It’s a Mega Masterpiece, Reviewed by a Mega Moron!
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Year: 1994
Played on: Gamecube (Via Megaman X collection)
Also on: Super NES, PS2, MS-DOS, iOS, Android, SNES Classic (If you can find one!)
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
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“Your power is greater then I thought.”
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Date posted: October 16, 2017
PREMISE
I’m going to go ahead and say it. Mega Man X is my favorite Super Nintendo game of all time. I can already hear “But my Chrono Trigger!” and “My Super Metroid!” and that weird guy in the back screaming “MUH DIRT TRAX FX!”. Chrono Trigger and Super Metroid are not only great games, their some of the best games that the SNES had to offer, but there is somethings about Mega Man X that speak to me on a personal level, and I’ll explain why this game means more to me then my dog, who I have just finished eating.
Set in the far future, years after the original series, Mega Man X follows, well, Mega Man X. Some evil robots, called Mavericks, to quote the manual, “Started making trouble in X’s neighborhood. He got in one little fight and his mom got scared. She told him, “You’re movin’ with your auntie and uncle Zero in Bel-Air Future robot city.” The Mavericks are lead by some bald guy named Sigma, who’s an asshole, with his right-hand man, Vile. I may have paraphrased that a bit, but it’s pretty much the premise.
PROS
Everything you love about classic Mega Man is here, but there are some new welcome changes. You now have the ability to slide along and wall kick walls. There are now pieces of armor to collect, which further your abilities, most notably one that lets you dash. There are also Heart Tanks that you can collect, that increase max health, and Sub Tanks, which let you collect health power-ups for later use (probably on that damn spider in Sigma’s Fortress).
After all these years, I STILL don’t know the proper way to get this thing.
There are 13 stages total- One hell of an opening stage, 8 stages that you can play in any order (in true Mega Man fashion), and 4 final stages that make up Sigma’s Fortress. The levels fit the basic formula- water stage, fire stage, etc.- however, they are pretty well laid out. Each stage has a good amount of secrets, featuring the aforementioned Heart Tanks, Sub-tanks, and Armor pieces. Another cool feature- You can actually affect what happens in other stages by defeating the bosses in a certain order. For example, wreckage from Storm Eagle’s ship can be found in Sting Chameleon’s stage, or if you beat Chill Penguin, then Flame Mammoth’s stage will freeze over, just like hell will when I finally get a life.
Of course, since it’s a Mega Man game, every boss has their own unique powers you can get after you defeat them. However, another awesome feature lets you use a secondary attack once you find the buster armor upgrade. It’s little things like this that really set it above and beyond the classic series of games, in my not-expert opinion.
Another picture from my High School book. Ah, the memories! That’s me on the bottom left!
The bosses themselves have a good variety- You have Storm Eagle flying all over the place, Sting Chameleon turning invisible and being an all around @#%#^! Armored Armadillo rolling around, possibly at the speed of sound. (He has places to go. He has to follow his rainbow.) Then you have the Sigma Fortress bosses, which are just agonizingly brilliant. That Spider, that Face-thing. Some kind of monster-car? I don’t know.
The last boss is one hell of fight. First you kill his dog, and then the guy pulls out a freaking light saber. He then proceeds to jump around like some mad man. After that, it’s not over- he then turns into a giant purple beaver, I kid you not! It’s a pretty good way to end such a well-designed game. Also, Zero dies, but comes back to life, but then dies again in a later game. It’s sort of his thing.
Yep. This is the creation of a sound mind, I’ll tell you what!
Finally there’s the music. I cannot describe how good the soundtrack for this game is, and who much I awkwardly hum them in the shower, scaring away everyone else in the YMCA locker room. Just go listen to them yourself, or better yet, just play the damn game! Easily one of my favorite OST’s of all time. OF ALL TIME!
Wait, I can add Youtube videos? Why the hell didn’t I figure this out until now?
CONS
I really can’t think of anything major (except that f*&#ing spider!). It may be hard for some people, especially if you don’t know the boss weaknesses, or where any of the items are. Ironically, some people may find the game too easy when they know all the weaknesses and items. Frustration might be the game’s biggest problem, and that’s not inherently bad!
FINAL VERDICT
I personally find this game to be one of my alltime favorite games, a Masterpiece! Not everyone will agree, but hey, that’s why I made this blog- to share my terrible opinions! It’s a shame though- this series just got worse and worse over the years, eventually giving way to a pile of garbage called Mega Man X7… but well burn that bridge when we get there…
Also if you’re on the fence about playing this game, you can unlock the ability to use Ryu’s Hadouken. If that won’t make you play this game, along with everything aforementioned, then I don’t know if I can help you.
Agree? Disagree? Good! Leave a comment about how terrible my taste is in the comments below!
Gamer's Edge 