August 20, 2002
Sometimes I wonder where the Legends series has gone. It seems as though Capcom has totally forgotten about it. They cranked out three games in quick succession, then more or less let it stagnate right down there with the original series.
At first I’d thought the Legends series was going to be Capcom’s newest mascot, and so far that is still the case to a degree. You still see a lot of references to Data and the Servbots, for example, even in the Battle Network games. Yet despite the hanging ending of Mega Man Legends 2, Capcom (so far) hasn’t shown any inclination to continue the series.
I suppose on the other hand you can’t blame them. After all, they’ve certainly got their plate full with all of the X and Zero related games, not to mention Battle Network 3, licensing for the EXE cartoon and manga, and who knows what else. And this is just their Mega Man-related works; they have lots of other game series to think about on top of all this as well.
Still, given Legends’ very quick start and rise to frequent use in Capcom promotional materials, it’s almost surprising to see it drop away almost as suddenly. I suppose it’s not easy juggling four (or five, if you count Mega Man Zero as a separate series) different versions of Mega Man.
Then again, you can’t help but raise an eyebrow at the implications to the fact that it’s MegaMan.EXE’s face on Capcom’s “Rockman 15th Anniversary” button image, even though EXE certainly hasn’t been around for 15 years. Will the X series be the next to take the plunge?
- The MegaMaster