Mega Man Retrospectives

Mega Man X 4 Deep Dive - X's Weapons 2020-08-09

This post is part of a series of deep dives into Mega Man X4. In this piece, we analyze the weapons the character of X himself.

Here are the links to the rest of the deep dives:

Spoiler Preface!!!

This post contains content that some may deem as spoilers. You have been warned

I have mixed feelings about this game’s arsenal. It feels like it has the potential to be one of the best in the series with the help of some tweaks, but in terms of how they actually work, in the actual game, it is quite possibly one of the worst weapon sets in any Mega Man game. I’m not entirely sure what happened here. Did they forget playtest their own creations, or did they just not care? Why are some of the guns just worse versions of older ones from older games? Why do some of them feel so worthless?

Review: Mega Man X 4 2020-08-08

Title: Mega Man X 4
Release Date: December 1995 (Japan), January 1996 (US)
Original Platform: Sega Saturn/Sony Playstation
Other Platforms: PC, and a whole bunch of other platforms via compilations

Capcom in the 90’s was a very … particular company, and in some ways Mega Man X 4 is an example of “Peak 90’s Capcom”. After three games on the Super Nintendo, the Mega Man X subseries managed to tell a complete story arc. The creative folks at Capcom had seemingly gotten bored (having outsourced development after only two games). Critics were finding the formula to be getting stale. By all appearances, this would have been the perfect time to wrap it up and focus on new projects.

But Capcom in the 90’s didn’t quit, possibly because they didn’t know when to quit. The company was notorious for cranking out sequel after sequel, even when it looked like an IP was dead as a doornail. So while the Mega Man X games could have, and maybe should have ended, they did anything but.

Enter Mega Man X4, a game that arrived when the series was already out of gas, yet which somehow became the midpoint of the franchise. So what, if anything does it to in order to stay relevant? It arguably does a fine job of changing with the times, specifically by becoming the kind of game that would appeal to the new demographics of the Playstation Generation. Unfortunately, that means an experience that misguidedly places an emphasis on being “cool” and “mature” over the careful design and craftsmanship that defines the very best Mega Man games. It looks, sounds, plays, and plays out like a complete mess. An edgy mess, but a mess nonetheless.

Mega Man X3 Deep Dive - Misc 2020-08-05

This post is part of a series of deep dives into Mega Man X 3. In this piece, we take a look at any leftover observations about the game.

Here are the links to the rest of the deep dives:

Spoiler Preface!!!

This post contains content that some may deem as spoilers. You have been warned

A Good Review!

By some stroke of luck, I actually found an amateur analysis of Mega Man X 3 that not only goes to bat for the game, but does so in a thoughtful, analytical manner. The author of the piece is one Andy Primm, and I am so very glad to have come across it. Mr. Primm is a far deeper student of the game than myself, and his observations on its difficulty and design made me think about it in ways I had not previously considered.

Mega Man X3 Deep Dive - Bosses 2020-08-05

This post is part of a series of deep dives into Mega Man X 3. In this piece, we analyze the game’s boss battles.

Here are the links to the rest of the deep dives:

Spoiler Preface!!!

This post contains content that some may deem as spoilers. You have been warned

The Eight Mavericks

The Eight Mavericks in X3 are not bad, but they’re not all necessarily worth commenting on. They lack the gimmicks that defined most of the bosses in X2, though a few of them are reminiscent of X2 in the sense that they are too much of a pain to fight without their weapon weakness. Overall, I’d say they’re a pretty standard mix of “easy” and “tough”, with straightforward attack patterns.

However, I want to comment on just a few fights that stood out for one reason or another.

Mega Man X3 Deep Dive - Story Analysis 2020-08-05

This post is part of a series of deep dives into Mega Man X 3. In this piece, we analyze the game’s story.

Here are the links to the rest of the deep dives:

Spoiler Preface!!!

This post contains content that some may deem as spoilers. You have been warned

Compared to its predecessor, Mega Man X 3 is fairly light on story. This is a pretty standard case of “old video game doesn’t take its story very seriously”.

Mega Man X3 Deep Dive - Weapons Analysis 2020-08-04

This post is part of a series of deep dives into Mega Man X 3. In this piece, we analyze the game’s various weapons.

Here are the links to the rest of the deep dives:

Spoiler Preface!!!

This post contains content that some may deem as spoilers. You have been warned

Sometimes, you can tell if a Mega Man weapon is going to be good simply by looking at it. You don’t even have to hit something; if the weapon fires big projectiles, if it covers a wide area of the screen, or it involves some sort of explosion, chances are good that it is going to be useful.

The inverse is also true. If a weapon fires measly looking projectiles, if it slow or it has poor range, it is often not very useful.

These rules do not apply in Mega Man X3. A lot of the weapons look terrible, but are in fact quite handy once you fully know how and when to use them. As with much of this game’s design, you are really encouraged to play around and experiment with these weapons. A lot of their utility only shines through if you really pay attention to their behavior.

Mega Man X3 Deep Dive - Environmental Storytelling 2020-08-04

This post is part of a series of deep dives into Mega Man X 3. In this piece, we analyze the game’s environmental storytelling.

Here are the links to the rest of the deep dives:

Spoiler Preface!!!

This post contains content that some may deem as spoilers. You have been warned

I think Mega Man X 3 does a much better job at environmental storytelling than X2. Not every stage takes place in some generic fortress or base, and there a lot of nice details in many of the backgrounds. That being said, the art design isn’t consistently good. One moment you get some gorgeous backdrop, and in the next you’re in some boring hallway.

Still, I’ll take when I can get. Let’s look at what the game has in store.

Review: Mega Man X 3 2020-08-03

Title: Mega Man X 3
Release Date: December 1995 (Japan), January 1996 (US)
Original Platform: Super Famicom/Super Nintendo
Other Platforms: Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn (circa 1996)

Mega Man X 3 was originally released in 1995 for the Super Famicom. By this time the console was not yet quite on its last legs - 300+ Super Famicom titles were shipped that year, which was roughly the same amount as in 1994. However, by 95 both the Playstation and the Saturn were out everywhere, and the Nintendo 64 was only a year away. The writing was on the wall that the 16-bit consoles were on the downswing, and big companies like Capcom were focusing their development resources on the new generation.

Still, there were millions of Super Famicom and Super Nintendo consoles out there, and the company had an almost unbroken streak of yearly Mega Man releases going all the way back to 1987¹. It would be a shame if the transition to new console hardware got in the way of Capcom’s penchant for milking their heavy hitting franchises for all they were worth. So Capcom did the most Capcom thing imaginable. In order to still crank out a new Mega Man X game, they outsourced development of X3 to an external studio, Minakuchi Engineering, and released quick and dirty Playstation and Saturn ports the following year. Fans got their Mega Man fix, and Capcom got a multiplatform release on (what I am assuming was) the cheap.

Mega Man X 2 Deep Dive - Miscellaneous 2020-07-05

This post contains any lingering observations on parts of Mega Man X 2 that struck me as notable. Here are links to the rest of the deep dives:

Powerup Placement

As I mentioned in the main review, X2 places powerups in some stupid places. For example, there is a Heart Container in the beginning of Wire Sponge’s stage:

Would you have thought to go looking there?

Mega Man X 2 Deep Dive - Boss Breakdown 2020-07-05

This post is an analysis of some of the bass battles in Mega Man X 2. Here are links to the rest of the deep dives:

Spoiler Preface!!!

This post contains content that some may deem as spoilers. You have been warned

In the main review of Mega Man X 2, I said the following about the boss battles:

Among these battles are a few that are extremely fun and engaging, as good or better as any fight in X1. Others feel like they’re specifically designed to be unreasonably difficult without the boss’ weapon weakness. These bosses have attacks and/or attack patterns that are abnormally difficult to dodge, which makes it that much harder to even get a shot in on them. Even if you do have their weakness, it may not be as potent as you might think. You don’t really conquer most of these boss fights. You endure them. And when you’re done, you want to erase them from your mind.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Overdrive Ostrich

This is one of the better fights in the game, even though it looks like one of the most gimmicky. Ostensibly it takes place on a “long boss chamber” similar to the ones used by Flame Mammoth or Storm Eagle in X1. But this one takes place outside, hilly terrain, and this has an impact on how the fight plays out.