

Its only problems, really, are the games themselves. It should be apparent by this point that the Legacy Collection is the ultimate way to experience the 10 mainline Mega Man Battle Network games from the GBA days. Unfortunately, due to the low player count on Switch before launch, I was unable to experiment fully with these options. This all represents a huge expansion of the original series' multiplayer framework, and another way in which the Legacy Collection makes these 20-year-old games more interesting and accessible than ever before. There's also an online marketplace where you can trade chips, publicly or privately. If you're truly daring you can even set the rules so that the losing player has to forfeit a battle chip. From any individual game's pause menu you can enter an online server, in the region of your choice, and then fight in any combination of public/private and ranked/casual matches. Capcom has overhauled and greatly enhanced the 10 games' multiplayer offerings, allowing worldwide online battling and trading. Previously, in the GBA era, two players could connect their systems via Link Cable and battle or trade chips, again in the spirit of Pokémon.

Only adding to that feeling is the collection's online infrastructure. It makes the compilation feel exhaustive and definitive. The inclusion of all this limited edition content, much of it formerly tied to e-Reader functionality, is a huge boon for the Legacy Collection. The programmers at Capcom even went the extra mile and included the special Boktai tie-in cards.

This covers 15 chips to be used in single-player and multiplayer battles, and 499 cards that either power up Mega Man's stats, grant items like BugFrags, or summon a super-powerful boss. From the main screen you can choose to dive into your game of choice, or explore elsewhere, including a gallery of over 1,000 illustrations, concept designs, and promotional materials, and a music player stuffed with 188 songs taken from the Battle Network games.Įven more importantly, the anthology pulls together all the Japan-exclusive "Download Chips" and "Patch Cards" previously available only at special events or in stores. Yes, it includes Mega Man Battle Network 1-6, and all the variants therein, but it also assembles them lovingly in an accessible, feature-rich compilation that elevates the original titles. The Legacy Collection is far more than just a simple compendium of 10 GBA games, however. Furthermore, the collection simply wouldn't be complete without them. That said, each version does include exclusive chips, bosses, cosmetics, and, in some cases, story beats. In general, just as with Pokémon, it's not essential to play through each game's complementary variant. There's the original Mega Man Battle Network, its sequel Mega Man Battle Network 2, the third installment Mega Man Battle Network 3 in both Blue and White versions, Mega Man Battle Network 4 in both Red Sun and Blue Moon versions, Mega Man Battle Network 5 in both Team ProtoMan and Team Colonel versions, and, finally, Mega Man Battle Network 6 in both Cybeast Falzar and Cybeast Gregar versions. Less than three weeks from the closure of the WiiU eShop, which for nine years housed the only digital versions of the 10 Game Boy Advance Battle Network role-playing games, the Legacy Collection arrives to provide a more permanent electronic (and physical) home for the saga - not to mention the removal of some serious FOMO for any WiiU owners who missed the March 27 cut-off.įor those of you out there counting, the Legacy Collection boasts 10 total games, four of them being paired variants in the style of Pokémon. The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection launches with great timing. By Evan Norris, posted on 13 April 2023 / 3,246 Views
