movement and progress through tight spaces), charge shot (your typical powered-up normal shot that’s fired after holding the button for a while) and Rush (Mega Man’s canine companion who helps him reach otherwise-inaccessible areas) make an appearance in the trailer, so a new Mega Man in 2018 doesn’t necessarily mean a return to the limited moveset of the first game.
Mega Man in 2018 – a new collection and more ports
In addition to Mega Man 11, Capcom also revealed that it would be repackaging the eight Mega Man X games for some form of re-release next year. Mega Man X is like the daring younger sibling to the classic Mega Man series; it throws in more diverse gameplay features and more cinematic scenes whilst the original series can continue to do its own thing. I was pretty late discovering the X series, and honestly I think there are still Mega Man X games that I’ve barely looked at, but I do enjoy playing the SNES classics. The one thing I’m not sure about yet is how the Mega Man X games will return – are they going to get a Legacy Collection equivalent all of their own, or are they going to be released individually? And if they are individual releases, are they going to be priced in a way that doesn’t make buying all eight too costly? The information I’ve read seems unclear so far, but there will surely be more news regarding the status of Mega Man in 2018… Finally, fans of the Legacy Collections will now have a new way to play – both Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 and 2 will be released on Nintendo Switch next Spring. You can read further details about this and the other announcements on Capcom Unity’s blog update here. And as always, let us know what you think of the announcements – are you looking forward to playing some brand new games, enjoying some classics on the move, or sampling the more dynamic X games all over again? Share your thoughts with us below…
Mega Man 11 is being released in late 2018 for Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC. The Mega Man X games will be returning next summer for Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC. Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 and 2 will be available for Nintendo Switch next Spring.