Capcom voices frustration that it can't yet prove its commitment to the Mega Man franchise...

In the wake of the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 on 3DS, Capcom has faced fierce criticism over its handling of the classic and revered franchise. As the series' most ardent fans accuse the company of neglecting one of its key characters, Capcom has been on the defensive, insisting that it will not abandon the Blue Bomber.

At Capcom-Unity, the company's Chris Svensson rubbished suggestions that Mega Man was a 'forgotten brand', but admitted that Capcom currently has nothing to back up its stance.

"Oh, absolutely not. The frustrating thing for me is I have nothing I can hold up and say, 'Oh, here's this other Mega Man thing'. Absolutely, we have other things� Mega Man is a very important brand to Capcom. We get questions [like] 'Are you guys trying to kill the brand?' No, absolutely not. It will continue to be a very important brand for us. I wish I had something I could hold and display for you that that's the case, but I don't right now. But super, super important to us; I do want to express that."

Fans still hurting from the canning of Legends 3 will probably not find much solace in Svennson's defence of the decision.

"The decision was not made lightly. Certainly, we knew there would be a lot of upset people and in spite of that, we still had to make that decision. That doesn't mean we don't care about you at all. I unfortunately can't get into the details of it, but it was not a decision that was made lightly and I can tell you that no one is happy about that decision, but it was a decision that had to be made."

A fan-created Facebook group set up to rescue Legends 3 from the bin currently stands at over 40,000 members.