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| Volume 2's title screen. |
In the Legacy Collection, you control in all the games the Maverick Hunters, namely Mega Man X, the final creation of Dr. Thomas Light who led the 17th Elite Unit; Zero, Dr. Albert Wily's final creation who became a friend and ally to X, and eventually commanded his own Zero (Shinobi) Unit; and Axl, a defect from the vigilante group Red Alert, and is also a New Generation Reploid prototype with the ability to copy DNA. These three are the heroes in a world that didn't quite meet the vision of Dr. Light, or X's founder, Dr. Cain... but as Light's last masterpiece, X can be a symbol to the vast possibilities and potential for Reploids. But to do that, X reluctantly has to fight for this peace to be achieved in a world razed by rogue machines called Mavericks. In every game, X faces a Maverick threat that has one common link: the Maverick Hunter Commander turned viral Maverick menace Sigma, made to be the most advanced Reploid modeled after X. That said, while X is referred to (sometimes by himself) as a Reploid, he and Zero are the archetypes, or originals, to the race. Through each battle within the Sigma Wars, or more accurately the Maverick Wars, X's unique trait of humane thought and emotion puts him at odds with his own philosophy and what his role is as a Maverick Hunter, which makes the emotions in him both a liability as well as an instrument of growth.
Available in this title are the main 8 X-series games off the bat, separated into 2 volumes as follows, with annotations for specific games:
Volume 1:
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| Footage of Mega Man X2 and Wallpaper from Volume 1 |
- Mega Man X [SNES, 1993 (JP) / 1994 (USA)]
- Mega Man X2 [SNES, 1994 (JP) / 1995 (USA)^]
- Mega Man X3 [SNES, 1995 (JP) / 1996 (USA)^*]
- Mega Man X4 [Sega Saturn/Sony Playstation, 1997 (JP & USA)
{^} - There were games that were released after and take place canonically after these games. In the case of Mega Man X2, the spinoff Mega Man Xtreme (Rockman X: Cyber Mission) succeeded this on the Game Boy Color, and was in a sense a prelude to Mega Man X3. As for X3, Mega Man Xtreme 2 (Rockman X2: Soul Eraser) took place after the Doppler crisis before the events of Mega Man X4, and was the proper introduction of the Reploid Iris, even though this ended up on GBC later around the same time period as Mega Man X5.
{*} - While the 1:1 SNES version is in this, there was a re-release with animation and arranged BGM made for Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation, this version being included in the Mega Man X Collection released on PS2 and Nintendo Gamecube years ago.
Volume 2:
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| Footage of Mega Man X5 with Wallpaper from Volume 2 |
- Mega Man X5 [Sony Playstation, 2000 (JP) / 2001 (USA)^]
- Mega Man X6 [Sony Playstation, 2001 (JP & USA)]
- Mega Man X7 [Sony Playstation 2, 2003 (JP & USA)]
- Mega Man X8 [Sony Playstation 2, 2004 (USA) / 2005 (EU &JP)]
{^} - This was intended to be the canonical end to the X series, but just as what happened with the Dragon Ball franschise and the now non-canon Dragon Ball GT, the sequel, Mega Man X6, was released circumventing Keiji Inafune's wishes, forcing a different handling in regards to the story of succeeding series Mega Man Zero.
While it has the main 8 console titles, Mega Man Xtreme and Xtreme 2 (Game Boy Color), the remake Mega Man Maverick Hunter X (Playstation Portable), and the RPG side story Mega Man X: Command Mission (Sony Playstation 2, Nintendo Gamecube) are not included, but that's not the only things taken out of it (at least for the US release). The games are visually tailored to modern HD standards and tailored to the controls of the corresponding platforms released on. There is no vastly fleshed out manual, and each game has their own save file, though it's condensed into one save profile on your system. That being said, while the 2 volumes are of the same collection, they are treated as separate entities with no interactions between them. As such, if you were to buy the retail port that has Legacy Collection 1+2, you'd have both on separate discs in the case of Xbox One and Playstation 4. It's a bit different for Nintendo Switch, however, because of the game card material. If you got the Switch retail, you'd still be downloading Legacy Collection 2 as a separate game (a free one) while the physical game card has the first one. Because Steam has no physical media, both Volumes are strictly downloadable, but they can be brought separately or as a bundle. This is also true, bundle omitted, for anyone going strictly digital on any of the 4 platforms.
On the copies I own, each volume has a music player for the corresponding 4 games on each, as well as an art archive. They have their own set of achievements as well, but the universal things between both museum modes are the product gallery, new BGM and remixes, the game trailers, and The Day of Σ OVA from Mega Man Maverick Hunter X. While there are still mishaps here and there, much of the dialogue has been corrected. This is especially evident in Mega Man X5, as it not only reverts the Maverick names to their original titles as opposed to the initial localized names (i.e. Spiral Pegasus instead of "The Skiver"), and even went out of their way to correct the mistrasnlation regarding Launch Octopus (from Mega Man X) as "Otopardo" in the dialogue involving Volt Kraken (called "Squid Alder" in the original US release. And while the Japanese music cannot be used (which prompted original music to replace it for this game), the Japanese voice acting returned to the English US release of Mega Man X6... something that was in reverse when ported to the PS2/Gamecube as Mega Man X Collection. When it comes to the last 2 games (Mega Man X7 and X8) aside from no filter feature, they have more versions to choose from via the collection's menu. However, the version chosen also reflects the language of both the voice acting and text of the games as well, despite Mega Man X7 retaining the option of Japanese and English voice acting in the US version (though this I criticized since this one didn't go all the way with it, reverting back to English dubbing during gameplay.)
X Challenge is an original mode found in both volumes of Mega Man X Legacy Collection, essentially a boss rush of Mavericks from the first 6 games. In this mode, you face a 3 stage set of 1 vs. 2 battles, usually with a mix-up of bosses from different games. You can only use X, and there is only one Armor he has at hand to use: the Challenge Armor. Now, essentially, the Challenge armor is but a cosmetic change. While it doesn't show in sprite form, but this translucent/white armor is in fact a palette alter of the Ultimate Armor, but without the special weapons perk (unlimited use), reduction of orbs after using the Ultimate Buster, and Nova Strike, the strongest move, is disabled. depending on the level, you can use 3 of a selection of 12 special weapons, which you are stuck with until you beat all 3 stages in that level, forcing you to engage a total of 6 bosses per level. You are also given Zero's Saber as an alternate weapon as he wielded in Mega Man X6, though for the hardcore, they can skip the special weapons altogether, leaving X with only his X-Buster, the Z-Saber, and the Challenge Armor's foot parts. Each stage has some flavor text regarding the plot of the 2 Mavericks you will face, also an icon representing their games. The mode has not only remixed music, but also an original score used in the final sage of the last level, also accessible in the Music Player of both versions. My only gripe was the inability to select said songs to use in battle. Even so, you also can choose to listen to the original score of the songs in X Challenge, and even go as far as to select between the original and remixed sounds of that mode. Now, one thing to pay attention to is that while they are essentially the same game, as in the case of it's sibling series Mega Man Battle Network, there are some differences between the 2. For one thing, while the music player in the museum has all the songs, only 3 of which are used between the volumes, so if you wanted the remix of the Boss theme from Mega Man X5 while facing X Challenge, you'd have to play it on Volume 2, and similar could be said in the case of any of the first 3 boss themes, which are on Vol. 1. In addition, the last 2 Mavericks you face at the end of each level also vary, as do a few of the weapons selectable.
Speaking of Museum mode, players can access files of some of the goods, most of them out of print, revolving around the X series, like Cardass images (similar to Dragon Ball Heroes), action figures, and Soundtrack imagery. There is even an art gallery of each game, but much like the game selections themselves, they are exclusive to one another, save for the Legacy Collection section itself. The Day of Σ can also be found here, but unlike the games, the voice acting is reflective on the menu language settings from the Collection's options, with no way to change it mid-feature, and no options for subtitles. Save for Mega Man X3, you can find both the English and Japanese trailers from all the console games in here as well.
It's still no indicator as to whether or not a Mega Man X9 will happen, with X8 being the current terminus for the series, but before my verdict, a few things. I love how they kept the 1:1 ratio of the games, but one thing I liked about the Mega Man X Collection prior was that even for the first 3 games, it had multiple save files. Mega Man X Legacy Collection only has a single save file for those titles, which is true to the original, but it doesn't have an external menu like the former (perhaps because the data is stored on the hard drive/SD slot as opposed to a Memory Card). The Japanese BGM, something the MMX Collection had in a few games, were also absent, and seeing the Japanese intros paired with English music make things a little weird, and I respect that each version of the game has their own saves, though it would be nice to have that universally for each game, something that Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition did. But as the games were originally of different formats, their saves were likely not region-free, either. That said, I am satisfied with what I did get from it all, so I'll give this an 8.5 of 10. Some would prefer to have the original titles, but if one wanted a shortcut to owning it all, this is the way to go. If I ever get around to it, I may look into the classic variant, Mega Man Legacy Collection, as well.
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| Footage of a practice level of X Challenge, featuring Slash Beast (X4) and Crescent Grizzly (X5) |
X Challenge is an original mode found in both volumes of Mega Man X Legacy Collection, essentially a boss rush of Mavericks from the first 6 games. In this mode, you face a 3 stage set of 1 vs. 2 battles, usually with a mix-up of bosses from different games. You can only use X, and there is only one Armor he has at hand to use: the Challenge Armor. Now, essentially, the Challenge armor is but a cosmetic change. While it doesn't show in sprite form, but this translucent/white armor is in fact a palette alter of the Ultimate Armor, but without the special weapons perk (unlimited use), reduction of orbs after using the Ultimate Buster, and Nova Strike, the strongest move, is disabled. depending on the level, you can use 3 of a selection of 12 special weapons, which you are stuck with until you beat all 3 stages in that level, forcing you to engage a total of 6 bosses per level. You are also given Zero's Saber as an alternate weapon as he wielded in Mega Man X6, though for the hardcore, they can skip the special weapons altogether, leaving X with only his X-Buster, the Z-Saber, and the Challenge Armor's foot parts. Each stage has some flavor text regarding the plot of the 2 Mavericks you will face, also an icon representing their games. The mode has not only remixed music, but also an original score used in the final sage of the last level, also accessible in the Music Player of both versions. My only gripe was the inability to select said songs to use in battle. Even so, you also can choose to listen to the original score of the songs in X Challenge, and even go as far as to select between the original and remixed sounds of that mode. Now, one thing to pay attention to is that while they are essentially the same game, as in the case of it's sibling series Mega Man Battle Network, there are some differences between the 2. For one thing, while the music player in the museum has all the songs, only 3 of which are used between the volumes, so if you wanted the remix of the Boss theme from Mega Man X5 while facing X Challenge, you'd have to play it on Volume 2, and similar could be said in the case of any of the first 3 boss themes, which are on Vol. 1. In addition, the last 2 Mavericks you face at the end of each level also vary, as do a few of the weapons selectable.
Speaking of Museum mode, players can access files of some of the goods, most of them out of print, revolving around the X series, like Cardass images (similar to Dragon Ball Heroes), action figures, and Soundtrack imagery. There is even an art gallery of each game, but much like the game selections themselves, they are exclusive to one another, save for the Legacy Collection section itself. The Day of Σ can also be found here, but unlike the games, the voice acting is reflective on the menu language settings from the Collection's options, with no way to change it mid-feature, and no options for subtitles. Save for Mega Man X3, you can find both the English and Japanese trailers from all the console games in here as well.
It's still no indicator as to whether or not a Mega Man X9 will happen, with X8 being the current terminus for the series, but before my verdict, a few things. I love how they kept the 1:1 ratio of the games, but one thing I liked about the Mega Man X Collection prior was that even for the first 3 games, it had multiple save files. Mega Man X Legacy Collection only has a single save file for those titles, which is true to the original, but it doesn't have an external menu like the former (perhaps because the data is stored on the hard drive/SD slot as opposed to a Memory Card). The Japanese BGM, something the MMX Collection had in a few games, were also absent, and seeing the Japanese intros paired with English music make things a little weird, and I respect that each version of the game has their own saves, though it would be nice to have that universally for each game, something that Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition did. But as the games were originally of different formats, their saves were likely not region-free, either. That said, I am satisfied with what I did get from it all, so I'll give this an 8.5 of 10. Some would prefer to have the original titles, but if one wanted a shortcut to owning it all, this is the way to go. If I ever get around to it, I may look into the classic variant, Mega Man Legacy Collection, as well.
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