Concept and development
Maverick Hunter was in development by Armature Studio and was to be published by Capcom for the Mega Man X series.[1] The collaboration was established by Keiji Inafune, who had previously worked on the Mega Man series as an artist and producer. He had since rose in the ranks at Capcom to become a producer. The goal was to attract a new audience to the Mega Man series.[1] Its development would have been overseen by former Capcom producer Ben Judd.[1] The redesign for the Mega Man character was to be done by Adi Granov (the concept artist responsible for the Iron Man redesign found in the 2008 film of the same name).[1] An initial concept design showed X with a red glowing 'X' on his face.[2]
Unlike other Mega Man X titles, Maverick Hunter was a first-person shooter. The genre was chosen in response to the rising interest in first-person shooter games in the west.[1] The gameplay would have adhered to core Mega Man X concepts; the ability to take and utilize the powers of enemies, his dash, and his X-Buster were all to be redesigned.[1] His weapon designs were made to be more realistic than earlier Mega Man X titles. Instead of his arm transforming into a cannon, his armor transforms to create a gun. Additionally, his charged attack would launch a missile instead of launching a larger energy blast.[1] Melee attacks would cause the game to switch to a third-person perspective for the attack.[1] X's ability to steal abilities from others would have been expanded to allow the combination of abilities and the use of temporary weapons, such as bombs or tank turrets, from fallen enemies. The stolen abilities could also be used to exploit weaknesses in certain enemies.[1] Platform elements such as his wall jump from the Mega Man X games would have been "re-imagined in new ways." The game was also planned to have branching paths and upgrades to find throughout.[1]
Maverick Hunter was going to build upon the mythology and feature characters from the original Mega Man X titles.[1] Capcom Japan was responsible for the design of key story points and twists while the overall plot would be handled by Armature Studio.[1] A source familiar with the game stated that the game would "be like taking an 8-bit game that doesn't have a very deep story to it, and then building around it and keeping some of the key pieces intact." Both X and Zero would be featured alongside a new human sidekick who is a "Bruce Willis-like police officer." The inclusion of the human sidekick was part of the game's "man versus machine contrast."[1] It was to be the first of a trilogy of games; players would control X in the first two games while they would switch to Zero in the third game, who must destroy X (who had become "incredibly powerful and infinitely intelligent over the course of two games").[1]
Cancellation
It was ultimately cancelled before it was revealed to the public as one of several recent cancellations in the Mega Man series (including Mega Man Legends 3, Mega Man Universe, and Mega Man Online).[1] Its lifespan lasted for about six months in 2010, and was prototyped and playable. Despite positive internal reception, Capcom deemed it a "significant gamble" and cancelled it.[1] Its cancellation coincided with Inafune's departure from Capcom.[1] The playable version of the game was intended to be a proof of concept more so than a real game.[1] Capcom senior vice president Christian Svensson noted that the game was the subject of "very polarized opinions internally." Granov expressed disappointment over the cancellation and stated that he was "very happy" with his design work.[3] Inafune collaborated again with Armature on the 2016 game ReCore.[4]