Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection Preview

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There were a few games that I played to death when I was younger, and recently, the developers of those games have been repackaging them into legacy collections. Capcom has been one of my favorites, putting together a collection of one of my favorite games I played on the Game Boy Advance and DS: Mega Man Battle Network. However, the series continued after that, but I was never able to check it out. Now, I have the chance with the Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection.

Ahead of its release, I had a chance to play through some of it as a preview for what’s to come. Personally, this is my first time diving into the games, and I was super excited to see how the formula evolved from the original games. So, I dove right in, and I couldn’t be more excited to keep playing when it releases.

I won't be going too much into detail, since this is a preview, and mostly touch on the features and my impressions so far. There's a lot more of the game to play, and based on what I have experienced so far, I am enjoying it.

With these legacy collections, it feels like an homage to the series. Not only does it include all the games, and in this case, there are seven to play through across three generations, but there’s also a wealth of extra content outside of the games. We have a Gallery filled with artwork, design documents, music tracks, in-game rewards, and more. It’s like a little documentary detailing the development, and I love that kind of thing.

As for the games themselves, they all operate similarly to previous legacy collections. You choose the game you wanna play, and it hops right in. The difference with this one is that these games are based on the DS, meaning we have to balance having two screens to look at on just one. It can feel a little weird at times trying to look at both screens, but we have a good amount of control over the size and position of the screens, so the customizability helps. And we still have the customization options to change the border, color, filters, and some in-game settings to give us a handicap if we want it.

I’m also really enjoying the similarities in gameplay with Battle Network. I expected as much, given that this was part of the same series, but it was still great. The art style remains the same when walking around, and battles follow suit. However, instead of a more top-down view, we are switched to third person in a 3D style. We move side to side, dodging attacks, using cards in waves to kill off enemies. We can lock onto them to help with some card attacks, like sword strikes, but this new system ultimately feels like both a simplification and an expansion in a new direction for the formula. It feels a bit limiting, but I’m keeping an open mind as the gameplay evolves later on in the game.

The story also takes place in a distant future, which makes the setting feel more sci-fi-esque than it already did. It’s heavily inspired by space, with the series starting off as we are mourning the supposed death of our father after a space station explosion. The setting is 200 years after the last Battle Network game, and it certainly feels like there are advancements in technology throughout.

And as for how it is on the Steam Deck, there’s going to be no issue actually playing it. It runs flawlessly at a locked 60 FPS with around an 8W battery drain. The only noticeable oddity is that going into battle locks the game to 30 FPS, and I was hoping it would stay at 60 since the game is much older. It doesn’t hurt the experience, but I was still hoping for more improvements like that. Regardless, this is going to be a great collection to take on the go.

Still, it’s hard not to look at the Star Force Legacy Collection and feel like I am getting more than a full experience. Especially as someone who has a connection to these titles, it feels like I’m getting the chance to experience something I never had a chance to before. Now, with this new legacy collection, paired with the Battle Network collection, I’ll be able to go back and play through the entire sub-series of Mega Man that was my favorite back in the day. I think this trend of bringing back older series in these collections should continue so that the games we grew up with don’t disappear.

You can wishlist Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection over on Steam ahead of its March 26th release date.

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