I was really really excited to play this through since I bought it, and the game certainly never disappointed. There's just enough new stuff to the Mega Man formula to catch the interest of people who got bored of the classics (I don't know how you would, but that's just me being obsessive) and there's just enough of the old formula to get people like me into this rather easily. I really loved going back through the levels and collecting all the hearts and armor upgrades. While hidden goodies in the stages was nothing new for Mega Man at this point, it was never a big focus unlike how it is here, where upgrading is a central focus.

I didn't put a lot of time into using all the weapons (I wanted to stick with the buster a lot to re-awaken my classic mega man skills) but they felt really useful for when I whipped them out. They'll make for a lot of good experimentation on future playthroughs.

X's new abilities compared to Mega Man were honestly kind of hard to get used to but I think by the end I got used to it. I've played Mega Man Zero before so I kind of understood it already, just needed to get used to how this game in particular works. Even if it took me a bit it was always fun.

This is definitely a must play must own SNES game. I'd love to own the other X games on SNES and Mega Man 7, but those seem to be very very expensive.

9/10

Initially beat with all upgrades (including the Hadouken) on the GameCube version of Mega Man X Collection. Later replayed on the Switch version of Mega Man X Legacy Collection and got Zero's buster upgrade as part of a Hunter Medal requirement.

It's a good game, without a doubt, but I cannot for the life of me see what all the hype over the original Mega Man X is about. Maybe it's because it emerged at a time when classic Mega Man was at its least creative, with cookie-cutter sequels one year after another. Maybe it's because it's got an edgier tone that resonated more with 90s kids. But despite having a considerable amount of depth compared to the franchise's previous efforts, there were a few things that kept me from loving this one.

The biggest issue I take with this game is its approach to non-linearity. The original Mega Man's innovation was giving you the option to start from any stage, and proceed in any order you like (as long as you remember the Magnet Beam). This game, however, involves finding many upgrades scattered throughout the stages, many of which can't be obtained without having a particular weapon. The only one that is placed directly onto your path is the Dash Boots, but you need to go to Chill Penguin's stage to get them. If the developers were insistent on making sure the player acquire them, why not introduce them in the opening stage? Better yet, why not grant the ability to dash right from the start? The other upgrades are nice to have, but the whole game is built around being able to dash, especially during combat. Until you make it to Chill Penguin's stage, many of the other items will remain inaccessible. In addition, the stages' gimmicks are affected by the order in which you defeat the Mavericks. Beat Launch Octopus, and Sting Chameleon's stage becomes flooded. Beat Chill Penguin, and Flame Mammoth's stage becomes frozen over. Forming an objectively optimal route for defeating the Mavericks completely defeats the purpose of allowing the stages to be played in any order. Mess up the order, and you are wasting time and making the game needlessly harder for yourself. This is all a lot more annoying than obtaining the Magnet Beam, if you ask me.

My only other issues with this game are trivial in comparison. I like being able to dash, but trying to dash and jump off a wall at the same time while charging the X buster is impossible on a SNES controller, because the L and R buttons are mapped to swapping between weapons and cannot be changed. Luckily, I utilized the button mapping function of the Switch, but my point still stands. Some might find this controversial, but the story doesn't do anything for me; Zero's death had no impact because I barely interacted with him, and neither Sigma nor Vile have any personality other than "evil". The story is not overbearing like those of the some later entries, but it adds nothing to my enjoyment and almost comes off as corny.

Before I end this review, I do want to mention some positives:

- bosses are a lot of fun, now that you can dash and do wall jumps
- being able to charge up my weapons is a really innovative feature that adds a lot of replay value
- the music is awesome, so good that it's the peak of the series
- graphics are colorful and detailed, taking full advantage of the SNES's technology

But yeah, like I said, Mega Man X is a good game, just not one that I can appreciate on the same level that others do. I much prefer the classic series, but I'm still satisfied knowing I at least gave this one a try.

Definitely the weakest perfect score I've ever given, but god damn it go play it yourself and tell me it doesn't deserve it. It feels like the perfect fusion of classic Mega Man and the later X games. Almost all of the boss levels are incredibly fun, with some of the catchiest music a game has ever had. The levels are dynamic, and the whole game feels more connected on a deeper level than some games do now 30 years later. The only blemish I could possibly think of is the fact that a few of the Sigma stages are a little unbalanced, but other than that it's about as close to perfection as most platformers can get. I finished it in a day because I just couldn't get myself to stop playing it.

i've written a review of this game already and it was silly and hyperbolic but nonetheless, how i felt. i will delete that first one as i will go more in depth here in this second review.

This really is the perfect video game.

It’s astonishing how intense of an evolutionary step 1993’s Mega Man X is in the Mega Man series timeline. Just the ability to cycle through your special weapons with the shoulder buttons would have been enough to be a game changer, but then Mega Man X adds the ability to climb walls, to charge up those special weapons for a unique super attack, and above all else, to perform a momentum-carrying dash.

And that’s not even counting the brilliant level design, and how some of the stages are intertwined. The effects of this is limited to three stages, but beating one stage can alter another, allowing you to explore further and find more goodies. Aside from the immediate upgrade you might find, this connectivity between a fraction of the stages really adds to the sense of Place the game has. Throw in a world map on the stage select screen and you really are saving a capital W World.

In this world, every character design and silhouette is stellar and iconic. Zero and Vile and Storm Eagle and of course, X himself, are some of the coolest designs around. It is Classic Mega Man, but more "hard core", with just the right amount of excess. If anything, it separates the Mega Man style from Astro Boy just enough to have more of its own identity, and I'm thankful for that.

Beyond the visuals, every sound, every song, is a serenade for the ears. Once again, Storm Eagle takes a W for having such a good theme, but Boomer Kuwanger and Sigma 2 and the Cast Roll themes are all certified bangers. The sound of X charging his buster is one of my favorite sounds of all time. That violent harmonizing that hums before crescendo of a blast of energy has to sound pleasant if you’re going to be holding down the shoot button the whole time you’re going through a level.

They COOKED.

I have lost count of the number of times I've played and beaten Mega Man X. I've 100%ed it multiple times. I've done a humble speed run of it. I've done a Buster Only run. I've done a no-dash run. I've wrung every drop of novelty i could out of this game and yet it is still a fantastic time, every time. It feels good in the hands, it sounds good in the ears and it looks great in the eyes. Play this game. That's not a recommendation lmao it's a demand.

This is another game I played when I was little but could never beat. I got stuck on the Sigma levels and could just never complete them. However, I was talking about it with MrPopo and Gunstar in the Slack the other day, and they mentioned how to get past the certain area I had been stuck on. I decided to use my Classic Controller Pro with my SNES Classic and give this one another go. I ended up 100%-ing it (even got the Hadouken ^w^) and beating it in a little under two hours, and I only used save states for time-saving purposes (I needed to retry Sigma quite a few times, and didn't really care to hadouken my way through the first two forms every single time XP).

Mega Man X takes place far in the future from the original Mega Man games (although who knows exactly how far). X and Zero are maverick hunters who used to work with Sigma, who has gone mad and wants to kill all the humans to make a world just for robots. The story isn't terribly important and a decent deal of the back story is in the manual (I assume, as a good portion of stuff I just didn't understand and had to infer from context). The presentation is very nice for an earlier SNES game though, and the music is absolutely excellent~

The main gimmick and difference of this game compared to the original MM series is that there are hidden power ups in each stage. Every stage has an upgrade to your maximum health, half of the eight Maverick stages have a sub-tank (no more E-tanks for you!), and half of them also have an upgrade for Mega Man's general abilities. These upgrades for his fighting abilities are one of the game's greatest strengths as well as one of its greatest weaknesses.

For starters, the first upgrade you get (or rather the first one you're intended to get) is a dash move. I have never found performing the dash all the comfortable or easy to do if I need to do it in conjunction with wall climbing (another new mechanic in this game) and/or charging your weapon, even though the game does let you rebind all the buttons if you want. The bright side is, however, that that is why I used the Classic Controller Pro to play this on my SNES Mini. It made hitting the shoulder buttons way easier than the awkward way that pressing buttons on the original SNES controller works (at least when you have to hit them in conjunction with anything on the face of the controller).

From a larger design element, the hidden nature of these ability upgrades really mess with the pace of the game, and they also really advantage someone who already knows where they are. If you've never played Mega Man X before, you'll likely have a very difficult time if you don't do Chill Penguin's stage first, you won't have the charge move, and doing any of the other stages will be far harder (although I think still technically possible) since the game seems to think you'll have that. You also better get all of the secret powers (hadouken aside, which is super secret on purpose, and requires all other upgrades to get, but can one-hit any boss if you get it!), because that allows you to charge your weapons other than your Mega Buster, and the invincibility granted by Sting Chameleon's charge move (among other benefits from the powers) are gonna be pretty invaluable during Sigma's stages. The secret powers are neat in concept, but they're so necessary (and I think may genuinely be necessary because I don't think you can damage Sigma without the buster upgrade, the last of the four normal ones) that them being hidden is more frustrating than fun for me. If you just look up where they are (or like me, remember where they were from watching AGDQ a couple years back ^^;), it isn't so bad, but it makes playing the game blind far more frustrating than the original Mega Man games.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. I still prefer the way the classic Mega Man games work compared to X, but I still had a lot of fun with this game. It's an excellent action game I'm glad I finally went back to finish after giving up on it so many years ago.

Been a few years so I'd wanted to go back to it, still really fun! Endlessly charming, whether it be thru something blatantly apparent like the music or fun enemy designs, or more subtle things like the little nuances you notice if you deviate from the "enemy weakness on boss -> next enemy weakness" pattern (i.e. level design changes, fun weapon interactions w/ certain bosses etc).

There are some performance related issues that bring it down for me, I played this on Switch so input delay was guaranteed, but the game also has a ton of inherent slowdown when the room is overwhelmed with enemies and their effects, and that just isn't fun. Said slowdown can also hamper platforming, and in general I found trying to go about the platform-heavy sections w/ any bit of precision to be not super crisp? It's smaller nuisances, but I'd definitely feel them at times.

Regardless, strong evolution on classic Mega Man, can't imagine going back to before when you don't have dashes and a stronger Buster. Good!

The panicle of 2D platformers. Mega Man X is widely considered one of the greatest games of all time and with good reason. Each level is wholly unique and the ability to tackle them in any order and see your impact from previous levels make other stages more difficult was never done before Mega Man X. Combine this with its plethora of collectables and secrets and the game holds up even today. I usually don't play platformers, but if you show up to the function with Mega Man X Legacy Collection, hopefully everyone's okay watching me 100% in two hours.

Rating: S
Genre(s): 2D platformer, run and gun