A Mega Man 25th Anniversary Collection Would Rock

We're less than two weeks away from the Blue Bomber's 25th Anniversary and we've heard nary a peep from Capcom regarding what they have in store game wise, if anything at all. He's already covered in terms of music. In September, the massive Rockcan Sound E Can compilation soundtrack that collected the music from Mega Man 1-10 was released. And in October there was the 25th Anniversary Rockman Rock & Techno Arrange albums. Fans desperately want a brand spanking new Mega Man game and the iOS Rockman Xcover is hardly worthy of such a milestone anniversary. While Capcom may not know what to do with the Mega Man property, I do know of a sure fire thing that would both get them back in good graces with fans and be a great way to celebrate Mega Man turning twenty five. Release a compilation game called Mega Man 25th Anniversary Collection for the PS3, Wii and 360.

Tons of Classic Mega Man games on
one disc = MONEY. Capcom, you DO
like money, right?

What games would be on this anthology disc? Mega Man 1-10, Mega Man: The Wily Wars, the SNES version of Mega Man & Bass, Mega Man I-V on the Game Boy and all six versions of the Rockman The Complete Works. It would be great to have Wily Wars since it saw a limited release and being able to play Mega Man & Bass on the big screen would be a dream come true. The Game Boy Mega Man games could certainly use the extra exposure and a collection like this would mark the first time Mega Man 9 and 10 saw any kind of physical release.

The Wily Wars packs extra content like
exclusive levels and bosses.

Capcom may not release Mega Man compilations as much as Sega has for Sonic the Hedgehog, but they are no stranger to this tradition. To celebrate Mega Man's 15th anniversary, Capcom released the Mega Man Anniversary Collection for PS2, GCN and XB, which contained stripped down versions of Rockman the Complete Works series, Mega Man 7-8, Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. In 2006, the Mega Man X Collection  hit PS2 and GCN, collecting Mega Man X1-6, and Mega Man Battle & Chase with less bonus content than Anniversary Collection, but it did contain the PS version of Mega Man X3. And in 2010, the Mega Man Zero Collection was released on the DS, collecting all four Mega Man Zero games. That's a total of three different Mega Man compilation titles that Capcom has put out. They are due for a forth, especially when you consider the occasion.

The excellent Game Boy games could sure use
more love.

As for extras, well the Mega Man Anniversary Collection had some nice bonus content on it with artwork, a few remixed tracks created just for that collection and an interview with Keiji Inafune. With Mega Man: The Official Complete Works available in English, we've seen a good chunk of Mega Man artwork, but there's probably always some art that hasn't been released so if any, they could include that. But since Mega Man music has always been huge, I say they take a cue from Kirby's Dream Collection and include a music CD along with the collection. Mega Man music CDs never get released outside of Japan and it would make for a pleasing bonus item. Capcom should further follow in HAL's footsteps by allowing you to look at the individual box art from each Mega Man game in every region. Because rotating digital box art is so much fun. Seriously, have you tried it in Kirby's Dream Collection? You really should.

You want to flip and twist this
box around. You know you do.

The Mega Man 25th Anniversary Collection could be published in all regions so Japanese and European gamers don't get left out in the cold like they did with the Anniversary Collection and X Collection. It would be an excellent way to have so much of the Classic series in one tidy set. Heck, Capcom could even include Power Battle, Power Fighters, Battle & Chase and the obscure Wily & Light's Rockboard in the collection. If Street Fighter got that huge 25th Anniversary Collector's Set, there's no reason Mega Man shouldn't be given similar treatment.

So what's stopping a collection like this from being made a reality? Simple: Capcom. When it comes to Mega Man games, the character gets the shaft. He gets love for comic books, art books and music but games? No such luck. I don't have a clue what the heck is going on in the offices of Capcom but the company isn't what it used to be. Mega Man fans haven't had much to jump for joy about with games and it's made them a negative bunch and I hate sounding like that because I'm fed up with the Debbie Downer Syndrome that so many fans carry. Mega Man 25th Anniversary Collection wouldn't be a brand new game but it would be a great way to celebrate twenty five years of Mega Man as well as getting our hands on some more obscure titles. Besides, no matter how many times fans own the games on this set, I know it would sell well.