Mega Man Fans: A Bitter, Angry Bunch

*Please note that the title of this editorial is not labeling every single Mega Man fan in existence. I'm sure you're familiar with the term "majority rules." In this case, the majority is quite vocal and they are the ones I'm addressing. 

Capcom has not been the best developer or publisher as of late. Their handling of the Resident Evil series has left a lot to be desired. The company's handling of DLC has been highway robbery. But perhaps the biggest offender is how the company has been handling Mega Man. Their treatment of Mega Man when it comes to games has left many gamers to believe that Capcom wants nothing to do with him, wanting to see the Blue Bomber killed off. Yes, Capcom has done much to get on gamer's bad sides so a great deal of the negativity that they've gotten over the last year and half is not completely unwarranted.

When it was announced a few days ago that Street Fighter X Mega Man would be available on December 17th as a free PC downloadable game as part of Rock's 25th anniversary, I was beyond thrilled. Mega Man running through Street Fighter inspired levels and fighting it out with Street Fighter characters? This is a cross over I can get behind! Sign me up! Yet on so many news sites and forums, this news was met with the usual brand of whining and complaining from an angered fanbase.

"We finally get a new Mega Man game and it's FAN-MADE?!"
"It's not by Capcom so it doesn't count."
"Capcom didn't make this game. How lazy."
"Why does Mega Man have to share a game with the characters from Street Fighter? It should be all about him!"

There are other groans but these are the ones that stand out the most.

No, Capcom didn't make Street Fighter X Mega Man. It's a fan made game, one that has been in development for quite some time, more than three years to be exact. Seow Zong Hui approached Christian Svensson at EVO 2012 with an early build of the game. He and GregaMan spent some time with it and they thought it was promising. From there, they did everything they could to drive the product intro production, making it a fully fledged, official game. And fans still have a beef because Capcom didn't make the thing. I don't see how a fan making a game is bad considering Capcom's recent track record with it's other franchises. Why does it have to come from Capcom to be meaningful?

Mega Man fans can find anything to
whine about. Including an epic cross
over game.

I'd like to know how Capcom is being lazy by giving a fan game major backing. Again, Zong Hui approached the folks from Capcom Unity and they thought he was on to something. They wanted to make sure a lot of Mega Man fans experience this game so they decided to take up the publishing. They didn't steal the game from him and call it their own. Zong Hui must be grinning from ear to ear to have his project get so much light shinned on it. Would you have played Street Fighter X Mega Man anyway? Perhaps, but with Capcom backing it, far more people are aware of the game and as a result, more gamers are talking about it, even though the bulk of said talk is from the complainers.

The fact that Street Fighter characters are involved is a sticking point for some. Yeah, I get that this is Mega Man's 25th birthday, but to be fair, this is how Zong Hui made the game. Why should he change it now? Furthermore, Mega Man is the main playable character. We're not gonna be playing as Ryu or Rolento (cool as that would be), we're going to be doing our jump 'n shoot routine with blue and cyan. It's very much still a game about him. The Street Fighter characters add so much more charm to this game and really help separate it from a lot of other fan Mega Man games out there.

But this outcry from Mega Man fans is something I've come to expect. I've been holding in my disdain for it for sometime now, but I've had enough. The sad fact is that you cannot read about any Mega Man related news without seeing a slew of comments from a bunch of disgruntled, gripping fans that have nothing positive to say. Seemingly overnight the Mega Man fanbase has garnered a reputation that is on par with the idiocy of the Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase. They will never get over the cancellation of Mega Man Universe and Mega Man Legends 3 so they spend their time trolling message board forums, downplaying any and all Mega Man news, making up "clever" phrases like Crapcom and being negative on a continual basis.

I'm not Capcom's biggest fan right now. As I stated in the opening paragraph, Capcom has screwed up a lot lately, but when they or a part of the company tries to do something to make amends, I'm not gonna shut the door in their face. Fans have been clamoring for a new Mega Man game and now that one is on the way, a free game at that, it isn't good enough for them because it's on the PC and it's made by a fan. Cripes. There's just no pleasing some people. Either that or they refuse to be pleased.