With the Mega Man 35th anniversary approaching in December 2022, Capcom may likely be prepping a new Mega Man title on the horizon. Capcom typically is keen on celebrating anniversaries (within a year of them at least) and Capcom's mascot hitting the big thirty-five is undoubtedly an anniversary to prepare for. While nothing has explicit confirmation, there are enough breadcrumbs to lead some to believe that Capcom may be sitting on/developing some Mega Man projects that are inching closer to release.
Mega Man is a bit of a jack of all trades and has had several mainline series encoming several genres – many that never met their conclusions. The most famous two are the mainline Mega Man series, which spans 11 games, and the Mega Man X series, which weaved a somewhat continuous narrative that ended on a cliffhanger at the end of its eighth mainline entry. In recent years, these two series have been absent, with the gap between Mega Man 10 and 11 spanning eight years between them, and the last new entry for the X series releasing in 2004. But Capcom's train of legacy Mega Man compilations, such as the Mega Man Zero and ZX Collections, and their solid sales performances in the previous few years may have re-opened the door to new entries in the series. But more importantly, it's the clues left by Capcom - both intentionally and not - that shed the most light on what's next for the blue bomber.
For those who already own a copy of the Mega Man X: Legacy Collection 1 & 2 soundtracks, it's older knowledge by now but for those unfamiliar, the summary section that covers Megaman X7 & X8 has a line that translates to "The story of X's fight is not yet over," which clearly shows the desire to continue the storyline. Stretching the bar further, eagle-eyed readers of the Mega Man X: Maverick Hunter's Field Guide book which came out in December 2021, will spot several entries in the compilation of the book that says "[CLASSIFIED]" or "[DATA CORRUPTED]." One of the most noticeable comes at the end of the final boss entry for Mega Man X 8, Lumine. The paragraph ends with the "[CLASSIFIED]" tag obscuring the fate of one of the game's protagonists, Axl, which is still an unresolved plotline from the end of the title - one that currently may be in the works.
A New Mega Man Entry Was Leaked Ahead Of The 35th Anniversary
The closest confirmation for a new entry comes from the ransomware attack that hit Capcom back in 2020, where several new titles leaked, one of which being known as Mega Man Match or Rockman Match as it's known in Japanese. The title is slated for a Q3 2022 release in the leak - a period fast approaching. Several reliable sources, such as @Protodude on Twitter, have acknowledged the existence of such a game, but details are scant on the title. The name seems to imply a mobile game, but those same sources believe that a AAA title is likely what's coming, especially due to the lengthy gap between new entries in the series.
With the advent of remakes and remasters over the last five years, it's possible that Capcom is willing to revisit any number of games from the series. Fans are still waiting for the continuation of the Mega Man Legends storyline, of which the third title was unceremoniously canceled by Capcom following the departure of Keiji Inafune in 2010, and even the Mega Man Battle Network series just celebrated its 20th-anniversary last year. Whatever Capcom's plans may be for 35th Anniversary of the blue bomber, it certainly seems like Mega Man's next adventure is just around the corner.
