Mega Man Legacy Collection New Details Revealed, Capcom Explains Lack of Mega Man 7 & 8

Over a month since the original announcement, Capcom has given out more details for the Mega Man Legacy Collection on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, which is due out later this summer.

Here’s what Capcom had to say about Challenge Mode, Museum, the Flicker/Slowdown, and Filters, as well as why Mega Man 7 and Mega Man 8 aren’t included in the collection:

Challenge Mode: The final game will have more than 50 challenges, each with their own leaderboard and video replay functionality. A certain amount will be open from the start. To access more, you’ll need to obtain at least a Bronze medal in a handful of challenges.

Museum: The exhaustive museum is loaded with MM1~6 art, acting both as a great bonus feature and as a form of digital preservation. That actually ties into the “philosophy” behind MMLC – focus on the original six titles and get them running in a beautiful format, then surround them with of-the-era art and fliers to really complete the “time capsule” feeling.

While I do have a special place in my heart for [Mega Man 7], it and the 32-bit [Mega Man 8] aren’t part of MMLC’s goal to archive and preserve the 8-bit titles that started it all. Their uniform look and late 80s/early 90s tech make them great candidates for Digital Eclipse’s preservation efforts, while the 16- and 32-bit entries would require different techniques. Instead of using typical emulation, DE is “rebuilding” these six games in the Eclipse Engine using original source assets.

Flicker/Slowdown: For the most part, much of the original flicker and slowdown is still present in MMLC. The games have software-level flicker/slowdown that was programmed into the games, and continuing with the philosophy of developing this title, the games are being historically preserved as they were originally coded and designed. However, certain hardware limitations that were not part of the code have been addressed, such as life bar flickering during the Copy Robot battle in Mega Man 1, or Mega Man flickering when two horns rise up from the Goblins in Air Man’s stage. Visual hiccups like this weren’t part of the code, and were instead restrictions imposed by the hardware.

Filters: While one of the biggest draws of MMLC is the crystal clear picture, we’ve also enabled some Tube TV-style filters that can metaphorically teleport you back to the days of crappy screens and blurry… everything! So if you’d like to experience the games with scan lines and some ghosting effects, go nuts!

In the gallery below, we’ve added images showing off the “Full” and “Original” screen displays, with a 16:9 stretch mode also being added to the game. Additionally, the gallery includes a look at the game-themed borders when playing in Full or Original.

You’ll also be able to listen to all six soundtracks through the music player, with each game having its own database that contains enemy images, descriptions, and flavor text. Capcom adds, “From here you can also battle each of the Robot Masters using any weapon from the respective game as sort of a “practice run” that lets you get their patterns down before tackling them in the full game.”

To see more of the Mega Man Legacy Collection, Capcom is planning a livestream later today from 4pm – 5pm PT.

Follow the links to learn more about Heat Man, Flash Man, Crash Man, Wood Man, and Quick Man.

[Source: Capcom Unity]