Being familiar with the Mega Man X series beforehand as well as being a fan of the character Zero, I was excited to get into the Zero series and experience what many told me was a fantastic series of action platformers. And they were right: Zero 1 is a solid entry of the Zero series that got me invested into its world and made me want to experience the rest of the games, to see how the story progressed and enjoy the awesome gameplay along with it.

Now, having experienced all the Zero games and the ZX games by this point, this review will be based on a replay I did of Zero 1 on Normal Mode:

I don’t typically pay too much attention to the story of Mega Man games, but Zero 1 immediately got my interest since it hits you with the questions of what happened to the world, what happened to X, e.t.c. It deals with it pretty well overall; more interestingly, I feel it’s also clear that the game is setting up for major events later down the line, which helped to keep me engaged for the sequels. Ultimately, it’s a story about an old “legendary” robot getting back into action to help out reploids being treated unjustly, as part of the resistance base.

This ties into the gameplay structure: typically Mega Man games have you select which areas to go to and defeat a boss, but here there’s usually an ulterior objective to fulfill with the bosses simply being another obstacle in the way, such as escorting a fellow resistance member or deactivating bombs. It gives an idea of what kind of missions the resistance base has to do while also letting you feel like you’ve become a full fledged member of the team.

More into the gameplay: If you’ve experienced the X series before, in particular the games where Zero is playable, then the gameplay here should feel familiar. It’s fast paced and fun, and you got your buster and Z-saber. Of course, there’s some additional features, namely that Zero has access to two more weapons in the form of the Triple Rod and Shield Boomerang. And while you don’t get any skills by beating bosses, you can level up your weapons to unlock more abilities, such as the Z-saber combo or extending the triple Rod. Furthermore, you have access to elemental chips that are great for beating bosses with an elemental weakness. As a result, the game provides plenty of variety in how you want to approach levels, allowing you to develop your own kind of playstyle even; I personally would use the Z-Saber and Triple Rod the most and try to go through stages as quick as I can, but of course someone else could have a different approach. There is a ranking system in the game as well that can motivate you further to not only improve your skill but develop your playstyle as well.

Another major feature introduced in the game are Cyber-elves. They act as additional help in case you’re having some frustrations or difficulty, divided into three types (Nurse, Animal, and Hacker). The variety of help includes healing some HP or saving you from pits; the cost of using them is that you lose a few points in the ranking system but regardless they’re good if you’re in a bind.

Other details I want to put attention to: the characters are mostly likeable, with Ciel being particularly notable. You feel sympathy for them, Cerveau is daddy. The visuals are good, and I love the artwork in-game and official, its a really nice style that while different from the regular X style fits the tone and mood of the game really well and is just appealing to look at in general. Speaking of the tone, the game also has a generally “dark” or “moody” tone, which I love since it fits perfectly into the current situation you find yourself in. Some of the soundtrack is also really good, I especially adore the boss battle theme, Crash. Most of the areas aside from I believe two are also interconnected, so when you’re not in a mission you can freely explore them and active transers in the meantime too so you can reach them quicker.

Onto some of my frustrations with the game:

I think the weapon level up system hinders playstyles a bit too much than needed. It takes some time to upgrade every weapon to max and this game isn’t particularly lengthy either, so unless you’re partaking in grinding or just exploring the level you may find yourself finishing game soon without having say upgrade your Tri-Rod or Z-Saber to max. Its a bit annoying since it lessens some of the variety you can have while playing.

The cyber elf system also suffers similarly to the weapon level up system. Certain elves require you to feed them energy crystals before you can enjoy them. A neat idea in concept but in execution the amount of energy crystals you need ends up being a bit too much overall that you likely won’t be able to upgrade many elves unless you grind. Of course, the game does provide you areas with free E.C. for the taking, but even then its not nearly enough I found, and making a trek to these areas constantly does become tiring eventually.

This game also seems to lean hard into having a lot of insta kill moments. Could just be what I felt but a lot of spikes and bottomless pits can be found that can really screw you over.

A final few notes:

I think this game does suffer from “first game syndrome”, but I don’t think its severe enough that you can’t go back to it and not enjoy. Not to mention it still has its own unique features that one may like, such as the connected stages you’re free to explore outside missions.

I personally didn’t find the soundtrack to be too notable. A few tracks stand out, but nothing else really stuck in my head. I don’t really count this as a negative however since the general soundtrack does sound good and it fits with the game. I just think most aren’t that memorable.

The designs of characters are really cool in this game. The four guardians in particular I’m so fond of, they really stand out as a formidable force. My favourite design-wise would definitely be Phantom in this case.

Overall, Zero 1 is good, solid entry into an amazing sub series. I would definitely recommend people to try it out, especially if you enjoy the X games. It’s a good time, and it’s fun to learn the ins and outs of it to get better and achieve a solid rank throughout the game.

Mega Man 3 is what I consider to be a step up to 2 without all the weird gameplay decisions that made 2 a rather underwhelming improvement to 1.

Introducing several aspects that remain present in the series later (such as the Rush items, Proto Man, and Mega Man's iconic slide), levels are generally really solid with a challenging yet satisfying difficulty for the most part. Controls feel rather tighter this time around which I appreciate, and the addition of the slide makes maneuvering levels and avoiding attacks more interesting than in the previous 2 games. Furthermore, the Rush items were introduced which I would consider an improvement to the items in 2, as they're generally easy to use and levels seem to lend themselves well to utilizing them for the most part. Bosses this time around are also fairly challenging. While they lose invulnerability to most weapon like 2's bosses, their weapon weakness this time around doesn't completely obliterate them with one or two hits.

After the eight robot masters the game has an additional eight more bosses, 2 in 4 stages each. These are the "Doc Bosses", and are basically reused bosses from 2. While I don't mind this part of the game, as the levels and bosses I found enjoyable, I do feel it wasn't really necessary and the game could have skipped us directly to Wily's Fortress after beating the eight robot masters. Weapons this time around I also didn't think were as interesting as those of 2's, but this is more of a nitpick I suppose as you can still utilise them well enough against bosses and during levels.

Story is present in the game, however I assume you need the manual yet again to fully understand the context as most of it is only just before the wily fortress section of the game and after the final boss. Visuals are as usual good and I found the soundtrack to be more memorable than in the previous 2 games.

Now, onto my major complaint with the game: the slowdown. The slowdown in this game is far more notable than in 1 and 2, being present most of the time in almost every level and during most boss fights. It makes the game needlessly more difficult than it needs to be and can easily sour the whole experience. While I personally got used to it for the stages, it was a major annoyance in boss battles as it made avoiding their attacks and aiming with your weapons at them more difficult. I highly suggest that if you give this game a try, it should be through the legacy collection as I heard it has a "Turbo Mode" that lessens/removes the slowdown. Alternatively, if you're using an emulator, check if it has an overclock feature and see if that helps.

Overall, Megaman 3 is a fun time and a generally great improvement to the previous two games. The slowdown is really just my main issue with it, as my other complaints with it are not really enough to ruin my enjoyment with it otherwise. If you enjoyed any other Classic Mega Man game then I definitely recommend to give 3 a try.

I wasn't really expecting much, going off what others said and not being too keen on NES games in general, but to my surprise the game's pretty fun for what it is.

Unsurprisingly as the first game in the series, its fairly different from later games in the series. Lack of sliding, no charge shot, only 6 robot masters, and score count are among some of the differences it has. This might seem initially off-putting for anyone who's played the later games, but you can quickly get used to it at least. The difficulty is also fine, I didn't really find it to pose much of a challenge.

There's no notable story in-game, I assume its mostly in the manual.

My major complaint with the game would be that you require a specific weapon to progress at one point. The issue is that said weapon is treated as optional and you can easily miss out on it depending on the order you deal with bosses and whether you try a level again.

Overall, its a decent game. I wouldn't really recommend it to someone as their first Mega Man game, but give it a try if you've got some experience with Mega Man already.