Mega Man Legends (PS1) Retro Review

We're beaming down into a planned month of Mega Man retro reviews here at SuperPhillip Central. It's Mega May, and first we're exploring Kattelox Island with Mega Man's very first full 3D outing: Mega Man Legends. A PC port and a Nintendo 64 version called Mega Man 64 would later release, but this particular retro review covers the PS1 original. Let's get to it and kick this month of Mega Man off right!

Dig into a legendary mega-sized adventure

It's no secret that Sony wanted to distinguish itself from the competition upon entering the console market with its original PlayStation. It's also no secret that 2D games, such as the ones that Mega Man proudly was prominent in, weren't exactly welcomed with the most open arms on Sony's highly capable 3D gaming machine. Instead, Sony and PlayStation greatly encouraged and pushed for developers and publishers to enter the realm of 3D games. 

A year prior to Mega Man Legends, we saw Mario super successfully make the literal and figurative jump to 3D with Super Mario 64. Just under a year later, Capcom's Mega Man would attempt to do the same. No doubt making the leap to 3D for a lot of gaming franchises saw plenty of growing pains. I'm looking your direction, Sonic, but others did so with amazing gusto. 

1997's Mega Man Legends saw the Blue Bomber dive into full three-dimensions for the first time, and it's one of those games that stands somewhat at the middle of the road successes in properly transitioning from 2D to 3D. That said, it's certainly more of a success than a failure.

After a mission to pick up a rare Refractor Shard goes swimmingly, Mega Man Volnutt, Roll, and the rest of the small but loyal crew of the Flutter airship find themselves crash landing on Kattelox Island. Seems the lack of maintenance and TLC on the Flutter finally caught up with the little ship that could. In order for the Flutter to take to the skies again, another Refractor Shard is necessary, but in the meantime, Mega Man and friends have to contend with a group of pirates known as the Bonne Family, as well as deal with a hidden danger underneath Kattelox Island itself.

One such Refractor Shard that Mega Man and the Flutter crew of Diggers search for high and low.

Right away I was incredibly impressed by how well the story was put together. The voice acting in cutscenes and interspersed here and there is superb, though the sound balance can make some voice quieter comparatively to everything else going on. The lack of subtitles here is a downside, for sure. On the music end, Mega Man Legends contains a lot of catchy themes, with Apple Market, Uptown, the Support Car, Main Gate, and the Ending Credits' themes being my personal favorites of a lovely soundtrack in general. Conversely, the ambient soundtrack for the underground sections of the game do a fantastic job of making you as Mega Man feel intensely isolated.

The character models are relatively simple, but boy, does Mega Man Legends do a lot with so little!

For a game released in 1997, before The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time set a new standard for 3D action-adventure games, Mega Man Legends is darn impressive for what it does with what little it has. For instance, even though the game utilizes a limited amount of polygons, it does so in a way that characters are surprisingly well detailed, and moreover, they're exceptionally expressive. The way characters express emotions and have different looks on their faces is just amazing. Draw distance is equally impressive, with environmental objects and geometry in the distance using a mist-like cover that goes away the closer Mega Man approaches.  

From a gameplay point of view, this was before Ocarina of Time's Z-targeting, and while Mega Man Legends has its own form of locking on to enemies, it must be done while Mega Man stands in place. Further, the lock-on targeting in Mega Man Legends will automatically lock on to the closest enemy, so if you're targeting a faraway foe, and another one enters closer into your range, Mega Man will target that one. Frustrating, for sure, especially depending on the scenario and situation. That said, this feature can be turned off and on within the options menu at the player's leisure.

Run and gun, Mega Man! Run and gun like your life depends upon it.

Additionally, the lack of a second analog stick for camera control and aiming makes things feel clunky, even at the time of release. Instead, the left and right front shoulder buttons are used for moving Mega Man's focus left and right respectively. Pressing the Circle button will quickly turn the camera to where Mega Man currently faces, which is paramount in certain contexts. 

Mega Man Legends follows a different approach to its structure compared to pretty much every non-RPG Mega Man game. There are no levels that can be chosen in any order, there's no ability to copy or learn defeated enemies' powers--it's an action-adventure game at its heart instead. It starts as somewhat linear, but opens up soon enough, allowing players to access more parts and portions of Kattelox Island, including the interconnected underground, the most dangerous part of the island itself.

The underground connects to the surface of the island in multiple ways. It's a network of labyrinthine rooms and passages full of mechanical enemies known as Reaverbots, as well as plenty of treasure to seek out. After all, that's what treasure hunters known as Diggers do, and that's what Mega Man Volnutt is! As players progress through the story, new parts and pieces of the underground open up, either because of access to new surface level areas or new equipment for Mega Man is earned.

Under Kattelox Island rests a maze of rooms, halls, enemies, traps, and treasures. Dig carefully.

Mega Man gets plenty of help from his crew throughout his adventure. Data the Monkey serves as a talking save point and recovery spot, as well as a hint-giver if players get confused on where to go next in the game. Meanwhile, Roll helps out by outfitting a busted van into a support car, able to fast travel to already unlocked locations around Kattelox Island. She also can turn discovered items and combine them into new weapons and gadgets for Mega Man.

This latter aspect of Roll's abilities is absurdly awesome. There are just over a dozen different weapons and pieces of equipment Roll can create with her whiz kid know-how, from rocket launchers and grenades to boots that allow Mega Man to jump higher or an adapter that grants Mega Man the ability to equip more custom parts that can increase his attack, energy, range of attack, and firing speed as long as the parts are equipped to him. The weapons can also be upgraded in various ways like attack power, energy, and special abilities, though this of course costs Zenny, the currency of Mega Man Legends (and a lot of Capcom games at the time, for that matter) to perform.

Even though Mega Man's got some serious explosive firepower courtesy of Roll,
sometimes it's best to retreat and fight another day.

Mega Man will need these new weapons, equipment, and upgrades as well, as he'll contend with all kinds of enemies and bosses in his adventure. Between giant inventions from the Bonne Family pirate group, the main villains for most of Mega Man Legends, to massive Reaverbots within the underground and at points that guard Refractor Shards, Mega Man and furthermore players will need to be properly outfitted for the battles that lay ahead.

This boss is all "bombs away" while Mega Man is all "I'm going away" from all those explosives!

Going back to the camera and auto-targeting, it can be quite difficult to jump and move around to avoid attacks while setting up spots to engage in Mega Man's own style of offense, all the while attempting to position the camera by holding the L1 or R1 shoulder buttons to spin the angle around just right. Really, it's like rubbing your tummy while patting your head... while juggling! It's rather clunky, completely convoluted, and can get mighty frustrating as well. This isn't a Mega Man game where you can just pelt foes with Mega Buster fire as you stand around. You have to be delicate, you have to get the right angles, and you absolutely cannot be greedy. It will cost you and by extension Mega Man otherwise.

Bad doggies! Don't you dare bite Mega Man's shiny new helmet!

Outside of following along with the story, reaching specific plot points, and battling bosses, Mega Man Legends features ample amounts of side activities to optionally take in and accomplish for some nice rewards. Various shops, especially the parts shop, house wonderful parts for Mega Man's Mega Buster, as well as jackets to increase his defensive capabilities (though these can be prohibitively expensive Zenny-wise) and items that can increase his maximum health. Side quests open up as the story progresses, such as saving downtown from a bomb threat, helping a trio of kids build up a makeshift hideout, and assisting a museum curator with museum donations. All of these and then some reward players with Zenny, new parts, items that Roll can used to build new weapons and gadgets, and more.

Mega Man Legends isn't too lengthy of an adventure, lasting about 6-10 hours depending on how much you try to complete, whether that be side quests or earning Zenny to purchase the more expensive items and upgrades within the game. Upon rolling credits, you have the option to play through the game in Hard Mode, boosting the amount of hits and damage enemies take and give respectively. If you manage to beat that mode in under six hours, an "Easy Mode" unlocks where Mega Man gets many of his upgrades immediately and all Zenny earned is massively multiplied. Thus, if the idea of beating the game twice to unlock an omnipotent Mega Man sounds enjoyable to you, that option for some added replay value is there. Otherwise, the standard game is more than fun and interesting enough as is.

Despite its growing pains, especially when it concerns the camera, targeting, and somewhat stiff movement, Mega Man Legends serves and served as a successful first 3D outing for the Blue Bomber. The amount of charm within the cast of characters, Kattelox Island and its inhabitants, and game in general is off the charts. I'm still amazed by how emotive characters were for a game released in 1997. If you can deal with some occasional jank, some periodic clunkiness, and some frustrations every now and then, you'll get great and charming action-adventure game featuring Capcom's famous super fighting robot.

[SPC Says: B-]