Friday 13 May 2011

Why Mega Man Legends 3: Prototype Version will be a Blast when the eShop Launches

You may have heard of Mega Man Legends 3. Over the past few months, a small development group have been working on this exciting new game for the 3DS, but it hasn't received the 'green light' yet because Capcom reckon it won't sell at all. After all, the Mega Man Legends games were apparently brilliant... Back in the PS1 era. I had never heard of the games until they announced the 3DS game, and I'm sure many other gamers haven't either. With this in mind, not releasing the game may seem like a more profitable decision for the huge publisher that is Capcom. Still, it's worth seeing if that speculation is correct, right? Along with the release of the eShop for 3DS this month, Capcom are publishing the first all-new downloadable title for the service: Mega Man Legends 3 Prototype Version. This isn't a demo of the upcoming (or not) game though, Prototype Version is a seperate title that uses the same engine as the full game to create a title with its own 10 missions, unique characters and seperate story that takes place before the full version of Mega Man Legends 3. And you still haven't heard the best part: It'll only be a few pounds. Mega Man Legends 3 Prototype version will see the release of the full retail title if it sells well enough - A clever decision from Capcom.

Barrett sure packs some firepower. He's also a skilled free-runner, which adds to the game's fun factor.
In Mega Man Legends 3 Prototype Version, you take control of Barrett, a robot humanoid thing that is a dab hand (and leg) at free-running. Barrett's abilities seem to make the game one of those games that you can have fun with just by running around the open world that's on offer. Barrett can run, boost, perform crazy jumps, ride and fly vehicles and amazingly run up walls, so there's no shortage of awesome free-roaming action to be found in the game. When you're done with messing about in the overworld, you can play the ten missions that are on offer that set the scene for the proper, full version of the game. What these levels will exactly involve is unknown at the moment, but from what we've seen in screenshots and the like, you'll be blasting and slashing away at foes whilst exploring areas outside of the overworld. You'll also be interacting with other characters from the Mega Man universe such as Mega Man himself and his female partner Roll via dialogue sections. It seems that some huge robotic bosses will be up for a fight in some of the missions too. Like I mentioned, the best thing about the game is that it's packed with so much stuff for a download that will only set you back a few pounds. Sure, it's definitely nowhere near the standards of full retail titles, but we'll be having a bulkier version of the game released in the shops if Prototype Version sells well enough. At such a cheap price, I'd be surprised if the full game isn't released. I'll be getting the game on day one for sure, will you? If not, an awesome game might not get the green light..

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

*sniffs*

Reading this post makes me so sad it got cancelled, especially when Capcom had nothing to lose releasing it (it had already been rated for the ESRB, etc, apparently), and the lack of any original 3DS download software on eShop would have meant it would have been in the eye of eShop users for months...

:(

Noodle said...

I completely agree. Crapcom's ridiculous decision to not even release Prototype version despite the cancellation of the full game is absolutely ridiculous. As you said, they have nothing to lose in doing so. It's the same sort of thing with London Life, why take it out of the PAL release of Professor Layton 4 when you can leave the US LL in with little hassle? Yes, a lot of non-gamers play Layton games but they can just ignore the more hardcore antics of London Life, it's not like it's going to put them off the main game, after all.

Anonymous said...

Aye, it's so depressing :(

And Capcom could have made money off Prototype edition to fund development of the proper game - perhaps if Nintendo allows for downloading of retail 3DS games through eShop we might see the game return. Maybe publishing costs were putting Capcom off.

As for London Life - I reckon Nintendo of Europe think they can get away with it. Think about it: Layton sells a huge amount to the non-gaming audience, and they aren't likely to know about the London Life omission or even care, as you mentioned. Shame, really. If this sort of thing happens to future 3DS Layton games, I'll be very angry.

Thanks for replying :)