By no means MML2 and its predecessor were blockbusters back in the day. To be honest, what hooked me into MML2 was pure curiosity. I was like: a Megaman game, but no Dr. Wily/Sigma (the X series)? How come? And it's in 3D? Can't be good... but it looks fun. I may get bashed for saying this, but to me Megaman Legends 1-2 was Metroid in 3D since Nintendo never released Metroid 64.
I know people need money to put food on the table. Nobody would like to work for free and yes, the Legends series are obscure, to say the least. Only the blue bomber's most hardcore fans know about it. Did it lack a good business model? Did it lack a niche? I can't say, since in my eyes it will remain a great game and therefore my opinion is biased.
If you ask me, Nintendo will never buy the blue bomber and his friends because they have already gotten enough characters. MML may not have sold as many copies as Final Fantasy 7 or Pokemon did, but if we talk about the X series the numbers are different. Not all Resident Evil games sold a lot, take Gun Survivor for instance. Still, RE is still alive. Same goes for Street Fighter. MML, like Command Mission on the PS2 aren't the mainstream's choice. In my eyes Capcom had no reason to kill Megaman like they did. If it's not profitable enough, save it for later but to ridicule him like they did (I'm talking about the chubby Megaman in Marvel vs Capcom 3) really hurt me. I know, I'm too sensitive about this stuff...
To put it in perspective: Shadow of the Colossus, The Legend of Dragoon and Super Metroid aren't the best selling games of all time, yet can you disagree they're good games? If you compare their numbers to the aforementioned Final Fantasy & Pokemon there's no comparison. Sure, they sold well and never got a sequel (except Metroid, of course). Sony moved on and Nintendo tries to not put Samus to shame. I get the feeling that IntiCreates is where it's at. Azure Gunvolt was Inafune's way of telling us that the blue bomber may change the leaves, but the essence lives on...
