The Mega Man Legacy Collection is nostalgic, exciting, disappointing and confusing all at the same time. As a huge fan of Mega Man and as someone who has grown up with him, I was really excited to see that this icon was getting some more recognition. There isn’t much to say that hasn’t already been said about him, so I’ll cut (man) to the chase: The Mega Man Legacy Collection makes a great and sentimental trip down memory lane, but it is missing content. The Mega Man Legacy Collection will feel comfortably familiar to those that took control of him on the Nintendo, but it’s lacking some really handy and convenient modern features. Finally, The Mega Man Legacy Collection is a perfect travel companion if you go the 3DS route like I did, but I have difficult time recommending it to home consoles.
This collection of Mega Man contains Mega Man through Mega Man 6, copied and pasted in all of their 8-bit, pixelated, sometimes-buggy-but-always-charming glory. Newcomers to world (of video games) will soon learn that in each game Mega Man needs to defeat the evil Dr. Wily and his boss robot minions. In order to do this, he will traverse various stages, fight the boss robots, take their powers and carry on to the next stage. Everything you know and love about Mega Man through Mega Man 6 is all here. The platforms of Guts Man’s stage are still evil and will cause you to fall towards bottomless pits many a times. The Metal Blade from Mega Man 2 will make the nearly rest of the game a cake walk. Watching Mega Man slide under danger in Mega Man 3 is still exhilarating. Watching Toad Man in Mega Man 4 attempt to take you down is both entertaining and hilarious. Watching the fully charged Mega Buster let loose at just the right time against Gravity Man in Mega Man 5 never stops being satisfying. Finally, watching Mega Man soar to new heights with a Rush jet pack will make you forget about his less than impeccable jumping abilities. There is a lot of fun to be had as you Mega Buster your way through each game.
And as you get further and further down memory lane, you’ll begin to realize that this collection could have benefited from more. The biggest problem with the original games on the NES was the password system. Thankfully in the Legacy Collection, you can create save states so you can pick up from where you left off. However, the ability to use a shoulder button to swap weapons would have been useful. The lack of Mega Mans 7, 8, 9 and 10 is confusing. There aren’t any bonus games, either. You can listen to the music from any of the games, battle bosses, participate in challenges, and access an informative database that has information on every enemy in each game. Still, I would have much rather of had the ability to play more games instead of dealing with these quick add-ons.
Like this review, there really isn’t much to say about The Mega Man Legacy Collection. Mega Man through Mega Man 6 are available to play and remain 99% untouched. The look is the same, the music (thankfully) is the same and the challenge is the same. I’m confused as to why Capcom released this in the first place. The Mega Man Anniversary Collection is much meatier and was released years before Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10 were even a thought. Still, it’s Mega Man. If you like him as much as I do, then owning The Mega Man Legacy Collection isn’t a totally bad idea.
Overall, 6/10: This is recommended only to the true-blue (bomber) fans of Mega Man.