REVIEW – Capcom continues to proceed with its re-releasing strategy, although this time, they made games available on PC (as well) that previously were only accessible with emulation and the like. As this time, there are eight games in the collection (and I think it’s a dumb idea to give a rating to the two collections separately…), I’ll share my general thoughts.

Eight games split to two (X1-4, X5-8, and I miss the spin-off Command Mission which came out on PS2), offering a slightly more adult, tactical gameplay compared to the original Mega Man series. I could end my opinion right here, but thankfully, there’s more to this collection, which is why it deserves a high rating. The games are good, and there’s something extra to them as well.

X

Not all games are two-dimensional, as the two PlayStation 2 titles (X7 and X8) are modernized. However, their changes aren’t widely welcome by the gamers, and I’m also somewhat disappointed by them. Let’s quickly talk about two things – the first one is the Rookie Hunter mode, which is meant to be the beginners’ mode. If you have never played a Mega Man X game before, then you’ll have no problem playing these titles.

The enemies barely scratch you while you have extremely high damage output. These won’t be much of a help to you in X5 and X6 – one of these games have a luck factor regarding the space shuttle resulting in a Game Over or not, and the other one has the Nightmare System to overcomplicate everything (if you enter a stage, other stages’ aspects will change, and some characters might be required to be defeated in a stronger, Nightmare form – and that’s all I’d say to not go into technicalities). I think the 3D change for X7 and X8 wasn’t a good thing – in fact, in these games, you’ll mostly spam the buster button in almost brainless destruction. Eh, let’s move on.

Zero

If you want challenge instead, try the X Challenge mode. Here, Capcom throws out the stages in favour of the boss fights. The twist here is that you have to fight TWO Mavericks at the same time! It’s an exciting challenge, and there are also three difficulty levels and leaderboards, too. There are several extras as well to make the collection worthy: a music player, concept artworks, and the Day of Sigma short film are all included. So, content-wise, the collection is almost perfect. You might ask, how are the controls?

I’m happy to say that on PlayStation 4, the controls are very good. (The PC version might be a little problematic, though.) If you have never played any of the originals on SNES, PS1 or PS2, you’ll not notice anything. What about the graphics? Well, you can have the original 4:3 aspect ratio with backgrounds, or stretch the games out to 16:9. Up to X6, you can also use some filters by pixelating or smoothening the visuals or even apply some CRT filters to your game. With X7 and X8, you have the option to either uses the original PlayStation 2 graphics or use the upscaled HD version. I’m not even going to go into the story with the games – all of them has Sigma, and, to be frank, the Mega Man X series was never known for their highly complicated plotlines.

Only together

Another reason why I bundled together the two collections is that you have to buy them together on PlayStation 4. You have to fork the forty dollars out, which is a lot, but consider that you get eight games for the price. The games kept their original flaws as well, and one game needs to be mentioned here. Mega Man X7’s camera is, simply put, terrible. And yet, I give Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2 a strong eight out of then. Why? Almost the whole collection is now available in one place, and there is also replayability with the Hunter Medals (because you might forget to use a specific attack in a boss fight, and that’s just one of many examples). The games are mostly good, but the collection doesn’t deserve a nine. Fans should get it immediately, and if you played and were disappointed with Mighty No. 9, give the collection a try. Any of X1-X6 has a better, more refined experience than Comcept/Inti Creates’ game.

-V-

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Genre: Two or three-dimensional platformer, depending on the game

Release date: July 24, 2018