Mega Man 2.5D demo breaks our hearts in two-and-a-half dimensions

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 19th 2009 at 12:54PM }

We've seen Capcom's beloved blue bomber tackle misanthropic Robot Masters on a single plane. We've seen him bust hard-hatted Mets in 3D with the Mega Man Legends series. Graphic designer Peter Sjostrand recently introduced a bold dimensional direction for the series to exploit: Both 2D and 3D. Or is it neither? We can't be sure -- it's been a while since we last read Flatland.

Rather than try and explain the mind-expanding physics featured in Sjostrand's Mega Man 2.5D, we direct your attention to the demo video posted after the break. It's got kind of a Paper Mario thing going on, only with more automatonical violence and less, well, paper. However, considering Sjostrand's background as an animator and not a developer, we doubt this is actual gameplay video. We're really sad, now. Probably will be all day.

[Via The Tanooki]

Tags: capcom, demo, dimensions, mega-man, mega-man-2.5d, peter-sjostrand

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Markez @ Mar 19th 2009 12:57PM

Whoa, almost looks like Paper Mega Man. *drools

ice~ @ Mar 19th 2009 1:03PM

Whoa, consider my mind "blown"

Roncore @ Mar 19th 2009 1:06PM

WANT!

Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Mar 19th 2009 1:11PM

If this was prerendered, it wouldn't have the slowdown it occassionally suffers from. I can also point at this and say "This is what Mega Man 9 should have been.

Markez @ Mar 19th 2009 1:15PM

Agreed. Haven't picked it up because of the excessive difficulty level I keep hearing about. Would've picked it up regardless if it looked like this. Looks outstanding.

BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Mar 19th 2009 2:21PM

No, Shep.

This is what Megaman 10 should be!

Or maybe Megaman X9.

MF Doom @ Mar 19th 2009 2:33PM

"Haven't picked it up because of the excessive difficulty level I keep hearing about."

Doesn't sound like you'd have any interest in ANY of the Megaman games, then. MM9 is one of the easier ones.

ittybittygirl @ Mar 19th 2009 3:00PM

@MF DOOM - I've completed all of Mega Man 1-5 on NES (haven't really played 6), and I barely defeated the one robot master I've conquered in Mega Man 9. The game is tough, purposely and overly tough. Still an okay game though...

MLS @ Mar 19th 2009 3:10PM

I played all the NES mega man games (love 1-6 to death) as a kid. Coming back to the classic series with 9, was hard at first, but like all the games, once you get into the pacing, and know what weapons to use, it's easy. On my second play through, I finished it in 80 minutes.

Markez @ Mar 19th 2009 3:18PM

I played the absolute hell out of 2, dabbled in 1 & 3. Bout it.

Desert Eagle @ Mar 19th 2009 3:39PM

@ ittybittygirl: Really? I found all robot masters really easy to defeat once you manage to find their weaknesses and chain them until you get to Wily. Also, Galaxy Man was probably the easiest MM robot master battle I've had, far more than Toad Man's of MM4.

Really, the only thing that makes this game hard is the fact that the 360 has a shitty D-pad, and it's almost impossible to move the Blue Bomber with it. The Wii version controls are much better in my opinion. That D-pad is sweet.

Levi @ Mar 19th 2009 4:02PM

Guys, the game is intimidating, but if you find old school platformers fun, give it a shot. It is very difficult at first, but once you start remembering where the enemies are, and you start getting special weapons and using them against the bosses, it gets easier. It's so rewarding to beat MM9. The difficulty is only found at the beginning of the experience, and it only keeps getting better.

This is the kind of progression that most games these days lack. They are too forgiving, letting you run around a corner and wait 10 seconds to refill your health, having checkpoints every 5 minutes of gameplay, etc. MM9 is my favorite, and we're talking new favorite over the old favorites of MM2 and 3 from when I was a kid.

And no, this is not what MM9 should have been. MM9 was perfect as a classic Mega Man game. I wouldn't be opposed to a game like this though, it looks cool, but it can't be a title in the main series!

Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Mar 19th 2009 6:21PM

I played the demo on PSN, after many tries, beat the level. Realized something very important while playing the demo. I wasn't playing because it was fun. I was playing because a cheap death pisses me off and I can't let that shit stand. Once I realized I wasn't playing Megaman 9 for the fun of it, but rather as retaliation against the kind of cheap shit deaths that thankfully left us from the 2D era (instead we now have cheap death kills thanks to bad collision detection, etc), I saved my $10. I also discovered most of my injuries were occuring because I was still wired to have a slide since MM3. Since I would have to pay an additional $2 for one of my old moves back, I gave the entire game a big old "fuck you" and moved on.

Now THIS actually reminds me of Bug on Sega Saturn in a lot of ways and if they took THIS route to Megaman 9, I could buy with the knowledge some effort was being put forth.

Roto13 @ Mar 19th 2009 10:43PM

There are no cheap deaths in Mega Man 9. (Well, not until Super Hero mode.)

BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Mar 20th 2009 2:43AM

MM9 was developed by Inti Creates, makers of the unforgivingly hard Megaman Zero series, and the Metroidvania-esque Megaman ZX series. It's no surprise it's hard as it is...

Ignoring advances made in the series (charging Mega Buster, sliding, Rush Power Adapter, Bass, etc.) doesn't help, either.

I mean, consider the first two games alone (which Capcom/Inti stated MM9 takes most of its influence from), MM1 was MUCH harder than MM2.

time @ Mar 19th 2009 1:12PM

that is amazing.

Hammer @ Mar 19th 2009 1:14PM

The only thing that gives me any hope when seeing this video is the Capcom has been an extremely cool company forever, and even more so lately. Email him Capcom!

aggrazel @ Mar 19th 2009 1:40PM

No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

This is like when they take a classic from my childhood and crap all over it.

ala. the new Knight Rider.

Coleman811 @ Mar 19th 2009 1:44PM

Dude, this is outstanding... taking a crap on a classic would be the 3d megaman games for PS1 and N64.... or even the battle network crap... and all of that is FROM Capcom.

Michael @ Mar 19th 2009 1:47PM

only semi related....my cousin wanted to rent the power rangers movie, the one where they become ninjas....i watched it...and it effectively shattered my childhood memories of that show

Kevlar @ Mar 19th 2009 1:49PM

WTF?

This demo just SCREAMS classic. It's a near-perfect homage to classic Mega Man with a new twist on the gameplay... something any gamer who is a true fan of the classics could/should enjoy.

No, the crap all over Mega Man comes in the form of those horrible "Mega Man Battle Network" or "Mega Man EXE" or whatever SH!T they've been pushing that somehow has the blue bomber's name on it.

BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Mar 19th 2009 2:21PM

1) Legends series was awesome.
2) Battle Network was good for the first three games.

octoberasian @ Mar 19th 2009 1:52PM

Capcom, hire this guy!

This is probably better concept than the last Mega Man X 3D games out there.

Jerk Face @ Mar 19th 2009 1:57PM

Man, that level looked just as cheap as every Megaman level was! That big with the blocks fading in and out? If you didn't know the one was going to appear above you and didn't jump in time, you're el fucked-o. Ah, trial and error gaming.. such memories!