Six portable classics are about to hit the North American Virtual Console on Nintendo 3DS! The four remaining Game Boy Mega Man titles AND Mega Man Xtreme 1~2 (of Game Boy Color fame) are nearly ready for their eShop debut, and both Capcom Unity and Nintendo want YOU to decide which one launches first!

Vote in the above poll by 10am PT April 14 to make your choice known. Which of these classics will take the top spot? Mega Man V, with its unique Mega Arm and Stardroids (no Wily!)? Or perhaps you’d prefer Xtreme 2, with playable Zero and DNA Soul System?

Either way, the winning title will release on May 1, 2014. After that, it’s “Mega May” as the remaining titles release each Thursday. Pick your favorite, but should your choice not release first, it’ll still be out mere weeks later 🙂

While I will keep my vote secret for now (can’t sway the vote!), please share your choices and rally others to get your favorite out on May 1!

We are excited to announce that the ranking system has been launched on the Capcom Pro Tour site .  From here on out, you can expect the ranking system to be updated each Friday with the latest standings, so you can check the progress of your favorite players as they fight to earn a spot in this year’s Capcom Cup.  Additionally, as time goes on, we we will be adding more details to the top 16 player profiles such as interview videos, past tournament matches and more.

We’d like congratulate Ryan Hart, who put on a stellar performance at Final Round to become the first player qualified for the Capcom Cup.  Be sure to check out the recap report on the website, along with links to each of the matches, if you weren’t able to watch it live. 

Also, make sure you tune in this weekend to Café ID Global Tournament in South Korea, which has compiled an insane amount of exceptional players, which is sure to impress. 

Stay tuned for more details, we are close to finalizing our plans for the online portion of the league, and have plenty of new announcements to come in the near future.  

A little bit of DuckTales/Mega Man love courtesy of Cartoon Network

As spotted by Espiownage , Cartoon Network gave a little shoutout to the lil’ blue bot on its March 17th episode of Steven Universe, “ Onion Trade .” While some folks in the Mega Man forums  are debating whether or not the opening scene, which establishes Stephen’s love for a set toys that all have the last name “Guy”, is intentionally referencing Mr. Man, allow me to settle this for you: It does.

Come on, look at that screen! Watch the episode and see for yourself.

If that weren’t enough Capcom reverence for ya, there was also a clever, fairly specific DuckTales nod later in the same episode (about 45 seconds into this clip .) I’ve only watched the first episode of Steven Universe, but I thought it was fantastic. However, what I love even more than new shows like this and Gravity Falls referencing the beloved Capcom games from my youth, it’s that they’re being broadcast to an audience made up largely of viewers too young to have actually experienced them.

Previously in Animated Capcom References, Gravity Falls !

Yes, I’m aware many adults watch the show too, but they’re expected to laugh at these references. If the kiddies get the 8/16-bit references, great! If they don’t, I imagine it’s like the befuddlement I experienced seeing references to WWII rationing and/or Jimmy Durante caricatures in old Looney Tunes cartoons. And that kind of stuff either made me more aware of a previous generations’ pop culture and/or made me more curious to find out more. Apologies for babbling on about cartoons yet again , but the prospect of an 8-year-old either knowing or getting to know Mega Man makes me want to hug the whole dang planet.

The time has come for Round 3 of our ongoing Strider Leaderboard Showdown. For this round, we will be switching up the rules to hopefully lower the barrier of entry. Read on!

How to Enter:

Step 1:  Add our  GamerTag “Minish Capcom”  as a Friend on Xbox LIVE.

Step 2:  Comment on this post below OR send me a private message on Unity giving your own GamerTag. This is how we know who to badge on Unity.

Step 3:  Complete the Beacon Run Challenge “Plasma Perimeter” (Beacon Run #4). Do this before  Thursday, April 3rd at noon PT to qualify.  Your completion time will show up on our Friend-filtered leaderboard. 

The player with the fastest completion time will receive a rare and awesome Strider scarf, pictured above. All other entrants will receive the Strider Leaderboard Showdown badge! 

If you have yet to unlock Beacon Run #4, it can be found (as a POW icon) in the Upper Military Ring area. I recommend checking this incredibly handy map made by Steam user Sainiku .  

Best of luck to all entrants, and remember to spread the word!

Or is it M. Bison vs Bike Talrog? So very confused…

After all these years of speculation and urban legends, the most wonderful thing in the universe has occurred! Yes friends, Mike Tyson and Balrog have finally been merged into a singular entity by YouTuber,  Vogey , who has thankfully once-and-for-all merged the gap-toothed pugilists into one fearsome final form via four minutes of fight footage synced to the appropriate soundtrack. This was… destiny:

Ahhh … the Sweet Science made even sweeter with Street Fighter. And you know it’s legit, because Mike Tyson himself retweeted it ! 

Last year we gave away a game pretty much every day , but so far this year we haven’t had quite as many show up in the raffle rotation. Let’s fix that! Today you have a chance to win Resident Evil Revelations on Xbox 360, at 500 points per ticket.

Let ‘er rip!

The creativity that our fans show know no bounds. Capcom Unity member Double J  has spent the last three months putting together this fun nod to Street Fighter and quite possibly the greatest T.V. show ever made Breaking Bad . What do you guys think? Let Double J know in the comments.

Who wouldn’t want a 3D screenshot of Mega Man X on their wall, right?

Wihle this is actually not a full step-by-step tutorial, the original post on 9gag has a TON of photos that should help you get a pretty good idea of how to create your own version of it.

As a huge Mega Man X fan, I approve 100% of awesomeness like this! So if you spot some in the wild, feel free to let me know. 😉

File today’s Throwback game under “pranktacular,” because Under the Skin on the PlayStation 2 was all about playing pranks on the unsuspecting denizens of Earth. If you missed this one back in 2004 don’t feel bad–you can make it up today at 4pm PT on Twitch .  And did you know this game guest-stars the likes of Jill Valentine and the Nemesis, with a Raccoon City-themed stage? It’s true! 

See you guys at four o’clock. Meanwhile you can discuss your beloved  Under the Skin  memories in the throwback thread .

To celebrate  MH3U ‘s 1 year anniversary we had a 12-hour live stream filled with awesome moments… but we weren’t the only ones celebrating this game in a big way!

Gaming group StreetPass San Diego organized quite the event, welcoming about 160 hunters! Check out video footage of that below:

Look! They even had a Wii U hooked up to a huge projector, so everyone could the Dire Miralis’s terrifying eyes up close! Btw, did you notice a certain RedStache playing?

What a group! We’ve had some good turnouts at our events here, but I’m really glad to see other events get such good numbers as well. Really good stuff!

Join Unity and help contribute to a good cause with Operation Supply Drop

Like games and want a reason to feel good about yourself? Oh boy, are we glad you’re here! Capcom Unity is once again teaming up with Operation Supply Drop , a military charity devoted to getting hard-working soldiers video game care packages overseas. We try and donate as many games, fightsticks, and various other pieces of Capcom swag as we can each year, but we’d like to get some special help from YOU .

Check out what Operation Supply Drop does and how playing games can help soldiers deal with combat stress and PTSD

In honor of OSD’s 3rd Annual 8-bit Salute (more on that later) we’ve created a Team Capcom page we really need you to check out. Here you can make a warm-and-fuzzy, tax deductible donation to a good cause. We’ve set a goal for ourselves and we need you to help us get there. Any amount of money you care to donate is appreciated, however, we want to give you a little incentive to do so. First of all, anyone who registers as an Elite user on OSD for $15 will receive an exclusive 10% off coupon code* for the Capcom Store.

For example, if you were buying the Mega Man Silver Statue , you’re essentially paying the same price by donating/using the coupon, but also getting a nice tax deduction in the process (not to mention the satisfaction of contributing to a good cause!) And that ain’t all! We’ll also be regularly offering up handsome prizes and game codes to those who join our team and donate, so we encourage you to go and sign up ASAP. Be sure to check out Polygon’s fantastic feature on Operation Supply Drop and stay tuned for more details.

HELP CAPCOM SUPPORT THE TROOPS

*Capcom Store coupon is valid April 1st though June 30th, good for a one-time 10% discount on a single-cart purchase. Not applicable towards pre-orders.

UPDATE: In case you missed the stream, you can now catch it on YouTube .

Starting today, you can pick up  Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for  FREE  for your PSP or PS Vita if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber ! Putting the  FREE back in  FREEdom Unite !

Tune in to  twitch.tv/capcomunity at 3pm PT  to see me playing one of my personal favorite  Monster Hunter  titles… yes, the one that is now free fo PS+ users:  MHFU nite ! =)

I’m also thinking about streaming it again for next week’s  Monster Hunter Mondays , so let’s talk about getting a hunting party together for that, shall we?

Anyways, let’s talk about this game in a little more context:

MH Freedom Unite was technically the expansion of  Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (think the “Ultimate” version of MHF2), and was released for the PSP in 2009. MHF2 itself was the portable adaptation of the Japan-only title  Monster Hunter 2 (dos) which came out for the PS2.

So if you know how MH titles add content with each upgrade and start doing the math, you’ll soon realize that  MHFU featured a TON OF STUFF compared to your average PSP title and even MH2!

One interesting bit about MHFU’s content though is that it is still relevant, in a weird way. You see, in 2010  Monster Hunter Tri came out and gave me a bit of a “reboot” vibe to it (this was my perception as a fan at the time) by introducing a ton of new monsters and new mechanics while leaving about 90% of MHFU’s monsters aside.

Even though Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate managed to bring back some old classics (Plesioth, Nargacuga),  MHFU can still claim a few exclusives to the 2nd generation such as the giant enemy crabs Hermitaur and Ceanataur, well as Monoblos, Lavasioth, Hypnocatrice and a few Elder Dragons!

Again, we’ll be streaming this game and talking more about it at  3pm PT on Twitch, and if you’re a PlayStation Plus Subscriber, you can pick it up for  FREE !