It was surprising back in 2006 to learn that Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake had made it into Nintendo's Super Smash Bros Brawl. as third-party guest characters, but poor Mega Mad had been left behind.  To hear the rumor mill tell the story, nobody at Nintendo or Capcom bothered to ask the other company about adding the blue bomber to Brawl, but I just can't believe that neither company was aware of the demand.  Fortunately, Mega Man has made it into the next Super Smash Bros. sequels for the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS.  Polygon has the story of how the game's director, Masahiro Sakurai, brought Capcom on board.

"We approached Capcom with the idea and they were very favorable and open to it," he said. Sakurai and the teams at Sora Ltd. and Namco Bandai focused on the classic NES-style of Mega Man, a chunkier, less angular, less sleek version of the character. The Smash Bros. version of Mega Man focuses more on his ability to absorb others' powers, de-emphasizing punching and kicking. Mega Man's mega uppercut, which Sakurai says was inspired by the character's appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom, is one of his few melee attacks. "The approval process, in terms of how we're representing Mega Man, was actually really smooth and went really quickly."

Mega Man became a multi-platform series years ago and it's not as integral to the Nintendo lineup as it used to be, but the original Mega Man character has always felt more at home on Nintendo hardware and that chunky incarnation appearing in the next Smash is how many long-time fans remember him.  Being invited to join Smash Bros. should be an honor reserved for beloved and iconic third-party characters, and Mega Man more than meets the qualification.  Sakurai has stated that the new sequel will feature fewer guests, so I'm just glad that Mega Man made the cut.  After all, he's really the only third-party guest character on my roster wish list.