Capcom Talks Mega-Man on Wii, Nintendo DS & More

By Adam Riley 30.07.2007 4

Capcom Talks Mega-Man on Wii, Nintendo DS & More
Interview by Adam Riley :: Sunday July 29th 2007


The Mega Man series has been going strong now since back in the days of the 8-bit NES, but has progressed considerably over the years, appearing not only on numerous formats, but having several different types of spin-off appear. One such series is the Mega Man Zero one on GBA, which has now developed into the Mega Man ZX franchise for the DS. Cubed3 caught up with Capcom to talk about that particular series in the light of the first game's release here in Europe recently.

Cubed3's Adam Riley: First of all, could you please tell us how you were involved in the project and how long it took to complete the development process?

Takeshi Horinouchi, Line Producer of Mega-Man ZX: I'm the Line Producer. I'm not sure how familiar people are with what a Line Producer does, but it's my job to meet with and co-ordinate the schedules of everyone working on the project, including directors, script writers, and programmers, to maintain the balance between members of our internal staff and those of the outsource company, and to ensure that everything goes smoothly and we remain on schedule, all within the established budget and timeframe of the project.

Having said that, this project is only one title in our long-running Mega Man series, and I think the most important part of my job is to think about what the players would want and to bring them a new and exciting experience.

The development process for ZX took about 20 months.

As I'm sure you already know, there was always a new instalment to the Mega Man Zero series every year. With that in mind, we took the development cycle of the Zero series and released Mega Man ZX a year after Mega Man Zero 4 hit the shelves. It was certainly a hard schedule to follow - we had barely finished putting together Zero 4's alpha ROM when we started work on ZX.

AR: What was it like making the transition from GBA development to the DS?

TH: If you take away the new features of the DS, such as the touch screen and the second screen, ZX resembles its predecessor in many ways. For example, the game engine is pretty much the same as it was in Zero 4.

As far as the action part of the game is concerned, we were able to make it challenging and fun very early on, but up until the very end, we had a tough time figuring out what to do with the touch screen. We were afraid that if the touch screen usage interfered too much with the action aspect of the game, it would make the game controls too awkward and complicated.

AR: Have you found there to be any particular limitations of the DS and were there any significant hurdles whilst making ZX?

TH: The one thing we had an especially hard time with was how we were going to use the touch screen *laughs*

The Mega Man series has used only the directional pad, and the A, B, X, Y, L, and R buttons for a very long time now, and we thought that if we were to change the button layout, it would disappoint a lot of Mega Man fans. So we decided to leave it as it was.

But that left us with one problem. Fundamentally, an action game doesn't require the use of a touch screen. We tried to find a way to use the touch screen, and eventually implemented some touch functionality, but the feedback we got wasn't as positive as we had hoped *smiles wryly*

AR: How does ZX differ from the Zero series and how does it make use of the DS features?

TH: The only real common point the two games have is that they're both fundamentally action Mega Man games. We were able to include, in spirit, some of the characters from the Zero series as a bit of fan service, so I hope people will be happy with their inclusion.

In the DS version, the abilities of the Biometals are split up and used individually. This is something we have retained from the Zero series.

AR: What is the basic idea behind Mega Man ZX and do you think it will appeal to the current DS audience?

TH: Until recently, Mega Man games have always been about controlling a hero who saves the day, but with the ZX series, we decided to make the main character a human, just like the player, and for the player to become the hero who saves the day.

We also thought about our female audience, and decided to have both a male and a female main character. Since the number of female players has risen in the past few years, especially on the DS, we felt that we should include a female character.

AR: Are you pleased with how Mega Man ZX has performed in Japan and the US so far?

TH: Mega Man ZX was released at a time when the DS was still rapidly expanding in the market, so even though we think to ourselves that maybe the game would've sold better had we released it now instead of then, I'm personally happy with how well it sold at the time when it first came out.

AR: Mega Man ZX Advent now out in Japan. How will this differ from the first game?

TH: The main characters of Mega Man ZX Advent can transform into not only Mega Man, but the bosses they have defeated as well. This is a very marked difference from the first game.

The touch screen has also been put to good use through features such as the map system and one-touch transformations, making it feel more like a DS game. I think it was through the large volume of great feedback we received from the players that we were able to make this game grow by leaps and bounds.

In Mega Man ZX Advent, we have a few new features for players of all skill levels. For hardcore veterans of the series, there are special conditional bonuses they can get when they defeat bosses in certain ways and receive specific medals, and for beginners, we have a special tutorial section and a beginner's mode.

AR: Will you be making use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for online content?

TH: We have no plans to make use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection at this time.

AR: Are there plans to keep the ZX games going after Advent? And can we expect to see a version make an appearance on the Wii in the future?

TH: I think whether the ZX series continues or not is going to depend on the response we get from the players. As for a Wii version, I think it's very unlikely at this point. After all, if we were to switch platforms for the next game, players would have to buy another piece of expensive hardware, wouldn't they?

AR: What are your thoughts on Nintendo's Wii in general?

TH: I think the Nintendo Wii is a good piece of hardware. As a creator, it's definitely a platform you want to try working with at least once. If given the chance, I would love to make a game for the Wii.

AR: What is next for your team?

TH: Well, we are still working hard on ZX Advent so this is our focus right now.

AR: Can we expect older Mega Man games to appear on the Virtual Console service in the near future?

TH: It is certainly a possibility, but at present nothing has been confirmed. [ Since this interview took place, Mega Man from the NES has been confirmed for the Virtual Console ]

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Comments

ZX= YUK, a simple equation. Capcom have bled crap out of the Megaman franchise, with the wrong genre of game. {LS]

( Edited on 30.07.2007 01:18 by Linkyshinks )

ZX was pure shite. If you expect it to be anything like the Zero games, you're wrong.

People complain about Nintendo milking the Mario franchise, but Capcom have been far worse with Megaman. They're a simple production line of games with no thought going in from sequel to sequel.

Capcom, take some time, go back to basics and rethink the franchise from the ground up. Megaman is still a great premise for a game, at the basic run'n'gun, platforming, power stealing level.

"This man has advanced communist views ... He dresses in a bohemian fashion both at his office and in his leisure hours."

Dr_R said:
People complain about Nintendo milking the Mario franchise, but Capcom have been far worse with Megaman. Theyre a simple production line of games with no thought going in from sequel to sequel.Capcom, take some time, go back to basics and rethink the franchise from the ground up. Megaman is still a great premise for a game, at the basic runngun, platforming, power stealing level.

Agreed, the trouble is what we wish is never going to happen anytime soon, and it's due in part because of the factors you mention. Kenji Inafune the creator spoke at the recent Megamanniversary and was asked about the things that originalists would want, ie a new series of platform shooters, taking into the 3d realm etc, his main gripe was that there would be a risk factor involved!.


God do I hope the games go back to the roots of those early platformers and that they return to Nintendo's console.

Megaman 1, 2 ,3 were great but then the series went crap with all the lame games we see now. A platforming title on Wii would sell MEGA bucks in the U.S where the early platforming titles are fondly rememberd.

The Megaman series is due in full on the VC shortly, probally a much better choice than a import copy of the Anniversary Collection on GC which has the A and B buttons switched, my brain will never get used to it- very annoying, as it makes a already extremely hard games even harder.

( Edited on 30.07.2007 10:31 by Linkyshinks )

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