Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (Nintendo Switch) Review

Megaman Battle Network Legacy Collection Vol 1&2 collect the 6 core Battle Network titles and their variations, totalling 10 games, from Gameboy Advance. As with previous Legacy collections from Capcom this game offers quite a few tweaks. Those looking to enjoy the original narrative of these titles will first be greeted with a warning that views expressed in the games may offend. This refers to a handful of interactions in the story that are no longer acceptable in society, and it does beg the question "Why didn't they update them?", to which there is no answer.

Megaman Battle Network puts a different spin on the Megaman franchise by including Megaman and various other characters as NetNavis. These avatars help characters interface with networked devices by "Jacking in", allowing for troubleshooting and communication. Thus, the plot of each game is usually focussed on some form of incident that is getting out of control. For example, the first game has people spreading viruses that burn people's houses down using their ovens. There are quite a few interesting characters in Battle Network and with it being a role-playing game they have quite a lot to say, especially over 10 titles!

Artwork for the games is great with that signature Megaman style concept art. The collections have unlockable art galleries, music and more that is quite easy to unlock and ends up being one of the most satisfying elements of the collection. The main menu has a 3D rendition of Megaman speaking to the player; it's a little odd as no 3D games exist in the collections but it's fun enough.

Gameplay is split into 3 types: Exploration, NET exploration and Combat. Each part of the gameplay has its pluses, for example exploration lets the player take in the world as well as partake in main story events involving the human characters. During exploration however all the player can do is explore and chat to characters, the main goal of this is to tell the story and have players search for network points. Once a player 'jacks in' they get to play as Megaman, however exploring these areas suffers from the NET areas being low in visual interest. During network exploration combat happens both at random and as part of the story. The story plays out similar to the real world exploration but with the avatars instead of the real people. Combat is usually random and is quite unique.

Combat plays out almost like a card system but the chips, which denote attack powers and upgrades, are not gone after a single use. Each battle is set on a 2D plane with 3 layers. The player can move Megaman around any blue squares in the plane and attack using standard buster shots or the special moves from the player's choice chips. Chips can range from a wider shot to bombs that can destroy even the strongest enemies. Different chips can be purchased or found hidden around both the NET and real world offering a surprising amount of strategy. In the collection it is also possible to max out the buster power from the menu, reducing the difficulty of the earlier parts of the game and allowing for players to focus purely on the mechanics.

Visually the games look great even blown up with decent sprite work and colourful environments. However, the new filter that has been added to try and smooth out the visuals is best turned off as it's like smearing oil over the screen. It can reduce the charm of the nicely pixelated visuals. There are also some caveats to the presentation in that the games are not full 16:9 aspect ratio, meaning that no matter what there will be bars at the side of the game screen. Players can set different artwork to appear in these bars, some of which are lovely but strangely can't just opt to have them black to reduce distraction.

The collection overall feels great to play and experience with only a couple of shortcomings. It's a shame that some of the collection's titles are just the variants of the others and that the GameCube game is missing.