Former Mega Man director shares never-before-seen art, leading to speculation (UPDATE)

Mega Man 11 is the best-selling Mega Man game in the franchise’s history. That title came out in 2018 and Capcom was quick to share that they were working on some sort of follow-up. Here we are all the way in 2024 and no sequel is in sight, with Capcom saying in 2023 that they were “considering how to approach” a new Mega Man game going forward.

All of this waiting has made Mega Man fans incredibly eager to find out what’s next, and now some think we may have gotten a tease of that from Ichiro Mihara, Vice President of Arika and former Mega Man director. It all comes from a random Twitter encounter that offered up new art that has people truly baffled.

Mihara shared the above artwork in response to a tweet from Hitoshi Ariga, an artist who worked on Mega Man manga projects in the past. The tweets offered some playful banter about knowing a thing or two about Mega Man, as the duo has spent time coming up with content tied to the Blue Bomber. While Ariga’s tweet was straightforward, Mihara’s included artwork of a very zoomed-in, never-before-seen version of Mega Man.

While this image of Mega Man might seem par for the course at first glance, series diehards noticed that Mega Man’s helmet has both paneling and a bolt that haven’t been used in any other design. The same goes for Mega Man’s skin color and eyes, which are also different from past entries.

What could all of this mean? Is this a tease of something new to come for Mega Man? Was this a bit of unreleased art left on the cutting room floor for years? Mihara isn’t saying right now, which leaves the window wide open for speculation. Should anymore details or clarity come about on this artwork, we’ll be sure to share it with you.

UPDATE: Mihara has deleted the tweet of his own volition and apologized for “any trouble to the rights holders.”