I never beat Mega Man Legends, but I played it a good deal back in the day at a friend's house. We rented it a number of times, never made it that far as we were young and our English wasn't good enough to understand everything, I suspect.
In any case, that game made an impression on me. Despite only playing it for a weekend or two all those years ago, in the late 90s, I often think about it. The vibes of the game stayed with me.
First, is the market:
youtu.be
You can enter shops, talk to people, kick cans and even listen to music CDs! The true mall experience. All while a nice, relaxing music plays.
Then, later on, you enter the city:
youtu.be
That city is really small, but goddamn is it cozy. I remember running around it, jumping on cars and stuff, and thinking to myself: "I would fucking live here".
The art direction of the game is on point, as is the music. The entire audio-visual experience coalesces to create this cozy feeling. Even stuff like animations and character expressions:
Also, DATA!!
Mega Man Legends is one of the games I think of when I say that I generally prefer the aesthetic of PS1 games over that of PS2 games. There is a lo-fi aspect to PS1 games that is very much missing from the generation of the PS2. The PS1 was low enough in power that its games had to resort to more abstraction and stylization in regard to graphics to convey whatever it is that the devs wanted to convey. The PS2 gen got powerful enough that a lot of that abstraction and stylization went away, either partially or completely. And that lo-fi aspect absolutely contributes to the cozy feeling.
I have never beaten Legends, and have never played Mega Man Legends 2. Capcom, please release both of these games on the PS5 so I can rectify that!
In any case, that game made an impression on me. Despite only playing it for a weekend or two all those years ago, in the late 90s, I often think about it. The vibes of the game stayed with me.
First, is the market:
Mega Man Legends Longplay
If this comes up before segments, will split."It's like an anime!"
youtu.be
You can enter shops, talk to people, kick cans and even listen to music CDs! The true mall experience. All while a nice, relaxing music plays.
Then, later on, you enter the city:
Mega Man Legends Longplay
If this comes up before segments, will split."It's like an anime!"
youtu.be
That city is really small, but goddamn is it cozy. I remember running around it, jumping on cars and stuff, and thinking to myself: "I would fucking live here".
The art direction of the game is on point, as is the music. The entire audio-visual experience coalesces to create this cozy feeling. Even stuff like animations and character expressions:
Also, DATA!!
Mega Man Legends is one of the games I think of when I say that I generally prefer the aesthetic of PS1 games over that of PS2 games. There is a lo-fi aspect to PS1 games that is very much missing from the generation of the PS2. The PS1 was low enough in power that its games had to resort to more abstraction and stylization in regard to graphics to convey whatever it is that the devs wanted to convey. The PS2 gen got powerful enough that a lot of that abstraction and stylization went away, either partially or completely. And that lo-fi aspect absolutely contributes to the cozy feeling.
I have never beaten Legends, and have never played Mega Man Legends 2. Capcom, please release both of these games on the PS5 so I can rectify that!
