I feel Capcom had a similar problem with Megaman: they didn't feel comfortable with solely using the same design for bigger stories, so they opted for the more adult X spinoffs, and then similarly did the same for Legends and Battle Network (ironically I feel this backfired). Even Ruby Spears attempted to be faithful for their show pilot, but test audiences didn't like it, so we got a mediocre jocked up muscle Mega Man. While in Japan the anime OVAs were very cutesy and basic, despite games being more action oriented