Inafune asked to keep working on canned Mega Man projects post-Capcom; Capcom declined

When Mega Man co-creator and former head of production at Capcom Keiji Inafune vacated his long-held position late last year, it was unclear what would happen with the two projects he had just fought to get going -- a long-awaited sequel in the Mega Man Legends series and an ambitious XBLA/PSN Mega Man mashup title. Despite a brief period of support from his former employer, the two games were eventually canceled. Inafune, however, was still fighting for the games after his employment ended. "I really wanted to finish those two projects, especially Legends," Inafune told me in an interview this past weekend at the Tokyo Game Show.

"It's really up to Capcom to let me do it or not, and for the moment I don't think they're gonna let me do it," he resignedly added. Apparently after leaving his position at his former employer, he requested to continue working on the project in some capacity as a contractor. Cacpom, however, wasn't interested in that idea. But rather than directly blame Capcom for canceling the two projects -- he's not into pointing fingers, as we already know -- Inafune spoke to his struggle even getting them going.

"The two projects were really hard to even get started, because the title is kind of old," he said, referring to Mega Man Legends 3. "We were bringing it back. It wasn't easy for me to get the go ahead from the company, I was fighting against the company, and now it's been canceled."

Regardless, Inafune still has hope that the torch may be picked up by someone on his former team, though he's not confident it'll happen. "I was kind of hoping that someone would come forth, again, and fight with the company and get that project going, but like I said, I don't know if anybody will have the guts to fight against the company right now," he admitted.

And if a successor at Capcom has come forth, they've yet to identify themselves, though Inafune noted that he left behind "a really good team," any one of which could emerge as a future leader at the Japanese company. "I didn't choose anyone, but I'm kind of hoping that someone will come forth," he said.