Mega Man Xtreme isn't a bad game by any means, but I see little to no reason to play it in the modern-day. Bringing Mega Man X to the Game Boy Color has a lot of potential, but Capcom has failed to do anything but the bare minimum. Unlike Minakuchi Engineering's classic series Game Boy titles, Xtreme does not take elements from the NES games and create something new with them. Instead, Capcom chose to simply replicate stages from X1 and X2, meaning that if you've played those games, there is literally nothing new for you here. I'm sure it was quite novel in the early 2000s to experience SNES levels on the go, but playing this on PC in 2021 the novelty is lost on me.
Visually, the game looks quite good, as is expected from Capcom. Backgrounds are detailed and colorful, and while character sprites are a little basic, they have plenty of animation frames and move very smoothly. The colors are a bit garish, but that's a more minor complaint compared to the contrast issues the monochrome mode has. In terms of audio, there are no original songs to speak of, with pre-existing MMX songs rearranged by Toshio Kajino and Saori Utsumi. They are generally fine, but they all sound a little bit off like the composers changed just one or two notes but left the rest the same. Overall though, the presentation is solid despite some minor quirks.
The game generally plays fine, but it plays the same as X1 and X2. Those expecting any sort of new gimmick or features will be disappointed. Mega Man games have always been a little repetitive but usually sprinkle in some new mechanics to make things feel fresh. Xtreme doesn't do this and as a result, feels pretty dull to play. The game also has some legitimate design flaws that make it more frustrating than it needs to be. Since all the bosses are from the SNES games, Capcom didn't bother adjusting the boss fights for the smaller screen size, meaning X actually has a greater chance of getting hit than normal, making these fights more frustrating than they need to be. This is a shame because these bosses were pretty great in their original SNES incarnations. The new bosses, like Zain, for example, are pretty lame and don't stand out. There's also the fact that half of the levels aren't even available until a second playthrough, which feels like such a copout since some of the bosses in your first playthrough are weak to weapons that you can't even acquire until a second playthrough. I really couldn't be bothered to play it twice, but from what I sampled, it's once again more of the same.
Mega Man Xtreme was probably alright for its time, but in the modern-day, there is essentially no reason to play it. As a Mega Man die-hard, I found it boring and at times very frustrating, and walk away from this one feeling unfulfilled.
Visually, the game looks quite good, as is expected from Capcom. Backgrounds are detailed and colorful, and while character sprites are a little basic, they have plenty of animation frames and move very smoothly. The colors are a bit garish, but that's a more minor complaint compared to the contrast issues the monochrome mode has. In terms of audio, there are no original songs to speak of, with pre-existing MMX songs rearranged by Toshio Kajino and Saori Utsumi. They are generally fine, but they all sound a little bit off like the composers changed just one or two notes but left the rest the same. Overall though, the presentation is solid despite some minor quirks.
The game generally plays fine, but it plays the same as X1 and X2. Those expecting any sort of new gimmick or features will be disappointed. Mega Man games have always been a little repetitive but usually sprinkle in some new mechanics to make things feel fresh. Xtreme doesn't do this and as a result, feels pretty dull to play. The game also has some legitimate design flaws that make it more frustrating than it needs to be. Since all the bosses are from the SNES games, Capcom didn't bother adjusting the boss fights for the smaller screen size, meaning X actually has a greater chance of getting hit than normal, making these fights more frustrating than they need to be. This is a shame because these bosses were pretty great in their original SNES incarnations. The new bosses, like Zain, for example, are pretty lame and don't stand out. There's also the fact that half of the levels aren't even available until a second playthrough, which feels like such a copout since some of the bosses in your first playthrough are weak to weapons that you can't even acquire until a second playthrough. I really couldn't be bothered to play it twice, but from what I sampled, it's once again more of the same.
Mega Man Xtreme was probably alright for its time, but in the modern-day, there is essentially no reason to play it. As a Mega Man die-hard, I found it boring and at times very frustrating, and walk away from this one feeling unfulfilled.