We reviewed the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection

Driftwood
Monday, February 24, 2020 | 5:00 PM
1 comment

GSY Review PC PS4 Xbox One Switch

After Devil May Cry 3 last week, Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection will be the next Capcom oldie release on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The collection including all the Zero and ZX episodes, we have quite a good number of videos to propose today. Enjoy!

Verdict

Aside from GBA and DS players, the Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX series are probably not the most famous ones in the franchise, but they sure have their fans. Though not a big surprise with a publisher like Capcom, we still had to wait for quite a while to see such a collection on today's hardware. Obviously, there isn't much to expect in terms of enhancements, except for the addition of different filters to smooth things out a tad, the possibility to change the size of the game's window, the possibility to play with checkpoints or even to play in beginner's mode. It is true that the 6 games included are pretty challenging, especially the Zero series, whose original button configuration isn't making it any easier to play today. It would have been nice to take advantage of of today's gamepads to be able to choose between the original layout and something a bit less cumbersome than the combination of the R button and the attack button to use the character's saber. Added to that, we can't say it feels very natural to use the Y button to jump on Switch (so X on XB and PC and square on PS4). That being said, after a bit of training, it's possible to get the hang of it, though it adds to the overall challenge the Zero series has to offer. With the new addition of the Z Chaser mode (meant for time attack fans or speedrunners), it seems that this collection has more chances to hit the spot with those who played those games back in the game rather than with newcomers.

On the upside
The addition of optional checkpoints and a new easy mode
All the Zero and ZX games in one collection
The Z Chaser mode will please Time Attack lovers and speedrunners
The Switch is the ideal system to enjoy these games

On the downside
We're not big fans of smoothing filters in general
No option for a more modern button scheme for the Zero series...
... which makes it even harder for newcomers
Probably more destined to fans than younger players

High quality stream and download

Commented on 2020-02-25 00:51:36

I love Mega Man and the Zero series is one of the best, alongside the original, X, Legends and Battle Network. As for the control remap, I may be mistaken, but if not supported officially even on the PC version, I'm sure the PC community will make a mod/tweak so you can remap buttons eventually. Though I do agree it's weird and a missed opportunity it's not available.

Things like this are some of the things I never understood about game development, some options are so simple to implement and most developers never use them, when they should be standard in all games, absolutely every one of them - like text size, Field of View slider, borderless window, subtitles toggle, etc.

Back in college, we coded a lot and things like changing fonts, size and text color were easy to implement on Visual Studio, but considerably harder in JavaScript, which required a few minutes or hours to learn and implement, but we did it anyway because that's how you learn.

I just can't think that experienced game developers in AAA companies would take more than a few hours at max to implement some quality of life fixes and/or changes. It's like that guy who fixed Street Fighter 5's netcode with an adjustment in just 2 days, after the game was out for almost 4 years and the bug was present since the game's launch.

The guy even said that it only took him 2 days because he didn't have access to the game's netcode and had to reverse engineer it, which took most of that time. If he had access to the code that the developers have, he would have fixed it in 30 minutes. Days later, probably because it looked very bad for Capcom, they released an official fix for the netcode bug... ffs. I'm sure they would have never released it if they guy hadn't created a fix.

Basically, stupid shit that is easily done in minutes or hours and that can make games more accessible and better, but developers never bother because whatever reason(s). Not everything players think is easy is actually easy, some changes are very hard, even if they seem simple. Sometimes they're tied to more complex systems or the way that something was developed, which makes changes to certain parts very hard.

However, some things are genuinely simple to fix or change and many developers never bother to. Hopefully, this culture and mentality changes in the next generation, but I'm not holding my breath. Thankfully, on PC a lot of modders do that. Which is why it's the best gaming platform, it gives players the flexibility and control to shape the experience however they see fit. Even if it means adding, removing or fixing something that's bothering you that the developers never will.

In reply to

Things like this are some of the things I never understood about game development, some options are so simple to implement and most developers never use them, when they should be standard in all games, absolutely every one of them - like text size, Field of View slider, borderless window, subtitles toggle, etc.

Back in college, we coded a lot and things like changing fonts, size and text color were easy to implement on Visual Studio, but considerably harder in JavaScript, which required a few minutes or hours to learn and implement, but we did it anyway because that's how you learn.

I just can't think that experienced game developers in AAA companies would take more than a few hours at max to implement some quality of life fixes and/or changes. It's like that guy who fixed Street Fighter 5's netcode with an adjustment in just 2 days, after the game was out for almost 4 years and the bug was present since the game's launch.

The guy even said that it only took him 2 days because he didn't have access to the game's netcode and had to reverse engineer it, which took most of that time. If he had access to the code that the developers have, he would have fixed it in 30 minutes. Days later, probably because it looked very bad for Capcom, they released an official fix for the netcode bug... ffs. I'm sure they would have never released it if they guy hadn't created a fix.

Basically, stupid shit that is easily done in minutes or hours and that can make games more accessible and better, but developers never bother because whatever reason(s). Not everything players think is easy is actually easy, some changes are very hard, even if they seem simple. Sometimes they're tied to more complex systems or the way that something was developed, which makes changes to certain parts very hard.

However, some things are genuinely simple to fix or change and many developers never bother to. Hopefully, this culture and mentality changes in the next generation, but I'm not holding my breath. Thankfully, on PC a lot of modders do that. Which is why it's the best gaming platform, it gives players the flexibility and control to shape the experience however they see fit. Even if it means adding, removing or fixing something that's bothering you that the developers never will.