Better Treatment of the Mega Man Video Game Series in PAL Regions

To:  All at Capcom Co. Ltd., with a specific focus on those at Capcom Europe who are involved with the localisation and promotion of the Mega Man video game series.

As you may know, the Mega Man (known as Rockman in Japan) series of video games enjoys a widespread and varied fan-culture, with loyal followers of the Blue Bomber, his friends, and his foes, positioned in many countries throughout the world.

This eclectic fan-culture is enormous in Japan, and is huge in North America, too. It's a little less so in PAL territories, such as England, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Norway, Greece, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, and several others (referred to from here on as "the PAL regions", for short). Unfortunately, due to the somewhat smaller numbers of Mega Man fans (compared to the US and Japan) in these regions, this has led to these fans being treated differently to their Japanese and North American peers by the arm of the company in charge of handling PAL releases.

To summarise some of the problems: The Mega Man video game releases in the PAL regions suffer from a large degree of inaccuracy in their localised instruction manuals, or promotional websites and e-mails. These inaccuracies include, but are not limited to, instruction manuals with incorrect information relating both to the gameplay and game characters, misuse of famous names and concepts used in the series (for example, a robotic villain who has been in the series for over a decade was described as "the ultimate half-man, half-machine" in a recent promotional e-mail for Mega Man X8), and promotional websites which propagate false information about the games (and which fail to acknowledge the mere existence of over half the games released in the series).

With regard to marketing and promotion, none of the games get any advertisements in print, or on posters, and so on. Also worth mentioning is that competitions (often for t-shirts and other promo items) are run via Capcom Europe's forum, to promote new releases - however, although there are always competitions for games like Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Dino Crisis, and Shadow of Rome, there are never such promotions for the Mega Man series. Fan-bases do not appear out of nowhere overnight - without these promotional activities being carried out to raise awareness, the series' popularity in the PAL territories is not going to easily improve.

Furthermore, instead of using the same box-art as the North American game releases, the artwork in the PAL territories is bland and off-putting to potential new fans. It consists of a single primary coloured background, with generic character artwork (sometimes not even relevant to the game concerned) placed on top of it, with a cheesy white "starburst" effect behind the character(s) portrayed. Capcom Europe representatives have claimed that these designs are artistic and eye-catching, whereas most people who view the boxes liken the art design to that of an infant school attendee.
The write-ups on the back of these boxes are often very childish (often beginning with phrases along the lines of "Hey, listen up, partner - Megaman needs your help!"), and are a huge disservice to the video games contained inside them, which are not only anything *but* childish, but would also present a far greater challenge than most game-playing young children could handle.

Finally, there is the issue of Capcom Europe refusing to release a PAL version of the recent top-selling 10 game compilation 'Mega Man Anniversary Collection' - a game developed in the UK, which is available for Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, and Microsoft XBox. The reason cited is that there is not enough demand for the title. However, going by information posted on public message forums by Capcom Europe representatives, the demand for the title appears to have been judged almost entirely on e-mails they have received via their website, and their often rather quiet discussion forums.
There has been much talk about this game in the gaming press, including a fair amount of hype from Nintendo Official Magazine UK - a publication who, traditionally, have not appeared to be particularly fond of the Mega Man games. The game was even being hyped *after* Capcom Europe quietly announced that they had no intention of releasing Mega Man Anniversary Collection in the PAL territories.
Not only is this a bad thing for the many people who desperately want to purchase *this* game, but it also reduces the chances of a PAL-region release of the Game Boy Advance Mega Man Anniversary Collection, and the upcoming Mega Man X Collection, which is also being eagerly awaited by loyal fans.

Capcom Europe would not dream of doing this to their Street Fighter or Resident Evil franchises, so why do they allow this to happen to Capcom Co. Ltd.'s mascot series?

This petition exists because we, the Mega Man fans of the PAL territories, would really appreciate better treatment - both toward ourselves, the paying customers, and the game series we enjoy - from Capcom Europe. It is not that we don't appreciate Capcom Europe's efforts in bringing video games to the PAL regions - we only ask that it be done with more respect for both the games, and the fans of them. Many of us simply miss the wonderful treatment that PAL Capcom fans were given when Capcom Europe's PR and distribution were handled by Virgin Interactive.
Furthermore, this petition also serves a secondary function, as a means to gauge the true demand for a PAL release of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection.
We hope that our thoughts and ideas on this matter are at least considered, and collectively thank Capcom Europe for taking the time to listen to us.

(NOTE: Please DO NOT state that you support a PAL release for the Mega Man Anniversary Collection if you do not intend to purchase a copy of the game. If Capcom Europe were to bring us this game, it would cost them real money and resources - please don't waste their time.)

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Better Treatment of the Mega Man Video Game Series in PAL Regions Petition to All at Capcom Co. Ltd., with a specific focus on those at Capcom Europe who are involved with the localisation and promotion of the Mega Man video game series. was created by and written by Forte Wily (AgentJ_MIB@hotmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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