Mega Man Legacy Collection is a compilation of Mega Man titles from the NES era. It is actually more than that. This title is a devoted curation of a classic video game franchise and then some. Brought to you by Capcom and Digital Eclipse, this game feels more than just a next-gen cash-in.
The Legacy Collection has Mega Man 1-6 in its original 8-bit glory. There are glitches and technical limitations found in the original that you can still find in each game in this collection. You can have that “retro” experience the game having too much on the screen to render. Kids, ask your parents what it was like back in the days of limited hardware capabilities. There were plenty of times I used the game’s inability to have more than three of the same enemy on the screen at the same time to my advantage. For the review, I played through Mega Man 2, which is both my favorite game in the series as well as the best game in the series. In a way, it’s funny how much came back to me in bits and pieces remembering little tricks of the trade going back to this game from the late 80s. Although, I will say that while my memory was quick to return, not all of my skills from 25+ years ago returned with the same speed.
Besides the nostalgia of playing the original games, you can also listen to the soundtracks and see concept art from the game as well as a “database” of enemies with descriptions, hit points and weaknesses of each enemy. The best part is that none of it is locked behind any kind of arbitrary task. The other big feature is the big Challenge Mode.
The Challenges are a bunch of mashups focusing on different things. There are Wiley Castle boss fights or remixes of levels from one of the games or lineup of robot masters. All the challenges are timed and have bronze, silver and gold levels to whet your whistle on as well as a fully stocked leaderboard to see how you stack up against your friends. I loved just jumping into different challenges, especially the game remixes. The game remixes put small snippets of each level together for you to overcome as fast as possible. You traverse through perhaps a particularly harrowing section to reach a small portal that will jump you to the next section. Be sure to check out Craig’s Challenge – designed specifically by Craig Skistimas of Screwattack. It gave me fits.
Mega Man Legacy Collection is a dream come true for any Mega Man or retro gaming fan. It brings together 6 Mega Man games in perfect condition with enough extras to make it feel worthwhile. With the recent comeback trend of precision platformers, Mega Man has made the perfect time for a return.