Later this year Capcom will be releasing a remastered bundle called Mega Man Legacy Collection, which brings the first six Mega Man games to PS4, Xbox One, PC, and 3DS. There's no shortage of ways to play classic Blue Bomber games, but this collection is something different; it's the first release from Digital Eclipse, a new studio focused on preserving classic games for future generations.

"Movies have the Criterion Collection, but there hasn't been anything like that for games," Frank Cifaldi, head of restoration at Digital Eclipse, says in a statement. "We're living in the golden age of a brand new form of artistic expression, and we're not doing a very good job of making sure our games will be available five years from now, let alone 50. The more we can do right now to take video game preservation seriously, the safer our history will be."

"We're not doing a very good job of making sure our games will be available five years from now."

In addition to the games, the Mega Man Legacy Collection will also include a host of bonus material, including concept sketches and other art. The digital museum will gather together Mega Man-related material from 1987 to 1992. According to Digital Eclipse, while the collection has lots to dig into for diehard fans of the series, the aim is also to "introduce newcomers to what made Mega Man such a popular and iconic character." While Mega Man is one of the most iconic names in gaming, the series has largely died off of late. Longtime producer Keiji Inafune recently left Capcom and is now working on his own, Mega Man-inspired game called Mighty No. 9.

While the new Mega Man collection will be the first release from Digital Eclipse, the plan is to do the same with more games moving forward. The company built its own engine with the goal of making it easier to make old games playable on new hardware. Unlike books or movies, the process of archiving and preserving video games is particularly difficult, due largely to the hardware requirements; the new Eclipse Engine aims to streamline that process. "Once a game is converted to our Eclipse format, it will run anywhere Eclipse does," the company says of its engine. "And we'll keep it updated, too, meaning that wherever we go, the games can easily follow."

The collection will be available for $14.99 on console and PC this summer, with the 3DS version launching later in the year.