The Reploid Research Lavatory

The word is out across the globe, Mega Man Legends 3 has been announced to be in the works for the Nintendo 3DS. Words are failing me to express how excited I am about the project, but I can at least share a few of the things I’m hoping to see from one of the Mega Man franchise’s longest awaited sequels.

Mr. Inafune and Mr. Eguchi have eluded to some kind of fan interaction in the development process like never before seen. But the DASH series has had a long history of fan interaction, long before now. Capcom Japan had a very cool home page for the DASH series that including things like game info and tips, galleries for official art, concept art and gift art, puzzles and activities, and a message board where fans could interact with each other and with members of the series’ development staff. That old site also gives some clues as to what we might be seeing in the upcoming sequel, so let’s take a look at a few!

1. Legends Past

Fans have been waiting 10 years to unravel the untold mysteries of the Legends world. Who are these “elders and their machines” that ruled the world in days long past, and now may awaken once again according to Sera and Yuna? How did all the original humans die out, and how and why were these carbons born? And how will MegaMan get back to Terra? Expectations are, we’re finally going to find out!

And that’s not all! Another mystery fans have been waiting for, what MegaMan Trigger looked like before he was reset, should finally be shown. According to the staff:

Some concepts… Some things we had thought about and planned out while working on 2, but left out so we could use it later. Actually, the design for Rockman Trigger’s original appearance was one of those things. (We had even planned on using it in 2 for a while…) But, until DASH 3 comes out, we can’t really show you or tell you too much about it. Those kinds of things are really best experienced in the games themselves. Well, tell you guys what, if we go 5, or even 10 years and DASH 3 still hasn’t come out, we’ll find some way to show you all, “this is what we were going to do!”

And of course, 10 years later… here we are. So we can be sure to expect Trigger’s original configuration to make an appearance!

2. Charge Shot

Another thing the staff talked about doing was implementing a charge shot for MegaMan’s normal buster. This had been an idea they had since the first game, but for various reasons, wasn’t included. The staff had this to say:

There just wasn’t enough time. But the truth of the matter was, we were also thinking “the controls have to be simple to use.” When it comes to the charge shot, you normally think “hold the button down to charge it up,” but as was the case with DASH we assigned that usage to “rapid-fire.”

Compared to the “Rockman” and “X” games, “DASH” uses far more buttons to navigate. That can make the play control a bit harried. That’s why we decided on rapid fire, to give the player a break when it comes to learning the actions. And that’s pretty much why the charge shot disappeared.

Even so, they didn’t stop thinking about ways to insert it into gameplay. They went on to say:

Aha! We might’ve just hit upon a really good method to make it work! Oh, but it’s currently a secret. It’s probably too late to use in the next game, though.

So they may have thought of a way to use it for DASH2, but they didn’t have enough time and decided not to insert it. Since working on the DASH series, however, many members of the staff like Mr. Eguchi went on to develop Battle Network/EXE and Shooting Star Rockman (Mega Man Star Force), all of which included the charge shot for the Mega Buster. Then in the recent fighting game Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, MegaMan Volnutt finally got to use a charge shot for the first time (and boy, was it powerful)! So, should we be looking at potential charge shot ability in the third installment? Time will tell!

3. The Bonnes

Saving the best for last, we know we can expect the return of the Bonne family. That charismatic trio of happy-go-lucky pirates and their 40 (or is it 41?) servbot helpers. But will they be friends or enemies this time? When last we left them, the Bonnes and the Casketts had put aside their differences to adapt ancient technology to create a spaceship capable of reaching Elysium and rescuing MegaMan. How will things play out from there, and how might this effect MegaMan’s ever-confusing love life? That may just be the most important mystery of all!

But let’s not forget the youngest Bonne sibling, and the biggest question about him. That being, what the heck is he, anyway? A robot? A cyborg? A carbon baby piloting a robot? Some variation thereof? Fans have been asking this since the very beginning of the series, and perhaps, finally, DASH 3 will provide an answer to that, too.

After everything else, you’re probably wondering how Bon Bonne fits in. It’s true, we do have a basic outline of his past, but we haven’t divulged it just yet. When we do, you’ll probably go “Woah, so it’s really like that!”

I want to go woah, don’t you? This could be when we finally see what’s what! Here’s hoping!

The credit for all the staff quotes really goes out to CAPKobun’s website, for keeping track of all the things the DASH crew have said and done over the years. It’s the most extensive DASH site in Japan, and a testament to the love of the fans for the series in all corners of the world. My thanks to him, and to all the fans that made DASH 3’s development a reality today.