At this point, I don’t know why Capcom still even bothers with the Mega Man franchise. Other than a couple retro throwbacks (and the awesome PSP remakes), every recent attempt to return the Blue Bomber to modern relevance has failed to make it into full production. Mega Man Legends 3, Mega Man Universe and Mega Man Online have all been cancelled over the past few years, and now news has surfaced that a prototype Mega Man reboot was in development as of early 2010, but got binned before the game ever made a public appearance.
As a Mega Man fan since the very first game, it’s painful to see such an iconic character suffer such repeated humiliation.
Polygon has an in-depth report about a cancelled Mega Man project, codenamed Maverick Hunter. Maverick Hunter was prototyped as a first-person shooter in the same style as Metroid Prime. Which makes sense considering Armature Studio, founded by three former Metroid Prime creators, was put in charge of the game’s development.
The Mega Man X series was to serve as the mythological inspiration for Maverick Hunter, only the tone and style would have skewed even darker and more realistic compared to the bright colors and childlike characters typically associated with Mega Man. Gameplay footage and screenshots uncovered by Polygon give the impression that Mega Man’s character design had been redesigned too look like a cross between Iron Man and the suit of Dead Space‘s Isaac Clarke.
Armature was able to create a playable prototype of Maverick Hunter within six months, but despite showing promise Capcom quietly binned the project around the time Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune left the company. Polygon’s videos aren’t embedding properly so you’ll need to click over to their site to watch the prototype footage. Keep in mind that the game is fairly rough, but for only half a year in development it shows intriguing potential. Too bad Armature didn’t get the chance to reboot Mega Man the same way its founders successfully rebooted Metroid once upon a time.
Maverick Hunter: The Mega Man first-person shooter that could have been [Polygon]
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
