Capcom of Japan today announced a brand new RPG set in the Mega Man X universe, titled Mega Man X Command Mission. Utilizing a cel-shaded graphic style remarkably similar to the upcoming Mega Man X7, the new game also stars X7's three heroes: Mega Man, Zero and Axl will be joined by a new female character. The plot will take players to Gigantis Island where they will try to stop General Upsilon (relation to Sigma? Could be...) and his army.

In non-standard RPG fashion - yet standard Mega Man form, the game will be broken up into stages where players will battle enemies. Afterwards, the team will return to the Hunter Base. During the game, action will be presented in a 3D 3rd-person view, akin to Mega Man Legends.

Battles are also fully 3D, though gameplay is carried out through menus. Judging by the screen shot released, we can see each character will have LE and WE (presumably Life Energy and Weapon Energy); on the bottom right, a chart will display the turn order of battles (think Xenosaga Episode I or Final Fantasy X). Finally, battles will feature more player input for special attacks, such as combination or timed button presses.

Scheduled for release on both the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, Mega Man Command Mission (Rockman X Command Mission in Japan) is due in Japan sometime next year, with a North American release to follow.

• GameSpot