Capcom has one million reasons to revive the Mega Man Battle Network franchise

Who knew this was the Blue Bomber’s most popular form?

Capcom may not be giving fans any new Mega Man games as of late but the company has certainly been generous in rereleasing its old classics on modern platforms. We’ve seen collections for the original Mega Man series, Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero and ZX, and, just a week and some change ago, Mega Man Battle Network. While I missed out on the Battle Network games in their prime, it turns out a lot of people were into the series. At least, that’s what I can surmise given the meteoric sales of Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection.

According to Capcom, the impossible-to-find-at-retail collection of Game Boy Advance games has already sold one million copies at retail and digitally which can be purchased as one complete package or as two separate volumes.

Sales like these are another feather in the cap of a company that has been on a roll as of late, with its Monster Hunter and Resident Evil franchise seeing strong sales with each new release. With Street Fighter VI right around the corner, Capcom’s winning streak is likely to continue.

Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, MMBNLC Vol. 1, and MMBNLC Vol. 2 combined sales have surpassed 1 million units worldwide! Thanks to all of you for your support! pic.twitter.com/S3a5M6ePsu

— Mega Man (@MegaMan) April 28, 2023

Despite its success with its other franchises, Capcom hasn’t been eager to invest in Mega Man. The last new mainline game, Mega Man 11, was released back in 2018. Outside of Mega Man X DiVE, a free-to-play game available now for mobile and PC, we don’t see much of the Blue Bomber anymore outside of the occasional crossover. While I know many fans have been clamoring for a new Mega Man and Mega Man X title for years, perhaps what we should be asking for is a new Battle Network game.

The sales of the Legacy Collection show there is a lot of demand for this specific iteration of Mega Man. While the formula might have gone stale with the Nintendo DS sequel series, Mega Man Star Force, it’s been about 14 years since the series went dormant following Rockman.EXE: Operate Shooting Star‘s dismal sales. That’s more than enough time to generate some fresh ideas and concepts for a sub-series that clearly has its fanbase. I’m not sure if anything will come of this collection’s success, but making a new Battle Network game certainly has to be cheaper than however much money Capcom is pumping into Pragmata.