Capcom is porting six 'Mega Man' games to Android and iOS (but they may suck)

Capcom put a smile on my face this past April when it revealed plans to develop and publish mobile games based on some of its most popular franchises. As a huge Mega Man fan, I knew I had something to look forward to in the near future.

Indeed, Capcom just the other day said it would be releasing not one but six classic 8-bit Mega Man games – priced at $1.99 each – on Android and iOS platforms come January:

• Mega Man Mobile – The evil Dr. Wily must be stopped in this classic action platformer, the original Mega Man!


• Mega Man 2 Mobile – Dr. Wily resurfaces to threaten the world again! Only Mega Man can stand in his way.


• Mega Man 3 Mobile – Fight berserk robots on uncharted planets. Mega Man must set a course for space to resolve this mysterious crisis.


• Mega Man 4 Mobile – A year has passed since Mega Man's battle in space. A new enemy appears -- Dr. Cossack.


• Mega Man 5 Mobile – Manic robots cause chaos in the city. How is Proto Man involved? Only Mega Man can find out!


• Mega Man 6 Mobile – The Global Robot Alliance is formed, but this newfound peace is threatened by a new foe -- the enigmatic Mr. X!

My suspicions were immediately aroused, however, when reading in the press release that each of the six games will be optimized for mobile devices with “adjustments to game speed.” Hrm, what could that mean?

Then, I saw the video and my heart sank. As you can clearly see in the clip, the gameplay is running at a painfully slow framerate and the onscreen controls look pretty clunky. Did I mention how laggy the game is? Compare it to the video below and you’ll see what all the fuss is about.

Judging by the 193 dislikes versus just 16 positive votes, I’m not alone. Capcom Mobile even went so far as to disable comments on YouTube. Ouch.

Before writing it off completely, consider this. Is the Capcom Mobile account on YouTube a true account run by Capcom or is a third-party in charge? Considering the low view count (less than 3,500 as of writing), the fact that there are only three videos in total linked to the account and its lack of a “verified” icon, it’s entirely possible that the account isn’t legitimately Capcom's and thus, the video might not represent what we’ll see come January.

If the account is indeed the real deal, it’s perhaps possible that something went wrong during the upload process that resulted in the laggy framerate.

Android Police notes that some commenters accredit the choppiness to the games not being true ports of the original NES versions but instead, ports of games that were made for cell phones during the 2000s. Given the limitation of mobile hardware at the time, the games had to be neutered for performance sake.

If this is what Capcom is doing, it’s incredibly disappointing for fans of the series. Then again, Capcom’s hands may be tied legally if Nintendo decided it didn’t want Capcom porting the originals to mobile devices.

Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/67516-capcom-porting-six-mega-man-games-android-ios.html