''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' is a compilation of

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s developed by Atomic Planet Entertainment and published by

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

. It was released in North America on June 23, 2004 for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

and

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

and on March 15, 2005 for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

. The ''Anniversary Collection'' contains the first eight games in the original ''Mega Man'' series, which debuted on the NES with the first six games, moved to the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

with the seventh game, and moved to the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

and

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

with the eighth game, plus two bonus

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

s. The plot follows the

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

ic protagonist

Mega Man ''Mega Man'' (known as in Japan) is a video game franchise developed and published by Capcom, featuring the Mega Man (character), protagonist of the same name. The Mega Man (1987 video game), original game was released for the Nintendo Enter ...

in his continuing adventures battling the evil Dr. Wily and his army of Robot Masters. A similar set of compilations, '' Mega Man Legacy Collection'' and ''Mega Man Legacy Collection 2'', were released in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

Overview

Each game has a similar structure in which the player traverses a series of themed stages to face off against boss robots, gain new weapons and abilities, then defeat Dr. Wily in a final confrontation. For the first six titles, an extra feature is the "Navi Mode", originally introduced in the

('' Rockman Complete Works'') re-releases of the first six ''Mega Man'' games. Navi Mode adds helpers that provide game hints if the player is in need of help, revises the appearance of the health and weapon energy meters, and revises the weapon subscreens for the first three games. In addition to these eight games, the ''Anniversary Collection'' includes two unlockable arcade

fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

s ('' Mega Man: The Power Battle'' and '' Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters''), which had a limited release outside Japan. These two titles are similar in gameplay but a bit more streamlined. The battles cut straight to the bosses, who get progressively more difficult with each one defeated. Some of the games in the collection have minor differences compared to their original releases. Several of the NES games have remixed sound. In Mega Man 3 a misspelling of Dr. Wily's name has been corrected. In '' Mega Man 6'', the arranged music is incorrectly mastered and suffers from extensive peaking. The typo in Mr. X's dialogue given upon defeating him has been corrected. In '' Mega Man 7'', an instance of the word "damn" was changed to "darn" in order to maintain an all-ages rating. In addition, the graphics of Mega Man walking away from Wily's Castle are absent from the credits sequence, as the developers were unable to port certain SNES graphical effects. In the compilation's version of ''

Mega Man 8 ''Mega Man 8'' is a 1996 action-platform game developed and published by Capcom. It was directed by Hayato Kaji and produced by Keiji Inafune, both of whom had previously worked on the series as artists. It is the eighth installment in the or ...

'', some of the Robot Masters' voice clips play at incorrect pitches. The PlayStation version of ''Mega Man 8'' is used, as opposed to the

version which included bonus features and additional boss battles. Other unlockable elements in the ''Anniversary Collection'' include original art, remixed music, and bonus videos: The PS2 version features the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

of the

Ruby-Spears Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was an American entertainment production company founded by veteran writers and '' Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' creators, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, in 1977, before closing in 1996. S ...

''Mega Man'' TV series, while the

and Xbox versions feature the ''Mega Man'' episode of G4's ''

Icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, saints, and angels. Although especially ...

''. The

version also includes the first episode of '' Mega Man NT Warrior'' (based on the ''

Mega Man Battle Network is a Tactical role-playing game, tactical role-playing video game series created by Masahiro Yasuma and developed and published by Capcom as a spin-off of the ''Mega Man'' series. Released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance, it takes place in an a ...

'' game series) and the ability to change the control scheme. The PS2 and Xbox versions include some arranged music for the first six games, also originally present in the ''Complete Works'' versions.

Development

''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' shares qualities with ''Rockman Complete Works'', a lineup of remakes of the first six games in the original ''Mega Man'' series, released for the

in Japan in late 1999. The six games were released individually, each disc containing a port of the original

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

version as the game's "Original Mode" and several extras. A "Navi Mode" was included, featuring a hint system in which a supporting character in each title gives tips to the player via a communicator, as well an updated HUD, an arranged soundtrack, and other optional game modes. A

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

version of ''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' was also in development and was originally due to be released concurrently with the PS2, GameCube, and Xbox incarnations. The game, originally announced as ''Mega Man Mania'', was to feature color versions of the five original

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

''Mega Man'' games, as well as a history section and artwork gallery. The game had its release date pushed back several times, with the delay rumored to be caused by Capcom lacking the games' original

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

. In January 2006, gamers contacting Capcom were told that the game had been placed on "indefinite hold". Capcom also began issuing refund checks to those who had ordered the game directly through their online store. Around the same time, several retailers, such as

GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas). The brand is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operated 3,203 stor ...

, declared the game "cancelled" and issued refunds or store credits.

Reception

The collection received mostly positive reviews. The collection was slightly criticized for lacking somewhat in the extras department, and the GameCube version was criticized slightly more for not including the remixed audio for ''Mega Man 1''-''6''. More controversial was the change in the GameCube edition's controls, which saw its fire and jumping buttons reversed from their original NES configuration with no option to arrange them back making level progression much trickier as a result. Conversely, the exclusive extra in the PS2 and GameCube versions were both praised, with the GameCube version's interview being favored. The Xbox version rated slightly better than the other two versions, because of its added exclusive content as well as the exclusive bonuses from the PS2 and GameCube versions. However, it was given a score of 8.0 (versus 8.5 for the other two versions) from

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

for arriving late, in addition to occasional graphical glitches depending on screen settings, which become more apparent when played on an Xbox 360. ''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' was a financial success. The PS2 and GameCube versions of ''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' sold a combined total of over 500,000 copies in less than six months of release. Due to the popularity of ''Anniversary Collection'' among fans of the series, Capcom followed up with '' Mega Man X Collection'', a similar compilation consisting of games in the '' Mega Man X'' series which was exclusively released in North America on January 10, 2006. Once again, Capcom followed up with '' Mega Man Zero Collection'', a compilation of all the games from the '' Mega Man Zero'' series that was released in 2010 for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

. In 2015, Capcom released '' Mega Man Legacy Collection'', which featured the 6 original games on the NES with bonus features and improved quality. In 2017, ''Mega Man Legacy Collection 2'' was released and featured ''7'' and ''8'', plus '' 9'' and '' 10''.

References

External links

{{Capcom compilations 2004 video games Cancelled Game Boy Advance games GameCube games Mega Man games North America-exclusive video games PlayStation 2 games Capcom video game compilations Video games developed in the United Kingdom Xbox games Atomic Planet Entertainment games Single-player video games