So I purchased the Legacy Collection a while ago for the 3DS as a way to get myself into Mega Man and finally see what all the fuss is about as a huge platforming fan.

I did not take to Mega Man 1.

I'm not averse to challenge in games (in fact I welcome it in franchises like Castlevania), but this game just felt cheap as hell. It didn't feel good to control, the game loved throwing instant death situation or enemies that eat up a quarter or even half of your health bar in one shot at you, and none of the bosses actually felt that fun save for Ice Man. Not to mention the level of jank you could uncover if you were unlucky. And how about that freaking Yellow Devil and boss rush at the end?! I eventually prevailed, but it went a long way towards putting me off the series entirely.

Still, I had five more of these sitting there and everyone raves about 2 in particular, so I decided I should give it a shot at least...and actually ended up really enjoying it!

The locales were more interesting, the bosses were more unique and actually fun to master thanks to better damage balance, the soundtrack improved, and the level design was focused more on actual skill and memorization vs cheap one-shot gimmicks and enemies taking off half your health right before the boss. There were still some bumps in the road, but I finished that game with a cheer and the thought that the first game was the stinker of the bunch, but from now on things were gonna be smooth sailing.

Today I finished Mega Man 3.

Just.....what the hell?

I just don't get what happened here. What happened to the boss balancing from 2? If you're not using their weakness, you might as well be trying to kill them by patting them on the back! It takes forever, and their touch damage can take off whole chunks of your health bar, meaning that even if you're absolutely pounding them, they just need to walk into you three or four times and you're dead! I understand the weakness system is a staple of the series, but that should never translate to "Get my weakness on the first try or you're dead!"

To add to the fun, they brought back huge enemies that take off a quarter of your health, with a vengeance! The game wants you to slide under them and go on your merry way, except that half the time, their hatboxes are bigger than their models, so even if they clearly miss me, Mega Man will still get smacked. And, you guessed it, they LOVE to hang out right before bosses!!

Speaking of things that aren't programmed right, what is up with that freaking input lag?? This is clearly the most visually extravagant of the 3 Mega Mans I've played, but apparently no one play tested this and realized that the game actually has trouble keeping up with what's going on. What this translates to is that whenever a lot of stuff is happening on screen, Mega Man apparently gets sensory overload and stands stock still while enemies and even bosses get free potshots! I can't even describe how frustrating it is to lose precious chunks of health because Mega Man's standing there like a dope even though I'm hammering away at the shoot button like a madman!

In fact, this is probably the glitchiest game I've played in my life! In addition to that infuriating input lag, I've encountered:

• Platforms I'm supposed to ride glitching out and shoving me into the abyss for no reason (the rising platforms in Snake Man's stage had like a 60/40 chance I would just get shoved off and die)
• Mega Man getting stuck in one direction and not turning around until I hit the opposite direction like 3 times (probably more of that oh so lovely input lag)
• The wind-up ducks in Gemini Man's stage breaking their usual pattern of two penguins at a time, instead sending out armies of penguins with no room to breathe, which meant constantly getting hit while trying to just kill the dang things
• Gemini Man straight up disappearing into the void, never to be seen again, leaving me stuck in the boss room until I used the Legacy Collection menu to reload a hard save, losing my best run of that stage and the Energy Tanks I got with it

Because of how unstable and just plain infuriating the game is, I resorted to something I never thought I'd do: save scumming.

I started saving right outside boss rooms, right before notoriously glitchy sections, and even right after any significant platforming challenges in the Wily stages. I know it's pretty much cheating, but I just wanted the game to be over at this point and couldn't trust the game to not murder me on a whim in some sections.

I finally beat Wily's last creation, watched the final cutscene, and sat back to behold...the game freezing during the ending credits! Honestly, if that's not indicative of my overall experience with this game, I don't know what is.

So this series is batting 1 for 3 at this point, and I'm really wondering whether I should even continue or not. So I ask you, good people of Giant Bomb, does this series ever hit the heights of 2 again, or am just in for more of 3 and 1? If the latter's the case, I should probably just pack it in right now. I've heard people say the recently re-released X series (at least in the beginning) is a smoother, more enjoyable experience than the classics, but considering those people also loved the classics, I'm wary of even thinking of giving those a shot.

So is this series worth continuing?

Four, five and six are more similar to each other, in that they follow the same formula/structure with few gameplay differences. While MM3 is held in high regard, it drops frames left and right, usually when there are multiple enemies on screen. I’ve never had an issue like you describe against Gemini Man though.

The X games are fine, and might be smoother in terms of difficulty, but I’d personally rather play the regular games. The X games are more involved, with more gameplay mechanics and secret combat upgrades that you need to collect. I’m not sure it makes the games better.

If you have the legacy collection, I would give four a shot (one level or two) and if you don’t like it, five and six aren’t much different. I think nine is the only game really worth a look on legacy collection 2, unless you’re a fan.