This is definitely both one of the most unfortunate and worst legacy collections within the Mega Man series. I say worst because 2 of the 4 games are bottom of the barrel trash and another is pretty unnoteworthy. But I also say unfortunate because there is one solid game in this collection that I would say is worth playing that just happens to be in the same collection as a bunch of other far inferior games.
I will say, as far as this collection specifically goes, this one (along with X Legacy Collection 1), has the least impressive emulation features among the Mega Man Legacy Collections I've played. The first OG Legacy Collection had amazing features like save stating and rewind. OG Collection 2 cut it back some but at least still had a nice checkpoint save feature. This collection pretty much has nothing aside from a Rookie Hunter option that makes the games easier but it blocks you out from getting achievements if activated.
X5 I would say would be the one game I would even consider getting this collection for. While this game certainly has its quirks like the Enigma/Shuttle Countdown mechanic (that, let's not forget, you can still fail even if you beat all 8 mavericks in the time limit and can lock you out of Zero if you didn't make a safety save beforehand), quite a bit of backtracking for upgrades (especially as Zero), Squid Adler's (Volt Kraken's) Armor Part, and the first couple Sigma stages being annoying, it's still overall a pretty enjoyable time. The Falcon Armor is especially fun to use and I think I like Zero's moveset even more in this game than I did in X4. I do dislike how, if trying to play solo Zero throughout the main stages, you still have to backtrack and get the armor parts and backtrack with said armors for a lot of the heart tanks since a lot of heart tanks are restricted to either Falcon or Gaea Armor X. Interestingly I found that, unlike in X4 where X was good at bosses and Zero stages, I found the reverse to be true in X5, where X was better at stages and Zero bosses. While flawed, I still enjoyed my time with this game as a whole.
While X6 feels like X4 and X5 in base gameplay and aesthetic and certainly had the potential to be quite good, it is marred by horrific level design decisions that ruin this game. While the intro stage is fine, there is at least one major annoyance with most of either the stages or levels. Commander Yammark has the section with insta death spikes where you can't see where you're landing, Rainy Turtloid has the rain that can drain your health, Ground Scaravich has annoying RNG that can make the upgrades a nightmare to get, Infinity Mijinion has that annoying Mechanaloid you're fighting the whole level, Blizzard Wolffang has the annoying ice physics and those ice block segments that OHKO you if you get frozen over, Shield Sheldon has the annoying laser puzzle, Blaze Heatnix has the annoying Ouroboros donut bots that you have to fight 5 times, and Metal Shark Player has the annoying OHKO trash compactor, really annoying armor part, and annoying mini boss. Then in the Castle Stages you literally can't get past certain sections as X without either the proper parts or the Shadow Armor and High Max and Gate are two of the worst bosses in the series. This game is just awful.
X7 is also really bad, with no playable X at the beginning, this is the worst Zero has ever been, abysmal voice acting (coughcoughFlameHyenardcoughcough), and just not a fun game at all. X8 is a little better than 6 and 7 and is tolerable, but it really didn't do much for me and I don't find it worth playing.
I give this game a thumbs down because 2 of the 4 games are awful and I find 3 of the 4 are not worth the time to play. If you really want to play X5, I would at least wait for this game to go on sale before buying. If you do like at least one of the other ones as well from prior experience (I know there are some people who like 6 and 8), then it would be more worth it to pick this collection up.
