Mega Man & Mega Man X Art Books

In 2008 in Japan, R20: Rockman & Rockman X Official Complete Works was released. This 330 + page book contained 20 years worth of art work from the classic Rockman and Rockman X series. Fast forward to 2009 and the book sees a translated release in America by Udon, split into two books, Mega Man Official Complete Works and Mega Man X Official Complete Works. While other Mega Man fans coped these as soon as they came out, I had to wait until I got some extra cash to nab them. Well my wait has ended and I'm pleased to say that I bought the last two copies of each book that my Borders had.

As stated above, each book contains decades of art work from each respective series. This includes, character art, enemy designs, robot master/maverick art, manga art, box art, concept art, the whole nine yards. I've always loved the art from the Mega Man/Mega Man X games and I never realized just how much art went into each one until I looked through these. As both a Mega Man fan and an art lover, this is truly amazing stuff.
The books also contain commentary by series lead producer Keiji Inafune and the various artists that have worked on the series through the years. It's fun to read their thoughts on things they liked and didn't like. For instance, did you know that if he had the chance, Inafune would love to redo all the Mega Man games he's worked on? Or that Mega Man 2 was done in three months time? Lots of interesting tidbits to go along with the glossy art.

I really can't say enough good things about these art books. At $39.99 each, they set me back nearly $100, but they were worth every penny. My only nitpick would be that despite each booked being hailed as "Complete Works," it isn't quite complete. There's some missing pieces of American box art and commentary tells that some other pieces of art were omitted as well. Still, it really is hard to find fault here. If you're a Mega Man nut, your collection is incomplete without these books.