For all the time he's been with us, I find it hard to believe that Mega Man has never starred in a true-blue RPG. He had time for a critically reviled soccer game, one on one arcade fighting, and even strategy/action chip trading madness on the GBA. But good old-fashioned role-playing? Nope! Luckily, it appears that Capcom has finally gotten around to noticing this obvious oversight, as the upcoming Mega Man X Command Mission looks like the Mega Man RPG we've been craving ... or at least that we think would be a very good idea.

The display in the lower-right helps you overlap turns for big combos.
Command Mission takes place in the more "grown-up" (yeah, I know) world of the X series, where Mega Man is a powerful bounty hunter tasked with taking down dangerous reploids (robots) called Mavericks. In Command Mission, it seems the "Liberion Army" is rebelling against the government, and the epicenter of their activity is on Giga City Island. Donning stealth armor, Mega Man X must infiltrate the island to prevent the Liberion rebellion from going any further.

Mega Breath of Dragon Command Mission

Single-character console RPGs are rather rare these days, so it almost goes without saying that X will aquire a variety of other party members as his infiltration mission progresses. Among these are X-series mainstay Zero (he of the stupid-strong saber and just plain stupid hair) and relative newbie Axl, who only debuted recently in the flaccid Mega Man X7. In addition, there'll also be four new characters to recruit. Cinnamon is a healer, Marino "specializes in ninja tactics," Masimo swings a mean axe and Spider "carries playing cards." Gee. Cards. I wonder who I'm going to leave out of my war party. Luckily, everyone can be powered up through the use of "Force Medals," so maybe even Spider can be useful someday.

Picking and choosing between party members is actually quite necessary, as Mega Man can only have two allies at once. Hmm, three person parties ... what recent Capcom RPG does that remind you of? If you said Metal Gear Solid, you're wrong for a number of reasons. I refer to the wonderful, relatively overlooked Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, which was one of the best RPGs of 2003. Staff from that game are working on Command Mission, and the three-person parties are only the first clue.

Is this a Final Strike? If not, I'd hate to see what is.
It seems that the Dragon Quarter staff are focusing their efforts on the game's combat system, which, given Breath of Fire's refreshingly tactical battles, can only be a good thing. Each character can attack the enemy separately, but higher damage can be achieved by attacking in rapid succession ... only possible through careful turn management and a bit of luck. This idea forms the core of the "Cross Battle" system, and mastering its intricacies will be crucial to excelling in Command Mission. Additionally, when enemies are down to 1/4 HP, you can initiate a "Final Strike," a super-powerful finishing sequence that'll leave 'em reeling, if not dead. In short, it sounds like the battle system will have plenty of meaty innovation to keep the player engaged.