Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection Vol. 1

Genre: Compilation / Action-RPG / Card RPG

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless / Online), Online Content Sharing

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, along with Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection Vol. 2.)

Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection Vol. 1, released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch in 2023, is a Compilation of Mega Man Battle Network, Mega Man Battle Network 2, Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue, and Mega Man Battle Network 3: White, all previously released on the Game Boy Advance from 2001 through 2003.

Here is what I thought of all of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade	tl;dr
Mega Man Battle Network	Compilation / Action-RPG / Card RPG	1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless / Online)	B	Right from the beginning, the very first game in this series provided a great mix of unique gameplay that combines Action-RPG and Card RPG elements in a fun and interesting world. It’s not without its problems, though – when not armed with an ability, your standard pea shooter feels a bit stiff, unresponsive, and unsatisfying, and the lack of a traditional experience system can make the random battles feel less satisfying than they should. Also, the game’s labyrinthine mazes get tiresome quickly. Still, this is a solid foundation for this series to build on. You know, if they were to actually build on it…
Mega Man Battle Network 2	Compilation / Action-RPG / Card RPG	1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless / Online)	B	This is more of the same as what we saw in the first game, even reusing many of the same visuals. There have been a few tweaks, though, with some working out better than others. Health is now persistent from one battle to the next, meaning players need to be more mindful about healing. There’s also a new ability to save multiple “chip folders” (card decks) as well as new wild chips that can be paired with anything. On balance, this is about as good as the first game, albeit far less original.
Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue	Compilation / Action-RPG / Card RPG	1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless / Online)	B-	The third entry in this series adds Pokemon-style Blue and White multi-game releases (that are largely identical) as well as a system to raise your own “viruses” to get custom cards, but this is otherwise mostly another very similar experience to the prior games. Not bad, but the series is definitely starting to feel too “samey” by this point.
Mega Man Battle Network 3: White	Compilation / Action-RPG / Card RPG	1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless / Online)	B-	The third entry in… okay, look, I won’t insult your intelligence by copy-pasting what I just wrote about Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue. This is the same game, with some changes to enemies and obtainable “chips”. Again, Pokemon-esque.

In short, all three games here feature some really original, fun gameplay in a delightfully interesting world, but as the series progresses it starts to feel far too “samey”. It doesn’t help that the later games copy-paste the same visuals, enemies, and abilities from the first game with only minor alterations and only make small modifications to the gameplay. However, the real issue here is that the issues of the first game are not addressed in the sequels – you still have to contend with repetitive-looking mazes progression that’s not as satisfying as it should be, and combat that becomes tedious whenever you use up abilities and must wait for new ones to load. Don’t get me wrong, all three of these games are still excellent, but it definitely feels like it could have been even better.

This compilation does more than just present the games exactly as they were. The title screens and text of these games have been updated to feature a smoother look to appear nicer and more legible on a big screen, while the rest of the visuals have been left untouched. Special in-game items that were previously only available via special promotions are now obtainable via an in-game “download”. Players can also optionally enable a mode in these games called Buster MAX Mode, which supercharges their normal shots to the point of being absurdly overpowered – perhaps amusing for those looking to easily cruise through the game, but probably not something most players will want to bother with. I should also make it a point to note that this release does not include the improvements made to the first game in the series in its Japan-only Nintendo DS re-release, Operate Shooting Star.

On the bright side, this release also expands the multiplayer features of the original games to support online play and trade with others, though in my time trying the game I couldn’t find anyone in the public lobbies to fight or trade with. Suffice it to say, if you want to play this game with others, you’ll probably have to bring along a friend who owns a copy of the game on their Nintendo Switch.

These games are contained within a main menu screen adorned by a cel-shaded fully-3D version of this series’ version of Mega Man (Mega Man.EXE) who looks fantastic and says various things as you’re looking around on the menu screen, which is a nice touch. In the menus, players can select from a few different control layouts, choose visualization options, earn in-game trophies, check out a full music player, as well as looking at art from throughout the series (even games not included in this collection, like Mega Man: Battle Chip Challenge).

It’s a pretty decent selection of features and extras, but the real sticking point here has to be the price – at $40, you’re paying $10 per game for games from 20 years ago… and that’s only if you count the two different versions of Mega Man Battle Network 3 as separate games. If we look at this as a trilogy, that works out to about $13 per game, a tough pill to swallow when these three games were available for $8 each on Wii U Virtual Console.

It really pains me to say this, but I feel like the extra features included in Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection Vol. 1 do not justify its price. There is a lot of good content here, but $40 seems really steep for what amounts to three 20 year-old games, especially when the first game lacks improvements made in an earlier release, and the latter two games feel like they’re copying most of their content from the first game. Compare this with the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection, released three years ago, and the difference is stark – that collection contained six great Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS games and only costs $30. It’s hard not to look at these two Collections without coming away with the same conclusion – this feels like a rip-off.

“Toy Link” features not supported.

tl;dr – Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection Vol. 1 is a Compilation of the Game Boy Advance games Mega Man Battle Network, Mega Man Battle Network 2, Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue, and Mega Man Battle Network 3: White, all games that mesh together elements of Card RPGs and Action-RPGs. The games here are excellent, though the latter games seem to copy most of their content from the first game and do little to fix that game’s problems. This Compilation also comes with an excellent array of bonus content. Unfortunately, at $40 for what amounts to three 20 year-old games, this Compilation feels absurdly overpriced.

Grade: B-

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