Level 52 - Anime Waterworld

What's happening to me?
Whenever I think about him, I get this funny feeling.
Right.

See you later.
I can't take my eyes off you for a second, can I?
Here we go.

Welcome to Remember 64.
Where this week, man are we?

Mega
welcome to this show, everyone.

My name is David Pitrangelo.
This is Remember 64.

And what is this thing on my
arm?

Why am I wearing this weird blue
suit?

It seems like I'm ready to go to
war, but I don't even have a helmet on.
Well, at least have this really cool spiky hair.
Feels like maybe I should have some frosted tips.
Let's go, 90s.

Oh wait, it's 2001.
Jeez, I'm way too late for this.

Well if that little quip made
any sense to you whatsoever, you may have guessed that we are
playing and chatting about Mega

Man 64 or as it's known on other
consoles like the PlayStation

Mega Man Legends.
That's right, we are digging into this really weird anime
style game for the late console cycle release for the N64.
This is Remember 64 everyone and momentarily I will be joined by
Danny from Retro Wars.

Once again this was the next
game that popped up on the spinning wheel of goodies for us
to play.

We pick a random number on a
number generator and then we just match that up with the
release dates and boom, here we are, Mega Man 64.
And because I usually forget about this and the other sort
of, you know, formats that I have for Remember 64, I always
forget to plug the Patreon page.

I always forget to ask people to
rate Remember 64 on their podcast app of choice.
So this is my moment to shine sort of speak.
I Remember 64 can be found on

Patreon for support as a little
as a dollar a month.

Anywhere between that and just a
couple bucks more, you will be able to get all episodes early
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You'll be get some extra content
as well that I'm going to be working on and reviews and
comments on games that are not.

And 64 related.
All of that on Patreon and it just helps the show continue to
grow.

And a little couple extra bucks
our way here as well for myself and Jiggy look back.
So always a great time.

And if you don't want to support
the show monetarily or you can't?
Not a problem.

You can also give us a rating on
your podcast app choice.

Of course.
Apple and Spotify are the main places to do that.
And on top of that, tell your friends, Send him a link.
Let him know that the show is out there.
And you know what?

There's a lot of great nerds
that grew up with this console and this console life cycle and
around this time.

So let's continue to grow the
community and look back at games like this, like Mega Man as
well.

You can also find video versions
of most of the episodes, nearly all of them trying to catch up
and get some more up there at our YouTube channel, Remember 64
on YouTube, so check that out.

And lots of extra content as
well, including some menu music to chill to, little bit of tunes
to kind of pop in your ear as you fall asleep at night.
Trying to find some cool menu music out there on the N64 that
is not so bombastic and just sort of chill to listen to.
You can put on in the background, stuff like that.
Also gameplay video as well for games like this and many others,
so you can check those out.

Some of my gameplay out there
for almost all of the games that we've had recently and you can
just laugh at how terrible I am at a lot of these, but that's
pretty much it.

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remember 64 show across social media as well.
So where do we begin with Mega

Man 64?
That is the question.

Essentially what this comes down
to is this is a game that came out over three years after its
initial release on the

PlayStation and just a couple of
years after the Japan release.

And I don't even know where to
start with this.

You'll definitely hear Danny and
I speak about this in a couple of moments here, but I just will
tell you that it's definitely an interesting game and we're going
to dig right into it.

So you know what?
I'm not going to beat around the

Bush.
Let's jump into it, everybody.

Let's play and talk about Mega
Man 64.

You.
Will save us Mega Man.

Join him on his alternate quest
in 3D.

You are his friends.
Who are his enemies?

Danger ducks around every
corner.

Mega Man uses also firepower to
battle diabolical forces.

Amazing home stop blasting
action.

Who can save the cities from
destruction.

Don't call a plumber, it's all
in a day's work for Mega Man.

Let's do it now.
I remember at the time when we did the Wheel and I was like, Oh
no, because it looks shit.

The first screenshot, I was
like, this looks terrible.

And then played it, completed
it, followed a guide and then you find out.
I found out very quickly.

Hang on, this actually is not
Mega Man 64 a new game, it's

Mega Man Legends that came out
for the PlayStation One.

It's just a port of it.
I had no.

I had no idea.
I I've seen.

I think what I what it is, is
that I just assumed it was the exact same game that came out at
the exact same time because I recognized the cover as a kid.
I never played this game on either of these consoles and I
didn't really know much about it.
Not gonna lie.

I kind of went in and thinking,
oh it's Mega Man.

I know it's 3D, that much I
knew.

But one of one of my earliest
memories of this game is seeing it on the shelf at whatever
store I was in around that time to purchase games for 64 or rent
them or whatever.

The price tag on this thing at
that time when this game was out was, I think it was 80 or $90.00
for the cartridge.

Wow.
Which, you know, sometimes, yeah, sometimes that comes into
play with like imports and things like.
I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but I
just remember thinking like I already am.
So, so on Mega Man games, I'm not just going to give this a
shot.

I should rent it, if anything.
And then I never got around to it.
So this was my first time playing it.
Was it for you?

Is this your first time going
through it?

Yeah, my first time playing it,
because I'm not.

I've never been a big Mega Man
fan, and it's just because it wasn't.
They weren't on my radar.

Like the only games I played
before were for the show were

Mega Man X and Mega Man Battle
Network.

They were the only Mega Man
games that played.

So this was the 3rd, 10.
And as I, as I found out very quickly, this is like another
world where you've got Mega Man, the NES games, then you've got
the X series which runs the

Super Nintendo, the legend
there.

So the network series is it's
own world as well, and Legends is it's own world.
So then there's four different actual dimensions and timelines
of Mega Man.

So this is completely different.
Yeah, it was a bit of AI, wasn't it?
Wasn't.

I wasn't.
I don't know what I was expecting, but it doesn't follow
any of the actual previous games at all.
No Robot Masters, none of that.

It's complete.
It's an RPG, which, like I wasn't used to this.
I wasn't ready for that.

That's I I I didn't really think
it was like going in and that it would be that would have RPG
elements.

I just assumed like, oh, they'll
take the controls and you know, some of the some of the baddies
and enemies and stuff like that, and you'll sort of just play it
in more of a 3D play.

And it's, I mean, honestly, this
is to me based on the character models, based on the world a
little bit the story, you know, just the way things are
presented and stuff.

This is like a Mega Man anime
game.

That's what it felt like.
That's it's a really real anime.

Yeah and and it looks like that
some of the some of the the voice acting is kind of like
that.

I know it's sort of hard to sort
of translate things sometimes the voice acting is very hit and
miss depending on what scene you're doing and stuff, but it
felt like that.

So I I actually like the fact
that it felt like it was that like an anime, which is not
generally my thing, but like an anime style come to life, which
you know, it's not smooth edges 'cause it's a 64.
It doesn't look fantastic, but just the fact that they did
that, I was like, OK, I kind of get what they're doing with this
direction and I appreciated that part of it.
It's it's things that come after or added on to the presentation
that I'm like so, so with but yeah.
There's a lot of there's bitchy, there's mostly, yeah, this is
the thing.

This game is.
So they came out as legends on the PlayStation?
Yeah, And that was three to four years prior to this game coming
out.

So crazy.
That's that's naughty.

That is literally a huge cash
grab.

And when you think of it, let's
look at, you know, time wise.

So Legends came out on the
PlayStation before Majora's

Mask.
Sorry.

Before or Karina of time.
OK, so we we talk, we'll talk about the camera, the the
movement, the targeting.

This is before or Karina of
time.

Mega Man 64 came out after
Majora's Mask, after the

PlayStation Two had just been
released.

It's it doesn't.
It doesn't add up.

It just does not add up.
It's a very shitty cash grab, very shitty cash grab.
But.

What's what's interesting with
that as well is that maybe it is, but I also find it hard to
believe that they were really that sure that this many people
were going to buy and play this game.
It just doesn't.

It doesn't sell or it doesn't
scream.

Hey, this is Mega Man as much as
what I am familiar with, which is the first three to four and
the X series.

And no, I'm not very good at
them.

Like to me Mega Man is Mega Man
XX2 and and the first few, which are the ones that I always
played growing up or at least tried to play because I suck at
them.

To me this doesn't, it's just
just the cover alone.

It's like, hey, it's Mega Man
and he doesn't have his helmet on.
It's like this is just some kid in a blue.
Suit.

It's the thing that the use of
the box art.

He doesn't have it.
It's just him like turned in a 3D mode.
The box art's fucking dreadful.

It looks disgusting.
It's brutal.

It's boring.
It's boring.

It's it's 100% boring.
That could be one of the reasons.
When I when I mentioned that story before of me seeing it on
the shelf, it was just like, well yeah, I can look at a
couple of the screenshots on the back or I can look at it maybe a
Nintendo Power or Game Pro or like maybe I could see like
screenshot.

But I'm not going to seek out
and maybe like grab this game off the off the blockbuster
shelf for example, to even rent if it just looks like, I, I
don't know some some kid with spiky hair.
Like it just doesn't.

It doesn't sell it very well.
And I know that's not the only reason why this may not be as
much of a cash grab as as I may assume it is.
But it also just doesn't.

It just doesn't sell itself well
even to start.

So if you were to rent this
game, I don't know that those first few hours or couple hours
would have gotten me to grab onto it and be like, oh hell
yeah, I am in.

I have to rent this again next
weekend.

Well, it's in the Japanese box
art is at least decent.

It's a bit of a cartoony thing,
like.

Oh, I didn't even look at that.
I'm going to look at.

I'm going to look at that now.
Have a look at the Japanese. 1:00 is way better.
Like, put that on.

Often they are.
You want to sell this game as an anime game?
Use the Japanese box art and you.
I would have been more interested.
Oh, it's way better.

Yeah, it looks, it looks, you're
right.

It looks like you like a sort of
thumbnail that you'd see on on, you know a streaming service
nowadays for an anime for example.
Like it's it's right there.

It looks great.
There we go, see way better and oh, it's just it's terrible.
Like, OK, let it is basically

Mega Man with anime.
That's it.

I suppose you should talk about
the plot, because there is a plot.
And it's a bit more.

Detailed than it is, most Mega
Man games don't really have like a bear.
Those plot this thing full again, full blown anime.
So basically the world's been flooded and now society is kind
of stabilized and it's like

Waterworld.
We're basically Waterworld.

What's the Zelda?
You know The Wind Waker?

Oh, Wind Waker.
The situation.

We're in, yeah.
So society's now resolved itself, but basically the
world's fucked.

So I imagine billions died.
And basically they have these people who dig to find these
things called refractors, and you're part of this team of
diggers.

And the whole point is that
someone you know is basically hoping that there's a legend of
the mother lode the year, which will provide endless energy.
And you as a dig as part of a

Digger team are trying to find
these refractors like energy calls to make money.
And you're partnered with Roll and her grandpa.
And that's the plot, basically, to begin with, until you crash
on an island, your ship, the flutter falls on an island
called Catalogue.

And it basically starts off with
we better just help get our stuff sorted and get our ship
sorted.

And then you, you land on this
island and you realize, hey,

God, considering the world's
meant to be pretty fucked, this catalogue island's doing pretty
well.

It's like a whole city.
It's like everyone seems fine.

Oh, it's a it's like a whole
full on civilization thing.

They got a mall, they got
streets, they got everything's good.
It doesn't seem all that bad.

They got a nice forest like it
doesn't seem too bad.

They've got a government,
they've got everything.

They've got a government, yeah.
They've got like governments.

You can play mini games where
you could kick a dog and why.

We'll get into that.
You can kick a dog and basically then divulges into the islands
going to get destroyed.

It's like, whoa.
And it's going to be purged.

Holy shit, this jumped up a
notch.

And yeah, pure anime.
And it's, it's, it really is.

And I didn't mind that.
I was like, great, give me something to sink my teeth into.
I thought the plot was okay.

It was okay.
That's fine.

I agree.
I actually think, like to me, I mean, you've played the Battle
Network games.

I think those have a little bit
of a story to him.

I don't know.
I've never played them.

But for me Mega Man is okay
you're Mega Man you're there to just take out these bosses and
do these stages get your powers and that's the game right?
Totally fine.

I I'm good with that like I need
like simplicity works for me especially when they were out in
the mid 90s and early 90s.

Great I I'm all for it.
So I never really like I expected there'd be some sort of
story here and and they yeah you're right they like they went
for it and I think you know it goes it goes some really wacky
places which sort of plays into the anime thing but to set it up
I I I think it's pretty good.

I I think the getting off on the
wrong foot kind of thing to me is that there's not a whole lot
to do with the gameplay when you start but when the story starts
and and starts ramping up and take some turns here and there
those things still kind of work even if they were a little bit
insane every once in a while.

So I agree and and I and I will
say one of my favorite parts of the story happens literally
right off the bat and I think it's even before you start the
game.

But it's definitely when you
start a new game is the way that they read the the sort of story
crawl at the beginning.

The person that reads that is
just, I don't know they are hamming it up like it is.
I don't know if that's on purpose or not.
I mean I guess it they're supposed to but man it is so
goofy.

It's so funny.
I loved it.

Yeah, if you want to go, what
the fuck is this game?

Listen to the opening story
crawl of the guy.

Whoever they decided to hire
that they're coming for the mother lode.
In a world covered by endless water, people are forced to eke
out a living on the small patches of land that remain
above the sea.

However, over the years, the
story of a fabulous treasure, the legendary Mother Lode, began
to be whispered among the diggers.
He's like, what the fuck?

It's like, you know what it is.
It's like he's trying to tell a story to a little kid and they
can't find, they can't find the book that that they're supposed
to read that night before bed.

So he has to like, create the
scene with all these voices and all this different tone.
And like, I was just like, I could close my eyes and probably
picture what this dude's trying to say.
It's hilarious.

Hope.
Despair Charity.

Greed.
Duty.

Power Who can?
Say what truly motivates the digger and the problem is, is
like one of the huge problems that this thing is all voice
acted and we can.

I'll praise a lot of the voice
acting, but on the N64 the audio is dreadful.
It's one of the worst I've ever heard.
So where's the PlayStation version?
I went and had to look.

The PlayStation version sounds
nice and crisp.

You got that CD quality right.
I this is what the N64 sounds like.
I have a cushion because my chair is shit.
Behind me is my Mega Man and his plan are going to say shit.
That's what it sounds like the whole time.
OK, Mega Man, I'm coming.

It's like thankful for text
because it's so bad I I watch it.
Watch it, Mega Man.

Watch it.
That's what it sounds like.

It's terrible.
It's so bad.

And then you see on you go back
to PlayStation versions just to compare.
You're like holy shit that sounds amazing Massive 3 years
later.

Yeah, yeah it it it, it just
points to the limitations of the cartridge right.
And and why I think around this time which is you know late 90s
early 2000s and Nintendo just kept banging their head against
the wall with cartridges and the only ones doing it.
I I I mean obviously until the game Cube but it's just it just
shows you that like they they they packed a decent amount into
this game.

Like it is not a small game.
There's there's a lot of characters there's a lot of
voice acting there is a decent amount of it.
It's like I would say 70% of it's like voice acted which I
fully appreciate for sure.

And and you know it's yeah it's
not a short game and there's decent amount of stuff going on
in a lot of the scenes and stuff but like yeah unfortunately the
voice acting is is there but it's it just yeah it sounds like
they're talking through a pillow just like you said.
Absolutely.

And the N64 thing also struggles
because like graphically, OK you have to remember the time when
this game came out.

I I give it a pass for Legends,
but I don't give it a pass.

Then for N64, sorry for the Mega
Man 64 because of the time difference.
So it it doesn't look that good.

Like when you consider it was
the end of the N64 lifestyle, it's got it's problems.
Don't get me wrong.

I like how the characters they
because they're anime esque, they can have a lot of emotions
on their face.

That's great.
That's fine.

I agree.
I agree.

The game itself looks very, very
old.

It looks very of its time and
again, as I said, if it was legends, I'd give it the pass
and you look, the buildings look basic, the enemies look, the
enemies look quite good.

Good designs, it's all clunky
and squarey and stuff.

But when you play the the N64
version and you go through towns and stuff to show how much the
game can't manage, when you look at things in the distance, it
has that South Park approach where there's like this white
mist.

And when you basically go up to
it, then the white mist disappears.
And I was like, fuck, that just looks so shit.
Then again, you go to the

PlayStation version and there's
no white mist.

The footage, the footage I
looked at, it's it's like significantly less like every
once in a while there is some because it's just, it's part of
sort of programming the game to be able to handle you know,
distance and all that.

So this whole like, fog, fog of
war thing, like, I get why it's there, but it it is just, it's
so much like you can't see more than probably 20 feet in front
of your character at all times.

It's wild.
It's.

So bad on the ends on the Mega
Man 64 it's so bad, The fog of war.
It's barely there on the

PlayStation and it makes it such
a better looking game.

And I was like sitting there
going cursing, you going, you fucker, why don't you just make
me play Mega Man Legends instead?
Why Mega Man 64?

I was like Jesus.
Because I have a 64 podcast.

I'm so sorry, Danny.
I'm so sorry.

That's change change direction.
It should be.

Like pivot.
Just pivot if there's a better version that came out before.
Mega Mega Man 64.

Yeah, Mega Man 64 is going to
make me pivot from to a completely different console.
Never mind, just this one game.

Yeah, the show is gone.
The show has changed.

There was ever a time I looked
at an N64 and gone, I hate you.

It was this moment.
You know what The funny thing is, right?
So on the Patreon, on my Patreon and Chris made this big thing
about what our patrons Chris got playing from the Retro Hangover
podcast.

There's your plug.
He always.

Gets there it is.
There it is now, he mentioned.

I hate N64.
I said I don't hate the N64.

I like the N64.
I had an N64.

Playing this game made me think
I hate the 64.

Dude, there there's So there's
aspects of this.

We'll get into the gameplay in
just a SEC, but there's aspects of the way that this looks like
it's unfortunate, right?

Because we both seem to enjoy
the anime features of this and the anime approach to this.
Like the art style, the aesthetics in this I think work,
even though they don't feel like those classic 2D Mega Man games
that, you know, I could say that

I was used to or we were used to
that.

That's totally fine.
If you're going in a different direction, especially once I
learned like you mentioned earlier that this is like a
completely different timeline and sort of universe or whatever
you want to call it, then it's fine.
Go with a different style, go with a different sort of take on
things, great, no problem.

But it's just so much of it is
hindered by the fact that this game is a few years old and the
fact that the cartridge just limits them from doing things
like this.

Because I think yes the voice
acting was would have been there anyways it seems like, but it
would have been so much better if there was more or it was
clearer Or when you're running through some of these cities or
towns or underground areas, they didn't just look like, oh a
couple of posts standing in the middle of the street happened to
be buildings and you're underground.
And I honestly some underground spots I couldn't even tell where
the door was because the wall looked the same as the door.
Like they just looked so ugly underground and they used to
spend so much time in these underground areas that it it
just I I don't need to have an open world quote UN quote open
world sort of thing.

Like some of the missions are in
this game but this I I actually would prefer Mega Man in a
tighter space.

But the tighter spaces in this
game don't look good at all.

And it's unfortunate because
some stuff looks good enough and then you have the fog and then
you like it's just it's just it's it's a shame.
It really, it's a shame with that, because I think this could
be something that would look and feel a lot better.
But it's two of its time.

And its time was three years
prior to when this was released, yes.
Or more.

And because the dungeons look
dreadful, the dungeons they.

Do.
Just boring.

They're boring and generic, and
once again, they're a product of their time.
And yeah, we haven't even talked about essentially the gameplay,
because the gameplay is such like, yeah, if you're used to
that Mega Man 2D style, it's not.
It's completely 3D and it's more of a third person perspective.
Mega Man's right in front of you.
His control style isn't great.

Again, product of the time like
you had tank controls.

They were still trying to get
used to things.

You you can kind of you can't go
left and right per SE.

You have to turn the camera and
to get him to move, which that takes some getting used to.
It's very it's very clunky.

Like when you say tank controls,
it's like you know this is like a blue tank with spiky hair in
front of you.

Like that's that's what it feels
like at times.

I I got used to.
I don't know, did you play with the on a 64 controller at all or
on a particular controller when you?
Played it, you know I've got an

N64 controller, I've got APC
one, so that's.

I don't.
Mind so so did you use the the joystick or did you use the D
pad?

I used the D pad, yeah.
OK, because the joy.

The joystick.
Yeah, the analog stick was what

I went to automatically and I
was like, OK, this.

She would.
I of course I I just it's 3D game or whatever you know I I
feel like but with the way that you turn the camera and he sort
of does his like side strafe step type of thing it just made
so much more sense and just felt right doing it on the D pad.
So if anyone is going to go out and play this game, I I just
automatically grab the controller on the left and right
side.

Just just ignore the middle of
it unfortunately.

Like it would be nice to be able
to utilize that that part of the controller, but it's not
necessary and because it's so tanky, just use AD pad that
that'd be my recommendation.

The first time, the first time
in all my years of ever playing ever, ever, ever playing an N64,
I held the control that way.

I've never held the control that
way.

Ever.
Oh see, I I'm used to doing that with the wrestling games.
All the wrestling games do that and I'm a big fan of like the
WWF and WCW games.

Like I grew up with a bunch of
them and stuff too.

So I'm used to that.
But for the most part, no.

You're you're using the joystick
and and you're you're encouraged to in most games or you have to
so.

Yeah, this was, this was so
weird.

I was like, I don't know, I've
got this little bit.

It's it's now got a penis.
It's, I don't like it.

I'm holding.
I was like, I'm holding his legs and it's got a penis.
I don't like it.

What's this third leg?
Oh my God.

It's a new concept to me, but
you mentioned this.

You mentioned the strafe.
The you could strafe.

Yeah, you can.
And like, literally, my strategy for this whole thing was just
use Mega Man's Buster gun as pea shooter and strafe any enemy,
any boss strafe round them.

That was my tactic.
Repeats.

It's the only way though, man.
It's it like it's the only way.

I I don't understand how else
you could you could succeed, especially in the boss battles,
which we'll talk about boss battles in a little bit.
But I think like because they have such a large health bar,
because there's sometimes multiple stages to them or
different, you know, abilities or whatever, you got to watch
out for the like they they shoot at you and they are sort of,
they have a little bit of a tank control to some of them.
So like all you have to do is keep moving and they have to
kind of turn awkwardly just like you do.
So I understand that might like balance things a little bit so
you don't feel like you're being outmatched constantly.
But the problem is, is the the peashooter his?
His blaster?

Like forgetting what the name of
it is?

Buster.
Is that what it's called?

Basically his gun arm.
It's just.

Yeah, his regular one, which
doesn't run out of energy, which is fine all day long.
Yeah, and it and but it's just like Pew Pew Pew Pew PPP and
that's it.

And it and it doesn't only sound
like that.

It feels like you're only doing
Pew Pew Pew type of damage.

Like it just feels like you're
not making any progress most of the time.
And it unfortunately like it would be nice and like yes, you
do pick up you know collectibles and you do have different sort
of things you can do later on and stuff.
But it's still felt a little too repetitive, especially on some
of the longer fights where you're trying to figure out,
like there's different tasks you have to do to kind of save a
city or something like that.

And it's like, I get what
they're going for, but the way that they they make you do the
combat and just how he shoots just just felt tedious.
Yeah.

And The thing is though it's
gone, you do have the ability to get extra guns.
Now in usual Mega Man games, how you would basically do that
would be you would be one of their masters and you get their
gun, which kind of gives you an ability.
It's not how this game works.

Basically you go and you can get
like upgrades and roll will make you secret gun or make you
secret or make you special guns and you can equip them so you
can get like a blade, you can get like a huge sniper S gun
cannon which have limited energy.
The problem I find with these weapons is that when it came to
the original Mega Man games like when I played X, you can switch
by these games on the go.

So I switch by these weapons on
the go.

Like yeah, Menu switch, Menu
switch.

Menu.
Yeah, that's right.

I forgot about that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You, you've got to go to roll
every time.

And I was like to switch.
I was like, fuck that.

No, I can't be arsed.
I'm just sticking with the Pew

Pew, Pew Pew, Pew, Pew Pew.
I'm just sticking with that.

That's all I'm doing.
Yeah, I, I.

And that's that's sort of like
like an RPG approach like a 90s

RPG approach I think to be like
OK well you have this sort of like hub I guess you could call
it or a home base kind of thing.

Go back to the home base and do
a thing and you know that's how you sort of yeah.
And I just, you know, one look, we're we're adults or at least
we pretend to be adults on on our shows.
But you know, we don't have the time to do that either like we
want to.

We want to play these games and
experience them and talk to everybody and and tell you about
our time with them.

But like at a certain point
spending basically what would end up being an extra 45 minutes
probably of play time to switch between all the different
abilities and weapons that you have.
It sounds fine to have the variety but you got to make it
easier.

You're right.
I think like, I I'm not spending the extra time to do that most
of the time.

I did it a few times and I I
found it fairly enjoyable.

But the your, your playstyle
changes which I do a little bit at least.
So I get that like that is good.

There is variety but it's just
not good enough because everything is still clunky.
Like, it's not like all of a sudden, not like all of a sudden
you have this like, like you've mentioned like sort of sniper
sort of gun thing, like you're going to play like everything so
super differently is going to be so much easier.
In some ways it makes it harder.

Sometimes it's like, well,
what's my incentives?

And The thing is because you got
those tank controls it does, it makes it more difficult to, you
know to get the game well, the style of gameplay you want.
Like if you want to do with this on this weapon, but if it does
have a lock on system which that helps dramatically the lock on
system?

Holy shit does the lock on
system work if it?

Didn't.
Oh my God.

Oh.
Yeah.

Oh, if it didn't have that lock
on system.

Holy shit like again this is Pre
or Karina.

And I always thought oh Karina a
time to the lock on system very well.
It still the lock on system very well.
And it kind of gets you over the fact that you've got to kind of
you know you got to strafe right or you got to turn the this blue
thing round if you've got the auto thing automatically does it
was like oh that saves a bit of a time.
And again with the controls it's just practice.
But I just thought you know what peashooter it is I can't be
arsed upgrading and upgrading costs a lot of money.
It does.

Oh my God, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Like I think I googled
something.

I think one of the weapons, a
weapon is like 2,000,000 Zenny is like oh fuck oh.
Come on.

Yeah, right.
That's wild.

And this is the problem as well.
It's like when you, because you've got these shitty
controls, you you beat enemies, and then when money falls over,
all over the place, right?

And you can collect the money
you like.

Yeah, great.
I'm gonna collect the money, but because you got tank controls,
it's like, hang on, hang on.

I'll get that money.
Hang on it.

Forward, back, forward, left,
right.

Shit.
And then the money starts disappearing.
I was like, where are you disappearing?
I was.

Disappearing.
Oh my God, I I was about to talk about this part exactly.
Or it's just like, you know, there's currency and there's
things that give you like health as well, drops.
Just like it doesn't every Mega

Man game or any other sort of
adventure game and stuff like these enemies explode or you
defeat the boss or you know whatever it might be and the
things just spread everywhere.

Like why?
Why can't it just like suck into

Mega Man?
My God, I found sometimes I just left it.
One because things were I really just looked for health really.
But one because things were just like, yes, hard to to grab.
But also like you mentioned like if I'm not, if I feel like I'm
never going to get to that currency sort of tier that I
need to to unlock the stuff, like why am I even bothering
trying over and over and over again.
I could just, I just just give me the health, you know?
But just just just give me what

I want.
Yeah, just give me what which is the health.
But sometimes, like you said, you can't even get it because it
friggin disappears after a couple seconds.
It's.

Just when does that happen in
real life?

It's the whole you know, when
someone dies in a video game, they suddenly just fade away.
It's like, when does that shit happen?
If I threw money on the floor now, if I got like 10 seconds
and then suddenly the money starts going shit, it's gone
Shit.

Disappearing money in this
economy like.

Fucking monies.
We need that shit that pays me rent with shit, yeah.
Yeah, well sorry kids, looks looks like we're not eating
today.

Yeah.
Sorry, kid.

I'll eventually look at hiccups.
One day he goes, Sorry, kids, you're dead.
I'm going to have to sacrifice you.
Lord of the Flies S what?

Was I going to say, oh, so for
so for the most part, the sort of basic enemies, I I agree.
You also said I think it goes back to sort of like the soil
style for art choice and art style is they they generally
look good enough pretty good I would say most of them are are
are fairly good and designed well The the basic enemies for
the most part because if a lock on like you said and stuff like
they're fine I think most of them are pretty easy to defeat.
My my issue with the sort of regular bot, regular enemies was
yes the lock on is there, but anything that was like airborne
constantly is really tough to kind of figure out where you're
walking and stuff 'cause the camera kind of gets close to
you.

So I'll like fall off a a Cliff
and then lose my aim and be like oh shit well now where do I go
and where did that enemy go?

Or like one particular mission
early on in the game that I I I understood what they were doing
with it and understood what to do.
But there was a decent amount of these like things, these
machines in the sky picking up tanks and dropping tanks in the
middle of the city and trying to demolish town hall and the
police station and stuff like that.
It's fine.

I I kind of like, you know,
don't put a timer on my mission, but give me a reason to go from
this spot to that spot to sort of save people and save
buildings and stuff.

But to stop that from happening
constantly, you had to destroy the things that were carrying
all the tanks in.

And I found it hard to shoot
them because they're in the air.

And then I found it hard to see
them most of the time, because that's stupid fog we were
talking about.

Yeah, because the fog.
And the problem is if you don't destroy them.
As I found out, this game is a fucking morality system.
Right.

People.
It's basically the building.

If you don't stop buildings
being damaged, they stay damaged.
They obviously don't repair because they don't, you know,
this is a video game you should be repairing dramatically and
automatically.

Should be doing it now.
But basically, people will treat you differently if you don't
save them.

It's like, oh for fuck's sake,
don't you give me shitty controls.
I could barely do anything, shitty aim and now you're giving
me a fucking morality system.

I was like, I'll piss this,
Yeah, this is so annoying.

And it it didn't, it didn't need
it, you know, like that this kind of game, you really don't
have to add that kind of layer on to it.
I I agree.

It just it felt unnecessary.
They just shoehorned an RPG like system in there and it just just
stick with what they had.

Like that actually was a big,
big enough thing to me that I was like I I don't really want,
I don't want to think about this like I don't want to think about
that stuff.

I just can.
I just keep going through these areas and through these dungeons
and just start defeating bosses and bad guys?
Like I don't.

I don't need to worry about
extra shit like I just, I'm already struggling to get
through some of these missions.

Do I have to add that on to it?
All I wanted to do you know what this kind of felt like?
I kind of got bored with the gameplay and I just wanted to
find about more about the story.

I agree.
When Mortal Kombat games come out with the new ones, like I
don't buy them, but I like to watch the story on YouTube.
Yeah, it's like a two hour movie.
This was the same sort of thing.

It's like fuck the gameplay.
I just want to watch what's going on the plot because I'm
intrigued with the plot and it's like I just want to get through
this shitty dungeon just so I can get some more story.
That's all I want.

Yeah, I want my cartoon.
I'm 100%, yeah, I want my cartoon exactly.
And that's, you know, that's the high point of the game, is that
stuff.

It's not incredible.
It's not the best, but it is definitely better than actually
playing through the game, and I mentioned it before too.
It's like sometimes when you get to a boss or defeat a boss or
leading up to it even just like maybe a couple of scenes and
stuff.

I I I was, I was.
I liked what surrounded the boss and I enjoyed the bosses
initially.

But because like I mentioned
earlier, their health bars are so much larger and like we've
talked about the shooting and all those types of things are
not great.

After like 2 minutes of a boss
fight, I was like, OK, I'm done.

Can we just move on?
Like, yeah, I'm gonna win this fight.
I have more health than they do.

I'm just running in circles like
you mentioned.

Like, can I just get to the part
where we talk to the guy after and we have sort of like a
little cutscene thing like that.

I wanted that instead.
Like, just let me shoot them twice.
Good enough.

Let's move on.
Yeah, that that's fun.

And this is the thing, like you
play your Mega Man Vol nuts, worst name ever and he's like an
anime typical anime protagonist.

I don't mind him, but the best
thing about this game are the bad guys.
And they are, well, I say the bad guys, it's the the Bond
family, Holy shit, the Bond family.
You've got Tron Bond, who is a a female character around the same
age as role and basically her role hate each other because
they kind of broke fancy Mega

Man.
But then I looked and I went, holy shit, Tron born what?
I know where I know her from and that's Are you going?
To say the same thing I'm going to say.
What?

Marvel VS Capcom.
Yeah, Marvel's Capcom Two was like, holy shit.
I was like, that's where she's from.
I was like, I've never.

Because I knew.
I knew when I saw Marvel's

Capcom Two, I was like, OK,
she's Mega Man and but I didn't know.
I didn't know much more about

Matt and I was like, I've never,
I've never seen her in Megaman

X, I've never seen her in the
network games.

But then I'll learn.
Yeah, she came from the Legends game I just did the surf bots,
the little Lego, little, little people who are so cool.
Oh, they're oh, they're Lego.

They're 100% Lego for sure.
The dare is like Lego mixed with minions.
I was like, but the the the cue enough not to be annoying.
I was like that's great you you are fine.
I'm happy with you guys and her design's great.
Their design's great.

Her character's great.
Her funny every time she comes on.
But I think the the best bit is the brother.
Oh my God.

The brother's so funny and the
first time you see him, he's basically sitting in a library
waiting for like, isn't.

I wonder what's going on here.
I oh, I can trust Rod Bond and.

That later on that you see them
all like him and Toronto, the whole like, bad guy of the Bond
family having this meeting and they're sitting there having a
coffee.

I was like this is funny as
fork.

I agree and he's like you said
great design too you know both of them like yeah it adds to it
for sure and and the over the top sort of you know speech and
the the sort of very I don't even know if it's anime acting
or whatever but it it's. 100% it is.
Yeah, it it's very, it's very corny, but probably purposely
corny and it's over the top and whatever.
But yeah the those those two or

I guess that group in in
particular like is definitely the highlight.
I am 100% on on board with that.

I I totally agree.
I just love the fact, like, they're having, like, these
family meetings and it happens more than once.
They're just sitting around having a coffee.
I was like, right, What's the plan?
I was like, this is fucking amazing.
I was like, do you imagine if you had, like, Doctor Robotnik
in the sidelines sitting there having like, a conference call
with a coffee?

That'd be so funny to see.
I would love it.

Guys do.
I'd love that.

Like Bat sitting there.
Like, you know, you see Bat in the recent film Bowsers playing
the piano.

There must be moments where he's
sitting there.

He's like, right, Everyone
together.

And he's got like this latte.
He's like, right, OK, what's the plan?
I fuck, that's so funny.

And the annoying thing is I want
to praise the older brother.

I want to praise him so much.
But I can't.

I don't want to really say his
name because I found out I was like, oh, what's this guy off
the voice actor?

He's not off much.
And I'm not going to praise him because I eventually found out
he was convicted of naughty things with children.
Oh.

Jesus.
OK.

Of of distributing naughty
things with children, not not doing stuff, but distributing,
which is still fucking horrendous.
And then he, he deleted himself.

Afterwards, he went to prison
and deleted himself.

So that's the history of him.
So it is.

He knew.
Yeah, I know.

It goes dark, don't it?
I was like, wow, Because if it didn't, I would have been, I
would have been singing a lot more.
So yeah.

Fair enough.
Fuck the voice.

Fuck the voice actor.
Yeah, Don't choose the ground.

Yeah, yeah.
I don't know if he was on the second one, but it was this.
It's annoying because I would have found that out.
It was like proper dishearten because I liked his performance.
But then I went, yeah, go fuck, go fuck yourself.
Yeah, there's a line.

That's the line.
There's definitely a line.

Straight up, straight up crossed
it.

And this is the thing.
I like it when bad guys are interesting.
I like it when, yeah, there's more to them than that.
But again, the only thing I wanted to see about this game
was those two.

I wanted to see what they were
getting up to just because they were funny.
And the only problem, as I said earlier, was that it sounded
like it was being spoke for a cushion, which was frustrating.
And do you know what?

I like the world it was trying
to build.

I know people said, oh, it's not
Mega Man, it's not what it is.

Well, yeah, it's not Mega Man,
Mega Man Ledge, Mega Man, Battle

Network wasn't Mega Man.
That was completely different.

If you ever played Battle
Network on the GBA, that's so different.
It's ridiculous.

I really want to try those
games.

They look, they look interesting
to me.

I want to try them.
Like, that's not Mega Man esque at all.
That's a card game with like, I don't know how you describe it.
It's like it's like a I don't know how the hell you describe
Mega Man Battle Network.

I I loved it.
I but I I hated the story but I love the gameplay was the
complete reverse with this one.

But people, I know people were
desperate for a traditional Mega

Man game on an N64.
I get that.

But the whole everyone wants to
do 3D.

You know, stepping away from 2D
meant that maybe traditional

Mega Man wasn't the way forward.
And I know this game had a sequel and a prequel, A trombone
prequel, but I would love them to actually go back now and
maybe try this again.

Maybe try like a new Legends
game on a new, you know, on a

Switch or something like that.
And let's see how it does, because everyone would know this
is what it's going to be like.

It's going to be more RPG
elements and it's not going to be a traditional Mega Man game.
But you can fix the camera, you can fix everything else about
this game.

And I thought you you can, I
think you can make it a decent game.
I agree.

I think that if it had like a
little bit of a touch up even, you know, if they didn't fully
remastered, that's totally fine.

But if you did modern controls,
if you maybe changed a little bit of the systems with getting
new weapons and abilities and stuff like, I think that could
potentially help it as well.

But like just modernize some of
the stuff could be enough.

I mean, keep the story the same,
even keep the voice acting, It's totally fine.
Like just make it, make it that game.
That's that's fine.

But yeah, if you if you change
the way that this game played, some of those like minor things
that they could change would add up to something so much better.
I think.

So yeah, I think that's what
they I I'm on board.

I I agree.
I think it definitely would and like keep the mini games as
well.

Well, like the only mini game I
I played in, this was one where you're kicking a ball at like
it's like a fairground ride, you know, like the well describe it,
you know ducks are moving along.

It's similar to that.
But basically you've got like a man being chased by a dog and
you've got to kick a ball at the dog.
It's not a real dog.

It's not a real dog.
But if because you can get your timing really well and it
becomes really trivial game, then all of a sudden some guys
kicking these balls, a real dog came in and you kick the real
dog.

I was like, holy shit, I've just
kicked a dog.

Yeah, that.
If anyone's still wondering where this game goes at times,
that's the kind of places it goes.
Yeah, you're kicking a dog at a model dog.
Proper launches.

And this is Mega Man, so he's
going to have this amazing kick.

I was like, holy shit, that
dog's probably just broken about 6 ribs.
Oh my God, that poor thing.

He's just come for a cuddle and
you just can't fuck off.

Damn it.
I see you.

He's like, why Mega Man?
Why Mega Man's like, what was that?
Don't care.

More balls to kick.
Oh, here comes another dog.

Next.
Fucking brule, he's a piece of cunt.
Hey man, as long as you win the prize, that's all that matters I
guess, right?

Winning.
Winning is everything, apparently.
The Mega Man winning.

Imagine that he gets his prize.
Oh, you've won a cuddly toy and six dead dogs.
This game, honestly, this game would go there.
It would go there.

I feel like it could.
And there's bits like doing stuff like that.
OK, I look, I don't advocate for kicking dogs before anyone has a
go at me, but it's so light hearted when you think what the
fuck have I just done?

It's.
It's.

It's so strange.
It's so I lost.

So much of this game is so
strange.

It's so strange.
Yeah, and considering I said

I've gone into you, there are
bits I like.

There are bits I don't like.
Seeing something like that just completely takes me out of left
field and I was like, what the fuck?
OK.

Fine.
And it made my it made my time bearable.
Playing, Yeah, I'm again, I'm not implying to make my time
bearable.

I go around kicking dogs.
It's in the context of this random part of this game,
absolutely.

There's no, there's no way I'm
getting round this.

I'm I'm going to get, like,
brought onto the Piers Morgan show.
So you believe kicking dogs in video games is OK?
Oh, for fuck's sake.

God damn it.
God damn it, I'm fucked.

But he had.
But of course, he had boat levels.
Yes, he had boat levels.

That is a that's a great point.
So those, I don't know what you thought.
I thought they were they were

OK.
I thought I was seeing what I was.
Going to hit, right?

Yeah.
No, I thought I would.

Before the boat levels are OK, I
thought, You can't fuck up anything else, but they got that
right.

Yeah, 'cause I think because of
the way that things control when you're on land, I guess you
could say because those felt so awkward somehow, like keeping
you in place a little bit more, worked better.
Sadly, yeah, definitely.

I think because it kind of tank
controls kind of work on a boat, it's like, Oh yeah, that's how
they actually move so well, ish.

So it's like, you can have that.
I didn't mind the war levels.

But again, it's another thing
this game was trying.

It was like, right, grab that,
grab that, grab this, grab this, grab this, grab this, boom.
I'm gonna go to game.

That's how it kind of worked.
Yeah, I agree.

I agree.
It's it's a lot of it is fairly awkward, you know, I don't mind
the way things wrap up.

It's just, you know, at least
the boss at the end has some variety to it.
You're not doing the exact same thing every sort of stage that
the boss has the story sort of those places in the middle of
the final boss fight.

So I found, you know, like
there's there's there's like story progression as you find
the final boss and as you're fighting them.
It's not, you know, anything super elaborate.
But I was like, OK, I I get it.

This this is kind of cool.
Yeah.

It just, you know, when you're
doing the, when you're fighting a long battle in this game, it
just ends up feeling tedious either way.
I just appreciated that, at least for the most part.
Things were a little bit different here and there when it
came to some of the boss fights and and that, that and the and
the the boat levels were were probably the standouts to me.
Yeah.

But they're it's still, it's
still not a fantastic game.

I I don't think it's the worst
thing ever, but I, you know, it's not fantastic.
No, it it it isn't.

But I the final boss's design is
awesome.

I give you that.
I was like, this is weird and fucked up.
I'm so weird and fucked up.

But I liked it.
I was like, OK, you can have that.
That's that's really good.

That's a really cool boss.
Another, another set of designs that that made sense and and
worked.

Yeah, I think that and that
those, those were the bigger, the biggest standouts for it,
like you said, the story and and a lot of the character design
and models and stuff.

Yeah, sure, they look a little
chunky and things like that, but that's the time and that's
totally fine.

And to me that part works.
So.

Yeah, and yeah.
Look, would I play it again?

No.
I am kind of glad I'm done with that now.
I was like, fuck, I'm God, this is done.
But what?

I want to play a sequel.
Mega Man Legends 3.

Yes, I would.
I would like to play a Legends 3.
I'd say the Legends 2 probably very similar, but I want to play
Legends 3 and make a new world.

I don't know why they haven't.
Yeah, I I agree.

I think that like whether they
like remade this one or remade one of the ones in this series
and sort of touched it up like we mentioned or made a new one
and made it a sequel or prequel or whatever.
I would, I would give it a shot.

I think I would give it a shot.
But I don't think that this is a a game that you go back to.
I really don't because it's clunky, it doesn't control well.
The story's good enough, but it's not going to make me want
to experience it all over again because of everything that
happens around the story, which is the gameplay, and the
gameplay is very so, so at best.

So yeah, and I think it is very
so, so and but what I will say, this game is now made me want to
go back to Marvez, Capcom 2, to

Marvez, Capcom Three and players
trombone.

Dude, I I played.
I played as her.

Yeah she was she was in my
rotation in in two like fairly consistently.
I just liked the way she played and and yeah, I honestly, I
thought the exact same thing when I first saw her and they
said the name I was like Oh my

God.
All right.

Marvel VS Captain I I haven't
loaded it back up.

But I I am tempted now.
I I'm with you.

Yeah, and The thing is, if you
look at Marvel VS Capcom 3, Mega

Man's not even any.
Oh, he's not in three.

I don't remember that.
Oh my God. 00 is Trombon is, but

Mega Man himself isn't in.
That's so weird that is so that makes no sense.
And I don't know if if somebody's adamant because I've
I've been a big advocate of the amount of characters they've
added in and all knowing is XX3.

Hang on, who's who's that?
Oh, it's X3.

Looks like X3.
I don't know who'd even is it?

I didn't even know.
Either way.

I need to play some more.
I need to play some more marvelous Capcom.
I really do.

Yeah.
I think.

I think they added him in.
I think they added him in later, and possibly I need to find that
out.

Either way, I want to play some
more Trombon.

I want to play some more Trombon
because she's so cool.

I'm with you.
She's fucking amazing.

So if you're going to be scoring
this, then out of 10, what are you giving it?
Let's see it.

It's tough because there are a
lot of ups and downs to it.

There's a lot of stuff I enjoy.
I've enjoyed enough and there's a lot of stuff that just didn't
work.

And I think unfortunately,
because the gameplay is just so average for me and the story is
there, but I'm not a massive anime person or whatever.
I think of A4 or A5 is where I would sit with this.
Honestly.

Like, it's not, it's not great.
It's not great.

I'm going to lean towards A5 and
be a little bit generous because of the things we talked about.
But that's the most second.

It's the most I can sit with is
giving it A5.

Yeah, I'm I'm probably going to
give it A5 as well.

And they're frustrating.
Thing was, if I was playing Mega

Man Legends, if we were, if
you'd asked me to do Mega, you can't.
But if you asked me to do Mega

Man Legends, I would have given
this game higher because I could have seen it from the point of
view of the time it was from.

But the fact that it's on the
N64 three to four years later and it's not as good, takes it
lower definitely.

Yeah, that is a very, very good
point.

Absolutely.
I think.

I think you're definitely on to
something there.

Sure, for sure.
Thank you as always for joining me on Remember 64.
And as always, of course, thank you to Danny for coming on the
show as well.

Check out Retro Wars on your
podcast feed and on social media.
Danny does such a great job, has so many great insights, plays a
variety of different games.

It's definitely not just the N64
really worth listening to.

The guy is just a joy to work
with and a joy to talk to.

So look forward to more episodes
of the two of us as well coming in the coming weeks and months.
But until next time, everyone, thank you so much for joining me
on this continued nerdy journey of Remember 64.
Go bust out some retro games everyone.
We'll talk to you soon.