Originally bundled with the Japanese release of The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, Rockman Dash 2: Episode 1: ‘Roll-chan Kiki Ippatsu!’ no Maki is a cute standalone demo for Mega Man Legends 2. With a fun little story that sees Roll kidnapped by the villainous Tron Bonne and her army of Servbots, this Japan-exclusive demo has long been a bit of a holy grail for western fans of the series. But now, thanks to the team at Hilltop Works, this gem has finally been translated into English, complete with subtitles for the original Japanese voice acting. Its a brilliant piece of work, but I wouldn’t expect any less from the people who brought us full translations for Boku no Natsuyasumi 2, Racing Lagoon, Dr. Slump and more.
The demo generously features four scenarios to chose from. The first acts as a simple tutorial for the controls, which are significantly improved from the original Mega Man Legends and The Misadventures of Tron Bonne. The next two see Mega Man chasing after a farm girl’s missing pigs, with a cheeky surprise at the end, and a dungeon filled with treasures and Reaverbots for the player to explore. The final scenario is where the real meat of the experience lies, featuring full voice acting and a gauntlet of Servbots to fight through.
With everything wrapped up in about half an hour or so, this demo disc is a much needed extra slice of Mega Man Legends goodness that makes the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 all the more painful. In the meantime, I’d love to see a full undub of the original PS1 series so us English-only plebeians can appreciate that marvelous original voice acting.
Check out Hilltop’s Patreon, and vote here to help them decide which game to translate next.
