Born for Wii: Mega Man Legends

by Wesley Fenlon { Sep 23rd 2008 at 11:46AM }

Mega Man. Mega Man X. Mega Man Zero. Mega Man Battle Network. With over 40 games in these series alone, one thing is obvious: there's a lot of Mega Man out there. The diminutive blue-clad hero has shown up on an impressive number of platforms in the past two decades, and often one game led to another, and another, and another, eventually spawning a whole bucketload of sequels. However, when Mega Man took a turn into the third dimension, the predictable half-dozen follow-up installments never materialized.

In 1997, Capcom took Mega Man in a radically new direction with Mega Man Legends, a 3D action-RPG for the Sony Playstation (and the N64 under the moniker Mega Man 64). It's an all-new Mega Man sporting a familiar look, but the gameplay is significantly different -- dungeon exploration, item creation, and weapon upgrading are just some of the RPG staples present in Mega Man Legends. Despite its differences from classic Mega Man, Legends is a fun game that succeeds in shaking up the formula. And with the last game in the Mega Man Legends spinoff now eight years old, this particular Rockman is destined to be Reborn for Wii.

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Gallery: Born for Wii: Mega Man Legends

Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, Punch-Out!!, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.

Tags: born-for-wii, capcom, joystiqfeatures, mega-man, mega-man-legends, megaman, n64, playstation, port, ps1

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Haohmaru @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:04PM

I loved Rockman Legends 1 & 2. I keep hoping for a third one to provide some conclusion after the cliffhanger ending of the second game, though. -.- LONG overdue.

Zertoss @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:28PM

Megaman Legends/Rockman Dash is one of my favorite PS1 games. I didn't like the 2nd one quite as much, but it was still a lot of fun.

samfish @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:44PM

I never liked the Legends games. They always seemed so wrong to me. No helmet, the RPG elements, the way the game played in general...it was all so different compared to the original series and X and I could never get past that.

Don Day @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:47PM

You could wear the helmet if you wanted too. Just sayin'.

samfish @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:09PM

Yeah, but...it was a matter of principals, damnit!

Don Day @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:49PM

I really enjoyed the first MML. The last boss I seem to remember being a real pain in the ass. MML2 was also great, but didn't seem as special as the first.

cmdrpwn @ Sep 23rd 2008 12:56PM

Man, this post is just sheerly astonishing. To this day I've never heard a soul admit to having enjoyed the Legends series, and Mega Man 64 in particular is a notoriously vilified and abhorred wart upon the Mega Man pedigree for its atrocious controls, embarassing and pathetic voice-overs, hideous graphics and dry, templatic level design. I think most people want this game to be forgotten.

For me personally thinking of MM64 invokes particularly bad memories. I simply loved the old NES Mega Man titles, and when I heard that a 3D rendition was coming to the N64, I was incredibly excited.

Only to waste a weekend on one of the worst game rentals I've ever made. Please Nintendo, by creating MM9 Capcom has made a clear declaration of solidarity with the old-skool MM fanbase, recognizing that bar-none the 8-bit instantiations of the franchise were the best of the lot.

Paradoxically enough, reviving one of the only 3D attempts at the serious would actually be taking a step in the backwards direction. MM64 should die in the annals of bad gaming history, and not be "reborn for Wii".

Wesley Fenlon @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:13PM

Obviously a few people remembered and enjoyed it!

Dustin @ Sep 24th 2008 3:12AM

I freakin' loved the game. Suck it, dude.

B-R-E-T @ Oct 17th 2008 11:16AM

The N64 port was awful, and simply shouldn't be anyone's first glance at the series. Play the Playstation games instead. Much better control scheme, graphics and sound. My god were the N64 controls awkward.

To each his own, though. It happens to be my all time favorite series in the franchise. Shame it's hated by fanboys and purists incapable of enjoying anything that demands an open mind.

Jonathon Ferrell @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:48PM

I'd buy a Wii for this... maybe. But i do love the MML games.

Jamie @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:14PM

Isn't there a part in this game, in a book shop and it says

"There are some dirty magazines on the shelves. It would be fun to look at them, but you might get caught!"

Or something like that? And it's rated E??? XD

Zertoss @ Sep 23rd 2008 3:06PM

There's also a part where Tron's clothes burn off and the Servbots have to tell her she's naked. Later aboard the airship, if you go into Roll's room she screams and runs you out. What was she doing? Only Megaman knows for sure though I think the expression on his face says enough.

psychedelicpaintbrush @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:29PM

For me, Megaman Legends was an amazing evolution for the game. I loved it, everyone I knew loved it. The game was fun on every difficulty from very easy to very hard and there was an admirable amount of content in both the first and second game (although having rented part 2 I never got to finish it). The resurrection of this series would lead to nothing but success for Capcom no matter what console it's played on. Megaman used to be one of gamings shining stars, unfortunately Megaman X5 and upward seemed to do a lot of damage to the series. I say drop the X series (or at least the stupid storyline it entered), stop milking the franchise with all the Megaman abominations I've seen, and actually put some freaking EFFORT into designing something.
I can't believe this article gave me a little bit of hope for Megaman, I'd given up and now I want something that isn't going to happen.

TX2 @ Sep 23rd 2008 3:41PM

Yes yes yes! Bring back the 3D megaman with the Rouge Like dungeon under the city and the Metroid Esq upgrades and the little monkey that recently got revived in Zack and Wiki!

padgon @ Sep 23rd 2008 5:54PM

You mean Data!

cmdrpwn @ Sep 23rd 2008 6:28PM

I am genuinely nonplussed at the comments this post has attracted. Honestly, I thought it was the general consensus then an dnow that MM64 was a thoroughly mediocre game.

I even remember Matt Cassamassina, a man whom I do not always agree but have always respected, lambasting this game way back when on good ol' IGN64, here's the review:

http://ign64.ign.com/articles/151/151909p1.html

I don't have the gall to question anyone's opinions, if you guys all sincerely liked this game I"m happy for you. But I'm going to go ahead and venture a guess here that some opinions are being inflated out of judgment clouded by nostalgia; somehow I suspect that if we played this game again 7 years later our perceptions of it wouldn't be quite as complimentary.

But I dunno, that's just me.

Deadpool @ Sep 24th 2008 3:52AM

You're thinking Megaman64. We're thinking Megaman Legends. Looks like you played the bad port because the controls werent designed for the N64, it was made for psx first. The controls were way better on psx.

By the way...did anyone else feel kinda attached to the town a little at the end of the game?

B-R-E-T @ Oct 17th 2008 11:25AM

Yeah, do you even know what you're talking about? Speak for yourself, and no one else.

Megaman 64 sucked. Megaman LEGENDS on the other hand is a great game and should not even be compared with that horrible port.

DZeroStar @ Sep 24th 2008 12:55PM

I didn't play this, but I watched a friend in college play through a lot of it. I think the idea's got a lot of potential, even if the first PSX attempt didn't work out perfectly.

Really, I don't see this as being much different than the shift from Super Metriod to Metriod Prime, which worked out very well. In fact, I can't help but think of Mega Man as I play through the Prime series and collect weapons from the bosses I defeat!

A 3rd person shooter that's a little more platforming heavy with upgradeable guns would be great. It could fill an excellent niche between Mario, Metroid and Zelda on the Wii.

shouryuuken @ Sep 25th 2008 1:46AM

man, you guys are always spot on with what ive been saying should come to wii. this would be a brilliant idea for capcom in my opinion.

first of all, id rip off the res evil 4 3rd person view. i honestly wasnt a big fan of 3rd person shooters before that game.. and the resident evil remake(s in japan) sold (sell) well.

although megaman legends pales in comparison to the core and x games... i think it was a good game if you seperated it from its predecessors. if they made legends 3 a more lively game.. with more colorful environments and more like mega man (more platform action.. less rpg dungeon/exploration).. i think it could be good. the main change though would have to be the view.. that would probably make this series much more popular.

good one guys..

megadude @ Sep 29th 2008 12:16AM

Nah I rather see a Megaman legends 3 for the 360

Johnny Utah @ Dec 8th 2008 4:33PM

I don't know about MM64, but I LOVE MML. Personally I'd like to see an MML3 for all 3 systems. I'd probably want it made for all 3 systems. I would love to say that I would buy it no matter which system it came out on but the truth is I would want it for PS3. I personally like the big titles on the Wii but there are so few of them and I'm not a real fan of "party" games like Warioware... to be blunt, after a while I don't want to be flailing my arms, I'd rather just sit and let my fingers do the work so I can focus on the game and not what I'm doing with my hands.