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Many Mega Man fans had almost given up hope on the Blue Bomber's return, and who could blame them after the lack of interest displayed from the franchise's developer. Capcom's once iconic hero has been on the receiving end of two cancelled projects as of late (Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe), and he didn't even make the cut when it came to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3's roster. After what felt like an incredibly long wait, however, the return of everyone's favorite little blue robot is finally upon gamers everywhere.

Capcom has announced that to honor the 25th anniversary of both Street Fighter and Mega Man, they'll be releasing a crossover appropriately titled Street Fighter X Mega Man. This game, unlike Street Fighter X Tekken, will be a platformer based on the Blue Bomber's past adventures in the core Mega Man series, and it'll allow the original Mega Man character to go toe-to-toe with recognizable fighters from the SF series.

These well-known combatants will act as bosses, and they'll even surrender unique abilities upon their defeat. Like in past games, Japan's Rock Man will then be able to a use these new found powers to help dispatch any other wannabe champions that may stand in his way. All of the action, of course, will be rendered in classic 8-bit glory, which many fans will be more than content with.

Street Fighter X Mega Man Screenshots

Fortunately, the wait for Street Fighter X Mega Man won't be a long one, as the game will become available on December 17th. It's exciting to know that the game is indeed arriving soon, but the best part about all of this news is that the game will actually be made available as a free PC download. All fans have to do to score themselves a copy is head over to Capcom Unity's Mega Man page on launch day, and they'll be able to download it.

Capcom also has other plans for Mega Man's 25th anniversary, but it isn't going into specifics quite yet. According to the official announcement on the Capcom Unity blog, the company hopes that this is a sign to their fans that they haven't turned their back on the beloved franchise.

"As for more MM25 news... stay tuned. I've been running those meetings all year and we have stuff to share that day and through 2013. We know it's been a hard year for Mega Man fans, but I hope this proves our love and intent to the series, and that we have not heard the last of the little guy."

Many may remember that Street Fighter's Ryu was originally going to appear in the now canned Mega Man Universe as a playable character, so fans should be excited to see some scenarios explored by that failed project have been given new life. Street Fighter X Mega Man was originally pitched to Capcom's Christian Svensson by a fan named Seow Zong Hui, and after members of Capcom got their hands on it they knew it needed to become a reality. It's awesome that Capcom is willing to work with the community to address the absence of the Blue Bomber, and it'll be interesting to see what else comes to fruition in the future as a result.

Stay tuned to Game Rant for more details on any news pertaining to Capcom's plans for future Mega Man titles.

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You can follow Riley on Twitter @TheRileyLittle.

Source: Capcom Unity