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View Full Version : Megaman Anniversary Collection review (this ones gona hurt)



Yodaporn
06-26-2004, 11:00 PM
I know I seem to be the only one posting in this section, but I was so angered by this collection, I had to make another.

Once again classic games take a beating from commercial programers....

Ok, gameplay wise, everything on the disk plays correctly, so if you just want a package of megaman games that simply play like they should, then this pack should be fine for you. However, if you are used to ether the original games on real consoles, or on emulators (on pc, ps1, or ps2), and know what these games are suposed to look and sound like, you will be pretty sour over this collection.

First off megaman 1-6 (the nes games), at least half the bulk of this collection:
I've been spoiled by the emulator, imbnes on the ps1, and it's sharp beautiful graphics. Imbnes is so good, in most cases its as good as hooking up an nes, and all but one or two megaman games look perfect in it, so I had the same expectations for MMAC, after all, it is a ps2 game.

-First thing I noticed when megaman 1 started up, It was much blurier than I've ever seen on a tv, maby they were trying to simulate an old 80s tv or somthing. I dont know what they were trying to do, but I wish I had the option to dissable it.

-Second, when I got passed the title screen, the music, it sounded like I duck taped small pillows to my speakers, nastily muffuled. I wonder if they recoded it with a cheap microphone off an old tv.

-Next, much in the fashion of Dennis Leary smelling the maple surrup in his coffee, I slowly started to realise that there are small, black bars on the sides of the screen. My first sarcastic reaction, was "what? they could only find a PAL rom?". WTF, I dont remember those on the nes, or any of the emulators (someone correct me if im wrong). I thought that maby they are hiding some of the garbage that nes games tend to generate, but then I dont remeber the megaman games having that problem.

As I went though all the nes mm's, they all had the same problems. I think maby the sound problems were not it the later games, but then, I could have just been geting used to it :D .

Next, megaman 7, the snes one.
This one dident have much of a problem. I could tell it was being streched from snes resolution to what ever the programers wanted to use, but I dont think it would be that noticeable. The sound, only every once in a while an effect would play too loud or a note would play at an odd pitch. One little thing, while the game seems to scroll fine, apearing to be 60fps the whole time, but when you reach a transition pont, the scrolling to the next map slows to a nasty 5fps (estemated).

Megaman 8, the ps1 game,
I believe they got this one right. No noticeabe glitches. After all, its a F***'N ps1 game!!! However on the gamecube version, who knows what could happen.

And now the part that chafes my sack the most......
I, like Shane, HATE being lied too about the number of games I'm geting in a classics collection. And the two games that I almost sold me the pack before I even played it, MM: The Power Battles and Power FIghters......ARE LOCKED!!!!!!

I finaly managed to unlock Power Battles, But it involved looking up every "all-weapons and at dr willy" code for mm 2 though 6, went into the first willy level and died so that it would save the game to the mem card. Now power fighters, Im convenced that you must beat all the robots on mm1 to get that, because thats the only one with no codes, and I dont currently feel like devoteing my self to beating that game at the moment. However, I've still got about a week to go with my rental, and I may do so yet.

On to MM: the Power Battles:
Seems fine on the surface, almost mame perfect, complete with blinking "FREE PLAY". However it has no options of any kind, I think even the cps-1's menu let you change difficulty. Now the one BIG gripe I have about this; This pakage makes absolutely no use what so ever of the analog sticks or pressure sensitive buttons, yet this package *requires* a dualshock *2* controller. Being that this is an arcade game, some of you may want to use your arcade sticks on it, unfourtunatly most arcade sticks out there are made for the ps1, Ive seen very few specificly for the ps2.

MM: the Power Fighters......I guess I'll know in time

As to wether or not any of this stuff was emulated, I dont have much of a clue. I think Power Battles may be, but the first 6 megamans, judging by there mid-game select button menus, they are probly recoded versions of the classic mm games on the ps1 in japan (I think the line was called "rockman complete works collection"). On that note, every thing on this disk could just be routed though the ps2's ps1 driver, they might have just needed the capacity of a dvd, but who knows.

Shane R. Monroe
06-27-2004, 11:37 AM
Don't you hate getting crapped on like that???

Thanks for the good post.

Yodaporn
06-28-2004, 11:03 AM
To follow that up:

I was sort of wrong about the nes mm side screen garbage. When you get up to 5 and especialy 6, they start to have some garbage on the right side. I guess its because they were kinda having to push that little engine pretty hard by then. Also, for a moment I thought that maby 3-6 had a black bar on the left, but then I found out, at least on imbnes, the screen just needed to be recentered to get those games look right.

MM Power Fighters (FINALY): first off I was wrong, it was mm7 that you had to get to willys bots to unlock this (ether that or its a porpotional unlock based on how many games are near completion). Its about the same conversion as power battles, no noticable graphics flaws, yet no options what so ever.

Megaman 8 (REVISED!!!!): I finaly got a hold of a real ps1 copy of mm8, and it cant belive it; they managed to screw up a ps1 game on the ps2. I hooked my old ps1 and ps2 to different inputs on my tv just so I could flip back and fourth, and make for sure I wasent seeing things; Kinda like the nes megamans, it has a bad blur. Its not a game killing blur, like 1-6, but if you switch from the ps2 mm8 to the ps1 version, its like a fog gets lifted (or someone finaly cleans the tv after a 5 year hiatus). Sound wise, I was wrong about mm7, its this megaman game that has the occasionaly louder sound effect, and it is *anoyingly* louder. I think it has somthing to do with some explosion effects having trouble playing multiple times on top of their selves. Almost forgot the fmv, they screwed this up too. On the ps2 version, it looks like a quick, thow-to-gether vcd, on the ps1 it looks like a decent mpeg-2 svcd. How could thay screw that up!?!? The ps2 is suposed to be a freakin dvd player. Being that this is suposed to be an annaversery collection, you think they would hunt down the old stock footage and encode it straight to, at least, good quality dvd format.

One note about the little fringe unlockables (picture galleries, ext), they are crap. The selection screen for the "secrets" is so vague, it seems like its nothing but picture galleries, and single songs, though I hear you can somehow unlock an episode of the megaman cartoon (oh god, I remember that miserable thing airing on the usa network in the last days that they had a cartoon block. I cant belive they would think anyone would find that thing a pleasent unlockable).

That should be all I have left to say about it, so I guess I'll wrap it up. Bottom line; If indeed you are still considering this package, think of it as a special edition of megamans 7 and 8 (the 2 least plauged by problems), with a ton of extras thown in. (And dont step up to the plate with your arcade stick)

Lets hope they do a better job on street fighter 2 annaversery collection, cause if they dont, I'll be back. Im FAR more passionate about my street fighter than mega man, and look how much I can write about that.

Yodaporn, out.

DaMenace
07-12-2004, 07:52 AM
I just got the Gamecube version of Megaman Collection will give my side soon..

GrilledMonkeyFat
09-22-2005, 10:18 PM
I have the game myself. Not bad, except for the fact you have to unlock the good stuff. I had the unlocked stuff saved, but then came back to it, and now it's all screwed up, and even though I unlocked the "power battle" game, it won't let me play it. Weird, but yeah, not a bad game.