Mega Man Legacy Collection

Editor's Notes

Digital copy reviewed for Xbox One. A pricier boxed version is expected sometime in 2016.

Introduction

Mega Man is one of the most recognizable gaming icons of all time, right up there with early Nintendo icons Mario, Link, and Samus. He was created by Capcom developers Akira Kitamura and Keiji Inafune, the latter of whom went on to develop many 'Mega Man' games and also produced 'Dead Rising' and 'Lost Planet'. The 'Mega Man Legacy Collection' curates the first six 'Mega Man' titles, all of them released between 1987 and 1993 on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The project was developed by a reborn Digital Eclipse, a company specializing in game refurbishing and preservation.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

Early 'Mega Man' games followed a very recognizable pattern. They are side-scrolling 2D platformers in which the hero is a robot who can jump and shoot energy balls from his hand. The games sport a series of distinct bosses, the robot masters, all robots whose names also end in "Man." Each boss has a specific power that Mega Man can collect upon their defeat. The dastardly robots are controlled by the evil Dr. Wily, who has grown tired of being a humble lab assistant and has set out to conquer the world. Mega Man (also known as Rockman in Japan) and his sister Roll were also created by Wily and his mentor Dr. Light, and it falls upon Mega Man to defeat his brothers and Dr. Wily and restore order to Monsteropolis.

The 'Mega Man' series has spawned many sequels, remakes, spin-offs, and compilations. Unlike earlier remakes, such as the PSP’s 'Mega Man Powered Up', the titles in 'Mega Man Legacy Collection' have not been significantly altered. There is no chibi art here or anything like that. The games are presented in all of their 8-bit glory, along with a lot of bells and whistles to go along with them.

The games in the collection play well, or at least as well as games were playing in the late 80s. Like the older selections from 'Rare Replay', it is a profound learning experience to play 30-year-old games. 'Mega Man' games are renowned for their difficulty, especially the first game in the series. It has been quite a while since I played any of them, so it was mixture of nostalgia and pain to get through the platforming sections and the constantly respawning enemies. Sometimes it's a good challenge, such as fighting (most of) the bosses, but other times the gameplay can be downright unfair, like trying to get through Crystal Man’s level in 'Mega Man 5' with its damn falling rocks. Not unlike a roguelike, 'Mega Man Legacy Collection' is less of a mainstream game, and is probably most appropriate for 'Mega Man' aficionados or retro platforming junkies.

Each robot boss can be fought in any order, a non-linear approach that was unique for the time and would influence later generations. Some of the bosses have weaknesses to specific weapons, rewarding players who complete levels in a certain order. Mega Man’s most basic weapon can be fired in a semi-automatic fashion and also in three-round bursts, although it can be difficult to control while jumping, and I often found that he would switch directions on me between shots. I have a few other mild complaints about gameplay (like the original menus, which are an inscrutable mystery), but ultimately this was a series that was designed to be hard to complete, so a "warts and all" approach is highly recommended.