Mega Man Legacy Collection is neither a reboot nor a remaster. Rather, it simply packages together the first six Mega Man games from the old NES in their original 8-bit glory -- no gimmicky upgrades required. For anyone over, say, thirty years of age, this will be a most enjoyable trip down memory lane (except maybe for those damn disappearing/reappearing block sections). For you youngsters, get ready to experience near-perfection in platforming level design, as well as the best old-school video game soundtrack ever recorded.
The only change I noticed to the core game play is the ability to save your progress at any point, which spares players the annoyance of having to redo tricky platforming sections if they happen to die before reaching a checkpoint. Purists may whine that this makes the games too easy now (the Mega Man series was notorious for its difficulty back in the day), but there's an easy workaround for that: don't use the save feature if you don't like it. The old password-grid system is still in place if you really insist on keeping things totally retro.
Aside from the base games, there's a few extras tossed in, most notably the "challenge" mode. In it, players must complete a timed obstacle course comprised of various sections of the first six games, all linked together by warp zones. So for example, you may start out by having to defeat Cut Man; be instantly warped to a platforming section in Magnet Man's level if you defeat Cut Man; find yourself falling through the laser pit in Quick Man's level if you managed to beat the Magnet Man section; and so on, until you either reach the end of the course or run out of time. You're awarded a bronze, silver, or gold medal depending on how quickly you reach the finish line. And of course there's the inevitable leader boards for you competitive types who actually care about such things. Just a heads-up though, the top spots are obviously taken by cheaters who supposedly finished the challenge in one second.
Also included as an "extra" are production sketches for each game. The only interesting ones are the concept art of certain stages, as well as designs for unused Robot Masters. (There's not a ton of them, so don't get too excited). Finally, each game comes with a jukebox if you can't get enough of those famously awesome Mega Man tunes. The best tracks (in my objectively correct opinion) are Metal Man's stage, followed by Dr. Wily's castle in Mega Man II and maybe Top Man's theme.
As for the games themselves, I enjoy all of them, but if you really forced me to rank them I would say Mega Man II-IV are stone cold classics; V-VI are enjoyable but ultimately forgettable; and Mega Man I gets by partially on historical significance, given how relatively clunky and riddled with cheap kills it is.
I'm going to touch base on the base games included and let you know a little about them below.
Is a black sheep in the series, holding several things that no other MM game has. The first of these, is something neutral, neither good nor bad. The score and points at the top of the screen, collected via beating Robot Masters and grabbing Point Balls, a random circular drop that has different color each stage. The second exclusive trait is, without a doubt in my mind, the worst thing in Mega Man 1: No Spike Invincibility, at all. In any other MM game, the spikes, which are instant death, can be temporarily blocked when you are flashing after taking damage, but in the first game this doesn't happen. The easiest place to see this is in a room in Bomb Man's level. There are one square platforms over spikes, with infinite amounts of shell enemies that shoot eight ways. If you get hit here, and fall, you're dead, even if you have temporary invincibility. And lastly, the number of Robot Masters is two fewer than the normal 8, albeit the remake, Powered Up, had eight. This is remedied by the fact that five out of the six are fairly memorable.
The first set of Robot Masters include Cut Man, who's one of, if not the easiest of the six, and has the Rolling Cutter, a pair of scissors that are thrown and boomerang back; Guts Man, who's stage is harder than he is, and has Super Arm, a strength upgrade, which, in Mega's hands, is fairly useless, only able to be used on certain blocks; Bomb Man, who, other than his stage, doesn't have a whole going for him, with his mediocre weapon, the Hyper Bomb, being all but useless on anything not named 'Guts Man'; Fire Man, who seems like a bit of a 'hot-head' judging from his design, and possesses the Fire Storm, a shield of fireballs that also shoots one forward at the same time; Ice Man, with the first or second most aggrivating levels in the games, and the Ice Slasher, which does no damage, but freezes enemies in place; and Elec Man, who is the toughest of all, as he deals a third of your health in one hit, has no pattern, and runs around his uneven arena at the fastest of the six's speed. He gives you the Thunder Beam, which is the best weapon in the game, shooting three ways, dealing a ton of damage, and having a lot of weapon energy. Wily, their leader, has 3-4 levels, each with a difficult boss (Yellow Devil, Copy Robot, CWU-01P) at the end of each. It's worth a try without a doubt, but pales compared to 2, 3, 4, 6, and sometimes, 5.
Is hailed as the best in the series, and one of the best in the NES's lineup. I...don't really agree or disagree. It's a fairly broken game at points, such as two of the Wily bosses (the Booebeam Trap and the final boss) both requiring a specific weapon, Crash Bomb, and Bubble Lead, to fight. This wouldn't be an issue if Crash Bomb had more than 10 uses, or the fact you can grind for weapon energy for Bubble Lead in that stage. Balance is also a definite issue, with the Metal Blades being painfully broken and powerful, and the Bubble Lead, Crash Bomb, and Atomic Fire feeling redundant and/or useless except for bosses or a few rooms. Also, you can get one shot by the Mecha Dragon before it even spawns, teleporting on top of you, and either A. knocking you into the pits, or B. literally telefragging you with it's horns.
I will give it a number of things though: It's intuitive, as a few weakness make sense, like the fire enemy being weak to water, or the fast boss being weak to the Time Stopper. It's soundtrack's one of the better ones in the series, for sure, even if songs like Quick Man's make me want to take a cheese grater to my eardrums after 3 minutes. I think that some of the Robot Masters, like Quick Man or Metal Man, are very iconic and cool, and even some odd ones, like Wood Man or Flash Man have grown on me. Mega Man 2, while a bit overrated, is one of the definitive entries in the series along with 3 and, arguably, 7.
Is a reasonably fun game, but the difficulty is lower than the rest of the six, maybe tied with 5. The weapons and Robot Masters, and even the stages and music are hit or miss. The Shadow Blade, Needle Cannon, and Magnet Missile are all great, but things like Hard Knuckle (bad), Top Spin (awful), and Spark Shock (atrocious) exist in this game too, so it's weighed down. The Robot Masters follow the same trend, with Shadow Man, Gemini Man, and Magnet Man being cool, and then...Top Man happens. This is one of the lamest overall characters in any of the Mega Man series, with a bad design, an easy fight, a horrific weapon, a discordant level to his theme, and music which isn't bad, but isn't good either. I don't have much to say on Mega Man 3, mostly because I could have summed it up with one word: Mediocre.
However, is in my opinion, a masterpiece. Yes, it DOES have Toad Man, and Bright Man, but damn if Skull Man and Pharaoh Man aren't super cool! Even Ring Man, a lame concept, is executed well, with a flashy stage and good music, even if the mini-bosses can get repetitive fast. Every single weapon in this game is useful in some manner as well! Flying enemies? Dive Missle will stop 'em! Need a quick stop? Flash Stopper can give it to you! Up 'n' Downs taking you down? Skull Barrier can help, or maybe even Rain Flush!
Maybe I'm exaggerating, as Drill Bomb and Dust Crusher suck, pun intended, and the Wily stages are...questionable. It may not be the best, but it's a classic regardless. The charge started here, and the slide was made better.
Is...maybe the weakest, maybe better than 1, weaker than 3. I like Star Man, Crystal Man, and Napalm Man, but...they're a weak lot, both literally, being a bunch of easy fights, and metaphorically, with bad designs with a few of 'em. And the weapons are mediocre a lot of the time, ie Water Wave, Star Crash, and the like being bad without a lot of training to make Power Stone fun and useful, or Crystal Eye or Charge Kick stylish. It's the weakest of the 6, but at least it's not Mega Man 8, right?
Is my favorite, but I know that's not the norm. I like the music, specifically Tomahawk Man and Yamato Man's theme, but best of all, the first Mr. X theme. The designs are cool, and I like the various countries theming. The weapons are nice too, with Knight Crush being a personal favorite. The Robot Masters are some of my favorite, with Centaur Man in my top ten. My only gripe with the game is the odd annoying room, notably the Knight Man crusher room, that requires a bit of foresight and speed at the same time.
I would first and foremost like to thank my dad. Without him, this review wouldn't be possible. My dad has been collecting Nintendo Games since before I was even born, and he's got a collection of 650ish now. He's shared many amazing Nintendo games with me such as River City Ransom, Duck Hunt, Burger Time, and the Zelda series in my time. All of those are amazing games. But my all time favorite, the one that always stuck out (even more than Zelda, don't judge me.) was the Mega man Series. Especially Mega man 2. I have been playing Mega man roughly since I was 4 Years Old, and let me say it has been a series of tremendous experiences.
The Mega Man Legacy Collection has been a hell of a blast so far, has been a very nostalgic experience, and continues to make my love for the Mega man Franchise very, very, VERY Glossy!
So, to wrap up my review, I can't give this game a solid 100 out of 100 just due to the fact that it has tons of bugs, but what I will do, is give it a 90 out of 100.
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