Thirty years ago, Megaman premiered on the Nintendo and changed the world. It was the premier platformer, a side-scroller that changed the way gamers and level designers thought about the industry. It spawned dozens of games, cartoons, and more, but Megaman has been a relatively quiet franchise for some time. The last new title outside of a collection, Megaman 10, came out seven years ago. But now, Capcom has released teasers and info for Megaman 11, coming out later next year.

Like Sonic Mania, Megaman 11 looks like a return to form, but a return marked not by the enhanced 3D graphics or mechanics of many of the later sequels, but by trying to take the 2D format to higher level of artistry and perfection. Falling rocks and objects seem to operate on far more realistic physics properties and all the models that look quite familiar, like the Picket Man spawning generations back across Megaman titles, look similar, but better. Everything is still trapped in the 2D side-scrolling world, but everything now has lighting effects and realistic movements. Shadows play across the backgrounds and foregrounds, and sometimes things move from one plane to another, from a static backdrop to an interacting foreground.

None of this is exactly new though. Many games have played around with merging newer technology with classic styles before, such as the top-down title Ruiner, but for Capcom, it’s a different direction for the series, something different than just changing the genre or expanding the franchise.

Up until Megaman X, the series followed a pretty consistent style, with each game looking nearly identical and with recognizable animations and enemies in every game. X gave newer models and a ramped up level of graphics and depth, and it is largely hailed as the best Megaman game. But for not entirely clear reasons, Capcom only explored this newer style into Megaman 7 and. However, Megaman 9 and 10 returned to classic Megaman, looking for all intents and purposes just like the original title and discarding any of the advances and changes that had come from previous titles.

With the exception of separate titles like Megaman Legends, Megaman 11 is a pretty big step for the buster cannon hero, and one which many have been waiting a long time for. While there are plenty of fans that love Megaman as a franchise – just like Mario, Link, or any of the other hall of famers – classic Megaman has always been the power-absorbing, side-scrolling hero that we see returning here.

As far as we’ve seen – which isn’t much – it looks exactly like what the series needed, but we’ll have to wait until next year to know for certain.