Capcom’s recent Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection re-release comes with a major disclaimer about its racist past. Rather than ignore the problem, the new collection collection has an opening statement about the importance of diversity, warning users about its problematic content.
As revealed by The Gamer, the statement confirms that some of the racist stereotypes that were in previous games have not been removed. It’s a somewhat surprising move since the Mega Man X Legacy Collection goes out of its way to rename bosses in Mega Man X5 that were originally named after the members of Guns N’ Roses.
Here’s the part of the statement where Capcom mentions racism in Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection:
“Please be aware the games in this collection may contain some cases of insensitive cultural depictions that are presented as originally created to preserve their authenticity.”
Fans were quick to find some of the racist stereotypes in the games, particularly, in Mega Man Battle Network 2. One of the more noticeable ones is when a black man says “I pray every morning to my God, and the chicken he provides.”
On one hand, Capcom could have easily edited these lines in the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, especially since they’ve done it before. However, Capcom’s move to re-release a flawed piece of media the way it was before has likely stopped many of a certain crowd from complaining about the new remaster. It’s a complicated situation but acknowledging that there are issues is better than saying there are no issues.
At the least, fans curious about this collection of Game Boy Advance games can do so without a heavy conscience. Sure, keeping the racism in the game is weird and immoral, but it was a product of its time.
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Fans can purchase the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.