Capcom on Mega Man 11 - Bringing back Mega Man, keeping the series fresh, the Gear System, and balancing difficulty

A portion of a Famitsu interview with producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya and director Koji Oda, as translated by NintendoEverything...

F: This is the first game in the series since Mega Man 10, eight years ago. Can you tell us about your decision to make another game?

Tsuchiya: When Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was close to completion (Koji) Oda came to me and said, “Why don’t we do a Mega Man game next? Mega Man has fans all over the world who are hoping for a new game in the series. I think we have a responsibility to answer those calls. We have to do Mega Man next!” This was a chance for us to honor our responsibility to the fans.

F: Could you tell us a little bit about the concept for the game?

Tsuchiya: While we want to create that feeling of nostalgia for some of our long-time fans, if we only think like that then younger gamers may end up seeing Mega Man as a kind of ‘game for granddads’, and the series will eventually fade away. Instead, we want anyone, regardless of experience with the series, to be able to enjoy playing the game. For that reason, this time we wanted to redefine the Mega Man series, while still staying true to the original.

Oda: I feel the same way as Tsuchiya in not simply wanting to revive the series, but to add a newness to a game that people can still recognize at once as Mega Man. I think that was the key thing we kept in mind.

F: What was the reason behind introducing the new ‘Gear System’?

Oda: I think Mega Man’s strength is in its simplicity. Precisely because it is simple, we have players who are able to complete the game quickly and without taking damage. But there are those who are not familiar with Mega Man with the impression that the game is very difficult and that the learning curve is extremely high. But then if we excessively lower the difficulty, players won’t be able to enjoy that tension the game is so good at providing. So in the end we created the Double Gear System, within which there is the Speed Gear and the Power Gear. The Gear System is on one hand a way for beginners to play more skilfully, but also a system for players to truly see their skills in action.

F: Balancing the difficulty in the Mega Man stages seems like a difficult task.

Oda: Since this is another game with its base in the action game genre, if we simply recreated the kind of stages that had been in the series up until now, it wouldn’t be that difficult. But because we have added the Gear System, we have to think more carefully. That was really tough, and we were sometimes left thinking, “Why did we ever add this?” I think we sort of cursed ourselves. (wry laugh)