The Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection Is a Nice Surprise

Capcom did good when they released the Mega Man Legacy Collections and the Mega Man X Legacy Collection, three releases (the Mega Man games were split into two of them) that included nearly every game in the franchise. Games like Mega Man & Bass and Mega Man X: Command Mission were missing, but they did their job in making most of the games available for current-generation platforms. MM software archive releases following those packs were unlikely, since the two collections contained the most popular games in the series, but Capcom is fortunately maintaining this trend.

The company announced that the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection is coming next, a surprise set that will be a much bigger deal than the previous ones. Several Mega Man and Mega Man X games had been made available on various consoles and handhelds to play, but this is the first time some titles in this newly-announced collection will be made available outside a Nintendo platform, and, in some cases, on consoles at all.

The four Mega Man Zero titles originally released on Game Boy Advance from the early-to-mid-00s, and were ported to Nintendo DS through the Mega Man Zero Collection and made available on the Wii U Virtual Console. It was previously possible to play them on the big screen through the Game Boy Player for Gamecube and Wii U, but this will be their first time gracing non-Nintendo platforms. The MMZ titles are tough, and the first game is one of the hardest in the MM franchise. Just a fair warning.

This will be the first time Mega Man ZX and ZX Advent will be available outside their original DS releases. Since Capcom likes Mega Man again these days after a tumultuous period following prior producer Keiji Inafune departure in 2011, these games don’t have to be lost to the world of emulation. The ZX games aren’t quite as difficult as the Zero titles, but they’re hardly easy. They also have Metroidvania-style level design instead of the linear progression that previous 2D platforming games relied on, though Zero’s levels experimented with some open-ended sections.

Since these games will now be running on current-generation platforms after being made for handheld screen ratios, they’re receiving performance upgrades and differences. The Zero games will transfer over well, but the ZX games will receive presentation adjustments thanks to originally being made for a dual-screened system. Fortunately, they weren’t touchscreen-reliant. The main gameplay will occur on the larger screen, but activities that happened on the bottom touchscreen will be represented through a smaller adjacent screen. It’s easy to fit both of them within a widescreen aspect ratio, since they were made for 4:3 displays.

The Casual Scenario Mode from the MMZ Collection will be retained for the collection, which allowed for players to experience all four games in one campaign with a TV series-like presentation, and significantly reduced difficulty. The ZX games will also get the treatment here, though whether both games can be played back to back isn’t clear. A Save Assist feature will be added, where players will be revived at checkpoints after they die as much as they like without losing a life. Lastly, there’s a new Z Chaser mode, where two players can cooperate to finish challenges. Sounds nice, but I wish they called this “Z Battle & Chaser” mode as a nod, even though this isn’t a racing game.

For anyone who thought the initial screens from the leak weren’t flattering: Similar to other good retro collections and releases, filter and aspect ratio options will be included. If you prefer to preserve the original sprites on the big screen or would rather have them filtered, you can do either. I won’t judge you too harshly if you choose the latter.

My real concern here is about the team that will do the emulation. Previous MM collections were good in that regard, but not perfect, as some games contained input delay issues. It was tough for several players to notice the problem with the MMX games on most platforms, but they were more noticeable on Switch. For instance, the original Mega Man X has larger input delay on the MMXLC compared to the version included with the Super NES Classic Edition. I hope Capcom will make sure the Zero and ZX games don’t have any such issues.

The Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection will release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam on January 21st next year, with physical and digital options available for North America. It sounds like it will be digital only in Europe, though their minds could change with some convincing. Remarkably, this collection will also have preorder bonuses in the form of ten bonus tracks known as “Reploid Remixes,” which will involve one stage remix in all six games, and four bonus tracks in the Music Player.

Perhaps after this, we can get more collections. There’s a vocal set hoping for a Mega Man Battle Network collection, but I’m crossing my fingers for a Mega Man Legends one. They could also throw the cancelled Mega Man Legends 3 Project prototype in as a bonus, but that might feel too much like rubbing salt in a still-not-healed wound after such a long time. I’d still like to see it, however.