Ah Hard Mode, always alluring us by giving us the option to play our favorite games at an enhanced difficulty. Different games have different ways of designing this occasionally masochistic mode; some merely remove the player's options (weaponry/mobility), some upgrade the armor/damage/patterns/placement of enemies and bosses, and in some cases there will be a complete overhaul of the stage designs. The Megaman Legends series is no stranger to these varying difficulty levels, and it's worth looking back on.

In the first Megaman Legends game, Hard Mode was unlocked after completing the game normally. It simply upped the HP values of enemies and bosses along with making you take more damage. The value of zenny gained through destroying enemies was also reduced. Legends 2 made the difficulty modes a little more dynamic. The game's mode was directly tied to the new license mechanic, which gave the player the option of making the game harder (reavers and bosses have more HP) in favor of a higher zenny payout. You'd start off with a B-License, but taking some tests allowed you to bump the License up to A or S, represented as Medium or Hard Mode, respectively. You could also unlock Hard Mode through beating the game once, starting you off with an S-License by default. Very Hard Mode was a different beast entirely, essentially taking the difficulty of the S-License and ramping it up a few notches, also lowering the value of zenny dropped by enemies immensely.

In retrospect, MML2's Hard Mode was a lot smarter. MML1's difficulty choices didn't really add any extra depth to the gameplay, it's just the same play through with different numbers in place, with easy mode giving you an overpowered buster part so you can curb-stomp the game. Legends 2's license system was a welcome improvement, because you had the allure of a harder game with a higher payout. The License Test forced you to essentially "prove your worth" as a digger that could handle this new challenge. The fact that you could upgrade the difficulty during a play-through as opposed to separately gave it a dynamic touch as well. These extra ruins that the A and S-Licenses give you access to some extra cash, as well as the Hyper Shell and Hunter Seeker, respectively. I like this design decision because the Hyper Shell and Hunter Seeker aren't necessary weapons for any particular section of the game, so if you find yourself having trouble with the license tests, you aren't missing out on too much. Furthermore, if the license tests were too difficult for you and you want to try these weapons, you can just boot up Hard Mode after beating the main game...or play Easy if that suits your fancy.

I wish Very Hard Mode would have been given a little more attention. It's a nice challenge alright, but like Legends 1, all of the parameters that are changed are simply artificial. Legends 2 (with the exception of the PSP version) already charges an arm and a leg for the weapons upgrades, so nerfing the zenny output just gives the mode a larger focus on grinding.

In future Legends games (should we get any), I'd like to see more features like closed-off ruins that the player can access with a higher-level license (MML2 did this a bit), and other secrets/goodies that would make these new licenses attractive to players. Legends 2 did a great job of making the difficulty levels feel like they were a part of the Legends world, as opposed to a simple option selection in a video game. It gave the player an incentive to explore the different ruins scattered about, and rewarded the player with new toys to play with. Enhanced difficulties are a good thing to have in games, but they're even better when they offer the player something in return.

As always, your comments are welcomed and appreciated!

~AquaTeamV3/Buster Cannon