No video game is developed in a vacuum. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had a profound influence on the philosophy behind 16-bit platformers, and to understand where Capcom would take Mega Man in the 1990s, we must first understand how Sega built a better hedgehog.
23 Oct 2023
Ep. 16: Little Samson
This first episode of Mega Bluster Gaiden puts a button on the career of Akira Kitamura.
24 Aug 2023
Ep. 15: Does Mega-Busting In Fact Make Me Feel Good?
After one full season, is there anything we've learned?
10 Aug 2023
Ep. 14: Mega Man 6
Bored creators bid farewell to aging hardware in this, the penultimate episode of Mega Bluster's first season.
27 Jul 2023
Ep. 13: Mega Man IV
An ongoing exercise in repetition is interrupted by brief flashes of inspiration as a developer finds its groove.
13 Jul 2023
Ep. 12: Wily & Right's RockBoard: That's Paradise
Let's test the limits of a brand's expandability.
29 Jun 2023
Ep. 11: Mega Man 3 - The Robots Are Revolting
Rozner returns with a vengeance as Mega Man takes one more trip to the DOS factory.
15 Jun 2023
Ep. 10: Mega Man III
Everyone knows that this was the eighth real Mega Man game. What this episode presupposes is: what if it was someone's first?
1 Jun 2023
Ep. 9: Mega Man 5
In this one, the robot masters are war criminals and trains.
18 May 2023
Ep. 8: Mega Man II
A time travel narrative hastily applied to the pack-in manual of a cheapie cash grab leads to an interminable discussion of canonicity and continuity in narrative fiction.
4 May 2023
Ep. 7: Mega Man 4
While the gaming industry was moving on to the 16-bit console war era, Capcom doubled (quadrupled?) down on Mega Man's life on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
20 Apr 2023
Ep. 6: Mega Man - Dr. Wily’s Revenge
Capcom needed to buy time and expand its brand when figuring out how to follow the seminal Mega Man 3. A detour to Nintendo's new 8-bit handheld provide the ideal path forward.
6 Apr 2023
Ep. 5: Cocoron
Akira Kitamura is the father of Mega Man, but when his relationship with Capcom soured, he left his creation behind and founded Takeru, an independent development house where creators were king. How did that go? To answer that question with a question: have you ever heard of Cocoron?
23 Mar 2023
Ep. 4: Mega Man (DOS)
While gamers today may salivate over the prospect of console exclusive being ported to the PC, the proposition was not so warmly received in the early 1990s, and games like Mega Man for DOS are why.
9 Mar 2023
Ep. 3: Mega Man 3
An ambitious and turbulent production, Mega Man 3 properly branded and established the franchise in the public eye, capping a three-game arc and establishing patterns that would repeat for decades to come.
23 Feb 2023
Ep. 2: Mega Man 2
A more refined second draft of the Mega Man concept, Mega Man 2 established a powerhouse franchise on the NES.
9 Feb 2023
Ep. 1: Mega Man
A franchise with more than one hundred entries begins here. In 1987, Capcom attempted to create a brand-new intellectual property, one which would serve as a beachhead to conquer the home console. Mega Man failed in that mission, but it laid the groundwork for a more successful second attempt.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Contact Mega Bluster
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Mega Bluster?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
