Well, it's finally here, the Megaman Anniversary Collection. This ultimate Mega-package contains a plethora of original series titles; Megaman 1-8, plus The Power Battle and The Power Fighters for the first time in console format. And you can't beat the $30 price tag; that's only $3 per game! While a truely excellent package that's well worth the money, it does have its bad points, but the good far outweighs the bad. Here's a look at all of the changes made in the Collection.
- The controls for the PS2 and X-Box versions were way better. The button placement is similar to the way it was on other systems; fire button on the left, jump button on the right. The GameCube version flipped it, making it difficult to get accustomed to if you've played other systems.
- All versions have an extra button that you can hold down for rapid-fire. Another one lets you slide in all games Megaman can do so, so you can press a single button to slide instead of holding down and jump.
- The PS2 and X-Box versions also got a remixed soundtrack for MM1-6. MM1-3 is only partially remixed, however; the only songs in those games that were changed are those that were remixed for Power Battle/Fighters. The GameCube version only has the NES tunes.
- MM1-6 have a 'Navi Mode', selectable in the Options menu. This mode allows certain characters to give you hints at certain locations. If you see a "!" in the corner of the screen, press select for a hint, much like Ayla in MMX6. This mode also causes Eddie or Beat to hover on the screen with an arrow in front of him, useful to show you where to go and to mark safe spots to stand. This mode also spruces up the health and energy meters to look more like they did in MM8. In addition, you can also look at a map of the levels in MM4-6.
- All of the games with passwords still have them, but it also saves your progress automatically to the memory card.
- MM7, in my opinion, actually came out worse than the original game. Bass's "Damn", when you encounter him in Shademan's stage, was censored. He now says "Darn". And while they were so worried about censoring a little light swearing, they ignored the grammar problems throughout the game ("I gonna do what I should've done years ago"). They even wiped out the scenes that play out during the closing credits; Megaman walking away from the burning skull fortress, the cutaways to the robot masters, along with Bass & Treble, and the photo scene. Now, we just see the credits roll against a plain black background. Why?
- MM8 was ripped completely from the US Playstation version. That means no bonus fights with Cutman and Woodman, no bonus artwork at the end, and we still have Dr. Lights's bad Fudd impersonation to listen to. Plus, the grammar wasn't fixed here either ("Bass, why you don't understand?"). Plus, the second group of robot masters have their voices screwed up. Now, Swordman, Aquaman, Searchman, and Astroman all have higher-pitched voices, like they just took a nasty kick to the nether-regions.
- The Power Battle and The Power Fighters are also available to play. They look considerably better than the arcade version, mostly because the sprites were altered a bit so they don't look so 'squished' as they did before. The memory card saves your best times and high scores, just make sure you always choose to Load these games instead of selecting New Game, or you'll erase them (as I accidently did once).
- Other features are also unlockable as you progress through the games. They include art galleries, and remixed music tracks. The PS2 has an episode of the Megaman TV series (The Beginning). The GameCube version has an interview with Keiji Inafune (the creator of the Megaman series). The X-Box version has the Inafune interview and the first episode of Megaman: NT Warrior.
All in all, MM7 & 8 were the only games I had complaints about, and they are still worth playing, despite what I had to say about them. As for which version is better, it depends on which system(s) you have, but I strongly recommend the X-Box or PS2 version over the GameCube version.
