Back in 2009, a small group of Mega Man fans put together an animated proof-of-concept for their vision of the classic franchise. Once the project garnered interest, the team, led by chief creator Peter Sjöstrand, decided to turn it into a playable game. Thus, Mega Man 2.5D was conceived, and now the fan-made game is finally finished.
Originally reported by Eurogamer, the finished product is generally faithful to the Mega Man franchise, while adding its own unique flair.
Sjöstrand breaks down the new features on his website. “There are mainly two things that set Mega Man 2.5D apart from most other Mega Man games. The first is the co-op mode, where two players team up to take on Dr. Wily. The other is the use of camera perspective changes, which is featured a lot in the single-player mode of the game.”
The co-op mode with Dr. Wily is definitely a cool touch, but it’s the camera perspectives that make this a fan-made standout. The use of 2.5D graphics is most often associated with games that are essentially side-scrollers with 3D character and object models, but Mega Man 2.5D aligns more with games like The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. As shown in the trailer above, environments frequently change orientations, allowing Mega Man access to new areas while adding to the complexity of the platforming portions.
The game has come a long way since the original proof-of-concept trailer located below.
You can download Mega Man 2.5D on Sjöstrand’s website, but if you want to play it, you should probably do so sooner rather than later. Mega Man 2.5D has generated a fair amount of waves, and it’s possible that Capcom won’t be as enthused as we are about the attention that the iconic franchise is receiving from fans.
Capcom recently ported over the first six Mega Man games to mobile, but we haven’t seen a new entry in the mainline series since Mega Man 10 in 2010.
Mega Man 2.5D appears to be the closest thing we’ll get to the next step in the Mega Man franchise in the foreseeable future.
