I will say, if the commercial success of Mega Man 11 and the Battle Network Legacy Collection are any indication, there is still plenty of interest. It’s just that Capcom doesn’t do much with them, aside from mostly cameos and merchandise. It’s mostly kept alive by fans at this point.

It’s like a mirror version of the Sonic franchise: Sega can’t make good Sonic games (consistently) but makes them anyway, while Capcom can make good Mega Man games but just chooses not to. Then again, maybe it’s good that Mega Man isn’t tarnished by Capcom’s modern business model…

(Freiren wearing Kobun/Servbot earrings is a fun detail)