All seven of Capcom’s 2006-2008 Mega Man Star Force titles (action RPG spinoffs from the mainline Mega Man entries, also serving as sequels to the Game Boy Advance Battle Network series that ran from 2001 to 2005) are now available in one cozy little collection, full of all the goodies and visual updates you’d expect from a modern-day rerelease of games originally developed for the Nintendo DS. This collection is almost perfect, save for a single tiny technical issue I encountered during my playtime – providing a much-needed modern touchup to a handful of mid-to-late noughties handheld classics without losing any of the charm.



But first, before diving into the meat and potatoes of this collection, a brief plot overview for the uninitiated (or those who dared not stray from the primary Mega Man lineup). Set in the mysterious future year of 220X, where seemingly everything is connected via satellite-powered EM Waves, a young boy (our protagonist) known as Geo Stelar yearns to find his father after he disappeared several years prior to the events of Star Force taking place. As Geo’s story begins, a friend of his father’s bestows upon him a device allowing for both observation and interaction with the world of EM Waves – and in true shonen adventure fashion, it’s not long before our hero runs into and effectively merges with an electromagnetic being from another planet as a direct result of interacting with said gadget.



Core gameplay alternates between world exploration, character interactions, and combat encounters (both scripted and randomly triggered during EM World traversal) – usually against EM viruses or other entities from Planet FM (cleverly dubbed FM-ians). Combat works in a fairly unusual manner as far as traditional RPG systems go, switching from the standard 2D overworld view to a close-up 3D perspective when enemies appear.

This collection is almost perfect... providing a much-needed modern touchup to a handful of mid-to-late noughties handheld classics without losing any of the charm.

In a style similar to the earlier Battle Network games, Star Force’s battlefield takes on the appearance of a grid, allowing for horizontal movement by the player – positioning to the left or right as needed. Enemies appear ahead of Geo, remaining locked to one grid column or jumping from one to another. The Battle Cards selected before each round of combat, collected and set up by the player prior to the action, determines the attacks/abilities Geo can pull off – with all displayed cards abiding by a set of rules governing which cards and how many a player may lock in (cards by column only, for example).



The artwork on the Battle Cards have all been visually enhanced in this collection, and the 3D models/character icons present throughout the course of the games have received the same treatment. There’s also a neat feature within the settings menu that allows you to switch back to the original art style of the included titles, (for fans of those deliciously chunky pixels) or mix and match which visual elements you want to be presented as original or in the shiny new “high-resolution” aesthetic. I must admit, while the updated imagery looks beautifully crisp and clean, a part of me almost prefers the classic approach and its lack of “sterility” or sharpness. Either way, you have the power to play how you want.

I must admit, while the updated imagery looks beautifully crisp and clean, a part of me almost prefers the classic approach and its lack of “sterility” or sharpness.

And if prettier visuals weren’t enough for you, all three main Star Force soundtracks have also been redone and, as with the visuals, can be toggled back to the original scores via the settings menu. Throw in a heaping helping of restored content that was once upon a time exclusive to Japan, updated vocal performances, easy switching between the primary and secondary DS screen, a plethora of bonus gallery goodies ranging from box illustrations to concept art, full Steam achievement support, as well as multiple online modes to mess around with and you’ve got one hell of a complete collection on your hands.



As for that single instance of minor technical strangeness that I brought up all the way back at the beginning of the review, this concerns the controller functionality. After altering the controller display to reflect my DualSense controller, the listed input for pulling up the pause button (the touch pad, in this case) simply refused to work – forcing me to hit the escape key on my keyboard as a workaround. This isn’t a massive problem in the grand scheme of things, but I think it’s still worth noting. These kinds of hiccups will likely be swiftly patched anyway, if they haven’t already been sorted out by the time this review goes live. Star Force also, by default, launches in windowed mode on PC – and there doesn’t seem to be a dedicated non-borderless fullscreen mode available as far I could tell. Once again, not a huge problem in the slightest.



Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is an absolute must-buy for fans of the series, pretty much checking off every possible box you could think of as far as desired content goes. Capcom really went the extra mile here, resulting in a compilation that both excellently preserves and updates these games for modern fans (or for those wanting to check them out for the first time) – allowing for a surprising amount of personalization for good measure.

PC Review code provided by Capcom