Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection - Which are the good ones?

Jan’s enthusiasm for this series is somewhat infectious.

But the thing I’m wary of when buying any bundle of older games is that you’re signing up for a lot of game, and depending on the series, sometimes those games are very iterative. Sometime you’re gonna burn out on the collection very fast if your nostalgia isn’t sky high for the whole series.

For example, I bought whatever Mega Man X Collection for the GameCube that had MMX 1-6. And let me tell you, 1/2/4 are great, 3 I begrudgingly finished but it felt kinda phoned in, and 5/6 I couldn’t even finish. I’ll give them about 50% on that one.

However! It looks like if you buy digital, this Battle Network Legacy Collection comes in two halves: first volume is MM Battle Network 1-3, while second volume is MM Battle Network 4-6.

How do you feel about the series as a whole, or individual games? Do the games each make a solid impression, or do they start to feel samey? Would you recommend all 6 games to people, or maybe just the first 3 give a solid experience with the series and you could stop there?

I love those games, but they're all relatively the same game. You'll be fine just playing the first three if you're just looking to get a taste of what the series is.

I've only played the first three to completion, but have played through them multiple times. In my experience:

1. Feels like a rough draft for what the series would become, and mechanically is rough around the edges. Navigating the net is also a series of identical looking mazes, which can be annoying without looking up maps. I think it's pretty skippable, but is also short if you have the time (took me about 12 hours in the legacy collection)

2. Refines most of the mechanics in ways that are carried forward for the rest of the series, and has a lot of broken/unbalanced stuff that is fun to experiment with. Probably my favorite of those I've played.

3. Similar to 2, but has less broken stuff available from early on. Haven't played it in a decade, but recall liking it less than 2.

4. Haven't played, but recall hearing that there was a big chip rebalancw in this one, and that there were ludicrous requirements to 100% it if you're a completionist.

5. Played about 2/3 of this one and liked it, but didn't finish. There's an extra gameplay mode worked into this one that changes things up a bit, but also gets pretty overbearing later on, if I recall correctly.

6. Haven't played, and know almost nothing about it.

So, if you want to try half of the collection, I'd recommend getting part 1 and starting with MMBN2, will probably give the best sense of if you want to continue with the rest.

I have played all of them besides 3 and I really like 4, it's definetly nostalgia for me but I also think its a good game.

The first one is very much a first attempt but not a bad game, 2 feels similar to 1 but a little more polished. Meanwhile both 5 and 6 are good games that maybe have a bit too much going on.

They are all good and there really isnt a bad game to start with, just know that they each improve on each other and thus going backwards might be a tad difficult.

Also generally it doesnt matter but for 3, go Blue over White. In japan they released White and then about 6 months later released Black (which is blue in NA). It was rebalanced and had some bug fixes. When MMBN3 released in NA they released both at the same time. If you are a pokemon fan it would be like releasing Ruby and Emerald at the same time. (Maybe not that extreme but similar concept).