Afro Republican
Banned
Since the delays and release of Mighty No.9, and games such as Recore have come to pass, it's time to really look back at Inafune. The man who was falsely, for a long time, considered the creator of Mega Man and the producer of the Mega Man games pre-Mega Man 8 (he wasn't). This man leaving Capcom, for Mega Man fans specifically, may have been one of the best things to ever happen.
Timeline:
-Despite some of the articles and such over the years, Inafune really didn't have much reign over a Mega Man game until Mega Man 8. Mega Man X was supposed to feature a character by him as a protagonist but Capcom rejected that and the character, which would become Zero, would become a side-character and Mega Man X ended up being the game that was released. For the better imo.
-Mega Man 8 was the first Mega Man came completely controlled/produced by Inafune. While some could argue based on Japanese interviews and hypothesis that the game was over produced and didn't really meet sales goals, It is, despite its flaws, the most mechanically improved Mega Man game to date. Mostly because newer original series titles would dial-back the mechanics to previous games. Mega Man 11 seems to be heading back in a more "evolution" based-direction again for the original series.
-Mega Man X4 has a lot of speculation as to why the story was split as much as it was. On one hand due to more cutscenes among other things, many casual fans considered Zero to be the main focus of X4. However X4's actually plot isn't even in Zero's story leading to speculation in the past that Inafune, and other ranks at Capcom, were having a tug of war. The whole reason for the intro stage collapsing happening, the motivations, the implementing spies into Repliforce, and so on was non-existent in Zero's story, which focused more on a love interest side-plot with Colonels sister as the coup was going on and a flashback scene that adds more questions than answers about the "origin" of Sigma being evil. As interesting as it is, it has nothing to do with X4's main story. The theory that there was some tug of war at Capcom would soon be realized with X6's release.
-Mega Man Legends was an ambitious project that Inafune wanted to put a lot of focus on. Treating other series more like side projects. This became most evident during the production of Mega Man Legends 2, where Mega Man X5 was rushed to release. Inafune basically gave X%5 very little funding and inadequate advertising wanting the team to "finish the series with this game" without much further input from him. Others at Capcom clearly didn't believe he had the authority to do such a thing, especially given the poor reception of the game relatively, and thus responded by releasing Mega Man X6, while Mega Man Legends 2 ended up underperforming, even in Japan, X6 did significantly better despite the rpg-esque nature of the Legends series.
-At this point, Capcom and Inafune generally went in two separate directions in terms of handling the series. Capcom still wanted Mega Man to be a relevant franchise on consoles while Inafune wanted the franchise to take advantage of the GBA portable console and later the PSP/DS.
-On Inafunes end, he wanted to create a side-series featuring Zero, the character he wanted to be the protagonist of the Mega Man X series, and another stab at a deeper genre with Battle Network, which focused on the rpg genre.
-While Zero had 4 games of declining relevance and little evolution with decent sales for the first 2 games, Battle Network exploded, especially in Japan. The series was being milked dry in games and media as it was becoming more and more popular.
-Fast forward to Mega Man Battle Network 4, this game would be the best selling game of the Battle Network series but also the start of the series boom bust cycle. Battle Network 4 as well as other media had a poor reception that led to Battle Network becoming quickly irrelevant outside of Japan, and while the Battle Network Series still held decent sales for a GBA game in japan until the last game in the series, the drops were deep. The games quality and arguable drop in graphics to make the series cheaper to make and more milkable had led to a decline that could not be stopped. Remakes of MMX and MM1 were done on the PSP, however these games didn't end up getting the attention that was expected.
-Soon Battle Networks game and external Media empire along with a toy-line, cratered. Hurting the Mega Man brand in general and helping facilitate poor sales of other games. In order to try and recapture the rpg success of BN, Inafune gave input on a new series called Star Force, but would not put his full attention on the series leaving it to other staff. Instead Inafune wanted to try and once again make a new action platform Mega Man spin-off similar to the Zero series with ZX. Continuing the series portable milking and split marketing. Both the ZX series and the Star Force series would end up failing and would result in a change of strategy with the franchise. Although one more attempt was made to revive the Battle Network success with an enhanced version of the first game featuring a cross-over with the Star Force series, though the game wasn't successful and was only released in Japan.
-At this point, Mega Man went back to old skool nostalgia graphics, with Mega Man 9 and would continue on this route with Mega Man 10. After MM10 all series where placed on hiatus. Mega Man, with it's brand tarnished, milked, and losing relevance was nwt looked at more cautiously by staff at Capcom, leading to multiple game cancellations.
-On the Capcom side of the divide, Capcom had attempted to try and bring Mega Man back in a much different away. Capcom started by attempting to transition the popular Mega Man X series into 3D with a 2.5D compromise in X7. Though the game received poor to average reception the game still did well WW, even selling over 110k in Japan. However the timing of X7's release and reception couldn't have been at the worst time as on the other end Post-Battle Network 4 syndrome was already setting in.
-To combat this and to keep the brand alive, Capcom released a massive Mega Man collection on all 3 of the major consoles at the time, PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, these were specifically aimed at the US audience due to the Original series (and the X series later) being the more popular Mega Man series in that region. This collection contained Mega Man 1-8 along with two CPS2 arcade fighting games. It also included the PSX versions of Mega Man 1-6 with remixed music and navigators to help give hints. Various features were also included, remixed music, concept art, interviews, episode of the old 90's cartoon etc.
-Also around this time frame Capcom was working on two more projects, a Mega Man X based RPG game called "Command Mission" and the sequel to X7, Mega Man X8, which would bring back 3D graphics but keep gameplay in a 2.5D style. Sadly by this point the brands pull was no longer salvageable, and both games ended up selling poorly WW. In Japan, where X had done well on consoles historically, both games together, which includes both the GC and PS2 versions of Command Mission + X8, sold less than 90k, a big upset.
-The last console attempt to salvage the franchise came in 2006 as Star Force and ZX would continue the series downfall and milking on portables. This was another collection aimed at the US audience, the Mega Man X Collection. This collection would include Mega Man X1-6 with X3 being the CD-based PSX version. Along with them, an unlockable 7th game, the PSX racing game Mega Man Battle and Chase was also available. As with the other collection concept art and other bonuses were included as well.
-The next home console retail release for a Mega Man game would be the Legacy Collection years later.
Mighty No.9 Era
-Some time after Mega Man 10, after some internal struggles, Inafune decided to leave Capcom. While Inafune was working on a new kickstarter game titled Mighty No.9, which was supposed to continue the Mega Man series spiritually, Capcom was going through some a hard times during this period, after bad decisions with many of their IPS.
-Seeing this, Inafune and Co took advantage of the hate at Capcom, helping fans shift the blame on Capcom for game cancellations among other accusations. This helped the funding for MN9 grow and grow. This unwarranted anger had people calling Inafune's company the "new" Capcom.
-However as time went on and the delays stacked up, Capcom was rebuilding its reputation and Inafune was starting to be known for being misleading and making false promises. New Mega Man collections were made as well as an IOS ports during this period, and the company was restoring the reputation of many of its Ips.
-When new info came out about MN9's release ,finally, people started to become skeptical but some remained optimistic until the games release, which ended up becoming a big slap in the face. The PR disaster that was MN9 was noticed by Capcom, especially as the sales of their collections increased, and have recently released Mega Man 11 to positive acclaim. While Recore, another Inafune project, also flopped, ruining the arguably fake reputation Inafune had. Justice.
Conclusion
When you look at events, it's clear Inafune was in over his head and a control freak. He had ran a series into the ground while other staff tried to inject creative ideas, and offered massive collections with content. Infaune also tried to turn Capcoms fans against them for financial gain. Infaune was said to be the man that made Mega Man what it was, but he instead was the man who helped almost destroy a great franchise.
Now that franchise is back, and better than ever! We can possibly expect some more new games in the future, and even perhaps some ports of games like Command Mission as well, along with a less-restrictive sequel (hopefully.)
Mega Man has never been better and I'm glad Inafune is gone from the company as it has removed his toxic grip from the franchise. Lost Planet was the last thing from him that was decent from what I recall anyway.
Timeline:
-Despite some of the articles and such over the years, Inafune really didn't have much reign over a Mega Man game until Mega Man 8. Mega Man X was supposed to feature a character by him as a protagonist but Capcom rejected that and the character, which would become Zero, would become a side-character and Mega Man X ended up being the game that was released. For the better imo.
-Mega Man 8 was the first Mega Man came completely controlled/produced by Inafune. While some could argue based on Japanese interviews and hypothesis that the game was over produced and didn't really meet sales goals, It is, despite its flaws, the most mechanically improved Mega Man game to date. Mostly because newer original series titles would dial-back the mechanics to previous games. Mega Man 11 seems to be heading back in a more "evolution" based-direction again for the original series.
-Mega Man X4 has a lot of speculation as to why the story was split as much as it was. On one hand due to more cutscenes among other things, many casual fans considered Zero to be the main focus of X4. However X4's actually plot isn't even in Zero's story leading to speculation in the past that Inafune, and other ranks at Capcom, were having a tug of war. The whole reason for the intro stage collapsing happening, the motivations, the implementing spies into Repliforce, and so on was non-existent in Zero's story, which focused more on a love interest side-plot with Colonels sister as the coup was going on and a flashback scene that adds more questions than answers about the "origin" of Sigma being evil. As interesting as it is, it has nothing to do with X4's main story. The theory that there was some tug of war at Capcom would soon be realized with X6's release.
-Mega Man Legends was an ambitious project that Inafune wanted to put a lot of focus on. Treating other series more like side projects. This became most evident during the production of Mega Man Legends 2, where Mega Man X5 was rushed to release. Inafune basically gave X%5 very little funding and inadequate advertising wanting the team to "finish the series with this game" without much further input from him. Others at Capcom clearly didn't believe he had the authority to do such a thing, especially given the poor reception of the game relatively, and thus responded by releasing Mega Man X6, while Mega Man Legends 2 ended up underperforming, even in Japan, X6 did significantly better despite the rpg-esque nature of the Legends series.
-At this point, Capcom and Inafune generally went in two separate directions in terms of handling the series. Capcom still wanted Mega Man to be a relevant franchise on consoles while Inafune wanted the franchise to take advantage of the GBA portable console and later the PSP/DS.
-On Inafunes end, he wanted to create a side-series featuring Zero, the character he wanted to be the protagonist of the Mega Man X series, and another stab at a deeper genre with Battle Network, which focused on the rpg genre.
-While Zero had 4 games of declining relevance and little evolution with decent sales for the first 2 games, Battle Network exploded, especially in Japan. The series was being milked dry in games and media as it was becoming more and more popular.
-Fast forward to Mega Man Battle Network 4, this game would be the best selling game of the Battle Network series but also the start of the series boom bust cycle. Battle Network 4 as well as other media had a poor reception that led to Battle Network becoming quickly irrelevant outside of Japan, and while the Battle Network Series still held decent sales for a GBA game in japan until the last game in the series, the drops were deep. The games quality and arguable drop in graphics to make the series cheaper to make and more milkable had led to a decline that could not be stopped. Remakes of MMX and MM1 were done on the PSP, however these games didn't end up getting the attention that was expected.
-Soon Battle Networks game and external Media empire along with a toy-line, cratered. Hurting the Mega Man brand in general and helping facilitate poor sales of other games. In order to try and recapture the rpg success of BN, Inafune gave input on a new series called Star Force, but would not put his full attention on the series leaving it to other staff. Instead Inafune wanted to try and once again make a new action platform Mega Man spin-off similar to the Zero series with ZX. Continuing the series portable milking and split marketing. Both the ZX series and the Star Force series would end up failing and would result in a change of strategy with the franchise. Although one more attempt was made to revive the Battle Network success with an enhanced version of the first game featuring a cross-over with the Star Force series, though the game wasn't successful and was only released in Japan.
-At this point, Mega Man went back to old skool nostalgia graphics, with Mega Man 9 and would continue on this route with Mega Man 10. After MM10 all series where placed on hiatus. Mega Man, with it's brand tarnished, milked, and losing relevance was nwt looked at more cautiously by staff at Capcom, leading to multiple game cancellations.
-On the Capcom side of the divide, Capcom had attempted to try and bring Mega Man back in a much different away. Capcom started by attempting to transition the popular Mega Man X series into 3D with a 2.5D compromise in X7. Though the game received poor to average reception the game still did well WW, even selling over 110k in Japan. However the timing of X7's release and reception couldn't have been at the worst time as on the other end Post-Battle Network 4 syndrome was already setting in.
-To combat this and to keep the brand alive, Capcom released a massive Mega Man collection on all 3 of the major consoles at the time, PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, these were specifically aimed at the US audience due to the Original series (and the X series later) being the more popular Mega Man series in that region. This collection contained Mega Man 1-8 along with two CPS2 arcade fighting games. It also included the PSX versions of Mega Man 1-6 with remixed music and navigators to help give hints. Various features were also included, remixed music, concept art, interviews, episode of the old 90's cartoon etc.
-Also around this time frame Capcom was working on two more projects, a Mega Man X based RPG game called "Command Mission" and the sequel to X7, Mega Man X8, which would bring back 3D graphics but keep gameplay in a 2.5D style. Sadly by this point the brands pull was no longer salvageable, and both games ended up selling poorly WW. In Japan, where X had done well on consoles historically, both games together, which includes both the GC and PS2 versions of Command Mission + X8, sold less than 90k, a big upset.
-The last console attempt to salvage the franchise came in 2006 as Star Force and ZX would continue the series downfall and milking on portables. This was another collection aimed at the US audience, the Mega Man X Collection. This collection would include Mega Man X1-6 with X3 being the CD-based PSX version. Along with them, an unlockable 7th game, the PSX racing game Mega Man Battle and Chase was also available. As with the other collection concept art and other bonuses were included as well.
-The next home console retail release for a Mega Man game would be the Legacy Collection years later.
Mighty No.9 Era
-Some time after Mega Man 10, after some internal struggles, Inafune decided to leave Capcom. While Inafune was working on a new kickstarter game titled Mighty No.9, which was supposed to continue the Mega Man series spiritually, Capcom was going through some a hard times during this period, after bad decisions with many of their IPS.
-Seeing this, Inafune and Co took advantage of the hate at Capcom, helping fans shift the blame on Capcom for game cancellations among other accusations. This helped the funding for MN9 grow and grow. This unwarranted anger had people calling Inafune's company the "new" Capcom.
-However as time went on and the delays stacked up, Capcom was rebuilding its reputation and Inafune was starting to be known for being misleading and making false promises. New Mega Man collections were made as well as an IOS ports during this period, and the company was restoring the reputation of many of its Ips.
-When new info came out about MN9's release ,finally, people started to become skeptical but some remained optimistic until the games release, which ended up becoming a big slap in the face. The PR disaster that was MN9 was noticed by Capcom, especially as the sales of their collections increased, and have recently released Mega Man 11 to positive acclaim. While Recore, another Inafune project, also flopped, ruining the arguably fake reputation Inafune had. Justice.
Conclusion
When you look at events, it's clear Inafune was in over his head and a control freak. He had ran a series into the ground while other staff tried to inject creative ideas, and offered massive collections with content. Infaune also tried to turn Capcoms fans against them for financial gain. Infaune was said to be the man that made Mega Man what it was, but he instead was the man who helped almost destroy a great franchise.
Now that franchise is back, and better than ever! We can possibly expect some more new games in the future, and even perhaps some ports of games like Command Mission as well, along with a less-restrictive sequel (hopefully.)
Mega Man has never been better and I'm glad Inafune is gone from the company as it has removed his toxic grip from the franchise. Lost Planet was the last thing from him that was decent from what I recall anyway.
