This is a remake of one of the greatest platformers of all time, this is a remake that makes a lot of improvements to the original game, this is a remake that adds multiple amazing cutscenes as full as a full OVA opener to the game. There is so much to love about this game...

But I don't like it more than the original so... I have no reason to play this game. If this became a series of remakes like was originally intended then that would be a different story but sadly this is all we have and X1 didn't really need improving.

I personally prefer the style of the SNES game, the style here isn't bad but feels a bit... plastic maybe? Idk, just doesn't hit as hard.

I appreciate Chill Penguin no longer being basically the mandatory first stage as now the armor boots are in Flame Mammoth's stage but I would probably still have rathered the dash be part of X's moveset from the start.

The controls feels a bit less responsive to me but I really don't know specifics, there were alot of times when my dash didn't come through for some reason.

The animated cutscenes are cool but I don't like the retcons they do and regardless I can still watch them disconnected from the game so they don't add that much even if they are really cool.

The voice acting is superb, adds alot to the experience, especially X's voice actor. Level design is pretty much the same till the Sigma stages.

It is just a preference thing, this is an incredibly solid remake that I just have no reason to play. There's also the fact that the X legacy collection is so easily accessible meanwhile MHX isn't, really sucks it wasn't on any of the collections, it would've been a really cool bonus if it was put in the second X collection since most of the games in that half aren't very good.

(This review was written after only beating Xs side of this game a few times. I've yet to complete Viles side of the game as of the time I'm typing this at, but I will update this review with points about that once that's done)

So my original plan was to play and review Mega Man X: Command Mission at this point, but as my GameCube controller adapter took longer than I thought to be delivered (even then it isn't expected to arrive until either the 26th or 27th of October and I'm typing this on the 25th), I figured I'd use that time to play through Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, a PSP remake of the original Mega Man X on the SNES. Now Mega Man X1 as it stands is a near flawless game with the only real drawbacks surrounding it being extremely minor, so it was odd that Capcom chose to develop a remake of that game for the PSP as the next step forward for the series, ESPECIALLY since this came a year following Mega Man X8 whose ending had a very clear sequel hook regarding what happened to Axl. This game, rather than being a direct re-telling of X1 instead opts to be the start of an alternate continuity for the X series as there are characters and plot elements here that were NOT present in that game which did have potential as it allowed the writers to freshen up the Mega Man X plot without any of the dumb mishaps that started coming in full force by X4. Now before I get into the actual discussion I do want to state that a lot of what I said in my review on X1 still holds true for Maverick Hunter X, so to avoid repeating myself frequently I'm only going to discuss what's new in this game alongside other notable features that are worth comparing to X1, therefore meaning this review will probably be rather short in my eyes.

Gameplay-wise, at its core it's identical to X1, even down to Xs dash being tied to the Leg upgrade like it was in the original game and despite the usage of 3D models rather than sprites it's fortunately still VERY smooth and fun to play around with. However some QoL features from X8 have been brought over into this game, most notably the ability to exit a stage without already beating that stages boss. It's a nice addition and it was amusingly a feature that came in handy for me as in my first run of this game I accidentally picked Storm Eagle before going to Chill Penguin who I wanted to go after at that point, otherwise it's just a cool feature to have overall. Additionally, like in X8, MHX stores your E-Tank energy whenever you save your game, and it's still there when you restart this addition. I LOVE this change, as means that you don't have to spend your time grinding up E-Tanks again every time you restart your save file (whether that be to give you more chances at using the Hadouken or simply to give yourself more leeway in the final boss), and why it took them until the 8th fucking entry to implement this is beyond me.

In-line with the later X games, MHX does have difficulty settings, with Normal being pretty much in line with X1 while Hard mode makes X take more damage while bosses have new attacks and patterns that they never had on Normal difficulty. I'm pretty indifferent on the difficulty here, as in terms of extremes it's not to the extreme of X5/X6s hard modes where enemies stop dropping health pickups & are placed in stages like a typical Mario Maker level but it's also not to the extreme of X8 where the lowest difficulty doesn't lock you out of certain content, so in general it's just pretty neat although if you wanna see EVERYTHING the game has to offer than you'll have to play it on hard difficulty.

MHX does however see the playable debut of Vile in his own campaign that's unlocked after beating the game as X. While I haven't fully played through it yet (am only like 2 bosses in as of me typing this as I've been busy with other things), I do know that Vile lacks the ability to dash like X does despite the fact that you can literally see Vile dashing whenever you fight him, but it is still an interesting way to spice up Viles gameplay formula, and he has his own array of powerful weapons separate from X has, but he can NOT take hits for the life of him until you get a few Life Ups, so the early game as Vile is pretty damn rough.

The level design however is where Maverick Hunter X begins to get rather different from X1. First things first, the levels that make up Sigmas Palace have been completely reworked into entirely new levels. For instance, the start of Sigma Palace 1 has you go underwater where you fight Launch Octopus as the first boss rematch rather than Boomer Kuwanger or how Sigma Palace 2 now has you destroying ginormous rocks which leads into the rematch with Armored Armadillo, and even features the climbing section at the start of the original Sigma Palace 1. In my opinion, MHXs fortress levels are WAY harder than X1s fortress levels simply due to the downright EVIL enemy placement at times, but it's nothing that you can't overcome without a good strategy.

The item placement in MHXs stages is rather interesting as it's not exactly the same here as in X1. For starters, the Life Up in Spark Mandrills stage now REQUIRES the use of Boomerang Cutter while previously you could get it with a wall dash or how the E-Tank in Flame Mammoths stage and the armor capsule in Storm Eagles stage now require you to have the First Armors head piece equipped, and this I admit does freshen up the experience somewhat as you realize that this isn't actually a 1:1 recreation of X1. Furthermore, the locations of each of Xs armor pieces have been COMPLETELY swapped around. The Head upgrade is now in Chill Penguins stage, the Chest upgrade is now in Storm Eagles stage, the Buster upgrade is now in Sting Chameleons stage and the Leg upgrade is now in Flame Mammoths stage. Although the Leg upgrade isn't impossible to miss in MHX, the boss orders here still have that linearity problem that X1 had as unless you're challenging yourself then you're ALWAYS gonna be going to Flame Mammoth first because the dash is still tied to this upgrade. Despite that, it does at least help in making MHX a unique enough game to play through compared to X1, as your routes across both games will likely be COMPLETELY different.

Then there's the items, and I only have one notable point to discuss here as everything is the exact same as in X1. You know how Zero gives you his arm part if you see his sacrifice without having already collected the Buster upgrade? While in X1 their functions were entirely the same, in MHX Zeros arm actually has a unique function compared to Dr Lights Buster, giving X a new charge shot that does hefty damage to bosses. Too bad that by the time you get it you only have like 3 bosses left to fight, but it's still pretty cool that they decided to give Zeros arm an actual unique function, and even adds some more replay ability to the game as not only does it mean you have to go through the first 3 Sigma levels without a Buster upgrade or the Hadouken, but it also means you have an entirely different tool to approach the final boss with.

The plot of MHX is where it REALLY starts to get interesting. First off, Sigmas reasoning for starting the war is simply to achieve the true potential of Reploids as opposed to getting corrupted by a virus program from Zero like what X4 implied, immediately establishing that this game is in an alternate continuity, otherwise the plot plays out identically to X1s plot for the most part. Additionally the final battle with Vile alongside Zeros sacrifice occur WAY later here, instead taking place at the end of Sigma Palace 3 as opposed to the start of Sigma Palace 1 like in the original and IMO this adds a LOT more stakes to the plot as the final battle against Sigma effectively takes place right after this and the writers even play with it due to how fucking PISSED X sounds when he speaks to Sigma in their pre-battle dialogue as he's literally just come off of seeing his friend sacrifice himself so X can power on while Sigma gloats about the potential of Reploids so it really is understandable that X is so goddamn mad.

Speaking of which, MHX does give the bosses a LOT more character than what they had in X1 as each of them has some dialogue with X before their battles that gives some insight to their personality and why they've joined Sigmas forces in the first place, my personal favorite being Launch Octopus as he became a Maverick simply because of his love for combat, going as far as to scream "EVEN MY EXPLOSION IS BEAUTIFUL" when you beat him and that admittedly had me laughing for a good few minutes afterwards. I won't spoil the rest of it, but the way MHX changes up the plot and characters from X1 is pretty fucking cool for the most part and I'd definitely recommend checking out the cutscenes or the special animation, "The Day of Sigma" as they both give a lot of insight to the characters of Xs world.

I have nothing to say about the bosses that I didn't already say before, so I'm moving right on to the presentation of MHX. The first major change comes in the fact that 3D models are used rather than sprites like in the original. While they can look rather dated at times, it's something that never really bothered me that much as the gameplay is still very fun and the levels/characters are both very vibrant and filled with life despite that.

I do want to give credit to the voice acting however. This is the last time that the Ocean Group (from X8 and X Command Mission) would provide English voice acting for a Mega Man X game, and this game features far and away their BEST performances, in particular fucking Mark Gathas performance as X. HOLY. FUCK does he nail it down SO hard. You can hear the hesitance in his voice during the pre-battle dialogue while also sounding like he isn't fucking around when he does realize that he has to put down these Mavericks, and then when you get to the Sigma fight he sounds like he's ready to fucking kill Sigma with the sheer ANGER in his voice as he's just come off the sacrifice of Zero, so Mark just perfectly fucking encapsulates both sides of X and IMO he's THE best VA he's ever had. That's not to say the rest of the cast aren't great either, as Lucas Gilbertson and Roger Rhodes both return to voice Zero/Vile respectively. Lucas once again nails down the cool and calm personality of Zero but Roger manages to encapsulate a different side of Vile that the story pushes here compared to X8, showing a lot more hatred for X as opposed to simply just enjoying the thrill of destruction like in that game. All in all, this is the best voice acting a Mega Man X game has ever had, nuff said.

The soundtrack, while overall being weaker than X1s, still has some damn good tunes, with my personal favorite being the new rendition of Boomer Kuwangers theme which is SO FUCKING GOOD holy shit, EASILY my favorite track from MHX specifically as it blows the X1 version out of the water.

In conclusion, Maverick Hunter X is an absolutely fantastic remake of the original Mega Man X. It fixes all but one extremely minor nitpick being the linear boss orders while not only introducing new features but also mixing up existing elements to create a fresh experience compared to X1. The voice acting is the best it's ever been, the core gameplay is still as fun as it was previously and there's also some fun content to keep you engaged in the form of the higher difficulties and Vile mode. Therefore, I feel absolutely content in giving this game a 5 star rating as I think it honestly deserves it, DEFINITELY up there with Kirby Super Star Ultra as the gold standard for video game remakes in my eyes and I even recommend this one as a good starting point into the Mega Man X series as it's pretty easy to pick up and play. Unfortunately I hear this game alongside fellow PSP Mega Man remake "Powered Up" didn't perform too well commercially (understandably so as both of them released in the pre-MHFU era of the PSP) and so we'll likely never see X2 and beyond be re-done in the style of MHX and it's a damn shame because everything after X2 has some aspect or another that a remake could address to create an absolutely amazing game, but it's something that'll sadly never happen because of how long it's been since this game released alongside the sales figures, but this is still an absolutely amazing game already for what it is.

Pretty superfluous, but could be worse. It's ugly and the music's kinda lame, but other than that and a few unnecessary changes it represents the first Mega Man X well enough. The Vile mode, though, is a complete waste of time. It takes away the mobility that set the X series apart from the classic series and, although the different weapons are pretty interesting, the bosses and most of the levels don't really call for them. As a whole, this doesn't match Dracula X Chronicles in terms of design and especially value, but at a time when it wasn't so easy to play Mega Man X on the go, it did its job.

Eu não quero escrever muito sobre esse jogo porque quanto mais eu penso sobre ele, com mais raiva eu fico.

- Os gráficos per se da pra aturar, mas os modelos 3D são terríveis, é impossível você olhar esse jogo e o do SNES e sentir mais vontade de jogar esse puramente pela estética

- Eu amo overthinkar e cavar história de Mega Man, então tava ansioso pros diálogos, mas com exceção de uma fala do Spark Mandrill e uma do Storm Eagle, a caracterização de todo mundo é uma bosta e, sinceramente, adicionar conversa ruim no jogo só pra inflar ele e dizer que tem conteúdo novo é um dos, se não o maior deserviço desse jogo. Mega Man X é um jogo de beleza interior cristalina, você não enfia qualquer coisa dentro da perfeição esperando que fique automaticamente bom.

- O X desse jogo parece um balão, ele tem a jogabilidade mais solta e leve da franquia. Isso é bom? Óbvio que não, porque esse jogo não deixa ele leve pra fazer alguma coisa com isso, eles só minimizaram qualquer animação que buildava momentum no jogo original. Esse bicho é um ROBÔ, você precisa sentir a pegada dele, faz parte central da jogabilidade o X construir velocidade

- Embaralhar as peças da armadura não é uma ideia ruim, mas foi feito com o cu. Provavelmente o pensamento é "todo mundo começa o jogo pelo Chill Penguim, vamo tirar o dash de lá!". O problema é que colocaram o dash na fase do Flame Mamoth, isso significa 2 coisas:
1 que ainda vale a pena pra maioria das pessoas fazer o Chill Penguim primeiro pra congelar a fase do Flame Mamooth
2 que a porra da bota tá bem no início, então a pessoa pode entrar na fase, pegar a bota, se matar e voltar do inicio fazendo qualquer outra ordem.

- Continuando sobre a armadura mas dividindo o tópico: deixar o peitoral no Storm Eagle é uma decisão burra pra qualquer pessoa que jogou o X original pelo menos uma vez. Primeiro que o Storm Eagle junto do Chill Penguim é de longe o boss mais fazivel com o buster, então a maioria das pessoas começa ou por um ou por outro. Segundo que o peitoral... trivializa totalmente o jogo, e eles não quiseram mudar isso. Então se tu pegou o peitoral na segunda fase que tu foi, o resto do jogo vai ser a coisa mais sem sal e pointless do mundo. O peitoral ficar o Sting Chameleon era uma decisão de design inteligente porque:
1 ele é difícil pra caralho no buster então se tu explorar direito a fase dele tu encontra uma redução de dano que te ajuda bastante
2 que geralmente tu passa nele no late game, porque tu pelo menos enfrenta o Chill Penguim pra pegar o dash, o Storm Eagle pq ele é ridículo, o Flame Mamooth pq a fase congelou E tu pegou a arma do Storm Eagle, o Spark Mandrill pq tu tem a fraqueza do gelo, E SE TU FOR UM JOGADOR DECENTE tu ainda vai no Launch Octopus antes pra não fazer backtracking.

- Eles deixaram a sessão do carrinho do Armored Armadillo (que é uma das catarses do primeiro jogo) INSUPORTÁVEL, com o bônus da localização do hadouken ter ficado uma bosta de acessar

- Os remixes das músicas são terríveis e foram feitos pelo chat gpt

Bottomline: é um cocôzao, eu não sei porque você jogaria ele ao invés do clássico e quem diz que ele é objetivamente melhor que o OG não entende nada de videogame.

played on hard, 100%, original audio.
really good remake, but the movement leaves a lot to be desired, doesn't match the later X titles.
i much prefer the original sprites over the 3d models, but they were still well done, and the voice acting is great.
wasn't a big fan of the way they hid the dash upgrade (i ended up beating all the mavericks without it cuz i couldn't find it lol), i think for a remake, they should've just given you dash after the opening stage.

UPDATE: played vile mode on hard, this shit fucking bangs 5****

A bit better than the original.

Think like Megaman X8, but simpler and it's a remake of Megaman X. Oh, and it has Vile storyline too.

It also includes: Day of Σ, a short movie about well. Before Sigma turned Maverick and started the X saga.

A neat little remake of Mega Man X but ultimately I think it's a step back from it in almost every aspect. While some environments look quite nice the graphics just do not hold up well at all compared to the original. Some of the remixed tracks do surpass the originals for me but for the most part they removed a lot of their identity (I hate that stupid guitar shred they do in every fucking song). Controls are mostly fine save for the fact that charging takes a goddamn eternity and dashing out of a wall jump is super finicky for some reason. The changed capsule locations are neat for returning players but for a new player they are going to be going for way too long without the dash. Also, why did they feel the need to give every single boss Spark Mandrill syndrome?? The only aspect I'd say was an improvement is the story, all of the voice actors do a very solid job elevating the bare plot of the original. As much as I've complained I would still say it's a good game, but not at all a replacement for the original.

Mega man X is quite literally my favorite game of all time, so when i say thia game manages to stand on almost the same level, to the point where the only thing keeping the original in the lead is nostalgia, im not saying it lightly.
While some changes in item locations force me to readjust my route, its nothing really big, and everything else feels just as good. I loved the improved story ans cutscenes, there clearly was a LOT of effort and love in this retelling to the point where they made an OVA as a prologue. Graphics also look pretty amazing, and seeing all these stages, enemies and characters in so much more detail and quality is quite surreal. Gameplay wise, its Mega Man X, they managed to get it almost perfectly, and it feels as good as the original. Special mention to the Vile mode, which I'm surprised no MMX fangames or Rom Hacks tried to replicate, since its such a great, fun playstyle that fits the series well, and his side of the story is just as fun thanks to his petty, downright spiteful personality making him a highlight in every cutscene he's in.

Believe it or not, this is the only Mega Man game I have ever completed. I really need to play more of this series eventually.

But yeah, this game is quite good. Visuals are fairly detailed for PSP standards, controls feel pretty good, weapons are varied and the levels and bosses are well-designed, fun, and provide a fair challenge. Basically everything you'd look for in a game like this is here.

Also, you can find a secret item that lets Mega Man do a Hadoken, and that's pretty darn cool.