Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection continues Capcom’s streak of remasters, this time bringing attention to a somewhat overlooked era of Mega Man.
The collection bundles together a trilogy of Nintendo DS RPGs: Mega Man Star Force, Mega Man Star Force 2, and (for the first time in some territories) Mega Man Star Force 3. Additionally, all variations of each installment are included, resulting in seven titles to sink your teeth into.
Star Force follows the adventures of Geo Stellar, a young boy who merges with an alien creature named Omega-Xis, as he attempts to protect Earth from a series of intergalactic threats. Despite some pacing issues, most notably in the first game, the overarching story is genuinely interesting and features a fun cast of likable characters.
The Star Force trilogy is a successor to the Mega Man Battle Network series, featuring similar gameplay mechanics, such as grid-based combat and a card system for unleashing special attacks.
When combat clicks, the gameplay can be engaging, offering a nice spin on classic turn-based battles. Nevertheless, the combat remains the same for the most part across all three adventures, resulting in a repetitive gameplay loop that lacks evolution as you progress through each game.
Similarly, knowing where to go to advance the story is never made clear, resulting in hours of running around until you just so happen to find your objective. This is worsened by the previously mentioned pacing issues, meaning it can take a significant amount of time before you’re able to do anything substantial.
While it’s nice to have access to multiple variants of each game in the trilogy, content remains the same for the most part across the different versions. For instance, Mega Man Star Force features three versions: Leo, Pegasus, and Dragon, with the main differences being the transformations Geo receives throughout the adventure.
Network features from the original releases have been preserved here, allowing you to connect with other players to unlock other version content in your chosen game. This can be described as something similar to Pokémon, as by connecting to other games, you’re able to unlock some extra goodies, ensuring that you don’t have to restart the adventure in another version.
As far as the whole package goes, the presentation is superb, continuing Capcom’s streak at honoring the legacy of its franchises. There’s a lot to engage with here, such as a gallery, additional settings, and the previously mentioned network features. You can even customise your experience further with scalable difficulty settings and how you want the game to be displayed, since the original releases were on the Nintendo DS, which boasted two screens.
Although some parts haven’t aged as well, most noticeably regarding its gameplay, the Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is worth checking out if you enjoyed Battle Network or are looking for a new RPG series to dive into.
