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Though it seems Capcom only recently remembered that they can make a new Mega Man game, there was once a time where the Blue Bomber was so prevalent that many fans were suffering from some series burnout. In the span of about five years, we were getting hosed with new entries in the Classic, X, ZX, and Battle Network series, and the Mega Man Star Force series came into the picture in the middle of this period.
Now that all but that last one have received successful Legacy Collections on modern platforms, it was only a matter of time before Capcom would give Geo Stelar another shot at the spotlight after what many saw as a truncated and early finish to his adventures.
Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection gives these beloved DS games exactly the polish that they need, falling right in line with the other previous Mega Man collections in offering you a ‘vanilla+’ experience in which you can play through some timeless games with a few modern enhancements and adjustments if you’d like to use them.
I was a huge fan of the Mega Man Battle Network games back in the day, but admittedly never got into Star Force other than a brief dabble with the third game on my DSi, and it’s been rather interesting giving the games a deeper look now for this revisit.
After six games, Capcom capitalised on the opportunity to shake up the Battle Network formula a bit with a new cast and slightly modified gameplay, but I’m not yet sure if I’d say that Star Force is the Mega Man X to Battle Network’s Mega Man.
There are some awesome ideas on display, but in some ways it feels like the development team was still struggling to figure out how to make the gameplay feel both innovative and approachable after six Battle Network games paved a strong trail.
Even so, there’s something about the mixture of heartfelt shonen story themes, snappy card-based battling, and exploration of this futuristic world that feels cosy, charming, and engaging in a distinct way that few other RPGs have captured before or since. I think comparing Star Force to its predecessor will always lead to some clear discrepancies, but viewed on its own, there’s a lot to love about this series and it deserves to be celebrated for its many successes.
While I’ll have a full assessment of the included games’ quality coming your way in due course, I think it’s worth mentioning some of the nice quality-of-life features included in the remaster. Capcom has gone beyond offering just a simple ‘easy mode’ modifier and gives you granular control with sliders that can alter things like encounter rates, damage output, zenny acquisition, and even run speed.
The first two games were a little janky in some regards, so being able to do things like dialing down the infamously high encounter rate in Star Force 2 goes a long way in smoothing over some of those rougher edges.
Throw in a brand-new online battle suite and a whole host of gallery and museum content, and you’ve got a package that has the potential to be the definitive way to play through the Star Force saga. The devs seem to have gone above and beyond a quick and dirty ROM dump job with this collection and I’m excited to see the renewed debates this remaster will inevitably ignite about the place the Star Force series deserves in the greater Mega Man canon. It’s good to have the Blue Bomber back!
Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection launches on Switch on 27th March. Look out for our review nearer the time, and let us know below if you’re excited for this one.
