My family was down in the States last week, and I’d given them a short list of things to pick up for me while they were down there. It was mostly Peanut Butter Crunch and Mountain Dew Throwback, but at the very end, I snuck a note on there asking them to check out the used game shops for either MegaMan Legends game. I wasn’t expecting much, because I’ve been prowling the local shops for years now. Lo and behold, the ol’ family came through for me.
So now I’m the proud owner of a legitimate copy of MegaMan Legends. It doesn’t have the proper jewel case, but I can fake that if it ever starts to bother me. It’s been a few years since I played it in earnest, so I’d forgotten just how strange the control scheme is. I was a little worried about how MegaMan Legends 3 would control on the 3DS, but my fears have been assuaged now that I know they certainly couldn’t have gotten any less functional. It’s all moot though, because that game was cancelled.
I think the most jarring thing to me is that there is no quick-turn button/button combination. I don’t think it was introduced into the Resident Evil series until the GameCube remake, but I have lingering memories of there being such a technique in MML. Maybe I’m thinking about the sequel? Maybe there is a quick turn and I don’t know how because I don’t have the manual? It would be really handy though. S’all I’m sayin’.
On the other hand, I’ve been doing pretty well for myself so far. Near the beginning of the game, there’s a huge robot boss whose weaponry can destroy the surrounding buildings. One of the sub-quests later in the game is to grind up the money to donate towards rebuilding the city. Usually the costs are pretty high, but I managed to end up losing only two of the smaller buildings on this run, which is significantly better than I remember doing on any previous playthroughs. So, I guess I’m getting the hang of the funky controls again.
There’s a second phase in the Northern section of the city that works the same way. Only this time there are a handful of smaller robots which are far more interested in demolition than self-preservation, and three of which fly around and spawn new robots. Also the buildings are spread out a bit more, forcing you to run back and forth across the map in a vain attempt to save what you can. Needless to say, that part never works out too well for me.
It’s a great joy to drop back into the MegaMan Legends world though. Kattleox Island is such a vibrant place, with little flourishes all over the place to keep explorers happy. Maybe they’re as simple as a poster with a pig and chicks on it that says “Don’t kick us!” (which ties into Legends 2), or as unexpected as a lone Servbot hanging out on a roof. And the characters! The voice acting doesn’t exactly shine, but it certainly has the same memorable quality as the original Resident Evil does, just without most of the cheesiness. At worst, Capcom had programmers/translators who wanted to do voice acting do it this time around.
In the end, I think it’s mostly the fact that I can appreciate this game for what it was in its time. Mechanically, it doesn’t hold up as well as I’d like to say, but it certainly makes up for that lack with a compelling game and story underneath those outdated levers and pulleys. I still love the game, and I’m relishing the chance to really get into it again.