Mega Man X (SNES, 1993)
Graphics-8 Sound-7.5 Control-8 Challenge-7.5/6.5* Story-5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8/7* Fun-7.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-7.5
*With upgrades, correct level order and special weapons
+
Secret items (1-ups, suit upgrades, health upgrades, energy tanks)
Choose the level order (out of the first eight stages, then there’s the usual fortress stages which have to be beaten in order)
Can replay beaten levels (for items, can’t refight the maverick/robot master bosses this way)
Boss affinities (most bosses are easy with the right weapon)
New moves and weapons (block crushing helmet, dash boots – here the dash affects jump length, wall jumping)
Good variation
Good bosses overall (multiple patterns, very little slowdown)
Beating one stage affects the environment of another (this can lead to the game becoming easier though and the player obviously misses the original layout of some stages)
Other environmental effects (breaking the windows in the tower in Storm Eagle’s stage, collapsing highway in the intro stage, etc.),
Switch special weapons in-game (l/r)
Charged up special weapons have alternate effects (need an upgrade; you can charge one weapon then switch to another one without having to restart the charge))
Teleport out of beaten levels at will (use the escape unit in the pause menu)
Ride mechs and mine carts (for a very limited time though)
Mini-bosses
Health drops from mini-bosses
Some alternate paths
There’s sometimes more than one way of reaching a special item (heart tank in Boomer Kuwanger’s stage, both tanks in spark mandrill’s stage)
Wonderfully cheesy ending text
Grab items from afar with the boomerang cutter (not sure if it was done in MMIV GB first)
Energy balancer as a default feature
Control options
+/-
Spikes kill instantly
Can't dash jump off ladders
Respawning enemies (as soon as you scroll the screen out of view of their spawning points)
Roughly the same number of enemy types as in MM3 (~42, they’re generally larger and better animated though)
Somewhat longer robot master/maverick battles than in the classic series (lets them use all their moves)
Fairly frequent health drops from enemies (roughly every fifth enemy so it’s near MM2 levels, however when farming for HP the frequency often goes way down (one exception is the robot bats in Armored Armadillo’s stage))
Gives you less starting health than in the classic series so you’ll want to collect HP upgrades (heart tanks)
Password save (fairly long)
Non-slippery ice in Chill Penguin’s stage
Have to manually fill up your E-Tanks/Sub-Tanks in this one (on the other hand you can keep using them over and over)
1-up drops from enemies are rare (higher frequency for the robot bats in Armored Armadillo’s stage)
Obtaining the special items is sometimes just a matter of having the right weapon or upgrade rather than skillful play (obtaining said weapon or upgrade is usually a bit of a challenge though)
Shorter and quicker knockback than in the classic series
Most weapons are situational or inefficient vs. normal enemies
Passwords and stage select are available between Sigma’s fortress stages (lets you upgrade X further)
No ammo tanks
MM1-style boss rush
The tornado weapon and the charged up chameleon weapon (temporary invincibility) are a bit overpowered
The Hadouken-style shot is very overpowered
Small delay on movement when picking up health
Life and e-tank limits (9 and 4, respectively)
-
Mostly a rehash of old ideas
A bit slower/less frantic than the early NES games (but still fast, especially during boss fights)
Some trial & error (boss patterns, you can get killed by the intro stage boss but only if he moves into you, you can destroy the flammable tanks in Storm Eagle’s stage using just the buster (you need to shoot it many times though so it’s hard to discover), the flying enemies in Spark Mandrill’s stage, no health bars shown for mini-bosses, the helmet actually lets you destroy certain blocks from the side as well)
Some easy bosses (Storm Eagle is too slow and his tornado attack does no damage, Flame Mammoth’s oil attack is inefficient and you can hang out in the upper corners to avoid damage, the green robot in sting chameleon’s stage (without the right weapon), the sea serpents in launch octopus’s stage)
You have to find the dash boots to dash (meaning you'll always want to start with Chill Penguin’s stage - less freedom)
Some items are found through luck (sting chameleon stage) somewhat weak sound effects overall (too much low quality reverb)
You'll likely get tired of mashing the dash button to do running jumps while re-charging the buster over and over at the same time
Some tedious parts (vertical platforming in Boomer Kuwanger’s and Sigma’s stages, some bosses take too long to kill – armored armadillo, sea serpent, the green robot in sting chameleon’s stage, sting chameleon, Sigma’s second form – hard to find the pattern and it takes a long time to kill him without the right weapon, Sigma’s first form also takes a while to kill and it’s a dull battle to have to redo, having to wall jump up to and speak with Sigma every time you retry the fight with him), reuses the annoying "robot with shield" (sniper joe-like) enemy in several stages (breaks flow)
Still can't duck (breaks flow at times until you know the levels inside out)
Some slowdown
Can’t turn off the double tap dash (fairly easy to trigger by accident)
Somewhat boring intro level (very short though but it is mandatory)
"more is more" design approach (lots of detail and color on every sprite, the suit upgrades)
The jump to the upgrade capsule room in flame mammoth’s stage (need to replay the stage if you screw up the block smashing?)
Worse intro and outro cutscenes than in some of the NES games (mostly text here)
Zero is pretty smug and tries to steal the show
Can’t freeze enemies (see MM1)
Comment:
A solid action game, one of the best for the SNES, but after all the hype it receives I was a bit disappointed. I don't think it innovates the formula enough and the sequel had a better flow to its levels (it also had the courtesy of giving you the dash right away instead of making you always begin with a specific stage). The build up to the finale is the best of the trilogy, as is the music, but the finale itself is just tedious. Finally (hurr hurr), I much prefer the more minimalistic visual style of the NES series to this somewhat bloated, more is more approach, but this is a minor gripe.
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8/7* Fun-7.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-7.5
*With upgrades, correct level order and special weapons
+
Secret items (1-ups, suit upgrades, health upgrades, energy tanks)
Choose the level order (out of the first eight stages, then there’s the usual fortress stages which have to be beaten in order)
Can replay beaten levels (for items, can’t refight the maverick/robot master bosses this way)
Boss affinities (most bosses are easy with the right weapon)
New moves and weapons (block crushing helmet, dash boots – here the dash affects jump length, wall jumping)
Good variation
Good bosses overall (multiple patterns, very little slowdown)
Beating one stage affects the environment of another (this can lead to the game becoming easier though and the player obviously misses the original layout of some stages)
Other environmental effects (breaking the windows in the tower in Storm Eagle’s stage, collapsing highway in the intro stage, etc.),
Switch special weapons in-game (l/r)
Charged up special weapons have alternate effects (need an upgrade; you can charge one weapon then switch to another one without having to restart the charge))
Teleport out of beaten levels at will (use the escape unit in the pause menu)
Ride mechs and mine carts (for a very limited time though)
Mini-bosses
Health drops from mini-bosses
Some alternate paths
There’s sometimes more than one way of reaching a special item (heart tank in Boomer Kuwanger’s stage, both tanks in spark mandrill’s stage)
Wonderfully cheesy ending text
Grab items from afar with the boomerang cutter (not sure if it was done in MMIV GB first)
Energy balancer as a default feature
Control options
+/-
Spikes kill instantly
Can't dash jump off ladders
Respawning enemies (as soon as you scroll the screen out of view of their spawning points)
Roughly the same number of enemy types as in MM3 (~42, they’re generally larger and better animated though)
Somewhat longer robot master/maverick battles than in the classic series (lets them use all their moves)
Fairly frequent health drops from enemies (roughly every fifth enemy so it’s near MM2 levels, however when farming for HP the frequency often goes way down (one exception is the robot bats in Armored Armadillo’s stage))
Gives you less starting health than in the classic series so you’ll want to collect HP upgrades (heart tanks)
Password save (fairly long)
Non-slippery ice in Chill Penguin’s stage
Have to manually fill up your E-Tanks/Sub-Tanks in this one (on the other hand you can keep using them over and over)
1-up drops from enemies are rare (higher frequency for the robot bats in Armored Armadillo’s stage)
Obtaining the special items is sometimes just a matter of having the right weapon or upgrade rather than skillful play (obtaining said weapon or upgrade is usually a bit of a challenge though)
Shorter and quicker knockback than in the classic series
Most weapons are situational or inefficient vs. normal enemies
Passwords and stage select are available between Sigma’s fortress stages (lets you upgrade X further)
No ammo tanks
MM1-style boss rush
The tornado weapon and the charged up chameleon weapon (temporary invincibility) are a bit overpowered
The Hadouken-style shot is very overpowered
Small delay on movement when picking up health
Life and e-tank limits (9 and 4, respectively)
-
Mostly a rehash of old ideas
A bit slower/less frantic than the early NES games (but still fast, especially during boss fights)
Some trial & error (boss patterns, you can get killed by the intro stage boss but only if he moves into you, you can destroy the flammable tanks in Storm Eagle’s stage using just the buster (you need to shoot it many times though so it’s hard to discover), the flying enemies in Spark Mandrill’s stage, no health bars shown for mini-bosses, the helmet actually lets you destroy certain blocks from the side as well)
Some easy bosses (Storm Eagle is too slow and his tornado attack does no damage, Flame Mammoth’s oil attack is inefficient and you can hang out in the upper corners to avoid damage, the green robot in sting chameleon’s stage (without the right weapon), the sea serpents in launch octopus’s stage)
You have to find the dash boots to dash (meaning you'll always want to start with Chill Penguin’s stage - less freedom)
Some items are found through luck (sting chameleon stage) somewhat weak sound effects overall (too much low quality reverb)
You'll likely get tired of mashing the dash button to do running jumps while re-charging the buster over and over at the same time
Some tedious parts (vertical platforming in Boomer Kuwanger’s and Sigma’s stages, some bosses take too long to kill – armored armadillo, sea serpent, the green robot in sting chameleon’s stage, sting chameleon, Sigma’s second form – hard to find the pattern and it takes a long time to kill him without the right weapon, Sigma’s first form also takes a while to kill and it’s a dull battle to have to redo, having to wall jump up to and speak with Sigma every time you retry the fight with him), reuses the annoying "robot with shield" (sniper joe-like) enemy in several stages (breaks flow)
Still can't duck (breaks flow at times until you know the levels inside out)
Some slowdown
Can’t turn off the double tap dash (fairly easy to trigger by accident)
Somewhat boring intro level (very short though but it is mandatory)
"more is more" design approach (lots of detail and color on every sprite, the suit upgrades)
The jump to the upgrade capsule room in flame mammoth’s stage (need to replay the stage if you screw up the block smashing?)
Worse intro and outro cutscenes than in some of the NES games (mostly text here)
Zero is pretty smug and tries to steal the show
Can’t freeze enemies (see MM1)
Comment:
A solid action game, one of the best for the SNES, but after all the hype it receives I was a bit disappointed. I don't think it innovates the formula enough and the sequel had a better flow to its levels (it also had the courtesy of giving you the dash right away instead of making you always begin with a specific stage). The build up to the finale is the best of the trilogy, as is the music, but the finale itself is just tedious. Finally (hurr hurr), I much prefer the more minimalistic visual style of the NES series to this somewhat bloated, more is more approach, but this is a minor gripe.