After an appearance at Tokyo Game Show last September, things have been awfully quiet on the Mega Man Universe front. Today we learned why, with an announcement from Capcom that the game has been canceled. The short post on Capcom's Japanese site didn't elaborate on the reasons behind the project's demise, other than cryptically citing "various circumstances."

The downloadable game was announced in July, promising user-created levels and plenty of Capcom fan service. Aside from the usual roster of contemporary Mega Man characters, players would also be able to take on Dr. Wily's forces as Ryu or even the goofy-looking interpretation of the character from the NES version's North American box art. The project was closely associated with Capcom's Keiji Inafune, who got his start at the company helping create the design for the original Mega Man before rising through the ranks to eventually oversee the company's global production. Inafune left the company in October, saying that he was becoming increasingly frustrated at his inability to simultaneously manage people and follow his creative interests.

While at TGS, we spoke with Mega Man Universe's producer, Akito Ito, who reinforced Inafune's personal attachment to the game. "Mr. Inafune is the father of Mega Man and his concept with Mega Man is always to explore new avenues," she said. "So he always wants to bring a fresh new approach for the fans and wants to surprise them. He will plop something down in front of us and say 'this is the new Mega Man!' And we will be surprised because we never would have thought to take it that direction."

We've contacted Capcom for comment on the cancellation, and we'll update this story as we learn more.

[Via Andriasang]