Keiji Inafune Announces ‘Azure Striker Gunvolt’, Which Totally Isn’t ‘Mega Man Zero’!

While Capcom continues to ignore the Mega Man franchise, series creator Keiji Inafune isn’t shy about his intention to take all of that money his former publisher doesn’t want. First, Might No. 9 was funded thanks to the wildly popular Kickstarter campaign, which has been touted as the spiritual successor to the Blue Bomber. But between raising crazy amounts of money and working on this project, it seems like he had a little something extra planned on the side in the form of Azure Striker Gunvolt.

If Mighty No. 9 is Mega Man‘s successor, than Gunvolt looks like X and Zero traded in their X Buster and Z Saber for a pistol and lighting rods. In the trailer alone, Gunvolt is shown to create electric fields, speed up and slow down his jumps, and destroy screens full of enemies with his powers. Throw in bosses that use portals to transport their blasts, enemies that look like they were ripped straight out of the Mega Man Zero GBA series and a story involving pop idols, and you get a surprising game that few could’ve saw coming. And you know what? I couldn’t be happier.

Don’t believe me? Try watching the reveal trailer and tell me that it doesn’t look great. Gunvolt will release this summer for the 3DS eShop in Japan. There’s no word on a western release, but count on it coming out later this year.

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