Mega Man Legacy Collection

Fans of classic games will love this assortment of challenging action, and the bonus features will keep players coming back. The Mega Man franchise is arguably the best platforming franchise of all time, and Mega Man Legacy Collection gathers six of the classic NES games for players to rediscover. Each looks exactly like the old cartridge, so decades-old strategies used against the Robot Masters (the bosses of each Mega Man stage) or the hazards of each level are just as effective. This emulation even manages to carry over the glitches and slowdown that plagued the older games (a side effect of pushing the limits of the old Nintendo hardware), giving players a taste of just how artful the designers were.

What helps the collection stand out is the inclusion of items such as the Museum, which gives a lot of character information as well as concept art (much of which hasn't been seen before) and loads of music from each game's soundtrack. But the true star is the Challenge mode, which gives players more than 50 time-based challenges to test their speed and agility at completing tasks, such as defeating bosses or clearing stages. Even if players feel they've mastered each game, the challenges make the games feel fresh and new. If there was a specific flaw in the collection, it's the same one that's always been attached to the franchise: These titles are incredibly difficult and will test your skills to the fullest. At least the Nintendo Switch version provides a rewind feature, allowing players to undo mistakes that could doom their progress and potentially force a restart of a level. Hopefully this feature is exported to the other versions of the game as well. If you're willing to accept the challenge, Mega Man Legacy Collection will reward you with loads of fun at a very affordable price.