There was a time not too long ago where the Mega Man franchise was on fire. Between the main series, Battle Network, Zero, and X spinoffs, there were multiple games set in the Blue Bomber’s universe coming out every year between the 90’s and the late 2000’s. Among those was a string of action-RPG’s, known as Mega Man Star Force. Released as a follow-up to Battle Network, Star Force intended to progress the story even further with three entries, each one having multiple versions similar to Pokémon.
Since it was the last spinoff series to be released in the Mega Man franchise, it makes sense that Capcom saved it for last to get the Legacy Collection treatment. I am grateful to not only have gotten the chance to preview the Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection ahead of launch, but to have the chance to try one of the many Mega Man spinoffs in general! Time to see if Capcom made another Blue (Bomber) Banger, or fumbled and made it a blue bust.
What immediately got my attention when booting up Star Force Legacy Collection was the wealth of settings and options to tune the gameplay however I wished. From difficulty adjustments to being able to modify damage and encounter rates, there are plenty of ways to switch up your playthrough if you are itching for an extra challenge or want to cruise through the story. While I chose to keep everything default since it was my first time playing, I do appreciate the lengths that Capcom will allow players to go to curate their own gameplay experience.
As for the game itself, I fired up Star Force Pegasus for a few hours to get a feel for the game and how well it works with a modern control scheme. Generally speaking, the game controls perfectly fine with the joysticks of a modern controller, but I did find that the d-pad was more helpful during battle segments. Given that Star Force was originally on the DS, it makes sense that the D-Pad would be a natural fit for the Legacy Collection edition.
Aside from the controls, I was also worried that the gameplay would be compromised since the original game made use of two screens. Those concerns were quickly put to rest when I saw how well Capcom adapted the battle system to a single screen; I didn’t feel like the battles were cumbersome to navigate at all.
One other detail that stood out to me was the visual style. Yes, it is a DS game, so of course it’s pixelated. However I realized upon starting up the game that pixel smoothing was enabled by default. I consider myself somewhat of a purist when it comes to playing older games, so I like to play them in their original style. Thankfully, this is one of the various settings you can toggle in the menu, so it’s easy to remedy if you desire that pixelated glory.
Pixel Smoothing enabledPixel Smoothing Disabled
In my limited playing experience so far, Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is shaping up to be a solid, modern way to experience a series whose brief existence seems to have flown under the radar by fans of the larger Mega Man franchise. Those who enjoyed the original titles will certainly have a good time replaying these classics, while allowing for new audiences to give these spinoffs a shot if they missed the memo back in the day.
In my limited playing experience so far, Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is shaping up to be a solid, modern way to experience a series whose brief existence seems to have flown under the radar by fans of the larger Mega Man franchise.
There was a time not too long ago where the Mega Man franchise was on fire. Between the main series, Battle Network, Zero, and X spinoffs, there were multiple games set in the Blue Bomber’s universe coming out every year between the 90’s and the late 2000’s. Among those was a string of action-RPG’s, known as Mega Man Star Force. Released as a follow-up to Battle Network, Star Force intended to progress the story even further with three entries, each one having multiple versions similar to Pokémon.
Since it was the last spinoff series to be released in the Mega Man franchise, it makes sense that Capcom saved it for last to get the Legacy Collection treatment. I am grateful to not only have gotten the chance to preview the Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection ahead of launch, but to have the chance to try one of the many Mega Man spinoffs in general! Time to see if Capcom made another Blue (Bomber) Banger, or fumbled and made it a blue bust.
What immediately got my attention when booting up Star Force Legacy Collection was the wealth of settings and options to tune the gameplay however I wished. From difficulty adjustments to being able to modify damage and encounter rates, there are plenty of ways to switch up your playthrough if you are itching for an extra challenge or want to cruise through the story. While I chose to keep everything default since it was my first time playing, I do appreciate the lengths that Capcom will allow players to go to curate their own gameplay experience.
As for the game itself, I fired up Star Force Pegasus for a few hours to get a feel for the game and how well it works with a modern control scheme. Generally speaking, the game controls perfectly fine with the joysticks of a modern controller, but I did find that the d-pad was more helpful during battle segments. Given that Star Force was originally on the DS, it makes sense that the D-Pad would be a natural fit for the Legacy Collection edition.
Aside from the controls, I was also worried that the gameplay would be compromised since the original game made use of two screens. Those concerns were quickly put to rest when I saw how well Capcom adapted the battle system to a single screen; I didn’t feel like the battles were cumbersome to navigate at all.
One other detail that stood out to me was the visual style. Yes, it is a DS game, so of course it’s pixelated. However I realized upon starting up the game that pixel smoothing was enabled by default. I consider myself somewhat of a purist when it comes to playing older games, so I like to play them in their original style. Thankfully, this is one of the various settings you can toggle in the menu, so it’s easy to remedy if you desire that pixelated glory.
Pixel Smoothing enabledPixel Smoothing Disabled
In my limited playing experience so far, Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is shaping up to be a solid, modern way to experience a series whose brief existence seems to have flown under the radar by fans of the larger Mega Man franchise. Those who enjoyed the original titles will certainly have a good time replaying these classics, while allowing for new audiences to give these spinoffs a shot if they missed the memo back in the day.
by Michael Fertitta
