Topic: Mega Man X Review Mini

[Halbred]

It's all been leading up to this.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/34411

Put me in front of Mega Man X and I will play it and probably beat it. The game is so familiar to me now that any playthrough is about 80% muscle memory, and that's okay, because the other 20% of my thought process is something like "this is so awesome." Mega Man X came out around the same time as Mega Man 7, and it was instantly clear which series was going to be the big deal. X took the classic Mega Man stage progression and boss weapon weakness mechanic and layered new moves, new upgrades, the ability to revisit stages and lots of exploration and experimentation to the formula.

Mega Man X travels through eight various environments to defeat eight animal-like Robot Masters before taking on his old mentor (who's gone rogue, er, Maverick), Sigma...and his dog. X must find Heart Tanks, which increase his life bar, Energy Capsules which refill his life bar (and must be recharged) and new parts from his long-dead creator, Dr. Light, if he has any chance of beating Sigma. The game is essentially flawless, with amazing music and big, beautiful sprites. The goofy, friendly aesthetic of the old Mega Man series is gone--Mega Man X is for real.

While subsequent games in the series are also rock-solid, nothing quite reaches the level of zen that the original Mega Man X does, and if you've never played it, I envy you! To play Mega Man X for the first time would be a real treat. If you've played it already, you know how good it is, and you've probably already bought it. If you haven't, what's wrong with you?

[Pixelated Pixies]

Mega Man X is great, but I'd still rather have the gameplay of the NES games. This is perhaps a trivial distinction to make, but to me the X series feels like an action game whereas the original series feels like an action/platformer. I guess I just prefer the latter.

[nickmitch]

I get what you're saying. I think the X series definitely had more of an action focus to it.

[alegoicoe]

Am already halfway to the bosses. I got to say, the restore feature has come handy in this game.

[Halbred]

MMX is definitely more of an action game, and I love it for that. The Restore Points are lifesavers in Sigma's first area where you're constantly knocked off those propeller platforms by asshat flying robots.

[christapo]

I think the biggest flaw was the dash being a power up, instead of standard equipment (like in X2).  Who doesn't do Chill Penguin first just to get that?

[Kytim89]

I would really love to see a new Megaman X game that plays similar to Metroid: Other M, but much better than game.

[night814]

Such a great game. Been playing it almost 20 years now

[SonofMrPeanut]

I know I wasn't the only one reading "What's wrong with you?" as Reggie.

[Ian Sane]

MMX is part of my "original six".  What does that mean?  When my brothers and I got a SNES we managed to accumulate six games over the console's lifetime.  My SNES collection is now huge but those other games were bought after the SNES was no longer current.

The original six:
Super Mario World
Donkey Kong Country
Saturday Night Slam Masters
NBA Jam
Mega Man X
and... Bubsy (my youngest brother's embarassing poor taste sullies an otherwise flawless lineup)

I have since bought MMX2&3 but find that I suck at those games.  MMX was a game we all just gradually get decent at because we only had so many games so we got lots of practice.  It's my favourite Mega Man game but that might partially be because it's the one I spent the most time with.  Though I typically find that for 2D franchises the 16-bit version is typically the best as it has tons of polish the originals don't have and since it was contemporary it has the top devs working on it and doesn't intentionally cater to retro cliches.

I like how MMX has all these hidden permanent power-ups to re-enter levels to get.  It adds a subtle Metroid flavour to the mix.  And here is the number one reason it is better than the NES games - none of those stupid disappearing platforms!

[accc]

Mega Man X didn't come out at around the same time as Mega Man 7, it was almost two years earlier. It actually came out before Mega Man 6!

[TJ Spyke]

It actually came out before Mega Man 6!

No it didn't. In Japan MM6 came out October 5, 1993 and MMX came out December 13, 1993. You are right if you mean North America though, where MMX came out in January 1994 and MM6 came out in March 1994.

[Mop it up]

Mega Man 7 > Mega Man X

I'm sure bad things are about to happen to me now, but I had to say it!

[EasyCure]

Mega Man 7 > Mega Man X

I'm sure bad things are about to happen to me now, but I had to say it!

MM7 had its moments but considering I played it after playing MMX, it just didn't compare. It quickly became two completely different franchises in my eyes. MM6 was good too and I was hoping 7 would translate the classic MM formula to SNES but it didn't. MMX, at least in my eyes, was what a new-gen MM game should have been.

On a side note: Another reason MMX is so great, even if you're not the one playing, you can have just as much fun playing air guitar while your buddy plays the game!