Mega Man Creator Lambasts Stagnant J-Game Industry

[Blaze72]

Three years ago, Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune spectacularly announced that the Japanese games industry was "over." At GDC 2012 yesterday he stuck the knife in even further.

Speaking through a translator in his "The Future of Japanese Games" talk, the renowned ex-Capcom developer said that the problem came from Japanese developers taking the easy route, running series into the ground instead of taking risks and experimenting.

"Japanese games are becoming a blast from the past," he said, asserting that Japan now merely trades on its past. The Beatles were great!" he continued, "Steve McQueen was a great actor," but just like those classic performers, Japanese games are now merely "great, great memories."

"I feel like we rarely see new creations from Japan anymore," he said. "We just stick to our memories and we re-release HD versions of games. That is the upper limit of what we are showing to our users today and that is not what our users want."

Throughout the talk Inafune repeatedly called for Japanese developers to take the hard route in making games, in an effort to create new experiences. "I want to light a fire under Japan before it is too late," he said

[Frisky The Wolf Lord]

Sounds like he's talking about Capcom. And for the most part, what he says is true.

[Blaze72]

No not just Capcom itself...... all of the japanese game industry

[Frisky The Wolf Lord]

Yes, but with Capcom, it's personal! So that's why that particular company stands out to me. Not to mention Capcom is more prevalent with the issues Inafune brought up.

Like I said before, times are changing and Japan is very slow to catch up. There is chart I was looking at a few days ago about Japanses VG sales, but I rather not say what it implicated without actually being able to find it 1st.

[Blaze72]

Capcom isn't that stagnant compared to Nintendo

what new franchises have we gotten from Capcom

-Lost Planet
-Dead Rising
-Ace Attorney
-Monster Hunter

and there's also Dragon's Dogma coming out.

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Mar 11, 2012 2:35:58 GMT -5 Blaze72 said:

Capcom isn't that stagnant compared to Nintendo

what new franchises have we gotten from Capcom

-Lost Planet
-Dead Rising
-Ace Attorney
-Monster Hunter

and there's also Dragon's Dogma coming out.

Nintendo has been living off of the success of Poke'mon for years. And of course a few other first party titles. Their fanboys used to be annoying back in the day.

[Blaze72]

Mar 11, 2012 8:17:43 GMT -5 The Big Daddy C-Master said:

Mar 11, 2012 2:35:58 GMT -5 Blaze72 said:

Capcom isn't that stagnant compared to Nintendo

what new franchises have we gotten from Capcom

-Lost Planet
-Dead Rising
-Ace Attorney
-Monster Hunter

and there's also Dragon's Dogma coming out.

Nintendo has been living off of the success of Poke'mon for years. And of course a few other first party titles. Their fanboys used to be annoying back in the day.

Also Mario and Zelda.

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Mar 11, 2012 8:21:32 GMT -5 Blaze72 said:

Mar 11, 2012 8:17:43 GMT -5 The Big Daddy C-Master said:

Nintendo has been living off of the success of Poke'mon for years. And of course a few other first party titles. Their fanboys used to be annoying back in the day.

Also Mario and Zelda.

And Metriod. Not to say the games are all bad. But people were acting like Nintendo was the ish when they just release the same stuff over and over. Then they criticize the other consoles for doing it. Lol.

[Blaze72]

They've done some different things with Mario and Metroid over the years

but with Zelda its still the same sort of gameplay.

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Mar 11, 2012 8:31:54 GMT -5 Blaze72 said:

They've done some different things with Mario and Metroid over the years

but with Zelda its still the same sort of gameplay.

It also has the most hardcore fanbase. Not to say the game is bad, it isn't. Mario 64 was a good transition to 3d.

[Coolest thing Alive]

Square-Enix, Nintendo, and Capcom are the worst offenders of stagnation, to me. Capcom may not be as bad as the other 2 but they are really ridin the shit outta SF and RE. Also what disappoints me about Nintendo and Capcom is, they don't have to be this way. And Cap has terrible PR!

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Mar 11, 2012 15:02:03 GMT -5 Coolest thing Alive said:

Square-Enix, Nintendo, and Capcom are the worst offenders of stagnation, to me. Capcom may not be as bad as the other 2 but they are really ridin the shit outta SF and RE. Also what disappoints me about Nintendo and Capcom is, they don't have to be this way. And Cap has terrible PR!

They could always crank out more Megaman.

[Blaze72]

Better be some good ones or Keiji Inafune will go berserk.

[Blaze72]

[quote author=batsuichimonji board=compdiscussion thread=1390 post=33977 time=1331496123. Capcom may not be as bad as the other 2 but they are really ridin the shit outta SF and RE. [/quote]

At least with Resident Evil its not played the same way since 10 years ago.

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Mar 11, 2012 21:44:28 GMT -5 Blaze72 said:

[quote author=batsuichimonji board=compdiscussion thread=1390 post=33977 time=1331496123. Capcom may not be as bad as the other 2 but they are really ridin the shit outta SF and RE.

At least with Resident Evil its not played the same way since 10 years ago.[/quote]I'll give you that. Megaman has to be the most abused character ever though.

[Blaze72]

Especially Mega Man X.....sure yeah they eventually made everything 3D but its still a side scroller like the 2D ones.......so much more can done.

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Mar 12, 2012 1:59:36 GMT -5 Blaze72 said:

Especially Mega Man X.....sure yeah they eventually made everything 3D but its still a side scroller like the 2D ones.......so much more can done.

I agree, it's a shame to not see him utilized to his max.

[Frisky The Wolf Lord]

I think people really love Mega Man, Capcom just needs to slow down with the releases. Make the fans actually WANT the next game. At one point, there were like 3 games a year.

[Blaze72]

But now they've gone old school with releasing Mega Man 9 and 10 on digital downloads

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Mar 13, 2012 0:36:30 GMT -5 Blaze72 said:

But now they've gone old school with releasing Mega Man 9 and 10 on digital downloads

Trying to hit a more hardcore audience I suppose.

[Blaze72]

Personally i don't think the Japanese game industry is stagnant, There is some originality out there especially from Suda 51.