Mega Man 4 Perfectly Encapsulates the NES Mega Man Experience…
I recently beat the Legacy Collection and would like to say that I enjoyed all six games in the collection. Every game has their strengths and weaknesses, but MM4 stands out among them.
My first exposure to Mega Man was in Super Smash Bros 3DS, so admittedly, there is some confirmation bias that favors the game where Mega Man most resembles his Super Smash counterpart.
To me, the defining features of a Mega Man game, in no particular order, are music, movement (slide specifically), weapons (charged mega buster specifically), Robot Masters, and level design.
With that in mind, Mega Man 1 & 2 fall short with the lack of the slide and mega buster. I appreciate MM1 more so as the foundation to games with ultimately better level design and platforming (Although Cut Man is still probably my favorite Robot Master of the six). Mega Man 2 has arguably the best Robot Masters and music, but again, falls short with the lack of slide and charged mega buster.
Mega Man 3 is difficult for me because it was probably the most fun I had playing any of the six games…up until the doc robot stages. I used saved states throughout the Legacy Collection, but this was the one game that for me personally would be impossible to beat.
Mega Man 4 stands out because it has everything that you would expect a Mega Man game to have. The slide mechanic is great and I love the charged up mega buster. The power-ups aren’t as fun as MM2, but running around with the Pharaoh power-up to protect overhead enemies was extremely satisfying. The Robot Master lineup is my favorite—Pharaoh Man’s level in particular feels the most unique in the entire Collection. Music is extremely subjective, but MM4 has the greatest variance in songs, and some of my favorites (Dr. Cossack Stage 3 & 4, Dive Man, Pharaoh Man). My biggest gripe about this game, which continues in MM5 and MM6, is the charging mega buster tends to drown out other audio—which can be VERY distracting.
Mega Man 5 is a fun game and includes some of my favorite Robot Masters and level design (Gyro Man and Charge Man). However, the music doesn’t feel as unique as the other games. That, coupled with getting drowned out by the charging mega buster, the music really fades into the background and becomes less noticeable.
Mega Man 6 has the same issues as MM5. I really like some of the Robot Masters (Tomahawk Man and Yamamoto Man) but the rest of the lineup is forgettable. Also, this game felt a lot less responsive than the previous games. I’m not sure if this is a Legacy Collection issue, but I used the same hardware throughout and even went back and played other games in the collection, which all felt more responsive.
After playing the first legacy collection, I’m a huge fan and this seems like an awesome community, so just wanted to share my thoughts and why I thought MM4 was the best! I haven’t started the Mega Man X collection yet, but will soon. Excited to see how MM4 holds up to the entire mainline series!