Issue #34: Rebuilding the Blue Bomber – July/August 2018

Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

There was a time, years ago, when Mega Man fans were feeling mega-fatigued. Capcom was publishing so many sequels in so many spin-off series so close together to each other that it was impossible to keep up! Looking back on it now, we should have foreseen the brand’s crash long before it finally happened. Perhaps some did.

But now that Mega Man has been almost entirely inactive for the past several years, I can’t wait to play his latest sequel, Mega Man 11! Had Capcom kept pumping out more and more Mega Man games with that same frenzied pace, then there would be almost no excitement to support this one. It would be “just another Mega Man game.” But given a little breathing room and a fresh creative team unafraid of pushing new ideas into the 30-year-old series, and we’ve got the makings of a major hit on our hands!

We’re delighted to be able to present an all-new issue of NF Magazine with an all-new Mega Man sequel emblazoned across the front cover, in the same way I was thrilled to be able to present Samus Aran’s revival in Metroid: Samus Returns a little less than a year ago. Since she was out of the public eye for so many years leading up to that adventure, we thought it wise to present The History of Metroid in NF #29 to get new fans caught up on her story so far. So it seemed appropriate to prepare The History of Mega Man for this edition!

That’s not all, of course! Our history feature leads into our preview of Mega Man 11 itself, we’ve got interviews with both Mega Man fan community icon Protodude and Takuya Aizu, the President and CEO of Inti Creates who actually brought Mega Man back to life once before, and much more! I hope you’ll enjoy every Blue Bombin’ bit of it!

The poster is mega-sized this time, so please enjoy its extra real estate as you go on a visual Where’s Waldo-style hunt to try to pick out every past Robot Master on Thor’s newest “crowd of characters” art piece! Or, if you prefer, Capcom’s official Mega Man 11 art appears mega-large on the opposite side.