After releasing six games in the classic Mega Man franchise, Capcom had a working formula for the Blue Bomber down to a science, but things were getting rather tired. Mega Man needed something more than a charge shot or a slide move to mix up the gameplay, but that core loop of action platforming and fighting robot masters didn’t need to be changed. Thus Mega Man X was born, a new Mega Man for a new generation, evolving the formula to its next logical step. With the Mega Man X Legacy Collection, we now have a way of experiencing all of this sequel series in its full glory, and at least for this ‘part one’, it’s definitely a must-have for Mega Man fans.

Mega Man X introduced the world to a new Mega Man, one with a decidedly more mature and gritty design. Based in a war-torn world with a heavier focus on story, Mega Man X made it clear from the get-go that this wasn’t quite the Mega Man you grew up with, and that you were in for quite the ride. Everything about Mega Man X expanded on the original games in some notable way. Instead of E-tanks laying around stages as one-off consumables, they were now refillable canisters that you topped-up with any excess health pickups. Alongside the upgrades to your weapons that you got with killing each Robot Master — now called ‘Mavericks’ — you could find optional armour and buster upgrades throughout stages to bolster your combat abilities. As a first pass at this new kind of Mega Man, Mega Man X got a whole lot right and arguably stands as one of the best games ever made.
Mega Man X2 wasn’t nearly as memorable, then, purely because it wasn’t first, but stands as just as strong as the first due to how it builds on that foundation. Mega Man X2 boasted of some updated graphics (due to a special chip that Capcom included in each cartridge) and a deeper story that helped to build out the world more, with the enigmatic X-Hunters taking the stage this time as antagonists. So, in a sense, Mega Man X2 was more of the same, but it also felt like a worthy follow-up that helped solidify the new ideas experimented with in the first game.
Mega Man X3 marked the beginning of building on the foundation of earlier games in the series, most notably adding in the ability to play as Zero — X’s powerful Maverick hunting partner — who helped mix up the gameplay with his stronger buster shot and Z-saber. It’s rather disappointing that Zero’s inclusion is so limited here — he can’t fight bosses and can only lose one life, after which he’s unusable for the rest of the game — but it was still a cool idea that would later be built on. X3 also saw the inclusion of enhancement chips, further upgrades to the collectable armour parts which were extremely powerful, but similarly limited in their use. Even with these changes, some would say that X3 was where the series began a gradual decline, but it still stands as an excellent action platformer and holds up well today.

Wrapping up the first part of the collection is Mega Man X4, which saw the series jump from 16-bit to 32-bit. The pixel art of the first three games was great and still looks fantastic, but the new detail afforded by the additional horsepower in X4 took things to a whole new level with fantastic animations and bright colours abounding. Alongside the fresh coat of paint was a series of animated and fully voice acted cutscenes, and while these are pretty cheesy to watch now, they’re delightful in their campiness. On the gameplay side of things, players could finally play as Zero as a full character, complete with his own storyline and abilities to further differentiate him from X. Mega Man X4 was the most fulfilled realization of the Mega Man X formula up to this point, and it made plenty of notable additions, but this is where fatigue was already beginning to set in.
All told, these first four Mega Man X games may have been slightly uneven in their quality, but they all did a great job of showing how the classic Mega Man gameplay could be evolved and expanded for a new generation. These games may have lacked the simplicity that some fans of the original may have loved, but they made up for it with the deeper gameplay and more mature storytelling. Any way you cut it, 2D action sidescrollers don’t get much better than this, and any fans of the original series will surely have to give them a go.
Naturally, Capcom wasn’t content to just toss ROMs of these four games together and call it a day; numerous other extras have been added to make for a fresher experience. Most notably, a new ‘Rookie Hunter’ mode has been added, which alters the games to make for an easier experience for any newcomers. Mega Buster shots can be charged faster, characters can take a lot more damage, spikes don’t kill, more lives are given, and so. While purists may argue that it ruins the appeal of these games, it certainly can make them more tolerable for the more infuriating sections. At any rate, Rookie Hunter is a welcome inclusion that ensures more players will be able to enjoy these games in their fullness.

On top of this, a new ‘X Challenge’ mode has been added, which essentially acts as a boss gauntlet with a twist. After picking three special weapons before entering a round, X is pitted against two bosses at a time — pulled from any game in the series — for some seriously intense battles. These fights are about as fair as they sound, but it can be fun to see how different boss patterns complement each other and challenge your existing strategies. Though it does seem a bit one-note, this mode is a great inclusion for veterans of the series who enjoy a deep challenge, and the ability to pick between three difficulty levels before going in helps to make it a bit more approachable for players of all skill levels. Make no mistake, however, this is a hard mode to get through; it’s the kind of thing to take on after having played through all the games in the collection.
In addition to all this gameplay content, Capcom was also keen to include a deep museum feature, which has a staggering amount of side content to view and read in between games. Featuring character bios, concept art, old commercials, scans of merchandise like t-shirts, toys, and trading cards, and a full soundtrack, the museum features just about everything that Capcom ever branded or published relating to Mega Man X, and it’s a lovely feature that should especially appeal to all you history buffs and longtime fans of the series.
The emulation for the games seems to be just about as close to the originals as possible, we didn’t notice any input lag or washed out colours in our playthroughs. Each game features a letterboxed screen with game art on the left and right borders, though you can change this to stretch to widescreen if that’s your kind of thing. The games also each come with a gross ‘pixel smoothing’ option enabled that gives things a weird, rounded look, but this can be easily turned off on the pause screen, and you can even enable a CRT filter for that extra '90s flair.
Conclusion
All told, Mega Man X Legacy Collection is a fantastic re-release of several must-play gaming classics, presenting them as authentically as possible while still including a few modern features on top that help to improve the overall experience and keep it from feeling antiquated. Throw in the new X Challenge mode and an enormous archive of museum content and this stands as the definitive way to play the Mega Man X games in the modern era. Four fantastic games, a bevy of extra content, and the ability to play at home or on the go make this one an easy recommendation.
Comments 36
If the collection had been a full physical release I would've picked this up in a heartbeat! I'm a huge megaman fan but I will not pay full price and not be able to play right out of the box. I'm holding out for a megaman complete collection with both original and X in one release.
Awesome, I'm picking up my pre-order from the local Gamestop frist thing in the morning. Looking forward to digging into both collections. Been gaming since '87 but have never played the Mega Man X games aside from a little bit of the original on the SNES Classic.
I pass.
Think the same as GameOtaku.
A full physical release or nothing at all !
I already have several Xs under their original forms and I was ready to pay one more time for them but the way Capcom is doing things... NO THANK YOU !
And the fact that in Europe we don't get any physical release at all... yeah scew you !
@GameOtaku
I'm not trying to insult you or anything, but if you're such a big mega man fan, why is a few minutes of downloading the second part enough to keep you from buying this awesome collection? I don't understand why people are so afraid to download games on their Switch, especially when 70% of the good games on Switch are Indies/digital.
I buy physical games on my Switch too, but not exclusively. I'd be missing out that way.
@Spudworthy
If it's a small indie who launch his new game, no problem... But Capcom ? No thank you this is ridiculous.
The game has to be available entirely as a physical copy and as a DL for those who want that...
@Cobalt Preach it! This is just not ok.
Does anybody know if on Xbox One is it possible to have them all in a disk? Or is digital there too?
I'm confused, I just read a comparison made by Ars Technica between all the platforms and they said that although they wanted to recommend the Switch version for the console being perfect for this games, they couldn't because the emulation of the SNES games was plagued by slowdowns. Apparently this doesn't happen in the PS2 era games so they think it comes from the emulation Capcom is using for the SNES games.
And here you say that "the emulation seems to be as close to the orirginlas as possible with no input lag".
For those wanting a complete physical copy, you could pick it up for PS4 or Xbox 1. I was disappointed with the Mega Man Legacy Collection so I'll pass for now. I'm tempted to get it for my Xbox instead of Switch. Capcom has been doing this with a lot of their collection games.
@Cobalt I’m not gonna pass but for once we agree.
For people not knowing, both games have a separate physical release in Japan and have english language just like Okami.
@Stocksy
There is a first for everything !
@Nintendofan83
It's what I'm gonna do, like I did with Ys VIII for example. I'm gonna buy the best and less expensive version. Sad but true...
@bizcochototal Slowdown and input lag aren't the same thing.
That said, I haven't seen any mention of slowdown in any other review (except for slowdown that was already intrinsic to the SNES versions, replicated faithfully). Perhaps the Ars Technica reviewer just has an eagle eye for it, but it clearly can't be that much of an issue if nobody else even notices.
My brief experience with the game this morning seemed authentic enough, but I'm only a little ways through the first game. Either way, a teeeeeensy bit of slowdown wouldn't be enough to negate the benefits of having a home and/or portable option on Switch. Not for me, at least.
I’m planning on picking up the combo pack of these after I buy the one for normal Mega Man. Sure, it sucks that you only get half the package on the cartridge, but I’d like to have the box for as many games as possible.
Since only half of the collection is actually there, I`ll probably just wait and buy the first one when it`s heavily discounted. Capcom does put games on sale on a fairly regular basis..
Does anyone know if X4 is based on the PSX or Saturn version? They're pretty similar overall, but the Saturn has some additional background animation which was cut from the PSX version.
@Razieluigi sure, I know they are not the same thing but my confusion came from seeing how the other review stated the emulation was bad and this one calls it "as close as you can get". The thing is this games should have NO slowdown at all if Capcom did their homework when porting whatever emulation solution they are using to the Switch. Specially considering the later games seem to run just fine.
I won't be revisiting these classics as I'm satisfied, but they are definitely the best I've played in the series, and I've played through X6. Not looking forward to slogging through MMXLC2, but because of the Mega Man fan I am, and Mega man completionist, I must play X7 and 8.
Definitely getting this one and probably not getting the other one.
@bizcochototal they're "emulating" the games, not correcting them.
I owned the X games on Super Nintendo. They had slowdown back then. An emulated version of that will have it now.
Should be coming in the mail to me this afternoon. Can't wait to have all of these portable like the other 10 Megaman games. Dream come true.
@Alikan The Ars Technica reviewer suggests that he observed slowdown which wasn't present in the original SNES games. That's what he's referring to.
I just think that if nobody else has mentioned it, it's probably being exaggerated (if it's present at all).
We live in a panicky Digital Foundry era, where people will freak out about minuscule variations they weren't even aware of until someone hyperanalyzed it down to the atomic level.
Gamers are the new audiophiles.
The button layout on handheld mode is far from ideal and that’s my only complaint. Get yourself a Pro Controller, the lack of a proper d-pad on the joycon makes it more painful than expected, specially if you use command dash frequently.
I’m indifferent about X Challenge. The whole thing seems like an afterthought and for some reason it doesn’t control as smoothly as the main games. The galleries and music player are fine additions and they’re more polished this time around than what we got in Legacy Collection 2.
Some of my favourite games of the franchise right here. Guess it's about time I upgrade my old Gamecube compilations to this one. Again (e)TANK YOU SO VERY MUCH Capcom for once more deciding to skip the physical retail of this in Europe, forcing me to import the game from America and making it cost me (Mega Man) X3 the regular price of the digital collection.
I’ve only played the 1st game in this collection so I look forward trying out the other games.
@Wanjia Agreed. Since video games are inherently digital, there's no difference between physical and digital--it's all just code on a storage device. But half physical/half digital splits the code between two devices, and that's best avoided when possible.
@ramu-chan It's based on the PS1 version, Saturn versions of those games were difficult to emulate properly so Capcom just throw in the PS1 version.
@Cobalt Yeah I gotta agree with you on this one. These physical games that require you to download half the game are just a bad joke. I mean what is the point of having 32GB game cards if publishers aren't even willing to use 16GB game cards? It's like they are only willing to publish games on the smallest 8GB card so they can force you to download the rest of the game.
It's a terrible practice that needs to stop. If we stop buying these physical releases with half a game they will have to start putting the whole thing in a physical release.
@JayJ
If you understand that practice, it's easy to see the trap.
Why are they doing this ?
Pretty simple, they use that "technique" as a trojan horse. I mean they just want to get anybody accustomed to DL.
It's a kind of 1st step. They just want to create an habit.
Sorry but it's not gonna work with me.
@Razieluigi there is definitely a ton of slowdown in the SNES games that have never been there before. It seems to randomly come and go and the games have eaten my inputs as a result.
Passing on this release, i want all the games on the cartridge capcom!
The best games in order IMO are X4, X1, X2, X3, X5, X6, X7, X8.
Oh and don’t anybody use the default button set up. Set dash to R so you can dash, jump and shoot at the same time. You’re just making the game unnecessarily difficult and frustrating for yourself keeping dash on A.
Picked this up. So far only managed to beat Chill Penguin in MMX. It's pretty good! But in my memory the enemies weren't so annoying. They constantly re-spawn even if you killed them and their spawn point comes back into frame, which can be extremely annoying. Also very disappointed there is no save state feature! This seems very obvious. In 2018 I don't want to play through the same content over and over when I die too many times on a stage.
I played the intro to MMX4 and it seems pretty good! The voice acting is hilarious. What's with the sound X makes when he wall-jumps? I guess it's supposed to be a grunt but it sounds more like a clown honking his nose.
@Phostachio where to start with mega man on switch? I kinda want to try it out.
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