There’s a trailer out for a fan project called Mega Maker that aims to do what Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker did for Capcom’s little blue bomber. It’s aimed for release on July 15, if it somehow doesn’t get shutdown before then.
The project uses assets collected from Mega Man 1 through 6 and boasts over a hundred tile sets, several different backgrounds, and up to twelve unique robot masters. It even has its own chiptune-inspired soundtrack created by Cosmic Gem. Here’s the trailer:
In the description, the creators wrote “Mega Maker is a new and accessible way to create and share your own Mega Man levels. From full-length Robot Master stages to puzzle levels, anything goes! Upload your levels to share them with the world or play levels created by other users with ease!”
They’ve even put together a Patreon for the whole thing in order to meet server costs, and currently appear to be well on their way to meeting the humble $15 a month goal. The game itself will be free of course, since charging for it would be a big no no.
“The game has been in development since September 2016, starting out as a one-person project but gradually becoming larger and larger,” the creators say on Mega Maker’s website.
“It is built using the Mega Engine, a Mega Man engine for Game Maker created by WreckingPrograms (the same guy that started Mega Maker). Even after the initial release, development on this game will not yet be finished. Aside from any bug patches, we plan to include more content down the road, like assets from Mega Man 7 onward as well as entirely new features. Stay tuned!”
Based on the trailer at least, the project looks like it could be used to create some really cool looking levels assuming the UI isn’t a nightmare to use. And the idea for a Mega Man Maker is itself really brilliant and not something Capcom seems to have any of intention of doing at the moment while it’s buys re-releasing the series in Legacy Collection form.
Other fan-made projects like Mega Man 2.5D have continued to survive, however, so Mega Maker could live to see the light of day as well.