Blue Period: A collection of Mega Man boxart

When both Capcom USA and Capcom Japan released their (very different) "box designs" for the downloadable Mega Man 9, they each drew on their own histories of packaging for the series -- Capcom USA commissioning a ridiculously over-the-top image with Mega Man rendered as a low-rent space ranger, and Capcom Japan creating a dynamic, cartoony splash portrait of Mega Man surrounded by Robot Masters. Capcom Europe doesn't seem to have done anything in particular.

With Mega Man boxart nostalgia more relevant than ever, we thought we would collect Mega Man boxarts in a handy annotated gallery. But this gallery doesn't feature every Mega Man boxart. Since Mega Man happens to be the most prolific game series ever, we had to put some stringent restrictions on what we would include. These restrictions are reasonably effective hints about just how many games there are:

• No spinoffs. Including games not starring the original Blue Bomber would have meant hundreds more images. This is about Mega Man anyway, not those other jokers.
• No handheld games. Sorry, Game Boy Mega Man fans! This also means no Game Gear Mega Man, no GBA Mega Man & Bass, and no Rockman Battle & Fighters. The only exception, as pointed out by reader Antonio: the PSP Mega Man: Powered Up, which has really great boxes anyway, and which we forgot we weren't supposed to put in.
  
• No awful PC remakes. Enough time has been spent on those games. Which is to say, any amount of time.
• No guest appearances. Sure, SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters Clash has Mega Man in it, but it's not a Mega Man game. Same with Cannon Spike and a hundred other games.
  

Don't worry, there's still plenty left to look at!