(Played on PC via the X Legacy Collection)

X1
X2
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
Xtreme
Xtreme 2

(2 reviews in 1 day because I must've been that desperate to review this game right after X2.) 1 year hot off the release of Mega Man X2, Capcom released Mega Man X3 for the SNES... in late 1995, a point in time where the PS1 was already out & establishing itself to a major competitor in the gaming industry, and that led to this game selling like shit and going for a fucking kidney online as a result. Hell, even the PS1 re-release goes for a hefty chunk of cash online too as its English version was only released in PAL territories (who did NOT like Mega Man during the 90s) while North America got jack shit due to Sonys stances on 2D games being on the PS1 at the time (North America would later get an official release of the PS1 version of X3 as part of the Mega Man X Collection on the PS2/GameCube, while the more modern X Legacy Collection uses the SNES version of X3). This game, rather than being developed in house at Capcom, was instead primarily developed by the 3rd party studio Minakuchi Engineering due to Capcoms internal developers being hard at work on Mega Man 8/Mega Man X4 at the time, and depending on what way you look at it, it shows in a few areas, particularly in the level design. Anyway history lesson aside, X3 is definitely one of the more divisive games in the X series. Just look at the most liked reviews for it on this site for instance and you'll see a LOT of slack thrown at it for one reason or another, and judging by the rating I've given it you can probably guess that I'm in the camp of people that very much likes this game, and I will say that some of the slack this game gets is a flat-out skill issue that I'll elaborate on later in this review.

First off, as this is Mega Man X, gameplay is one of the most important parts of the game to discuss, and in this case, whether you like it or not, the core gameplay is EXACTLY the same as X2. X still has his default abilities from that game including the ability to dash, while the air dash is still tied to his armor, which you could say keeps the gameplay consistent between the 2 games and I will 100% agree with that.

Instead the gameplay changes that X3 brings to the table come in the form of something entirely new, and the first instance of something that would become a staple for the series from this point forward: PLAYABLE ZERO!!!! Even the game knows this is a big fucking deal as you have to use him for a portion of the games intro stage while a kickass track plays in the background to get you hyped to finally play as this guy. Zero himself controls near identically to X, complete with the double charge shot that X got from the Buster capsule in X2, and if you charge up all the way as Zero you can even attack with a Z-Saber strike that shreds through even the most bulky of enemies like nothing. Unfortunately from this point Zeros playable debut begins to crumble (even I must admit I hyped him up a bit too much in this review). His hitbox is noticeably larger than Xs, he can barely take a hit for the life of him (seriously, despite the fact that his HP is maxed out from the get go he can only take like 4-6 hits before going down), you can't fight all but one specific boss with him, you can only use him ONCE in a stage (if you switched back to X whether you did it on your own terms or you were forced to due to reaching a boss encounter you can't switch back to him for the remainder of the stage), he can't pick up collectibles like E-Tanks and Armor capsules, and he only has ONE life across the whole game, so if you die even once as him, you have to EAT SHIT as Zero takes a time out for the remainder of the playthrough. Overall, his inclusion feels VERY haphazard so you're better off never using him outside of getting a specific item in the fortress levels, and fortunately he gets redeemed in the very next game.

Anyway with the big new gameplay addition here being rather haphazardly implemented next up is the level design. It's somewhat of a step down from the stellar level design seen in X1 and X2 with a fair amount of straight hallways and shafts that have a rising platform at the bottom, so if you want to make things interesting just say "fuck them rising platforms" and sequence break via wall-jumping up those shafts instead (well, assuming those shafts don't have spikes coating both the walls). Each stage also has 2-3 boss rooms, 1 for encounters with a certain duo of antagonists I'll discuss later, 1 for a midboss and 1 for the stage boss. The former being complete RNG on if you'll actually get a boss encounter or not, leading to the pace kinda being halted as you watch the screen slowly scroll right only for there not to be a boss waiting for you. Then there's fucking Doppler Stage 2, INFAMOUS for the notorious section right before the boss where... you ride on extremely slow moving snails while enemies come down to attack you. IMO, this is the only actually awful part of X3s level design, but fortunately it only lasts like 1 minute in a 2-3 hour long game if you know what you're doing so it is at least over rather quickly in the grand scheme of things

That's really it for the criticisms I have with the level design, so I'll list the other end of it where the level design is fun and provides a good challenge, in particular Tunnel Rhinos stage, where rocks will fall on to your path that you have to maneuver around to avoid taking damage, Blizzard Buffalos stage where you have to traverse across ice that fucks with your movement, or the first fortress level which is one big movement test as you must use air dashes or wall jumps to traverse underneath a spiked ceiling that closes in on you followed by having to time your wall jumps in some sort of rhythm to get up a shaft where the walls are quickly closing in on you. If the rest of the game was like this then I'd probably be content in giving this game a rating higher than 4 stars, but eh, even if the rest of the stages aren't like this I still have a lot of fun blasting through all of them

Now another gripe I see get thrown about relates to blind jumps where you can't see where you're falling until it's too late. There are instances of this in Toxic Seahorse and Blast Hornets stages but I honestly think the criticism towards this is a pure fucking skill issue as there's walls that are very conveniently placed next to them that you can cling to in order to slow your descent down, therefore giving you more time to see and react to what's directly below you, a tip that will become VERY helpful for 2 certain later games in the X series.

X3 also introduces a few more collectibles into the mix in regards to the item game. The usual 8 Life Ups, 4 E-Tanks and 4 Armor Capsules are still obviously around, but X3 also features new E-Tank-esque items that enable you to pilot different kinds of Ride Armors, a mechanic that was just sorta there in X1 and X2 that gets expanded upon here and I really do like the Ride Armors in X3 as despite the limited instances where you can use them, they're a LOT of fun once you get the proper space to use them and wreak havoc. There's the Chimera Ride Armor that's just X1s Ride Armor, the Kangaroo that's reminiscent of X2s Ride Armor minus the hover attribute, the Hawk that utilizes ranged attacks and steals borrows the hover from X2s Ride Armor, and the Frog which is the only Ride Armor that's adept at underwater usage. Ride Armors are required for a few items, but to even use them you must first find an empty Chimera Ride Armor that's chilling in Blast Hornets stage and destroy the object it's bound to for them to become accessible.

This, I admit, feels cryptic, and depending on your boss order you may not even get to use Ride Armors until your 7th or 8th Maverick and this leads me into another point: the backtracking, which is something I also see X3 get a fair amount of slack for with people saying that there's """a lot""" of it, but you can mitigate this a bit because as long as the first 3 bosses in your order include Tunnel Rhino, Blizzard Buffalo & Blast Hornet then that will cut down on a LOT of backtracking. Tunnel Rhino gives you the Tornado Fang special weapon which opens up a few key items (including the Life Up in Blizzard Buffalos stage), Blizzard Buffalos stage houses the Leg upgrade which is also crucial in getting various items and Blast Hornets stage gives you the Ride Armor & makes Gravity Beetles Life Up accessible. Alternatively, you can visit Neon Tiger at this point where you can access the Buster upgrade alongside the other 2 items there, but it's really up to preference on which boss you're more comfortable in fighting if you do decide to take the least backtracking route (in my case for example I prefer going to Blast Hornet as he generally goes down quicker due to his lack of invulnerability periods like Neon Tiger, and I just like having earlier access to the Ride Armors). Anyway, with that the backtracking reaches around the same level or slightly higher than X1s depending on whenever you tackle Gravity Beetle as you need his weapon to get the Chest upgrade in Volt Catfishs stage, so I genuinely don't understand why people rile on X3 so much for supposedly having a lot of backtracking, when in reality it's comparable to X1 when you follow the right stage order.

Also I just realised I haven't even discussed what Xs SEXY looking new armor gives him in this game (I swear to God, this is the closest X has ever gotten to resembling a fucking Gundam). The Head piece allows X to view a map of the stage chosen upon entering it, showing you a rough idea of where items are, the Chest upgrade giving X the usual 50% damage reduction alongside a new shield that further increases his defense for a brief duration after getting hit, the Buster upgrade allowing X to stack a regular shot on top of a charge shot to create an even larger charge shot alongside charged special weapons, and the Leg upgrade allowing X to air dash both horizontally and directly upward. Despite it being my favorite armor visually, I'm mixed on its functions as I'm a massive fan of the upwards air dash, while the map is accurate enough to be serviceable, but the Buster upgrade here is just plain sloppy due to it's VERY lengthy animation + diminishing damage, and you're better off just using lower tiers of the charge shot or by using both the shots one at a time rather than together.

But that's not the end of armor discussion, as new to X3 are special chips that enhance a certain armor parts abilities, with the Head chip allowing X to restore HP/E-Tank energy by standing still, the Chest chip giving X an even stronger shield upon taking damage than the regular Chest piece, the Buster chip enabling X to use the Hyper Charge, a special ability that allows X to rapid fire charge shots that also sorta acts like this games giga attack as you gain energy for it by taking damage, and the Leg chip allowing X to chain 2 air dashes together. However to prevent the player from having all of these busted abilities together the game only allows you to equip one chip at a time, and you're locked with whatever chip you equip for the rest of the game unless you reset your save file (19/10/2023 post review note: I recently found out that the PS1 version of X3 actually allows you to change your currently equipped chip whenever you want, so perhaps there's actual gameplay-related incentive to play that version instead). This would be fine and dandy until you realize that there's a hidden capsule in the first fortress stage that gives you all 4 chip upgrades AT ONCE (and also turns Xs armor golden), eliminating any sense of risk or customization once you find out you can just get all 4 of these upgrades later on anyway, and in a sense it acts as a replacement for the Street Fighter moves from the first 2 X games as the way you find all 3 of these capsules are very similar.

X can also earn Zeros saber for himself if you fight a very certain boss in the fortress levels as Zero that will delete 50% of a bosses health in one hit, but this is easily one of the most cryptic secrets in this entire series (one that already has plenty of cryptic secrets at that), solely due to the fact that you have to actively go against what the game's been teaching you (that only X can fight bosses while Zero has to sit out) to get it.

I think I've rambled on about the item game in X3 for too long so perfect timing to move onto the plot, which I'm gonna try and condense further as I think my paragraphs on X1 and X2s plots felt too long. Anyway in summary it's X and Zero stopping the reploid scientist Dr Doppler who was credited for having developed a cure to the Sigma Virus, a phenomena that was previously turning innocent reploids into Mavericks. However Doppler turned Maverick himself and waged a war against humanity while constructing a new body for Sigma in the process. Bit & Byte, Dopplers right hand men, set out to fight X once 2 stage bosses are defeated and Vile is back from the dead to seek revenge on X following his previous defeat in X1, this time sporting one of the bulkiest Ride Armors you'll ever see, FUCK I wish I got to pilot this fucker. Not much else to say about this plot asides from the fact that if X2 teased the X vs Zero battle in X5, then this game just straight up confirms it with the line "To save mankind, he must destroy Zero". VERY abrupt conclusion but it matches what the writers were trying to go for. In general, just kinda feels like a filler plot, especially since starting from the next few games the writers try and go all out with continuity elements that don't really acknowledge this game that much.

Next up is the bosses, and this one's a fucking doozy. Their patterns are overall much more simple than the first 2 games and pretty much all 8 of the stage bosses can be put into a lock with weaknesses. To compensate, the bosses (alongside even basic stage enemies) do much more damage to X compared to the previous games (the crab fuckers in Tunnel Rhinos stage alongside Tunnel Rhino himself for example can delete up to 50% of Xs HP without upgrades from a single attack). People criticize X3 for this but I can't help but think that this is another HARD skill issue as it punishes people who try and face tank everything in the hopes of winning via attrition while rewarding pattern recognition much more than any of the other X games and forcing you to actually be careful/strategic when engaging with even basic ass mooks in the stages. Besides, if you're playing X3 then you've presumably already played X1 and X2, so you should have a fair grasp as to how X controls & moves, and even from the very beginning you have more than enough tools to dodge enemy attacks. And that's not even mentioning the final battle against Sigma, who is IMO one of the funnest Sigma fights in the series as it's the literal epitome of X3s boss ideologies (a simple pattern with attacks that you don't want to face tank due to the damage they do even to a fully upgraded X). In a way it's like the inverse of X2s Sigma battle, whos attacks could barely fucking scratch fully upgraded X and was made even more generous by the fact that he would spawn in mooks that could drop health regens.

Anyway this also leads into a gripe I see get thrown around in regards to the least backtracking order of X3, as you have to fight a fair amount of bosses without weaknesses, but as these guys already have simple enough patterns before weaknesses get factored in, this is another criticism that's just a hard skill issue.

You have a chance of encountering Bit & Byte, Dopplers henchmen, once you beat 2 stage bosses, and Vile can also be encountered via secret capsules located in Blizzard Buffalos stage, Crush Crawfishs stage and Volt Catfishs stage, also once 2 stage bosses are defeated. It's also worth noting that you can still find Viles capsules in stages you've already completed, which is helpful if you're aiming to get the Z-Saber for X. Basically, the outcome of the battle is based on if you land the finishing blow on Bit, Byte and Vile with their weakness or not. If you use their weakness, they explode right there and then signifying their defeat for good, but if you don't then they flee the scene for a later rematch in Dopplers fortress. To get the Z-Saber you must defeat Vile with his weakness (Ray Splasher) during his initial encounter and that'll change about the stage where he'd normally be fought at in Dopplers fortress, swapping around some of the enemies and also triggering the appearance of the midboss you must defeat as Zero.

The special weapons aren't anything major to write home about, but Frost Shield from Blizzard Buffalo in particular deserves a shoutout for being my single favorite special weapon in the X series due to its good damage output and the fact that enemies defeated with it are more likely to drop health regens, making E-Tank filling easy and fast until you can get the Golden Armor in Dopplers fortress. Ray Splasher is another fun one to mess around with as it kinda functions like a Gatling Gun, and those are always fun to use in games right? Parasitic Bomb is another good defensive weapon for whenever you want to reserve your Frost Shield energy (e.g. in Toxic Seahorses stage) as it will freeze enemies in place, allowing you to dash right through them without taking any damage. In fact X3 emphasizes the use of special weapons for anything other than weakness/item fodder WAY more than the previous 2 games, as there's plenty of stage enemies who can tank enough buster hits to get a hit in on you but will still go down in 1 hit from a specific special weapon, so despite the weapons themselves being serviceable for the most part, you're still very much incentivised to use them even when you're only navigating through stages, something that I wish more X games did to this same volume.

Visually speaking, X3s visuals aren't too major but they are still serviceable, personal standouts for me being Gravity Beetles stage, Blizzard Buffalos stage, Volt Catfishs stage and Toxic Seahorses stage. This is a hot take but the soundtrack is my personal favorite from the entire X series, as it vibes with me very well due to me being a junkie for rock music (shoutouts go to the Intro Stage, Blast Hornets theme, Blizzard Buffalos theme, Volt Catfishs theme, Toxic Seahorses theme, Crush Crawfishs theme and Doppler Fortress 1) with the only major weak point in it being Neon Tigers theme. Now, this is where I must also discuss the port that this game got on the PS1, alongside the Sega Saturn and Windows 98. Nothing is different gameplay wise, but the sound effects and some visuals are of much higher quality, there's new soundtracks of varying genres rather than sticking to rock (shout outs to that versions rendition of Doppler 1 for sounding more like 80s pop music than grunge rock), and there's FMV cutscenes for each of the 8 stage bosses alongside the intro & ending. It even features a direct save feature as well so you can quickly pick up from where you left off without having to spend a minute inputting a password. Not exactly the most recommendable unless this is your only way to play X3 and/or you wanna see those FMV cutscenes, upgraded sound effects and remixed audio, since as I mentioned at the start, copies of this version are also VERY expensive and its only re-release was as part of the PS2/GameCube X Collection. Regardless, I'd say it still pulls its weight as an upgraded port of X3.

In conclusion, Mega Man X3 is still very much a worthy sequel to X1 and X2 despite its flaws (like the Buster upgrade in this game) and haphazard inclusions of playable Zero & the armor chips, but aside from that I feel like a fair chunk of the hate this game gets is purely just a skill issue, namely the easy workarounds to the blind drops and enemy damage output as well as the backtracking that can largely be mitigated by having your first 3 bosses consist of Tunnel Rhino, Blizzard Buffalo & Blast Hornet. Anyway, I only recommend this one if you really enjoyed what you got in X1 and X2, because if you liked that then there's plenty of enjoyment to be found here, however even then, X3 isn't exactly the most welcoming game to newcomers in particular as the enemy damage output may seem daunting at first, but once you learn the overall stage layouts and boss patterns it's a pretty damn fun one to re-visit and one that REALLY holds its weight alongside the other 2 SNES Mega Man X games. Anyhow, next up is the series' proper shift into new hardware with Mega Man X4 on the PS1/Sega Saturn/PC, one that a fair amount of people say is the peak of the series, so how will that one properly hold up?