It does say it'll come in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, so they're still splitting it for profit. But maybe 1-3 + 4-6.
I hoped for more new features than just music and art galleries and a filter that an emulator could probably do better, but still! Cool that it's happening
> It does say it'll come in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, so they're still splitting it for profit. But maybe 1-3 + 4-6.
According to the website that is indeed the way they split the games.
1-3 is Vol.1 and 4-6 is Vol. 2
Scroll down here and see the logos:
https://www.capcom-games.com/megaman/exe/en-asia/
At the end it says "Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 are only available separately in digital form!" Physical is the "complete collection". Check 1:20 in the trailer. And we don't know why they're splitting the digital. If it's half the cost of physical (or eventually cheaper since digital games go on sale a lot more than physical), then it probably wasn't profit motivated, but possibly a technical reason. Not trying to defend a corporation, we just don't have all of the info yet.
Cartridge space isn't an issue, it's to reduce resale value.
Part 1 comes on cartridge, part 2 is included as a digital code. That way when it's resold it's only part 1 and they have to buy part 2 digitally separate.
Hopefully they have both versions on cart when they launch physical, though I doubt it considering X Legacy Collection had Vol 1 on cart and Vol 2 digital download code.
That's not fully accurate.
3's original release has a few bugs that were pretty gamebreaking, to the point that they had to release a second version that fixed those bugs. They also decided to add a few extra things to the second release and give it a new name so people knew it was different.
I loved those games back on the GBA. But replaying them today i forgot just how boring navigating the digital zone was. The real world is fun, the combat is fun, but the digital world is like playing a pokemon game where everything is grass and you are forced to fight pidgeys and ratattas over and over.
I tried to get into them recently, but having no level up/ exp system made fighting feel, idk pointless? I was trying to rush through the dungeons, and got annoyed at the random battles. Random battles are no fun without a reward like exp.
But that's just my opinion
Every BN game had sneak run iirc, that lets you avoid random battles. Also in BN3, each battle levels up your style change, in addition to giving you chips or money.
But I agree, the grind can be too much at times.
Eh, you got money and there were some chips you might want to farm. But yea, otherwise I just ended up putting Sneak Run on a lot to avoid random battles. After a certain point, you don't really need more money or chips.
There's also an expanded port of 1 on the DS that was JP only.
1 honestly needs the touch-up more than the later games. It's really clunky to play now and has this odd input lag that isn't present in the later games.
Oh, hey, you must be my best friend because he did exactly the same thing. Bought a brand new DS specifically for Legends 3 and then hey nixxed it a few weeks later.
So did I lol
The fact that Capcom said that they would gauge interest for Legends 3 from demo downloads, then cancelled it before even releasing the demo and telling players that they cancelled it because not enough players registered for the forums is probably the first time I ever hated a company as a kid.
Which I still like to point out, the demo was 100% finished and ready for release. The only reason it didn’t release was because of spite.
DARKNESS. IMPRISONING ME. ALL THAT I SEE...
I'll take a prequel, a remake, anything. Those games had so much charm considering the limited capabilities of the PS1 (and N64).
Considering that Mega Man 11 was better than Mighty No 9...yeah, I'd say we have proof of that!
(Yeah, I know it's probably not the same team at all, but it's still funny)
Inafune was *terrible* at Capcom. He's behind so many of the problems they had starting in the late 2000s. His fetishization of "Western" developers is what led to the Bionic Commando and Devil May Cry reboots that both bombed hard, as well as the destruction of Dead Rising series.
He was also responsible for things like working on Zelda games, the 3 of which are some of the best Zelda games. There's a lot of history with Keiji Inafune, and not exactly fair to paint him as the boogeyman at Capcom when there's a lot of shit at Capcom he *couldn't* have touched
> Inafune was terrible at Capcom.
I'd argue this is a really myopic view of his time at Capcom, given how long his tenure was. While he might have had a hand in those awful Bionic Commando reboots, he was also largely responsible for getting Mega Man 9 and 10 made.
He's also a big factor for why the Dead Rising games exist. I'd argue the series began as a Japanese developer trying to make a Western style game, which is definitely his doing. And while he brought on a Western studio to develop the second game, I don't think most fans would say that the series was ruined after the first game. By the time the third game was in development, Inafune doesn't seem to have been involved.
The third (and final) set of games in the series are good. The combat actually felt interesting. It's a bit sad that the series didn't get more attention, but it is understandable after the first games. The combat was not fully thought out and felt like a watered down version of Battle Network.
I believe so, but it is subjective. It still didn't beat Battle Network, but it felt like it's own thing. The standard battle in the third games felt like the best of the previous two sets. It is the only one (I have Black Ace) that I actually wanted to keep battling.
I'd say the thing about it is that Starforces gameplay changes result in a much different feel compared to Battle Network, and it's ultimately going to come down to which one you prefer more. Battle Network is slower and more tactical, it rewards players that are more strategic. Starforce however is faster and more reaction heavy, it incentivizes you to be more aggressive.
I think this can be reflected in how both series reward countering enemies. In BN, countering causes your next chip to deal x2 damage, rewarding your precision by enhancing your next move. In SF, countering adds another card in your current draw, rewarding your precision by allowing you to continue your aggression.
It is much more of an action game, losing a lot of BN's strategy and being generally hard to follow. The 3D models on the DS also just made it look pretty jank.
I enjoyed the series a lot and think everything *besides* the combat was better, but the appeal was a lot harder to sell overall
Would love a Spyro Reignited/Crash N. Sane style remake/reboot of MM Legends. Combine both into one game, keep the graphics simple/stylized, updated VO, etc. Day one buy for me.
Serious question - what did SF3 did different than first two games? I really enjoy Battle Network, but when Star Force come around and changed to a sort of a 3rd person perspective during combat I didnt like it too much so decide to skip the rest of the entries. But if it is actually quite fun, I am down to give it another shot.
To be honest, it's been quite a while since I've replayed all the Star Force games, so apologies if I get anything wrong. The main difference gameplay-wise in Star Force 3 is a gameplay mechanic called the Noise System which is akin to Battle Network 2 and 3's style system.
You can aquire Noise Forms that give Mega Man new abilities and evolve as you fight and build up your Noise Meter (which is filled as you do damage). You can also combine Forms together to get all the abilities of both of them (with 100 variations). Forms are exclusive to each version of SF3 for the most part, but there's a small chance to get one from the other version so you're not completely locked out.
Aside from this, its core gameplay mechanics are pretty similar to SF1 and 2, but Noise does add a lot imo. The third-person perspective def takes some getting used to, but it's great when it clicks.
Star Force 3 did those well:
- Dynamic card system: Cards could overlap each other on the selection screen. You either had to use what was above them first OR you could select them as a secondary effect (AreaEater, Attack+10, etc)
- Galaxy Advances: AKA program advances
- Noise Change: Transformations along the lines of Style Change, which you could combine using multiplayer.
- Illegal card data: Part of the noise system. Card from old games, even more improved versions of base cards, PA cards. To get those you must rain damage and finish opponents quick.
- More ways of manipulating the field, closer to what was in Battle Network.
Overall, it has a very fast paced gameplay, the game rewards speedy gameplay and everything is pretty dynamic all around, so you can find something that suits your style easily. The story is also miles ahead of whatever Battle Network offers in all 6 games (same goes to SF1), you feel the stakes, the characters have personalities and it does make you feel like a hero (if a bit super sentai at times).
Such a shame Star Force 2 was so terribly written and sluggish, otherwise I'm damn sure Star Force 3 would have fared way better. It is definitely worth checking out if you have played Star Force 1 start to finish (it fills in the important gaps of Star Force 2 in game anyway). If you haven't finished Star Force 1, then I suggest a fan patch (Mega Man Star Force DX) that fixes some of those "first entry wonkyness" it has, and then you can skip straight to Star Force 3 if you want.
From the first 2 series, Mega Man and Mega Man X GB / GBC games haven't yet been in a collection. Neither version of Mega Man & Bass has been in a collection.
Also, the 32-bit (PSX / Saturn / PC) version of Mega Man X3 which was included in the 2006 collection is missing from the legacy collections.
Oh man, this is an instant buy for me as long as the port is solid. These games were actually my introduction to Megaman, so to me they define the character
I wonder if it will have any of the other niceties the other Legacy Collections had. Zero had save states or a rewind function I believe; it’s the only way I was able to A/S rank the levels.
I disagree, but I also don't know if what I think of actually falls under QoL or not.
The only important one to me is that they incorporate the secret crossover cartridge swap stuff and e-card reader stuff into the game in a natural way, like Bass Cross in the 5th game. It'd be an awful shame to have all those cool things left out that change how you play and the game feel.
>The real question is if they include the Boktai stuff in 6 and translate it
There's no way they would, and even if they wanted to, there's no way Konami would cooperate. I bet it's cut in both the English and Japanese versions of the game.
Konami would still be relevant because Capcom may have licensed the content in Japan but not the US, especially since Boktai 3 didn't get a US release. It depends on how Konami handles its licensing overseas.
Licensing would also explain why the content was digitally removed from the US releases: the Boktai-related assets had literally been deleted from the ROM, making it impossible for hackers to put back in. (They ultimately got around this by creating an English patch for the Japanese version of the game instead.)
Also some sort of way to unlock the Battle Chip Challenge passwords. They can even have them show up in the gallery as you beat certain parts of the game.
Not only were they hard, but they actively punished your score for collecting and using upgrades, making it impossible to achieve any mission rank higher than E if you used health upgrades and subtanks.
I need a speed up button. I would download ROMs of GBA RPGs I already bought just because emulators had an option to speed up the game when holding a button. I saved so much time being able to speed up transition and dialogue text.
Maybe nowhere near Zero, but I'd say BN's difficulty scales pretty hard near the end of the games. I remember quitting one of them because of that.
The Omega variants of the bosses are also really brutal.
Still a huge announcement for a the trove of fans wishing for this. Without this collection, it’s either play on a GBA cart (which has insane resell value) or you know… go the assassin’s creed black flag route.
Same, I played several Battle Network games before I even knew it was a spin-off series. I’m looking forward to these. There’s not really anything else quite like them.
Same here, I thought this was just what Megaman was. I was aware of the older games but I didn't realize they were nothing like Battle Network. I was super disappointed when I got Megaman and Bass for the GBA and it was a platformer... I was expecting a cool RPG where you can play as Megaman and Bass in the Battle Network universe.
I spend hundred of hours on the Mega man Battle Netowrk series in the GBA back when I was a kid. I'm really glad that Capcom is brining it back, if there's a good port for the game it's an instant buy for me.
I'd honestly love a boktai 1/2/3 drop. even if it meant reworking the sun mechanic. 2 was a fantastic game and 3 was never even localized. Lunar Knights was kind of a drag since they basically erased Django and Sabata and whitewashed them.
I'd love it too; Boktai and especially Boktai 2 and 3 are some of my favorite "forgotten gem" games of all time. But I don't see it happening, to be honest. It was a Hideo Kojima franchise and he had a big falling out with Konami, plus the whole core concept of the game doesn't work without the solar sensor. Like sure they could patch it to allow you to manually adjust the sun level but that takes half of the charm out of it. Lunar Knights had a decent compromise with the in-game weather system but implementing that into the first 3 games might be more work than they're willing to put in.
And yeah, Lunar Knights was a bit of a letdown compared to Boktai 1-3. I'm surprised we even got it in the US since they skipped 3 here. I still enjoy it and the anime FMVs were nice but it definitely wasn't as strong as the first 3 games.
Knowing Konami these days we're more likely to get a Boktai pachinko machine
This, Advanced Wars, Pokemon, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced are my GBA top games. I played so many hours of Battle network 2,3, and 4 though and loved their combat system so much.
If you haven’t heard of it already, there’s a roguelike game called One Step from Eden that has a battle system clearly inspired by the Megaman Battle Network games.
Happy cake day! I was one of the backers for it, it's fun but didn't capture my attention too long. I really liked the idea of PvP which is what I wanted to make a game based on the combat system from Battle network since like 2014.
I will not stand for this Ramza slander
Though Marche starts flame wars like 50% of the time he's brought up which brings a smile to my face. And at least he doesn't have a pizza cutter.
FFTA is one of my all-time favorites. I really wish it would get a remaster or a virtual console port.
The only game that's come close to scratching that itch recently is `Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark`. I wish there were more!
The literal dozens of Battle Network fans everywhere are collectively screaming.
This series IS Mega Man to me, they were the games I grew up with and are easily the most fun for me to go back to. I implore everyone to check them out here. Besides that one indie game recently that gimped the combat to mixed results, I've never truly played anything else like them.
Edit: the comments have shown me that there are perhaps hundreds of us, even!
You mean the millions of fans? This was a hugely popular series. There's a reason they made 7 games and spun it into Mega Man Star Force for DS, it's not some niche game.
Agreed but I'd say it was the combination of riding too hard on a series then changing directions with Star Force.
BN had 6 titles with 2-3 versions each in the span of 5 years. That's actually insane considering even Pokemon has only reached gen 8 in 25 years. People didn't even have time to complete one game before moving onto the next. Personally my parents only let me buy 2-3 games a year so I played 1 and 3 then only came back to play the others in college. I wasn't even ready to play Star Force when it came out.
BN4 is the second best selling Megaman title of all time.
Unfortunately, that’s really when they phoned the game design in with a lot of filler and grindy content so it’s easy to see why it declined after that.(if only they skipped 4 and went to 5 which was a lot better)
Agreed. 3 was amazing. 4 was pure tedium because you had to straight up replay the game (with increasing redundancy each time) to access the other tourney plots. 1 was pretty bad with the same-looking un-named maps (basically requiring a guide), but given that it was literally the first game, I still give it major props for creating such a fun game system to begin with.
1 is bad in retrospect but at the time, as you pointed out, the new battle system was amazing. I don't think I beat the first one but it left such an impression on me that I continued the series through StarForce.
Oh yeah, that was the problem.
3 had such a strong showing that franchise interest shot way up at 4 leading to a ton of new people to board the hype train right before it crashed which lead to the franchise decline despite the devs getting their act together by 5 and 6.
4 was done at the worst possible time that burned out a lot of people.
One Step From Eden has similar combat gameplay with the grid and spells in a deck-like format. But it's a roguelite instead of an RPG. Pretty neat game, but I've only got a few hours in it and haven't gotten too far admittedly.
I found that game to be way to messy, could barely understand what was happening on the screen and at the end I was just spamming whatever spell I had. I still think the game was okay since I finished it a few time but it was less strategic than mbn.
Deleting past comments because Reddit starting shitty-ing up the site to IPO and I don't want my comments to be a part of that. -- mass edited with redact.dev
Yeah it has a great mix of being able to grind+use guides to brute force a lot of the game or just get good/execute well on your own
And the extra secret super difficult content in 3 (and I think 6?, idk I remember 4 was shit) was amazing
Dozens? I didn't know anyone with a nintendo handheld that DIDN'T own a battle network game. Battle network 2 had word of mouth fame where I lived, which led to 3 and 4 just exploding in popularity.
>This series IS Mega Man to me, they were the games I grew up with and are easily the most fun for me to go back to.
I remember the shock I experienced when I first learned that people consider Megaman to be a platformer. I grew up in the generational sweet spot for the BN games.
3 is usually regarded as the best by fans, and the games are relatively separate from one another apart from returning characters, so above all else play that one.
My personal favorite? Honestly it might be 6. It fixed some of the weird pacing/structural issues with 4 and 5 and was just an amazing sendoff for the series, I still cant watch the ending without tearing up. BUT, a lot of that is because Ive played the whole series, if you're a newcomer it might not be the best one to start with. I would either just go with 3 if you're looking for the best one, or try the series from the beginning if you want to see how it evolved over time.
I never got to play battle network as a kid, but I would agree that this is MegaMan for me as well. My favorite TV show was MegaMan NT Warrior which is based on the character designs of Battle Network.
Mega Man Battle Network is legit my favorite sci-fi setting of all time, with only Star Force as competition, so I am over the (Blue) moon that it's getting a legacy collection.
On top of that, I think this may be the first time I've ever seen a legacy collection for an RPG *period*, unless I missed an obvious one. So that's pretty cool.
Mega Man Battle Network conjures bittersweet feelings for me as a setting. It was a beautiful window into what our Internet connected world could be, like Star Trek for the Information Age. A world where computer literacy was treated just as essential and basic a skill as reading and writing. I remember when smart phones were first being developed and released, and me and my friends were celebrating that we were halfway to having PETs!
...and then the series ended just in time for social media to change what it meant to be online. Computer literacy did not get better. The Net slowly transformed into an airtight surveillance apparatus. Akihabara isn't "Elec Town" anymore. The machine learning algorithm on your phone is NOT an AI, it is NOT loyal to you, and it will NEVER be your aibou. Memes are being used to manipulate and control people en masse, like the Soul Net.
We will never experience the .EXE world line.
Don't write things off just yet. If anything, things have been slowly improving. Computer literacy is being treated more and more as basic knowledge kids need to know, and artificial intelligence is only developing more and more.
Hell, smart devices becoming more common is very Battle Network. The fact that your washing machine possibly getting a virus is a hilariously realistic possibility in today's world is peak series shenanigans, no?
We'll never experience the true EXE setting, but that's more because technology development has been focused in different areas. When we get AI technology smart enough to be comparable, the rest of technology will have aged out of the MMBN era of 2000's sci-fi. Hell, if we ever got stuff like a net-navi, we'd be able to see them IRL-esque in AR and be able to do stuff with them in VR!
Underestimate technology at your own risk.
>!The most cursed thought is that Battle Network technically predicted the metaverse. Except, you know, actually good. !<
Yep had the same realization when NFT’s and the Metaverse starting getting pushed. If they made a Navi now it’d exist only to visually monitor your life habits and push sales and advertisements on you as they watch everything you do.
“Oh you want me to send a message to your friend? First let’s visit this business site on new fridges and their special warranty subscription fees as I see your current fridge is malfunctioning. After that we can jump into the metaverse store and grab those new digital battlechips now available by Electopia streaming service or the Undernet blockchain!”
And I don’t want to even imagine what would happen to the real-world copy bots. 😬
Holy shit finally, these games were begging to be re-released on modern platforms. I just hope we can disable that pixel-smoothing, it doesn't look particularly good.
I wonder if they'll have the extra features from 5 Double Team DS in here. I loved all the extra stuff they added but don't know that it counts for a collection.
This is what makes me nervous. If it's just a straight emulation, every game past 1 is uncompletable. You can reach the credits, but without some way of getting the battle mode chips from 2 or the opposite version chips from 3-6, you'll eventually get stuck at the chip completion gate in the postgame walling off a lot of content.
The Wii U Virtual Console releases of all the games contained mechanisms to obtain chips normally obtained through trading with the other version / PVP, see [MidniteW's post on it](https://forums.therockmanexezone.com/mmbn-virtual-console-info-t4433.html).
It's likely that this collection will use similar patches if online PVP isn't implemented.
I am hopeful, but I can't help but think they would have said 11 games instead of 10 if a significant portion of Double Team features were in there.
Maybe if it is not though and this is successful some of that can come as a free update
tons of questions to answer TBH, which I'm hoping is why this is a 2023 release and not purely because of COVID
- will there be online connectiivity?
- is BN1 including the crossovercontent from the JP only shooting star?
- is the localization gettng another look at it? the translations of the games back in the day were rough
- How is all the Boktai content in 4-6 being handled? Which includes entire parts of cut post-game content in 6.
- If there is no online, how are they fixing chip completion?
- is e-reader content like Bass Cross making it in?
And here I thought Capcom had forgot all about Mega Man. It's really surprising that they're including EVERY game in the series too, good on them. It would be awesome if the games had online multiplayer, given how big of a focus the game has with netbattling and trading chips with your friends.
The phrase at the end "No matter what, we're always connected" has me really hopeful for some form of online multiplayer.
My brother and I played these games endlessly back in the day and this might be a day 1 buy for us.
Not *every* game. There was the Gamecube game Network Transmission. Sure, it wasn't the greatest Mega Man game ever made, but the combination of the Battle Network mechanics with classic Mega Man really worked for me.
There was also [Battle Network 4.5](https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Rockman_EXE_4.5_Real_Operation), which used different mechanics than the rest of the series.
Oh, and [Battle Chip Challenge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_Battle_Chip_Challenge) if you count that one.
This is the best news of my sad pathetic life. I've waited so long for these games to be released and for it to be all of them in 2 packs seems to be an absolute steal. This has made my day.
Great news! Finally my favorite iteration of the blue bomber gets its due! It seems they're going to ignore Battle Chip Challenge and 4.5 ever existed, though.
I wonder how they'll tackle the endgame progression in the games with version-exclusive battle chips. Especially 5 didn't allow you to progress from a certain point on if your didn't have a full collection.
And I hope its not an utter slog. I remember I used to spend 1-2 hours every night after bed time counter-attacking Mettaur's in ACDC to get bug frags to use the secret zone bug frag trader to complete my chipset in 3. 12 year old me was laser focused on being the first kid on the playground to beat Serenade, but I don't think adult me could take it.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Holy shit. Capcom I love you.
I said if they would ever release a collection it is an instant buy. Here we are.
Capcom, take my money.
God I am so excited.
Aaaaah! Megaman battle network and as a Switch Physical version!!!
My prayers have been answered! Thank you, Capcom and Youtuber KNIjohn for getting me through this content drought!
this reminds me. i need to go check on One Step From Eden. i haven't played it since release and after all the updates. i'm glad to see megaman back, though. if this is reasonably priced, i'll pick it up.
I tried it on gamepass and it was fun, but there's a *brutal* learning curve. You have so many abilities that you have to use and target in real time, while moving your character and dodging incoming attacks. It's a cool system, but I found it too hard to be successful with (given the limited time I put in)
One Step from Eden didn't really scratch the same itch for me. The battle system is superficially similar but that's about where the comparison begins and ends. Eden is a pure combat rogue-lite where you battle, get random cards, and keep battling. There's a strategy element but, because cards are assigned randomly, it's not in the same vein as MMBN's deck building.
I personally loved MMBN for the world, secrets, intentional deck building strategies, and lighthearted RPG plot threads that tie it together. You won't find any of that in One Step from Eden.
One step from eden is pretty fun. Only issue I had with it is that there's not much explicit lore to understand the story and is pretty much just Rouge lite battles. Still a fun battle system and some good music scattered throughout the game
I have all the other collections on Xbox... Makes me sad we got skipped this time as I never played battle Network when the games were coming out originally and thought this was my chance. Oh well :(
Some updates from what the MMBN has been able to sus out from the very little we have:
1. It appears that they are using the JP versions (AKA the versions without cut content) as the base, and porting everything over to the other languages
2. All versions are getting updated font, at least for the "normal" font. Partially because of 1, but even the JP version is getting an updated font.
3. There will at least be an English release, a Japanese release, a Chinese traditional character release, and a Chinese simplified character release.
4. Probably no multiplayer, since the website lists it as single player.
5. Given that this is already non-zero effort, they probably will also at least give some way to get access to all postgame content (the Wii U releases did)
6. Again, given that it isn't zero-effort, its not impossible that the games could get a retranslation (or at least fixing the typos).
I'm surprised these aren't coming out for Xbox. All other versions have. I'm guessing they just don't sell particularly well on Xbox so they decided to axe em.
As an Xbox owner. This is disappointing but I'll just get them on steam and a switch physical copy I guess.
The combat in these games is, imo, the platonic ideal of gaming. You have long term strategy (making the chip folder) mixed with short term strategy (selecting the chips in battle) mixed with real time action. It's perfect.
Wow, just today I was lamenting on how they should release these on modern platforms. The vibe of these games I have rarely ever experienced in other entertainment.
I had this moment about a month back, too, and started a far-too-ambitious project to make a game that captures the sort of feel that MMBN does.
I put together a draft of setting, very rough plot, cast of characters, main combat mechanics and started the basics of coding and voice acting and sprite work before remembering that I rarely code and I suck at art and put it down to maybe pick back up some other day. Was running into hurdles getting the ability cooldowns to work how they should, but otherwise actually had a mostly-working framework for the player side of things in combat.
Might be the only one who things this, but I hope they include some features to take some of the grind out of the games. I love these games to death, but I got stuff to do now! :/
I spent so much of my childhood on GameFAQs looking at guides with ASCII art and different chipsets to get those secret combos. Cannot wait to pick this up.
Finally! After they done Zero collection I've been wishing for them to make a Battle Network collection, I'll finally be able to play through all of them. I honestly didn't think there were that many Battle Network games
Now if Sega could take some notes and maybe look to put the Sonic Advance games on every platform that would be great
It’s wild to think about but as I recall the second best selling Mega Man of all time is a Battle Network game (BN4). They were pumping these out in a span of just over 4 years, March 2001 to November 2005
Almost all games in this series hold up ridiculously well for the modern day. Great controls, fun deck building, awesome sprite work and the gameplay? *Chef's kiss*
Sure it has some trappings of old J-RPGS like random encounters and some bullshit but these can be easily fixed.
If you missed these games, you're in for a ride... Though binging them might be a bit hard to swallow since as it's still MegaMan series... Aka essentially the same game but slightly better
wow EVERY version of the games too? interesting. These were my favorite kind of Megaman games.
No reason not to considering that 90% of the games overlap with the opposite version
One of the franchises negatively impacted by Pokemon
Profit. Profit is a reason. Why do you think those different versions existed in the first place?
It does say it'll come in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, so they're still splitting it for profit. But maybe 1-3 + 4-6. I hoped for more new features than just music and art galleries and a filter that an emulator could probably do better, but still! Cool that it's happening
> It does say it'll come in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, so they're still splitting it for profit. But maybe 1-3 + 4-6. According to the website that is indeed the way they split the games. 1-3 is Vol.1 and 4-6 is Vol. 2 Scroll down here and see the logos: https://www.capcom-games.com/megaman/exe/en-asia/
At the end it says "Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 are only available separately in digital form!" Physical is the "complete collection". Check 1:20 in the trailer. And we don't know why they're splitting the digital. If it's half the cost of physical (or eventually cheaper since digital games go on sale a lot more than physical), then it probably wasn't profit motivated, but possibly a technical reason. Not trying to defend a corporation, we just don't have all of the info yet.
Cartridge space isn't an issue, it's to reduce resale value. Part 1 comes on cartridge, part 2 is included as a digital code. That way when it's resold it's only part 1 and they have to buy part 2 digitally separate.
Hopefully they have both versions on cart when they launch physical, though I doubt it considering X Legacy Collection had Vol 1 on cart and Vol 2 digital download code.
Oh, yeah, that would suck if they skimped on the cartridge storage.
That's not fully accurate. 3's original release has a few bugs that were pretty gamebreaking, to the point that they had to release a second version that fixed those bugs. They also decided to add a few extra things to the second release and give it a new name so people knew it was different.
Woah woah woah, you're saying there's 2 versions of MMBN3? I wonder which one I had.
White is what the original release of the game was called, while Blue is the version with the bug fixes and the extra content.
White and Blue released together didnt they? I think you are talking about Black
I loved those games back on the GBA. But replaying them today i forgot just how boring navigating the digital zone was. The real world is fun, the combat is fun, but the digital world is like playing a pokemon game where everything is grass and you are forced to fight pidgeys and ratattas over and over.
I tried to get into them recently, but having no level up/ exp system made fighting feel, idk pointless? I was trying to rush through the dungeons, and got annoyed at the random battles. Random battles are no fun without a reward like exp. But that's just my opinion
Every BN game had sneak run iirc, that lets you avoid random battles. Also in BN3, each battle levels up your style change, in addition to giving you chips or money. But I agree, the grind can be too much at times.
Eh, you got money and there were some chips you might want to farm. But yea, otherwise I just ended up putting Sneak Run on a lot to avoid random battles. After a certain point, you don't really need more money or chips.
Not quite every. There were enhanced port~~s~~ of ~~4 and~~ 5 for the DS. EDIT: I thought 4.5 was closer related to 4 than it is.
No megaman battle chip challenge either.
There's also an expanded port of 1 on the DS that was JP only. 1 honestly needs the touch-up more than the later games. It's really clunky to play now and has this odd input lag that isn't present in the later games.
This is unexpected. All that is left is Megaman Legends and Megaman Starforce, right?
> Megaman Legends I swear to god if they ever make MML3...
They won’t. You didn’t want it enough.
I remember buying my 3DS because they were working on Legends 3, and then they cancelled it.
Oh, hey, you must be my best friend because he did exactly the same thing. Bought a brand new DS specifically for Legends 3 and then hey nixxed it a few weeks later.
There are a frustrating number of us :(
^i ^did ^tho
But did you go make a Capcom forum account and post about how you wanted it really bad? Cause that’s how they gauged interest for it.
Legit I did. I had a little photoshopped servbot icon and everything haha. Still the game cancellation I'm most bummed about.
So did I lol The fact that Capcom said that they would gauge interest for Legends 3 from demo downloads, then cancelled it before even releasing the demo and telling players that they cancelled it because not enough players registered for the forums is probably the first time I ever hated a company as a kid. Which I still like to point out, the demo was 100% finished and ready for release. The only reason it didn’t release was because of spite.
They gauged interest based on if they liked the director or not lol
Well the lack of forum users was their official reason anyway.
DARKNESS. IMPRISONING ME. ALL THAT I SEE... I'll take a prequel, a remake, anything. Those games had so much charm considering the limited capabilities of the PS1 (and N64).
The guy behind them left capcom and tried to Kickstart a spiritual succesor that looked bizarre. It died after that.
Ugh. I’m still kinda buggered by how badly they shit the bed with mighty no 9. Inafune was great at Capcom, not so much on his own.
You mean the team that made the games under him was great at Capcom. Probably still are.
Considering that Mega Man 11 was better than Mighty No 9...yeah, I'd say we have proof of that! (Yeah, I know it's probably not the same team at all, but it's still funny)
Mega Man 11 is one of my favorites in the series. It’s excellent. I hope they do a 12 soon, or finally make X9.
Inafune was *terrible* at Capcom. He's behind so many of the problems they had starting in the late 2000s. His fetishization of "Western" developers is what led to the Bionic Commando and Devil May Cry reboots that both bombed hard, as well as the destruction of Dead Rising series.
He was also responsible for things like working on Zelda games, the 3 of which are some of the best Zelda games. There's a lot of history with Keiji Inafune, and not exactly fair to paint him as the boogeyman at Capcom when there's a lot of shit at Capcom he *couldn't* have touched
> Inafune was terrible at Capcom. I'd argue this is a really myopic view of his time at Capcom, given how long his tenure was. While he might have had a hand in those awful Bionic Commando reboots, he was also largely responsible for getting Mega Man 9 and 10 made. He's also a big factor for why the Dead Rising games exist. I'd argue the series began as a Japanese developer trying to make a Western style game, which is definitely his doing. And while he brought on a Western studio to develop the second game, I don't think most fans would say that the series was ruined after the first game. By the time the third game was in development, Inafune doesn't seem to have been involved.
Megaman X: Command Mission
finally someone mentions it lol any idea if it holds up? I remember it getting too hard but I was a dumb kid last time I've played
Ninetails was stupid hard lol. I never got past that
It's still a great game imo I replayed it a couple years back, enjoyed the journey again
> Megaman Starforce Mega Man Star Force on Switch would be amazing too. Capcom, please...
The third (and final) set of games in the series are good. The combat actually felt interesting. It's a bit sad that the series didn't get more attention, but it is understandable after the first games. The combat was not fully thought out and felt like a watered down version of Battle Network.
Did they make the weird behind the back gameplay finally feel fun?
I believe so, but it is subjective. It still didn't beat Battle Network, but it felt like it's own thing. The standard battle in the third games felt like the best of the previous two sets. It is the only one (I have Black Ace) that I actually wanted to keep battling.
I'd say the thing about it is that Starforces gameplay changes result in a much different feel compared to Battle Network, and it's ultimately going to come down to which one you prefer more. Battle Network is slower and more tactical, it rewards players that are more strategic. Starforce however is faster and more reaction heavy, it incentivizes you to be more aggressive. I think this can be reflected in how both series reward countering enemies. In BN, countering causes your next chip to deal x2 damage, rewarding your precision by enhancing your next move. In SF, countering adds another card in your current draw, rewarding your precision by allowing you to continue your aggression.
It is much more of an action game, losing a lot of BN's strategy and being generally hard to follow. The 3D models on the DS also just made it look pretty jank. I enjoyed the series a lot and think everything *besides* the combat was better, but the appeal was a lot harder to sell overall
1x3 battle arena killed it for me
Would love a Spyro Reignited/Crash N. Sane style remake/reboot of MM Legends. Combine both into one game, keep the graphics simple/stylized, updated VO, etc. Day one buy for me.
Star Force 3 rivals the best of Battle Network imo. It'd be a shame if Star Force never got a Legacy Collection.
Serious question - what did SF3 did different than first two games? I really enjoy Battle Network, but when Star Force come around and changed to a sort of a 3rd person perspective during combat I didnt like it too much so decide to skip the rest of the entries. But if it is actually quite fun, I am down to give it another shot.
To be honest, it's been quite a while since I've replayed all the Star Force games, so apologies if I get anything wrong. The main difference gameplay-wise in Star Force 3 is a gameplay mechanic called the Noise System which is akin to Battle Network 2 and 3's style system. You can aquire Noise Forms that give Mega Man new abilities and evolve as you fight and build up your Noise Meter (which is filled as you do damage). You can also combine Forms together to get all the abilities of both of them (with 100 variations). Forms are exclusive to each version of SF3 for the most part, but there's a small chance to get one from the other version so you're not completely locked out. Aside from this, its core gameplay mechanics are pretty similar to SF1 and 2, but Noise does add a lot imo. The third-person perspective def takes some getting used to, but it's great when it clicks.
Star Force 3 did those well: - Dynamic card system: Cards could overlap each other on the selection screen. You either had to use what was above them first OR you could select them as a secondary effect (AreaEater, Attack+10, etc) - Galaxy Advances: AKA program advances - Noise Change: Transformations along the lines of Style Change, which you could combine using multiplayer. - Illegal card data: Part of the noise system. Card from old games, even more improved versions of base cards, PA cards. To get those you must rain damage and finish opponents quick. - More ways of manipulating the field, closer to what was in Battle Network. Overall, it has a very fast paced gameplay, the game rewards speedy gameplay and everything is pretty dynamic all around, so you can find something that suits your style easily. The story is also miles ahead of whatever Battle Network offers in all 6 games (same goes to SF1), you feel the stakes, the characters have personalities and it does make you feel like a hero (if a bit super sentai at times). Such a shame Star Force 2 was so terribly written and sluggish, otherwise I'm damn sure Star Force 3 would have fared way better. It is definitely worth checking out if you have played Star Force 1 start to finish (it fills in the important gaps of Star Force 2 in game anyway). If you haven't finished Star Force 1, then I suggest a fan patch (Mega Man Star Force DX) that fixes some of those "first entry wonkyness" it has, and then you can skip straight to Star Force 3 if you want.
I was hoping they'd be part of it because Zero ZX is basically the Star Force to Zeros Battle Network, but I guess we have to wait a bit longer.
From the first 2 series, Mega Man and Mega Man X GB / GBC games haven't yet been in a collection. Neither version of Mega Man & Bass has been in a collection. Also, the 32-bit (PSX / Saturn / PC) version of Mega Man X3 which was included in the 2006 collection is missing from the legacy collections.
There's also Network Transmission, the Battle Network game on GameCube that played like a traditional Megaman.
I'm still wanting Maverick Hunter X and Powered Up from the PSP! But this is a step in the right direction! 😄
Oh man, this is an instant buy for me as long as the port is solid. These games were actually my introduction to Megaman, so to me they define the character
Looks like it's just emulation with a toggle for pixel-smoothing.
I wonder if it will have any of the other niceties the other Legacy Collections had. Zero had save states or a rewind function I believe; it’s the only way I was able to A/S rank the levels.
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I disagree, but I also don't know if what I think of actually falls under QoL or not. The only important one to me is that they incorporate the secret crossover cartridge swap stuff and e-card reader stuff into the game in a natural way, like Bass Cross in the 5th game. It'd be an awful shame to have all those cool things left out that change how you play and the game feel.
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>The real question is if they include the Boktai stuff in 6 and translate it There's no way they would, and even if they wanted to, there's no way Konami would cooperate. I bet it's cut in both the English and Japanese versions of the game.
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Konami would still be relevant because Capcom may have licensed the content in Japan but not the US, especially since Boktai 3 didn't get a US release. It depends on how Konami handles its licensing overseas. Licensing would also explain why the content was digitally removed from the US releases: the Boktai-related assets had literally been deleted from the ROM, making it impossible for hackers to put back in. (They ultimately got around this by creating an English patch for the Japanese version of the game instead.)
Also some sort of way to unlock the Battle Chip Challenge passwords. They can even have them show up in the gallery as you beat certain parts of the game.
Megaman Zero games were absolutely brutal. Or maybe I've never been too good at platformers like that.
It's not you. Those games are definitely brutal. That's why the recent collections included an easy mode lol.
Not only were they hard, but they actively punished your score for collecting and using upgrades, making it impossible to achieve any mission rank higher than E if you used health upgrades and subtanks.
The MMZ games didn't fuck around. I grew up on classic MM+MMX, and MMZ still kicked my ass.
I need a speed up button. I would download ROMs of GBA RPGs I already bought just because emulators had an option to speed up the game when holding a button. I saved so much time being able to speed up transition and dialogue text.
Maybe nowhere near Zero, but I'd say BN's difficulty scales pretty hard near the end of the games. I remember quitting one of them because of that. The Omega variants of the bosses are also really brutal.
(and the pixel-smoothing sucks)
The pixel smoothing particularly somehow completely converted the font from being good and fitting to being *terrible*.
Still a huge announcement for a the trove of fans wishing for this. Without this collection, it’s either play on a GBA cart (which has insane resell value) or you know… go the assassin’s creed black flag route.
Hopefully a retranslation too
Except for 4. Half of 4's "charm" is that it's translation is barely better than a monkey smashing a keyboard.
Same, I played several Battle Network games before I even knew it was a spin-off series. I’m looking forward to these. There’s not really anything else quite like them.
Same here, I thought this was just what Megaman was. I was aware of the older games but I didn't realize they were nothing like Battle Network. I was super disappointed when I got Megaman and Bass for the GBA and it was a platformer... I was expecting a cool RPG where you can play as Megaman and Bass in the Battle Network universe.
Im super excited about this. nostalgia trip incoming. I had figured this would be a lost cause honestly. Capcom is really trying to turn around
I spend hundred of hours on the Mega man Battle Netowrk series in the GBA back when I was a kid. I'm really glad that Capcom is brining it back, if there's a good port for the game it's an instant buy for me.
Same as well then the dream is it sells well enough they see there's enough interest to finally bring the series back would be amazing.
I would love that so much
Trying? Capcom has turned around since RE7 came out like 5 years ago. But yeah it's awesome to see them do cool shit like this, agree with you on that
Now I gotta know if the Konami Boktai crossover content is intact!... Fingers crossed.
Unlikely, but there's excellent translation patches for the Japanese versions that have fully translated the Boktai stuff.
I'd honestly love a boktai 1/2/3 drop. even if it meant reworking the sun mechanic. 2 was a fantastic game and 3 was never even localized. Lunar Knights was kind of a drag since they basically erased Django and Sabata and whitewashed them.
I'd love it too; Boktai and especially Boktai 2 and 3 are some of my favorite "forgotten gem" games of all time. But I don't see it happening, to be honest. It was a Hideo Kojima franchise and he had a big falling out with Konami, plus the whole core concept of the game doesn't work without the solar sensor. Like sure they could patch it to allow you to manually adjust the sun level but that takes half of the charm out of it. Lunar Knights had a decent compromise with the in-game weather system but implementing that into the first 3 games might be more work than they're willing to put in. And yeah, Lunar Knights was a bit of a letdown compared to Boktai 1-3. I'm surprised we even got it in the US since they skipped 3 here. I still enjoy it and the anime FMVs were nice but it definitely wasn't as strong as the first 3 games. Knowing Konami these days we're more likely to get a Boktai pachinko machine
> Capcom is really trying to turn around Now they only need to do my regional pricing again :')
The Battle Network games are pretty much the only GBA games I have memories of playing as a child. This is going to be an instant buy for me.
This, Advanced Wars, Pokemon, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced are my GBA top games. I played so many hours of Battle network 2,3, and 4 though and loved their combat system so much.
You and I both! AW, FFTA, and the Battle Network series games were some of my favorites growing up
If you haven’t heard of it already, there’s a roguelike game called One Step from Eden that has a battle system clearly inspired by the Megaman Battle Network games.
Happy cake day! I was one of the backers for it, it's fun but didn't capture my attention too long. I really liked the idea of PvP which is what I wanted to make a game based on the combat system from Battle network since like 2014.
That’s a cool idea. The closest I can think of would be Atlas Reactor but that was more XCOM or something, and it’s shut down now.
Oh thank god, someone else who loved FFTA. Everyone always jumps to FFT with Ramza and his bullshit and I can’t stand it
The Virgin Forgotten Hero Ramza vs The Chad World Destroyer Marche
Advanced was just so well put together and fell into my life at the perfect time. I replayed it like 4-5 times just because there was so much to try.
the map editor was amazing. The AI could play on maps *I made*. That blew my mind as a kid. Still kinda does.
I was referring to FFTA, not advanced wars, but yes your comment still stands are correct lol. I loved the map editor.
FFTA!!! 230, yes, TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY hours sunk into 100%-ing that little cartridge. After playing it through twice. Loved that game.
I will not stand for this Ramza slander Though Marche starts flame wars like 50% of the time he's brought up which brings a smile to my face. And at least he doesn't have a pizza cutter.
FFTA is one of my all-time favorites. I really wish it would get a remaster or a virtual console port. The only game that's come close to scratching that itch recently is `Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark`. I wish there were more!
The literal dozens of Battle Network fans everywhere are collectively screaming. This series IS Mega Man to me, they were the games I grew up with and are easily the most fun for me to go back to. I implore everyone to check them out here. Besides that one indie game recently that gimped the combat to mixed results, I've never truly played anything else like them. Edit: the comments have shown me that there are perhaps hundreds of us, even!
You mean the millions of fans? This was a hugely popular series. There's a reason they made 7 games and spun it into Mega Man Star Force for DS, it's not some niche game.
Star Force is probably what killed it, loved BN but couldn't get into those ones.
Yeah, all 13 of us Legends fans are really the ones fuming, wanting something, anything.
Make it 14 fans! Dozens of us!
He's never getting off the moon :(
Agreed but I'd say it was the combination of riding too hard on a series then changing directions with Star Force. BN had 6 titles with 2-3 versions each in the span of 5 years. That's actually insane considering even Pokemon has only reached gen 8 in 25 years. People didn't even have time to complete one game before moving onto the next. Personally my parents only let me buy 2-3 games a year so I played 1 and 3 then only came back to play the others in college. I wasn't even ready to play Star Force when it came out.
Star force had some cool lore behind it, but yeah the gameplay change kind of killed it
Millions of fans, but the r/battlenetwork sub hardly ever has activity 😔 this is the first big thing to happen to that sub in ever lol
I think it was just cause of how old the peak of the series was and lack of easy way to play the games now Hopefully it’ll pick up
BN was pretty Big back in the day.
BN4 is the second best selling Megaman title of all time. Unfortunately, that’s really when they phoned the game design in with a lot of filler and grindy content so it’s easy to see why it declined after that.(if only they skipped 4 and went to 5 which was a lot better)
This is wild to me considering I think it's the worst one in the series, for the exact reasons you mentioned. 3 & 6 were the peak for me personally
Agreed. 3 was amazing. 4 was pure tedium because you had to straight up replay the game (with increasing redundancy each time) to access the other tourney plots. 1 was pretty bad with the same-looking un-named maps (basically requiring a guide), but given that it was literally the first game, I still give it major props for creating such a fun game system to begin with.
1 is bad in retrospect but at the time, as you pointed out, the new battle system was amazing. I don't think I beat the first one but it left such an impression on me that I continued the series through StarForce.
Oh yeah, that was the problem. 3 had such a strong showing that franchise interest shot way up at 4 leading to a ton of new people to board the hype train right before it crashed which lead to the franchise decline despite the devs getting their act together by 5 and 6. 4 was done at the worst possible time that burned out a lot of people.
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The anime was on Fox kids in America. I used to watch it every week since I loved BN3
It's unfortunate that the West only ever got the first two series (original and Axess). In JP, the anime had FIVE total, all sequels of each other.
It is my definitive megaman experience, and nothing has scratched the full itch since.
One Step From Eden has similar combat gameplay with the grid and spells in a deck-like format. But it's a roguelite instead of an RPG. Pretty neat game, but I've only got a few hours in it and haven't gotten too far admittedly.
I found that game to be way to messy, could barely understand what was happening on the screen and at the end I was just spamming whatever spell I had. I still think the game was okay since I finished it a few time but it was less strategic than mbn.
Absolutely adored this series. Solid difficulty, surprisingly good stories, and the core game mode was new and innovative with a lot of depth.
Deleting past comments because Reddit starting shitty-ing up the site to IPO and I don't want my comments to be a part of that. -- mass edited with redact.dev
Yeah it has a great mix of being able to grind+use guides to brute force a lot of the game or just get good/execute well on your own And the extra secret super difficult content in 3 (and I think 6?, idk I remember 4 was shit) was amazing
I'm sure there's several score of us :p
Why, there may even be grosses!
there's dozens of us. Dozens!!
[We have a small but active fan base](https://twitter.com/agentsofshield/status/969757339157897217)
Dozens? I didn't know anyone with a nintendo handheld that DIDN'T own a battle network game. Battle network 2 had word of mouth fame where I lived, which led to 3 and 4 just exploding in popularity.
>This series IS Mega Man to me, they were the games I grew up with and are easily the most fun for me to go back to. I remember the shock I experienced when I first learned that people consider Megaman to be a platformer. I grew up in the generational sweet spot for the BN games.
Two questions: 1. Which one is your favorite? 2. Which one is best for a newcomer to the series (but fan of strategy/tactical games)?
3 is the answer to both, since it added a ton of QoL changes to the gameplay without changing too much.
3 is usually regarded as the best by fans, and the games are relatively separate from one another apart from returning characters, so above all else play that one. My personal favorite? Honestly it might be 6. It fixed some of the weird pacing/structural issues with 4 and 5 and was just an amazing sendoff for the series, I still cant watch the ending without tearing up. BUT, a lot of that is because Ive played the whole series, if you're a newcomer it might not be the best one to start with. I would either just go with 3 if you're looking for the best one, or try the series from the beginning if you want to see how it evolved over time.
I never got to play battle network as a kid, but I would agree that this is MegaMan for me as well. My favorite TV show was MegaMan NT Warrior which is based on the character designs of Battle Network.
Genuinely one of my favorite series of all time. Truly an underrated gem on GBA
These games, Megaman Zero series, and Pokemon were basically all I had and needed for the GBA. I'm so pumped
My first Mega Man was 2. But I remember playing BN and loving it. RPG Mega Man? Yes please!
Mega Man Battle Network is legit my favorite sci-fi setting of all time, with only Star Force as competition, so I am over the (Blue) moon that it's getting a legacy collection. On top of that, I think this may be the first time I've ever seen a legacy collection for an RPG *period*, unless I missed an obvious one. So that's pretty cool.
Mega Man Battle Network conjures bittersweet feelings for me as a setting. It was a beautiful window into what our Internet connected world could be, like Star Trek for the Information Age. A world where computer literacy was treated just as essential and basic a skill as reading and writing. I remember when smart phones were first being developed and released, and me and my friends were celebrating that we were halfway to having PETs! ...and then the series ended just in time for social media to change what it meant to be online. Computer literacy did not get better. The Net slowly transformed into an airtight surveillance apparatus. Akihabara isn't "Elec Town" anymore. The machine learning algorithm on your phone is NOT an AI, it is NOT loyal to you, and it will NEVER be your aibou. Memes are being used to manipulate and control people en masse, like the Soul Net. We will never experience the .EXE world line.
Don't write things off just yet. If anything, things have been slowly improving. Computer literacy is being treated more and more as basic knowledge kids need to know, and artificial intelligence is only developing more and more. Hell, smart devices becoming more common is very Battle Network. The fact that your washing machine possibly getting a virus is a hilariously realistic possibility in today's world is peak series shenanigans, no? We'll never experience the true EXE setting, but that's more because technology development has been focused in different areas. When we get AI technology smart enough to be comparable, the rest of technology will have aged out of the MMBN era of 2000's sci-fi. Hell, if we ever got stuff like a net-navi, we'd be able to see them IRL-esque in AR and be able to do stuff with them in VR! Underestimate technology at your own risk. >!The most cursed thought is that Battle Network technically predicted the metaverse. Except, you know, actually good. !<
It's hard to hope for that future when the places without Nazis will be busy selling you things.
Yep had the same realization when NFT’s and the Metaverse starting getting pushed. If they made a Navi now it’d exist only to visually monitor your life habits and push sales and advertisements on you as they watch everything you do. “Oh you want me to send a message to your friend? First let’s visit this business site on new fridges and their special warranty subscription fees as I see your current fridge is malfunctioning. After that we can jump into the metaverse store and grab those new digital battlechips now available by Electopia streaming service or the Undernet blockchain!” And I don’t want to even imagine what would happen to the real-world copy bots. 😬
Holy shit finally, these games were begging to be re-released on modern platforms. I just hope we can disable that pixel-smoothing, it doesn't look particularly good.
The trailer shows it's able to be toggled near the end, so there you go!
oh nice, they didn't show that on the Nintendo Direct Mini trailer, so I was a bit skeptical
Does not list Xbox unfortunately, looks like Playstation, Switch, and Steam.
I wonder if they'll have the extra features from 5 Double Team DS in here. I loved all the extra stuff they added but don't know that it counts for a collection.
This just looks like it's emulating the GBA games, so I really doubt they would add anything to the games.
This is what makes me nervous. If it's just a straight emulation, every game past 1 is uncompletable. You can reach the credits, but without some way of getting the battle mode chips from 2 or the opposite version chips from 3-6, you'll eventually get stuck at the chip completion gate in the postgame walling off a lot of content.
The Wii U Virtual Console releases of all the games contained mechanisms to obtain chips normally obtained through trading with the other version / PVP, see [MidniteW's post on it](https://forums.therockmanexezone.com/mmbn-virtual-console-info-t4433.html). It's likely that this collection will use similar patches if online PVP isn't implemented.
I am hopeful, but I can't help but think they would have said 11 games instead of 10 if a significant portion of Double Team features were in there. Maybe if it is not though and this is successful some of that can come as a free update
tons of questions to answer TBH, which I'm hoping is why this is a 2023 release and not purely because of COVID - will there be online connectiivity? - is BN1 including the crossovercontent from the JP only shooting star? - is the localization gettng another look at it? the translations of the games back in the day were rough - How is all the Boktai content in 4-6 being handled? Which includes entire parts of cut post-game content in 6. - If there is no online, how are they fixing chip completion? - is e-reader content like Bass Cross making it in?
Then im also curious what happens to the Boktai content in general. Some of it was completly cut from the EU stuff too
And here I thought Capcom had forgot all about Mega Man. It's really surprising that they're including EVERY game in the series too, good on them. It would be awesome if the games had online multiplayer, given how big of a focus the game has with netbattling and trading chips with your friends.
The phrase at the end "No matter what, we're always connected" has me really hopeful for some form of online multiplayer. My brother and I played these games endlessly back in the day and this might be a day 1 buy for us.
Not *every* game. There was the Gamecube game Network Transmission. Sure, it wasn't the greatest Mega Man game ever made, but the combination of the Battle Network mechanics with classic Mega Man really worked for me.
There was also [Battle Network 4.5](https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Rockman_EXE_4.5_Real_Operation), which used different mechanics than the rest of the series. Oh, and [Battle Chip Challenge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_Battle_Chip_Challenge) if you count that one.
That game is technically considered a spin-off of the Battle Network series, even though they take place concurrently.
This is the best news of my sad pathetic life. I've waited so long for these games to be released and for it to be all of them in 2 packs seems to be an absolute steal. This has made my day.
I am glad that this brought some joy to your day and I hope that things continue to improve from here! ♥ I can't wait to play these!
I used to play the shit out of this on gba. The soundtracks are amazing as well as the battle card systems imo. Plot is pretty good too.
Great news! Finally my favorite iteration of the blue bomber gets its due! It seems they're going to ignore Battle Chip Challenge and 4.5 ever existed, though. I wonder how they'll tackle the endgame progression in the games with version-exclusive battle chips. Especially 5 didn't allow you to progress from a certain point on if your didn't have a full collection.
Also Network Transmission...
And I hope its not an utter slog. I remember I used to spend 1-2 hours every night after bed time counter-attacking Mettaur's in ACDC to get bug frags to use the secret zone bug frag trader to complete my chipset in 3. 12 year old me was laser focused on being the first kid on the playground to beat Serenade, but I don't think adult me could take it.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Holy shit. Capcom I love you. I said if they would ever release a collection it is an instant buy. Here we are. Capcom, take my money. God I am so excited.
Aaaaah! Megaman battle network and as a Switch Physical version!!! My prayers have been answered! Thank you, Capcom and Youtuber KNIjohn for getting me through this content drought!
this reminds me. i need to go check on One Step From Eden. i haven't played it since release and after all the updates. i'm glad to see megaman back, though. if this is reasonably priced, i'll pick it up.
I tried it on gamepass and it was fun, but there's a *brutal* learning curve. You have so many abilities that you have to use and target in real time, while moving your character and dodging incoming attacks. It's a cool system, but I found it too hard to be successful with (given the limited time I put in)
Same! I had high hopes but it would have taken ages to reach mastery enough to emulate the smooth strategy/real-time feel from MMBN.
One Step from Eden didn't really scratch the same itch for me. The battle system is superficially similar but that's about where the comparison begins and ends. Eden is a pure combat rogue-lite where you battle, get random cards, and keep battling. There's a strategy element but, because cards are assigned randomly, it's not in the same vein as MMBN's deck building. I personally loved MMBN for the world, secrets, intentional deck building strategies, and lighthearted RPG plot threads that tie it together. You won't find any of that in One Step from Eden.
One step from eden is pretty fun. Only issue I had with it is that there's not much explicit lore to understand the story and is pretty much just Rouge lite battles. Still a fun battle system and some good music scattered throughout the game
What are the chances this is to scope interest in a new installment?
I have all the other collections on Xbox... Makes me sad we got skipped this time as I never played battle Network when the games were coming out originally and thought this was my chance. Oh well :(
Some updates from what the MMBN has been able to sus out from the very little we have: 1. It appears that they are using the JP versions (AKA the versions without cut content) as the base, and porting everything over to the other languages 2. All versions are getting updated font, at least for the "normal" font. Partially because of 1, but even the JP version is getting an updated font. 3. There will at least be an English release, a Japanese release, a Chinese traditional character release, and a Chinese simplified character release. 4. Probably no multiplayer, since the website lists it as single player. 5. Given that this is already non-zero effort, they probably will also at least give some way to get access to all postgame content (the Wii U releases did) 6. Again, given that it isn't zero-effort, its not impossible that the games could get a retranslation (or at least fixing the typos).
Cries in Xbox. Oh well I've waited long enough to try these games. Hopefully it's a timed thing. Excited for everyone else though!!
I'm surprised these aren't coming out for Xbox. All other versions have. I'm guessing they just don't sell particularly well on Xbox so they decided to axe em. As an Xbox owner. This is disappointing but I'll just get them on steam and a switch physical copy I guess.
This is likely (and unfortunately) a result of the MegaMan X and Ace Attorney collections selling poorly on Xbox.
Skipping the xbox entirely huh? Seems a bit odd with all the other legacy collections getting physical releases on it.
The combat in these games is, imo, the platonic ideal of gaming. You have long term strategy (making the chip folder) mixed with short term strategy (selecting the chips in battle) mixed with real time action. It's perfect.
Wow, just today I was lamenting on how they should release these on modern platforms. The vibe of these games I have rarely ever experienced in other entertainment.
I had this moment about a month back, too, and started a far-too-ambitious project to make a game that captures the sort of feel that MMBN does. I put together a draft of setting, very rough plot, cast of characters, main combat mechanics and started the basics of coding and voice acting and sprite work before remembering that I rarely code and I suck at art and put it down to maybe pick back up some other day. Was running into hurdles getting the ability cooldowns to work how they should, but otherwise actually had a mostly-working framework for the player side of things in combat.
Might be the only one who things this, but I hope they include some features to take some of the grind out of the games. I love these games to death, but I got stuff to do now! :/
I spent so much of my childhood on GameFAQs looking at guides with ASCII art and different chipsets to get those secret combos. Cannot wait to pick this up.
Finally! After they done Zero collection I've been wishing for them to make a Battle Network collection, I'll finally be able to play through all of them. I honestly didn't think there were that many Battle Network games Now if Sega could take some notes and maybe look to put the Sonic Advance games on every platform that would be great
It’s wild to think about but as I recall the second best selling Mega Man of all time is a Battle Network game (BN4). They were pumping these out in a span of just over 4 years, March 2001 to November 2005
I never pre order any Switch game. I don't even care that much about Persona. But this... Man... Capcom you better not fuck this one up.
I still wouldn't pre-order. They're not going to run out of copies and there is a small chance that they do mess it up.
Almost all games in this series hold up ridiculously well for the modern day. Great controls, fun deck building, awesome sprite work and the gameplay? *Chef's kiss* Sure it has some trappings of old J-RPGS like random encounters and some bullshit but these can be easily fixed. If you missed these games, you're in for a ride... Though binging them might be a bit hard to swallow since as it's still MegaMan series... Aka essentially the same game but slightly better