When I was in 7th grade, I thought Mega Man Star Force’s themes about friendship and brotherhood were profound. Its villains were cartoonishly evil, spouting lines like, “who needs friendship when you have power?” I ate all of that up! Playing through the Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection almost 20 years later, I now couldn’t help but wince at the cringy dialogue. That’s not a shock given this Nintendo DS series was tailormade for kids like me back then, but it was still fun to get a chance to reexamine these games on a deeper level two decades on. And when taken as a whole, Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection has a still-poignant story arc about gaining confidence through camaraderie packed alongside exciting card battling, newly restored content, and welcome quality-of-life improvements.This collection contains the entire Star Force trilogy, consisting of seven games when you tally up all their different versions. While purists can play them as simple remasters, they’ve also been updated with helpful features that can be toggled to enhance the overall experience, like toning down incoming enemy damage or making Mega Man’s Buster power stronger. There’s even a rearranged soundtrack, redrawn card art, and a gallery filled with concept art and scrapped ideas to celebrate its history. Online functionality like PvP and card trading are supported too. Much of the feedback from 2023’s Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection is incorporated here, making Star Force Legacy Collection even more of a robust package.All of the Star Force games follow the adventures of a young boy named Geo Stelar, who becomes reclusive and anti-social after his father disappears in space. That is, until an alien named Omega-Xis (Mega) convinces Geo to merge with him to fight off other aliens that are coming after him in exchange for information about his father. Thus Mega Man is born. The first Star Force uses this setup to tell a touching tale about how Geo comes out of his shell and learns to make friends thanks to Mega’s headstrong personality. The main cast is strong throughout, in part because each of them is going through their own personal issues. Class president Luna’s commanding personality comes from her strict parents, while the idol Sonia deals with the pressures of the music industry. The other aliens hunting Mega down prey on these negative feelings and merge with them to create monsters, which Mega Man then has to defeat – all while Geo learns that he’s not alone. That “monster of the week” structure works well in the first Star Force because it gives more characters an opportunity to grow alongside Geo. It’s an, ahem, stellar introduction.The monsters themselves also standout. The Mega Man series often borrows bosses from its different incarnations, but Star Force’s bosses are based on constellations like Taurus, Cancer, and Gemini, resulting in something much more original. This gives Star Force its own identity that differentiates it nicely from other Mega Man series like Battle Network.Star Force 2’s story takes a bit of a tumble, but Star Force 3 is a terrific rebound.Unfortunately, Star Force 2’s story takes a bit of a tumble as it tries to mimic the same structure as the first entry. It’s about an evil scientist who wants to bring back an ancient civilization, but this time the alien bosses merge with forgettable side characters instead of the main cast. As a result, there’s not nearly as much emotional investment, and the main villains don’t live up to their full potential either. Mega Man’s rival, aptly named Solo, is his antithesis and rejects all bonds and friendships. He’s the most compelling of the new villains, but his backstory isn’t fleshed out enough, which is unfortunately a running theme in Star Force 2.Star Force 3’s story, however, is a terrific rebound. While its bosses are still mostly side characters, the main villains surrounding them are much more interesting. The bond between orphans Tia and Jack evolves throughout the story, giving them proper redemption arcs by the time it ends. Additionally, the “latest advancements in technology” finally make Mega visible to Geo’s friends, allowing for fun interactions that weren’t in the previous entries. Although Star Force 3 likes to beat its themes over your head with a hammer, the main concept centers around “purpose.” Basically, friends who work together towards a common goal can achieve anything, like stopping a giant meteor from crashing into Earth. Sure, it’s corny, but it’s a fitting cap to a trilogy that’s all about the power of friendship.Each game also has expansive post-game content, adding more lore whenever you’re finished playing the main story. Star Force 3 has the most impressive of them all, bringing back characters from the previous games and fleshing them out even more. And that includes offering harder enemies to fight and optional super bosses.Playing CardsMega Man Star Force’s combat is a blend of mostly real-time action with some light turn-based card battling. When Mega Man’s Custom Gauge is full, the fight pauses and brings up a screen with randomly assorted Battle Cards that can hit enemies, bolster his moves, or guard against enemy attacks. After confirming which cards to use, Mega Man moves in real-time as he positions himself to either strike or dodge incoming assaults. It’s not dissimilar to today’s roguelike card battlers such as Slay the Spire 2 or Monster Train 2, but with a twist that makes it fun and exciting in its own way.Since Star Force takes place approximately 200 years after the end of the Mega Man Battle Network series, their combat systems are similar. But Star Force separates itself from its progenitor by having Mega Man only able to move left and right, with his back facing you instead of having you look down at a grid. That makes the series feels very familiar if you’ve played Battle Network, but this simple change is surprisingly refreshing.In battle, Mega Man can only pick cards that are identical or in the same column on the selection screen. This encourages you to strategize and prioritize certain cards in order to create combos. Depending on your performance in battle, enemies can drop currency or even new Battle Cards to customize your deck, called a Folder here. There are certain rules you have to follow, such as having a maximum of 30 cards per Folder, with up to five Mega-class cards and one Giga-class card. The deckbuilding elements in Star Force are engrossing as there’s so many different possible combinations to choose from.If you hit an opponent right as they’re about to unleash their own attack, you’ll perform a counterattack and draw an extra card from your Folder, so you’re incentivized to play thoughtfully and not just spam attacks. And if you’re in one of Mega Man’s transformed states, you’ll even have the chance to execute a Big Bang instead, which are ultimate attacks that inflict massive damage. Counterattacks are satisfying, and seeing the Big Bang rip enemies to shreds is the cherry on top.Where Star Force and Star Force 2 are mechanically similar, Star Force 3 takes the extra step to add some more combat features. Here, Battle Cards can sometimes land behind others on the selection screen and can’t be picked normally. Instead, they have an alternative effect, like how electric elemental cards will add paralysis to another card regardless of whether they’re in the same column. It’s an interesting yet polarizing wrinkle that allows you to switch your tactics on the fly if your current selection isn’t showing much promise.Alternatively, you can choose to use that background card for its normal effect, with the drawback being that it’s the only card you can use for that turn. You can always just choose to use a different card too and the background card will eventually come to the foreground, letting you select it normally for its primary effect. That alleviates the randomness of the mechanic if a card you really needed ends up being behind others first.Pick and ChooseEach game in the Star Force trilogy has multiple versions, just like how the mainline Pokemon series approaches it. Depending on the version you pick, Mega Man gets different transformations and types of Giga-class cards. In the first Star Force, the version differences aren’t too drastic. You have your choice between Pegasus, Leo, and Dragon, each with an exclusive boss fight and unique Big Bang attack. Although these transformations are mostly aesthetic changes, they still shake up battles a bit while providing a solid foundation for the subsequent Star Force games to iterate on.Thankfully, if you go online and add people to your in-game friend list with a different version than you, you get access to that version’s transformation. That means you won’t need to play all three versions just to see everything for yourself. Unfortunately, the Legacy Collection doesn’t support crossplay, so you can’t battle against or trade cards with players on other platforms. It’s a huge missed opportunity, and kind of ironic given Star Force’s themes about forming connections between people.In Star Force 2, there are also three different transformations for Mega Man: The lightning sword-wielding Zerker, the wood Ninja, and the flaming dinosaur-head Saurian, all of which are a step up. You can combine two of them to gain the benefits of each, making the transformations much more interactive and engaging compared to the first game. You can also combine all three to become the powerful Tribe King, which has all of the glorious powers of each, but only lasts for three turns. It’s hard to pull off, but incredibly gratifying when you do. Plus, its tremendous Big Bang attack can completely turn the tables during boss battles, making the effort worth it.The first game's version differences are mostly aesthetic, but they still shake up battles a bit.Star Force 3 is the most similar to traditional Battle Network games, yet simultaneously the most innovative, making it the best of the trilogy. It introduces “Noise,” where Mega Man can mutate into different forms based on enemies from previous games, giving him unique abilities. It’s reminiscent of the Style system from Battle Network 2 and 3 in that these forms are permanent but can be switched whenever a new one is unlocked. And like Star Force 2, you can also combine two of them. There are 10 different Noise forms between both versions, resulting in a staggering 100 possible combinations. It was fun to experiment and see which one fit my playstyle the most.There's also a Noise percentage gauge that builds up during battle by using strong cards to overkill enemies. The bigger the card’s attack power and the opponent’s HP, the higher the Noise level rises. Noise also gradually drops over time, so Mega Man has to remain on the offensive, as well as avoid incoming attacks. Playing well and ending battles with that gauge over 100% grants you certain rewards like Illegal Battle Cards. They’re much more powerful variants of their normal counterparts, and are well worth getting to strengthen your Folder’s firepower. Upon reaching 200%, Mega Man can transform into his Finalized Noise form, either the hulking Red Joker or the speedy Black Ace (depending on your version) similar to Mega Man Battle Network 6’s Gregar and Falzar transformations. Like the Tribe King, he’s granted immeasurable power. I was only ever able to achieve this transformation during boss fights, which hammers the point home that it’s Mega Man’s trump card. As always, the Finalized Noise form’s Big Bang attack is utterly devastating and feels rewarding to execute, especially considering its narrow three-turn limit. Plus, it looks absolutely badass.Retrofitting for the FutureAs a remastered collection of Nintendo DS games, things that were originally displayed on the bottom touch screen of the handheld have now been relegated to a smaller screen off to the side, and you can swap between these two screens freely. It’s an elegant solution that works most of the time. There are a few awkward instances where certain minigames require completely different screen formatting, and touch controls have been replaced with cursors. However, these changes don’t have a negative impact in the grand scheme of things and the transition between different screens is handled smoothly.Some very helpful quality of life features have been added as well, such as a much needed auto-save. It’s a feature that we take for granted in 2026. In the original DS games, if Mega Man got deleted in battle, you’d have to start from your last manual save – so if you forgot to save for a long period of time, well… you’re out of luck! There’s also a slider for random enemy encounters, solving Star Force 2’s atrociously high rate that contributed to the original’s sluggish pacing and obnoxious backtracking.Mega Man’s running speed on the field can also be increased, which further alleviates backpedalling, and you can adjust different difficulty parameters such as increasing the amount of money earned after battle, fully restoring HP after battle, and guaranteeing escape from battle. This helps make the series more approachable than ever. Cut content from the original English versions has been restored in this collection, too. That includes the Boktai crossover event in Star Force, Wave Command Cards in Star Force 2, and Noise Cards in Star Force 3. Even if you’ve already played the originals, these reinstated features are more than enough to draw you back in, giving Mega Man even more ways to customize his Folders and abilities.On top of all of these additions, bonus Battle Cards throughout all three entries that were only available through special in-person events or real-life toys and peripherals can now simply be downloaded into your Folder from the get-go. Many of these are hilariously overpowered, especially if you redeem them at the beginning of a playthrough, but their inclusion is a fitting bow that ties the entire collection together.