Is Mega Man Legends the Best Mega Man Franchise?

Mega Man has gone through many iterations throughout his lifespan. He’s been dumped into a virtual network, given an entirely new war to fight and even starred in his own television show. It was in Mega Man Legends that Mega Man was given his greatest role ever. The blue hero finally step into the 3D world and while we probably will never see a third installment it remains the best Mega Man franchise ever made.

Mega Man isn’t a hero in Legends, instead he takes the role of a relic hunter called a “Digger” who scavengeancient ruins in search of powerful items and refractor shards. These items are used for power, literary, andcan be traded as money. Mega Man isn’t special when you start the journey, instead he’s a regular Digger in search of rare items to sell. Over the course of Mega Man Legends it’s revealed that Mega Man is much more than simple Digger, or was. Before losing his memory Mega Man was known as Mega Man Trigger, a Purifier Unit tasked with hunting and eliminating Aberrant Units by The Master. The Master being the last original human who entrusted Mega Man with his genetic code. It’s much more complicated than I make it seem, something that other Mega Man games failed to accomplish in the same degree.

The story Mega Man Legends gave players snippets of information over the course of the adventure. At the start of the game you were simply looking for parts to repair your ship, then suddenly defending the town from pirates, and ending with a finale leaving you guessing how Mega Man’s journey will follow after a massive revelation. It established a perfect edifice that not only ended with a satisfying conclusion to encourage players to play the sequel, while remaining loyal to the core mechanics of the Mega Man franchise.

You never felt that Mega Man was simply going around killing other robots. Instead he always had a larger goal, and on the way to complete each objective was met with as series of likable and diverse characters. Pirates, bureaucrats and mercenaries each with their own backstory and persona.

Unlike other Mega Man games you don’t obtain weapons and gadgets through defeating boss battles or finding hidden terminals featuring holograms from Dr. Light. Instead players navigate different ruins to obtain “Junk”, which can be used to create new weapons by Roll. These weapons can be upgraded further using Zenny, encouraging players to experiment with different technology and upgrade what they enjoy using. 

Other Mega Man games featured a similar mechanics, allowing you to further upgrade Mega Man with different weapons and gadgets throughout the game. However Mega Man Legends took this to another level, allowing you to obtain these alluring upgrades either through story missions or optional objectives. By using specific items, or in the case of Mega Man Legends 2 getting a Class A and S license, giving players more reasons to return to old locations, scour the environment and search the terrain. 

Speaking of Mega Man Legends 2, this game improved on everything that Legends 1 already accomplished and more. Giving more varied environments, the ability to travel to different locations and a story that not only answered many questions from the first game but created new mysterious for players to debate on. 

Mega Man Legends encompasses everything that made other Mega Man games enthralling experiences with its own unique take on the notorious formula. Mega Man is has adaptable as ever but Legends storyline was so infectious that fans are still demanding a conclusion from Capcom.

Don’t agree with us? Tell us what’s your favorite Mega Man series and why in the comments below!

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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