In the year 20XX, the robot hero Mega Man is in a strange place. For whatever reason, Capcom seems to think of the storied series as something of a relic of the past - something that inspires nostalgia and reverence, sure, but not a franchise that could compete in today's world of gritty shooters and action titles. Mega Man Legacy Collection, which features emulated versions of the first six NES Mega Man games along with a treasure trove of extras, indeed invokes nostalgia for gaming's past, as well as making us long for the blue bomber to return.
Mega Man Legacy Collection features complete versions of Mega Man through to Mega Man 6. Developer Digital Eclipse has created pixel-perfect emulations of each title making for a very authentic experience. Anyone old enough to have played the games when they were first released on the NES will recognize the flicker, occasional slowdown and glitches throughout, but in this case those issues have been included deliberately and are - perhaps, depending on your perspective - welcome. Gamers who grew up with Mega Man learned to play well because there were no patches back then to fix framerate or balancing - just try fighting the Yellow Devil without the pause trick.
Digital Eclipse has wisely included a few options to appeal to today's audience. Each game contains one save state, so you can easily stop in the middle of a level and continue later. You can also access the boss battles of each game through the database menu, if you just want to practice taking down the various insane robot masters. You can also play the games with a border displaying art from the game, or choose to play without one.
The collection includes a Challenge mode, featuring remixed versions of stages from all six games; this is a lot of fun and provides plenty of replay value, with completed challenges unlocking more to take on. Additionally, more challenges can be unlocked with the Mega Man amiibo, but the content already on display is more than enough and those without the amiibo shouldn't feel left out.
Each game, of course, varies in quality. We had the most fun with Mega Man 2, which is where most of the hallmarks of the series really began. The first Mega Man is uncompromisingly brutal and often frustrating, but also rewarding when you finally figure out a tough platforming sequence or kill a robot master. Your enjoyment of the collection will naturally depend on how much you enjoy old-school platformers (or if you're a Mega Man fan). We've reviewed all of these originals separately, in some cases on multiple occasions, so head to the respective game pages if you want full assessments of each game.
By the time you are playing through Mega Man 6 - and you can play the games in any order, there's no unlocking system - you'll either feel like an expert or burnt out. We felt a little bit of both, to be fair, but that's more due to the sheer amount we played in a short amount of time. Each game has its own database and museum, meanwhile, filled with concept art, advertisements, old cartridges, packaging and more. For enthusiasts and anyone who's scoured the internet looking for old, rare gaming memorabilia, this will be a real draw.
Conclusion
Mega Man Legacy Collection is a great package with a lot of content and stuff to do - for newcomers it's worth acknowledging that each game is very challenging, and could be too much for someone who isn't used to the steep learningcurve. With that in mind the wealth of extras, the challenge mode and the sheer scope of six games nevertheless make Mega Man Legacy Collection a great option for anyone who's looking for an old-school treat.
Comments 93
While this is a cool collection it is kinda pointless for me to buy it when I already have Mega Man 1-6 via the virtual console on my 3ds.
How does the performance compare to the console versions?
you know while it's a great collection but calling it a "Legacy" collection you would think it contained all the Mega Man games
it should have been called "Mega Man NES Collection"
I guess no mention of stereoscopic 3D means none here?
I would have been interested had they put in even minimal 3D
CAPCOM is in such a sad state these days, they have such great IP's that are just languishing out in the ether being ignored. How awesome would a new Viewtiful Joe, Okami or Mega Man be, c'mon CAPCOM either do something with these or sell them to someone who will.
Great review! Though I always thought that the difficulty of the Yellow Devil is a bit overrated (even without the pause trick), as the next boss, the Mega Man Clone is harder in my opinion. Anyways, I'll download this day 1.
One question, though: does the Mega Man amiibo unlock the extra challenges permanently, or do I have to scan it each time I want to play them?
@Krisi The Yellow Devil is definitely hard the first try, but after you learn his pattern it's a piece of cake.
@Mr_Zurkon I'm hoping the kicking their getting for SF V (the bare arse content, not the solid gameplay) and the praise for MH X makes Capcom get its crap together. they used to be the source of my top games and now they are just kinda "there"
I've purchased the American version of this game, for that golden amiibo. So the chances.are, I will never play this game. Silly region locking. Good one Nintendo
So what exactly are the differences between this version and the console versions?
There's no point in me getting this, since I have the anniversary collection for the GameCube. It comes with Megaman 1-8, along with two Megaman arcade games. Plus extras like concept art and remixed music.
I am a big time Blue Bomber fan (if you encounter me online in Smash, chances are, I'm him). But I already bought these games for the VC. Can't really justify a purchase.
Still, I love the Mega Man games (2 and 3 are the best), and if you don't already have the VC versions, I would recommend you buy this.
So what's the word on US pricing for the digital release? It's listed in the eShop as $29.99, but it seems odd that it would be double the price of the digital game on all other consoles.
Allready has them on eshop, but will buy the Japanese retail release
I'd rather play this on the big screen, would be more comfortable with a normal controller to play it.
For me it all comes down to the way the game actually looks in motion on the system. I find NES games on the 3DS VC don't look that good and I wonder how these games have been stretched etc.
Lots of informations missing in this review: what are the display options, is 3D used, does it have glitches/slowdowns (I read there are)...
Has anyone seen that the Legacy Collection is $30 on the eshop digitally? I have the CE on order, but i hope this isn't the case, seeing as the PS4/X1/PC versions are $15 digitally.
@kirbygirl Yeah i also saw that, weird pricing.
@abe_hikura Same here, they were so great back in the NES days.
Speaking of mega man Keiji Inafune and inti creates announced azure striker gunvolt 2 yesterday at magfest
@gaby_gabito Performance ? The VC version on Wii, WiiU and 3DS are pretty much perfekt. The collection runs the same way.
If youre talking about sprite flicker and slowdowns, yes, they are in this collection too, and they are deliberatly emulated that way.
Basically, the game does artificially stutter and flicker to be as close to the original game as it can be.
@G0dlike You do know you can use homebrew through the 3ds browser to play it region free...
@Einherjar there's been accounts of extra slowdown, flicker and glitches that aren't in the regular NES games.
The merits of the games emulated aside, does the addition of a remixed mode (with meager, throwaway Amiibo content) and a few artwork stills really make this package distinct enough to deserve a 9/10? There's not even stereoscopic 3D (I mean...seriously?!) and no other games available besides the NES games that are and have been available everywhere forever, meaning that there's almost no advantage to buying this entire collection of NES Mega Man games over your individual favorites from the VC (each of those having the option for unlimited save states), especially when there are reports of additional bugs not found in the original game. They could have at least included "The Wily Wars", which is scarcely available anywhere else yet would have taken less than the minimalistic amount of effort they spent on the rest of this collection to include. This was obvious to be another one of Capcom's lazy efforts ever since it was announced, and now it's proven to be one of their laziest.
Even though I'm also a huge fan of the Blue Bomber, this disgracefully cash-in collection deserves nothing more than a 7/10.
I just want to stress (not to be an ass but to be genuinely helpful) that this collection is completely inferior to the Mega Man Collection's found on PS2 and Gamecube. While I can't speak for how good Challenge Mode is, the Collection Discs while not emulated all that well, provide ALL of the Mega Man games minus the Gameboy ones and the Japanese-only Rockman & Forte . The PS2/GC versions also include a remix mode of their own that adds features from Rockman: Complete Works in Japan. Not only that, they include a few Arcade games and the X Collection has Rockman: Battle and Chase if I'm not mistaken. While the PS2/GC Collection is not ideal either, it's a whole hell of a lot better than buying this quick cash-grab.
Seriously, please people. Skip. Capcom doesn't deserve your money and a 9/10 review can't change that fact. Don't do it. As @Gauchorino pointed out (and good eyes catching that as it completely slipped my notice), they didn't even bother to include any 3D features. There is absolutely no reason to waste money on this unless...
A: You do not have a Gamecube, Wii, or PS2
B: You have never played the initial 6 Mega Man games
or C: You're an extremely hardcore Mega Man fan who will buy anything Mega Man (No shame in it, I'm one myself.)
Otherwise, just hit up Amazon.com or Ebay and grab a copy of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection. Get the X Collection while you're at it. They're not perfect either, but they're better than this. I suppose an option D would be if you absolutely have to have a Mega Man game on the go but the VC versions exist for that reason.
@Onion Additionally, as others here pointed out, this collection is also available on PC with all the same features (but possibly without the Amiibo bonus levels) but for a third of the 3DS version's price, meaning that there's even less significance in getting this version over any of the billions of other methods Capcom has used over the years to make any/all of these games available.
Well, it's good to see that the Legacy Collection delivers to a decent extent. There's still no reason to me to buy it though since I have all 6 via VC and the art and challenges aren't enough to convince me otherwise.
@Onion that collection never made it into the UK sadly.
Are they honestly trying to sell us more Mega Man? Jeez. Give it a rest...
@Gauchorino
I did see something like that mentioned, yes, along with some apparently unfixed bugs. I'm just playing devil's advocate here and trying to somehow come up with a justification for getting this subpar collection. Given that this is available on other platforms though, it's extremely hard to justify this.
@davidevoid
Oh wow... really? I confess I was not aware of that fact. I can't fathom why they wouldn't make that game available to folks in Europe.
Does this game have a control configuration option?
What kind of review doesn't even mention the number one question- IS THERE 3D???
@Krisi
Snake Man weapon to take out the clones in a jiffy.
It's cool but I have all the mega man games on virtual console on my Wii U so I won't be buying this.
@gaby_gabito This is something I'd like to know as well due to many conflicting reports. I came across a thread on NeoGaf about the 3DS having some sort of screen refresh issues and sound.
@BurningSonic Exactly.
@JaxonH I'm talking about the first game: that one doesn't have Snake Search in it, sadly. Also, that fight is a bit different.
@Krisi
OH you're right there was a clone in the first game. I thought Gamma and clones and immediately my mind jumped to MM3.
Was like huh? That clone fight was easy lol!
Now it makes sense
As a Megaman fan I am obligated to get this and that gold Megaman amiibo even though I already have them all on 3DS VC.
I'm specifically avoiding the Legacy Collection since they're not bringing the Gold Mega Man amiibo to Europe. I already own the 6 Mega Man games on Virtual Console, so it's not much of a loss.
9/10 is way higher than I've seen elsewhere - I've held off on buying the 6 VC games because this at $15 digital is cheaper than getting all six at ~$25ish, and the only place I'm going to miss save states is MM1. But goodness are people sour about this game in general, and it certainly looks like they've got reason to be.
European pricing, please?
Seeing as this is the 3DS version, I read about players complaining that the PC and PS4 versions of the Legacy Collection are experiencing input delay between when you press a button and when Mega Man does something. Is this the case here, or is it fixed? If the former, then I'd rather get the games individually in the eShop--in fact, I already have!
@dadajo Same. If it at least included Mega Man 9 and 10 then I'd probably get it.
I think I'll pass. I already bought 1-4 on my 3ds as they were released, and I even rebought 2 and 3 for the Wii U for conveinent big screen play. 4 was just as boring as I remembered it back when it was on cartridge, so I stop there. Considering that I voluntarily buy these old school VC games to help the developers and Nintendo (I have the entire library of all old school games on every system), and I still have my MegaMan Anniversary disc on the PS2, I'll just pass on this one. Why isn't this coming out on the Wii U?
@mjc0961 I feel this collection is if you want to play the games in their original NES state, and you want to read the museum stuff and do the challenges.
Pretty bummed I didn't act on my pre order for collectors fast enough, now I have to wait for Amazon or eBay to have this up for double the price, but it's well worth it.
@NinChocolate i own the game and there is 3d if you have the borders on
@HeroOfCybertron yes it does and theres even a turbo fire option
That's a pretty short review.A few things were left out.I think that the upcoming Sega 3D collection would be better to buy.
Hey guys, the 3D element is minimal - if you choose to have a border, the game screen pops out a little. It's a small thing and I chose not to include it in the review.
This was an extremely generic review. Was it even played on a 3DS? The NES had a vertical resolution of 240 pixels, same as the 3DS. Granted, some of that was lost in the overscan on the old TV's, so trimming it at the top and bottom is regularly done to hide the rough bits that were never intended to be seen in the first place. Still, that doesn't account for the large top and bottom borders in the screenshots, and the HD border art. Cut out the screenshots that don't come from the 3DS, and tell us how it plays. Can I use A to jump, and B to fire? Can I play it on the bottom screen instead of the top?
@DarthKirby
The game is so lazy and mediocre, you can tell they didn't even try to review it. Capcom put in no effort, so why should the reviewer? Giving it a bad score is tricky because the games themselves are good, it's the package that blows.
How embarrassing for Nintendo if this plays the same as the VC releases but without the patches for flashing, the darkened screen, and the random stretch from 256->284.
I don't know if hypocritical is the correct word for this but Nintendo licensing this game basically means they don't care, they never did. If a game is likely to cause a seizure it gets darkened; if a game has no chance of causing seizures it gets darkened. Pokemon Yellow is the latest victim, they blended the flashes in the intro, yet they still darkened the screen, whilst every other GBC VC has the unaltered colors.
Wheres the Wii U version? Because um... My 3DS already has all the Virtual Console it can possibly mega have.
The GameCube collection was 100x superior.... But I preordered this with the amiibo anyways.. Because I'm an idiot.
I'm definitely picking this up somewhere down the road along with a Mega Man amiibo. I have 5 and 6 on Wii U but it'll be nice to have a collection all on one cart on 3DS.
I also just feel like supporting Mega Man no matter what these days. Such a great character and a great franchise but being handled terribly by Capcom for years now.
If I knew the UK price and it is something like £13 then I'll probably get it, does anyone know the UK price?
@davidevoid Where do you mean ? Wii VC, WiiU VC, 3DS VC or the collection ?
@Einherjar Apparently these emulated ports in the Legacy Collection aren't perfect and have extra slowdown and issues when compared to the original NES carts.
@davidevoid Really ? I never played it, als i dont see a point in purchasing yet another inferior collection of games, i own more than i should.
Thats interesting that the version running on superior hardware is the one supposedly having more issues.
Or they simply overdid it while "emulating" these issues while the actual hardware (and mostly accurate system emulators) only have these issues under very specific circumstances.
I need to look into that, thanks for the headsup.
@Onion I'll be grabbing this to show support for Mega Man titles. I want to own 1-6 on the go, since the only ones I've played are 2, 4, and 5. I'm also interested in the museum unlockables. It's ok with me if there's no 3D added, that's not what I buy 3DS games for ironically. I buy them for the game play, and this collection is going to have incredible game play.
Considering I have the Gamecube collection, there certainly is no need for this which is missing two of the games, 7 and 8.
Even still, why not include Megaman 9 and 10? Technically it's 4 games missing but there's less logic to not include 7 and 8.
Meh, I'll hold onto my two gamecube mega man collections instead. If it got a physical release in Europe I'd pick it up.
This is what the NES was all about for me. I mean, sure, I loved Mario (and Sonic, and Alex Kidd), but Mega Man was my first video gaming obsession.
I'm pretty sure I'll eventually get this physically, as this is the sort of box that I would want on my shelf.
Big Mega Man fan back in the day so will get this but bummed out we don't get a physical release with that Gold Mega Man Amiibo.
@AlienX Well, the joke's on you since it seems that collection has very serious issues that affect gameplay, and the best way to play Mega Man on 3DS is the Virtual Console.
Also, outputting games in their original 4:3 format is not "random".
What a very bleh review of one of the greatest videogame franchises ever.
Someone already asked but, does the game run in 3d?
Aren't the graphics redrawn in a way that is supposed to make the pixels appear HD on the 3ds?
@Simbabbad Just to be clear 284x240 is not a 4:3 ratio.
Instead of telling me there's an issue with the games why not just tell me what that issue is?
I don't see how the joke's on me, the only NES VC I have is SMB3 and I always run it with the standard settings using homebrew.
@AlienX The 3DS VC outputs the original ratio displayed on TVs back then and has perfect emulation. The collection, as numerous reports have established already, suffers from slowdowns and stutters that weren't in the original games.
The joke is on you because you try to shame Nintendo for the Virtual Console and praise this collection, when the Virtual Console is actually the best way to experience Mega Man on 3DS whereas this collection is the worst, by quite a margin.
The fact the digital edition of the collection is sold in the US at the same price as all the Virtual Console Mega Man games combined makes this collection a true insult to any gamer, and is a damn shame for Capcom.
As for playing pirated games, that's your decision.
@Einherjar
Yeah it's more like a port collection with a few extras. My GBA TLoZ has sprite flicker and slowdown. I wish they hadn't gone out of their way to emulate it like that though. That does irritate me. Morons. Plus slowdown happens at the worst possible times, like when your making big or tricky jumps. -_-
Anyway, I'm dragging my sick, sorry butt down to GameStop tomorrow to pick up my copy. At least I'll have something familiar and be-loved to play with while I'm stuck in bed.
@mjc0961
Damn straight.
@Simbabbad I'm not defending this collection(I don't play MM), I just thought it infuriating that those changes Nintendo does to VC games are not required at all, and they admit that by licensing this collection. By that I mean they don't have a rule about it, they just do it.
With homebrew you can edit the config on-the-fly to change/fix these settings. I wouldn't call it piracy.
This is why I know you're wrong, the 284 width IS random, I don't know your personal preference to emulation, SMB3 is definitely missing some flickers in the map screen, that's not perfect.
If you can do the math, you can arrive at the correct width.
The 3DS pixel aspect ratio is 1:1 (square pixels), the NES PAR is 8:7, the width of the games is 256...
1/1*8/7*256 = 292.5
You know most of the time Nintendo did follow a similar setup for Wii VC, but they would always use close enough values instead of the accurate ones. So I don't see anything wrong with shaming the VC.
Have you seen Kirby's Adventure in Kirby's Dream Collection? Likely the best example, the digital VC version did it right, but the one in the collection is badly scaled.
I was just giving my 2 cents, I don't see why everything always turns out negative.
As a Mega Man fan since the 80's Mega Man 2 hype, I will be getting this title eventually but at a discounted price.
But I will say this, now that the review time has arrived: based on what I know and what was stated above, this is NOT worthy of a "9" considering your other 3DS Mega Man VC options. I don't think the extra content really deems it that high. No 3D (to my knowledge) only destroys the day-one deal with me. Expect this price to drop, folks, shortly. Also, with the upcoming release of Street Fighter V, you'd think Capcom could whip up a little marketing magic and at least release "Street Fighter X Mega Man" with this port as a bonus...?? That at least would have made this game a "pew-pew" more magical. The addition of the other WiiWare titles (MM9 and MM10) would have also made this game a tad more worthy.
This game would be nice with my physical collection, but just not get that much play time.
What doesn't Nintendolife not give a 9 to anymore? "Criterion Collection" my left foot. Glad I have the 6 original carts and a NES to play them.
Blame Capcom,not Nintendo.
Why'd you hide things behind Amiibos, Nintendo? Such bullhang.
@Tempestryke Well, a classics collection IS a classics collection, warts and all
I personally prefer a more authentic approach honestly.
Either go authentic or overhaul everything. Old assets with improvements is just weird imo.
That said, i still think its an overly lazy attempt at a collection, considering that there already is the anniversary collection featuring every game up until 8.
The selection of games coupled with a sub-par challenge mode simply doent add anything i dont already own multiple times.
I've been waiting for the 3DS version for so long, that I am glad I am finally downloading it. I wanted the physical package with the gold amiibo, but it was sold out on Amazon, and there aren't any game stores in my city. So I am currently downloading the digital (and glad they fixed the price to $14.99, same as the other digital versions).
I thought I would buy the game in the first week, until they decided not to release a game card in Europe.
Now, I even learn there are more slowdowns than in the original game played on a NFC. o_o
I will buy it if the US card price goes down to 20-25€ (with no excessive shipping cost)
I have a question.
Does the regular edition (physical) have download codes to the themes or is it only included in the special edition?
I hate to be -that guy-, but really this is just an inferior version of the last collection game back in the Gamecube days, which had Mega Man 7 and 8 (not saying they're the best games, but it had them!) as well as a few unlockable bonus games!
I can't wholeheartedly buy this and not feel a tad ripped off.
Can you disable the colored borders? It looks like they might irritate me along the way.
The Anniversary Collection wasn't perfect either and had issues with input lag (at least with the PS2 version) and inaccurate sound in some games (especially with Mega Man 1). 7 had issues with the SNES mode 7 effects and cut out part of the ending. 8 had some slowdowns that weren't in the original game. Power Fighters also slows down quite a bit in the collection, which doesn't happen as much in MAME (not sure how it acts on a real arcade machine).
It's a little less responsive and I wish you could change the screen ratio but its still good ol Mega Man.
@Krisi each time you turn it on.
@Thegentleman I picked up the regular edition of the game, it comes with both themes, the soundtrack, plus a few stickers.
@Tempestryke Oh... That's unfortunate.
@suburban_sensei
Thanks
I love the encyclopedic section and how it tells you how much damage each enemy deals and takes and what weapon they're weak to. It came really handy in teaching me more effective ways to get through each level.
@TingelTangel yes, but the games and low audio are a letdown
super fighting robot................MEGA MAN
These seminal classics still have much to teach in terms of sound track design, level design, and consistency of controls. This would be a great addition to the handheld library were it not for one thing. These games run horribly on 3ds. I have not tried them on "new! 3ds" hardware. Have you people not played it? The amount of slow down that was not present in the original is staggering and honestly ruins the experience for me. You're much better off just pirating these or getting a collection on a system that can power through the embarrassingly, abysmal port of software that could run on consoles nearly 30 years ago.
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