Mega Man Legacy Collection 5th Anniversary

In the year 20XX, a super robot named Mega Man was created. This deceivingly strong robot, who looks so young and cute, starred in six games on the NES alone. All the games follow the same format where you have to complete challenging 2D platforming levels full of enemies leading you to the chamber where the Robot Master of that level resides. If you successfully defeat the Robot Master, you gain his weapon to use in the other levels and against the other bosses. Every boss is weak against another boss’ weapon, the tricky part is figuring out which one it is, or if you are stubborn like me you will just use the Mega Buster that you have from the get go. I enjoy playing challenging games so using a special weapon feels like cheating in a weird way to me.

In August 2015, Digital Eclipse software released a collection of all six of the original games called the Mega Man Legacy Collection. This game was released on PS4, Xbox One and Windows (via Steam) digitally. Physical releases were released a year later with the Switch version to follow in 2018. This collection sold over one million copies which was the first time a Mega Man game sold that many copies in fifteen years! So me being a huge Mega Man fan, despite having all the titles already on the NES, Famicom and on the Xbox Mega Man Anniversary Collection I wanted this version too. I love Mega Man so much I even have a tattoo of him on my forearm. The emulation on this collection is great and the controls are now fixed and are like the original games, not like when they reversed the jump and shoot buttons on the Anniversary collection. If you grew up playing the originals it was really hard to get used to the backwards controls especially when you had to react in a split second, your muscle memory would take over and you would hit the wrong button and be screwed.

The Mega Man Legacy Collection isn’t only the six original games though. There is a new Challenge mode that includes 54 challenges that have you traversing through sections of stages from each of the six games. The goal is to reach the black hole portal that will transport you to a different stage area. You will take on one of the large level bosses or one of the Robot Masters at the end. Mega Man is able to use any of the Robot Master weapons and has unlimited lives, the catch is you have a time limit. So if you spend too much time trying to pass part of the stage you will run out of time before you get to the boss. At least when you transport to the other areas your weapon energy will be refilled so you won’t be spending time trying to replenish them. Mega Man’s energy gauge and any items like Energy Tanks you grab will also disappear as soon as you step into the portal. If you happen to need to pause the game or step away the time will keep going so keep that in mind. Depending on how you do the game rewards you with bronze, silver or gold medals. Your time is posted on an online scoreboard so you can see how you rank compared to other players. It also allows you to watch replays from the high score runs so you can see how they did it.

As always, these games are tough but there is a new feature that should help you out if you are stuck in an area and having difficulties. This collection adds in a rewind feature so you can go back as far as you want and try as many times as required. It’s definitely a nice addition to the game for those times that you need to retry and don’t want to restart the whole stage again. Besides just the original games the collection also adds an Enemy Database with details on all the baddies you will face and also gives you a practice mode where you can challenge the Robot Masters one-on-one. If you don’t feel like playing a game and just want to hear some of the awesome songs that are on the game soundtracks you are in luck. Each game has the soundtrack available to listen to, if you are like me and love the music from this series this is a welcome addition.

There is so much value in the Mega Man Legacy Collection, I highly encourage you to pick it up. You are five years late, but better late than never! Plus, you may be able to come across a deal on it since it is the fifth anniversary. It would cost more money to buy all six of the original carts for the NES. You would actually probably be able to only get one of the games for the same cost as getting all six. If you already have the collection you should play it again since there is so much to do here. I know I will never get sick of playing the Mega Man titles, they are definitely some of my favorite games ever.