Mega Man 11 Becomes Best-Selling Game in the Series' 35-Year history

[Lord_Brand]

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/11/mega-man-11-becomes-best-selling-entry-in-the-series-35-year-history

That's...pretty significant for Mega Man, I'd say. This makes MM11 officially the most successful Mega Man game now. I wonder how this will affect the Blue Bomber's appearances in X DiVE, Smash, and other future projects? Like, when Smash 6 happens (and don't bother telling me it won't), will they change Mega Man's moveset to represent 11 more? Will they add the Double Gear system to his moveset somehow? As for X DiVE, could they maybe celebrate this development with an event for Mega Man 11, complete with a new Hunter Program, weapon, and boss?

Edited November 7, 2022 by Lord_Brand

[AnonymousSpeed]

To be honest, I didn't really like 11, and I don't own any Capcom stock, so this is kinda "meh" until they decide to make another game that's hopefully actually good.

[Armchair General]

I thought #11 was an bit of an dud?

[Zapp Branniglenn]

You mean it hasn't already? It took them five years of the game going on sale digitally just to cross that threshold? The decision to make another side scrolling mega man was probably answered in the negative a long time ago since we still haven't seen it yet. Well at the very least I think it's the mega man game most deserving of the title. It always bugged me that 9 never cracked a million. When that came out it felt like an event. Mega Man was back and he was exactly how you remembered him.

Mega Man has unfortunately never been a top selling series. When you think "Capcom", Mega Man is likely one of the first three franchises that springs to mind for a lot of people. But if you look at Capcom's Platinum Title list, very few Mega Man games have cracked a million sales. Granted the list is bloated a bit by separating some games from their equally successful Remasters/re-releases, as well as compilation releases (like Mega Man Legacy Collection). But 6 games with Mega Man in the title is a pretty small cut of 110. Especially when there are at least a hundred Mega Man games out there, and this list completely disregards Capcom's incredible arcade catalogue throughout the 80s and 90s.

Imagine any other franchise with a hundred entries and around 5 percent crack a million units. You'd wonder why they keep trying. Especially when they're the owner of Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Resident Evil - three Titans of the industry that can better make use of those resources. Even Dead Rising, a series that is dead as far as we know, has a 100% success rate at cracking a mil. It's reasonable to assume that if we ever see Mega Man again, it's going to be in the lower budget indie space that Mega Man 11 comes from. As much as I'd like to see a fully 3D Mega Man X9 that looks and controls like Vanquish, or even Metroid Other M, it's probably not gonna happen. Still, I think the Gear System of 11 was brilliant ("what if Mega Man, but also Viewtiful Joe?"), and I'm hungry for a followup. 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Zapp Branniglenn

[AnonymousSpeed]

2 hours ago, Armchair General said:

I thought #11 was an bit of an dud?

Quality-wise, I think it sold well on the grounds that people were glad to see Mega Man again.

It might seem weird to Metroid fans, but it was kind of crazy to Mega Man fans to go 7 years without an original game. When 9 came out, sure, it was the first classic game in a long time, but the Zero/ZX/Battle Network/Star Force series had all been really consistent until that point.

1 hour ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

As much as I'd like to see a fully 3D Mega Man X9 that looks and controls like Vanquish, or even Metroid Other M, it's probably not gonna happen. Still, I think the Gear System of 11 was brilliant ("what if Mega Man, but also Viewtiful Joe?"), and I'm hungry for a followup. 

The Gear System kinda blows. Really clunky gimmick mechanic. 0/10 integration with the moment-to-moment gameplay like the slide, charge shot, or being Bass had.

I'd like X9 in 2D. If they're going to make a 3D Mega Man, they should just do Legends again or try something new.

Mega Man probably doesn't sell all that well, though. Sure, flagship franchise and all, and maybe it used to be popular, but who are these games really for? They're not appealing to kids and they're not really for adults, so they're just kinda there for people who were fans of the games when they were kids, or want to get in touch with an older era of video game culture. Maybe this has to do with not selling a game on the DS/3DS in, like, 15 years.

Edited November 7, 2022 by AnonymousSpeed

[Dark Holy Elf]

Count me among the folks who liked the gear system, particularly speed gear. In true Mega Man fashion it's a powerful tool, but you never actually have to use it. Speed Gear in particular is really helpful for some tricky precision platforming and moves in boss fights.

Anyway game sales are generally higher now than they were in years past, so MM11 becoming the best-selling game in the series isn't too surprising (see also the recent Metroid doing the same). I wouldn't expect a big overhaul in e.g. Mega Man's Smash appearance. Maybe a new move or two, depending on exactly what the next game looks like.

[Fabulously Olivier]

I honestly had no idea Megaman was that niche. 2D platformers have always been a dime a dozen.

[Lord_Brand]

It saddens me to see the Blue Bomber reduced to a second fiddle, but ever since X7 nearly killed the franchise as a whole, Mega Man has struggled to find a stable release schedule. Add in the failures of ZXA and Starforce, and, well, it's not hard to see why, on a fiscal level, Mega Man just isn't considered as viable an investment as This Year's Street Fighter/Resident Evil/Monster Hunter. And yet, those three franchises don't interest me half as much as Mega Man.

If my Mega Man X remake series could take off, I want to believe it could help turn the franchise into a juggernaut like never before seen with how it'd update the gameplay to fit into sprawling 3D worlds, with bigger, more ambitious stories and more developed characters to match. And yet, I think a lot of fans would miss the traditional simple 2D gameplay.

There's no denying that Mega Man has a popularity belying its comparatively humble sales count, though. The sheer amount of fan art and fan projects that come out every year is a testament to the Blue Bomber's enduring presence in the media.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Lord_Brand

[vanguard333]

That's interesting to hear. Honestly, though I considered getting Mega Man 11, I never did. The Mega Man games that I grew up with were the Battle Network and Star Force games, and, while I did recently enjoy the Mega Man Legacy Collection, I don't think I ever really saw much in Mega Man 11 outside of a graphical update and a new gimmick.

Honestly, the best Mega Man game that I've played in recent years is Shovel Knight.

 

10 hours ago, Lord_Brand said:

If my Mega Man X remake series could take off, I want to believe it could help turn the franchise into a juggernaut like never before seen with how it'd update the gameplay to fit into sprawling 3D worlds, with bigger, more ambitious stories and more developed characters to match. And yet, I think a lot of fans would miss the traditional simple 2D gameplay.

If a 3D version of Mega Man were ever to be made, Capcom could do what Nintendo did for Metroid Prime and have it be its own subseries while Capcom still makes 2D Mega Man games.

[Lord_Brand]

5 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

If a 3D version of Mega Man were ever to be made, Capcom could do what Nintendo did for Metroid Prime and have it be its own subseries while Capcom still makes 2D Mega Man games.

Like Mega Man Legends? Well, like I said, I'd reimagine the 2D games as full 3D worlds with more story and character development going on. It'd be like watching an anime unfold. I've even thought of writing up a script for a prospective animated adaptation of my "New Age" series.

On the subject of "Mega Man in 3D", I'd be intrigued if X9 took another stab at 3D and did it better than X7, but given how long the X series has been dormant, it'd probably be wiser to stick to 2D for that one as a way of reestablishing the series' conventions, like MM9 and 11 (mostly) did for Classic.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Lord_Brand

[King Marth 64]

Nice, I guess that means Capcom might going to do Mega Man 12 at some point later on since it's good to see the Blue Bomber got back at 30th Anniversary. I definitely do like to see Proto Man and Bass comeback in 3D entry.

5 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

That's interesting to hear. Honestly, though I considered getting Mega Man 11, I never did. The Mega Man games that I grew up with were the Battle Network and Star Force games, and, while I did recently enjoy the Mega Man Legacy Collection, I don't think I ever really saw much in Mega Man 11 outside of a graphical update and a new gimmick.

You could get them at the Nintendo Switch eShop when the Black Friday comes or when it's on sale. The game still uses the eight Robot Masters formula, more Mega Buster effective on enemies, and does have the more boost mechanic that makes it better to use.

[vanguard333]

3 hours ago, Lord_Brand said:

Like Mega Man Legends? Well, like I said, I'd reimagine the 2D games as full 3D worlds with more story and character development going on. It'd be like watching an anime unfold. I've even thought of writing up a script for a prospective animated adaptation of my "New Age" series.

I don't know; I know absolutely nothing about Mega Man Legends. My introduction to the series was the games Battle Network 5: Team Colonel and Mega Man & Bass.

 

3 hours ago, King Marth 64 said:

You could get them at the Nintendo Switch eShop when the Black Friday comes or when it's on sale. The game still uses the eight Robot Masters formula, more Mega Buster effective on enemies, and does have the more boost mechanic that makes it better to use.

I could. However, I'm rather busy; I barely have time to play the game I'm currently playing (Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince).

[King Marth 64]

49 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

I could. However, I'm rather busy; I barely have time to play the game I'm currently playing (Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince).

The gameplay length is around 5 hours for Mega Man 11. It's not that difficult to beat it unlike the NES games.

[Lord_Brand]

5 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

I don't know; I know absolutely nothing about Mega Man Legends. My introduction to the series was the games Battle Network 5: Team Colonel and Mega Man & Bass.

Ah. Well then, here's a longplay video to give you an idea.

As for Mega Man 11's gameplay, it's pretty faithful to past games with a few changes:

• The charge shot and slide are back!
• Rush Coil and Rush Jet are now mapped to their own buttons (X and A respectively on Switch), which makes using them a heck of a lot more convenient. The only drawback is that they now run off a shared meter, so using one too much results in losing access to the other. The silver lining is that this also makes it easier to keep them recharged.
• The Power Gear and Speed Gear are mapped to the shoulder buttons, L for Power and R for Speed. Both are quite useful. Power Gear not only enhances the strength of your buster, it also makes your Special Weapons more powerful in a manner highly reminiscent of charged special weapons in the MMX series. Speed Gear functions as a time slow ability on demand and is easily the best new thing in the game. Despite the two functioning as a pair, you can only use both at once when you're low on health.
• The Robot Master bosses all get brief voice clips at the start of their fight similar to Mega Man 8. Good way to show off their personalities without resorting to long-winded conversations.
• The Robot Master and fortress bosses all use one of the two gears (and one of them uses both; I'm sure you can guess which one) once they get low on health. Half the Robot Masters use Power Gear, while the other half use Speed Gear.
• If you use the shop a lot, get used to hearing the following voice clips. They repeat every single time you get ready to buy an item, confirm your purchase, or bring up the Parts menu.
  • "Are you sure?"
  • "Tada! All ready! Good luck out there, Mega!" ("Are you sure? Tada! Are you sure? Tada! Are you sure? Tada!...")
  • "Yo, Mega! Can I interest you in some parts?"
• Proto Man and Bass sadly are completely absent save for a mention of Proto Man in one of the enemy bios.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Lord_Brand

[lenticular]

On 11/7/2022 at 3:18 AM, Dark Holy Elf said:

Anyway game sales are generally higher now than they were in years past, so MM11 becoming the best-selling game in the series isn't too surprising

This is hard to overstate. Let's look at the numbers.

Mega Man 2 released exclusively on the NES/Famicom, which was a console that sold a total of 61.91 million units. This means that the game's 1.51 million sales put it on 1 out of every 41 NESs, about 2.4%.

Mega Man 11 has shifted 1.60 million units, but for consoles which have a much bigger user base. The Switch has sold 114.33 million units, meaning that only about 1 out of every 71 Switches (1.4%) have a copy of Mega Man 11. Except that it's actually much worse than that. Because as well as the Switch, Mega Man 11 was actually released for the PS4 (117.2M) and Xbox 1 (at least 51M), meaning that there are over 282 million consoles out there that could run Mega Man 11, of which 1 out of every 176 actually have a copy, only 0.6%. And that's without also factoring in the enormous PC gaming market, which MM11 was also released for.

Now, you might say that many people own more than one console and would be unlikely to buy the same game across multiple different systems, and that's true. But even in the best case scenario (just comparing NES to Switch), Mega Man 11 is still only about half as popular as Mega Man 2 was.

[Lord_Brand]

Yes, I am aware of the console-sales differential, another reminder that one of my favorite game series is niche and doomed to be forgotten in favor of Yet Another Street Fighter/Resident Evil/Monster Hunter game.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Lord_Brand

[Fabulously Olivier]

54 minutes ago, Lord_Brand said:

Yes, I am aware of the console-sales differential, another reminder that one of my favorite game series is niche and doomed to be forgotten in favor of Yet Another Street Fighter/Resident Evil/Monster Hunter game.

I'm sure we all deal with that feeling for at least one franchise, so we are all in solidarity on that. Everyone loves something niche even if they don't realize it.