A tentative step out of the Classic template. I feel like there are a few strong high concepts here for what the team wanted to do separate from Classic Mega Man, but they didn't fully know how best to engage with them, so the end result is a game that wears its heritage close on its sleeve. This isn't a bad thing; I love Classic Mega Man, and I think the concepts advanced here are great steps forward. But, after an abandoned attempt two decades ago and years of hype leading up to this serious playthrough, this game ended up feeling a lot closer to Classic Mega Man than I was expecting.
This isn't to put down Mega Man X any, as it's a great game in its own right. You probably don't need me to reiterate any of the talking points from Sequelitis regarding the first level's smart design and natural way of easing the player into what's different, as well as establishing stakes and themes for the game (light as the latter are). My buddy Tarvould points out that the great opening level is a bit of a drag on repeated runs, which is a fair point, but I think that's more an issue for a series superfan who's played quite a bit - for someone like me who played this relatively fresh, it does precisely what it's supposed to.
This is also one of those rare Mega Man games where every standard stage hits it out of the park. With Classic Mega Man, I'm used to there being one or two stages that are just kinda there, even in some of the best titles; I've never liked Flash Man's Stage in MM2, for example. Not so here - every stage is unique, memorable, and a ton of fun. The system whereby clearing one stage will impact another stage is also suuuuuper cool, though gating Dash behind Chill Penguin certainly limits its impact on Flame Mammoth's Stage. And the soundtrack kicks ass, though you don't need me to tell you that.
Oh, I should mention the Dash specifically. It's cool! Took me quite a bit to "get" it, honestly - I had to learn that you hold Dash into the jump to retain that momentum, and it took me a while to get the cadence right on a dash wall-kick - but it's good stuff! This is sort of what I meant earlier, though. The standard stages are all designed around NOT having the Dash, since outside the latter two-thirds of Chill Penguin, it's entirely possible the player won't have it. As a result, they feel paced like standard Mega Man stages. Like I could see Rock Light running through versions of a lot of these, and while they'd be fairly slow compared to the game that exists, I'd think they'd be roughly on-par with something like Mega Man 7. This isn't bad, but I kept feeling like I was hitting the boss just as the level started getting good. Easy to see why the Dash becomes a default feature starting with the next game.
Quick conga line of nitpicks:
- I've always thought the Mavericks felt like silly choices to include in the more serious Mega Man subseries. Like, if I didn't know Mega Man, and you told me that one series was more serious while the other was generally lighter, and that one series had animal-themed bosses while the other had dudes with elemental affinities, I definitely would've guessed that the animal bosses were from Classic. The fights are good, so I'm not really inclined to complain, but it bears mention.
- Hadouken is a great secret unlock, but it's a little janky having to grind out Armored Armadillo's Stage to get it. At least it's easy to grind 1-Ups there with the Batton.
- Likewise, being able to screw up the jump in Flame Mammoth's to get to the upgraded Buster and having to restart the whole level to try again is a bit annoying. Not a big deal, at least.
- Ride Armor's cool! But it just feels like a quick distraction in this game. Hope they expand upon this later on.
- Sigma's Fortress is okay, but kind of a let down after the rest of the game. Then again, Classic rarely sticks the landing with the Wily Castles, so nothing new here.
- The GameCube port of Mega Man X adds a "Damn!" to X's first line of dialogue. That's a cool way to set tone! This isn't a nitpick, I just didn't have anywhere else to put this note.
- Naming a boss after Balinese demon-queen Rangda is also cool! I should probably stop this list if I'm gonna keep throwing in complements.
By way of comparison: Mega Man X1 feels like what Invictus is to Super Mario World: a cool, sleek, speedy, modification to an existing series; in some ways, only the same game nominally, so much has been updated. But for as much of an incredible leap forward as Invictus was to the Kaizo Mario scene, Invictus is also inextricably tied to Super Mario World and cannot make sense as an entity outside of it. Furthermore, Invictus was only the first jab of a one-two combo between it and Grand Poo World II. Mega Man X1 is excellent, but it needs a follow-up that further remixes and innovates on its template before the X series settles upon its own identity. By reputation, I don't know that X2 or X3 do this, but I'll see for myself with my next annual Mega Man playthrough.
This isn't to put down Mega Man X any, as it's a great game in its own right. You probably don't need me to reiterate any of the talking points from Sequelitis regarding the first level's smart design and natural way of easing the player into what's different, as well as establishing stakes and themes for the game (light as the latter are). My buddy Tarvould points out that the great opening level is a bit of a drag on repeated runs, which is a fair point, but I think that's more an issue for a series superfan who's played quite a bit - for someone like me who played this relatively fresh, it does precisely what it's supposed to.
This is also one of those rare Mega Man games where every standard stage hits it out of the park. With Classic Mega Man, I'm used to there being one or two stages that are just kinda there, even in some of the best titles; I've never liked Flash Man's Stage in MM2, for example. Not so here - every stage is unique, memorable, and a ton of fun. The system whereby clearing one stage will impact another stage is also suuuuuper cool, though gating Dash behind Chill Penguin certainly limits its impact on Flame Mammoth's Stage. And the soundtrack kicks ass, though you don't need me to tell you that.
Oh, I should mention the Dash specifically. It's cool! Took me quite a bit to "get" it, honestly - I had to learn that you hold Dash into the jump to retain that momentum, and it took me a while to get the cadence right on a dash wall-kick - but it's good stuff! This is sort of what I meant earlier, though. The standard stages are all designed around NOT having the Dash, since outside the latter two-thirds of Chill Penguin, it's entirely possible the player won't have it. As a result, they feel paced like standard Mega Man stages. Like I could see Rock Light running through versions of a lot of these, and while they'd be fairly slow compared to the game that exists, I'd think they'd be roughly on-par with something like Mega Man 7. This isn't bad, but I kept feeling like I was hitting the boss just as the level started getting good. Easy to see why the Dash becomes a default feature starting with the next game.
Quick conga line of nitpicks:
- I've always thought the Mavericks felt like silly choices to include in the more serious Mega Man subseries. Like, if I didn't know Mega Man, and you told me that one series was more serious while the other was generally lighter, and that one series had animal-themed bosses while the other had dudes with elemental affinities, I definitely would've guessed that the animal bosses were from Classic. The fights are good, so I'm not really inclined to complain, but it bears mention.
- Hadouken is a great secret unlock, but it's a little janky having to grind out Armored Armadillo's Stage to get it. At least it's easy to grind 1-Ups there with the Batton.
- Likewise, being able to screw up the jump in Flame Mammoth's to get to the upgraded Buster and having to restart the whole level to try again is a bit annoying. Not a big deal, at least.
- Ride Armor's cool! But it just feels like a quick distraction in this game. Hope they expand upon this later on.
- Sigma's Fortress is okay, but kind of a let down after the rest of the game. Then again, Classic rarely sticks the landing with the Wily Castles, so nothing new here.
- The GameCube port of Mega Man X adds a "Damn!" to X's first line of dialogue. That's a cool way to set tone! This isn't a nitpick, I just didn't have anywhere else to put this note.
- Naming a boss after Balinese demon-queen Rangda is also cool! I should probably stop this list if I'm gonna keep throwing in complements.
By way of comparison: Mega Man X1 feels like what Invictus is to Super Mario World: a cool, sleek, speedy, modification to an existing series; in some ways, only the same game nominally, so much has been updated. But for as much of an incredible leap forward as Invictus was to the Kaizo Mario scene, Invictus is also inextricably tied to Super Mario World and cannot make sense as an entity outside of it. Furthermore, Invictus was only the first jab of a one-two combo between it and Grand Poo World II. Mega Man X1 is excellent, but it needs a follow-up that further remixes and innovates on its template before the X series settles upon its own identity. By reputation, I don't know that X2 or X3 do this, but I'll see for myself with my next annual Mega Man playthrough.
willn46
2 months ago