Mega Man 64

"Surprisingly good for an older game."

I got this game for Christmas not too long ago. At the time, I had no idea it was a repackaged Mega Man Legends (of course, I don't own a Playstation anyway), so the graphics were a bit disappointing. Still, it's a very fun game.

Storyline: 9/10
You play as Mega Man Volnutt, an orphan who was found and adopted by an old Digger. Following in your adoptive father's career, you and your friend Roll dig in ruins for crystals called refractors, which the world depends upon for power (did I mention the world is flooded?). Once upon a search, your ship is damaged and you must crash-land on Kattelox Island. Meanwhile, a group of pirates is moving towards the island as well, hunting for a legendary treasure. You must beat them to the treasure and survive their attempts to kick the snot out of you. For its time, a pretty good story. The twists in the end are pretty surprising (and confusing), but I won't give that away. Play the game yourself and find out.

Graphics: 6/10
Ok, the game is OLD. It uses a first-generation 3D engine for its graphics, which are all pretty blocky to begin with. The view distance is very short before it fades into fog. That being said, tho, the bosses and most of the other enemies are very well done (although personally, I'm not too fond of the final boss's design). The backgrounds, however, can get a little repetitive, resulting in a lot of seemingly endless wandering in the ruins looking for landmarks.

Sound: 8/10
Ok, the basic background music is often absent entirely, but when it's there it's pretty good. Some of the sound effects are a bit odd (i.e. the vacuum cleaner sound of the Jet Skates), but most are well placed. The final level's music is very catchy. And the main thing that brings up the sound score...the voices! CAN'T YOU HEAR THE VOICES?!?!?! Well, if you can't, turn up your volume. The voice acting is pretty good, and there's a lot of it. The only problem with it is that they recorded it at a low volume...the voices should be louder so that they can be heard over the background sounds.

Controls: 7/10
The controls make this game a little hard to get used to, but once you have it down, it's no big deal. Control Stick to move, B to shoot, A to jump, and the C buttons have various purposes. Easy once you get used to it, a real pain until then.

Gameplay: 8/10
This game is an adventure/RPG style fighter, much like the Legend of Zelda series. Over the course of the game, you can buy new parts for your main Buster Gun (the basic weapon of all Mega Man games), find new armor and special items, and find random items that Roll can remake into new parts and special weapons. Each special weapon has its own unique power, and some are better than others. Did I mention that the special weapons are upgradeable? The biggest problem with the gameplay is that most of the good stuff is reeeeeeeeally expensive; you'll end up wandering and killing things a lot if you want to get the best equipment.

Replayability: ?/10
This one gets a question mark because there is NO intrinsic, built-in replay value (unless you count the Hard Mode). It's fun to replay it and try different combinations of Buster Gun parts and different special weapons (there are 11 total, I think), but if that doesn't interest you, the game will likely sit on the shelf after you finish it.

Overall: 8.5 out of 10 (rounded to 9 because GameFAQs won't accept fractions)
I notice that this game gets bashed a lot, but it's really not that bad. Granted, it's a pretty cheesy way for Capcom to try to get more money before the N64 is completely shelved in favor of newer systems, but it's a good opportunity for those of us who don't own a Playstation. I highly recommend this game for those of you who prefer play value over graphics.....but for those on the other side of the fence, leave this game alone, the graphics reflect its age.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/02, Updated 01/03/02