How Guns N’ Roses Found Their Way Into Mega Man X5
Capcom's Mega Man series has always been chock full of musical references and Easter eggs, but one of the most famous instances wasn't even planned by the developer.
From the lead character's true name, Rockman, to his sister, Roll, and numerous others, Mega Man video games have been littered with nods and homages to the music scene and genre. However, none were as overt and obvious as the American version of Mega Man X5.
Typically, localization teams do their best to faithfully translate Japanese titles for U.S. audiences. Though there might be some instances where some inside jokes are dropped in for eagle-eyed players to find, major changes to character names or story points are few and far between. In the case of Mega Man X5, the people in charge of the American translation had a little more fun than usual, and altered the boss names drastically.
Though fans were somewhat upset at the time, the simple homage has gone on to become a staple of the series. Even Capcom hasn't gone back in to adjust the characters to their proper, canonical names, and instead has allowed the drastic alterations to stay part of Mega Man X5's lineage. While Capcom has been rather cool about this move, that we haven't seen something similar happen elsewhere should tell you everything you need to know about how unheard something like this was at the time.
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Narrated by Nick Murphy