Capcom creating Mega Man Universe

In 2008, Capcom took its original action game mascot back to his roots with Mega Man 9 for downloadable services on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. That game succeeded in part because of its slavishly faithful take on the original franchise formula, but today, Capcom announced a new retro revival for the Blue Bomber that will apparently push the envelope a bit further. The game in question is Mega Man Universe, the title for which the publisher trademarked in April.

A teaser trailer for Mega Man Universe (embedded below) shows the hero blasting the minions of Dr. Wily in multiple art styles (including a 2D pixel-art version and a stop-motion animated miniature wearing the blue-and-yellow getup from the original Mega Man NES box art). Naturally, the cannon-armed cyborg assimilates the abilities of others in order to get the job done. But in addition to swiping the boomerang blade-arm of the evil robot Cut Man, Mega Man turns completely into versions of other Capcom characters, like Street Fighter's Ryu and Ghosts 'n Goblins' Arthur.

The clip suggests Mega Man Universe will contain more Capcom crossovers, as it features a dream arcade of the publisher's efforts, including 1942, 1943, Final Fight, Magic Sword, Darkstalkers, and Bionic Commando, as well as cabinets for games starring Ryu and Arthur. The teaser ends with a logo for the game and the tagline, "Your world. Megafied."

"This is something that you have never seen before, and we have included some hints into this teaser trailer," Mega Man series producer Kenji Inafune told GameSpot. "If you take a look closely, you will be able to imagine a lot of different possibilities. So try and use your imagination, and you may figure out what makes this game special."

Beyond the cryptic promises, Capcom released few details. The game will launch on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store, and the publisher has promised it will deliver "the core experience fans want," on top of its innovations. Despite the Mega-moniker in the title, the publisher also proclaimed that "imagination is the star of the game."

No release date or pricing has yet been announced for Mega Man Universe, but more details are expected at next week's San Diego Comic-Con. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's interview with Inafune.