Anybody whose ever known me since 2011 knows that I'm an avid Mega Man fan, and even bigger Mega Man Legends fan, and a member of the 100,000 Strong For Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3 movement since the very beginning. Mainly being the guy who makes Mega Man Legends Miis, Mega Man Legends CAWs, an Animal Crossing New Leaf town modeled after Kattleox, (still under construction because of other priorities) an animated project with a tutorial on how to petition Capcom for a Legends 3 revival at the end, (more on that later and in my first blog) and I edit the support hub which was my idea a year or two after our old hub Legends3.com went down. I've been a pretty busy admittedly entitled fanboy haven't I?
As of this post, it's been over 6 years since the Mega Man Legends 3 Project was cancelled back in July of 2011, and while the like counter for 100K Strong has dropped because of Facebook purging fake accounts and pages and some fans giving up, even the fans that gave up still would love to get their hands on this log anticipated third installment of Mega Man's most underrated incarnation. So here are 10 good reasons as to why Capcom should give Legends a chance.
As of this post, it's been over 6 years since the Mega Man Legends 3 Project was cancelled back in July of 2011, and while the like counter for 100K Strong has dropped because of Facebook purging fake accounts and pages and some fans giving up, even the fans that gave up still would love to get their hands on this log anticipated third installment of Mega Man's most underrated incarnation. So here are 10 good reasons as to why Capcom should give Legends a chance.
1: Niche products are a hot commodity
The main reason why Capcom was hesitant to even let Keiji Inafune start the Mega Man Legends 3 Project in the first place was because Mega Man Legends 1 and 2 didn't really sell too hot. Both due to a mixed reception among fans and critics at the time and a lack of advertisement as it just got lost in the fray with the dozens of other Mega Man titles being released yearly.
But just look at the popularity of niche items that once had cult following that grew with demand and then boomed like Earthbound or every slice of life anime ever made or the film UHF. Especially the former. Niche items are more popular now than ever before! And with the buzz that Legends 3's cancellation received 6 years ago and the sheer magnitude of how historic it's cancellation was, a revival would make the internet explode with anticipation. Not to mention memes joking about it getting cancelled a second time. And where there,s buzz, there's buy rates.
But just look at the popularity of niche items that once had cult following that grew with demand and then boomed like Earthbound or every slice of life anime ever made or the film UHF. Especially the former. Niche items are more popular now than ever before! And with the buzz that Legends 3's cancellation received 6 years ago and the sheer magnitude of how historic it's cancellation was, a revival would make the internet explode with anticipation. Not to mention memes joking about it getting cancelled a second time. And where there,s buzz, there's buy rates.
2: The nostalgia effect
Nostalgic items especially from the 80's and 90's are a hot commodity like you wouldn't believe. The revival of Hi-C Ecto Cooler was ultra profitable even with how polarizing the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot was. The Power Rangers reboot while not so successful financially or critically, got people talking about Power Rangers again and buying Power Rangers shirts and toys at a slightly higher rate than they already were. Mega Man always generates profits because fans have been anticipating anything new and positive in the Mega Man games department. And while fans are still split on the quality of the Mega Man Legends sub series, the nostalgia for Legends is still alive and well.
So by capitalizing on the nostalgia of Mega Man Legends fans while also giving us something new, (as long as it's new and good and doesn't stray too far away from the spirit and feel of Legends,) Capcom can turn a massive profit off of nostalgic PS1 and N64 gamers.
So by capitalizing on the nostalgia of Mega Man Legends fans while also giving us something new, (as long as it's new and good and doesn't stray too far away from the spirit and feel of Legends,) Capcom can turn a massive profit off of nostalgic PS1 and N64 gamers.
3: Mega Man fans are thirsty
It's been 6 years not just since Mega Man Legends 3 got cancelled, but also since Mega Man Universe, and Mega Man Online got cancelled, and 7 years since the secret Maverick Hunter project got terminated, and it's been about 7 years since we last got a brand new Mega man game outside some Japan only smart phone titles like Rockman XOver, the South Korea only mobile game Rockman GoGo! which is a very basic auto-runner, some eShop, PSN and XBLA ports of previous Mega Man titles, and the Legacy collections. The latter not even being brand new games. The only original title rumored to be in development might be a tie in with the not so anticipated Mega Man Of Action cartoon next to nobody wants, and honestly for many, that won't cut it.
Mega Man fans just won't be satisfied until Capcom revives some of the cancelled projects starting with Universe and Legends 3. Or unless they make Mega Man 11 or Mega Man X9.
Mega Man fans just won't be satisfied until Capcom revives some of the cancelled projects starting with Universe and Legends 3. Or unless they make Mega Man 11 or Mega Man X9.
4: The boycott
While not as strong as it used to be, there is a small portion of gamers who have been on a Capcom boycott.
Some boycott for legitimate reasons like how they cancelled Mega Man Legends 3 and Universe, like the terrible treatment of workers that lead Yoshinori Ono to a hospital trips and allegedly nearly lead a Dragon's Dogma dev to attempt suicide, (though that story might be false,) greedy DLC malpractices that they're still working on altering or getting rid of, far too many versions of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter IV with very little different and usually no connectivity between remakes, (except Ultra Street Fighter IV,) rushed buggy ports prone to crashing on launch, slow laggy servers especially on 3DS, pretty legitimate reasons to be angry at them and to be fed up with the company.
And then there are some fans who boycott for illegitimate whiny reasons based on emotion. Like how some feel that because they're focusing on Street Fighter and Monster Hunter more than Mega Man or hidden gems like Dino Crisis or Power Stone, this means Street Fighter is trash, anyone who likes it is a blind Capcom fanboy, and they have to stop making Street Fighter. Or how some feel that other fighting games by other companies are better than Capcom's, and because they feel that way, Street Fighter is the worst ugliest thing ever by default, Marvel VS Capcom is also trash and the worst thing ever, and people who play it are trash and blind Capcom fanboys who also work for Capcom and literally have oral sex with the higher ups. Or how some feel that the DMC version of Dante looks like Jacob from Twilight on drugs, (which he kinda does,) and ergo DMC is the worst game ever made, people who like it are trash Capcom fanboys, and the White House should remove and ban it from ever being sold in America because hair style.
It's an intermingling divide between disgruntled customers with legitimate gripes, and hateful whiny pathetic trolls who want Capcom to die because a top YouTuber said MVC3 wasn't that great or because they really suck at Street Fighter and think it's shit because they suck at it. But the best way to get them both back on Capcom's good side, would be to revive the Mega Man Legends 3 project. Even the most stubborn anti-Capcom complainer would likely buy it at launch despite how they'll never get over DMC and the fact that Mega Man X wasn't in Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3.
Some boycott for legitimate reasons like how they cancelled Mega Man Legends 3 and Universe, like the terrible treatment of workers that lead Yoshinori Ono to a hospital trips and allegedly nearly lead a Dragon's Dogma dev to attempt suicide, (though that story might be false,) greedy DLC malpractices that they're still working on altering or getting rid of, far too many versions of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter IV with very little different and usually no connectivity between remakes, (except Ultra Street Fighter IV,) rushed buggy ports prone to crashing on launch, slow laggy servers especially on 3DS, pretty legitimate reasons to be angry at them and to be fed up with the company.
And then there are some fans who boycott for illegitimate whiny reasons based on emotion. Like how some feel that because they're focusing on Street Fighter and Monster Hunter more than Mega Man or hidden gems like Dino Crisis or Power Stone, this means Street Fighter is trash, anyone who likes it is a blind Capcom fanboy, and they have to stop making Street Fighter. Or how some feel that other fighting games by other companies are better than Capcom's, and because they feel that way, Street Fighter is the worst ugliest thing ever by default, Marvel VS Capcom is also trash and the worst thing ever, and people who play it are trash and blind Capcom fanboys who also work for Capcom and literally have oral sex with the higher ups. Or how some feel that the DMC version of Dante looks like Jacob from Twilight on drugs, (which he kinda does,) and ergo DMC is the worst game ever made, people who like it are trash Capcom fanboys, and the White House should remove and ban it from ever being sold in America because hair style.
It's an intermingling divide between disgruntled customers with legitimate gripes, and hateful whiny pathetic trolls who want Capcom to die because a top YouTuber said MVC3 wasn't that great or because they really suck at Street Fighter and think it's shit because they suck at it. But the best way to get them both back on Capcom's good side, would be to revive the Mega Man Legends 3 project. Even the most stubborn anti-Capcom complainer would likely buy it at launch despite how they'll never get over DMC and the fact that Mega Man X wasn't in Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3.
5: MML3 was co-developed by fans
When the Devroom group was opened on the Capcom-Unity forums in America and the now defunct Daletto.net in Japan on September 26th 2010, the sole intention was to get fans to co-develop Mega Man Legends 3 through poles to determine what enemies and characters designs make it to the final product, and design contests where our own ideas and scenarios could be made canon if the developers liked it. I was one of 4000+ fans who signed up to the American MML3 Devroom on Capcom-Unity both because I loved the first legends, (the only Mega Man legends game I own,) and because my lifelong dream is to become a game designer and indie wrestler. So I signed up around February 2011 because I couldn't miss the opportunity to contribute to my favorite Mega man spin off. Though, my ideas were a mixed bag being the sensitive and naive neck bearded 19 year old goof with spelling issues that I was. I had a cringey idea for a Chun Li cameo, I made an AWFUL Devroom promotional video to get more people to sign up to the forums, I made a half baked potential brother for Data, a pretty good mascot, a funny looking cat, a cute bat creature, and I drew an idea for some stoner's entry that you can't even see anymore because Photobucket is an asshole of a service. I gotta say, looking back I probably deserved some of the comments I got, but the art isn't as bad as I thought and the ideas could work except the Chun Li cameo. None of them won and I know why.
The main reason why Mega Man Legends 3's cancellation was so heart breaking for me, was because while none of my ideas were even runners up, I know and have befriended and acquainted some of the people who would have seen their ideas in game. And a lot of the ideas especially the winners, were pretty solid! Just see for yourself in every "Event" section.
So just to show some fan love I wanna see this game get the revival it deserves.
The main reason why Mega Man Legends 3's cancellation was so heart breaking for me, was because while none of my ideas were even runners up, I know and have befriended and acquainted some of the people who would have seen their ideas in game. And a lot of the ideas especially the winners, were pretty solid! Just see for yourself in every "Event" section.
So just to show some fan love I wanna see this game get the revival it deserves.
6: Fans are doing more with the IP than Capcom
Already there are fan made versions of MML3. There's the 8-bit demake that has already had some coverage, there's the 3D homebrew Jisaku DASH3 which is still in development, there's a plethora and a half of other Mega Man Legends fan games at the Sky Pirate Arcade including the long anticipated Tuttle's Legendary Travels, there's a freaking VR Rockman DASH game, my fellow Mega Man Legends fans have been positively busy as bees making new and unique experiences in the land full of endless water.
Meanwhile some fans still feel largely ignored by Capcom as the only incarnation of Mega Man that Capcom wants to focus on seems to be the classic series. There are ports of Mega Man Legends 1, 2 and Misadvetures Of Tron Bonne on PSN, that and the old PSP ports are the newest and closest thing to brand new Legends games we've seen since the year 2000, except for a Japan only cell phone game called Rockman DASH Great Adventure on Five Islands. This can be rectified, if Legends 3 gets revived.
Meanwhile some fans still feel largely ignored by Capcom as the only incarnation of Mega Man that Capcom wants to focus on seems to be the classic series. There are ports of Mega Man Legends 1, 2 and Misadvetures Of Tron Bonne on PSN, that and the old PSP ports are the newest and closest thing to brand new Legends games we've seen since the year 2000, except for a Japan only cell phone game called Rockman DASH Great Adventure on Five Islands. This can be rectified, if Legends 3 gets revived.
7: The cancellation has made people want MML3 more than ever before.
When Mega Man Legends 3 was in development, it had very little advertisement on official Capcom run websites, the press didn't really care, and fans while fans were worried it would be cancelle ever since Mega Man Universe was cancelled and the initial director Keiji Inafune quit, there wasn't enough worry to warrant a major hike in social media hype by fans except for the really hardcore fanatics. But when MML3 was cancelled, a Capcom Europe employee felt the fans didn't care and some journalists said nobody cared, the fans proved them wrong. The cancellation, the swift backlash and the start of GetMeoffTheMoon/100,000 Strong For Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3 got everyone talking about Legends 3 and fans of the series demanding a revival. Because it brought a once semi-divided fanbase together. It got people to give Legends a second chance if they didn't like it. And even if it's still an acquired taste, some still can't really get into the stiff tank controls, cheesy voice acting and pointy visuals, even people who don't lke more RPG oriented Mega Man games can agree with Legends fans that cancelling Legends 3 the way they did was BS.
To this day Mega Man Legends 3 is still a talking point. It's brought up every July by at least one journalist. It's still the catalyst to Mega Man and Capcom bad policy related jokes and memes. It was a driving force behind the Capcom boycott for better or worse. It was a driving force behind the creation of the anticipated but flawed Mighty No.9 for better or worse. It was a driving force behind some purchases of the Nintendo 3DS at launch even though it got cancelled. Love or hate Mega Man Legends, this game matters even 6 years after it's demise. And I know over 107,000 people still want it even if 100,000 Strong's like count dropped to 94,561 due to some fake account purges. It may not be the millions Capcom desires, but it's enough to get people to at least rent it on launch.
So what can be done to revive Mega Man Legends 3? Well I have a list of ways to effectively petition and contact Capcom directly over on the support hub, (since Change.org petitions won't work, no, Capcom won't apologize for the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 or sell Mega Man to Nintendo or Keiji Inafune, you can stop sharing those old dead petitions,) another way is to buy the new Sentinel Rock Volnutt and Waru Rock Volnutt figures, in fact you can and should buy the Mega Man Legends games on PSN and even some official Mega Man Legends merch also at the support hub. You can also share that hub around, but most importantly get #MML3 and #DASH3 trending on social media anywhere you see fit, especially Twitter, and very politely mention @MYCAPCOM in your Legends tweets as long as you use those hashtags.
I can't guarantee it will work 100%, but you'll at least get responses and maybe, just maybe, Capcom can one day consider reviving Mega Man Legends 3. It's not official, but one can but dream.
To this day Mega Man Legends 3 is still a talking point. It's brought up every July by at least one journalist. It's still the catalyst to Mega Man and Capcom bad policy related jokes and memes. It was a driving force behind the Capcom boycott for better or worse. It was a driving force behind the creation of the anticipated but flawed Mighty No.9 for better or worse. It was a driving force behind some purchases of the Nintendo 3DS at launch even though it got cancelled. Love or hate Mega Man Legends, this game matters even 6 years after it's demise. And I know over 107,000 people still want it even if 100,000 Strong's like count dropped to 94,561 due to some fake account purges. It may not be the millions Capcom desires, but it's enough to get people to at least rent it on launch.
So what can be done to revive Mega Man Legends 3? Well I have a list of ways to effectively petition and contact Capcom directly over on the support hub, (since Change.org petitions won't work, no, Capcom won't apologize for the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 or sell Mega Man to Nintendo or Keiji Inafune, you can stop sharing those old dead petitions,) another way is to buy the new Sentinel Rock Volnutt and Waru Rock Volnutt figures, in fact you can and should buy the Mega Man Legends games on PSN and even some official Mega Man Legends merch also at the support hub. You can also share that hub around, but most importantly get #MML3 and #DASH3 trending on social media anywhere you see fit, especially Twitter, and very politely mention @MYCAPCOM in your Legends tweets as long as you use those hashtags.
I can't guarantee it will work 100%, but you'll at least get responses and maybe, just maybe, Capcom can one day consider reviving Mega Man Legends 3. It's not official, but one can but dream.