(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.
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.
3 Comments
Very good review. The biggest point to criticize this remake is the graphics, but I think for the year and the console it came out on they are pretty good. Without a doubt it's also one of my favorite remakes, mainly because of how it improves the narrative with the dialogues, the change in the order of some events like the fight against Vile, the cutscenes, and the great prequel movie that is unlocked by completing the game, I don't know, the story is not the important thing in these games, but they have always had a lot of potential
It's quite painful that this series of remakes was not continued, because Mega Man X is one of my favorite games, but games like X3, X5, X6 and X7 are not that good and the only sequels up to par are X2 and X4, but the concept behind these remakes could have greatly improved the overall quality of the X series and steer the focus of the plot to a better direction. There will always be the question of what the remakes of MMX3 and MMX5 would have been like in this same style, I think they would have been great
It's quite painful that this series of remakes was not continued, because Mega Man X is one of my favorite games, but games like X3, X5, X6 and X7 are not that good and the only sequels up to par are X2 and X4, but the concept behind these remakes could have greatly improved the overall quality of the X series and steer the focus of the plot to a better direction. There will always be the question of what the remakes of MMX3 and MMX5 would have been like in this same style, I think they would have been great
@kirbb I GUESS that still counts as this isn't the most accessible game in the world unless you emulate it like I did, and you DO bring up a good point about the X2 and X3 convos as you barely find out anything about the bosses in those games unless you seek out supplementary material like the Maverick Hunters Field Guide book & it would be even more interesting to see how they approach those games plots as Dr Cain is seemingly blown up by a missile here so they'd have to find a new supporting character for the resurrection of Zero. And yeah, I hope Mark's doing well.
@Maurith Thanks man, and yeah the graphics do look kinda cheap and dated but they aren't the WORST graphics you'll ever see fortunately, even in this series. Plot has always been something that the X games seemed to focus on more than the Classic series but they just missed the mark on it in some way or another (e.g. the entire plot of X4, Dynamo or whatever the series was trying to build up between Wily, Zero & Sigma seemingly being scrapped by the time of X7), so MHX having a plot that I could actually take seriously was somewhat of a breath of fresh air, made even better by the fact that it's presented nicely with the voice acting and the special animation. I ESPECIALLY wish they could've done it with X5 as outside of X6 and X7 it has the most amount of room for polishing that a remake could address (at least there's a ROM hack that address pretty much all of X5s sloppy aspects, so we have that at least).
@Maurith Thanks man, and yeah the graphics do look kinda cheap and dated but they aren't the WORST graphics you'll ever see fortunately, even in this series. Plot has always been something that the X games seemed to focus on more than the Classic series but they just missed the mark on it in some way or another (e.g. the entire plot of X4, Dynamo or whatever the series was trying to build up between Wily, Zero & Sigma seemingly being scrapped by the time of X7), so MHX having a plot that I could actually take seriously was somewhat of a breath of fresh air, made even better by the fact that it's presented nicely with the voice acting and the special animation. I ESPECIALLY wish they could've done it with X5 as outside of X6 and X7 it has the most amount of room for polishing that a remake could address (at least there's a ROM hack that address pretty much all of X5s sloppy aspects, so we have that at least).
kirbb
7 months ago
but yeah this seems like an excellent remake from what I've seen and I like the addition of having dialogue with the Mavericks before their fight like what X4 and beyond does, it makes me wonder how the X2 and X3 conversations would have gone if they were able to continue, also the X and Sigma cutscene is so kino, it's cool to see Mark Gatha end his voice acting career on a high note and even cooler that he moved on to become a professional surgeon, mad respect for the dude