In a world covered by endless water…
Experience Points is a series in which I highlight some of the most memorable things about a particular game. These can include anything from a specific scene or moment, a character, a weapon or item, a level or location, a part of the soundtrack, a gameplay mechanic, a line of dialogue, or anything else about the game that is particularly noteworthy and/or awesome.
This series will no doubt contain spoilers for the games being discussed, so keep that in mind if you plan on playing the game for the first time.
This entry is all about Mega Man Legends. Feel free to share some of your own favorite things about the game in the comments!
We’re the Bonnes! We’re pirates!
I often find that my favorite villains are the comical ones who are prone to failure. They get in the hero’s way, but they never seem to pose much of an actual threat. I almost wish I could help them out sometimes, or lose once just to make them feel better about themselves.
The Bonne family from Mega Man Legends is a perfect example of this. They are pirates who fly around to various islands to steal money and treasure, yet they’re consistently left penniless. Despite their lack of funds, however, they’re still able to build a bunch of cool, powerful mechs somehow. The family consists of Tron, her older brother Teisel, her baby brother Bon, and a group of accident-prone minions called Servbots. And I love them all.
Tron Bonne is probably one of the most likable villains you’ll ever meet. She can be scary when she needs to be, and she’s a terrific leader, but she definitely has a soft side. Before realizing that she’s the bad guy, Mega Man saves Tron from being chased by an angry dog, and she starts crushing hard. This becomes pretty awkward once she finds out that Mega Man is the one who’s responsible for disrupting their plans, as she’s suddenly torn between her feelings for Mega Man and her plans to ransack the town. I always secretly hoped they’d end up together…
Her brothers are pretty great too. Teisel looks really scary with his weird red eyes and spiky grey hair. He acts tough, but he’s kind of a goofball. He also has by far the best maniacal laughter that I’ve ever heard. Bon, despite being the baby of the family, is actually the largest in size. He appears to be just a head attached to a mech suit, and the only thing he has learned to say is “babuu!” He’s adorable, but he’s also a force to be reckoned with.
And then there’s the Servbots. They are just the best! They’re these cute little robots with yellow heads and blue bodies who are essentially the mascots of the Mega Man Legends games. They dutifully obey the Bonnes’ orders, but they’re quite weak unless they’re piloting a mech. Mega Man can easily kick them around, sending them crying back to Tron in the hopes that she’ll forgive their failure. The Servbots are just so adorable, though, that I honestly feel pretty bad about beating them up. It’s okay, little guys! You’ll get ’em next time!
The Bonnes and the Servbots are by far the best things to come out of Mega Man Legends. It’s no wonder Tron and her family got their very own spin-off title!
Kick the can
The most memorable parts of Mega Man Legends were often the little things. There were so many random, silly things Mega Man could do on Kattelox Island, which made me want to experiment and explore as much as possible. Street lamps could be climbed for no reason, it was possible to hitch rides on top of cars, vending machines could be kicked to dispense free sodas (or explode… oops). Almost everything could be interacted with in some way.
The first thing to make me realize this was the solitary empty can lying on the ground in the middle of Apple Market. It’s such an insignificant thing, just a piece of trash littering the area. But for some reason, it stuck out like a sore thumb and I had to investigate it. The only way to interact with the can was to kick it, sending it flying through the market with a satisfying metallic clink. I ended up kicking that thing up and down the market, just wasting time, wondering if I could hit people with it or get it to land in a trash can or in one of the stores. And then I managed to kick it behind the counter of the Jetlag Bakery.
“Nice shot! Keep our streets clean! Put trash in its proper place!”
That message made me laugh pretty hard. So I guess the bakery is the proper place for trash in this town? Not the trash cans lining the market, but the bakery. It also rewards Mega Man with 1000 zenny per can, so I spent even more time trying to earn money by kicking trash into the bakery. The poor baker probably hated me, I’m sure. Sorry, lady!
The ancient robotic ruins
The bulk of Mega Man Legends‘ gameplay takes place underground in areas known as ruins, since Mega Man Volnutt happens to be a professional digger. While some of the ruins are proper dungeons necessary for beating the game, there’s also a huge network of optional sub-ruins that Mega Man could explore at his leisure. Underground, he can find treasure, materials for making new weapons, relics to donate to the museum, and other neat stuff. The sub-ruins are accessed through various locations on the island. Most of them are interconnected, but certain areas require specific abilities to reach, making it feel sort of like a Metroid-esque side quest.
The ruins are also home to some really cool-looking enemies called Reaverbots. The Reaverbots come in all shapes and sizes with all sorts of abilities, but they each share a distinct aesthetic, with skeletal, robotic bodies usually accentuated by a characteristic red eye. I think they’re some of the best designed enemies in the Mega Man franchise, and they really help to make the Legends games stand out visually from the rest.
The sub-ruins were by far my favorite location in the game. I loved spending time underground, exploring every nook and cranny and fighting off all the Reaverbots in search of treasure and artifacts. The ruins are massive, with lots of hidden paths and dangerous enemies, so exploring them fully was no easy task. I’ve always had a penchant for archaeology and spelunking, so going on digs in Mega Man Legends always filled me with excitement.
Would you like Stripe Fries with that?
Mega Man Legends is full of fun side quests to occupy Mega Man’s time between missions. Some of these quests involve preventing bombs from going off Downtown, finding a man’s lost money, renovating a gang’s secret hideout, donating artifacts to the local museum, helping a sick girl at the hospital, and more.
There’s actually an extra hidden location which players can only access after completing a certain side quest. At one point in the game, Mega Man can catch a news report about a bank robbery in progress. Heading to the Downtown area after the report, he can help the cops chase down the bank robbers, who turn out to be Servbots. After blowing up the truck and chasing off the Servbots, Mega Man will obtain a trunk of stolen money.
Upon returning the trunk of money to the police inspector, a new restaurant will eventually open up Downtown called Stripe Burger. It’s a burger joint which is run by Servbots! As it turns out, the Servbots weren’t actually robbing the bank. They were just borrowing money in order to open up their new restaurant, and were mistaken for robbers by the cops. It seems the police force of Kattelox Island is guilty of racial profiling. For shame, officers!
There’s not really anything special to do or find in Stripe Burger, but I always enjoy giving the place a visit anyway. It makes me happy to see the Servbots living out their dreams, letting go of a life of crime and instead choosing to serve delicious burgers to the people of Kattelox with smiles on their faces. Those little guys definitely deserved a break, so it’s nice to see things turn out so well for them.
Dancing with Data
The Servbots aren’t the only cute characters in Mega Man Legends. There’s also an adorable little mechanical monkey named Data, who is a companion to Mega Man. Data doesn’t get much of a spotlight in the story, at least until the end of the game, but he’s always there to help Mega Man when he needs it.
Data is essentially the game’s save point. Whenever Mega Man needs to save, all he has to do is find Data around town, in the support car, or on the Flutter and speak to him. He usually follows Mega Man around, so he’s not hard to find. He’ll also offer helpful tips in case Mega Man is lost or doesn’t know what to do next.
I like to think of Data as moral support. He’s always doing this happy little monkey dance with a big smile on his face, no matter how dire the current situation might be. It’s so comforting to see him there, dancing his butt off, right before I have to fight a difficult boss. It’s like he’s cheering me on. Thanks for the morale boost, Data!
The Fast and the Furious: Kattelox Drift
The coolest Mega Man upgrade has got to be the jet skates! Crafted out of a rollerboard and some old hoverjets, the jet skates allow Mega Man to zoom around the ground quickly and effortlessly, without even lifting his feet. They’re basically like those weird roller shoes that have wheels tucked away underneath, only Mega Man doesn’t look like an idiot wearing them because he’s a robot (I’m probably just jealous of those kids that had roller shoes because I was never allowed to have them myself).
There’s even a mini-game which revolves entirely around the jet skates, which has Mega Man racing around town on a set course, trying to beat the time limits. It’s a good way to earn money and perfect Mega Man’s sweet skating skills. Gotta get those sick drifts down or he’ll never reach the finish line in time! Man, I wish I had a pair of jet skates…
Mega Man vs. the Theodore Bruno
There are a few boss fights that immediately come to mind when thinking about Mega Man Legends. There’s the Gesellschaft with its awesome music, Mega Man Juno with his classical theme, and Bon Bonne because, well, he’s a badass baby!
My favorite boss by far, though, is the Theodore Bruno. Mega Man finds the Bruno in Old City, a vacated area of Kattelox Island which is only inhabited by vicious, stray dogs. Upon entering a large warehouse, Mega Man unexpectedly runs into Tron Bonne, who he thought might have been killed after the Gesellschaft explosion. In a funny and heartwarming moment, Mega Man interrupts the Bonnes’ pizza party to express his relief that Tron is still alive. Awww, he cares about her!
Turns out the Bonnes had been hiding out in Old City ever since their last fight, and Tron had been hard at work building her masterpiece, the Theodore Bruno. This is their last attempt to show Mega Man they mean business, and it sure is an epic battle. The Bruno is so huge that it can easily decimate the warehouses and other buildings in the area, reducing them to rubble and depleting Mega Man’s potential hiding spots, all while firing a barrage of bombs, missiles, and energy blasts. It can be tough dodging the projectiles, ducking behind buildings, and waiting for the perfect opportunity to return fire, but Mega Man will eventually emerge victorious, of course.
Afterwards, Teisel finally admits defeat and promises to leave Mega Man and the island alone. Tron seems sad about this, wondering if she’ll ever see Mega Man again (awww, she cares about him too!). But as they’re walking away, Teisel whispers his new plan to her: they’ll just wait until Mega Man finds the treasure himself, and then steal it from him instead. Brilliant!
Past Experience Points
.01: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
.02: Shadow of the Colossus
.03: EarthBound
.04: Catherine
.05: Demon’s Souls
.06: No More Heroes
.07: Paper Mario
.08: Persona 4
.09: Final Fantasy IX
