Much like the previous week, and the week before that, and really, mostly every week since the console launched last year, the Nintendo Switch ended up on top of the Japanese video game hardware and software sales charts last week, with 48,370 units sold. This was almost one and a half times more than all the other systems put together- including the PS4, which fell back to sub-20,000 units sold levels, and the 3DS, which was at 8,714 units sold.

Over on the software front, the Mega Man X Legacy Collection topped charts, with the PS4 version selling 29,000 units (the Switch version sold another 16,000 units, and came in at fifth place). Nintendo evergreens, such as Splatoon 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, continued to put up strong sales numbers (and even in Japan, Breath of the Wild is outlegging Super Mario Odyssey, which is doing well in its own right).

You can check out the full charts below:

1. Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2 – PS4 – 29,270/New
2. Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum n’ Fun – Switch – 28,265/98,249
3. Splatoon 2 – Switch – 20,344/2,490,039
4. Mario Tennis Ace – Switch – 18,067/265,228
5. Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2 – Switch – 16,207/New
6. Minecraft – Switch – 16,067/154,118
7. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Switch – 13,887/1,654,996
8. Octopath Traveler – Switch – 13,238/145,788
9. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – Switch – 8,966/71,365
10. Collar X Malice Unlimited – PS Vita – 7,695/New
11. Higurashi When They Cry – Switch – 7,631/New
12. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Switch – 7,508/1,058,399
13. Kirby: Star Allies – Switch – 6,620/572,791
14. Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon – 3DS – 6,569/1,682,636
15. Super Mario Odyssey – Switch – 5,488/1,777,621
16. The Last of Us Remastered (PlayStation Hits) – PS4 – 5,410/New
17. Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash Sunshine Edition – PS4 – 4,535/New
18. Mega Man X Legacy Collection – Switch – 4,246/New
19. Disgaea 1 Complete – PS4 – 4,094/New
20. Dragon Quest X All-in-One Package – Switch – 4,020/New

HARDWARE

1. Switch: 48,370
2. PS4 – 13,666
3. New 2DS XL – 5,459
4. PS4 Pro – 4,979
5. PS Vita – 3,414
6.  New 3DS XL – 2,723
7. 2DS – 532
8. Xbox One X – 317
9. Xbox One – 48

[Source (via ResetERA)]

While the story in the Mega Man X games is actually far more emphasized than in the originals – the games saw the transition to the PlayStation (and later, the PS2), and the eventual inclusion of (rather terrible) voice acting, (poorly directed) cinematic cutscenes, and other storytelling aspirations – ultimately, any Mega Man fan knows that the plot is just an excuse for the action.

Of course, the Mega Man X series actually puts its increased storytelling focus to some good use. For instance, rather than throwing the player to a stage selection screen right away, they have you play through a intro level, which acts as a simple sandbox to come to grips with the game’s mechanics, with a boss fight to boot, before using the story setup to present you with multiple stages for you, disguised as story objectives, that you can pick and choose in any order. In that sense, Mega Man X games are, much like Capcom intended, the original game, just evolved.

"The Mega Man X series actually puts its increased storytelling focus to some good use. For instance, rather than throwing the player to a stage selection screen right away, they have you play through a intro level, which acts as a simple sandbox to come to grips with the game’s mechanics, with a boss fight to boot, before using the story setup to present you with multiple stages for you, disguised as story objectives, that you can pick and choose in any order. "

In other ways, the Mega Man X games actually were a bit different from the original series. They added the ability to dash through stages, and to wall jump, both of which led to faster paced progression through levels, and a bit more forgiving design than the original games. They generally also hewed closer to action than pure platforming, resembling run and gun style gameplay a whole lot of times. But where they didn’t differ from the original games, at least the first four Mega Man X games, was in their mastery over great design and tight control, that makes the player feel directly responsible for everything that they do in the game, success or failure. When you die stupidly on screen, you know it’s because you didn’t jump at the right time, or didn’t manage to attack the boss the way you should have. When you succeed, you know it’s because you’ve mastered the controls and the game itself, as well as its patterns that it asks you to memorize and consider in a far subtler and more organic way than the original games often did with their more overt reliance on getting the player to master their patterns.

If you’re a Mega Man fan, you already know all this. You know what to expect from these games, in fact, that’s why you love them. The question on your mind is whether or not this collection is worth your time. The answer to that, very simply, is yes, it is. If you are a Mega Man fan, the Mega Man X collection is a loving homage to these games of the 1990s that managed to reinvent the Blue Bomber for a new era.

As with the Mega Man Legacy Collection, the Mega Man X Legacy Collection is split into two parts. The original part includes the first four games, and the latter half contains the other four. What this means is that this collection is incredibly front loaded- the first four games are the ones that fans like, with the series generally considered to have declined sharply starting with the fifth game. Sure enough, Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 includes Mega Man 5 and 6, which are at best tired imitations of the far superior original four games, Mega Man X7, a clumsy and misguided attempt at trying to reinvent the series in 3D, and Mega Man X8, which I don’t want to talk about. Meanwhile, the first collection includes the original game, which is a veritable classic (if far harder than I remembered), X2 and X3, which are great extensions, and Mega Man X4, a game that holds up, and is, far better than a lot of fans would give it credit for.

"This collection is incredibly front loaded- the first four games are the ones that fans like, with the series generally considered to have declined sharply starting with the fifth game."

The quality of the games themselves aside, however, these collections are equally worthy- they are both loving emulations of the games, with minimal lag and a collection of great extras fans will love, including a concept art gallery, a boss rush mode that is structured like an arcade game, the ability to play through the games’ entire soundtracks, animated shorts, and more. The fact that some of these games, such as Mega Man X3 are so hard to come by these days for anything even remotely resembling a reasonable price, makes these collections that much sweeter.

Retro game aficionados will find more to love in these collections as well- you are given a lot of options to make your experience as authentic as possible. You can play through the games in their original 4:3 ratios, or stretch them out to fill out the full 16:9 screen you are likely playing these collections on (don’t do that), you can play them with a “cleaned up” look, or with a CRT filter in place, you can even select the background wallpapers that show up to fill the side of your screens if you play the games at a 4:3 ration. For those retro game enthusiasts who find the games are far harder than they remember, or for newcomers to the series, Capcom has even included a “Rookie Mode” across all the games, so you can play them with far easier difficulty than the original titles- something that you may need if the at-times brutal difficulty of the SNES era is not something you want in your games.

"The quality of the games themselves aside, however, these collections are equally worthy- they are both loving emulations of the games, with minimal lag and a collection of great extras fans will love, including a concept art gallery, a boss rush mode that is structured like an arcade game, the ability to play through the games’ entire soundtracks, animated shorts, and more."

There’s not a whole lot to complain about here- Capcom has even gone ahead and split the collections up so you have a choice of which set of games to get. The titles hold up well, especially, paradoxically enough, the earlier games, and remain some of the best games Capcom as ever made to this day. The games look great, sound fantastic, control like a dream, and the collections capture and recreate that amazingly well, with some great extras thrown in to boot as well. If you are a fan of Mega Man, the Mega Man X legacy collections are an unhesitant yes.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2, a compilation of all the classic Mega Man X games together for $20 each, has a new mode called X Challenge. This week’s Famitsu offered some new information on what to expect (translation and scans via Rockman Corner). As it turns out, there’s quite a lot. For instance, did you know there’s actually a story to X Challenge?

X Challenge has two volumes, one for each Collection, and they offer different stages. For example, Stage 1 to 3 in the first volume will have Slash Beast and Crescent Grizzly as bosses. The same stages in Volume 2 will have Web Spider and Wire Sponge though. There are 27 stages in total and players can choose up to three out of nine Special Weapons to battle with (pooled from Mega Man X to X6).

The X Challenge also has difficulty levels that affect settings like health regeneration in the next stage, remaining time carrying over and “strength” of the Mavericks. It also turns out that Mega Man X will have a special new armour similar to Ultimate Armour. No details have been provided on what it does. Finally, online leaderboards for the mode are confirmed.

Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2 is out on July 24th for PS4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch.