GAME TIME: Mega Man X Collection (2006)

The Mega Man X series was Capcom’s attempt to take the Mega Man franchise in a darker, more mature direction. Although the early games resonated with the fan demographic, Capcom fumbled the ball with the latter entries. Thinking the series should be kept “fresh” in the name of modernization proved to be the X games’ downfall. The Mega Man X Collection is a compilation of the first six Mega Man X games.

The original Mega Man’s popularity derived from a simple formula. The player can select eight different levels, each ruled by a sinister robot. The defeat of said boss gives Mega Man its signature weapon. The order of the stages is up to the player. However, different robots are weak against certain weapons, so there is an advantage in being strategic regarding the order of robots defeated. It’s the same with Mega Man X.

Mega Man X introduced the Parts System. X finds capsules that augment his abilities and change his appearance. These augments are categorized as helmets, body armor, blaster (aka X-Buster), and leg upgrades. Typical Leg Capsules include the ability to dash forward, dash in mid-air or dash straight up. Armors increase defense while the X-Buster augments allow X to charge the weapons gained from enemy bosses for a more powerful shot. The Leg upgrades are extremely essential as many later stages feature chasms too wide for a simple leap.

While the X series enjoyed success on the Super Nintendo, the transfer to the PlayStation console wasn’t nearly the same. Mega Man X4 introduced fan-favorite Zero as a playable character, but failed in the voice acting department. X sounds like a nasally twelve-year-old with a head cold. Listening to his remarks is like putting an ear to a rotary saw. Also, while Zero’s adventure begins with his mysterious creation, the plot is never fully explored.

The failures continued to pile up. X5’s time limit to complete all stages affected plot progression, although it ultimately made little impact on the story. X5 also featured multiple Armors. The Armors upgraded X at the expense of weakening his default form. X6 scrambled for fan approval by adding the Reploid (robot) Rescue: saving Reploids granted bonuses and upgrades…but only if X reached them before Nightmare creatures did. Once corrupted by Nightmares, the Reploids never came back.

Mega Man X’s decline is a classic scenario with video game sequels: in trying to add fresh elements, games end up losing that which made them special in the first place. The latter games get facelifts befitting to their next-generation consoles. The shift to 3D graphics ended up being a poor fit to gameplay, alienating the fans. If there’s one thing you don’t do to a successful franchise, it’s alienating the fans. Playing the Super Nintendo games will be an entertaining investment of your time. The PlayStation games…not so much.

If you’d like to take a look at the games for a bit, I have a list of clips here for you to enjoy. Keep in mind that some of them contain spoilers, but those should be easy to judge based on the titles. Here they are:

From MEGA MAN X:
Spark Mandrill Boss Battle
Chill Penguin Boss Battle
Final Battle

From MEGA MAN X2:
Final Battle

From MEGA MAN X3:
Final Battle

From MEGA MAN X4:
Double’s Betrayal
Final Battle

From MEGA MAN X5:
Final Battle

From MEGA MAN X6:
Isoc’s Speech
Final Battle

That’s everything! Thanks for reading!

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