Capcom’s Mega Man 11 will be sliding onto the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on October 2nd, 2018. You can check out the Mega Man 11 pre-order trailer in the player below, highlighting the first classic-style Mega Man game in eight years captured by an all-new, hand-drawn art style for the first time in the main series and also featuring new moves for Mega Man to put to use.
Mustache-twirlingly evil Dr. Wily is up to his old tricks, but this time the master of malevolence has a brand new tactic tucked away in his lab coat. Reflecting on his younger days when he studies alongside Dr. Light — the good-natured and ever-hopeful creator of Mega Man — Wily recalls a creation of his own: the Double Gear System, capable of pushing robots beyond their normal capabilities. Putting his idea into action, the unscrupulous doctor steals eight of Dr. Light’s robots to use for his own nefarious plans. At Mega Man’s request, Dr. Light installs the prototype Double Gear System in the heroic blue bot, imbuing our hero with brand new skills in his quest to put a stop to Dr. Wily’s diabolical plan and continue the fight for everlasting peace with his classic arsenal of tools and skills alongside the new system.
The Double Gear System has two main functions that empower Mega Man (and players) with brand new abilities. Mega Man speeds up with the aptly-named Speed Gear, causing the world around him to move much slower by comparison. If you need a moment to dodge incoming projectiles, make a desperate jump, or simply need a breather to figure out a tricky situation, the Speed Gear is just a button press away to give you a chance to escape and quickly adapt to any situation.
The Power Gear pushes Mega Man’s power output beyond maximum, powering up his regular buster shots and allowing him to charge his Mega Buster to an even higher level than before to unleash two charge shots at a time. Special weapons gained from defeated Robot Masters will also power up in various ways when Mega Man has the Power Gear active. Be careful how you use these new skills, though! You can turn each gear on and off at will with a quick button press, but pushing Mega Man to his limit will cause him to overheat, preventing him from using the Double Gear system until he’s cooled off a bit. If things are looking desperate, Mega Man can also activate both gears at once when his health is critically low to slow time to a crawl and unleash his full potential in one massive, overcharged shot from his Mega Buster! Careful, though — you can’t turn this technique off once it’s active, and Mega Man will be severely weakened afterward.
Of course, no Mega Man game is complete without a set of Robot Masters to test your mettle against, and Mega Man 11 will introduce an additional eight bosses for our hero to send to the scrapyard. Two of the Robot Master’s are Block Man, who is able to form blocks out of thin air and can use the Power Gear to change into a gargantuan form when he’s pushed to his limits, and Fuse Man, a fast-thinking speed demon that resides deep within a power plant, filled with challenging platforming and tricky traps.
New to Mega Man 11 is how parts of Mega Man’s appearance change when he equips a Robot Master’s weapon, giving him a distinct look reminiscent of the Robot Master he’s acquired each weapon from. It’s also easier than ever to choose a power to use thanks to a new weapon wheel that can be accessed with a flick of the right thumbstick, letting you switch weapons on the fly. Helping Mega Man in his fight for everlasting peace, Roll and Auto can create useful upgrades and items to upgrade Mega Man using bolts scattered throughout stages and dropped by enemies, giving Mega Man even more versatility for combat than any previous mainline Mega Man title before.
Mega Man 11 will be playable on the show floor of E3 this year at the Capcom Booth. If you’re attending, activate your own Speed Gear to be one of the first to try out the Blue Bomber’s latest adventure and see the gorgeous, hand-drawn environments and vibrant characters of Mega Man 11 with your own eyes.
Mega Man 11 is also available for pre-order from the Mega Man 11 website. Pre-order now to receive an exciting alternative soundtrack for use in the game when it released on October 2. In the meantime, you can catch up on past adventures with the Mega Man Legacy Collection and Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, out now for Nintendo Switch, PS4, XBox One, and PC.
The Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 + 2 will bring eight futuristic adventures featuring Mega Man X and fellow Maverick hunters Zero and Axl to Nintendo Switch, PS4, XBox One, and PC starting July 24th.
