Capcom has been making countless iconic video games for almost 40 years. During their early days of developing games, the Mega Man series quickly rose to become one of their most iconic franchises. Mega Man would stand alongside other series like Super Mario Bros and Castlevania as some of the 2D platformers that defined that generation of games. The Mega Man series would continue to go strong with spinoff series like Mega Man X, Mega Man Legends, and Mega Man Battle Network. However, as more Capcom franchises became prominent, the blue bomber would eventually be pushed to the sidelines in favor of other Capcom series.

In recent years, new Mega Man titles have been few and far between in comparison to how many Mega Man games would release in the 90s and early 2000s. The amount of content starring the blue bomber was so scarce for a while that spiritual successors to the series, like Mighty No. 9, were being made already. Although, in recent years, Capcom would start to give the Mega Man series more recognition through the Mega Man Legacy Collection. In addition to a new game in the series, the various Mega Man Legacy Collection games, are helping keep the franchise relevant.

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The Mega Man Legacy Collection Helps Preserve Older Titles

Mega Man Wily Wars Cover

As games get older, they become less accessible and harder to get a hold of by official means. Some older games end up stuck on their original console due to the lack of any updated port or re-release. The Mega Man series has had tons of collections of their games over the years that get released for each console generation. The Mega Man Legacy Collection games follow a continuing trend among developers of compiling their older titles into one collection on modern consoles. The Mega Man Legacy Collection and other collections, like the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and Sonic Origins, make it easy to play these titles on modern consoles with updated features.

While the classic Mega Man titles have seen countless ports for nearly every console generation since their release, the other Mega Man collections make other games in the series available on other consoles for the first time in years. No games in the Mega Man X series have been ported to a console past the PlayStation 2, making the Mega Man X Legacy Collection the first official way to play the games in almost 20 years. As for the Battle Network games, those have never seen any ports and would've been stuck on the Game Boy Advance if the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection were not announced.

The Mega Man Legacy Collections Help Get New Players Into The Series

Mega Man

The best way to get new players into a series is to make the games available on modern consoles. Old hardware is inaccessible due to them likely not being produced or sold anymore. If players want to play older titles, they would have to rely on resellers or emulation. A lot of players get turned off from trying the games in these cases because the retro game market can likely be overpriced and emulation is more trouble than it is worth.

This is why the Mega Man Legacy Collection is so valuable in keeping the series relevant. Capcom clearly does not have as much of a plan for new Mega Man titles in comparison to its other series. The last new franchise entry was Mega Man 11 which was nearly 4 years ago. Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and Monster Hunter all do much better than Mega Man despite Mega Man arguably being more iconic. This is why it is a good idea for Capcom to continuously release new legacy collections for the Mega Man series, so even if there is not a new game there is something for new fans of the series to enjoy.

The blue bomber has come a long way since its days on the NES. Mega Man has seen countless mainline games and equally iconic spinoffs. After Capcom releases the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, there are still so many more games that could be re-released on modern consoles. There are many fans that have never played the Mega Man Legends games or the Starforce games. Capcom should consider releasing these games as a part of another collection in order to introduce new fans to the series and keep the blue bomber relevant.

Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection releases in 2023 on PC, PS4, and Switch.

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