We're pretty greedy here at Nintendo Life though, so if there's even a slight chance that we could get the entirety of Mega Man's history on Switch, we're absolutely up for that. So let's take a peek at some of the games that could still potentially come to the Switch. We've graded the likelihood of each game getting a re-release, and there's a poll at the bottom so you can have your say, too.
Let's start with the obvious one...
Image: Capcom Of all the Mega Man spin-offs that have fans clamouring for a re-release, Mega Man Legends consistently finds itself at the top of the pile. That's for good reason, too, since the 3D adventure for the PlayStation and N64 garnered significant praise upon its initial release back in 1997.
Although it wasn't the first Mega Man game to move into the 3D realm (that honour belongs to Mega Man: Battle & Chase - more on that later), it successfully took the core gameplay from the classic series and implemented it into larger, more open environments.
Mega Man Legends didn't sell particularly well at the time, but it still managed to get a direct sequel along with its own spin-off — The Misadventures of Tron Bonne , also for the PlayStation — in the year 2000. A decade later, a second sequel was announced for the 3DS but was ultimately canceled due to a "lack of interaction" at Capcom's development rooms during the game's production.
Likelihood of a Switch Port - B We'd love to see the Legends series on modern platforms. The cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 does plant some doubt in our minds, but then Capcom is a very different company now than it was back in 2010. Fingers crossed.
The best-case scenario would be for Capcom to release a Legends collection that includes at least the 'Prototype' version of the third title, revamped specifically for modern platforms. Wouldn't that be something?
Image: Capcom Released for the SNES in Japan in 1998 before making its way to the GBA in 2002, Mega Man & Bass shares much of its visual style and gameplay with Mega Man 8 , which had migrated to the PlayStation and Sega Saturn at the time. It was a familiar game for fans, with the gameplay feeling very similar to the mainline Mega Man series (well, the later ones, anyway). The difficulty was especially notable, and while this might have thrown off newcomers, veterans will no doubt feel quite at home here.
Mega Man & Bass also featured one of the franchise's most interesting characters with Bass himself, first introduced in Mega Man 7 . Bass was created by Dr. Wily to rival Mega Man in terms of strength and ability, and although he features as a prominent playable character, his disdain for Mega Man can be felt throughout.
Likelihood of a Switch Port - C We reckon it wouldn't be totally out of the question to expect Mega Man & Bass on the Switch at some point, though given Capcom's recent track record, we think an individual release would be unlikely unless it crops up on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service .
Our prediction? Capcom launches another collection focusing on the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games in the franchise.
Image: Capcom Mega Man didn't have a huge presence on GameCube, but this Mega Man X spin-off is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch. Released back in 2004, Mega Man X: Command Mission turned its back on the series' tradition as an action-platformer and featured turn-based RPG combat, boasting a strong and deep narrative to boot.
It didn't set the world on fire and was particularly notable for its disappointing visuals (those backgrounds are bland as heck, right?). That said, it still stands as one of the most unique entries in the entire Mega Man franchise, and it's one we'd certainly like to see get a re-release.
Likelihood of a Switch Port - E We honestly can't imagine Capcom tripping over itself to get Command Mission in the hands of Switch owners. Given the mixed reception at launch, there are other titles that the publisher is probably keener to give some TLC. It's not impossible, but we're not holding our breath; it would have been a good fit for the Mega Man X Legacy Collection.
Image: Capcom Believe it or not, Mario Kart 64 had some pretty direct competition when it launched towards the tail-end of the '90s. Mega Man: Battle & Chase landed on the PlayStation in 1997 and featured many of the same features as Nintendo's own racer, including unique weapons, track obstacles, and multiple playable characters.
That said, Mega Man: Battle & Chase wasn't great and most certainly paled in comparison to Mario Kart 64. Capcom understandably never ventured into the realm of Mega Man racing games again, and Battle & Chase remains trapped on the PlayStation and the GameCube release of Mega Man X Collection .
Likelihood of a Switch Port - F We're not confident this one will ever see the light of day again. When you have the Mario Kart franchise going from strength to strength and even Crash Bandicoot getting in on the action with Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled , we're not sure why Capcom would want to revisit its own misguided racer.
Image: Capcom We could totally understand Capcom wanting to put Mega Man and co. into a racing game, but football? That's a weird one.
Indeed, launched on the SNES back in 1994, the simply-named Mega Man Soccer wasn't a high scorer with players, owing to the sluggish control and slowdown when numerous sprites are on the screen.
The fact that Capcom has never gone back to this idea is telling, but it undoubtedly remains one of the most unique entries in the franchise to this day. Perhaps the world just wasn't ready for a Mega Man Soccer game.
Likelihood of a Switch port - D We're not convinced that Capcom will ever officially port Mega Man Soccer to the Switch or anywhere else.
On the other hand, we could totally see this obscure, unloved game being randomly dropped into the SNES catalogue for Nintendo Switch Online. Stranger things have happened!
Image: Capcom The first Mega Man game is arguably a bit of a slog to get through by today's standards, particularly when you compare it to the superior Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 . Capcom obviously thought similarly and saw fit to remake the game for the PSP with Mega Man: Powered Up. It also gave the same treatment to Mega Man X with Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, though we'd argue that the first X game is perfectly fine the way it is.
The games failed to make any kind of impact upon launch back in 2005/6, so plans for sequels were quickly shelved. That said, despite the questionable visuals, they weren't bad as far as remakes go. We wouldn't complain if Capcom wanted to give these games another shot.
Likelihood of a Switch port - F You can probably write this one off immediately, to be honest. Given that Mega Man and Mega Man X are already available in their original forms via the Legacy Collection titles (plus a cheeky Genesis remake of the former via The Wily Wars that's also playable on Switch), these PSP titles probably won't offer a whole lot that can't already be experienced elsewhere.
Given how poorly both titles sold upon release, Capcom has likely all but forgotten about them.
Image: Capcom Following on from the Battle Network series, Capcom took a similar approach with Mega Man Star Force and its two direct sequels on DS, focusing on action-RPG gameplay. Critical reception to all three titles was pretty mixed, but fans seemed to enjoy them well enough and sales were reasonably strong; certainly enough to warrant the two sequels, at least.
Interestingly, however, Star Force 3 didn't come to DS owners in Europe, despite launching in Japan and North America in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Perhaps European players deserve to give this one a shot now, right?
Likelihood of a Switch port - A Of all the Mega Man games left, we reckon the Star Force series probably has the best shot at getting a port on modern consoles. It just makes sense, right? With Battle Network now out of the way, surely the next logical step for Capcom would be to tackle the series' spiritual successor.
Then again, the dual-screen setup would make them awkward — though certainly not impossible — to port to Switch, and given the lukewarm reception for all three games, perhaps it might be best to leave them where they are?
Nah, give 'em to us.
Image: Capcom With this GameCube release, Capcom really attempted to give us the best of both worlds, with the action-platforming gameplay of the classic series and the more action-RPG mechanics from the Battle Network series. It mostly succeeded, in theory, though the reception was decidedly mixed at launch in 2003 due to the lacklustre visuals and what some deemed to be cheap difficulty. Classic Mega Man was certainly never cheap, that's for sure.
Likelihood of a Switch port - E While ports of the Star Force games seem pretty obvious to us, Battle Transmission is a lot trickier. It will never get an individual re-release, but if Capcom were to simply squeeze it into a hypothetical Star Force collection, we'd be happy with that.
Image: Capcom This GBA game is currently ranked last in our list of the best Mega Man games of all time for good reason: it's just not very good. It wrenches control away from the player far too frequently, and as a spin-off of the Battle Network series (which is, of course, a spin-off itself), we can't imagine many people are itching to play this one again. Hey, we could be wrong, though.
Likelihood of a Switch port - F Look, if this game were Switch-bound, it would have already been included in the Battle Network Legacy Collection. It's not, so it's never coming back. We can't say we're too upset.
Great key art, though, and frankly we're eager to see games of all sorts better preserved and accessible on modern platforms, so we'd certainly welcome a re-release.
Image: Capcom Capcom really loved its Mega Man spin-offs, didn't it? With Mega Man Xtreme, the company blessed the Game Boy Color with a spin-off of its Mega Man X franchise. The first game launched in 2000 with a sequel appearing one year later. They were both well-received thanks to a heavy reliance on reusing certain assets from the SNES games, like level designs and enemy placement.
3DS owners in Japan and North America had access to a Virtual Console release for both games until the closure of the eShop. With that in mind, the games are now only officially available on the Game Boy Color.
Likelihood of a Switch port - D We'd love to see these games on Switch, but we reckon Capcom would have already included them in the Mega Man X Collections if they had been deemed important enough. Since they're obviously absent, we can't imagine they'll be arriving anytime soon, unless they're dropped onto the Nintendo Switch Online service.
Then again, much like Mega Man & Bass, we could totally envisage a GB/GBA collection at some point down the line.
