I know this is a bit of a strange order, but with the classic and Zero series done, I wanted to finally tackle the Mega Man X series. I've only ever played the first one, which I did really like, but otherwise I'm going into this series fairly blind. I'm excited to see how I end up enjoying them:
Mega Man X: As someone who got into video games during the Gamecube/DS/Wii era, I don't really tend to look a lot of those "untouchable classics" with the same kind of reverence that so many others do. Ocarina Of Time is my least favorite 3D Zelda, I think Super Metroid is great but its controls make it hard to go back to, and I find Super Mario Bros 3's difficulty curve is way too all over for the place. Hell, even in this very series, Mega Man 2 is in the lower echelon of Mega Man games for me despite its iconic status. Mega Man X, though? That game holds up incredibly well. It is still a fantastic action-platformer. It's still one of the best games on the SNES. And it's still one of the best Mega Man games ever made.
Being the first 16-bit entry of the series, Mega Man X wanted to establish itself as a newer generation of Mega Man, and thus made a lot of really cool changes from the original formula. X can still jump, shoot, and even do a very well-balanced charge shot, but now, he's able to wall-jump. It's a nice addition to the moveset that controls very well and allows for more verticality in stages. X can also get upgrades to his armor, hidden away in a bunch of the stages, and some of these upgrades add even more depth to the gameplay. For example, one upgrade can let X charge all of his boss weapons, a very great addition that gives each weapon a slightly bigger moveset and makes the boss rush a bit more interesting depending on how soon you get the upgrade. But the best one of the bunch is the Leg Upgrade, which lets X do a dash move. I love a good dash, it lets X traverse stages faster, quickly dodge out of danger, and you can even chain it with a wall jump to leap off of walls. That last move, however, is a bit clunky to use here. In later games and the Zero series, you can hold the dash button and wall jump, but here, you need to press dash and jump at the same time which just doesn't feel as intuitive. Outside of that minor gripe, though, X's control is incredibly fluid and he just feels great to play as.
The level design in Mega Man X is absolutely fantastic, starting with that iconic opening stage. While I've never fully completed MMX prior to now, I have played that opening stage several times and it will always be one of the best tutorials in any game ever. But what no one really seems to talk about is just how much fun the standard Maverick stages are as well. Every level is filled to the brim with memorable setpieces and the way the game constantly tosses out new ideas just leads to absolutely perfect pacing. There's the Ride Armor sequences, the elevator in Boomer Kuwanger's stage, the falling rocks in Sting Chameleon's stage, and best of all, the minecarts in Armored Armadillo's stage. But even more, as much as I loved the classic games, there's not a single one that doesn't have some sort of frustrating BS somewhere in its level design. That's not the case in Mega Man X. Every stage is intuitive while still being challenging and each death felt like my own fault.
I also just adore the way Mega Man X's stages encourage replaying the game in a variety of ways. I praised Mega Man 7's hidden collectibles, but the way you get some of the collectibles in MMX is really cool, like destroying a boat and having it lead you to a robotic sea-dragon that holds a Heart Tank, destroying a watchtower to get a Sub Tank, frantically trying to wreck a drill before it destroys your path to a Heart Tank, and of course, the crazy sequence of events that nets you a hadouken. Even more, there's the fact that beating a certain stage could impact another stage, that certain upgrades can help you pass certain sections, and that bosses have multiple weaknesses that affect them in different ways, all helping to make you want to replay Mega Man X in different orders to see what you missed. Speaking of which, the bosses are pretty solid too, with each having varied attack patterns that are mostly (except Launch Octopus) fun to dodge. However, just like with its SNES successor Mega Man 7, it's pretty easy to stunlock them. I also really liked the lineup of weapons since every single one of them is useful, but I couldn't help but feel they're a bit less varied than the lineups you'd get from the classic series, they're all just different shot types. Still, that's not inherently a bad thing since this consistency means we don't get any duds like Power Stone, Thunder Wool, or Spark Shock here.
Just like with any classic Mega Man game, the X series also makes sure to have some lengthy endgames where you storm the final boss's (usually Sigma) castle. Sigma's Fortress in this game is pretty good, amping up the challenge even more while still not feeling unfair. I don't think it quite reaches the heights of the best classic Wily Castles in terms of its level design, but between the fantastic story beats, great music and visuals, fun boss fights, and high difficulty, Sigma's Fortress feels really climactic here. In addition, I really like the way Mega Man X does its boss rush. It sprinkles out bosses like in MM1 and MM&Bass but it does so thoughtfully without leaving you without health pickups for too long like in MM1 or stretching out a stage like in MM&Bass. And between the charge upgrade and Hadouken, there's a lot of novelty to being able to refight the bosses. I also found the final boss to be incredibly fun, far beyond pretty much any of Wily fights, with multiple unique fights, a fast pace, and a high difficulty that doesn't end up becoming overwhelming like that infamous Wily Capsule in Mega Man 7.
Outside of the game itself, Mega Man X's presentation is great. The story is simple but incredibly tight and effective, introducing X, Zero, Vile, and Sigma pretty much perfectly. The graphics are clean and detailed, really showcasing how much more the SNES could do than its predecessor. Something that you'll probably find consistent in these reviews is that I adore the art direction and aesthetic of the X series, particularly X1-X6. From the SNES era's gritty original trilogy Star Wars vibes to the PS1 era's more digital Y2K-ish look, I absolutely adore the way these games look regardless of their quality. And of course, that soundtrack is absolutely fantastic, easily one of the best on that console. So yeah, as you can tell by how freaking long this review in particular is, I think Mega Man X is really good. The gameplay improvements over classic Mega Man are game-changers, the level design is not only well-executed but immensely fun, the secrets are creatively-hidden, the replay value is nearly endless, the bosses and weapons are consistently great, the presentation is fantastic, and the pacing and difficulty curve is spot-on all the way from the beginning to its fantastic ending. Even the gripes I have with this game are purely nitpicks, it really does live up to the hype as one of the absolute best games in the series.
5/5 Stars
Mega Man X2: Something being "more of the same" doesn't really bother me if it's more of a good thing. For example, The Force Awakens is a bit of an A New Hope ripoff, but A New Hope is good and so is The Force Awakens, so I don't mind too much. Mega Man X2 may just be more of Mega Man X, but seeing how Mega Man X is an amazing game, X2 is pretty great too. It doesn't change or add too much in terms of gameplay but I generally like what X2 brings to the table. For starters, you can dash from the start which I thought was a fantastic idea. It allowed stages to have much tougher platforming that actively required you to dash. Even more, you can now do a dash wall jump just by holding down the dash button, bringing X2 in line with the Zero games I'm more used to and thus fixing the single control issue I had with the last game. We have some more pretty sick upgrades, like being able to dash in the air and shoot two charge shots at once, and the game introduces a new vehicle called the Ride Chaser that basically serves as a fast speeder X can ride on. Unfortunately, it's pretty underused and only shows up in Overdrive Ostrich's stage, but that'll get fixed in later games. X2's final big addition is the X-Hunters, three bosses who have Zero's body parts that you can track down in stages to get them back. If you don't find them or are unable to, you'll have to fight an evil rebuilt version of Zero right before the final boss, which is a decision I like. You can skip the X-Hunters at the cost of a harder endgame, or you can track them down to make things a bit easier for you. However, my one complaint here is that you don't really get a concrete reward for putting Zero together, like some special weapon or the ability to play as him. The only thing you get is an easier final boss, which is a bit on the disappointing side.
As far as the level design goes, X2 keeps up the variety and creativity from the first game's stages. While I don't think X2's stages are as thoughtfully-crafted as the ones in its predecessor, there's still a lot of cool setpieces here, from the aforementioned Ride Chaser segment, to the changing weather in Wire Sponge's stage, to avoiding spotlights in Magna Centipede's stages, to the lava chase in Flame Stag's stage. Wheel Gator's stage was especially cool, as it takes place on a giant tank bulldozing through a city. There are also just as many secrets as there were in the previous game, and they're all still hidden in some creative ways. This is also a rare Mega Man X game with a zero backtracking route which is a really cool challenge for expert players. Unfortunately, the environmental changes from the first game aren't here anymore which removes a bit of that extra detail, but between the X-Hunters and the zero backtracking route, X2 is still pretty open to replaying it. The bosses, on the other hand, are generally a pretty big improvement over in the previous game. While there are some weak fights, usually involving invincibility frames, the lineup as a whole is way more varied than in X1, with way more attacks, and some even having multiple phases. Morph Moth was the highlight here, starting off as a cocoon only to turn into a butterfly halfway through the fight and gain entirely new attacks. It also helps that their weaknesses, while still effective, don't cripple them as much as in the previous game (except for poor Flame Stag). However, that's also partly because the weapon roster in X2 is a bit weaker. While I like that there's more creativity in the weaponry without them all just being different shot-types, we're now back to the issue where there are some really good weapons (Sonic Slicer, Silk Shot) and some really bad ones as well (Magnet Mine, Crystal Hunter).
The endgame is pretty solid too, with the first two X-Hunter stages in particularly really putting X's dash to good use in some fantastic platforming segments. However, there are a few elements that put the X-Hunter Base a notch below X1's Sigma Fortress, particularly an annoying arrow platform room in the third stage and Magna Centipede's stage being reused for the final stage. Thankfully, the final boss made up for it. While not as hard as X1's finale, the fight with Sigma was still pretty fun if a bit strange graphically, and the fight with Zero was just plain awesome. As far as the presentation goes, it's pretty much the same as in X1. The story isn't as tight but I like the addition of the X-Hunters and the hunt for Zero is a solid hook. The graphics mostly look just as good, though the wireframe Cx4 showcases definitely don't look as ground-breaking as the developers thought they looked at the time. However, the soundtrack is probably my least favorite of the X games. It's not bad, it's catchy and there are plenty of strong tracks, but with short loops and less energetic guitars, it's a bit of a disappointment coming off of the previous game's fantastic score. Overall, X2 is yet another really great entry in the Mega Man X series, even if it doesn't quite reach the high bar of X1. While the weapons are weaker and certain new elements are a bit underused, the level design is still really solid, the secrets are still fun to look for, and the bosses, item routing, and core gameplay are actually improved over the first game. Mega Man X2 is more of a good thing, and I think that makes it a worthy sequel.
4.5/5 Stars
Mega Man X3: Mega Man X3 is a pretty average game. It has a lot of cool ideas, but none of it is really explored as effectively as it should have been. X3 adds a few new additions to the Mega Man X formula, but I'm not really a fan of most of it. For starters, you can finally play as Zero, and the game lets you call him in to play as him whenever you want. However, the execution here is flawed. Zero can't collect items, you can't use him in boss fights, and if you die as Zero, you lose the ability to play as him for the rest of the game, which just feels way too punishing. The novelty of getting to play as Zero in the opening is great, but it wears off pretty quickly. The next big change is how Ride Armors work. Now, most levels have pads where you can call in a Ride Armor to use in the stage, and with several different types of Ride Armors, the game has a bigger emphasis on using them to solve puzzles. Sounds like a great idea, right? I mean, it's basically Kirby Planet Robobot but made in the 90s! Unfortunately, you have to unlock Ride Armors, and since those mechs are needed to get a lot of collectibles, it just complicates the item routing and leaves X3 requiring way more backtracking than the first two games. The final big addition is the Bit, Byte, and Vile system, which essentially replaces the X-Hunters from last game. This time, if you don't beat Bit and Byte with their weaknesses, they'll reappear in the final castle making it harder. As for Vile, if you can find his stage before beating all the mavericks, you get a chance to win Zero's Saber. These are fairly cool ideas, but the game doesn't really explain how it all works and the system as a whole feels convoluted. Similarly, there's also this thing about chips that can augment your upgrades and how holding off on them can earn you a powerful Golden Armor in the castle with all the chips, but that's not explained all that well either. Mega Man X3 has a lot of good ideas, just pretty weak execution on all fronts.
The level design is also a bit mixed compared to the last few games. On one hand, there still weren't really any cheap deaths or enemy placements, so it's not like I actively hated any of the stages, but I generally found most of them to be pretty boring. X3's stages are focused more on combat, so they mainly comprise of hallways with enemies littered on them rather than the crazy setpieces of the last two games. Not to say that there aren't some neat ideas here or there, like the level turning on its side in Crush Crawfish's stage, the falling boulders in Tunnel Rhino's stage, and the awesome escape sequence in Vile's stage, but they're pretty few and far between. The simple layouts of these stages also mean X3 is easily the least difficult game so far, which means the developers felt they had to compensate by making X take ridiculous amounts of damage in the early game. However, what keeps all this from fully dragging down the game is that halfway through the game, something clicked. I realized that Mega Man X3 is less of a platformer and more of a hack-and-slash with guns... basically an early version of the Mega Man Zero games! Simple combat focused level design with an emphasis on maintaining your flow, complex enemy AI that actively tries to dodge your attacks, a difficult early game that makes way for an easier second half, lots of fun vertical wall-jumping segments, that's a Zero game alright. I still think X1 and X2 has leagues better level design but when I focused more on trying to keep up the rhythm of taking out enemy after enemy, I still had a surprisingly good time with most of X3. The bosses are definitely weak though, with many of them being very easy to stun-lock. I did really like the fights with Bit, Byte, and especially Vile though, they're probably some of my favorite fights in the series so far. And would you believe it, I actually like the weapons here! It's still not as consistently strong as X1's lineup but the best weapons are some of the best in the series so far, especially the Triad Thunder.
The endgame was, once again, pretty alright. I really liked the first stage with its many moving platforms, and I shouldn't have to say that it's great that X3 didn't reuse levels here. However, I do once again have a few gripes here. For starters, that snail wall in the second stage is incredibly boring. It's not hard, but it's requires a lot of waiting and messing up means you have to do the whole thing again. Also, I'm not a fan of the final boss. The first phase is just projectile spam, and the second phase deals a lot of damage while also having a small and inconsistent hitbox. It's basically Wily Machine 7 all over again. As for the presentation, it's mostly the same as the last two games. The story is decent if once again not as tight as the last two games', and the spritework is still pretty good. I played the PS1 version which came with some sick cutscenes before every stage, and a much, much better version of the soundtrack. The SNES version of X3 has some uncharacteristically bad music that overuses the same ear-grating MIDI guitars, but the synthy PS1 music is actually really good, even if it's a bit uncanny seeing an SNES game with CD-quality audio. Overall, Mega Man X3 is a bit of a mixed bag. It has a lot of ambition, a surprisingly strong lineup of weapons, and a great sense of combat flow, but most of its new ideas are poorly executed and it's dragged down by some pretty bland levels and weak bosses. It's a perfect middle-of-the-road Mega Man game, not bad in the slightest, but it rarely ever excels at anything.
3/5 Stars
Mega Man X4: Before talking about Mega Man X4 as a game, I wanted to start by addressing the elephant in the room: The voice acting. Something I've noticed about Mega Man as a series is that Capcom really sucks as localizations. Mega Man 8, X4, X7, and ZX Advent all suffered from bad English dubs, and the games that didn't have voice acting still struggled with shoddy translations. And that's not to mention the Guns N Roses names in X5 (which I admittedly kinda like). Look, I enjoy bad voice acting, it's funny! I crack up at "WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOOOOOOORRRR?!" every single time. "Dr Wahwee" is just hysterical to me. "BURN TO THE GROUND" is an absolute classic. But it's also hard not to feel bitter that Capcom put so little effort in the dub for X4 specifically because it detracts from what is actually a pretty solid story. While X4's story does have its problems, particularly involving underused characters that you don't get to know much before they die, I think it mostly succeeds in its attempt to be a tragic story about characters with differing ideals having to collide. X and Zero struggling with the possibility that they may turn Maverick after seeing every they think they know turn against them (not to mention Zero being a creation of Dr Wily) is a really compelling conflict, and I like Sigma's role as this manipulative monster who may have been defeated but ended up leaving a lot of destruction in his wake by the end of the game. There's a lot of good elements in X4's story that got watered down or flat-out ruined in the English version, which is a shame because it had the potential to be the best story in the entire X series (albeit still not even close to touching the Zero series). If you're interested, check out the undubbed version of X4, it brings back the Japanese dub, adds subtitles, and retranslates everything, and the story comes across as a lot more clear and well-done as a result.
Part of why I put so much effort into defending X4's story is because, in pretty much every other aspect, this game is amazing! I didn't think you could top X1, but here we are. This is the first Mega Man game for the PS1, and you can tell it was made with the Mega Man 8 engine. The presentation has that same beautiful blend of smoothly-animated sprites and detailed pre-rendered backgrounds, the clean UI is nearly identical in some points, we have FMV cutscenes, and you can even dual-wield X-Buster and weapon just like in that game. And while we're on the subject of the presentation, that soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal, tinged with a sense of melancholy that perfectly fits the game's tone and story. Outside of the engine change, though, Mega Man X4 doesn't actually bring too much new to the table. It mostly just polishes and streamlines the formula to near perfection, removing all of the clutter of X3. You don't have to unlock Ride Armors, theres no ridiculously convoluted item routing, no RNG elements like the X-Hunters or Bit & Byte, and no contrived poorly-explained elements like the chips. Although, I do have to point out that X gets what is hands down his best armor, so between the infinite ammo, Plasma Shot, and Nova Strike, he has never felt this utterly powerful and fun to play. Outside of that, though, the one big change that X4 makes is the ability to play as Zero in his own campaign. And not in a half-baked way like in X3, he has his own sword-combat moveset and instead of gaining weapons, gains entirely new combos to add to his roster of moves. Even as someone who started with the very fluid Mega Man Zero games, Zero controls great in X4, he's fast and fluid, and even has a pretty easy-to-learn exploit called "dash cancel" that adds a bit of extra depth. But best of all, X4 is designed around X and Zero! It doesn't feel like it's built for one character in particular, and both campaigns were fun in their own way. This is exactly what Mega Man & Bass was supposed be, with X4 even having that kind of balancing where levels are harder as X and bosses are harder as Zero.
With not much in the way of brand new additions, Mega Man X4 truly excels in just how well-designed everything is. The level design is back to being more setpiece-heavy, and it ended up leading to some of the most creative, varied, and unpredictable stages in the whole series. Slash Beast has one of the coolest train levels in any game ever, Storm Owl has a fun airship stage, Jet Stingray's stage is an extended Ride Chaser sequence, Cyber Peacock's stage is built around speedrunning, Split Mushroom's stage is just plain bonkers, and even the more generic biomes like in Frost Walrus's and Web Spider's stages manage to get a lot of unique gimmicks squeezed out of them. While X1's stages are more meticulously designed, X4's stages are still some of the best in the series for their bombast, variety, perfect level of difficulty, and sheer fun factor. The bosses are some of my favorites so far as well, as X4 actually gives them all unique personalities and fighting styles. You can still stun-lock a lot of them as X, but when you're playing as Zero, that's a lot harder to do and you get to really see how engaging these fights are. The weapon roster is pretty solid too, and while none of them are truly anything amazing, I also don't think any of them are all that bad. Every single weapon is pretty useful while also being fun to use, and unlike the many similar shot types in X1, this game's weapons are actually incredibly inventive and unique.
As for the endgame, once again, this is probably the weakest part of X4. This game falls in the Mega Man 3 hole where all of the effort was put into the main stages so the final stages are a bit short and easy. However, the boss fights do a great job at picking up the slack, since you get some of the best fights in the game here. Colonel is a fast-paced and tough rival both times you fight him, Iris's fight may be a bit annoying but it's seeped in tragedy and emotional heft, Double's fight is fun in how ridiculously chaotic and cluttered it is, and the final battle with Sigma is probably my favorite in the whole X series. It's lengthy, climactic, and challenging but also fair, and learning how to dodge all of his attacks felt super rewarding. So even if the stages aren't anything special, X4 still does a good job at ending things on a good note. Overall, while Mega Man X is probably the better game, X4 is my favorite of the bunch. The visuals and gameplay are more slick and fluid than ever, the story is deceptively complex and dark, the soundtrack is beautiful, the levels are all unique and action-packed, the bosses are memorable, the weapon lineup is one of the best in the series, Zero's campaign is a fantastic addition to the formula, and the final boss is great. I love pretty much everything about X4, it's an easy Top 3 contender for my favorite games in all of Mega Man.
5/5 Stars
Mega Man X5: Mega Man X5 was originally intended to be the final entry in the series, and it shows. I think the game's greatest strength is its strong sense of finality, and how utterly and ridiculously bombastic it is, especially in regards to the story. As an originally intended final chapter, X5's story doesn't really work on its own merits like X4's does, but Capcom's willingness to continue upping the ante throughout the game makes it a ton of fun to follow. From the Dr Wily links, to the world-changing Eurasia crash, to the showdown between Zero and X, to the final battle with Sigma, X5's story is big and bold and I adore it. The stakes are super high, and I love the concept of the Mavericks being Hunters forcedly turned Mavericks by Sigma's virus. Seeing Squid Adler turn into a Maverick right in front of you is such a great moment that makes it clear that things got very serious. It also helps that out of the PS1 games, X5 probably fares the best in terms of its localization since there's no voice acting. The translation is probably even worse than in X4 with blatant typos aplenty (though still not bad as the next game), but I do still like the Guns N Roses Maverick names for how lovably ridiculous they are. The soundtrack also helps with that sense of finality, especially in the start and end of the game. Songs like the Title Theme, the Opening Stage themes, Zero Virus 1, X Vs Zero, and the second Sigma theme have such a great sense of gravitas to them, making for one of the more impactful soundtracks in the series even if it's not quite as consistent as X4's. The visuals are a bit more uneven, though. Mega Man X5 uses the same engine as its predecessor so there are definitely elements that look nice, but the new characters aren't quite as well-animated, and the pre-rendered backgrounds just don't blend in as well with X and Zero. It all comes to a head (pun completely intended) with the final boss, as that pre-rendered giant version of Sigma just looks off and sucks some of the tension out of the fight.
So X5 definitely feels like the final entry of the series, but does the gameplay live up to that hype? Eh... not really. I praised X4 for streamlining the formula and getting rid of all of X3's convoluted mechanics but X5 just goes right back in the opposite direction and makes things even more ridiculous. Mega Man X5 stuffs in so many half-baked and ill-conceived ideas that brings down the game as a whole. For example, instead of having two separate campaigns like in X4, you can play any stage as X or Zero. This seems like a nice quality of life feature, but it ends up causing more harm than good. For starters, X or Zero gets an exclusive upgrade depending on who you start with, but Zero's Z-Buster upgrade is so bad that no one would bother starting with him (and hearing his amazing opening music). But then there's the Enigma Cannon. So, X5 has this Majora's Mask system where you have 16 hours to beat all the Mavericks before Eurasia crashes into the Earth, and the more Mavericks you defeat, the greater the chances of stopping that. If Eurasia crashes, Zero goes Maverick and you lose him. Interesting idea, until you realize that even with all the Mavericks defeated, the cannon still doesn't have a 100% fire rate. That's right, this game's ending is entirely down to RNG. This is especially problematic since X and Zero keep whichever upgrades they get, so if you lose Zero, you lose all of those upgrades permanently. This is not good game design no matter how you slice it, and this alone drags X5 down a lot. But there's more, I didn't even mention the parts system that gives you exclusive upgrades for waiting eight days to start taking out Mavericks, Alia's annoying interruptions, Zero getting nerfed thanks to a weapon that cancels out his dash cancel exploit, and the Sigma virus mechanic that literally contributes nothing to the game as a whole. X5 is just a mess of convoluted and confusing mechanics that don't mesh well with each other in the slightest.
After all that, you might think I hate this game, right? Well, not entirely. That first hour or so I spent trying to manipulate the RNG of the Enigma Cannon was absolute torture, but once I actually started to, you know, play the game, I actually had a pretty good time. There's still a lot that this game does right. For example, X5 does introduce some cool new mechanics, like the ability to crouch and hang on ropes. This may not sound ground-breaking but both of these mechanics are utilized pretty well throughout the game, with some boss fights even being built around the crouch. In addition, this is the first game where X can get multiple armors, another really great idea. While I'm not a fan of not being able to equip any upgrades until the whole suit is complete, the idea of picking the best armor for a given situation adds a nice layer of depth. And then there's the item game, which I'm a bit split on. On one hand, the extra upgrade capsules add some extra complexity to the item routing and figuring out the most efficient route here was decently fun. On the other hand, there are some very stupid item placements that pretty much force you to play certain stages multiple times (You have to play Duff McWhalen's stage three times!), so it's not like the route you pick matters, you're going to have to replay most of the stages anyway. Finally, I wanted to praise Dynamo, who's easily my favorite of the "recurring mid-game bosses" in the X series. He's super charismatic, he has a great theme, his fights are fun, and having to fight him in between every few Mavericks was always a pleasant change of pace.
The level design, while not as consistently solid as in X4, is still super varied and at times very fun. Sure, Duff McWhalen's stage is absolutely horrid and Squid Adler's stage makes a bad first impression to say the least, but we also have Izzy Glow's dynamic castle stage, the fun gravity shenanigans of Dark Dizzy's stage, the frantic bomb defusing in The Skiver's stage, the lava waves in Mattrex's stage, and of course, Grizzly Slash's ridiculously fun truck stage, because levels taking place on moving vehicles are always bangers for some reason. I don't make the rules. But then there's the boss fights which are just absolutely fantastic, hands down my favorite lineup in not just the Mega Man X series but probably also the classic games too. Every single fight is unique and memorable, from Duff McWhalen attacking you with ice blocks, to The Skiver fighting you atop a moving plane, to Izzy Glow's slick teleportation. The bosses also don't get as easily stun-locked as in X4, and the ones that do may still have a desperation move to keep you on your toes. The sheer variety and creativity on show for every single one of the bosses made them easily the highlight of my playthrough. The weapon lineup is a bit mediocre, though. It's not a bad roster of weapons and they mostly have their uses, but it's not creative in the slightest and pretty much every single one feels ripped straight from another game. The Dark Hold? That's just the time freeze weapons from MM2 and MM4. Wing Spiral? Basically the Air Shooter. The Tri-Thunder? Literally just the Thunder Beam from MM1, it's even the weakness of a certain boss shared between the games, more on that in just a sec.
Then there's the endgame, which might just the greatest "final castle" in any Mega Man game ever. I keep bringing up how X5 was meant to be the last X game and it especially shows in these last few stages, which feel like they've had the most effort put into it. Stage 1 brings back Quick Man's lasers and a harder version of the Yellow Devil, both infamously tough Mega Man setpieces that I absolutely adored. Stage 2 references the first stage of X1's Sigma Fortress (though thankfully makes it slightly less frustrating) and another fun throwback boss in the harder refight with Rangda Bangda. Stage 3 hides the Ultimate Armors for X and Zero that were previously only cheat codes in X4, and it ends with the iconic fight between X and Zero. It's not a super hard fight but the drama, fast-pace, and fun attack patterns make it yet another one of my favorite bosses in the series, made even better by boasting the best music in the whole franchise. And finally, in Stage 4, there's my favorite boss rush so far. Obviously it helps that I love this game's bosses, but the thrill of seeing bosses get double the health only for you to destroy them with the Ultimate Armor is so much fun. And it all culminates in a pretty solid final battle with Sigma, pre-rendered grossness aside. It may seem like X5's final stages are overly fanservice-y, but I think the nostalgia is used in a uniquely melancholy context. Having played so many Mega Man games this past month or so, going through this final gauntlet allowed me to reflect on and be proud of how much I've managed to accomplish.
Overall, Mega Man X5 is a bit of a mixed bag, but one I ultimately enjoyed in the end. It has a lot of new mechanics, many of which are under-cooked and don't mesh with the Mega Man X formula, and the RNG gimmick is absolutely godawful design in every sense of the word. Add in the at times ugly prerendered visuals, bad translation, flawed item game, and Alia, and I'd totally get if you're just not a fan of X5. But for me, I think this game gets as much right as it does wrong, if not more. The level design is diverse and mostly fun, the story is climactic and has a strong sense of finality, the multiple armors are a great addition, the soundtrack is once again fantastic, the boss fights are some of the best in the entire franchise, and the endgame is pretty much perfect. There's just something about X5's atmosphere too. The dark tone, the nostalgic melancholy, the sheer amount of early 2000s neon green, it just hits different for me. Mega Man X5 is still not one of the best Mega Man X games, but even with its flaws, it's one of those games that I'll probably end up having a real soft spot for as time goes on. Compared to the consistently mediocre X3, Mega Man X5 has higher highs and lower lows, but wow, are those highs soaring.
3.5/5 Stars
Mega Man X6: I've had an odd fascination with Mega Man X6 for a while now. From its haphazard aesthetic, to its rushed production, to the bad translation, to the nightmare gimmicks, to all the horror stories about its difficulty, to its shockingly good soundtrack, this was a game I was oddly looking forward to playing just to see how weird it would get. And I was not disappointed, Mega Man X6 is such a mess of qualities, a genuine improvement and iteration on previous Mega Man X games and also one of the most ineptly designed games I've ever played in my life. It's almost charming in its unevenness and stupidity. A similarly bad and brutally difficult game like Mortal Kombat Mythologies (quite possibly my least favorite game ever) would elicit nothing but pure anger out of me, being screwed over by Mega Man X6's game design feels more like a "Haha! Oh, you..." moment. This is a bad game, down there with Mega Man & Bass as one of the worst of the series by a long shot... but I think it might also be a guilty pleasure for me.
But let's start with some of the things X6 does right, because it does do quite a bit right. Mega Man X6 improves on its predecessor in a lot of ways, either fixing or removing most of its bad mechanics. There's no time limit, no RNG (outside of one stage but we'll get to that), and the bizarre Sigma virus stuff is completely gone. Alia's interruptions are entirely optional, you can choose if you want to talk to her like it should've been the whole time. The item placement is (once again mostly) more sensible and less reliant on getting one of the two armors, so there's more variety to the order you want to do things again. X and Zero share weapons, upgrades and (most of the) parts, and there's no way to lose either of the characters. Even if you wait all game to get Zero, you won't have to do much work for him to catch up. And even more, Zero is back to being worth playing as here because not only is his "dash cancel" back, but it's actually easier to pull off! As a matter of fact, with X now having a Z-Saber and Zero now having an actually good Z-Buster, in addition to the many new combat exploits for the both of them, X6 actually might have some of the best combat in the whole series. Just like with the Zero series, I've seen videos of people pulling off these crazy combos in X6, it's like the Melee of Mega Man X in the way the glitches actively improve the game. You can even bring in the Ultimate Armors via cheat codes and break the game even more, it's wonderful. The two new armors are way better than the ones in X5 too, between the very useful Blade Armor and the fun ninja-esque Shadow Armor. But probably the best change is how parts are tackled. In this game, you get parts by saving certain Reploids, with 16 in a stage, and the higher your rank, the more you can equip. I actually really like this system because not only is it way easier to understand, but the concept of hiding extra perks and upgrades behind collectibles is a neat method of giving X6 more exploration and replayability. Not to mention the fact that each stage has an alternate route that usually leads to a reward or more Reploids, which just helps to give X6 so much freedom.
In terms of its presentation, Mega Man X6 isn't too different from its predecessor. The story obviously isn't as intense as in X5 but it has some intriguing ideas that were once again mangled by a horrific translation. The graphics still look alright and do a good job of capturing a post-apocalyptic atmosphere, but once again, the pre-rendered backgrounds and bosses don't look all that great. And the soundtrack is one of my favorites in the whole franchise, the blend of synth and wailing guitars does a great job at setting a melancholy mood that perfectly fits X6's tone. So yeah, Mega Man X6 has a lot going for it, but the problems start to sink in the moment you pick your first Maverick, likely Commander Yammark. It's smooth sailing at first, but then you see your first Nightmare Virus, and the game immediately plummets in quality. Because while X6 does fix a lot of X5's awful mechanics, it introduces a bunch of bad ideas of its own, some of which are arguably worse. So in Mega Man X6, you increase your rank by collecting Nightmare Orbs which are dropped by the aforementioned viruses. Not a bad idea in theory, a collectible that you get from enemies is something the classic games did really well. However, only the Nightmare Viruses drop these orbs, and they're spammed into every single level even when they don't fit just so that you can get orbs. Even worse, Nightmare Viruses can infect Reploids permanently. That's right, you can lose access to parts and collectibles for the rest of the game. Permanently missable collectibles is awful game design and almost as bad as the RNG. But then there's the Nightmare Effects, where playing a stage will cause other stages to be affected by some sort of gimmick, like dimmed lights or enemies that block your shots. X6's stages are already not the best designed, so these shoehorned-in gimmicks make them nearly unplayable at times.
Speaking of which, then there are the levels, which range wildly in terms of quality. There are actually a few stages I liked alright, like the Opening Stage, the exploration-driven Rainy Turtloid's stage, and the fairly simple dodging challenges of Blizzard Wolfang. However, the majority of X6's levels are not just brutally difficult, they're just lazy. Blaze Heatnix's stages makes you fight the same mini boss five times in a row. Ground Scaravich's stage doesn't just have RNG rooms, the enemies feel randomly placed as well. And Infinity Mijinion's stage is just a straight line with enemy spam. Even some of the better stages feel lazy, like with Commander Yammark's mantis spam and Shield Sheldon's ridiculously short length (edit: After thinking about it for a bit, I believe this was actually on purpose because Sheldon's stage was meant to invisibly guide players to Nightmare Zero. Not bad, X6). And the endgame stages are filled to the brim with dumb design choices like segments that force you to use a specific armor, blind jumps, and a room where lava rises but the game never indicates that the lava is rising until you get hit. The bosses aren't much better, though, especially coming off of X5's phenomenal lineup. The Mavericks are pitifully easy since we're back to being able to easily stun-lock them, but even Zero is now able to completely rip them to shreds without a second thought. Even Sigma, the final boss, is an absolute wimp here! On the other hand, literally every other boss is absolute torture. High Max and Nightmare Mother are especially bad, with beefy health bars and long periods of invincibility that cause their fights to drag on, and on, and on. The weapons aren't much better, since X6 has one of the most unbalanced lineups in Mega Man history, rivaling the king of unbalanced weapons: Mega Man 2. Yammark Option is the Metal Blade equivalent here, not just the best shield weapon in Mega Man history but probably the best weapon period. It's so good that pretty much every weapon is rendered entirely null outside of boss weaknesses.
I probably should give Mega Man X6 a 1/5. With bad level design, thoughtless enemy placement, incredibly uneven boss difficulty, the awful Nightmare mechanics, odd visual style, and an unbalanced weapon roster, X6 probably deserves it. However, I just can't bring myself to do it. For starters, X6 still does do some stuff right, like the amazing soundtrack and atmosphere, great sense of freedom, collectibles, fun and breakable combat, and the many fixes of X5's issues. And especially compared to the game directly after it, this is still Mega Man X, so the gameplay is still inherently fun. But even with the stuff it fails at, Mega Man X6 fails at it so ineptly that I can't help but find it oddly charming. Ground Scaravich's, Blaze Heatnix's, and Infinity Mijinion's stages are so bad that I find it kinda funny. High Max and Nightmare Mother are such awful bosses that I'm still in disbelief about how they passed testing, if there even was testing to begin with. The bizarre pre-rendered models, the horrendously botched translation, it's all just so entertaining to me. And even with its many flaws, I was engrossed enough to keep pushing through the BS to get all the upgrades, visit most the alternate routes, and even save a large amount of the Reploids. As a comparison, I didn't even bother going for the CDs in Mega Man & Bass! Mega Man X6 is easily one of the worst Mega Man games, but it's also just such a guilty pleasure. It's a mess, but it's my mess.
From a game design perspective: 1/5 Stars
From a personal enjoyment perspective: 5/5 Stars
Overall: 3/5 Stars?
Mega Man X7: I... I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to play even more than thirty minutes of this awful, awful game. I tolerated the BS in MM&B and X6 because, at the very least, the core gameplay was still fun. The characters still had snappy movement and fluid combat that I felt confident controlling it, so even when I got stuck in what seemed like an impossible situation, I knew that I would be able to find my way out of it through skill. This does not apply to Mega Man X7. Mega Man X7 not only has the awful level design, bosses, and weapon roster from X6, but on top of all that, the gameplay isn't fun in the slightest. It's slow, plodding, irritating, and just plain dull. It's easily the worst Mega Man game, and probably one of the worst games I've ever played. Since I haven't played the whole thing, I wanted to mostly structure this particular review as a list of the things that put me off of playing it:
- The characters move so slowly, and even the presence of a dash doesn't help things since you can't build up momentum. It makes it super hard to dodge enemy attacks and frankly just makes the game less fun.
- Newcomer Axl's copy shot is utterly useless. Don't use it.
- They seriously neutered Zero. Not only is he slow but he has no reach and his attacks don't do any damage, X7 completely ruined one of the most fun gameplay styles in the whole series.
- I know this has been said ad infinitum but why isn't X playable at the start? It's a Mega Man X game, not an Axl and Zero game!
- The fixed camera in the 3D sections is absolutely horrid, it's such an awkward angle and the whole top-down perspective just doesn't work for me.
- Enemies take way too many hits to die, it's actually way easier to just brute force your way through them. In the 3D sections, you can usually even walk around them!
- Even more, apparently Capcom decided to reduce all your damage values in half for the US version. I have no words, this is one of the dumbest design decisions I've ever heard.
- Why do attacks cause your character to stagger and fall? Why is this a mechanic in a Mega Man game?
- The lock-on is so finicky, especially in 3D. I would've actually preferred they just let you shoot manually even with all the depth perception issues.
- The weapons are borderline useless most of the time.
- Reploids don't just die to Nightmare Viruses now, they die to everything! Now they're even more hard to get!
- WHY IS THE RIDE CHASER SO SLOW?!
- The loading screens. Just... the loading screens.
- The voice acting is really bad, even outside of BURN TO THE GROUND. Everyone in the cast slowly enunciates every single word in their lines in the same monotone, it's like this is their first time voice acting.
- The cutscenes aren't much better since the characters are hardly ever animated. They just stand around, not even moving their mouths half of the time.
- Above all, on top of just being a poorly-designed game, Mega Man X7 is just boring. X6's bad elements are so hilariously inept that I find them kinda funny, but X7 just feels so dull. The gameplay isn't inherently frustrating, it's just so slow-paced that I find it boring. And the worst thing a piece of media can be, in my opinion, is boring.
0/5 Stars
Mega Man X8: I'll be honest, I couldn't really bring myself to finish X8 either, though not for the same reasons as X7. I ended up playing a lot longer than X7, and actually bothered to at the very least try out all the Maverick stages. It's definitely an improvement in a lot of ways and a really solid platformer in its own right... but I just couldn't really get into it like I could pretty much any other Mega Man game. There's something about the direction of the series in X7 and X8 that just doesn't gel with me, so I want to figure out why while also praising X8 for the several things it did right.
So let's start with the positives. Gameplay wise, Mega Man X8 basically feels like a good version of X7 without any of the 3D sections, meaning the entire game is in 2.5D. This is awesome because I love 2.5D games, and we have plenty of twists and turns in the road as well as enemies and bosses that interact with the background. The core gameplay is way faster-paced compared to X7, and I'd actually say these are some of the smoothest controls in the whole X series. X, Zero, and Axl move and attack incredibly quickly, and these shifts allow for a much more fast-paced and frantic game. Best of all, I actually like playing as Axl this time! He has multi-directional aiming, which basically makes him like Bass from the classic series. The Copy Shot still sucks, but otherwise, this is an improvement. The team mechanic from X7 was also improved, since one teammate dying doesn't mean the other does, and you even get a Double Team Attack. X8 also improves on some elements from games prior to X7, particularly regarding Alia. Now, you have three navigators, each with different strengths, and you can even choose to not use any if you find them annoying. The general presentation is also a lot better, with the animations being a bit less janky, the visuals being a lot more polished and detailed, and the game having a very pretty mystical style to it giving X8 an identity. The voice acting is also leagues better, probably the best I've heard in a Mega Man game so far, and apparently, Sigma isn't the final boss here, which is a great twist. The soundtrack is honestly one of the weaker ones in the X series due to being a bit generic, but it still has a lot of great tracks, with Primrose in particular being one of my favorites in the series.
As you can see, in terms of its core gameplay, X8 is fantastic! This game had the groundwork to be one of my favorite entries in the series, but it's not. A big problem I have with X8 is how it deals with items and collectibles and the like. Reploids are gone again, as are the Nightmare Viruses. Now you find Rare Metals hidden in stages that you can use to create parts (now called chips) that you can equip on the characters. However, in addition to all of that, X8 also has these triangle-shaped coins you can collect either by defeating enemies or searching around the stage, and you need to use those to buy the chips. I really like this idea in theory, but in execution, there are a lot of issues. The first issue is the fact that most of the Rare Metals are hidden away just like any other upgrade from the last seven games, meaning a lot of them require that you have the right character with the right ability. This differs from the Reploids in X6 and X7 where most of them are possible to get regardless of who you're playing as and what armor or abilities you have, but that's not the case in X8, meaning you'd have to do a lot of backtracking if you want so much as a fighting chance. (It also doesn't help that unlike in X6, you need to be X if you want to get Armor pieces, making things even more inconvenient). The next issue is the fact that most of the chips cost a lot of money, meaning you'll likely have to backtrack even more and grind for money. It's like the Cyber Elf system in Mega Man Zero all over again. Oh, and speaking of Mega Man Zero, why did they bring back Retry Chips?!
And then there are the levels, which are as much of a mixed bag as you could get. Mega Man X8 is a very gimmicky game, to the point where there isn't a single normal Maverick stage. We have two Ride Chaser stages, an entire stage based around the clunkier-than-ever Ride Armor, a minigame stage, an auto-scroller, a stealth stage, a puzzle-based stage about flipping gravity, and a level based around a mini boss chasing you (I thought we were over than in X5). And look, I'm all here for variety, and some of X8's stages are decently enjoyable. As a Super Mario Galaxy enjoyer, I'm always down for some good gravity shenanigans so I liked Gravity Antonion's stage. Some of Optic Sunflower's minigames were pretty cool too, especially that Cut Man easter egg. And I actually thought Avalanche Yeti had one of the more fun Ride Chaser segments in the series. However, these gimmicks were very hit-or-miss and it really drags down the game since we have this incredibly strong gameplay core that just isn't utilized as well as it should've been. Metal Valley was a drag, I hated controlling the Ride Armor here compared to the normal cast, and auto-scrollers and stealth stages always suck. And from what I've played, the bosses and weapons aren't all that great either, leaning more on the forgettable side.
So why did I quit X8? I think it's just because I didn't enjoy a lot of the stages, and since X8 encourages you to do a lot of backtracking and grinding, I felt less and less interested in finishing it. The game has incredibly strong gameplay, lots of great quality of life improvements, and a solid presentation, but the shop system, level design, and item game just drags it down from being one of my favorites. I also just don't think it helps that Mega Man X7 and X8 feel so disconnected from the rest of the series, not just because of Axl but because of how the entire overarching story has changed. I don't want to be the type of person who claims the X series overstayed its welcome and should've ended with X5 or X6, but I feel like at the very least, Capcom maybe should've pulled a ZX and started a whole new saga. It's a lot easier to think of X1-X6 as the Mega Man X games and X7 & X8 as the, I don't know, "Mega Man Axl" games? It sucks that I'm once again ending a Mega Man series on a bum note, so I want to restate that I loved the first six Mega Man X games, maybe even more than the classic series! I guess it's just that X7 and X8 really aren't my speed.
2.5/5 Stars
Here's my final ranking:
- Mega Man X4
- Mega Man X
- Mega Man X6's personal enjoyment rating
- Mega Man X2
- Mega Man X5
- Mega Man X6
- Mega Man X3
- Mega Man X8
- Mega Man X6's quality rating
- Mega Man X7
- Mega Man Zero 4
- Mega Man X4
- Mega Man Zero 3
- Mega Man 3
- Mega Man X
- Mega Man 7
- Mega Man 9
- Mega Man X2
- Mega Man 5
- Mega Man 8
- S Tier: MM3, X1, X4, Zero 3, and Zero 4
- A Tier: MM7, MM9, MM5, and X2
- B Tier: MM6, MM8, X5, Zero 2, ZX, and ZX Advent
- C Tier: MM4, MM10, X3, X6, and Zero
- D Tier: MM1, MM2, and X8
- F Tier: MM&B, X7
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