Mega Man Legends 3 cancelled, crushing dreams of community developers everywhere

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Though originally planned for release last month, the community-inclusive game is no more

It was just last year at Comic Con that Keji Inafune teased the long-awaited third entry in the cult franchise Mega Man Legends. In the last year, things have been pretty crazy for the title: it was officially announced, Inafune left Capcom soon after, and Capcom revealed interesting community development featureswhere fans could make gameplay suggestions. Finally, Capcom announced back in April that the game would launch with Nintendo’s 3DS eShop. Of course that’s when the good news ended, as Legends 3 was met with quiet delays and eerie silence, which ended with today’s ignominious cancellation.

Given MML3’s bumpy development and connection to one of the least famous branches of the Mega Man franchise, this isn’t a huge shock, but it had come so far that this can’t help but be a major disappointment. Series fans were likely hurt the most by the news, especially those that had been working through Capcom’s online community to help develop the game through suggestions and polls. The 3DS eShop release, subtitled Prototype Version, was planned for players to test out the title and offer suggestions for improvements in the final release, so those anticipating the title were even more involved in the hype than your standard game, making this news all the more painful.

Capcom clarified some other parts of the news, saying that Inafune’s departure was not a factor in the cancellation, that this termination encompassed all versions of the game including the 3DS eShop release, and that despite Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe going to gaming purgatory, the Mega Man franchise is still important to the company. Obviously fan reaction was immediate and annoyed to say the least, with over 400 comments lamenting the news. It’s sad to see this happen when release seemed so close, but it looks like MegaMan will never come home.

Jul 19, 2011

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Henry Gilbert
Henry Gilbert

Henry Gilbert is a former GamesRadar+ Editor, having spent seven years at the site helping to navigate our readers through the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation. Henry is now following another passion of his besides video games, working as the producer and podcast cohost of the popular Talking Simpsons and What a Cartoon podcasts.