Tracking MML Projects

[kion]

Abstract: Over the 2019 and 2020 it seems like we've seen a sudden increase in the number of Megaman Legends fan games and projects. I've seen several posted on twitter and several posted on here, and I've been thinking about making a list like this for sometime. When I was on Re-Caffeinated with Sparky talking to the creator of Rockman Dash Legends it seems like we were like two ships passing each other in the night. And I figured it was a good time to get around to making this list.

Legends Fan Games

Summary: This is a list of games that either aim to recreate Megaman Legends or stay true to the style and formula of Megaman Legends. For each one I'll try to provide a preview video (if exists), a link to any project pages, and links to the creators twitter as well as a summary or any extra information on engine, or otherwise ways to help that I can provide. Creators are more than welcome to post comments, and videos of information they want to have included. Also note that there's no meaning to the numbering, it's more a list of what came to mind first based on what I've seen in recent memory. There is no implicit ranking intended in the order.

1. Mega Man Legends UE4 Redux (MMLX)

Summary: I was really surprised to see JitterBug post this in Discord. It's always great to see a completed version of the Ocean Tower. And even more impressive to see a lot of the gameplay mechanics working and even some what polished. You have your jumping, shooting, and jumping and shooting.

Project Page: In development

Twitter: twitter.com/JJChalupnik

2. Megaman Ancients

Summary: It's been great seeing progress updates from Sid Naik on Twitter. From something that started as a very simple proof of concept has seem to evolve with new concepts enemies and gameplay elements. And while even the creator doesn't seem to know exactly where he seems to be taking this project, we're all happy to be along for the ride to see where it goes.

Project Page: gamejolt.com/games/MegamanAncients/457249

Twitter: twitter.com/sidwasnothere

3. Megaman Legends 1.5

Summary: When I first saw Megaman Legends 1.5 pop up on my twitter feed, I was pretty impressed to see a "fun little" gameplay demo. What I was not expecting was rapid progress and a massive wave of updates from the developer Adam Kareem. While admittedly this title is a little janky, that doesn't diminish one man's extremely dedicated effort to flesh out a world of game mechanics into a well packaged playable demo. This demo is available on Game-Jolt and I highly recommend checking it out and following @adamkareem on Twitter.

Project Page: gamejolt.com/games/MMLegends1p5/417612

Twitter: twitter.com/adamkareem

4.DELTA_GAL

Summary: When I first saw this project on twitter my jaw hit the floor. While I had been working on exporting the original assets for them to be able to be used in fan games, someone had gone and created their own original content, with their own original characters. And doing it all by himself. There is no other way to describe this other than massive dedication. I think the intention is to release the game on steam. We'll watch as this game continues to progress, but every update continues to amaze me more than the last.

Twitter: twitter.com/ArthurVyater

5.Protodroid: DeLTA

Summary: The only creator to not only have one but two projects listed. Adam Kareem took the experience he got from making fan games, and quickly turned his efforts to creating his own IP. The absolute madlad has created a new game in an alternate universe where Mighty Number 9 didn't suck. The game was successfully kickstarted in 2020 and will be released for PC and Switch.

Twitter: twitter.com/protodroidDeLTA

6. Tuttle's Legendary Travels

Project Page: tuttle.legends-station.com/

Twitter:

7. Megaman Legends Godot

Twitter: None(?)
Project Page: gitlab.com/megamanlegends/mml-engine-godot

8. The Master System (Cancelled)

Twitter: None(?)
Member: Rockman Striker
Project Page: arcade.legends-station.com/?sp=mastersystem

Manga / Anime / Comics

1. Rockman Dash Legends

Project Page: www.rockmandash-legends.com/

Twitter : twitter.com/RMDL_Comic

2. Megaman Legends Tribute

[/div]

An awesome animation made as a tribute to legends, voiced by Dashe

Twitter: None(?)

Project Page: None(?)

3. MML Anime

Twitter: twitter.com/AbethGrimshaw

Project Page: None(?)

Legends Fan Mods

1. Japanese Minecraft Mod

2. Trege's a Hat in Time Mod

Steam Page: None(?)

Twitter: None(?)

[SULucina]

   ...This Unit is done processing its thoughts on the matter.


   My Thoughts:


MML UE4 Redux: Beautiful visuals, as is typical of Unreal Engine. Overall the most true to the original source material as far as character models go. Adding a charge shot is nice, though I'm not a huge fan of the sound effect chosen for it. The zenny drops look snazzy and the darkness in some regions in the ruin highlight the glow of Zakobons' eyes. The idea of Canaam's added melee attack at close range is interesting, though it doesn't look like the critter could support itself on its two hind limbs. I don't know. The thing I hope they change are the textures on the ruin walls, and make them look more like a MML ruin than some generic ol' brick-built underground space. But hey, it's unfinished as specifically stated and I'm sure the end result for this would be quite a treat to play.


MM Ancients: I've actually seen a slightly less complete demo of this earlier this year, but the video was hosted on another's Twitter account (XBuster6's, whose avatar pic looks strangely familiar somehow...) The Reaverbots' models' rigging was not solid and limbs would seperate readily at given times. No damage data had been programmed in for the Zakobon that would constantly chase the player around the place (I presume it's Elysium, but not sure.) Also, derpy Trigger (from the 2019 demo.)



   I'm glad that they updated the Hanmuru Doll's model at least, although it still doesn't appear its body parts to want to stay quite together in the recent update either. I hope they fix this in a future version of this game.

   Also, speaking of MegaMan Ancients, I found this footage:

Riding on Dragon Reaverbots


 
MML 1.5: Mayor Amelia Marcy, huh. The weapons system in this game is interesting, building different special weapons sharing some of the same parts necessary to construct them. And, yes please, the ability to switch to another special weapon wherever is a godsend. The city looks pretty nice with a variety of buildings to visit/climb around on. The fact that the vehicles could still kill you was hilarious, though it is a shame that it seems as you can't ride them anymore. Roll's voice acting was done well and picked a fitting actor for her, too.

  What I'm not too fond of is the difficulty of the missions, including the ruin iteslf. For my taste, the turret shots fly way too fast and are not so easily telegraphed so dodging them is a pain in the rump. The player essentially needs to memorize the interval at which these guys shoot at and try dodging at the right time. The electric barrier's hit detection looks way too large and it seems that precision jumping is needed to clear them. -_- Not to mention that should one get KOed near the end they will have to do the ruin all over again from the start. It wouldn't be so bad if the hit detection was more forgiving and weren't being attacked while trying to dodge them.

  The new Reaverbots don't look much like the traditional MML ones, lacking the ball joints amongst other key features. I understand this is a demo, and that they might just be placeholders for the real McCoys down the road, but it doesn't give me a good first impression in all honesty. It seems to me that people have difficulty in nailing the Reaverbot aesthetic than previously thought; you just can't slap on a Reaverbot eye on any old robot and call it a day (boy, I'm really harsh, aren't I?) .

  ...and the realistic appearace of the sky clashes with the more toony look of the characters and town beneath it. There, I'm done bashing.


Delta_Gal: Now this is an aesthetic I could get behind. The PS1/N64 style captures the look and feel of MML perfectly. The bright cheery color scheme is highly reminescent of the first game and the art style of the character models is different but gives off a very similar air to the source material. The main protagonist (Delta[?]) looks like a System version of Roll with the dark skin tone, green hair and red eyes (I'm aware that the early edition of her; reminds me alot like Anima's main OC who sometimes wears casual everyday Carbon clothing. Did she learn to use a grapple beam from Samus? {laugh} It's most definitely a game inspired by MML and is it's own thing, not a sequel, prequel, or an in-between-the-entries kind of MML fan game.


Protodroid DeLTA: I feel similarly about this one as I did with Delta_Gal, but one thing I have to say is that the blast/explosion animations feel out of place in my eyes. The game seems to have the cheeriness of DGal combined with the polygon count of UE MML. Again, like DGal, it is a game that is inspired by MML.


MML Godot: Nothing like repurposing old assets and turning them into something different. Is that the only way to enter that ruin in its current state? I presume the entrance to it is not complete yet. I hope waiting for another update to the project won't be as heartcrushing as the name of this engine would suggest...


Rockman DASH Legends: Awesome take on a MML manga, just needs completion!


Tuttle's Legendary Travels (TLT): A unique take on the series in the perspective of a unique character. Like most every other project mentioned, it needs to be completed, but in order to do that, we've got to get more people on board with that game and making content for it (and we need more members partcipating to do that sadly. *sigh* Am I the only person remaining here besides fAB and Blyka that still wants to work on this game?!)


MML Fan Animation: Hmm...I've seen that animation floating around somewhere on YouTube, where they had a remix of Geetz's battle theme playing in the background... Oh, it's the same one. That remix is from Frozenith (Ariel Geldames,) from her Hyacintho Resilience Remake album. She makes a number of other Mega Man remixes, although most of them are non-Legends.

Site (Music):frozenithmusic.com/music/ , No. 9 in album


Trege's Hat in Time Crossover: Uh oh! Crossover country! And in HD, too. I love all the little details when you check out stuff. That part in the ruins kinda reminds me of those Silent Realm missions in Skyward Sword when you're being chased down by a Guardian, except it's more of a "dark and sinister" feel than a "chaotic they're coming after ya" one. Kinda fitting for the dark dank setting for the ruins with Reaver's eyes being the only source of light around (I've just noticed that a lot of 3D MML games like to do this.)

   I've never played a Hat in Time though, so I'm probably not the best one to be judging this .


   Interesting compilation you've got here. Don't forget to include abethgrimshaw 's and heavymetalpirates 's projects in the future when they're finished (and any others you come across)! It's always appreciated to know that there are leagues of fans still making MML content despite the lack of a new game.

[Dashe]

The Mega Man Legends fan animation also got a dubbed version!

[kion]

Updated post. Added a few explanations for some of the game projects. Managed to get most of the projects to be listed with a youtube video. Still need videos for "Protodroid: Delta" and "Rockman Dash Legends". Next I need to start adding more details to the comic/anime/manga and game mods section. I should also probably add a table of contents at the top.

Mar 16, 2020 19:48:21 GMT -5 SULucina said:

   Interesting compilation you've got here. Don't forget to include abethgrimshaw 's and heavymetalpirates 's projects in the future when they're finished (and any others you come across)! It's always appreciated to know that there are leagues of fans still making MML content despite the lack of a new game.

I added a placeholder for AbethGrimshaw. I looked around and found some tweets, but I don't know if there are any youtube videos or rough cuts. I'll update the post if I get any more information. For heavymetalpirates I found some posts expressing intent, but I don't know if there is any information on projects.

Mar 21, 2020 23:49:59 GMT -5 Dashe said:

The Mega Man Legends fan animation also got a dubbed version!

Thanks. I was looking for the original but wasn't able to come across it. So I updated the video in the post to use the dubbed version.

[Rockman Striker]

I'm not sure if my current project qualifies on this list but I think I'll drop some links in case you think it does.
My old project was "The Master System" a game featuring Yuna and Sera, it is now cancelled but you can still find the demo in Sky Pirate Arcade: arcade.legends-station.com/?sp=mastersystem
I decided to turn that game into my own IP and presented the new concept in webcomic form, it is called "Autonoma Mekanika Spirito"
The world, setting and characters had to be modified a little but there are still some nods and references to identify where are they inspired from, the story is practically the same I wrote for The Master System, and my goal is to turn this project back into a game.
You can find the comic here: sites.google.com/view/quetzal-andr0ide



Synopsis:
The world is threatened by a species of bio-mechanical creatures known as "Autonoma", it is the duty of the exterminators to keep them at bay. One of these groups is formed by the androids Luna and Sol, they try to prevent the destruction of their civilization, just like the previous one disappeared hundreds of years ago.

[kion]

Mar 25, 2020 9:08:13 GMT -5 Rockman Striker said:

I'm not sure if my current project qualifies on this list but I think I'll drop some links in case you think it does.
My old project was "The Master System" a game featuring Yuna and Sera, it is now cancelled but you can still find the demo in Sky Pirate Arcade: arcade.legends-station.com/?sp=mastersystem
I decided to turn that game into my own IP and presented the new concept in webcomic form, it is called "Autonoma Mekanika Spirito"
The world, setting and characters had to be modified a little but there are still some nods and references to identify where are they inspired from, the story is practically the same I wrote for The Master System, and my goal is to turn this project back into a game.
You can find the comic here: sites.google.com/view/quetzal-andr0ide

[Image truncated for readability]

Synopsis:
The world is threatened by a species of bio-mechanical creatures known as "Autonoma", it is the duty of the exterminators to keep them at bay. One of these groups is formed by the androids Luna and Sol, they try to prevent the destruction of their civilization, just like the previous one disappeared hundreds of years ago.

Okay, added "The Master System". Let know if you have a youtube video preview and/twitter or any other information you want included. In terms of my loose criteria for this list. For games I'm being loose for anything "Legends", or "Legends-Like". For media like anime and manga, I'm being a little more strict and limiting the entries specifically to media that feature characters from the legends universe. Spin offs about specific characters or unique characters that exist within the world would also count. It might even be a good idea to split the post into a "fan-games" sticky and "fan-manga" sticky.