PAX is just around the corner, and if that’s got you in the mood for some good old-fashioned gaming, be sure to head over to the North American PlayStation Store for their ” PAX Retro Sale ,” in progress now. Plenty of Capcom deals, which you can check after the jump.
Designed with a medieval knight motif. His strong shield can block most attacks. Only the weapon that plays on his weakness can pierce it!
Happy launch day!
Knight Man, true to his name, is a chivalrous knight-bot who fights with a spiked flail. He also has a mohawk.
There’s something so expressive to me about Knight Man’s valiant jumping sprite. You can’t help but feel like he’s fighting by some noble code. Were it not for a slight twist of fate, we might have been allies, Knight Man.
Use Yamato Man’s spear to run Knight Man through and steal his flail.
David Oxford (The Mega Man Network) Knight Man’s design — and his weapon — are very striking. What’s more, it brings to mind the question of why it took six games for one of these guys to finally be given a more traditional shield (yours doesn’t count, Proto Man — besides, I shot right through it in Mega Man 3).
Funny thing about the NES’s limitations, though, is that the Knight Crush wasn’t able to be rendered in full detail — not easily, at least. Instead of swinging around on a chain, the spiked ball at the end just seems to move through the air almost independently. What makes it funny is that by this point in the series, I doubt anyone even batted an eye at a spiked mace flying around by itself!
One of the two Robot Masters to be created by a North American Mega Man fan, you can find out more about how that all went down in TMMN’s interview with Knight Man’s creator.
Adam “Heat Man” Anania, formerly of The Mega Man Network Back with Quick Man, I talked about the “cool” Robot Masters of Mega Man. To be honest, with how the designs got increasingly detailed after Mega Man 4, it gets harder to distinguish who that “cool” guy is in the later games. But for Mega Man 6, I think it could Knight Man. But cool in more of a stoic sense.
Here’s a Robot Master modeled after, well, a traditional, valiant knight. Carrying both a weapon and a shield, he seems more prepared for battle than the rest of his companions. And that shield makes him a bit tricky to face head on, unless you have his weakness weapon of course. Then he gets pretty easy.
Want to know something embarrassing? For years and years, I had no idea Knight Crusher was multi-directional! I didn’t know until I saw it on YouTube!
Get your 8-bit fix with not one, not two, but SIX classic Mega Man games out now on Xbox One, PS4 and PC! Grab the digital version of the Legacy Collection today and come by our launch day stream today at 4pm Pacific.
I also put together (with stream friend Harrison’s help) a quick look at MM 1~6 to catch people up with the series OR perhaps highlight what y’all like about the games in the first place.
To recap, the game includes gorgeous versions of Mega Man 1~6, plus a Challenge Mode with online leaderboards. It also features detailed museums, music players and enemy databases for all six games.
And as you may know, a Nintendo 3DS version (along with physical versions of all aforementioned platforms) will release in early 2016.
Just your friendly reminder to tune in to twitch.tv/capcomunity today at 4pm (Pacific) to watch and play Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate with us, and hear first hand about our PAX Prime presence. =)
An old-fashioned robot that generates heat energy. If you try to dodge the flame pillars by watching for them, it will already be too late. Try to memorize the timing.
Like Fire Man and Heat Man before him, Flame Man harnesses the power of flame for evil, thanks to the meddlesome reprograming of Dr….um, “Mr. X.” Flame Man also bears the distinction of being the only Robot Master with a mustache. Such style!
Flame Man will use his arm-mounted flamethrower to shoot straight flame projectiles, and can also raise deadly columns of flame from the floor that are so evenly spaced apart, they could only be the work of an obsessed psychotic. Put out those flames and put Flame Man out of his misery with the Wind Storm.
Victory will award you with the Flame Blast, allowing you to create flame columns of your own. Blizzard Man is doomed.
David Oxford (The Mega Man Network) Flame Man’s design is fascinating to me, not for any of the various Middle Eastern flourishes put into his design, but rather for one element which I only learned about many years after first facing him on the NES. Apparently, one of his quirks is that he enjoys taking care of his mustache (the GBA version of Mega Man & Bass says “beard”), which seems to imply that the odd black detail beneath his eyes isn’t just the empty space behind some sort of pointy Guts Man-ish robotic jaw as I’d once thought, but is actually facial hair! Or something equivalent, anyway. Weird.
We’re mere hours away from the digital launch of Mega Man Legacy Collection, which will bring six 8-bit classics to PS4, Xbox One and PC for the first time. To celebrate the occasion we’re gonna stream the game at 4pm Pacific, and have Digital Eclipse’s own Frank Cifaldi along as a guest!
Pop by our Twitch channel to watch the game, chat with Frank and possibly even win a game code…
If you’re heading to PAX this weekend, we’ll also have a fun contest for proficient players on Saturday and Sunday. More on that soon, but in the meantime, get ready for MMLC’s release!
After successful SFV online stress tests in both Europe and Asia, we are happy to announce that the North and South America stress tests will be taking place at the following times:
8/25 (TUE) 4pm~midnight PT
8/26 (WED) 4pm~midnight PT
Once we have successfully completed the North and South America tests, we will announce the dates and times of the official five-day global beta test.
Please note that although we anticipate these tests to run smoother than before, there may still be issues experienced by some users. All data received during each of the stress tests will help us improve the online experience moving forward, and we appreciate your understanding and support. Please make sure to follow @SFVServer on Twitter, as we will be posting updates regarding the online server status there if any issues arise.
Additionally, we recommend following the two pointers below to achieve the best online experience:
Wired internet connections provide more stable speeds than Wi-Fi, so use a wired connection if you can.
Avoid downloading files in the background while playing, as it takes up bandwidth and slows your connection.
Arguably the coolest contest we’ve ever run in this company (at least I think so!), the #HowDoYouHunt contest finally has a winner!
First of all, I want to thank everyone for participating (including Gaijinhunter, who was not even eligible to win!). And I must say it was incredibly hard to narrow the lenghty list of awesome entries down to just a Top 10; never mind selecting a winner. This was harder than any G Rank I’ve ever had to do!
I even recruited help from people from various departments here, making sure they had worked on and played at least 2 Monster Hunter titles. They also complained it was extremely hard to pick winner!
So much energy!!! And yes, anyone who updgrades an Ancient Shard weapon all the way deserves a Patience badge of sorts.
So that’s 7 entries so far, in no particular order, and I hope you can agree with me that any of these could have taken the top prize… however, these next few entries netted out with the most votes from our internal panel of judges; so here’s our Top 3, including the winner:
“IT’S JUST MATH!” Sorry, can’t argue with math. =]
Well played, sir; you win a life-size replica of the Dual Dragons “Angst”!
Again, thanks to everyone who participated and made this an awesome contest! I definitely had a lot of fun reviewing each individual entry and I’ve actually read a lot of entrants say they had fun making their video entries. So there: the contest is over, but if you feel like making your own video telling everyone #HowDoYouHunt, why not?
Theresults are in for Round 5! Hit the jump to see who this round’s Finalist is, along with the rules for the Final Round, which starts now!
The Vergil round was taken by the fast and frantic stylin’s of frequent flyer Mariotaz , who’s predominantly aerial style is notably reminiscent of his Vergil performances back in the DmC:DE days. Mariotaz netted out with 30% of the vote, with Jack Moondivider trailing behind at 26%, and IKevinX in third place with 21%.
Congrats to Mariotaz, who takes Round 5, making him eligible for the Final Round, which starts now!
Note that this round is only open to the five players who won previous rounds in the tournament!
Character: Player’s choice!
Difficulty: Player’s choice!
Modifiers: All optional! (No PC mods, please. Stick to the official game content!)
Mission: Player’s choice!
Time Limit: Three minutes.
Details: This is each Finalist’s chance to really shine. Players have up to three minutes to show their best stuff. They may choose the character, Mission, fight, and any modifiers, and may stitch together multiple clips. This means players may perform multiple combos with multiple characters in multiple areas, or they may simply do a single stylish run with one character. The only stipulation is that the entire video must be three minutes or shorter in length.
As with previous rounds, the winner of this round will be determined via community vote, to be held here on the blog.
Please upload your video at 720p or better if possible! This is for your benefit as an entrant.
Last month, we began an Art Contest wherein we challenged you to submit your best reimaginings of the box art for Mega Man 1-6 in commemoration of the imminently launching Mega Man Legacy Collection. Y’all were all too eager to deliver, making this contest a true joy–and challenge–to judge. Nevertheless, we have emerged with our six winners, whom you can confirm after the jump!!
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Submitted by: KaitlinEXE
Comment from MMLC Producer Rey Jimenez: “I really love this one. It fits very well with the established Mega Man art style. Also, having the Robot Masters interact with the white bars and go in front of them is a really nice touch. Gives the whole piece depth.”
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Submitted by: Mark
Comment from Rockman Unity’s Ucchy: “Ah, the ‘Bad Box Art Mega Man,’ or as he’s fondly(?) dubbed in Japan, Ossan (old fart) Mega Man. Perhaps I’m treading recklessly, but I couldn’t help but go for this one. Given how this piece is designed I feel like it’s fair game. Still though, where the heck is this supposed to be (what with the palm trees)?” —————————————–
Submitted by: DanRoot
Comment from MMLC Producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya: “You’ve Minecraft-ified the world of Mega Man and done a splendid job of it. The artwork makes the viewer feel like this kind of game actually exists.”
Comment from Rockman Unity’s Ucchy: “This is a fun piece that makes you want to look around for who is where, and makes you wonder if the 2D world of Mega Man would actually look something like this. Seeing the Mecha Dragon from straight on also feels fresh.”
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Submitted by: Hanzo
Comment from MMLC Producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya: “This is a really polished piece of art! From the fierce enemies reflected in his buster to Mega Man’s distinct expression, this piece really tells a story and feels pulled straight out of a high-octane action scene.”
Comment from Rockman Unity’s Ucchy: “This is just plain good! It’s really cool! There’s a great dynamism to Mega Man and Rush’s expressions, too. Really great.”
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Submitted by: Dustin Wilkinson
Comment from MMLC Producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya: “This feels like it could be turned into an NES box as-is! And yet, the detailed touches applied to Mega Man and Proto Man also give it a fresh feeling.”
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Submitted by: David B
Comment from MMLC Producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya: “This is a really powerful piece; its liberal use of black really makes the images pop. The layout and use of colors feels a bit like an old movie poster, which appeals to me personally.”
Comment from Rockman Unity’s Ucchy: “Taking 6’s theme of robots vying for the title of supreme fighting robot and turning it into a NES-style package is a really great concept! Personally, I found it amusing that everyone is depicted very coolly here except for Eddy, who’s making a derpface.”
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Congrats to all winners! You will be contacted within the day about your prizes.
A robot based on the mythical creature. Try to fight him from the center of the arena as much as possible. If you stand to the sides, you’ll be hit by his spread shot.
Centaur Man! Centaur Man bears the noble distinction of being the only quadrupedal Robot Master evah. Yes, as the name indicates, Centaur Man is half centaur, half man, which I believe makes him three quarters man, one quarter horse. Actually, in the Rockman 6 manga, Centaur Man is revealed to be a woman. Not the point!
As told in myth of yore, Centaur Man bears the formidable power to distort space and time, and wields an arm cannon that shoots scattering, ricocheting blasts. Centaur Man’s quadruped design grants a notable increase in agility, but also makes Centaur Man one of the few Robot Masters unable to jump.
Use Knight Man’s Knight Crusher to turn this centaur into a dead-taur. Your reward is the almighty Centaur Flash, a time-stopping weapon similar to the Flash Stopper or Time Stopper of games past, but with the notable distinction of causing damage to enemies in the vicinity at the moment of its flash. Dazzling!
David Oxford (The Mega Man Network) Centaur Man is not your little pony, and his friendship isn’t magic — though the Centaur Flash comes pretty close, as it allows him to essentially halt time by distorting space. In addition to freezing opponents in place, he can close the gap pretty effectively by teleporting, allowing him trample foes with his front legs, or put some distance so his spreading buster shots will be all the more devastating.
In a bizarre twist, Shigeto Ikehara’s manga adaptation of Mega Man 6 actually reveals Centaur Man to be a woman who loved Knight Man, which one would imagine might make the Knight Crush an emotional weakness as well as a physical one.
Centaur Man’s appearance is a pretty powerful Robot Master visual to wrap up the Nintendo Entertainment System era of the games on, with a unique form that has not quite been replicated since. That said, Centaur Man does reappear in the second arcade game, there accentuating his already powerful appearance with a naginata, a shield, and the Centaur Arrow.
Keisuke Mizuno (Character designer for TruForce) Plainly put, having a four-legged boss was really novel. There’s a sort of romantic quality to the whole centaur thing. I used to try and draw him a lot, and I feel like that actually helped me learn how to draw horse’s feet pretty well for a kid.
