The Reploid Research Lavatory

The man may have left the hallowed halls of Capcom, but there’s little doubt that he’s left his mark behind over the many years.

As part of the Rockman series’ 10th birthday campaign back in 1997, Keiji Inafune got together with the Capcom Friendly Club and recanted his own feelings and recollections of working with Rockman. At this time Rockman 8 was his recent debut as a real Rockman producer, and he was only just starting to be recognized by fans and by Capcom as the true “Father of Rockman.” Here CFC Style Fan-Book vol.3 page 24 presents 10 years and 8 Rockman titles, stripped down to a few sentences each. Get ready to reminisce!

Rockman 10th Anniversary Celebration Plans

On December 17th of this year, Rockman celebrates his 10th birthday. Birthday cards have already been pouring in! Thank you! ! Capcom is declaring all of this year to be the “Rockman 10th Anniversary” and is planning all sorts of fun-filled events and entertainment to commemorate with you!

In this corner, we’ll be looking back at the history of Rockman with none other than the Producer and creator of Rockman himself, Mr. Inafune.

Profile:
Keiji Inafune

Producer at Capcom’s development HQ. He first debuted as the Character Designer on the original “Rockman” title. Ever since then, he’s had a hand in every Rockman game to date. Last year he was made full-blown Producer, where he’s already hard at work.

ROCKMAN … On sale: 87.12.17 for the Famicom
The series’ glorious first entry. GO! GO! ROCKMAN!!
Rockman’s long history all began right here.
“Because of the limited capacity, many of the patterns we developed had to be cut.”

ROCKMAN 2 … On sale: 88.12.24 for the Famicom
The second of the series. Rockman Returns!!
Even in these early days they had already begun taking user submissions for the boss characters!
“We didn’t have too much trouble with this, but our development period was short. (3 to 4 months)”

ROCKMAN 3 … On sale: 90.9.28 for the Famicom
First appearance of Rockman’s trusty canine Rush. Smash Dr. Wily’s schemes!!
Wouldn’t everyone love to have a dog like Rush?
“Some really big changes occurred during the process, making the last two months a total hell.”

ROCKMAN 4 … On sale: 91.12.6 for the Famicom
A new enemy!? Rockman Power Explodes!!
Rockman’s revolutionary weapon the New Rockbuster is exhilarating!!
“With relatively no hardships, I really enjoyed working on this one.”

ROCKMAN 5 … On sale: 92.12.4 for the Famicom
Friend or foe!? The showdown with Blues!!
Blues is just so cool! Sooo cool!!
“We had a really difficult time getting the okay for these boss characters, I had to redraw them over and over.”

ROCKMAN 6 … On sale: 93.11.5 for the Famicom
From countries all over the world came the strongest lineup of enemies yet!!
This game featured boss character designs from children all across the world!
“When the last characters weren’t meeting with the schedule, things got a bit hectic.”

ROCKMAN 7 … On sale: 95.3.24 for the Super Famicom
Rockman, appearing on the Super Famicom at last!!
The first game of the series to be on Super Famicom. Rockman powered up!
“We literally had to go from start to finish in no more than 3 months, and nobody got to go home.”

ROCKMAN 8 … For the Playstation: 96.12.17, Sega Saturn: 97.1.17
8th title of the series. Witness the evolution of Rockman!!
The mysterious robot Duo who appeared in the arcade game Rockman 2 also appears in this one!
“Anime, new hardware, and Playstation/Sega Saturn synchronized releases. All this unfamiliar new territory got to be pretty overwhelming at times.”

There you have it, Inafune’s retrospective from the first ten years of Rockman’s life. A lot of these remembrances probably sound familiar to those of you with the Mega Man Official Complete Works book, but interesting nonetheless.

At the bottom left corner of the page is featured two pieces of fan art. On the right, a fan letter asking for more Roll, and on the right a birthday fan comic showing Rockman and his friends celebrating 10 years of life, meanwhile Wily celebrates 10 years of bitter defeat.

The Rockman 10th Anniversary events they mentioned were held in May and November in Tokyo, and featured playable software and games, raffles, giveaways, Rockman history exhibits, developer Q&A and special floor shows with rubber costumes and all. There was a major upswing in merchandise for the occasion as well, with a slew of new t-shirts, figures and other items. Quite a time to be a fan! If you lived in Japan, of course.