Mega man 2.5D

By: Xander

On: May 29th, 2009

Peter Sjostrand’s Mega Man 2.5D sadly doesn’t have a playable public build yet, but this video uploaded just recently was enough to get me excited enough to post it. It seems to reimagine Mega Man 2 as a Paper Mario style platforming adventure, with a number of interesting play twists on the original’s classic layout. A few of the pictured sequences involve a seamless transition between stages of the Mecha Dragon fight, and a usage of the conveyor belts in order to move Mega Man around between the foreground and background. It seems the Blue Bomber is only capable of movement in his regular dimensions so the only way to explore requires using the changing environment to his advantage.

(Update: According to commentors and some googling, this appears to not actually be a gameplay video but rather a concept video. Well… shit…)

The most interesting part of the video however is roughly halfway in where the game showcases a sequence from its Mega Man 3 mode, which actually appears to be a co-op adventure with a player controlling either Mega Man or Proto Man. Far from a simple side-scrolling slog with an extra gun, these levels incorporate a number of rather crafty looking puzzles where both characters really must work together to survivor. My favourite part is probably where Proto Man is being attacked from a flying enemy, but he must remain on a button until Mega Man jumps to safety. It looks like a suprisingly tense experience that simply isn’t present in any of the main Mega Man iterations. Suprisingly I’m pretty damn excited for this. A 2009 release? We can only hope.

Posted in Action, Fan Games, Freeware, Platformers, Windows

Lim-Dul

Isn’t this a lawsuit waiting to happen? :-P

By the way – perhaps this will inspire Phil Fish to release Fez already. :-P
Trotim

Heh, actually, the 2.5D sequences didn’t really seem all that great, but the co-op is awesome.

Really looking forward to this now. Looks like a lot of work went into it.
Paul Eres

the co-op mode reminds me of rescue rangers series for the nes (another great capcom series).

but yeah, i don’t really understand putting all this work into something that is in danger of being sued off the internet, when that work could just as easily go into something original. i mean, exit fate was clearly a suikoden 2 clone, but it didn’t call itself ‘suikoden: the new adventures’ or something, it changed enough to make it non-infringing.
Tazi

This game looks quiet promising, especially the co-op mode.
About lawsuits, as I know capcom is pretty tolerant with fan-works, unlike square-enix for example.
Jerkface

just because it may have legal consequences doesn’t mean it will disappear.
Caliber9

This looks great, though, I can’t help thinking this could be even cooler if he would just get an artist and just replace the graphics with original content and get somebody to compose some sweet 8bit music in the same style as the mega man series. Anyways I can’t wait till its released, especially multiplayer!
Skofo

It’s a shame that the author of this didn’t go for an original game, since it looks like he actually has game design sense by making a fun twist on Mega Man instead of just making an uninspired clone.

However, this does look awesome. Awaiting a playable build of this.
http://tinysubversions.blogspot.com Darius K.

I heard from someone who looked into it that this is just a Maya animation, no actual gameplay code or engine or anything like that.
Toadsanime

This is the first I’ve heard of this, and it does certainly look pretty good! Be sure to tell us it’s released when the time comes.

Oh, and about law infringements and getting sued over this, I wouldn’t fret over it. There’s been loads of games like this that nobody has said anything over – take the Hard Hat freeware series, for example.
BlackRaven

Yeah, Darius K. is right. In the last issue of Level (a Swedish gaming mag) the author was interviewed and it was stated that it’s just a concept video. That was a month ago, so it may have changed, but I don’t think he’s planning on making this game. Nice video though.
Skofo

Also, side-note: How do you know that it’s going to be for Windows if it’s as of yet unreleased?
Mr. Sandman

Squaresoft has been cracking down on Chrono Trigger fan projects with lawsuits. I wonder if Capcom is the same?

There was a Chrono Trigger game once that someone made in full 3D. While it was impressive, I always thought it was a waste of potential seeing it all turn into nothing with a simple cease and desist letter. I never really understood fan games, because most of the time it just seems like the time they spent making a fan game could have easily been used to make an original game rather than one that just ends up being copyright infringement.
Choukou

This has bounds of awesome! I’ll be keeping an eye on this, I’m now really excited for it!
http://www.legalarcade.com Nathaniel Edwards

“Paper Mario-style platforming adventure”? Sure, Mega Man is paper-thin here a bit like Mario was, but Paper Mario has very, very few platforming bits in it. It’s an RPG.
Mr. Sandman

Also Xander, uh…

“[…] crafty looking puzzles where both characters really must work together to survivor.”

You might want to fix that. Although that is a pretty hilarious typo. Engrish, FTW!
JoeHonkie

Damn, that looks even cooler than the last video I saw of it.
Neon

I really like this idea, and the idea that Mega Man can only move in 2D is really cool. If we talk about spatial theory, it really makes sense. As 3D entities, we see and move through multiple 2D planes. Mega Man, as a 2D entity, can only move through multiple 1D planes.
TCM

Even if it is just a concept, it made my day. Even finding out it is not an actual game cannot break my spirit.
Ezuku

Must… play…. megaman…. now….
Craig Stern

I fully expect whoever is making this to get a cease and desist letter from Capcom. It’s a shame the designer couldn’t have used his talents to work on an original IP.
Anonymous

Capcom supports fangames.
Capcom always has.

Capcom featured this game on its own unity blog:
http://www.capcom-unity.com/snow_infernus/blog/2009/05/29/fan_made_mega_man_25d_gets_cooler

Why do you lump Capcom in with everyone else? Why? Its not that hard to take a 1 second google search to figure this shit about before you smear Capcom as lawyer happy. Unless you’re an IP crusader fighting the IP injustice that isn’t there.
Radish

It’s called prejudice.

Nice concept, but I haven’t known any project that have publicly released concept video first and have actual finished product later, especially there doesn’t seem to be any details besides screenshots and videos.
http://rockstarramblings.blogspot.com/ Bronze Dog

Concept video or not, it’s awesome. Both the 2.5D and co-op.

I hope this won’t peter out, and that Capcom is as tolerant as everyone says.
Teknogames/Beau Blyth

I’ve always thought that if someone was going to make an original game based of of something already published, then they should create original looking characters and environments. That way we treat it more as an original work, and one could avoid lawsuits. That aside, this is a totally awesome concept. The camera views seemed well done. Hope it gets done someday.
Gio

The creator has literally added a new dimension of gameplay and challenge.
david

whoa, awesome looking game is awesome. looking really cool so far, can’t wait to try it!
Plaz

The creator of the video has no plans to create a game. He, too, fears legal problems, although Capcom is actually very tolerant of fan games.