Introduction
Megaman is a long-running franchise made by Capcom and Megaman Legacy Collection X-1 is one of the many collections that Capcom has made. In Megaman Legacy Collection X 1 you are Megaman X, a newer model than the original Megaman.
Megaman X-1 happens after the original NES title’s Megaman Legacy collection. The games are 2D action platformers, and many remasters have come and gone. This is the ultimate collection. Megaman Legacy Collection X-1 features the first four games and Megaman Legacy Collection X-2 features the other four games. Are the remasters a prologue to Megaman X9? I hope so! In Megaman Legacy Collection X1, you are a robot that needs to upgrade your power and save the world from evil robots. You will need to complete some levels multiple times, as you will have to backtrack after getting upgrades at different levels. You don’t have to save the world alone, Zero will also help you with defeating the evil robots. In Megaman X4 and beyond, he will be a playable character, this means you have to complete the game twice for the full story, but you can choose any character you want first. In this review, we will only look at the first four games called Megaman X1, X2, X3, and X4. Megaman is harder compared to most games. When you make a mistake means the game will punish you.
Story
Megaman X1
Megaman X1 takes place approximately 100 years after the Megaman legacy collection from the NES. A human named Dr. Cain discovers the ruins of an ancient robotics factory that had once was operated by Dr. Thomas Light, who created the original Megaman. Megaman is capable of free will and has human-like intelligence. Dr. Cain finds out there was a device running a diagnosis for over thirty years to ensure Megaman knows right from wrong. Dr. Cain studies the ancient robotics factory for the next few months in the hope of recreating a robot that works the same as Megaman. Dr. Cain manages to create a reploid that can think, feel, learn and grow exactly like a human. Within a year, these reploids are being mass-produced. Some reploids engage in criminal activity and are branded with the name maverick. With the growing rate of mavericks, the public wants the government to do something about it. Dr. Cain forms a group that is called the maverick hunters. The goal of a maverick hunter is to capture or disable reploids that have gone maverick. Dr. Cain creates an advanced reploid named Sigma that is supposed to be immune against going maverick. Sigma feels that humans are inferior and commands all reploids to kill humans on sight.
Megaman X feels horrible that the reploids have become mavericks. All Megaman X wanted was to create a peaceful robot race that lives in harmony with humans. There is only one other robot left that wants to help the humans, he is called Zero. Megaman X follows the highway to reach Sigma but is ambushed by Vile and defeated. Luckily, Zero jumps in to save Megaman X and chase Vile away. Zero encourages Megaman X to become stronger and get ready for more battles. Megaman X reluctantly accepts this advice. Megaman X tracks down Sigma’s eight strongest reploids and defeats them in combat to become stronger. He decides he is now strong enough to face Sigma and heads to the island he is hiding on. Megaman X finds Zero captured by Vile and battles him once more. Megaman X gets defeated again, but Zero breaks free and sacrifices himself to damage Vile. Megaman X regains his strength, seeing Zero die, and finishes off Vile. Megaman X continues fighting his way through Sigma’s minions to find Sigma waiting in the control room. After a tough fight with Sigma, Megaman X manages to come out victorious. Megaman X uses the self-destruct console and escapes the fortress. Megaman X looks at the sinking fortress from an overlooking cliff, pondering his actions. Megaman X gets a message from an unknown source. The message is: Sigma will return in a stronger body to conquer the world and destroy all human life forms.
Megaman X2
Six months after the incident with Sigma, Megaman X has become the leader of the maverick hunters, this if because he has shown incredible bravery and strength in his fight with Sigma. Sigma had three generals who have restarted making mavericks in factories, and Megaman X decides to put a stop to it. The three generals are called Serges, Agile, and Violen. They have taken control of the North Pole and hold the deceased body of Zero captive. The three generals send stronger mavericks to stop Megaman X and brand themselves the X-hunters. Megaman X tracks down all the mavericks sent to eliminate him and defeats them in battle, gaining new powers. Along the way, he fights Serges, Agile and Violen and retrieves the parts needed to resurrect Zero. Dr. Cain will attempt to restore Zero to his original form and power him up, and he sends Megaman X to the North Pole. Megaman X manages to defeat the three generals in the North Pole. When he thinks everything is over once again, Sigma reveals that he has been behind everything all along. Megaman X follows Sigma into his fortress and finds out Sigma has made a Zero clone. When Megaman X gets ready to fight, suddenly the real Zero jumps in and takes out the clone. Sigma states that Zero is the last creation of the doctor. Megaman X fights Sigma and beats him, but Sigma vows to return as he is a computer virus that you cannot delete. Megaman X and Zero escape the fortress and watch it explode.
Megaman X3
After the last successful effort to bring Sigma down, the reploids keep going maverick. A doctor named Dr. Doppler invents a technique that prevents reploids from going berserk. The reploids build a new town called Doppler Town. Suddenly, all reploids turn maverick and start wreaking havoc once again. When the new reploids attack the headquarters of the maverick hunters, Megaman X and Zero are sent out to take care of Doppler, who is being held accountable. Megaman X and Zero defeat all the reploids that stand in their way, learning new powers. They find Doppler and battle him to learn that he has been infected by Sigma. Sigma had taken control of Dr. Doppler, so he could build a new body for Sigma. Megaman X fights the new Sigma body and destroys it. Sigma reverts back to his virus form and tries to possess Megaman X for his unique fighting abilities. When Megaman X reaches a dead-end, he thinks it is the end of him. Suddenly, Doppler jumps in front of him and stops the virus. Megaman X escapes and Dr. Doppler blows up the lab, sacrificing himself for the greater good. Megaman X wonders when the fighting is done. Megaman X wants to rebuild Doppler town so the humans and reploids can live in harmony together.
Megaman X4
After the third defeat of Sigma, a new force has arisen called the Repliforce. The Repliforce is a military unit that has sworn to protect both humans and reploids. Sigma has already returned in a new body and wants to corrupt the Repliforce by persuading the general to work for him. To convince him, Sigma crashes down a city called the Sky lagoon and makes sure the Repliforce gets the blame for it. Megaman X and Zero investigate the crashed Sky Lagoon and encounter the colonel of the Repliforce and attempt to bring him back to the hunter’s headquarters to talk about the situation at hand. The colonel tells them the Repliforce was not involved in the destruction of the Sky Lagoon and refuses to disarm his weapons. The colonel leaves, even though Megaman X tells him he could be branded a maverick. Meanwhile, Zero rescues Iris who was trapped under the debris. Iris is the sister of the colonel, but returns to the headquarters of the hunters to help resolve the problems at hand. The Repliforce takes matters in their hands and starts collecting materials to create a powerful weapon to destroy all human life forms. The Repliforce is now under full control of Sigma, even though they don’t know it themselves. Megaman X and Zero hunt down the Repliforce that are called mavericks. When four of the mavericks have been hunted down by Megaman X and Zero, the colonel challenges them to a duel. After the colonel is defeated, he retreats to space. Megaman X and Zero hunt down the other mavericks and then follow the colonel into space. The newest rookie hunter called double is actually a double agent! Megaman X fights against double. Iris wants to protect her brother and attacks Zero. Iris dies at Zero’s hands. (NO! What am I fighting for!?). When Megaman X defeats double, he meets with Zero, and together they defeat the general of the Repliforce. Sigma makes his entry and tells them he crashed the Sky Lagoon and will now destroy all human life. Megaman X and Zero fight against Sigma and defeat him, but the final weapon has already been activated. The general shows up wounded and sacrifices himself to stop the final weapon.
Depending on choosing Zero or Megaman X at the beginning of the story, you can get additional cut scenes or story information.
Gameplay
Megaman Legacy Collection X can be a tough game if you are not accustomed to 2D action-platformer games. You will need to have cat-like reflexes and learn the enemy patterns. In each Megaman Legacy X collection game, the gameplay won’t change very dramatically. The most significant change is going from Megaman X1 to Megaman X2 are the graphics and different powers you gain. You can choose the order of the levels yourself. There is not a set pattern. At the beginning of the game, you have low health and only your trusty X buster. When you reach the end of a level, you will face a maverick waiting for you. All mavericks use a special power and have a weakness. When you hit a maverick with the special power he is weak to, he will flinch. To gain new special powers, you will need to defeat a maverick. Using special powers will consume a second bar next to your health. You can increase the health and special power bar by finding upgrades hidden very well in each level. To upgrade your other abilities, you will need to find secret capsules scattered throughout the levels. You might need specific maverick powers to reach these capsules. These capsules will grant new abilities, for example: obtaining the boots upgrade will give you the ability to dash. Obtaining the capsule will let you reach new places to find upgrades for your health and a special power bar. You can also find Energy sub tanks, these sub tanks act as a potion to restore your health. You can collect four of these energy sub tanks. This can be different in some Megaman X games. All the Megaman X games will have eight mavericks waiting for you to defeat. After defeating all the eight mavericks, you will need to finish the game by defeating Sigma. There will be minor differences in each Megaman X game.
In Megaman X4, the graphics will be much better and you will have cut scenes. Megaman X4 is in my opinion the best in the X series! In MegamanX4, you can choose to do a play through with Zero. With Zero you will not have an X buster, you will use the X saber instead. The special powers you gain are still used to defeat specific mavericks that are weak to the special powers. When you use Zero you need to be much closer to the enemies to fight them. You will learn special techniques when using Zero to reach certain upgrades that otherwise cannot be reached. You will also get different cut scenes and storylines if you play with Zero meaning you need to play MegamanX4 twice to grasp the whole story. Having completed the story with both Zero and Megaman X, I liked playing with Zero more. I like the close combat encounters with the mavericks.
In Megaman Legacy Collection X there is a special mode called the X challenge. This is not for casual players, but for the people who have played Megaman a lot. You can choose a few special powers handpicked by the A.I for you to fight the mavericks. Instead of one maverick at the time, you will face two mavericks that complement each other and have more health than in the normal game. You also have a time limit in which you will need to complete the scene set by the game. I have completed a few X challenges, but it was very stressful for me to deal with two mavericks at the same time, and I kept making mistakes. This is really a challenge mode, like they should be for hardcore players.
Last Words
Pros
- You get four games in one collection
- You have in-game achievements to complete
- Being able to choose the levels in your order means you can play the game any way you want
- Megaman X4 has two playable characters
- Megaman Legacy Collection X1 has aged very well
- There are many secrets to unlock, like the Hadouken and Shoryuken
- X challenge is a very cool and difficult mode
Cons
- The story in Megaman Legacy Collection is repetitive
- The difficulty can be offsetting for new gamers
I reviewed this game back in June 2020, this is a grammatically updated version of said review. Thus, there are not any major changes or any rating changes, these will be for the revamped reviews. Back then, I had no videos or screenshots for the games I reviewed, please excuse me for this inconvenience, but I hope you do enjoy the grammatically correct review of Megaman Legacy Collection 1!
Final Rating
8
Please let me know what you think of Megaman Legacy Collection 1 in the comments!
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repetitive, but still, 4 good games in one collection is nice to have and play 🙂
Yeah, they are indeed a bit repetitive, but I have taken the liberty to play the separate versions and revamp this review!
Super!
I love these old school games!
I have no nostalgia for mega man but the gameplay was fun to look at. The story feels way too convoluted for the sake of it.
It is more of an excuse plot, but it is one of the best ones out there of said excuse plots. And, as the games progress, the story does get better and involve into a proper plot.
I never realized how confusing the numbering system in these games might be.
A lot of numbering in games get confusing, try Final Fantasy.
It’s nice to be back with the heroes of my childhood 🙂
I seem to have found an error in this review: the story rating section lists the rating for Halo 3, not the Megeman X Legacy Collection!
Thanks!
It is fixed now!
good game, i’ve played myself the first game from the collection, it is quite enjoyable even after so many years it first came out
Classic!
Its really fun game. It reminds me Metal Slug
Who doesn’t want a retro variety?
Difficult game with even more challenging special mode, looks game is for this genre hardcore players only.
The challenge mode is indeed for hardcore players.
They look like very fun and detailed games considering how long ago they were made! Nice they put them all in one collection and I love when they remaster old games!
Megaman games are great, good to have a collection like this
a really good collection!
always nice to revisit, even more classics
True arcade classics 😀
sounds great!
Capcom doing alright bringing classic to modern platforms. Wish more publishers did that.
Among the first 4 Megaman X games I have only played X4, and yet getting the collection only for it seems to be worth it, but perhaps I should also give the onlder games a chance, I haven’t yet because I always thought that they are too outdated for me.
The older games can be fun too!