For over twenty years, Mega Man stood among the giants of gaming.  The little blue bomber and his subsequent iterations appeared in over one hundred titles across over a dozen platforms.  He was a staple part of video game history, only surpassed by the likes of Mario and a handful of others.

In 2010, this changed.  Keiji Inafune, one of the legendary creators of the storied franchise, left Capcom.  It seems that, following his departure, any hope for the Mega Man series went with him as almost every major entry in the series since then has been cancelled.  Victims of this terrible truth have been as recent as Rockman Online, Mega Man Universe and, most famously, Mega Man Legends 3.  There was another title though that didn't quite make it past the proof of concept stage and, in a rather fanastical writeup put up today by Polygon, we now know what it once was: a first person shooter.

Entitled Maverick Hunter, the project began its rather short life in early 2010 at the approval of Keiji Inafune.  In development at the rather secretive Austin outfit Armature Studios, Maverick Hunter was meant to a a sort of first-person reboot of the Mega Man X series starring characters X and Zero.  Armature, which lists only the HD port of the Metal Gear Solid Collection for the PS Vita (and are also known to have worked on Halo 4 and its new Castle Map Pack), may seem like the wrong team to work on such an ambitious project, especially given how beloved the series is.  It's when you look at the team at Armature that you begin to see why Capcom had faith enough to order a proof of concept.

Armature Studios was founded in 2008 by Mark Pacini, Jack Matthews and Todd Keller, three of the principle developers at Retro Studios.  There, serving as director, lead technical engineer and lead art director respectively, the trio did the exact same thing for Nintendo that Capcom wanted for Mega Man: reboot the franchise with a fresh new take.  Retro, as you should be aware, was responsible for the Metroid Prime series which went on to be both true to the Metroid formula and be immensely enjoyable.

Though the Maverick Hunter project didn't last longer than six months, the team at Armature had ambitious plans for the series.  Players would play as X hunting down Maverick Reploids in a Metroidvania-esque world.  Maverick Hunter, despite what the gameplay videos on Polygon indicate, would have seen a strong focus on first-person platforming ala Mirror's Edge and would feature new takes on X's more memorable abilities such as wall jumping and boost sliding.  The story was roughed out to be a trilogy of games in which the third title would have seen players taking on the role of Zero who would be forced to hunt down a corrupted and deadly X, a stark shift that I can imagine would be jarring yet enjoyed by players.

I won't go into too much more detail on the project as Polygon did a very nice job on revealing the game (as well as scoring two minutes of footage) but it certainly looks to have had potential.  In it's current state though I don't think it should have been considered a Mega Man game.  Then again, the proof of concept that you see below is just that: a demonstration that the basic mechanics and elements can be achieved.  With a team headed up by some of Retro Studios' finest I can't help but wonder where this game could have gone.  Hopefully, in the years since the project was cancelled Armature has utilized what they built for a new title.  What that could be though has yet to be revealed.

For those that are interested in what Armature can accomplish there is fresh news to take note of.  Alongside the Batman: Arkham Origins announcement today came the news that Armature is working on a handheld tie-in title called Arkham Origins Blackgate.  Blackgate will take place after the events of Origins and is played in a 2.5D Metroidvania style.  Blackgate will launch on October 25th alongside Origins for the Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita.

Comments

  • Jeremy Flower Avatar
    Jeremy Flower
    10 years, 11 months ago

    Well, there's still Mega Man 8-bit Deathmatch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73CSQidJH54

  • theottomatic91 Avatar
    theottomatic91
    10 years, 11 months ago

    Mega Man game done by former Retro studios developers? God-damn I would have loved to play this game.