Two years ago, Capcom released a brand-new Mega Man game; however, it wasn’t the kind of game that we were all expecting. They, too, succumbed to the temptations and transformed the Blue Bomber into a mobile Gacha game.
The only problem was… I wanted to play it.
I had been a Mega Man fan my entire life and pride myself on owning every single U.S.-released Mega Man game to have ever come out. I even began collecting international titles in an attempt to own everything, despite the fact that I knew that this was going to be a very difficult process.
Be that as it may, when I heard about the game, my heart sank because it was going to be coming out in Taiwan and other Asian regions with no plans to bring it to the United States. I simply added the game to my international Mega Man game checklist and figured I could score an .apk somewhere so I could, technically, have the game in my possession and cross it off the list. Obviously, I knew about BlueStacks, but I didn’t want to get into setting up a VPN just to play the Taiwan version of the game. I wanted to play it properly here in the U.S.
I know that I probably shot myself in the foot by not doing that after what Capcom did but nearly two years after the game’s release, it was announced that Capcom partnered with Nebula Joy and decided to introduce a Global Version of the game for the United States and, later, Europe and Latin America. Well, this was great news because that meant that I could finally play the game without hiding behind a VPN or using an emulator.
The other issue that happened was that the Global Version would not be a 1:1 version of the Taiwan game. It was starting the game over from scratch; however, Nebula Joy, to their credit, sped up the process so that we could get caught up to the Taiwan version.
By releasing this version of the game, it made it very clear that while Capcom intended to bring the game to Steam, they still had no plans to bring it to the United States and, if they did, they kept the lid on those plans pretty tightly. Naturally, when Capcom announced the Asian Steam version of the game, fans playing the Global Version asked Nebula Joy if bringing that version of the game to Steam would be a possibility. We were met with a hard no from them and our hopes of playing it on PC with a proper controller hook-up was becoming bleaker and bleaker by the day.
Yes, you can play with a controller on mobile via BlueTooth; however, a bug occurred in the Global Version that disabled the use of a controller (which has since been fixed), and we know that phone controls in almost any action game are simply the worst. To me, it just feels better to play with a controller on PC for some reason, and I held onto hope that I could, one day, play the game, but with both Capcom saying nothing and Nebula Joy saying they wouldn’t port the game, that hope was all but lost.
Then, out of the blue, Capcom announced that they are bringing the game Steam to North America. I had to rub my eyes because it was as if all hope had been restored, but then… the realization settled in: It was the Taiwan version of the game… not the Global version.
Well, I mean that should be fantastic news since the Taiwan version of the game is the most up-to-date and complete version, right?
Well… no.
Because we were led to believe that there would be no Steam port of the original game by Capcom, many players (myself included), invested quite a bit of time and money into this version of the game and the Steam version does not support transferring data over from the Global version. It will; however, support cross-saving if you had played the Taiwan version of the game through an emulator while using a VPN (hence why I said earlier that I was kicking myself for not setting that up.)
What burned players, even more, was the fact that this announcement came from out of nowhere… literally 24 hours before they dropped the Steam version down in North America. No warning, no hype, nothing. Just “oh, it’s coming tomorrow… here you go!”
So, for players such as myself, if I want to experience the full version of the game, I need to start over from scratch after I already made my way to level 108 in the Global Version, joined a guild, and invested a lot of time racking up a pretty decent roster of characters. Of course, the Global Version will still forge ahead but it feels incredibly insulting for Capcom to give no official statements about plans to bring the game to Steam and then dropping it on our lap AFTER approving a 3rd party company to make a Global Version of the game.
In fact, it’s more than just insulting, and it’s a slap in the face.
Now, Global Version players have to (once again) hold onto the hope that Capcom nixes the Global Version and allows the transfer of data from that version of the game to the current version, and, honestly, I believe this MIGHT actually happen for a couple of reasons.
The first is Nebula Joy’s repeated statements that there will not be a Steam port of the Global version of the game. It is only speculation with no confirmation but their denials could mean that they knew about Capcom’s plans about the Taiwan version coming to Steam. Of course, Nebula Joy wouldn’t announce something like that because then everyone would stop playing the Global Version and they would lose out on a ton of money.
The second is the fast track that Nebula Joy has the Global Version on. We received features such as Guilds and the DNA System almost a year ahead of schedule. Now, in software, porting information over from an older version of a game or app into a newly updated version can cause a TON of technological challenges… as well as headaches for the programmers who have to figure all of that nonsense out. The best way to do that is to transfer data from a version of the game that is either equal to the Taiwan version or a version stable enough to where data can be passed without any sort of complication. Nebula Joy could be releasing more and more content at a breakneck pace in order to get the Global Version up to that point before announcing that the servers will shut down and all data will be transferred over to the Steam version of the game.
Not saying in the least that this is the plan or it’s going to happen but the signs are there that COULD lend some credibility to the idea. It also explains why there is no Steam version for Europe yet since that version of the Global Version is even further behind the North American version.
We will have to see how this plays out in due time; however, Capcom REALLY, and I mean REALLY dropped the ball in the PR department with this title. Giving no indication that the Taiwan version would come to the U.S., approving a Global Version to further make us believe it’s not coming, and then casually saying “oh, it’s coming tomorrow” and screwing everyone who sank time into the Global Version is probably one of the worst gaming decisions they made since being exposed for having on-disc DLC in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.
In short, this game has been a complete and total mess, and Capcom doesn’t seem to care one bit. If they do… they sure as hell ain’t showing it.
