Initially received the Game Boy Advance port as a gift, but never made it far. After selling the cartridge, I downloaded a ROM hack translation of the Super Famicom version, and years later, beat the game with Bass, using save states before bosses. Immediately after, I started a new file with Mega Man in order to collect the remaining CDs, and used save states generously.

As someone who considers himself a stalwart fan of the classic Mega Man series, I knew I had to get around to playing this game to completion eventually, but kept putting it off, and I've come to find it was with good reason. Hastily cobbled together with assets from Mega Man 8, Mega Man & Bass is the Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels of the Mega Man series, and it nearly pushed my patience to its limit.

I went in fully expecting this to be a better game than 8, so the question is, is it? At first I thought, "yes" but quickly changed my mind. Gone are the annoying snowboard sections and other quirky gimmicks shoehorned into the previous game, and the shop system is now more in-line with that of 7, as well as IV and V on the Game Boy. It also presents a challenge that its predecessor sorely lacked. So what's the problem? It's unforgiving on every level, that's what. First off, you have absolutely no reason to play as Mega Man; Bass's mobility and multi-directional buster makes him the objectively correct choice, unless you hate yourself. Stages are filled with cheap enemy placement seemingly designed to spite the player, and littered with blind jumps that killed me many a time. And though the shop system has been restored, E Tanks are still missing for some reason; W Tanks are also absent, so if you run out of weapon energy trying to beat the stage boss, you're not getting it replenished until your next game over. And of course, the development staff didn't learn their lesson from 7, and imported much of the graphics made for their PlayStation game into this SNES title. Sure, it looks pretty, but shouldn't that have been a given by 1998?

But the biggest issue I had with Mega Man & Bass, by far, was with the fortress stages. King Stage 2 is a frustratingly long gauntlet nearly twice the length of a normal stage, with not one, not two, but FOUR BOSSES. Checkpoints are sparse, and if at any point you run out of lives, congrats, you're starting from the beginning. The final stage is no better, because instead of allowing you to re-fight the robot masters in any order like before, it forces you into a linear path, facing one boss after another, with additional bullshit platforming sections in-between every encounter. The fortress stages made me realize that Mega Man 8 wasn't too easy, it was simply more forgiving, and forgiveness is nowhere to be found in this hellscape of a game.

By the way, if you're looking to collect all 100 database CDs, don't. The only reward is the accomplishment itself, and a nauseating number of them are hidden underground, which need to be retrieved using Rush Search, the most obnoxious utility item in the series. Several of these CDs are deliberately placed in areas with large amounts of enemies that, if allowed to come in contact with Rush, cancel his digging animation while wasting weapon energy. And even if you know where to dig, he'll dig up a piece of trash if you're off by a few pixels, or if you're lucky, you'll be treated to an animation of him getting his face sprayed with water or his nose pinched by a crab. Why exactly do I need to purchase an item that shows the vague location of these underground CDs when I already bought Rush Search? Hell if I know.

TL;DR - Mega Man & Bass's omission from Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 was a blessing in disguise, as this game does not deserve to share the series' legacy with the numbered entries. It's a frustrating, poorly designed slog that's difficult for all the wrong reasons, and one that I would recommend against playing it at all costs. Please skip this and go straight to 9, you'll thank me later.

Using the Switch version, played all four games, finished each one. Got 90.5% of the challenges (A Rank) on Mega Man 10, and I intend to complete 100% of the challenges on Mega Man 9 someday, but Mr. Perfect is making that difficult to achieve. I will not be returning to the extra challenges for any of the four games—they are fine for bonus content's sake, but ultimately not worth the effort.

Also, while the omission of Mega Man & Bass (8.5, if you will) was initially disappointing, I'm coming to find that the game is not very good, so no big loss there, I guess.