MEGA MAN 11 Producer, Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, On How The Game Caters To Longtime Fans And Newcomers

Releasing on the 2nd of October, Mega Man 11 is the result of years of development that ended up paying off. After Capcom kept cancelling previous Mega Man titles, fans had already begun to lose all hope for a new game in the series. Luckily, a new development team stepped in we a clear goal in sight: bringing back Capcom's Blue Bomber in all of his glory.

In a recent interview released by Capcom, Mega Man 11 producer Katzuhiro Tsuchiya mentions that because the game is the first to be released in such a long time(8 years since Mega Man 10 came out) they had to keep in mind a few things' especially when considering both the old and young demographics.

"The series has a long history overflowing with rich scenarios, however, we made sure to avoid creating something that directly relied on this history. We couldn't allow the project to become a game made by us old guys for other old guys. We told the development team that this was a clean slate, and that we were going to rebuild it from the ground up with that in mind", explained Tsuchiya.

Tsuchiya also mentioned that it was important not to restrict the development team into coming up with a completely revamped game, giving them freedom to make the changes necessary to keep the game fresh but classic.

"We told them[the development team] that as long as they held to that condition, they were free to interpret it and tweak it as they saw fit. We didn't want to restrict them too severely—everyone on the development team is a professional, after all, and they all have their own unique methods of approaching a problem. I had high hopes that they would find interesting solutions that I hadn't imagined".

The development team went through a similar process when deciding on Mega Man 11's new art styel, wondering whether it would be a good idea to go back to 8-Bit pixel art like Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10 did, or if they should try going for 3D models when choosing the game's art style.

"We didn't want to make Mega Man 11 just to rely on on memories and nostalgia. After an eight-year gap, our goal was to create a new standard from which the series could continue onwards", mentioned Tsuchiya while alluding to the game's art style.

"While it's true that Mega Man fans have a fondness for pixel art, it's possible that younger players may not be used to such a style. We set out to maintain the legacy of side-scrolling action, while using 3D graphics to expand our overall reach".

On a related note, Tsuchiya also mentions that another way to reel in newcomers was going back to featuring elemental weapons, given that the series had used elemental weaknesses for the bosses in the past but became more ambiguous as new games came out. 

"The interactions between elemental weapons. As the series went on, creators often tried to avoid having the vulnerabilities spoiled by previous games, and so it all became quite complicated and you couldn't tell how things worked at a glance anymore. This time we told the developers that we want every elemental weapon to be something that even a child could understand".

Of course, Mega Man 11 still offers longtime fans everything they were hoping for from a new entry in the series, and Tsuchiya mentions that while it was of utmost importance to reel in newcomers, the game needed to cater to old fans of the series too.

"We considered this to be of utmost importance; we told everyone that we must design bosses which don't rely on cultural or age-based knowledge, or even on language, so that even children could understand. We hope that longtime fans will say "oh yeah, this is legit Mega Man!" and that newcomers will say "I always thought Mega Man was only for hardcore fans, but this is really fun!".

Mega Man is back! The newest entry in this iconic series blends classic, challenging 2D platforming action with a fresh new visual style. The new Double Gear system boosts Mega Man's speed and power for a new twist to the satisfying gameplay the series is known for.