The story starts as Dr. Light designs a simple tool using robot. His name, Mega Man. He could build, or fix most anything. Mega Man was quite the feat of technology. Dr. Light then made a similar robot, with general housekeeping abilities, named Roll. Dr. Light was eager to help the world with his technology, as he had done many times before. Needing more man power, he teamed up with his colleague Dr. Wily to build his next 6 creations. 6 specialized robots, each made to handle unique environments which are too dangerous for humans. Dr. Wily slowly started to notice the robots had a lot of physical power, and their unique talents made awesome weapons of destruction. As he became more and more power hungry, Wily stole all 6 robots, and proceeded to launch attacks on the world. Dr. Light knew that action must be taken. He decided his only option was to fit Mega Man with a high energy plasma cannon, and program in tactical battle data... and the rest, as they say, is history.

        Rockman: Mega World has been upgraded quite a bit. All 3 games on the cartridge have major graphics upgrades. The backgrounds are now detailed, and colorful. All of the characters look a LOT less rough. Those who started gaming during the 16-bit, or 32-bit era may want to start with this title, rather than the original NES titles. Most gamers get turned off by NES graphics. Audio has also received a bit of an upgrade. The original killer tunes are back with a vengeance. As far as upgrades go, they are most noticeable in Mega Man 1. That game in particular NEEDED the upgrades, and feels much more playable in the Wily Wars.

        Sadly, Rockman: Mega World is not perfect. Subtle timing differences will probably throw you off at first if you are a Mega Man veteran. It's also a bit more difficult to make long jumps, because you get less room to edge slightly off the side of platforms. The play control unfortunately isn't quite as sharp as one would expect from a Mega Man game. While some people will not exactly be thrilled with those issues, most will hardly notice.

        What compilation would be complete without some new content to really sell it? Upon the completion of Mega Man 1, 2, and 3 you will be treated to the mini-game called “Wily's Tower”. The story involves Wily making three robots for the task of destroying Mega Man (rather than taking over the world). These three are in-fact based on the Chinese fable “The Monkey King”, so expect some vague similarities to Dragon Ball, and Monkey Magic characters (for instance, Buster Rod G uses a cloud to fly on, a telescopic rod for a weapon, and has a tail). What is particularly cool about Wily's Tower, is that instead of stealing enemy weapons, you get to choose eight weapons from Mega Man 1-3 before each level. This offers a LOT of possibilities, however, Wily's Tower only spans seven stages. The extra game may be short, but at least it's moderately cool. The Wily Wars is over-all enjoyable, and Wily's Tower adds a lot of incentive.

        Note: This review applies to the Japanese NTSC version. The European PAL version has a lower frame rate, and the whole game looks, feels, and sounds like it's playing in slow motion. Also, it seems for whatever reason, through emulation, Wily's Tower is not accessible.