With no prior heads-up whatsoever, Mojang Studios and Capcom have revealed Minecraft x Mega Man X DLC, available to buy now. Among other things, it includes 14 “classic skins” from Mega Man X, plus nine weapons to battle Sigma’s many Mavericks, and even the original soundtrack. If you are a Minecraft fan, you might be a bit confused by this news. If you are a Mega Man X fan, you might be ecstatic yet even more confused. Whatever the heck happened, we’re not questioning it. We’re just accepting it graciously.
Here is how Mojang Studios describes the Minecraft x Mega Man X DLC: “Sigma and his mavericks are back, and they mean business! Jump into the adventure with this official Mega Man world inspired by the Capcom original. Use Mega Man’s arsenal of 9 weapons to fight an army of enemies as you make your way through iconic levels and defeat epic bosses! Vibe with the original Mega Man X soundtrack and showcase the classic Mega Man skins included.”
What makes this DLC announcement extra unusual is that the Mega Man X franchise has been on ice at Capcom for years, more or less. Capcom released Mega Man X Legacy Collection back in 2018 to a positive reception, which included the eight mainline entries in the franchise across two volumes. However, there hasn’t been a brand new entry in the franchise since Mega Man X8 on PlayStation 2, unless you count recent mobile spinoff Mega Man X DiVE, which is a quality experience but basically its own beast.
In other words, this random DLC in someone else’s game is the closest we’ve gotten to Mega Man X9 in years, which is mildly horrifying. That being said, past leaks indicate that Capcom does have something big in the works for a new Mega Man game this year, and it’s potentially the start of a new sub-franchise. The project appeared under the name “Rockman Taisen” in a Capcom hack, and then it appeared again in the Nvidia leak as “Mega Man Match.” We don’t know what it is, but it’s likely we can expect to hear something about it following the launch of Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection in April.