Maverick Hunter was the codename for a cancelled first-person shooter video game in the Mega Man franchise that would have been developed by Armature Studio and published by Capcom. It was intended to be a darker entry in the Mega Man X series. Mega Man artist and producer Keiji Inafune was responsible for establishing the western-designed game and Adi Granov was responsible for X's new design. It was intended to be the first of a trilogy of games, where players controlled its protagonist X in the first two games and then as Zero for the third. The game would have had similar platform elements found in earlier Mega Man X titles. It had a lifespan of about six months in 2010 before it was ultimately cancelled, due to internal disagreements around the same time Inafune departed from Capcom, during which other Mega Man titles were also scrapped. Concept and development Maverick Hunter was in development by Armature Studio and was to be published by Capcom for the Mega Man X series. 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. Its development would have been overseen by former Capcom producer Ben Judd. 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). An initial concept design showed X with a red glowing 'X' on his face. 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. 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. 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. Melee attacks would cause the game to switch to a third-person perspective for the attack. X's ability to steal