Mega Man Cartridge Art Mega Man Anniversary Cover Art

In March of 2012, Capcom launched Street Fighter X Tekken, a fighting game that pitted Capcom's own Street Fighter characters against Namco Bandai's Tekken characters. To top it off, Pac-Man joined the battle to represent Namco'southward greater universe, and Mega Man showed upward to back up Capcom.

But it wasn't the archetype Mega Man we all knew and loved; information technology was this guy:

This grapheme was officially dubbed "Bad Box Fine art Mega Human" and was a reference to the cover art for the original Mega Man game. Yes, on the original box art, Mega Man dressed in yellow and carried a pistol instead of having a blaster built into his arm.

Ane must wonder, had the person who created this e'er really played Mega Human? And how had Capcom allowed this to be the image that represented the North American launch this new IP (an IP that would proceed to revolutionize the platformer and be beloved by millions)?

Of grade, Mega Man would proceed to abound equally a series, and the box art got better through the years. Nosotros've sifted through several decades of Mega Homo boxes to illustrate this evolution. (All of our covers are N American versions, which in most cases were much different than their Japanese counterparts, and were sometimes also dissimilar than European versions.)

In the 1980s, Capcom launched the first two games in the franchise, Mega Human in 1987 and Mega Homo 2 in 1988. The original box art is but all sorts of wrong. The second is much better, actually referencing imagery from the game (including the drill-armed Crash Man and the boomerang-foreheaded Quick Man), but there are still some problematic elements to it. Why is Mega Man'southward body and then curvy? Why is he even so belongings a gun? (We actually accept sort of an respond to that second question.)

And look, is Mega Man left-handed? Information technology would appear then, equally he'due south holding his gun in his left manus in both of the to a higher place images.

Now, the 1980s weren't exactly known for having brilliant box art (the original box art for Super Mario Bros. shows Mario dying every bit he falls into a lava pit after all), so expectations were certainly much lower than they are today. The original game didn't meet sales expectations, however, and longtime Mega Homo producer Keiji Inafune is said to take blamed the less-than-ideal U.South. sales on the bad box art. And perhaps he's not wrong. It'due south quite off-putting, after all.

When the 1990s rolled around, the box fine art continued to meliorate.

Mega Man iii launched in 1990 and Mega Human 4 in 1991. Yous tin see Mega Man (the character) getting more cartoony and less creepy, and he's actually using his Mega Buster (or Arm Cannon), though it'due south getting less clear whether he's a lefty or a righty. Mega Human being three's box art actually features bosses from the game (Spark Homo and Top Human being), and it even includes Dr. Wily's castle as it appears in the games.

Mega Man 4 shoots for a more than simplistic approach, though it does all the same testify off Pharaoh Human from the actual game, every bit well as what appears to be the Escaroo miniboss (which, incidentally, is weak to Pharaoh Human'due south Pharaoh Shot weapon).

Mega Man 5 came out in 1992, and Mega Human being six came out in 1993, meaning there was a new Mega Man game released every twelvemonth for four straight years. (In Japan, that is. Mega Man 6 was held back from North American release until 1994.)

While Mega Human 5's box art is a scrap sloppy, Mega Human 6 takes a huge jump in production quality. Of grade, they still couldn't seem to decide how the Mega Buster was supposed to work, as it's back on his left arm in 5 and completely missing in vi. You could contend that this is a depiction of Mega Homo wearing both the Rush Jet Adapter (which allows him to fly) and the Rush Power Adapter (which allows him to punch through barricades) at the same time. While he's not immune to wear both at once in the bodily game, this theory does explain his ruby-red coloration, his jetpack, and his fists.

In 1993, Mega Man also made his way to the Super Nintendo Amusement System with a brand new sub-franchise, Mega Human being X. Information technology's a re-branding of sorts, and this is where you start to meet the more than anime-inspired await represented on the box fine art.

Ten seems to be a lefty likewise.

1994 saw the release of Mega Man X2, which continued the higher-quality, anime-inspired trend. Information technology'southward too the offset box to include an ESRB rating, dorsum before the "E for Everyone" rating would supervene upon "K-A" (or "Kids to Adults").

As well, nosotros have the Mega Buster on the left arm in one case again.

In 1995 (March in Japan, September in North America, and November in Europe), the mainline franchise finally fabricated its style to the SNES with Mega Homo 7. Interestingly enough, the box art goes back to that sort of cartoony look of Mega Man 3-six instead of keeping in line with the other SNES Mega Man titles. Perhaps Capcom wanted to emphasize that these were two carve up franchises, and that the anime expect was saved for the X series (and most of the post-X sub-series).

The Mega Buster is back on Mega Man's right arm, though.

1995 would likewise see a new game in the X series, Mega Man X3 for SNES. Interestingly, its artwork was a little fleck more sloppy than previous covers, and information technology seems like the artist was going for a sort of Dragon Ball look. Or perhaps it was an attempt at emulating theChrono Trigger style, which was as well the work of Akira Toriyama. (Chrono Trigger was released before that same yr.)

We've also got Zero on the box art, though not in a prominent position.

It seems Capcom has decided to go on using the right-handed Mega Buster as well.

Mega Man X3 would besides be released on the original PlayStation, with a far more detailed comprehend depicting a huge array of characters from the game. It's near overwhelming to look at, merely Aught seems to have gotten another promotion in box art positioning, with an activeness pose directly behind Ten.

The Mega Buster, of course, is on the right arm still again.

In December of 1996, Mega Man 8 came out for the PlayStation in Japan. It wasn't released in Europe and Northward America until 1997, and so a special 10th Anniversary Edition was created. Here you see the mainline Mega Man franchise finally adopting "the 10 look" on its box art.

Merely wait, what is this? We're going back to the left arm for the Mega Buster now.

Mega Man X4 arrived in August of 1997, transforming Mega Human being (ii words) to Megaman (ane discussion) and keeping with the simple light blueish background of Mega Man 8. Zero is still behind X, only he's conspicuously earning his place as a major character by this point (past box art standards, anyway; for fans, he'd been a major character in the games since the first Mega Man X).

X is back to being a righty.

However another sub-series would exist released at the tail end of 1997: Mega Homo Legends. This cover is designed to illustrate the transition to 3D, with a very polygonal-looking character against a possibly hand-drawn properties. Mega Man is back to 2 words, as information technology should take always been.

A new protagonist, Mega Man Volnutt, is introduced for this far-hereafter tale, and he happens to be a lefty. He'south also not wearing a helmet, so we finally go to see Mega Man's (or Mega Homo Volnutt's) hair color illustrated on a game box.

The Mega Man Legends series would overtake the franchise for a while, with a prequel, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, released in 1999 in Nihon, and 2000 in Due north America and Europe. Information technology features a very like faux-3D look to that of Mega Homo Legends. Apparently, the game also included a demo for Mega Man Legends 2.

Also, is Miss Bonne a lefty? She'southward pointing with her left hand, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's left-handed.

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne was followed by Mega Homo Legends 2 (April of 2000 in Japan, October of 2000 in Due north America, and August of 2001 in Europe), which took a huge step backward in the embrace art department. In fact, Mega Man Vonutt looks downright creepy here. We also tin can't tell if he's left-handed or right-handed hither due his pose and the positioning of the messages. While he'south forsaken the helmet-less look, Volnutt's hair tin can however be seen, and it's lighter than it was on the original Mega Man Legends cover.

Sadly, this would be the final game in the Mega Man Legends sub-serial. Keiji Inafune attempted to revise it with Mega Man Legends 3 for the 3DS, but this game was cancelled in 2011 post-obit Inafune's 2010 departure from Capcom.

Right on the heels of Mega Man Legends 2 was Mega Man X5 (November of 2000 in Japan, Jan of 2001 in North America, and August of 2001 in Europe). The return of the Ten series came with the return of one-give-and-take Megaman, the anime art style, and Zippo in a prominent position on the cover.

Also, X is wielding the Mega Buster on his right arm here.

At just about the same time (November 2000 in Japan and Jan 2001 in N America), Mega Man Legends finally made it over to the Nintendo 64 under the title Mega Human being 64. The comprehend is fairly unremarkable, as it'southward but a cropped version of the Mega Man Legends comprehend.

Mega Man X6 arrived in Nov of 2001 in Japan, December of 2001 in North America, and Feb of 2002 in Europe. The cover is fairly standard for an X cover, with the anime fine art fashion and the one-discussion "Megaman." Information technology's interesting to point out, notwithstanding, that Ten has no Mega Buster and is holding a Z-Saber, and that Nix has taken a less prominent position; he'due south larger than 10, just he's sort of looming in the shadows in the background.

If the Z-Saber is whatsoever indication, 10 is left-handed here.

In 2003, North Americans and Europeans were finally treated to Mega Human being & Bass, which had released on the Super Famicom back in 1998 as sort of an unofficial Mega Man nine. Yeah, you read that correctly: it launched on the Super Famicom several years into the PlayStation's lifespan. It landed on the Game Boy Advance as a re-release in Japan in 2002, and it made its fashion to Due north America and Europe the following year.

The art style is close to that of the X series and Mega Human being 8, it used the one-word "Megaman" stylings of the latter X games, and it was given a special 15th Anniversary symbol on the box.

Oh, and it'due south a right-handed Mega Buster.

While there's very lilliputian evolution at this point, we'll wrap up the X series with a quick look at Mega Human X7 and Mega Man X8, both of which landed on the PS2. They both feature the 1-word "Megaman," too as right-handed Mega Busters. Mega Man X7 also features the 15th Anniversary graphic, as information technology came out in 2003 in both Japan and Due north America. Europe would accept to look until 2004.

While there are several spinoff series left uncovered (pun intended?) in this article, the box art doesn't really get interesting again until 2008 with the launch of Mega Human being 9. This is where the series went back to the viii-chip roots of the original NES titles, and this is where the box art got weird again.

The joke was that this was a digital release, so in that location was no actual game box necessary (though Capcom did a special edition that came with a physical box and a replica NES cartridge). It'south an homage to the original Due north American box art, and, while it'south completely ridiculous, it's not as bad every bit the original. You've besides got a Mega Buster on the left arm, and a gun in the right manus (which seems a scrap redundant). It'southward a great parody that captures the spirit of the original and revels in its absurdity, and the truest of Mega Man fans were going to be in on the joke.

Capcom did information technology one more fourth dimension in 2010 with the 8-bit release of Mega Man 10.

Yep, information technology's glorious, and it's just i/3 of the full epitome, which Capcom has blessed the earth with.

Unfortunately, that would be the last game in the mainline Mega Homo series for a while, as well as the end of the parody game boxes. 2010 was as well the year Keiji Inafune left Capcom, and by 2011, every Mega Man projection in product at the time (Mega Man Legends iii,Mega Man Universe, Rockman Online, and the then-underground Bohemian Hunter) would be cancelled.

It'southward prissy to see, though, that in the very end, the series gained a sort of self-awareness that it had perhaps lacked throughout its history. It was finally okay for the Mega Man franchise to acknowledge it had grown completely absurd, spawning so many sequels and sub-series that information technology was virtually impossible to keep track of.

For fans, though, that was almost certainly office of the amuse.

Of grade, well after this article was initially published, Capcom went ahead and released Mega Man 11. Here's the art:

And he'south a righty.

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Source: https://retrovolve.com/an-illustrated-history-of-mega-man-box-art/

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