Mega Man Battle Network series- Overlooked classics?

There is no question that the 2000’s decade was a great time to be a fan of anything entertainment related whether it be video games, television, music or even sports. When it came down to the video game landscape the 2000’s saw a significant changes in relation to 3D gaming. By the end of the 2000’s decade the quality of high profile 3D video games like the Grand Theft Auto , Call of Duty and Gran Turismo series were seemingly at its apex in terms of gameplay & graphics. While 3D gaming was constantly evolving during the 00’s Capcom was producing games like the Mega Man Battle Network series; something that casuals are not too familiar due to the decline in popularity of Mega Man series following the mid to late 90’s. Prior to the 2000’s decade the Mega Man series became very popular as a 2D side-scrolling run n gun video game when it started out on the NES console back in the mid 80’s. The challenging levels along with the catchy soundtracks and gimmicky bosses is what pretty much gave the Mega Man series its identity. However, the formula that was utilized to make the Mega Man series a success became outdated and repetitive due to how much the landscape of gaming had changed during 90’s and the 00’s.

While Capcom has developed 3D Mega Man games in the past such as Mega Man Legends (1997) many seem to prefer 2D entries within the series. Back in the early 00’s the Mega Man X series began to loose its luster and titles like Mega Man: Command Mission (2004) ended being somewhat underwhelming on consoles like the PS2. When came down to quality it felt like the best Mega Man games from the 00’s ended being on Game Boy Advance; which was especially true for the Mega Man: Zero and Mega Man: Battle Network series. When it came down to Battle Network series Capcom found a way to take Mega Man out of his element in terms of genre in order to create a surprisingly fun RPG series that no one expected. The Mega Man Battle Network games from ’01-’05 looked impressive within the inclusion of real-time battles and tactical role-playing gameplay which could have been more popular during the SNES era of the early 90’s. It should also be noted that the 2D isometric perspective feature was a nice touch within the Mega Man: Battle Network series especially since it was something that was seen more in Sega Genesis games opposed to anything Nintendo related. In some ways it felt like Capcom was trying to reinvent the Mega Man series with the Battle Network titles but people in general had started to gravitate more towards their other franchises such as Devil May Cry and Resident Evil during the 2000’s. Even though, the Mega Man: Battle Network series catered to a niche audience the quality of each game was impressive but unfortunately they were all overshadowed by the Pokemon series. Mega Man in general was not really big as it relates to western pop culture which probably one of the reasons why casual gamers did not seem to care about it as much during the 2000’s decade.