Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection

Genre: Compilation / Action-Platformer / Metroidvania

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection is a collection of six spin-off Mega Man titles originally released on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS from 2002 to 2007. In terms of the series canon, the four Mega Man Zero games take place hundreds of years after the Mega Man X series, and the two ZX games take place hundreds of years after that, and while all of these games share some gameplay elements with the Mega Man X series, as well as with each other, they’re distinctly different enough to be considered separate series.

The Mega Man Zero series has players taking the role of Mega Man X series deuteragonist Zero, who wakes to find that his old buddy X has apparently gone all Knight Templar and taken his war against human-killing “Maverick” robots too far and is now carrying out a genocidal war against innocent robots (called “Reploids”) from his futuristic human city of Neo Arcadia, with Zero allying himself with a resistance movement of humans and Reploids trying to fight back. But of course, as with most Mega Man games, there’s more going on than there seems at first. These games allow players to swap back and forth between a traditional Mega Man-style plasma gun and Zero’s laser sword (as well as additional weapons you acquire through the course of the game, but perhaps its most original addition to the franchise is the “Cyber Elf” system that has you collecting a multitude of small helper robots that you grow by feeding them pickups, and which then enables them to enhance your own abilities. These games were all on the Game Boy Advance, and as such the screen size is relatively small, which makes for a harder difficulty (even with added features that tone down the difficulty somewhat in this collection).

The ZX games are both fairly different from each other, but take place at a time when humans and Reploids have managed to attain a relative peace, although that peace is broken by the appearance of new Maverick robots, as well as a power struggle fueled by the discovery of machines called “Biometals” that can fuse with humans to act as Iron Man-style power armor and give them the powers and abilities of powerful Reploids from the former eras of the series, with those who make use of these Biometals being referred to as Mega Men. These games took a lot of the elements of the Mega Man Zero series and applied them to Metroidvania-style progression and world design. These games were both on the Nintendo DS, and include a second smaller screen on-screen to bring this feature over. It feels like a really awkward way to address this issue, but thankfully for the most part the second screen isn’t super-important to the way these games play.

It bears mention that these games were all somewhat criticized in their original release for being overly hard, an issue that has thankfully been addressed with two different optional additions, one which is just right, and another one that goes way too far – Save Assist and Casual Scenario Mode. Save Assist adds checkpoints to these games that revive the player after a death without any penalty, something that goes a great deal towards alleviating the overly-tough challenge of these games without making them too easy. Casual Scenario Mode allows players to play through these games with all upgrades unlocked right at the start, and this makes these games an absolute cakewalk, and I don’t really recommend using it unless you are absolutely terrible at this sort of game. Players can opt to turn on either of these modes for each game, or go without to play the originals as they were first released.

All of the games in this collection feature 16 Bit-style pixel art graphics that looks pretty good, though the Game Boy Advance games are noticeably low in resolution, and all of the games take up a limited amount of space on-screen due to being originally designed for a handheld (though you’re given multiple display options, including the ability to stretch out the display. These games all also feature an absurdly melodramatic story comparable to what was seen in the Mega Man X series, albeit with a fairly poor localization that makes it a bit difficult to take seriously.

With all that having been said, here’s how I think each of the games in this collection stacks up by today’s standards.

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Mega Man Zero	Action-Platformer	1	B-
tl;dr This is a solid Action-Platformer that uses an interconnected world, though it never really takes advantage of that fact like you might see in a Metroidvania and game progression is gated behind missions (which can be permanently failed if you take one you can’t handle and leave it before finishing). What’s more, the level design is a bit dull and monotonous, and the “Cyber Elf” system is poorly explained and needlessly confusing. Furthermore, of all the games in this collection, the first Mega Man Zero has the steepest difficulty and seems to require the most grinding. Despite its problems, the core game design is still fun, and it’s worth playing if you have the patience to put up with those flaws.
Mega Man Zero 2	Action-Platformer	1	B+
tl;dr This game (and all subsequent Mega Man Zero games) ditch the first game’s connected world, and that’s just as well, really. This game is a solid step up from its predecessor in multiple ways, with better level design, a much better soundtrack, and a new chain rod weapon that acts as a grappling hook and is not only a lot of fun, but actually used very well in traversal and puzzle solving in the game’s levels, making it invaluable. This game also gives players bonuses for beating missions with certain conditions, though this is more frustrating than helpful as it’s far too easy to miss one of these goals and permanently lose access to an ability. Still, this is an excellent entry in the series.
Mega Man Zero 3	Action-Platformer	1	B
tl;dr This game sadly ditches the chain rod and replaces it with a “recoil rod” that isn’t anywhere near as fun or useful. In addition, the Cyber Elf system has been altered to add “sattelite elf” abilities, which are an interesting new way of doing things (which, as per usual, is poorly-explained). This game also includes a multitude of collectible disks dropped by enemies and hidden away in the world, giving players more reason to revisit stages. Overall still a solid game, but not quite as enjoyable as the second game.
Mega Man Zero 4	Action-Platformer	1	A-
tl;dr This game replaces the recoil rod with the new “zero knuckle”, an ability that allows you to temporarily steal the weapon of many of the mooks strewn throughout a level, which adds an interesting new layer of variety. The Cyber Elf system has also been simplified here to what is essentially a skill tree, which some will find far more comprehensible and others will feel oversimplifies the mechanic. Unlike the prior games in this series, this game has players choosing between eight themed levels with bosses like an actual Mega Man game, and both the level design and the music in this game is some of the best in the series. Overall, this game just barely edges out Mega Man Zero 2 to be the best game in the Zero series.
Mega Man ZX	Metroidvania	1	B
tl;dr This game brings back the connected world of the first Mega Man Zero, but now as an actual Metroidvania… sorta’. Progression is still tied to the mission system, but that system now has players moving through the game’s world to get to locations. The graphics here receive a modest bump due to the change from Game Boy Advance to Nintendo DS, but the gameplay itself is a lot more simple, with many of the more interesting mechanics of Mega Man Zero stripped away. Also, I have to say that the map system for this game is atrocious. Overall it’s still good, but it’s frustrating because it could’ve been so much better.
Mega Man ZX Advent	Metroidvania	1	A
tl;dr This game not only addresses many of the problems I had with the first ZX game, such as improving the map, fixing the mission structure to be more fluid, and adding more interesting complexity to the gameplay, it also does something inspired for a Mega Man game that it’s kinda’ surprising it took this long for the series to to – beating bosses in this game doesn’t just let you use their ability, it lets you actually play as that boss, with a completely altered move set. Add to this a world that’s a lot more fun to explore than ZX was, with excellent level design, and overall I feel that this game is the biggest highlight of this entire package.

In short, I feel like the even games in this collection are its biggest highlights, with the final games in each respective series being the best of their respective series. However, pretty much every game in this collection is still decent – there are no stinkers in the bunch. Looking back at old reviews, I see a common complaint is that these games started feeling “samey”, but I just don’t agree with that at all. While in broad strokes these games share a lot in common, there were definitely strides made in each game to differentiate it from the game’s predecessors and make it unique. I can certainly see how the challenge level would have made these games maddening back in the day, leading to the other main complaint about these games. However, the Save Assist function is an absolute life-saver here that keeps things from getting too frustrating, even if you find yourself dying time and again.

In addition to the newly-added Save Assist and Casual Scenario Mode and various display options, every game in this collection offers the ability to alter button assignments as you see fit, a gallery of production and publicity art, and a music player of the game’s entire soundtrack. Furthermore, collecting cards in Mega Man Zero 3 and 4 unlocks new gallery artwork, Mega Man ZX includes a feature that allows it to access the bonus content the originals included if you plugged in a copy of Mega Man Zero 3 or 4, and both Mega Man ZX and ZX Advent include remastered voice clips based on the original recordings (though you can still use the audio from the original games if you prefer) and high-quality animated cutscenes.

And as Capcom has taken to doing with their Mega Man Legacy Collections, this game also features a challenge mode of sorts for all of the included games, in this game called Z Chaser. Here, players can tackle select portions of each game and compete on worldwide leaderboards to try to get the best times to complete those sections. Interestingly, this mode also includes a 2-player co-op section, which is a nice addition even if this isn’t a series that’s really designed for 2-player play.

All told, the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection is a superb collection of great games, with a few of those even being on par with some of the best games out of any Mega Man series, and even the worst games in this package are still very enjoyable. Plus, a lot of care has been given to ensure that this package is loaded with features and as “complete” as someone could hope for from a collection of these games, including features that greatly improve the original games and address some of the biggest complaints players had with them, and all for an excellent price of $30. If you’re a fan of classic Action-Platformers, and especially if you’re a Mega Man fan, this game needs to be in your collection.

tl;dr – Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection is a collection of six games in Mega Man spinoff series on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Some of the biggest complaints about these games (namely, the punishing difficulty) have been addressed with new features, making the otherwise excellent games much more approachable, and the result is a series that is sometimes truly great but always at least pretty good. Plus, the amount of extra content here is fantastic, especially for the low price of $30. If you’re a fan of Action-Platformers, especially if you enjoy Mega Man games, you need to own this collection.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2020 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Compilation/Collection, Best Value

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