Mega Man Battle Network took the series’ robot battles in a totally different direction on Game Boy Advance, with a grid-based combat system and an isometric world to explore. It’s a beloved series, but it’s been over 15 years since the last game was released. Now, fans will get a chance to scoop up the entire collection on modern platforms, and they are quite jubilant.
All it takes is a quick glimpse of Reddit to see how excited the fan base is. KirbyDiscovery shared the announcement trailer in their thread, barely containing their excitement and typing in all caps. Fellow Redditors Zesnowpea and notjokr have the same energy in their posts: a mix of disbelief and pure excitement. Zeboni put together a meme to convey their thoughts, using Pokémon X and Y’s AZ to illustrate how long the Battle Network fans have been waiting.
Part of what has fans so hyped up is the completeness of this collection. There are technically 10 Battle Network games, though the numbers only go up to six. Starting with the third game, the series began offering two versions of every entry, in the same way that Pokémon games do. Battle Network 3 had Blue and White versions, 4 had Red Sun and Blue Moon, 5 had Team Protoman and Team Colonel, and 6 had Cybeast Gregar and Cybeast Falzar. Every one of those games will be included in the collection, split across two digital volumes. Volume One has the first three titles in the series (for a total of four games), and Volume Two has all the rest. You can also buy a single physical edition that includes the entire run.
Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection will launch sometime in 2023. It’s headed to PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4, with backwards compatibility on PlayStation 5. Every game in the collection includes a high-resolution filter, art gallery, and music player.