Title: Maga Man Legacy Collection
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC (reviewed on PS4)
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Publisher: Capcome
Release date: August 25, 2015
Tl;dr:  A fascinating look at one of gaming’s most beloved franchises.
Family Friendly? See below

I’ve always been a big fan of Mega Man, though always came in to gaming the generation after so i’ve never been able to sit down and enjoy the series at it’s core. Mega Man Legacy Collection allowed to to go back in time and take a look at the stunning yet frustrating franchise that so many people hold close to their hearts.

If you are new to the Mega Man franchise, all six titles in the Legacy Collection spanning the years between 1987 and 1993. All of the games are side-scrolling action platformers with an emphasis on pixel-perfect leaps and perfectly timed attacks. The unique approach Capcom took with the series was to allow the player to progress through the game in a non-linear fashion.

When starting the collection like me you will probably want to start at the original game; avoid this if you want to miss the intense unforgiving nature of the game. Instead go for the immediate sequel, Mega Man 2 as it boasts better constructed levels and a far more balanced difficulty curve.

The upside of played better constructed levels is that feeling of satisfaction when overcoming a boss fight, uncovering a secret area or just getting a little further in that one levels you’ve been stuck on. That feeling of triumph that the Mega Man games bestow on the player is it’s own reward that not many games have been able to achieve in the last decade.

A nice feature that has been added with the Legacy Collection is the ‘Save State’ which offsets the difficulty quite nicely, albeit a bit flawed in the first three of the games. The function works fine in Mega Man 4-6, but using the the feature to recall your saved progress in the first three titles results in the Legacy Collection corrupting the original save file; which is frustrating, far from ideal and I really hope it gets patched soon.

Another good point to add on is how Digital Eclipse treated the remaster with great care. Both the audio and visual presentation have been largely untouched, Capcom made the right call with this decision, keeping the retro visuals; with only a mere increase to the resolution the developer has managed to keep the original charm. In fact the only customising you can do with the visuals is tweaking the aspect ratio; this is all a welcome change to some of the remasters that have been released with over the top upgraded visuals.

While the content itself hasn’t been changed in any way the Legacy Collection offers a new challenge mode, where players tackle sections from each Mega Man game against a timer. As well as aiding new players in tackling those tricky areas, it’s clear that this mode is intended for the speed running community; with online leaderboards it becomes obvious that the Challenge Mode gives these 8-bit classics far greater milage.

The other welcome addition to the collection is the Museum Mode, which effectively acts as a hub of classic artwork and never before seen assets for each of the six titles featured in the compilation. The mode stands as an insightful extra to fans of the series and shows just how much Capcom respects the treatment of the Mega Man heritage.

For both longtime fans of the series and newcomers experiencing the crushing difficulty of the games. Capcom has managed to create the a perfect collection to the beloved series; with the new modes they haven’t forced anything and instead given little extras that are welcome in modern games. There are minor flaws in the games are there yes, but they shouldn’t deter the player away from the enduring appeal of the great collection of titles.

What was great: 

  • A look back at the great retro games
  • Classic art style still present
  • It’s Mega Man with trophies/achievements

What wasn’t so great:

  • Frustratingly controls
  • Difficulty spike is to big for new players
  • Same game breaking bugs still exist


Family Friendly?
A couple of generations can relive some of gaming’s most frustrating franchise of games, if they can make it through the copious amounts of deaths!

Thank you to the developers for providing a code to use for this review!