After 16 years, the wait for a new Mega Man game is nothing compared to the wait fans have had for the next act of the rock opera based on Capcom's legendary action series, but The Protomen's third album is finally upon us

The band who have been creating a rock opera based on the Mega Man series has announced that their third album will finally release after 16 years.

Back in 2005, The Protomen released their first album, a self-titled album based on the events of the NES Mega Man games, detailing Mega Man and Proto Man's face off – except spliced with an Orwellian dystopia and a healthy dose of 80s films and rock bands. Capcom even invited the group to play at its SDCC booth in 2007.

And then it was followed up in 2009 by Act 2: The Father of Death, which was a prequel storyline about Dr Wily and Dr Light. The second album dialed everything up, with more elaborate tracks, storytelling, and production from Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf producer Alan Shacklock. This album produced the band's biggest hit, "Light Up the Night," which was featured in Rock Band 4, and more recently in the trailer for The Wolf Among Us 2. And since then, fans of the band have been waiting for the eventual Act 3.

After a 16-year wait that makes Silksong look nothing, The Protomen teased that Act 3 was finally complete with a screenshot from Mega Man. And then eight hours later, it was finally announced that Act 3: This City Made Us is actually coming out.

However, in what is a fitting move for how long we've been waiting, the band is releasing the 15-song album in stages. "Only the first 2 tracks are available now, but new ones will be added every week," the band said in the Instagram post announcing the album, saying, "It’s like watching HBO on Sunday nights in 2002 and waiting to see the drama unfold for a couple months!"

On the Bandcamp page for the album, the CD release is listed as releasing on January 9, 2026, which is 14 weeks away, meaning we're probably looking at one song a week (with one week missing, as two of the 15 tracks are already available) until the album launches. Because after waiting 16 years, what's another three months?

Despite the 8-year hiatus, Capcom has called Mega Man "one of our most important IPs"