Mega Man Legends (video game)

Mega Man Legends, known as Rockman DASH: Hagane no Boukenshin (ロックマン DASH 鋼の冒険心) in Japan and as Mega Man 64 in the american Nintendo 64 version, is the first game in the Mega Man Legends series and the first 3D main Mega Man game, released in 1997 for PlayStation, and later in 2000 for the Nintendo 64 with some of the voice acting removed to allow the game to fit onto an N64 cartridge. It was re-released in 2005 on the PSP in Japan. The american PSP release has been cancelled.

Story
In the far future, much of the world is covered in water and people live on islands. The people here use ancient technology powered by refractors to survive. In order to survive, people called diggers search for refractors and sell them for money as well as to power their flying machines for travel.

Legends tell of an enigmatic treasure called the Mother Lode. It is said that the Mother Lode has many powerful refractors and that, if discovered, it could power the world indefinitely.

Mega Man Volnutt is a digger searching for refractors and the Mother Lode when he, Roll Caskett and Professor Barrell Caskett crash on Kattelox Island. There they battle against a family of air pirates known as the Bonnes and uncover the island's many mysteries.

Gameplay
As the game (and the series itself) is in 3D, it plays differently than other Mega Man games. Features unique to Mega Man Legends include the lack of extra lives (should the player die against an enemy, they are taken to a "Game Over" screen), a shield that reduces damage taken (but will need to be repaired when broken), open-ended gameplay that allows the player to explore places in between missions, buster parts that can be equipped to increase the firepower of the Buster Gun (Volnutt's "Mega Buster"), and a lock-on system that allows Mega Man to automatically aim his weapons to the locked-on target.

Ruins

 * Cardon Forest Sub-Gate
 * Lake Jyun Sub-Gate
 * Clozer Woods Sub-Gate
 * Main Gate

Bosses

 * Hanmuru Doll
 * Feldynaught
 * Bon Bonne
 * Marlwolf
 * Balkon Gerät
 * Garudoriten
 * Karumuna Bash
 * Focke-Wulf
 * Guynie Toren
 * Bruno
 * MegaMan Juno

Special Weapons

 * Active Buster
 * Blade Arm
 * Drill Arm
 * Grand Grenade
 * Grenade Arm
 * Machine Buster
 * Powered Buster
 * Shield Arm
 * Shining Laser
 * Splash Mine
 * Spread Buster
 * Vacuum Arm

Ports
Ports to other consoles were made such as for the Nintendo 64 (as Mega Man 64) and for Personal Computers. The game was also re-released for the PSP in 2005 for Japan (the American version was canceled).

PC (Windows)
Released to the United States on July 14, 2001 and in Japan on June 18, 2004. It is available in English, Japanese and Chinese (simplified). Games saved in the PlayStation version of the game can be played in the PC version by extracting the entire contents using a Dexdrive and some editing to get the file itself. More changes on this port include the game running in 640x480 resolution (as well as being able to play in windowed or full-screen mode), the sound files as .wav files (in effect, the music stops and restarts as opposed to looping and the music starts from the beginning whenever the player enters another room) and dollars as currency (as opposed to zenny) are just some of the changes in this port. Additionally, the Chinese version of the game is known to be very buggy.

Nintendo 64
Like in the PC version it also had some changes like anti-aliasing on textures, the inability to listen to songs in the record shop (as the tracks have been removed to conserve space) and slowdown occurring when there are a lot of objects on screen.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version of the game Biohazard: Director's Cut for PlayStation, a demo of Mega Man Legends is available on disc 2, which also has a trial version of Biohazard 2 and a movie of Breath of Fire III. In the demo, the game has the temporary title Rockman NEO, and ends after the defeat of Feldynaught. It has several differences compared to the final version, the most notable being that Mega Man and Roll are smaller and the Apple Market has a different appearance.


 * The game had some changes to it when localized due to censorship.
 * For example, Mega Man can harm animals like cats, dogs and birds in the Japanese version
 * The "Action Man comic with the holographic cover" that Mega Man Volnutt has to get for Jim's gang for their hideout in the Clozer Woods was actually a "Ero comic" in the Japanese version (they forgot to edit the comic's appearance for the N64, however).
 * Also, interestingly, one particularly dirty moment was left untouched in the localization process: At one point after the Flutter is fixed, if Mega Man Volnutt tries to enter Roll's room, sometimes a cut-scene appears in the first person perspective that has Roll shouting in embarrassment and Mega Man Volnutt looking shocked (it's implied that he walked into her room while she was changing). Afterwards, she tells him to knock next time, and after apologizing, Mega Man Volnutt then thrusts his arm up as if victorious.


 * In the Korean game "Cool Minigame Collection", the publisher SemiCon, used on load screens the same wallpaper of the pause menu screen of Mega Man Legends. The only difference is the gray-scale color scheme.
 * After fighting the first boss in the game, the scene that follows has a striking similarity to a scene from the movie, "Back to the Future II." When Mega Man is trapped on the tower and jumps off, only to be saved by the Flutter, is exactly the same as when the character Marty McFly is cornered by the character Biff on the hotel roof, only to be saved by Doc piloting the time machine when he jumps off. Whether this is intentional or coincidental is unknown, but it seems intentional.