Hi. Did you miss me? I’m busy discovering that I don’t deal well with sudden jet lag in my old age, and that it’s fun to play 3DS games, all of which has been occupying much of my time of late! But here is an article about why Mega Man Legends 2 is great.
Fun fact: this one won’t get picked up for links on Capcom’s official Twitter or community site, ’cause it basically calls Capcom a bunch of thundering dolts.
Another fun fact: I look about ten years younger than I actually am in the videos embedded in the 1UP article linked above. Crappy little Flip cams are really quite flattering, I guess. Unfortunately, the videos demonstrate quite accurately just how clumsy a gamer I can be when I’m sleepy. Dur hur how you play Zelda??
“…the long-standing rule that Capcom games ending with 2 are always the best Capcom games.”
Counterpoints: Breath of Fire 2, Strider 2, Devil May Cry 2, Final Fight 2, Dino Crisis 2, Mega Man X2, Duck Tales 2,
Every rule has an exception! But consider: Mega Man 2, Street Fighter II, MM Legends 2, Mega Man Zero 2, Resident Evil 2, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, and all those unnumbered sequels (Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, Bionic Commando NES, etc.). I am confident in my assertion.
“Capcom games ending with 2 are always the best Capcom games.”
Even though they don’t end in 2, I’d add in the duality of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons to that list, as they were made by Capcom and are supremely excellent.
Breath of Fire 2, really? :P The game where you could become hopelessly trapped just because you didn’t like using the stupid monkey character?
I will give it the fact that the “make your own town” aspect was kind of neat.
Ah, you used my header. ♥
The article header? I don’t want to destroy your happiness here, but I just used the box art to Rockman Dash 2. I hope there is no ASCII keystroke for a broken heart :(
I seem to remember recommending it at some point. If not, you just happened to have gone with what I would have!
Thank you for making me feel guilt for all of my cynicism RE: Legends 3 Project.
What’s striking to me is how, despite being a PS1 game, how good the game still looks. It really shows what good art direction can do for a game.
I personally enjoyed the MML games a lot. One has to wonder if the games wouldn’t have done better had they been spun out of their own mythos, rather than attaching Mega Man to it. As pointed out in the article, the Mega Man fanbase is pretty obstinate at times.
Here’s hoping they can do something halfway decent with MML3. I don’t hold out a whole lot of hope with Inafune leaving, but then again, he was there and presided over some pretty terrible Mega Man games, so I’ll try to keep an open mind.
The screens in the article don’t really do justice to the game. Play it on PS3 on a good TV and it’s just gorgeous. Low poly count, sure, but great colors and striking visual design.
I felt the same way when I recently played MML1 on PSP. It was kind of unwieldy, but it sure was gorgeous.
Mega Man is all like, “My face is up here, parish. Not down here, up here.”
I really wish that Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D would get more coverage. The video of Jeremy playing it is basically the most I’ve seen it covered, and he isn’t familiar with the recent games in the series.
Mercenaries mode is actually based on PN03. it has a similar combo/time system, and even uses the same music. My friends and I have poured a ton of time into the mode in RE4 and 5, plus the Mercenaries Reunion DLC. Mercenaries 3D is one of my most anticipated games, but most game sites have all but ignored it.
I assume no one is paying attention to it because it’s just a bonus mode from a real game built entirely of reused assets and being sold as a full-priced product, and because it’s overshadowed by the fact that a full, original Resident Evil game has already been announced for the system. Mercenaries reeks of the sort of cynicism that can only exist at a system’s launch: “It’s not much, but people will buy this because that’s all there is.”
You’re assuming that Mercenaries has less value than the story mode and that it’s not a real game. As far as I’m concerned, it was the best part of RE5, and I’d love to see it spun off into a legitimate series. I agree that charging full price for something with reused assets looks pretty lazy, but from what I’ve gathered there will be at least some new characters and modes, and that they’re implementing a power up system. Plus, combining the characters from both games into one pool actually opens up a lot of gameplay possibilities.
Anyway, I think it has the potential of being really interesting, but I haven’t seen much info out there about it.
From what I’ve gathered — which is to say, what I was told when I asked a company representative — Mercenaries is strictly a series of two-minute scoreboard challenges. Nothing more. It’s possible the rep was wrong, but as it stands Mercenaries seems like the equivalent of selling Gears of War’s Horde mode as a full-price standalone retail product. I’m sure that’s fine for a few people, but it strikes me as needlessly exploitative.
You start with two minutes on the clock, but you get a lot of time bonuses and matches usually take at least five minutes to get through. It’s a very arcadey game, but I think the gameplay is fun enough that it could stand alone.
And to be clear, I’m not criticizing you or any other journalist for ignoring the game. I was really excited when I heard that Capcom was releasing a Mercenaries only game, and I’ve been disappointed with the overall lack of interest. I guess I’ll have to wait until it’s released to find out more.
This makes me want to go back and play both Legends games again… I think it has been about 10 years at this point, and I never did beat Legend 2 (all I remember is that the last boss was very, very hard).
The real shame of the whole thing is that the PS2 shouldn’t have really been a barrier to enjoying them. I’ll be perfectly honest, I never owned a PSX. So when I got my PS2, these were on my list of “PSX games I’d like to play” (and what would you know, Capcom.com’s store had an awesomely priced bundle of all three Legends games right at that time – think it was like $30 for all three). It is too bad they didn’t promote it better though.
Actually, I’ve never played the U.S. version of MML2 on a PlayStation. Since it launched the same day as the PS2, I played it on my new PS2 with the visual enhancements turned on, and it was great. The PS2 wasn’t an impediment to the game itself, but the hype around the system was so enormous that no one wanted to buy a “last-gen” game when they could play something hella sweet like, uh, Orphen. I mean, um, like… hmm.
I’m curious, do the PS2’s enhancements actually make a difference for PS1 games? I’m no graphical whore, and I was much younger at the time, so I never noticed anything. It vaguely seems that the textures seemed slightly better in FFIX’s battle sequences, but maybe not.
They don’t improve every game, but they smooth over the textures. For a game like this, it makes a huuuuuge difference. Believe it or not, it’s a huge help with Klonoa, too. It makes the sprites (which are animated textures on a screen-facing polygon) much easier to read.
The video clips make me wonder: are there are dress codes at these sorts of events? It seems unnatural to make video game journalists, of all people, put on ties.
That’s why Jeremy looks so young. It’s British school boy Jeremy.
Nah, the dress code for all game press events is “please wear some form of garment that covers your genitals.” Justin has a habit of wearing suits to press events, and I recently embarked on a long-delayed total wardrobe overhaul to abandon casual dress.
Man, I own both Mega Man Legends games, and have barely played them. I should really fix this in the very near future.
Regarding the graphics, I think the almost cell-shaded style of the game helps it hold up pretty well, the cartoony look doesn’t feel dated at all, apart from the pixelation.
Man, that U.S. boxart is absolutely terrible. It’s a shame considering how absolutely gorgeous the Japanese art is. The series’ art in general is some of the best in the franchise.
I swooned over the box art when I imported Rockman Dash 2. And I vomited in disappointment when I saw the atrocious U.S. art. Herp derp dem Merkins don’ like nothing whut ain’t prerendered, ayup.
Sorry for being off topic, but I posted a comment early today and it was awaiting approval but then got deleted. My question is: am I not allowed to post here anymore? Thanks.