"X is a variable. It represents limitless potential."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRa7F1GyoMI

On this date, 1993, Mega Man X was released in Japan. In every sense of the word, it was a game about evolution. The tone maturing as the audience of the classic series had grown, the gameplay loop revolving around obtaining upgrades to make the rest of the game more manageable (best emphasized with maverick rematches) and the sheer jump in terms of mechanical complexity and scale compared to the classic series all drive this point home perfectly.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/919/301/6e5

Making an entirely new spin-off series with a darker and only vaguely familiar world, where the existence of the Mega Man we once knew is all but apocyrphal, was an enormous risk for Capcom. Yet with the series' sales declining to the point Nintendo had to publish MM6 in Capcom's place after the Nintendo Power contest was already held, it was perhaps the only move that could save the franchise.

The potential for new ideas was limitless, so much so Zero was nearly the main character instead of X. I'll start by talking about the mechanics, because the gameplay is by far the most interesting part of the experience.

https://pa1.narvii.com/7472/02f28f3638ae7d7aa771824791fc8f04fb590354r1-500-400_hq.gif

In the classic Mega Man series, the player would need to rely on tools such as Rush's henshins to progress through Wily castles. This hindered level design in the robot master stages as there was no guarantee the player would receive them. In Mega Man X, the player is immediately granted one simple move to flip the world on its head and that is the wall jump. On paper, it's a simple novelty. In practice, it allowed the world to expand to heights rarely if ever seen in an action-platformer. Every stage would have added verticality complete with upgrades such as heart tanks, armour pieces, and sub-tanks.

Many have argued the lack of dash boots in the intro makes it slow-paced, but I would argue starting the player at a speed closer to classic Mega Man's before forcing them to learn the dash does a perfect job of making the player feel stronger in an instant and bring the game on a whole new level all over again as it allows for even more exploration potential. Allowing the dash and wall jump to then be combined into the super wall jump made it feel like the character was naturally evolving to create new techniques, rather than just picking up a power-up that allowed the player to press a new button and leave it at that.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a7/01/f9/a701f9c5ce830a138b114923d6fd800b.gif

The world simply feels lived and polished. When X runs low on health in Chill Penguin's stage, he starts to breathe heavily as always but now frosty breath emits from him, a subtle touch regarding how humanlike he is compared to classic robot masters. Rather than just reuse enemies across stages, they are seen in different cycles of development to articulate their robotic nature. The Utoboros can be fought multiple times in Launch Octopus' stage as a mini-boss, but it can also be seen as scrap metal pieces in Flame Mammoth's conveyor belt. Enemies from the intro stage can even be spotted as tubes in Flame Mammoth's boss room if one looks closely enough.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/2/26/Utuboros.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20181210020154

Yet what makes the world feel more alive than anything is the weapon and stage interactions. Bosses have body parts which can be damaged individually, which was unheard of at the time and still not something seen widely in its genre. I'm not talking giant bosses that can only be damaged by hitting the head. I'm talking arms, legs, and shells. Flame Mammoth's trunk and Launch Octopus' arms can be sliced apart, and Spark Mandrill's shell can be electrocuted off his body. Even when a boss isn't weak to a weapon, they may still be affected by it. Then there are the stage interactions. By looking at the map, one can see just how connected the world is. There's no reason for there to be 3 distinct views in the stage select, but Capcom decided to just flex the entire game and it sure shows. Whether it be crashing Storm Eagle's ship into Spark Mandrill's factory or Launch Octopus' death causing Sting Chameleon's stage to flood, I would be blown away by the stage changes and how they even enabled new item pickups such as the heart tank in Chameleon's underground.

https://tcrf.net/images/1/1d/Mega_Man_X-Stage_Select.png

As a result of the powerups, the difficulty is on a natural curve. Players who are not attentive to the world may do well at first with sheer reflexes, but the more observational players will have an easier time by the end as X becomes more and more of a badass like Zero. X's arsenal here is perhaps the most useful in the entire series and every weapon has multiple uses, no matter how esoteric. The chameleon sting can launch diagonal shots or make X intangible. The rolling shield can travel along the world or give X a long-lasting shield. The Storm Tornado can hit both horizontally and vertically for massive damage. It simply goes on and on. But even if the player collects absolutely everything, there are still challenges to be had such as Sigma's battle, and it's satisfying in its own right to cut down one's time as much as possible through optimal routing and mastering maverick loops to the point one can consistently pull off hadoukens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqaUHZF92ZA

Yet despite all the fancy new additions like the chadouken or the weapons with extra charge levels, at the end of day Mega Man X is a game that pays homage to its roots. The inspirations from the classic series are on display the entire way through. Mets appearing as a primary enemy, the boss rematches resembling the structure of the original Mega Man game, Sniper Joe inspired enemies in the Hoganmars, the Boomerang Cutter being an upgraded Rolling Cutter, the remix of the original Mega Man boss jingle, and so forth all demonstrate Mega Man X was a testament of love for the franchise rather than trying to reinvent for the sake of reinvention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbJRMWLgmr0

Since I mentioned the boss jingle, let's talk about the audio design. Only Capcom would be unhinged enough to hire Megumi Ogata to say the only vocalized line in the entire game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krLAHJ9Ku5g

The remixed music is cool in its own right, with the boss battle theme sampling 2's stage select for example. One fact that's always overlooked is the stage select theme from X actually samples Tekkaman Blade's opening. I don't care to argue whether it's plagiarism, I just find it hilarious and badass at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuLvDZEhbbA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l6UrTqR55E

I'm admittedly not the most well versed in music theory to discuss it in depth, but I really do believe the instruments and samples all fit Mega Man X's world perfectly. Armoured Armadillo's theme being upbeat and fast-paced perfectly fits a level where the player is riding at high speed on a cart to just casually murder hundreds of mavericks at once and it's still funny as hell to me.

Another personal favourite is the set of credits music. The main ending theme is slow and somber to reflect X's inner turmoil, while the cast roll theme is a bit more upbeat as X holds onto the memories of the fallen he once called friends. These are both followed by the staff roll theme that feels like a victory lap with how happy go lucky it sounds, only to be cut off by Sigma's foreboding theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-do1UYx9pyw

The sheer tonal whiplash in a span of 5 minutes is unreal, and what makes it even better is the game thanks YOU for playing, because YOU are Mega Man X. It's always heartwarming when a game ends with little touches like that.

As for the story, there's not much for me to say. I will point out the translation sadly removed all the mavericks' motivations as they were not translated in the manual, among some other changes that were mainly for the worse barring the cooler maverick names (seriously who the hell remembers Icy Penguigo over Chill Penguin?) but I would actually argue the minimalist setting is a strength for the game.

The lack of dialogue between every boss helps every villain come across as a merciless destroyer, putting the player in a life or death duel. It simultaneously helps the game's pacing as its flow is that of a game meant to be replayed various times due to its short length as well as secrets. The coolest part to me though is that there's no need for an NPC to declare to the player they need to collect 8 heart tanks or 4 sub-tanks. This is gotten across perfectly fine with Zero telling X (or as the credits would say, the player directly) they may become strong like him one day and opening up the menu to see there are 4 slots for sub-tanks. Sometimes, less is more.

The last thing I will touch on is the graphics. Every character is animated so vividly, even enemies. Block-throwing enemies and axe-throwing enemies will laugh at the player if they land a hit. Armoured Armadillo will strike a pose once he absorbs X's energy. Tiny bits of blood are drawn on Zero's portrait as he lays on the ground. X's sprite set gains all sorts of new parts the more the player collects capsules. The sheer level of detail on display is incredible and I give Capcom props for putting out such a masterpiece.

https://media.tenor.com/aR2TwV8tofQAAAAd/mega-man-x-snes.gif

Anyone owes it to themselves to play Mega Man X for the 1st, 2nd, 5th, or even 300th time. Happy birthday to my all time favourite series and my favourite game within it.

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