Mega Man Legends

A three-years-late port of the original PS1 version, Mega Man finally arrived on the N64 in Mega Man 64. I don't mind the game's more action-oriented, dungeon-crawling side; it's fast-paced, and the controls are decent once you get used to them. However, whilst the RPG-like side of the game brings boons such as voiced cutscenes, it's ponderous and laborious and I just want to get back to blowing up robots in true Mega Man fashion.

There's no denying that Mega Man Legends belongs to the early days of 3D adventure games, when control layouts and mechanics weren't standardized and developers were still trying things out. Legends is a third-person action-adventure whose stationary, strafe-based shooting can be hard to get used to. It's also not a game that will hold your hand, especially with its boss fights. While I can see someone becoming too frustrated with the gameplay to really enjoy it, I ended up adjusting just fine, and more importantly fell in love with its world. Legends' cel-shaded cartoon presentation hasn't aged a day, and its sunny steampunk world, which serves as a re-imagining (or distant sequel?) of the core series, is populated by lovable characters. It also establishes a good balance between action and adventure segments, which one feeding into the other through side-quests and non-linear exploration. In the end it feels like it wraps up a little too quickly, and it doesn't have a *ton* of replay value, but Legends' charm is hard to resist.