NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS ABOUT MATERIAL THAT HAS BEEN CANCELLED, AND WILL LIKELY NOT BE RELEASED OR HAVE NEW INFORMATION ADDED.

Mega Man Universe (メガマンユニバース, Mega Man Yunibāsu) was a video game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that was planned to be released in spring 2011. The game would feature a multitude of new options and characters, most heavily based on Mega Man 2. On March 31, 2011, Capcom announced its cancellation on the game's official website.^[1]

Plot

"We are thrilled to finally be able to announce Mega Man Universe. This game will break the mold and challenge the conventional wisdom of what a Mega Man game can be. When fans finally get to see it, I believe they’ll envision their most far-out Mega Man dreams coming true."

—Keiji Inafune

Development

Teaser

A teaser trailer revealing the game was shown on July 16, 2010. The teaser shows a kid sleeping in his room, then his alarm clock turned from 1:31 AM to 20:XX. The kid wakes up to see nine arcade machines turn on before him, and Mega Man teleports on an arcade machine and started to fight an army of enemies (Tellies, Mets, Moles and Prop-Tops, one type of enemy at a time), using Cut Man's Rolling Cutter and transforming into Ryu (from the Street Fighter series) and then Arthur (from the Ghosts 'n Goblins series) during the battle. After destroying one Prop-Top, Arthur falls backwards and turns back into Mega Man and then into his 8-bit appearance. An army of Prop-Tops, Tellies and Mets begin to approach Mega Man and then he blasts them with a large Charge Shot. The kid's alarm clock turns from 20XX to 1:31 AM and he is back to sleep. Then the old yellow and blue Mega Man that was featured on the American box art of the first Mega Man game appears from behind a toy robot and slips on a toy car, falling backwards and exploding.

Gameplay trailers

On September 2, 2010 (one day before PAX Prime opened), Capcom sent out three separate trailers to 1UP, IGN, and GameSpot. While they began and ended the same way, three different forms of Mega Man (Mega Man himself, his classic Rockman appearance, and the "Bad Box Art Mega Man"), playing through roughly exactly the same stages, made up the center. The trailers confirm a 2.5D platformer in the vein of Mega Man Powered Up with old robot enemies, old Robot Master powers like Quick Boomerang, Metal Blade and Air Shooter, and other features present in previous games, 8-bit 1-UPs and E-Tanks. A HUD comprising of E-Tank and 1-UP amounts, what power you have enabled (Buster Shot being the default), the player's health, and (assumed) boss health. The ending teases a playable Ryu, "No Way!!" as the trailers state. The next day a video with the three gameplays combined was added on the official site. Capcom revealed at the Penny Arcade Expo that besides the appearance, each Mega Men will have different play styles and abilities. For instance, the Bad Box Art Mega Man can only fire two shots at time unlike the usual three.

Tokyo Game Show

A few days before and during the Tokyo Game Show 2010, Capcom revealed that the game would feature a character customization system and a stage editor. For the character customization, Capcom gave as example Chop Man (チョップマン, a character with Mega Man's head, Metal Man's body and arms, and Quick Man's legs), Metto Man (メットマン, a character with a Met head, Bubble Man's body, Air Man's legs, and Wood Man's arms) and Gust Man (ガストマン, a character with Mega Man's body, Rockman's head, Air Man's arms and Metal Man's legs). Each character was to have different stats like life energy, weapon energy, speed, and jump height. The game was also intended to feature downloadable content, Megapin being the first DLC character revealed.

Cancellation

Since the Tokyo Game Show 2010 in October, several months passed with Capcom delivering no further news regarding the game. The game’s demo continued to circulate, including the United States, where it was showcased in the Brooklyn Public Library and New York Comic-Con.^[2] In December and February, the game was said to be still in development and had undergone changes.^[3][4] However, on March 31, 2011, Capcom left a notice apologizing that the game's development was cancelled for various reasons.^[1][5]

Characters

The game mainly focused on Mega Man 2, with additional characters being planned to be included as DLCs. The initial plan was to have characters from Mega Man to Mega Man 4 in "Core Packs" that also included additional content for the stage builder, like blocks and enemies, and "Booster Packs" that only included characters, like Ryu, Arthur, and Captain Commando.^[6]

Playable characters

These characters were confirmed to appear in the game.

• Mega Man - With a new appearance made for Mega Man Universe.
• Rockman - Mega Man's original Japanese appearance from the Mega Man series)
• Bad Box Art Mega Man - Based on the North American box art of the original Mega Man game.
• Ryu - From the Street Fighter series.
• Arthur - From the Ghosts 'n Goblins series.
• Megapin (メガピン, Megapin) - Gachapin dressed as Mega Man. Would appear as a DLC character.^[7]

Other characters

• Roll
• Dr. Wily
• Cut Man
• Metal Man
• Air Man
• Bubble Man
• Quick Man
• Crash Man
• Flash Man
• Heat Man
• Wood Man
• Two new characters, a woman with glasses and a Met-like woman that would appear as guides in some menus.^[8]

Gallery

Mega Man Universe cast

Mega Man

Rockman

Bad Box Art Mega Man

Ryu

Megapin

Roll

Dr. Wily and some enemies

Example of custom characters

Metal Man artwork.

Air Man artwork.

Quick Man artwork.

Crash Man artwork.

Flash Man artwork.

Heat Man artwork.

Wood Man artwork.

Bubble Man concept art.

Unnamed character

Unnamed character

Videos

Mega Man Universe Gameplay Trailer HD

Mega Man Universe Construction Gameplay Trailer HD

Mega Man Universe Character Customization Gameplay Trailer HD

External links

• Mega Man Universe official site (archive)
• The Mega Man Network: The Big Bang and Sudden Implosion of Capcom���s Mega Man Universe

References