Mega Man Legends (video game)
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| Mega Man Legends | |
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| Developer(s) | Capcom Production Studio 2 |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom Entertainment, Inc. |
| Designer(s) | Yoshinori Kawano |
| Composer(s) | Makoto Tomozawa |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable |
| Release date(s) | PlayStation JP December 18, 1997 NA August 31, 1998 PAL December 4, 1998 Nintendo 64 JP November 22, 2000 NA January 10, 2001 Windows JP June 18, 2001 NA July 14, 2001 PlayStation Portable JP August 4, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone |
| Media | |
Mega Man Legends, known in Japan as Rockman DASH (ロックマンDASH Rokkuman Dasshu), is the first game in the Mega Man Legends sub-series of Mega Man games from Capcom. It was released on the PlayStation in 1997, Nintendo 64 in 2000 under the title Mega Man 64, Microsoft Windows in 2001, and PlayStation Portable in 2005 exclusively in Japan.
It stars a different spiritual incarnation of Mega Man, with the personal name MegaMan (Rock in the Japanese version; explained further in the article) and the surname Volnutt.
Originally to be titled Mega Man Neo and then Mega Man Nova[1], the game was released abroad as Mega Man Legends.
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[edit] Story
The Legends series take place on a flooded Earth; (which is referred to as Terra in the second game). Because of the flooding, only a few sparse islands exist and energy sources are rare. In order to satisfy this increasing demand for energy to power up machinery, quantum refractors found in ancient ruins are used. These refractors are valuable, they serve as an energy source, and their shards are used as currency. However, the main goal of every person is to find the Mother Lode, an item of supposed infinite power that can fill the need for the energy in one swoop. Those who try to excavate these ruins are called "Diggers" ("Digouters" in the Japanese version). Those who assist information-wise from an outside location are called "Spotters".
The game begins with MegaMan Volnutt, a Digger trying to exit a ruin after finding the refractor inside. After dealing with the Reaverbots blocking his way out, he makes his way to the Flutter, an airship which leaves the ruin. The Flutter doubles as a "home" for the Caskett family. This includes Roll Caskett, his Spotter, Barrel Caskett, their grandfather, and Data, a mysterious monkey that talks in gibberish only MegaMan himself can understand. However, the Flutter experiences some engine problems and crash lands on Kattelox Island. From there, the Caskett family tries to find a way to repair their ship. They also meet much antagonism from air pirates called the Bonnes. They consist of Teisel Bonne, the leader of the group. His sibling Tron Bonne, who is a mechanical genius and builds most of their robots used in their elegant schemes, and develops feelings for the main character. The last is Bon Bonne, who can only say one word—"Babu!" The Bonnes can understand him anyway. They too are seeking refractor crystals but they steal from others and only want to become rich. What first appears to be a straightforward task of repairing the Flutter becomes much more as these ruins are revealed to be related to the so called "Main Gate", a place feared by the residents of the island because of a legend that a mysterious being lurks within.
The Main Gate is actually revealed to be a stasis chamber for the robot Mega Man Juno, a 3rd class bureaucratic unit from "Eden", a space station orbiting above the planet. When he is accidentally awakened from his sleep by MegaMan, Juno makes many strange revelations, calling him "Mega Man Trigger" and claiming how the island's population needs to be purged so that it becomes more controllable. He calls the residents of the island carbons, which will not be explored further until the events of the sequel. At one point Juno realizes that Mega Man Trigger is suffering from memory loss, and traps him in an electric field to keep him from interfering. Teisel and Tron help him escape the electrical trap and send him to confront Juno while rooting for him. On the way to Juno's chamber, Mega Man discovers what he believes to be the Mother Lode, a massive refractor held in stasis by Juno. After a struggle, Juno concedes defeat and dies, making note that he should have known he would fail, being a "3rd class Bureaucratic Model", in comparison to MegaMan being a "1st class Purifier Model".
Even with Juno's physical body gone, he transfers his backup data into the systems of Eden, and the Carbon Purification Process was still continuing its preparations. Data gives new commands to the system, stopping the Purification and also deleting Juno's backup data from Eden. Data then reveals that he contains MegaMan's previous memories, of when he was Mega Man Trigger. Mega Man Trigger put his memories into Data as a way to prevent Eden from ever tampering with it. Data promises that he will restore MegaMan's memory when the time comes. The residents proclaim MegaMan as a hero and the Caskett family rides the repaired Flutter to new horizons.
Meanwhile, on the sea, the Bonnes are left drifting in a boat constructed from debris by Tron, with Bon and the "Mother Lode" in tow. This is where the game ends.
[edit] Gameplay
Mega Man Legends differs greatly from the platforming gameplay of past Mega Man games, the main factor being the three-dimensional worlds, and three-dimensional movement therein. The camera is always behind MegaMan. Another primary difference is MegaMan Volnutt's Buster Gun. It cannot be charged but holding Square does auto-fire. The amount fired depends on Buster Parts equipped. Buster Parts can be equipped to upgrade four stats of the Buster Gun; Attack (how strong it is), Rapid (how fast it fires), Range (how far the shots go), and Energy (how many shots can be fired before stopping). Of course, no combination of parts makes all four stats perfect (except for the Buster Max, given to the player on Easy mode), so it is up to the player to decide what combination of parts suits the situation best and fits their own play-style.
The player travels through a large world, with various dungeons that are explored in a certain order, as well as a town with NPCs to talk to. As such, the plot is revealed through cutscenes, many of which have voice acting to accompany the text.
Legends employs a money system. In the Legends, large gems called Refractors are used as a power source. Small shards of them can be exchanged for money, and in the game, enemies that are destroyed will often drop these Refractor Shards. When shards are picked up, the equivalent amount of Zenny (the game's basic unit of currency) is added automatically.
[edit] Special weapons
Special weapons are not obtained from bosses. Instead, Roll Caskett is able to make weapons for the player, using specific combinations of parts that can be found in dungeons or bought in shops. Many of these weapons supplement the Buster Gun, such as the Active Buster (a homing missile launcher). The only way to refill them in the field is an item that can be bought, but only one can be carried. Only one special weapon can be equipped at a time, and the only way to switch is to talk to Roll. Special weapons can be upgraded, and have five stats; Attack, Rapid, Range, Energy, and Special (an upgrade specific to each weapon). Not every weapon can be upgraded in all five categories.
[edit] Music
- The Soundtrack was composed by Makoto Tomozawa.
- The theme for the Japanese version of the game is "Another Sun" by Reika Morishita and the ending theme is "Anata no Kaze ga Fuku kara", also by the same person.
- The music for the battle with Mega Man Juno is listed on the soundtrack as "Last battle physique" and credited to J. S. Bach. It is in fact Johann Sebastian Bach's Little Fugue in G minor (BWV 578).
[edit] Localization
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2008) |
- Purifier Units in the Japanese version are called Irregular Hunters, the same term used for Maverick Hunters in the X series. Also the world of Terra is called Earth in original Japanese version. (This was carried from Megaman V for the Game Boy, where an enemy named Terra was originally called Earth in the Japanese version.) This is in contradiction with X series calling the world "Earth". The main character is called "Rock Volnutt" in the Japanese version. In the English version, all occurrences of "Rock" are replaced by "MegaMan".
- In the Japanese version of the game, it is possible to shoot at the various birds in the sky. Doing so causes them to plummet to the ground. This feature was removed from localized versions.
- In the Japanese version of the game, Tron is chased by a small dog named Paprika and crawls up a lamp post to safety. Rock can either kick this dog or talk to it and convince it to leave instead, but in the western version, he is just limited to speaking to it. However, other, more feral dogs can be kicked later in the game.
- Various items in the localized version of the game underwent censorship. One such item, "Ero Comic" found during Jim's sub quest, was renamed to "Comic Book."
[edit] References
- ^ "Mega Man Goes Nova". IGN.com. January 14, 1998. http://psx.ign.com/articles/064/064168p1.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-12.
[edit] External links
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