Virtual Console Review: Mega Man X

System: SNES
Genre: Action/Platformer
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Virtual Console Release: April 5, 2011 (JPN) / April 18, 2011 (USA)
Original Release: January, 1994 (USA) / May, 1994 (EU) / December 17, 1993 (JPN)
Cost: 800 points

Ever since the SNES graced the gaming scene, Mega Man fans wondered when Capcom would give the Blue Bomber a game on Nintendo's 16-bit machine. Yet Capcom continued to be content with keeping Mega Man firmly grounded on the aging NES hardware. Mega Man was one of the few franchises to see six games all released on the same console. When Capcom finally give fans a SNES Mega Man, it was a shocker on multiple levels. It wasn't the seventh installment in the classic Mega Man series (which actually did get released on the SNES in 1995), but an entirely new series that still felt familiar. Mega Man X was a darker and edgier game in stark contrast to the classic series more light-hearted feel, but that really wasn't a bad thing as it served as a much-need jolt to a series some had felt was growing stale.

From the introduction stage, one can
already tell that Mega Man X is
not their father's Mega Man game.

Many years into the future, the field of robotics has made numerous advancements. Androids are now so complex to the point where they can think and behave in a manner very similar to human beings, no longer bound by the restrictions of preset programming. This was all made possible by Dr. Light's final creation and legacy, Mega Man X, often referred to as simply X. X was used as the foundation to create other human-like robots that have free will. Other robots based off of X are called reploids and they co-exist with the humans. At least, that was the plan. Maybe it was due to a virus or the fact that all of the reploids didn't receive the 30 years of testing that X did before he was awakened, but whatever the reason, many of the reploids go berserk, or maverick as they've been dubbed. The mavericks are so bent on making the world their own that their leader, Sigma wants to cleanse the world of all it's human inhabitants and create a utopia for reploids. Unable to let Sigma and the other mavericks exterminate all human life, X chooses to stand against the irregular reploids, striking them down one by one, taking the fight directly to Sigma.

In his very first appearance, Zero save X's metallic bacon
by blowing the arm of Vile's Armored Carrier
clean off. Talk about a character establishing moment.

Mega Man had Rush but X has a slew of cool toys to play
with, despite the fact that Dr. Light is long gone. The
good doctor must have somehow knew the future
would be pretty bad because he left an insane amount
of hidden capsules with power-ups for X in all the Mega
Man X games combined. Seriously, Batman doesn't
have jack on Dr. Light when it comes to prep-time.

The formula from the classic Mega Man series applies to Mega Man X. If you've played any of those games, you'll be on familiar footing here. You have eight bosses to fight and can fight them in any order you choose to obtain their weapon but the famous rock/paper/scissors gameplay from the original Mega Man series still works here and if you're new to the world of Mega Man X, it might be in your best interest to find out which boss is weak to another bosses weapon.

DID YOU KNOW?: The original Mega Man, which started
the whole Mega Man series was released in Japan on
December 17, 1987. Mega Man X has a number of
homages to the original series and the first Mega Man
game, but the most striking one may be it's release date.
Mega Man X's Japanese release date was December 17, 1993,
the exact date the original Mega Man was released overseas.
Whether this was intentional or not is unknown.

While Mega Man X is very similar to classic Mega Man, there are a number of differences that make Mega Man X a whole different beast of a game. There's a huge emphasis placed on finding hidden items. You don't have to unearth these hidden treasures. If you're into self imposed challenges, Mega Man X can be a game that can be quite difficult, but finding the hidden items will make the path to victory a bit easier. X can find capsules that the late Dr. Light hid away to upgrade his abilities. Such enhancements include a dash ability, armor that lessens the amount of damage dealt by enemies, and an incredibly powerful, elusive item that pays homage to another Capcom franchise. The X-Buster upgrade not only allows X to charge his default X-Buster up to a jaw-dropping third level, but all of the weapons obtained from defeated bosses can also be charged up. In fact some of the the special weapons work best when fully charged such as Chameleon Sting, which, when fully charged, leaves X impervious to enemies and hazards, including those aggravating instant-kill spikes.

The term "Fight for your life" takes on a literal meaning in this game. When you start, you'll more than likely notice that X's life bar is quite small for someone so potential powerful. Hidden in each maverick's stage are Heart Tanks. Heart Tanks add two units of health to your life energy. Most of these are tucked away pretty well and unless you're familiar with the game, you'll probably have to resort to a guide to find them all. The same applies with Sub Tanks, Mega Man X's version of Energy Tanks. Sub-Tanks, once found, always remain in your inventory but they require energy in order to be used. Sub-Tanks can be filled up with the same energy X uses to restore his life. Like the Game Boy Mega Man titles, you can only collect four Sub Tanks, not nine like the NES titles. This may cause you to be a bit more cautious and try to better yourself at the game to the point of taking less hits.

Fun times are ahead.

The mavericks, the X series equivalent to the classic series robot masters, are pretty unique in both name and design. A few of the robot masters from the classic series were based off of creatures and the like, but here, all of the mavericks are mainly animal-based with no "Man" in their titles, unless of course you count Spark Mandrill and he's based off a baboon. It remains a mystery if ditching the "Man" names was another attempt to make the series different than the classic games, but whatever the case, it works. Storm Eagle, Sting Chameleon, Armored Armadillo, Boomer Kuwanger, Launch Octopus, Spark Mandrill, Flame Mamoth and Chill Penguin are some of the coolest bosses to come out of a Mega Man title and still remain fan favorites.

Flame Mammoth along with Storm Eagle have battle
chambers that are twice the size of the screen, something
that eventually crossed over to the classic Mega Man series.

Get all the weapons and items in the game and take a trip back to
Armored Armadillo's stage and you can find a fifth hidden capsule that
houses Ryu and Ken's signature move, the Hadoken. It may not look
like much compared to the other weapons in X's arsenal, but from the hands
of X, the Hadoken is more powerful than anyone that's ever used it or any
other fireball in the Street Fighter universe. X's Hadoken is so absurdly broken
that it can dismantle any regular enemy and boss (save the final boss) in a
single hit. In order to provide some balance, X must have full health
for the Hadoken to be usable. 

DID YOU KNOW?: When Mega Man X was originally released,
some people thought the "X" stood for the roman numeral 10, which
caused some confusion because up until that point, there were no
spin-off series and the most recent game in the classic series was
Mega Man 6 on the NES. When Capcom finally released Mega Man 10
in 2010, they came up with a retro commercial for the game. The
commercial showed footage from Nitro Man's stage, which takes
place on a high way, like the intro stage to Mega Man X. On top of
that, the music used for the commercial is a vocal rendition of Mega
Man X's opening stage tune. Fans that actually caught the joke were
laughing hysterically.  Bravo, Capcom, bravo.

For the first game in a spin-off series, Mega Man X showcases some very appealing level designs. Storm Eagle's stage takes place at an airport with huge bottomless pits while Armored Armadillo's level features some of the craziest mine cart riding this side of the Donkey Kong Country games. Depending on who you have or haven't defeated, some levels will change drastically. Beating Chill Penguin stops the lava flow in Flame Mammoth's stage. Taking out Storm Eagle will send the very air craft you were fighting him on crashing into a portion of Spark Mandrill's stage, which takes out some of the power but also eliminates an electrical hazard in the first part of the stage. It's a very cool feature that was sadly, never used in any of the sequels.

After all these years, Mega Man X is still a superb-looking SNES game, boasting impressive sprites of large and small sizes. The maverick bosses even recoil in pain when hit with their weakness, which is a very nice visual touch. Background scenes are also easy on the eyes whether you're looking at the destroyed high way of the intro stage or marveling at the undersea atmosphere of Launch Octopus' level.

You can check out Dr. Cain's journal entries via
vgmuseum.com. The journal of Dr. Cain tells just how
he found X and his thoughts on the maverick revolt. Short but
sweet reading material, stuff that should have been in the game itself.

ROCKMAN X ALPH-LYLA with Toshiaki Otsubo
Released in Japan on March 9, 1994, this album
consists of sexy jazz/fusion arrangements spread
across 10 tracks. Due to the album being very old
and out of print, finding a copy is not easy. Thanks
to TheOSTation, the album can be heard in it's entirety on YouTube.

The classic series usually gets the most praise for it's memorable music, but the X series also hit the ground running with an outstanding score. The opening stage music is one of the greatest first level songs in a video game. Spark Mandrill's theme has some awesome drum solo work, and there's probably not a gamer alive that doesn't love Armored Armadillo's theme in all it's electric guitar glory. Zero's theme was so good that it showed up again in the first Mega Man Zero game. One of the most upbeat pieces of music comes in the form of the password theme, which wouldn't feel out of place in the classic Mega Man series. It's a bright, hopeful tune in a pretty dark game and is a very welcome song. Really, the entire soundtrack is exceptional and deserves a spot on your iPod/MP3 player.

Capcom didn't mess with the tried and true gameplay of the established classic series too much when they made Mega Man X, but the changes they did make paid off. Sixteen years after it's release, Mega Man X ranks among the finest action games on the SNES and it's emulated perfectly on the Virtual Console. Mega Man fanatics can go through the game in their sleep but still come back to it because it's that awesome a game. Mega Man X is a masterful addition to the Virtual Console library and is an excellent buy if you've got 800 points burning in your pocket.