to the PlayStation Network online service. Development Mega Man Powered Up was developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation Portable handheld game console. It was produced by Keiji Inafune. Mega Man Powered Up was first seen on a list of games that would have demos at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show titled Rockman Rockman. It was later revealed to be a remake of the NES Mega Man. It was announced for a US release on November 8, 2005 under the title Mega Man Powered Up. A European release was also announced. It was bundled with Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X on UMD. It was slated to be released on the PSP's PlayStation Network service along with other Capcom PSP titles. While it was released for the Japanese PSN, a US release of Powered Up never occurred due to technical difficulties that neither Sony nor Capcom could resolve. Inafune had originally planned to use this chibi-style in the original Mega Man, but could not due to the hardware constraints of the NES. Producer Tetsuya Kitabayashi stated that redesigning the character models was a result of the PSP's 16:9 widescreen ratio. The larger heads on the characters allowed the development team to create visible facial expressions. Character designer Tatsuya Yoshikawa explained the concept of the design was "toys" and be "Geared towards little kids ... the kinds of characters that you'd see hanging off of keychains and such". He added that the design team made sure proportions and movements were accurately reflected on the models. As the size of the remake's stages are not proportional to those of the original, the widescreen ratio also presented the developers with more space to fill. The Robot Master Oil Man originally had black skin and pink lips, which GamesRadar identified as a "1920s caricature." The design was changed for the US release to blue skin and yellow lips to avoid controversy. Reception Pre-release Mega Man Powered Up received generally positive reception after it was revealed. It was perceived initially as a "straight port" of the NES game with graphical enhancements. IGN writer Nix felt that the graphical update as seen at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show was well-designed. He noted that its biggest hang-up was the fact that the original Mega Man was improved upon by its sequels and that the original lacked functions such as the charge shot, the slide, and Rush. Jeff