Backlog Game Reviews 21: Megaman Legends / Rockman Dash (N64)

        Hey there and welcome to Backlog Game Reviews.

Today let's talk about Megaman Legends on the N64. It was released in Japan on December 18th, 1997, North America on August 31st, 1998 and hit European shelves on December, 4th, 1998. It received mixed reviews upon its release. Some reviews gave it average scores, but some reviews rated even lower. Despite this lackluster reception around release it is held in high regard by fans today. Let's take a look and see whether or not Megaman Legends is worthy of its current praise from fans or if it is as bad as past critics have said it was.

Text scroll that explains the story.

   Megaman Legends takes place in a world that's almost been completely flooded. Because of the flooding humanity has been forced to build towns and cities on the few remaining islands, and the world is now facing an energy crisis. Among these islands, ancient ruins can be found, and inside them are quantum refractors. These refractors are capable of powering machinery and producing electricity. People called "Diggers" explore the ruins looking for refractors. The game's main character, Megaman Volnutt, is a Digger that travels the world with his adoptive family.

Megaman finding a refractor.

After finding a large refractor in an old ruin Megaman's airship crash lands on Kattelox island. Shortly after landing on the island a group of pirates known as the Bonne family attack the residents of Kattelox with the goal of finding a legendary treasure rumored to be somewhere on the island. Megaman defeats the pirates and is then asked by the town mayor to explore Kattelox's many ruins to uncover the secret of the legendary treasure before the pirates do.

Megaman vs the Bonne Pirates.

In my opinion this story is really good. It's not a simple stop the bad guy and save the world kind of story like classic Megaman games. Instead, you're on an adventure unraveling secrets long forgotten. The story is simple but maintains a feeling of adventure and mystery the whole way through. Megaman Legends was meant to be a story focused game and it shows in a good way.

One of the many ruins in the game.

   So, the story is a breath of fresh air when compared to other Megaman games, but what about the gameplay? Well, it's a good game but it's not without problems. The main issue being the controls. Megaman Legends uses tank controls and doesn't pull it off very well. Megaman will always face forward when standing still. If you want to look at something behind you, you'll have to slowly turn Megaman around. You also can't lock on to an enemy and run at the same time, you can only lock on while standing still.

The first boss you'll encounter.

  This becomes a problem when you have enemies chasing after you. Because you can't lock on to an enemy and run at the same time the only way you can fight someone that's chasing you is to create a safe distance between you and them, stop, turn around and then shoot the enemy. This whole problem could have been avoided if you could lock on and move at the same time.

It's much easier to fight while chasing after an enemy.

   Compounding this issue, the camera is also problematic. You can only see what's in front of you, and because it doesn't move automatically you have to manually adjust it with the Z and R buttons. And because you can never get a full picture of what's around you, you'll easily get blindsided by enemies if you don't constantly adjust the camera.

The second boss battle.

   If you can get past the clunky controls and awkward camera there's a lot of fun to be had with this game. Megaman Legends has a heavy focus on exploration. The ruins you'll explore are full of hidden items and secret rooms. You'll spend most of your time looking around trying to find all of these secrets. All of the hidden items are pretty easy to find, but exploring the ruins is fun and once you get used to the controls fighting is enjoyable.

Money and items can be found in holes in the wall.

   Just like other Megaman games, you'll acquire a large assortment of weapons. But instead of defeating an enemy and copying its ability, as is traditional of the franchise, you create new weapons from parts found within the ruins. There are a lot of different weapons Megaman can use. They range from grenades, to a Gatling gun, an arm drill and even a short sword. The weapons are up-gradable. If you have enough money you can increase a weapons attack strength, range or rate of fire.

Upgrades while helpful are expensive, upgrading this weapons attack once cost 3000 Zenny.

   Megaman's default weapon, the Megabuster, can also be upgraded. During the game, you'll come across and craft buster parts. Just like special weapons, attack power, range, rate of fire can be upgraded.

Buster parts can be equipped at any time from the pause menu.

   When you're not exploring the ruins, you'll be doing side quest and playing mini-games. The mini-games are nothing to write home about, and the same can be said about the side quests. The mini-games are simple, yet fun distractions; and a majority of the side quests are fetch quests that don't bring anything new to the table in terms of gameplay.

This was my favorite mini-game. The goal is to shoot all of the red balloons within the time limit.

   The gameplay is rough around the edges, but once you get past its flaws it's a really fun game with an interesting story. If you like 3D adventure games or just Megaman games in general then give this game a try.

Every NPC has something unique to say, and their dialogue changes as you play through the story.

   As for the graphics they're pretty good as far as N64 games go. Everything looks kind of blocky, but its aged better than most 3D games of its time. 

     The soundtrack has a few memorable songs like the Apple Market theme or the Bonne’s theme, but for the most part, it doesn't stand out that much. The ruins don't have any music and instead, all you hear are your own footsteps, the sound of doors opening and closing, and the movement of nearby robots. I really liked this design decision. Not having any music really makes it feel like you're exploring an old abandoned ruin.

All of the cutscenes are well animated and fun to watch.

   The only problem I had with the presentation was that the game gets really quiet during cutscenes. I always had to turn the volume up on my TV because I couldn't hear what anyone was saying, and when the cutscene was over I had to quickly turn the volume back down because the in-game music would be too loud. The game doesn't have too many cutscenes but it's still an annoying problem. Other than that, the presentation is pretty solid.

That's all I have to say about this game. Megaman Legends isn't perfect but it's a lot of fun. If you're free one weekend and looking for a game to play try this game out.

Thank you for reading. The next review will be on an SNES game. I hope to see you again at Backlog Game Reviews.

Megaman Legends Gameplay Video