Mega Man Legacy Collection (PC) Review

There are problems from the beginning, as Mega Man Legacy Collection is prone to a number of different bugs that leave the game being unplayable without a few specific Windows updates, an oversight that should have been fixed by now. Even with the necessary updates, it is prone to crashing, particularly when the Leaderboards are involved.

Once players have a more-or-less stable game running, the problems don't really end, because the NES Mega Man games weren't designed with a keyboard or Xbox 360 controller in mind. Some work has been done to decrease the problems this causes, but trying to use an analogue stick in games that often require extremely precise positioning is an exercise in frustration. While the Xbox 360 does have a D-pad, it's an utter joke, leaving PlayStation controllers and the keyboard as the best options. As players stumble across a control scheme that isn't a hindrance to them, Mega Man Legacy Collection becomes very enjoyable.

The ports are very true to the original versions, though a few options have been included that tailor the experience for PC. The graphics can be stretched in three different ways, while the default is simply how it appeared on the NES, but, again, the core games weren't designed to fill a 16x9 screen. It can be difficult to adjust to Mega Man being stretched to such a ratio, because jump arcs, run speed, and positioning all change in subtle ways; this can actually be a good way to mix up the experience for those with a ton of history with the series, but it feels undeniably off.

In addition to the six NES Mega Man games, Mega Man Legacy Collection includes the video game equivalent of DVD Extras: concept art, character models, and the like. Some may enjoy it, but it's not really very interesting.

The Challenges, however, can certainly be interesting, though the overwhelming majority of them are just "get through these sections of stages as fast as possible." These could have been much more exciting, but speed is the only thing that matters for them; the result is videos abound on YouTube of players landing top spots on the Leaderboard even while being hit by every enemy. It's not until the last handful of challenges that they become more complex by requiring players to use no items.

Just about anything would have been better for the challenges. It would have been great to have a few that gave players x number of times to jump, disabled the slide, or gave only a sliver of health so that the first time Mega Man is struck he dies. Instead, it's simply, "Get through here fast." Watching the top few players and learning the exploits can make them marginally more interesting, but repeating a given challenge seventy times just to acquire one more gold badge isn't exactly the height of entertainment.

Another issue with the Challenges is that they reuse various sections to the point of nausea. Any Challenge featuring Mega Man 2 will contain part of Quick Man's stage, and any Challenge that contains excerpts from Mega Man 5 will send Mega Man once more through Gravity Man's level. They are still fun to do, but they lack variety.