Mega Man Legacy Collection

January 2017

Hover mouse over screenshots for commentary.

The Mega Man Legacy Collection includes Mega Man 1-6. These games were made in a seven year period from the late 80s to the early 90s. They are known for being demanding and exacting, and sometimes absurdly difficult. I played these games here and there as a kid but never owned any, so this was really the first time I played through the series.

This collection plays similarly to a PC emulator. You can use a save state for each of the six games and instantly load from the save state. Honestly, I don't think I could have beaten the games without using this feature. And I don't even feel bad about it either! In addition to save states, another advantage is that you can press a button to fire normally but have another button designated as turbo. This mildly felt like cheating but I comforted myself in realizing that lots of people had turbo controllers on the NES - and it should have just been a feature of the game anyway.

Another feature of the collection is the option to have the screen appear in it's original 4:3 aspect ratio or the modern 16:9 widescreen ratio. If you wanted you can even have it simulate the appearance of an SRT television or an old computer monitor. I mostly prefered to play in widescreen with the filters off.

I can say that the Mega Man games live up to their reputation of being difficult. If you know what order to kill the bosses in that helps a lot (because you'll know which boss is weak to which weapon), but you'll still have the second half of the game to complete without any help. Mega Man is some old school fun and the collection has made them more accessibleto the masses. What's not to love?

You can play the Japanese versions or the U.S. versions. Apparently he's called Rock Man in Japan?	Here's the cuddly little fella.	A screen from Mega Man 1.
You'll beat this guy six times.	The game has some aggravating elements. Most people cite the disappearing blocks - which are a pain in the butt - but these platforms that move around completely at random are annoying as well.	One of the final bosses in Mega Man 1 is probably the toughest is the entire collection. You have to be extremely dextrous for a long time with almost no mistakes.
Boss defeated!	Game 1 defeated.	Words to live by.
That's a bat. They were simpler times.		The infamous Wily Castle at the end of each game.
One thing I do remember from my childhood is that if a single pixel of Mega Man gets close to spikes then it's instant death.	A seriosu boss.	Game 2 defeated.
Some amazing concept art. I wish modern games took risks like this. It honestly would feel so fresh and original.	I have some video game art books and most of the art could legitimately hang on a wall. Game development has come a long way.	A typical enemy select screen.
	These platforms drop approximately .0001 seconds after you land on them.

Dr. Wily always has some dumb robot as the second to last boss.	BOOM! Game 3 defeated.
A menu screen you can call up at any time.	Pharoh man.
	At the end of each game, before the final boss, you need to fight all of the bosses in the game one after another.	Game 4 defeated.
That . . . was close.		Which one should I pick?!
	Game 5 defeated.
	Cutscenes from a simpler time.	Creepsville Central.
	In Mega Man 6 they started adding boss stats. I don't know if they actually mean anything.
The original aspect ratio with a TV filter. The original games looked more like this.	There were also effects added like the right side of the screen glitching out as you move forward, just like in lots of NES games.
The skiing boss is amazing.	Same hardware, but the graphics are noticeably better than the first game.
		Game 6 (and the collection) defeated!
		An advertisement in the U.S. complete with some of the worst box art of all time.
The collection has a series of trials that essentially involve getting through a series of screens as fast as possible.