adventure

Mega Man Anniversary Collection contains the original Mega Mans 1-6 (NES), Mega Man 7 (SNES), Mega Man 8 (Playstation), and Mega Man Power Battle 1-2 (Japan-only arcade games). For those unfamiliar with the Mega Man series, it's a 2-D side-scrolling action/platform jumping game. The main gimmick of the series is defeating each of the 8 robot bosses, and using the weapons you gain from them to exploit the the weakness' of enemies/obstacles in the game. Each game has been faithfully recreated, with lightning fast load times and no more slow-down than what was in the original versions. Hardcore Mega Man fans will be pleased to know that all of their passwords and tactics from 15 years ago have been ported over intact. However, the older Mega Man games (mainly the NES ones) haven't aged so well...the primitive gameplay and graphics can't squeeze the same replay value out of them as pick-up and play classics like Ms. Pacman, Centipede, and Galaga. Mega Man 7, 8, and The Power Battles have a more polished feel to them and are enough to justify the purchase of the collection despite that fact. Ultimately, this compilation is best reserved for those who have played through the old games and understand them from a nostalgic perspective. You've been warned...younger fans who have been weened on fancy 3-D graphics and dual-analog stick gameplay probably won't find much to get excited about here.

The original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was a strong system due to the classic game series that graced it. You had the great Zelda, Mario, Ninja Gaiden, and the RPG games like Final Fantasy and Dragonwarrior. Among my favorite series of all time happens to be the blue bomber (as we true fans called him), Mega Man. There were six on the NES as well as the 7th one for Super Nintendo and the eighth one for PlayStation. For years I anticipated a treatment like they did for Mario All-Stars (although they made The Wily Wars for Genesis, which had the first three, but that wasn't enough...), and I finally got my wish... all eight original games on one disc.

THE GOOD
Not ONLY do you get the original games on the one disc, you ALSO get the two previously Japan-only arcade games, Mega Man: The Power Battles and Mega Man: The Power Fighters. The arcade games you must unlock before playing. I don't see that as a drawback because gamers must experience the original games (especially you poor gamers that didn't grow up playing it). Most of the music in the first 6 games are remixed, most of them sounding quite good; the music in Mega Mans 5 and 6 are VASTLY improved over their original counterparts. Not only that, but you have the option of playing the games in their original forms as well. Mega Man 8 doesn't change much, but remember its crappy load time between sections? GONE. The game loads very quick-paced, and I am forever grateful to those involved with the game that eliminated it. Another secret you can unlock---and this surprised me---is the first episode of the short-lived Mega Man cartoon series (y'know, the one with Mega Man voiced by a GUY, and he was also Goku??). Not just a clip, not a collection of clips, THE ENTIRE EPISODE. That's the best secret to unlock aside from the arcade games. Also included amongst the secrets are picture sets of early drafts of characters, titles, and so forth (one of the original names for Mega Man is "Knuckle Kid." What a weird name.).

THE BAD
There's few wrongs with this game, but I mention them nonetheless. First off, when I said MOST of the music is remixed, by that I mean that Mega Mans 4,5, and 6 have totally remixed music but the first three do not. You'll hear, for example, Cut Man's theme and then when the boss music comes up, it's the original 6-bit music. Not necessarily bad, but I do wish they would've remixed every piece of music. Also, most of the secrets not mentioned in THE GOOD are mostly remixed music that has nothing to do with the series. Also, and I didn't see this as a terrible thing since the controls are set in my preference anyhow, but you can't change the control scheme. That might irritate some people, but thankfully, it didn't irritate me.

OVERALL
I didn't find much wrong with this game. It's a great anniversary edition of gamers' favorite blue bomber, and I'm glad that they finally brought them over to the PlayStation 2 and Gamecube for all gamers to play (Xbox, however, got the shaft.). Not only that, but it's only around $30. That's a GREAT price for 10 classic games on one disc. New gamers, do have the patience and the initiative to try out this collection. It's a piece of gaming history and my generation of gamers understand what I mean by saying that this is one of the best game series to ever enter our fertile imaginations.

I recently hauled out my old NES and SNES to play some old school games. Since I grew up on these machines, I really appreciate the simple controls and gameplay they offer, despite the stone age graphics and sound. I loved the original Mega Man series on the NES and just had to get this for PS2 when I heard it was coming out.

I played all 6 originals, but only owned 2 thru 5, so it is great to own those that I never had. After playing them again, I just can't believe how wonderful play control is in these original games. I don't think there are any games produced since with control this tight and crisp. I think the original 6 games have better control than 7 and 8.

Some notes on each game:

MM1-This game makes me realize why I don't get upset at games as much anymore. This game is so difficult and frustrating, I still haven't been able to finish it. No E-tanks, no slide, no Megabuster, just jump, run, and shoot.
MM2-This is the first Mega Man game I ever played as a kid. I loved it then and still love it now.
MM3-Probably my favorite of the original 6 games. The tunes are the most memorable. The stages where you face the MM2 robots are quite irritating.
MM4, MM5, MM6-All similar games, all very good but not quite as good as 2 and 3. 4 is probably most difficult, followed by 6 then 5.
MM7 and MM8-I had never played these in the past. I have played both a little, and they are not as good as the NES releases. More modern technology made these much more complicated than the originals. You can't just pick up and play them and expect to get very far.

This is overall a great collection, and I had been waiting for something like this probably since the original Playstation was released.