by Nicholas Stitt

Created on: August 07, 2008   Last Updated: September 02, 2011

For old-school fans of the Blue Bomber, Mega Man Anniversary Collection is a no brainer purchase. Each NES classic, Mega Man 1 through Mega Man 6, are here, preserved in perfect, flicker-included emulation, and the SNES-only Mega Man 7, along with new type Mega Man 8 are included as well. Two arcade exclusive Mega Man games make their debut on this disc-Mega Man: The Power Battles-which are a pair of boss-battle only Mega Man titles. They're definitely different, but still new and fun to play.

It's a worthy compilation. Graphics and sound remain very, very true to their original hardware, and even with some added control features, the games continue to play as reliably as ever. The L and R buttons can now cycle through Mega Man's available weapons, and X provides auto-fire while Y is an instant slide. Purists are still free to use the A and B buttons for their shooting and jumping, down + A for sliding, and old fashioned speed mashing to make sure every shot gets in as fast as it can.

But one noticeable difference is the reversal of the A and B buttons. On the GameCube controller, the A button fires and the B button jumps. Since the A button is twice the size of the B button, Capcom probably intended to place an attack button within easier thumb reach, but since the Nintendo controls were what Mega Maniacs cut their teeth on, adjusting to this newfangled setup may put a few players off. It's not a huge downer; most minds re-adjust after ten minutes of play-but control freak purists should stick with the PlayStation 2 version and its home style control options.

Controls aside, each game plays identically to its eight-bit grandparent pause glitch intact for Elec Man's weapon. And though retro masters may guffaw at the removal of the tedious, grid-based passwords (which have been replaced by a much more convenient memory card auto-save,) the whole of each game is perfectly intact. Mega Man Anniversary Collection is an easy way to put all your favorite old-school plat formers on one disc, and this time you won't need to blow on the cartridge contacts. Newcomers to the franchise can discover Mega Man's roots and ease their way into mastery with a lower difficulty setting, and for players who've been with him since day one, this collection shines as a nostalgic re-release. A handful of concept sketches and a bonus song track round out the package. Get ready.

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