Mega Man, the name of a franchise that brings back both memories of nostalgia and frustration for a lot of gamers of the 80ies and early 90ies. These games are known for the immense fun you can have while playing them along with the extreme bouts of anger that can suddenly burst forth when you die for the millionth time on the same segment of the level.
I wasn’t lucky enough to experience the Mega Man franchise when it was first released, being too young to understand it, but thanks to the re-release of Mega Man I through XI as “Mega Man Legacy Collection”, which I played on the Nintendo 3DS, I was able to finally understand why people have such fond yet anger laced memories of these games.
STORY
The story of Mega Man is that a robotic lab assistant of Dr. Light, named Rock is converted into the Battle Robot Mega Man (or Rock Man, as he’s known in Japan) to fight the evil robots created by Dr. Wily. These “Robot Masters” range from being bad-ass sounding like Metal Man to rather odd like Frog Man.
The story is the basic “good vs evil” that has been done so many times, but it’s good enough to suck you in, attach the Mega Buster to your arm and become CAPCOM’s Blue Bomber to save the day! While there isn’t a lot to discuss story-wise, it’s okay since the next segment is quite… Robust.
GAMEPLAY
This is what made Mega Man the game everybody remembers. While the in-game controls are some of the most basic controls, it’s the amount of choice you have that makes it interesting. You can choose which boss to tackle first, possibly giving you an advantage over the next one. It’s up to you to figure out what the most energy efficient order is, though now in the age of the internet, it’d be easy to just look up a guide online to get the order right.
A Mega Collection for the Mega Fan
But just choosing the correct order doesn’t make the game easy, oh no. These stages are designed to kick your ass. Mega Man games are games that you can safely place under the “Easy to Learn, Hard to Master” banner. While the controls are easy, getting to know the stages can be quite the hassle. I like to use this as an example:
In Mega Man I, I choose the Gutsman stage because I don’t know what the Hell he does. I mean, you’ve got Flame Man, Ice Man, Elec Man, Cut Man, Bomb Man (all rather straightforward in what they do) and then you’ve got “Guts Man”. The Hell does he do? Challenge you to daredevil courses? Use his intestines to trap you? No idea.
So I start off the stage, kill three enemies and then I get to a jumping segment with moving platforms. For the life of me, I couldn’t get past that. Seriously, that was near impossible to do and I rage-quitted quite a few times. The timing is so precise that you’d have to have near Super Saiyan 3 levels of speed (and according to an online test, I only have Super Saiyan 2 levels of speed).
But, as I continued to try, I noticed my error: I wanted to hit all 3 of the platforms while I could just jump from the first to the third, thus limiting the times I had to jump. With that in mind, I actually managed to pass it rather quickly and the rest of the stage was quite the joke compared to it. Guts Man himself wasn’t as rad or horrific as I thought either since his power was basic super strength.
The beauty of Mega Man games is the amount of accomplishment you feel the moment you manage to clear a stage. If it had kicked your ass for a while, it could make you jump up in victory, thrusting your fist into the air like Rocky Balboa. Even when you replay the levels later, it feels good to see how much you’ve improved when you just breeze through it without any problems.
However, there is a slight problem with the Legacy Collection and I don’t know if it’s the port’s fault or if it’s been in there since the early days but… The controls often seem to lag in a horrendous way. You can run up to an edge and time your button press seemingly perfectly and still just run off like a lemming. If there’s too much happening on screen it suddenly lags immensely as well.
Example: on the Bubble Man stage in Mega Man II, there are frogs that spit smaller frogs. If you manage to kill all 3 smaller frogs before they land, they all drop an item, the game suddenly chugs and slows down until everything (you, the items and the possible new batch of frogs that got spat out) have touched down on the ground. Only then does the game run at its normal speed again. This could be because of having all six games in one bundle, though.
Another small annoyance is that sometimes the graphics seem to glitch out somewhat, making you and some enemies appear to see through (like you’ve been hit and are in the invincibility frames). This usually happens just after you’ve been hit, but you’re already out of the invincibility frames. This can be annoying if you don’t realize it in time and you take another hit.
Other than that, I can’t really fault the games on anything in the gameplay department. They’re fun and make you try out new things to get through certain levels quicker. Though I have to say, it’s a bit of a shame that you can save in the middle of a level. Makes everything a LOT easier.
MUSIC
If there’s one thing I absolutely LOVE about this franchise it’s the music. Good back-flipping Godzilla is it awesome. Well, starting from Mega Man II that is, since Mega Man I’s soundtrack is a bit forgettable. The music for the stages really boosts your morale and can amp you up for the oncoming boss fight. I’m glad that there’s a “Jukebox” where you can listen to all the songs because these songs are awesome. Great to listen to, whether it’s in-game or not!
CLOSING THOUGHTS
This collection of games is absolutely brilliant both for the people who experienced Mega Man when it was first released and for those who were interested in playing it but lacked the NES (or age) to do so. It’s a great bundle that gives you all the classics that’ll absorb your time like a sponge and while it can get a bit frustrating from time to time, completing levels or defeating bosses never seems like an impossible task.
If you’re done with the games, there’s a Challenge Mode with a heap of challenges for you to complete, so if you’ve played through Mega Man IV for the N’th time and want something else, that’ll definitely catch your interest.
Despite the slight lag and the graphical glitching that occurs from time to time, I happily give this collection an 8/10. It’s worth every penny.
