Mega Man Legends 3 Announced for 3DS

Amidst all the 3DS news coming out of Japan tonight, one particular announcement seems to have ignited an enthusiastic response: According to Mega Man Network, Capcom has finally unveiled a long-awaited sequel to the cult favorite Mega Man Legends series.



Despite having been untouched for nearly a decade -- the last Legends game that wasn't for Japanese cell phones launched in America in October 2000 -- the series' return isn't entirely surprising. Capcom vice president (and Mega Man co-creator) Keiji Inafune has been hinting broadly at a sequel in recent weeks, and he admitted to 1UP in way back in a 2007 interview that the MT Framework engine powering high-profile Capcom titles like Lost Planet was designed, in large part, to power a Legends sequel.

The choice of 3DS seems a good fit for the game; Inafune has long expressed an interest in revisiting Legends but has been constrained by the high cost of creating high-definition software versus the series' modest fanbase. Still, it's fitting that the company has promised to incorporate fan feedback into the game on some level -- further details will be announced next weekend at New York Comic-Con -- as gamer enthusiasm for the series seems to have played a significant role in its revival.

At the moment, Legends 3 is little more than a tentative title (Mega Man Legends 3 Project), a piece of art, and some nebulous promises from both Inafune and director Masakazu Eguchi on a bare-bones Japanese website. We'll pass along further details on the game as Capcom chooses to disseminate them.