Completed using Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 on Switch. Playing as X, I collected all Heart Containers, Tanks, and individual Armor Parts. In addition, I fought all Mavericks and optional bosses before proceeding with Gate's stages. Unlike with MMX1-4, I played this one almost exclusively in Rookie Hunter Mode to deal with all the bullshit, and this time, I never turned it off.

Calling this game a disappointment would be inaccurate, because that wording implies I had expectations that weren't met. In truth, Mega Man X6 didn't just fail to clear the bar raised by X4, but proved to be a truly awful experience that makes X5 look competent in comparison.

This review doesn't need to be as long as the one I made for X5, though, because nearly every mistake that game made has been repeated and amplified by this one. Level design hits a new low, with unrelenting enemy spam and maliciously-placed hazards that made me thankful for Rookie Hunter Mode. Stages range from boring to infuriating, with Blaze Heatnix and Blizzard Wolfang's being the worst offenders, perhaps in the series' history so far. There are occasional interesting concepts, like the lasers in Shield Sheldon's stage, but their execution is consistently fumbled. The most promising feature, a record that keeps track of stranded Reploids, is ruined by the Nightmare Virus enemies (which are everywhere, by the way) that latch onto them and infect them, rendering them permanently impossible to rescue. All in all, any subtle improvements over X5 are made trivial by the obnoxious design choices that are present nearly everywhere throughout the game.

TL;DR - Mega Man X6 isn't just unremarkable or inadequate, it's just plain bad. It helped me to appreciate the moments during X5 when it seemed like the developers were actually trying, and had me distraught over how quickly such a popular series fell from grace following its highest point. I will not be playing through Mega Man X7; its intro stage was enough of a warning.

Completed using Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 on Switch. Playing as X, I collected all Heart Containers, Tanks, and individual Armor Parts as well as the Ultimate Armor. Unlike the previous X games, I played this one almost exclusively in Rookie Hunter Mode to deal with all the bullshit, and rarely turned it off.

When playing good games, I dread seeing the credits roll, and with unremarkable games, I feel fairly indifferent about reaching the end. Throughout a majority of Mega Man X5, I actively anticipated taking down the final boss not for the sense of accomplishment, but for the sense of relief, because this game was just not fun for me. Allow me to break down why:

First off: the armor upgrade system, once a revolutionary feature that set Mega Man X apart from the classic series, has been completely ruined. There are two prominent suits, the Falcon Armor and the Gaea Armor, and each of them have four parts to be retrieved by X. But unlike with past MMX entries, these parts are useless on their own, and their abilities can only be utilized once their respective suits are completed. And if you thought simply running through the eight Maverick stages would be enough, think again, because finding and reaching these parts involves revisiting stages, some even multiple times. Between the headaches of collecting all the energy orbs in Volt Kraken's stage or the Flash Laser puzzle in Dark Necrobat's stage, these upgrades felt like more trouble than they were worth. And no, you can't skip the Falcon Armor parts in favor of the Gaea Armor, because you need to be able to fly in order to reach the latter. Did I mention the Gaea Armor prevents you from using your Special Weapons? Or that the game doesn't allow swapping suits mid-stage? Brilliant, Capcom, just brilliant.

The developers didn't seem to understand what made the past games' level design fun, either. We've got leisurely auto-scrolling sections in Tidal Whale's stage, the worst Ride Armor segment yet in Burn Dinorex's stage, and the bullshit Time Bombs in Spiral Pegasus's stage that are designed to throw you off the first time around. Right when you think they finally found a cool stage mechanic to implement, they screw it up; the gravity reversal segment in Dark Necrobat's stage could've been a cool callback to Mega Man 5, but by some miracle, they somehow made it lame. And if things weren't bad enough, they thought it would be a good idea to revisit the Yellow Devil boss and Quick Man insta-death lasers during the Zero Space stages, both equally notorious and representative of the classic series' lowest points. Why??? I'm just as baffled as you are.

Finally, to top off this review, we've got the miscellaneous problems that detracted from my experience:

- Alia interrupting gameplay every 5 seconds to tell me something I would've easily figured out myself (not to mention her re-explaining how boss weaknesses work at the end of every stage)
- Eurasia's countdown to crashing into Earth actively discouraging me from trying a different stage when I was struggling with a specific one (fuck Volt Kraken's bike segment and its armor part)
- the bosses becoming complete pushovers with their weaknesses while still taking forever to take down (this is even worse during the rematches)
- story-related outcomes relying on chance that I tried my best to influence, but ultimately played out however they pleased, and made no attempt to reward me for my exhaustive efforts

People point to Keiji Inafune's absence from the development of Mega Man X6 as an explanation for the series' decline, but if you ask me, the games were heading in a downwards spiral regardless of his involvement. It would've been a shame had this been the last entry of the series, but Capcom did us one better; instead of ending on a high note with X4, they continued on with more sequels and obliterated the series' reputation by X7. I really, really hope the eighth entry is a step up from here, because Mega Man X5 was a supreme disappointment.

Holy FUCK. The Mega Man X fans weren't exaggerating about this one: Mega Man X7 is, without a shadow of a doubt, a steaming pile of shit. The fact that a reputable developer like Capcom released this game in the state that it was is nothing short of mind boggling, especially considering the high bar that was set by the first MMX entry a decade prior.

With the entire Internet in unanimous agreement, I had every reason to believe the game was garbage, even before eventually trying it myself. After years of putting it off, I finally booted up the Switch version of Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2, but the controls were so abysmal I couldn't even manage to finish the prologue by the time I ran out of lives. Every step of the way was appallingly bad, with mindless button mashing, enemies spawning right on top of me, and of course, the lock-on target beeping driving me insane. When I game over'd during the first section with Zero, I expected to be greeted with a prompt to continue or quit, but instead, I was sent right back to the title screen. I know a bad omen when I see one; simply put, Mega Man X7 is not a game that anyone, and I mean anyone, should ever have to endure.

Initially received the Game Boy Advance port as a gift, but never made it far. After selling the cartridge, I downloaded a ROM hack translation of the Super Famicom version, and years later, beat the game with Bass, using save states before bosses. Immediately after, I started a new file with Mega Man in order to collect the remaining CDs, and used save states generously.

As someone who considers himself a stalwart fan of the classic Mega Man series, I knew I had to get around to playing this game to completion eventually, but kept putting it off, and I've come to find it was with good reason. Hastily cobbled together with assets from Mega Man 8, Mega Man & Bass is the Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels of the Mega Man series, and it nearly pushed my patience to its limit.

I went in fully expecting this to be a better game than 8, so the question is, is it? At first I thought, "yes" but quickly changed my mind. Gone are the annoying snowboard sections and other quirky gimmicks shoehorned into the previous game, and the shop system is now more in-line with that of 7, as well as IV and V on the Game Boy. It also presents a challenge that its predecessor sorely lacked. So what's the problem? It's unforgiving on every level, that's what. First off, you have absolutely no reason to play as Mega Man; Bass's mobility and multi-directional buster makes him the objectively correct choice, unless you hate yourself. Stages are filled with cheap enemy placement seemingly designed to spite the player, and littered with blind jumps that killed me many a time. And though the shop system has been restored, E Tanks are still missing for some reason; W Tanks are also absent, so if you run out of weapon energy trying to beat the stage boss, you're not getting it replenished until your next game over. And of course, the development staff didn't learn their lesson from 7, and imported much of the graphics made for their PlayStation game into this SNES title. Sure, it looks pretty, but shouldn't that have been a given by 1998?

But the biggest issue I had with Mega Man & Bass, by far, was with the fortress stages. King Stage 2 is a frustratingly long gauntlet nearly twice the length of a normal stage, with not one, not two, but FOUR BOSSES. Checkpoints are sparse, and if at any point you run out of lives, congrats, you're starting from the beginning. The final stage is no better, because instead of allowing you to re-fight the robot masters in any order like before, it forces you into a linear path, facing one boss after another, with additional bullshit platforming sections in-between every encounter. The fortress stages made me realize that Mega Man 8 wasn't too easy, it was simply more forgiving, and forgiveness is nowhere to be found in this hellscape of a game.

By the way, if you're looking to collect all 100 database CDs, don't. The only reward is the accomplishment itself, and a nauseating number of them are hidden underground, which need to be retrieved using Rush Search, the most obnoxious utility item in the series. Several of these CDs are deliberately placed in areas with large amounts of enemies that, if allowed to come in contact with Rush, cancel his digging animation while wasting weapon energy. And even if you know where to dig, he'll dig up a piece of trash if you're off by a few pixels, or if you're lucky, you'll be treated to an animation of him getting his face sprayed with water or his nose pinched by a crab. Why exactly do I need to purchase an item that shows the vague location of these underground CDs when I already bought Rush Search? Hell if I know.

TL;DR - Mega Man & Bass's omission from Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 was a blessing in disguise, as this game does not deserve to share the series' legacy with the numbered entries. It's a frustrating, poorly designed slog that's difficult for all the wrong reasons, and one that I would recommend against playing it at all costs. Please skip this and go straight to 9, you'll thank me later.

Using the Switch version, played all four games, finished each one. Got 90.5% of the challenges (A Rank) on Mega Man 10, and I intend to complete 100% of the challenges on Mega Man 9 someday, but Mr. Perfect is making that difficult to achieve. I will not be returning to the extra challenges for any of the four games—they are fine for bonus content's sake, but ultimately not worth the effort.

Also, while the omission of Mega Man & Bass (8.5, if you will) was initially disappointing, I'm coming to find that the game is not very good, so no big loss there, I guess.