Megaman Anniversary Collection (MMAC) brings together eight of the toughest platform-shooters ever devised, slaps them onto one disc and screams ‘come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough’. Like being kicked in the balls by a child, the toughness of the Megaman series is, initially, a little unexpected. The game exudes a sense of fun through its anime-like character design, its joyous theme tunes and varied weapon sets, and these child-like, bubbly visuals lull you into a false sense of security. Soon however, you will be tearing your hair out trying to find that tiny part of the screen where no enemy can touch you, hopping between bullets and frantically taking pot shots at the cute robots that could take you out in seconds. The difficulty of the game is, to some, what makes the Megaman series so entertaining. Returning to the older games can feel like training at videogame school - once you have mastered Megaman 3 for example (arguably the hardest game of the bunch) you will feel like a gaming Ninja. Ikaruga in one credit? No problem. Viewtiful Joe without taking damage? Piece of cake.

Megaman is unable to duck, must negotiate waves of heavily armed enemies and often falls foul of the many tricky gaps and spiked pits that populate the levels. This makes the titles the sort of games where players will move an inch then die, make their way a further inch and die again. In some ways it is a memory test but once you have learnt the type of dangers encountered during the game, you will start to notice them before they can catch you out, learning to take your time and look before you leap. The key to success can often be the order in which the levels are tackled, as gaining a weapon on one level can make another that little bit easier. Since the levels can be played in any order, picking the right ones first adds a tactical element to Megaman, adding a greater layer of depth to the twitch gameplay.

The collection includes the first six games from the NES/Famicom in an emulated form, with the backgrounds smoothed out so that tiling is invisible, which makes for neater looking levels that scroll more smoothly. Megaman purists may complain that these are not perfect conversions of the originals, but when they look better it isn’t really much to complain about. These first six games are undoubtedly the toughest of the lot, especially the earlier ones where Megaman is unable to slide along the ground and seems to attract bullets like Bugs Bunny in rabbit season. Also included are Megaman 7 (SNES/Super Famicom) and Megaman 8 (Saturn/PSOne). The most enjoyable of the series, these instalments considerably increased the graphical and gameplay quality over the early titles and hold up remarkably well today. Megaman 8 is especially good fun; the anime cut-scenes and voice acting conspire to make this feel even more like you’re playing through a cartoon and the variations in level design (such as the side scrolling shooter and snowboard levels) add a much-needed sense of pace to the title. It’s a shame that the last five years of Megaman games have failed to live up to this standard.

It should come as a relief to some that MMAC comes with an auto-save feature, especially as those who grew up playing these games probably don’t have the same amount of leisure time as when they were younger. Allowing the player to save their progress after every boss battle is a valuable addition, allowing the player to chip away at the collection in their own time.

So, Capcom have bundled together eight challenging but fun games and added a save feature. They could have stopped right there and these features alone would form a worthy purchase, but this is an Anniversary Collection, something to celebrate. Megaman (known as Rockman in the East) celebrates his 17th birthday this year, although Capcom would have us believe that he is 15! The Blue Bomber comes from a time in Capcom’s history when they were churning out high quality platform shooters on an almost monthly basis. The likes of Strider, Black Tiger, Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts and Bionic Commando are all variations on a theme and, along with Megaman, did a good job of exploiting a popular genre. Megaman however is the only game from this bunch to enjoy such prolonged success.

It is for the fans who helped create such a long-term success that Capcom has included a number of anniversary gifts in this package. By completing specific levels, the player can unlock several bonus features. These range between staff interviews, new theme tunes and remixes, art galleries and two unlockable arcade games. While the arcade games (Megaman Power Fighters and Megaman Power Battles) are not perfect, they are worth the perseverance to unlock them, as is the highly informative interview. The art galleries and remixes are also worth fighting for and can be a happy surprise for fans of both Megaman and other Capcom hits. Even the opening developer demos ape the characters and gameplay of Megaman in an amusing fashion - right from the start you get the feeling that you are about to play a special set of retro games.

For those who find the old-school challenge of Megaman a little too caning, Capcom have helpfully included the ‘Navi Mode’ wherein characters appear onscreen to point Megaman in the right direction and give advice on how to beat the trickiest enemies. This advice can sometimes be very helpful, other times it can state the obvious with advice like “try not to get hit” or “watch your energy”. This helpful and newbie-friendly approach is slightly undone by Capcom’s baffling decision to reverse the traditional controls of the game. Jump is now mapped to B with A used to shoot. This can be particularly distracting as the layout of the GC pad intuitively encourages players to use A to jump, and can lead to some unfair deaths early on. Capcom should have included an option to change the controls but chose not to, probably because they hate you.

Aside from this quibble, Megaman Anniversary Collection is a must-buy for all fans of 2D gaming. It stands proud as an example of how all retro collections should be compiled in terms of content, even if it does serve to highlight minor presentational niggles such as the lack of a button config option that are often common to these packs. Minor niggles aside, these are carefully selected, enjoyable games that have been converted well and sprinkled with enough unlockable treats to keep the player coming back for more. Here’s hoping a Megaman X Collection is forthcoming.