Maverick Hunter: Capcom's cancelled gritty Mega Man FPS reboot

Maverick Hunter: The Mega Man first-person shooter that could have been

In 2010, Capcom tapped the talent behind Metroid Prime to bring Mega Man into the modern age only to have the game suffer the fate of similar recent attempts to find a new audience for the 8-bit hero.

Codenamed Maverick Hunter, the first-person shooter had the blessing of Mega Man's creator and a talented team tasked with attracting a new generation of fans. But the departure of Keiji Inafune likely killed the most interesting take on the 25-year-old character to date.

Mega Man's foray into the first-person shooter genre looked, at least on paper, like a formula for success. One of a handful of collaborations with Western developers kicked off by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune, the Mega Man first-person shooter was in development at Austin-based Armature Studio, the promising developer founded by Metroid Prime's creators. The new Mega Man would have been redesigned by the concept artist responsible for adapting Iron Man's armor for Marvel's successful film franchise. Thematically, the game would have built upon the mythology of Mega Man X, a series that was a darker, more mature spin-off of the cuter, classic Mega Man franchise.

The game would have stayed true to core Mega Man X gameplay concepts, re-imagining his X-Buster arm cannon, his dash and his ability to appropriate the special powers of his fallen enemies. Platforming elements, including X's wall jump, and classic Mega Man X characters would have been re-imagined in new ways.

Unfortunately, Armature's Mega Man first-person shooter, Maverick Hunter shared the fate of the Blue Bomber's other recent projects Mega Man Legends 3, Mega Man Universe, Mega Man Online and was canceled before the public ever had the opportunity to see it.

According to a number of Capcom sources, Armature's Maverick Hunter was prototyped and playable. It had a short lifespan, only about six months in the first half of 2010. It showed promise, sources said, but was deemed a significant gamble, and quietly killed before Inafune publicly exited Capcom in late 2010.

Full Article and Videos at Polygon.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I dont even know what to say. Looks like they were onto something kinda cool but Id hate for the series to go and stay FPS.

Thoughts?

anyone remember bomberman act: zero? Have a feeling this would have went the same way. Horrible, also Capcom has been treating megaman like a red headed step child lately. He wasn't in Marvel Vs Capcom 3, megaman legends 3 was canceled. Whats going on with our blue hero

Looks like a blue Nanosuit

Visually (and this is kind of ironic, seeing that it came from Armature), it looks on par with Metroid Prime on the GameCube.

teh fact that it had support by Armature studios makes me think it may have actually been good, gameplay-wise. Although the whole megaman X reboot part of it may have been hard to swallow.

anyone remember bomberman act: zero? Have a feeling this would have went the same way. Horrible, also Capcom has been treating megaman like a red headed step child lately. He wasn't in Marvel Vs Capcom 3, megaman legends 3 was canceled. Whats going on with our blue hero

Chris_Williams

teh fact that it had support by Armature studios makes me think it may have actually been good, gameplay-wise. Although the whole megaman X reboot part of it may have been hard to swallow.

DJ-Lafleur

yeah lol, this game looks like a Halo CoverUp, blue Halo fighting Mechs, calling it Megaman.

Thanks Capcom for killing this. lol

[QUOTE="DJ-Lafleur"]

teh fact that it had support by Armature studios makes me think it may have actually been good, gameplay-wise. Although the whole megaman X reboot part of it may have been hard to swallow.

Nintendo_Ownes7

Made the right decision. Give me ZX3 or start a new series(in the mega universe).

Made the right decision. Give me ZX3 or start a new series(in the mega universe).

Pete-B

[QUOTE="Pete-B"]

Made the right decision. Give me ZX3 or start a new series(in the mega universe).

The_Power_of_X

Judging from the videos, it looks like Vanquish but with generic FPS gameplay combined with a few combos. It's probably a good thing that it was cancelled.

I just want a new Megaman game. Don't care from which universe either. (X,Zero,ZX, Battle Network, Legends)

I wouldint have mind this. Would have been a intersting look at the series. I also like how the suit looks.

I wouldn't mind a Megaman FPS done right. There is nothing generic about a FPS with moving platforms floating above pits of spikes and having a gun that shoots funky stuff like tornadoes.

[QUOTE="Pete-B"]

Made the right decision. Give me ZX3 or start a new series(in the mega universe).

The_Power_of_X

Wow, well it does look cool.

Made the right decision. Give me ZX3 or start a new series(in the mega universe).

Pete-B

One thing I hated about zx was the outfit look much more like zero then megaman. Should have just been called z.

I wouldn't mind a Megaman FPS done right. There is nothing generic about a FPS with moving platforms floating above pits of spikes and having a gun that shoots funky stuff like tornadoes.

PurpleMan5000

[QUOTE="Pete-B"]

Made the right decision. Give me ZX3 or start a new series(in the mega universe).

finalfantasy94

One thing I hated about zx was the outfit look much more like zero then megaman. Should have just been called z.

[QUOTE="The_Power_of_X"]

[QUOTE="Pete-B"]

Made the right decision. Give me ZX3 or start a new series(in the mega universe).

BrunoBRS

and because of all this megaman talk, now i have this looping in my head: BrunoBRS

[QUOTE="BrunoBRS"][QUOTE="The_Power_of_X"]Screw ZX3, give me Zero 5 and X9. 

Pete-B

[QUOTE="BrunoBRS"]and because of all this megaman talk, now i have this looping in my head: Pete-B

people with good taste -.-LastRambo341

Megaman fanboys -.-LastRambo341

@bruno: X 1-4 are hard to beat, but ultimately I have to agree. Zero was too insanely good. Did you like the transformation in zx? I thought it was a great addition, and much better than the usual sub-weapon approach.

What did you think of the MMHX remake?

Thank fvck, that looks like it would have been terrible TBH

Megaman fanboys -.-LastRambo341

More like people who like the franchise and expect standards to be upheld

[QUOTE="PurpleMan5000"]

I wouldn't mind a Megaman FPS done right. There is nothing generic about a FPS with moving platforms floating above pits of spikes and having a gun that shoots funky stuff like tornadoes.

BrunoBRS

looks like crap honestly, but it's a bit concerning how bad megaman has been snubbed by capcom at every turn.

aside from you know, streetfighter x megaman or whatever. Which wasn't even made by them.

I'd play that...

But surprised it was supposed to be a FPS rather than TPS/platformer.

[QUOTE="LastRambo341"]Megaman fanboys -.-Pete-B

@bruno: X 1-4 are hard to beat, but ultimately I have to agree. Zero was too insanely good. Did you like the transformation in zx? I thought it was a great addition, and much better than the usual sub-weapon approach.

What did you think of the MMHX remake?

[QUOTE="LastRambo341"]Megaman fanboys -.-seanmcloughlin

More like people who like the franchise and expect standards to be upheld

Lol. Sounds like an April fools joke from back when people actually put effort into them.

[QUOTE="LastRambo341"]Megaman fanboys -.-Pete-B

@bruno: X 1-4 are hard to beat, but ultimately I have to agree. Zero was too insanely good. Did you like the transformation in zx? I thought it was a great addition, and much better than the usual sub-weapon approach.

What did you think of the MMHX remake?

[QUOTE="BrunoBRS"][QUOTE="PurpleMan5000"]

I wouldn't mind a Megaman FPS done right. There is nothing generic about a FPS with moving platforms floating above pits of spikes and having a gun that shoots funky stuff like tornadoes.

PurpleMan5000

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="LastRambo341"]Megaman fanboys -.-LastRambo341

More like people who like the franchise and expect standards to be upheld

[QUOTE="LastRambo341"][QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

More like people who like the franchise and expect standards to be upheld

BrunoBRS

I played MM64 which was based on MML and I hated it...