Modernist masterpiece in the truest sense of the word. The classic Mega Man games are slow, and methodical, and focused on 1-screen obstacle courses navigated one at a time. They've got some memorable chiptunes and a smidge of story here and there, but they're comparatively simple games. Good consistent controls and mechanics applied to a basic level design concept.

Mega Man X changed that. It added speed, and heft, and power to a game that was rather light and floaty. It introduced upgrade progression, enhanced graphics, better music, more story. It was about moving foreword, and pushing games technically by making them bigger, and louder. Mega Man X4 is Meliorism manifest: It just continues the strikingly 20th century trend of more, more more. More characters, more detailed spritework, better music, more upgrades, more weapons. It's even faster, even sleeker, filled with just more of everything, including voice-acting and cut scenes straight from a $2 OVA you'd find in the back of the SunCoast video.

It works staggeringly well. Sometimes it's good to remind ourselves that our Indie-pilled contemporary critical emphasis on minimalism and low-tech game-design sensibilities is a reaction to the opulent disgusting excess of the AAA slop that has been getting pumped out for the past decade. But that general approach, of enhancing the formula of the past with capital-b Bigness, wasn't always a nausea-inducing exercise in poor taste, and Mega Man X4 is proof. This game is fucking wicked, and you'll love everything about it. It's a straight, linear, modernist shot from Mega Man 2 to Mega Man X to Mega Man X4, every title getting louder, and harder, and stronger, and ultimately better.