ENC Operate Shooting Star Trailer

What's perhaps the final trailer before the game's release, here's the exclusive Everyone's Nintendo Channel preview for Operate Shooting Star:

Credit: The Mega Man Network 

Online Listing Reveals 'Rockman EXE: Official Complete Works'

Gaming retailer Play Asia are currently taking preorders for a "Rockman EXE Official Complete Works" art book, due to release on December 21st, 2009.  The suggested price is $36.99 with 176 pages in A4 format.

If previous OCW art books are any indication, expect the book to be chock full of illustrations, game info and interviews with Capcom staff.

Hope to hear more details soon!

OSS Invades Sofmap

In anticipation for OSS' official release tomorrow, Japanese retail store Sofmap gave their DS section a bit of a Rockman makeover:

Directly adjacent to the display, a single kiosk for demoing the game:

Play the demo, walk away with a pretty sweet mini-poster:

EDIT: Sorry, Sofmap -- not BicCamera :)

[via RockMega]

Operate Shooting Star Releases Ahead Of Schedule?

So says YouTube user Namazutei, who recently uploaded this unboxing video:

Online retailers such as Amazon.jp and BicCamera have yet to ship the game, but according to a few reliable Japanese sources, some stores have already stocked the game as early as this morning.

BA Responds To E-Tank Sports Drink Inquery

Boston America, you're so missing the novelty of the E-Tank sports drink.  It's supposed to look like an E-Tank.  That's why everyone wanted them in the first place!  Why the change to something a bit more generic?  Read their response to the issue and find out:

" I understand why that Japanese version had such a tremendous appeal to the hard core Megaman fan but when we showed this to the buyers here in the US they didn’t know if the majority of their customers would understand the product. They felt that if we created a branded drink that this would have a broader appeal.

That being said, our strategy with this drink is to create a demand for the brand with the attached design and then follow this up in 2010 with a design similar to the one you suggested below." -- Boston America Rep.

Well, it's something to be hopeful for. I'll keep you posted if anything new comes up!

Thanks, Flame.

First OSS Review

Unconfirmed at the moment, but according to a few posters on 2channel, Japanese magazine Dorimaga reviewed Operate Shooting in their latest issue and gave it an overall score of 6.0 out of 10.

The review praises the addition of the Rockman Colosseum, citing it as a fun mini-game anyone can enjoy, but other than that, there wasn't enough content to truly separate the title from its original 2001 counterpart.

No scan of the review, so take this one with a grain of salt.

Thanks, RockMega.

For Your Listening Pleasure - Unused Frost Man Theme

We heard this song a while back when footage of a prototype Frost Man stage leaked out onto the net, but now you can hear it without all that background noise. Enjoy!

Direct MP3 download

OSS Homepage Easter Egg - Golden Mr. Prog

A neat little easter egg was recently discovered on the official OSS homepage...

Apparently, there's a slight chance of running into a golden Mr. Prog at the "brain section." His appearance is at random, so just keep tapping that F5 key until you got him.

As a reward for finding the hidden area, the little fellow offers an exclusive piece of conceptual Rockman.EXE artwork:

[via Ricake6000]

Brand New Tees

Hot on the heels of the Mega Man E-Tank sports drink, AAA Distribution brings to light more upcoming Mega Man products: T-shirts.

"Mega Man Classic" and "Run, Jump, Shoot," two new tees ODM manufacturing, are set to release on November 30th, 2009 for $17.99. No specifics on retailers, but you can order directly from AAADistribtuiton. More details including sizes, available here.

Alternate Cover Jackets With Purchase Of OSS

Announced on the OSS homepage, select retailers in Japan will offer alternate DS cover jackets for use with the Operate Shooting Star box.  Two versions will be available; a "light version" featuring Rockman.EXE vs. SSRockman, and a "dark version" featuring Forte amidst a crowd of baddies.

Both jackets will be limited in supply, so once stock runs out, they're out for good.

"E-Tank" Sports Drink Coming Stateside

According to AAA Distribution, the popular Rockman E-Tank sports drink is heading to our side of the Pacific. Manufacturer Boston America intends to release a pack of 24 E-Tanks on December 31st, 2009 for $72.00 USD:

Meanwhile, BigBad Toystore plans on selling individual cans for $2.99; estimated to ship in January, 2010.

Information is obscure for the time being. More updates as they come in.

...a shame they aren't implementing the original design.

EXE Web Comic Volume 1 (UPDATE)

For those interested, Capcom has posted the first of eight Rockman EXE web comics on the official OSS homepage.  It's entirely in Japanese, so you'll have to use your imagination to figure out just what the heck is going on.  Courtesy of the Mega Man Network, an English translation:

"As you can tell, this comic’s humor is derived from wordplay. Net Battle, written in Japanese, is “netto batoru” (ネットバトル). However, we find out in this last frame that is is actually a “nettou” (熱湯) battle, which means boiling water. In Japanese it seems there’s little else to pun “netto” with. But what’s funnier than some wordplay and scalding your friend horribly with boiling  hot water?"

Lol....

Insight On Mega Man OCW Delay

PRC reader Chris recieved an e-mail from Udon Entertainment in regards to the delay of the Mega Man Official Complete Works art book:

"Yes unfortunately a variety of things cause delays on these books. But they are en route from our overseas printer now. Best case, Mega Man OCW will be available last week of November, worst case, second week of December(customs is always a question mark these days). MegaMan X OCW was printed together with this book, so it should arrive about a week later.     

Thanks for your patience!"

Various retailers still list MMOCW with its former October 14th release, however some sites, such as Amazon, are simply touting a "ships within 1 to 3 weeks" time frame.  Meanwhile, Udon's master schedule has recently updated the book's status for an undisclosed November release.

Well, until something a bit more concrete shows up, keep those hopes high; we don't want another Zero Official Complete Works fiasco...

Sales Figures For Mega Man/Rockman

Capcom recently released the totals of sales statistics for their major franchises as of September 30th, 2009.  So, how does the good ol' Blue Bomber stack up?

Mega Man tied 2nd place with the Street Fighter franchise with an astounding 28 million units sold since the series' inception in '87.  However, when it comes to to titles in each franchise, Mega Man trumps all with 125 games.  Of note, this number includes re-prints, and multiplatform releases.

Complete data available at Capcom's Investor Relations page

'Rockman EXE Beast' Returning To TV

Beginning December 10th, 2009, Kids-Station will air reruns of the popular Rockman EXE Beast anime series. The occasion marks EXE's return to television after a two year absence.

Episodes will air twice a day: once in the morning, and a repeat of the same episode in late afternoon.  According to the master schedule, it looks as if Kids-Station plans on airing all 25 episodes until December 25th.  After that, they'll either rerun the show again or move onto "Beast+", the show's successor.

Zero's Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Move Set Detailed

Courtesy of the Shoryuken forums, here's an in-depth look at Zero's move set from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.  Information derives from the latest build of the game which was playable during a recent Capcom sponsored event:


-Special moves-
Hyper Zero Buster: A chargeable buster shot, very similar to Rock's, but seems to have a smaller hitbox when fully charged. Possibly more powerful. The projectile changes depending on what button you hold down. A single hit from the buster will knock the opponent down similar to Batsu's old fireballs.

Ryuenjin: a flaming uppercut in Shoryuken style. It hits multiple times with dramatic hitpause inbetween each hit.

Heinkyaku: a kind of teleport command dash that is similar to Karas when on the ground. It can send him in any 8 directions when he's in the air, so it can be useful for mobility and even to simulate a fast fall.

Hadangeki: a very basic projetile slash special. Comes out very fast.

Sentsuizen: a Mai-style swallow dive that can apparently lead into combos. Has some short startup. If it hits an airborn opponent it slams them down.

-Supers-
Giga Attack (Rekkoha): He pounds the ground with his fist, (which does not stun the opponent, as previously thought) and after a pause the whole screen is filled with rainbow lasers that rain down diagonally. Very big and fairly powerful, but far too slow to really be relied on for results. The lasers also have a weird hitbox and can sometimes miss jumping opponents. Zero is fully invulnerable during the start of the attack. This move is DHC friendly, and as long as Zero hits the ground, the lasers will rain down even if the super is somehow interrupted.

Sougenmu: A genei-jin style super where Zero clones himself, creating a doppleganger. The shadow follow-ups only appear when he's doing special moves, though. Other than this it seems to speed him up slightly.

Level 3 - Dark Hold: Zero dashes forward and knocks the opponent into the air, freezing them in a bubble before he prepares a giant laser sword and runs them through with it in dramatic fashion, doing about 21000bil damage raw. Has a fast startup.

-Other Stuff-
Seems to be a very basic, easy character to use. Surprisingly, his regular movement and attacking speed seems to be erring on ths low side. He also is quite weak when it comes to damage, but will probably make up for this once his longer combos are discovered. A lot of his moves have multi-hit properties. He has many tools for dealing with any situation which would make him a great jack of all trades. His assist is the same fire uppercut. Some people report that he has low defense a la Karas.


More details at Shoryuken

Rockman EXE Cell Phone Games Re-released

GameWatch are reporting that the two mobile phone Rockman EXE titles, 'Phantom of the Network' and 'Legend of the Network' are being re-released today on Capcom's mobile phone network for 525 Yen (approx. $5.80). What's neat about this report is the included imagery. GameWatch is showing off official artwork of both games' exclusive characters:

This is quite possibly our first real good look at these characters who've only made brief appearances in subsequent Rockman EXE art books. Very neat to say the least!

[via The Mega Man Network]

Another Comic On The Way

Starting November 5th, Capcom will begin posting weekly 4-panel Rockman EXE web comics on the official Operate Shooting Star homepage. The series will conclude in December, and will be compiled into a single graphic novel shortly afterward.  A glance at the comic's art style below:

4-panel comics are noteworthy for their lighthearted (and sometimes crude) humor, so expect your typically wacky Japanese antics here. If you're looking for action, then look forward to Ren Takahara's unrelated EXE comic currently circulating in Coro Coro Special.

Nooks and Crannies

Whilst browsing a local market, Rockmanx121 stumbled upon a handful of interesting Rockman trinkets that are just too obscure to not share with you all here:

"Rock Buster", an electronic keychain game.  Shaped in the image of a Super Famicom (aka Super Nintendo), you press a button in time to the lights to detract hit points (HP) from Napalm Man.  Hit the buttons at the wrong time, and Napalm Man will replenish health.  The goal: Get Napalm Man down to 0 HP.  It's almost like a real boss battle!

Capcom approved Valentine's day badges and buttons. The backsides are blank, so you have room to write a little messages to loved ones.

 

Left: A 100 Yen dispenser.  Right: 'Battle & Chase' themed bubble gum. Each canister of gum comes with one of eight collectible metal pins.

Last, but not least...

Oversized Rock and Roll Gashopons. Supposedly, they're water proof and make great substitutes for rubber duckies.

OSS Promo Campaign Kicks Off, New Footage (UPDATE)

Today, Capcom announced a brand new OSS promotion: the Double Rockman Present campaign --  a collaboration between Capcom, Coro Coro and Kids Station where participants can partake in a scavenger hunt to win copies of OSS and a set of stickers:

"So how does it work? Well, you need to find a special letter on each of the participating websites. For example, on the Capcom page linked above, clicking on the Mr. Program reveals Capcom’s special character. Next, head over to the CoroCoro website and solve this puzzle, revealing their special character. Finally, drop on by Kids Station and watch the video on the top of the page with the guy who’s waaaaay too excited about his job. Incidentally, this video shows off some new footage from OSS, including the appearance of ClockMan."

Sounds like fun, but this is a Japan only promo, so it's probably not relevant to most of you!

UPDATE - Direct footage:



Credit: The Mega Man Network

OSS Commercial Incoming

Capcom looks to be stepping up its advertising for Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star.

According to an in-store pamphlet, a 15-second TV spot will appear during popular children's programming on Kids Station a week prior to the game's release.  If previous commercials are any indication, expect to see cel animation mixed in with in-game footage.

Additionally, there's also brief mention of a forthcoming promotion on Coro Coro Comics' official website, with no other specifics given.

Thanks, Sal.

Mega Man Cartoon: "Night of the Living Monster Bots"

Because it's Halloween, and there really isn't much going on on the news front...

Happy halloween, everyone!

Mega Man Tribute Winner Revealed

Lo and behold, the Mega Man brick wall:

Maxime's labor of love takes the top spot in Capcom's Mega Man tribute contest at number one. Kind of a bizarre twist on the phrase "hitting the wall", no?

Congrats Maxime!

Click here for more photos of the wall and previous tribute entries.

Papercraft Mega Man Dioramas

Spotted over at The Toy Zone, here's a couple of handsomely made Mega Man dioramas created by Ryo007 and sgonzales22.  Templates available at the provided links below.

Mega Man vs Cut Man (download template)

Mega Man.EXE vs Mets battlefield (download template)

Credit: Capcom Unity

Retailers To Host OSS Demo Play Event, New Manga Coming Soon

Japanese retailers Sofmap and Messe Sanoh plan on holding a Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star demo play event on November 3rd.  Customers will be allowed to play an "over-the-counter" demo build of OSS, and receive a set Nintendo DS decals.

In related news, the new Rockman EXE manga should be surfacing any day now with the arrival of the Dec. issue of Coro Coro Special, the sister magazine of Coro Coro Comics. The issue shipped yesterday.

For the uniformed, this new manga centers around Rockman EXE and an original protagonist that isn't Netto/Lan.  Not much is known about this character at the moment, but some have speculated that he might be Raito, the son of Netto and Mayl briefly mentioned at the end of Rockman EXE 6.

We'll find out soon enough...

Credit: SSR, The Mega Man Network