Current Events > Just beat Mega Man X for the first time

(+) Yeah! (+)

Took me only a handful of hours, over the course of 2 or 3 days. Previously the only experience with it Ive had is playing the intro stage once or twice, and not really being impressed with it. The intro stage is a pretty famous example of teaching through level design and I wholeheartedly agree, but the level itself doesnt really showcase how good the rest of the game is gonna be. The intro stage music is great though.

Now that Ive gotten to play the game proper, the gameplay is much quicker and more fun than my first impressions way back when. You start off feeling very stiff imo and even after I got the Leg parts I still felt that way, until I stumbled upon how you can use momentum from your dashes to dash jump, and later I also found out how you can use dash while sliding on walls to wall jump way further. It was satisfying slowly discovering all of Xs capabilities. I can tell this is probably a very popular game to speed run.

I used a minimalistic guide to get all the heart pieces and armour upgrades, and tbh I already feel like I know this game like the back of my hand and can replay it unassisted etc. Thats not a knock on the game being too small or something, but more so Im impressed with how little fluff there is in the levels. Theres absolutely no fat in the level design, everything thats in the game feels carefully designed to be challenging, or fun, etc. No busywork in the levels at all, no pointless areas, everything feels very intentional. The word I would use to describe the level design is efficient. The levels are very efficient in showcasing what the designers obviously wanted to show and nothing else. The mechanics of the game are given plenty of opportunitys to feel relevant.

Its not often I feel open to replaying a game right after playing it, but MegaMan X was so compact and efficient like I said, that Im honestly considering it, it wouldnt feel like a chore to repeat it immediately at all. I feel like future replays are going to be very entertaining. Especially now that Id have the prior knowledge and skill with all the technical skills like dash jumping and wall jump dashing, as well as knowing how to take advantage of the Charged versions of the sub-weapons, like the Shotgun Ice platform, Chameleon invisibility/invincibility, and Rolling Shield bubble. I can already tell how this game rewards skill and knowledge of the game already.

Speaking of subweapons, the bosses were pretty fun. Using the Boomerang takes Launch Octopus from one of the hardest Mavericks to the most brain dead easy boss in the game. Cut off his tentacles, then literally stand and shoot lemons, dash under him when he jumps towards you. No jumping required. The bosses were all pretty hectic to begin with when youre unfamiliar with their attacks, to very manageable once you start recognizing the patterns. Its almost like you slow down the game with your mind at that point. Grateful I used a save state to save before every boss encounter so I could immediately retry after dying. If I had to retry the whole stage each time I mightve gotten tired of it. But Im definitely excited to replay the game because I feel like Im so familiar with each boss, and theyre so much easier because of that. Again, this game really rewards the player for being familiar with the game. Even the final 3-stage end boss went from f*** this this is impossible, erratic jumping and way too many hazards on screen to wow this boss is pretty manageable now that Ive taken in the situation and I can see some clear telegraphs+patterns. Very fair game.

Ive only played a handful of SNES games so far but this game has such a badass soundtrack. Theyre all awesome but some standouts are Zeros theme, Storm Eagles stage, Boomer Kawangers stage, and the music at the end when X is standing on the cliff. In the intro stage, there are 2 themes, one when Zero shows up and scares off Vile, and another when Zero starts talking to X. Idk which song is which but both of them were kickass.

Only significant knock I would give this game is the ungodly amount of lag at some points. Especially during the minecart level and fighting the sea serpent in the water level. As well as a couple points in the Sigma stages. Again, Ive only played a handful of SNES games, but seeing lag on a cartridge-based game is unheard of by me. I understand this game can show a lot of action of screen at once, and that lag is a natural trade-off, but it was ridiculously apparent, and totally unavoidable. You HAVE TO go through it during the mine cart stage, and you HAVE TO fight the single sea serpent. So its not like I was intentionally going out of my way to lag the game. I get that its an old game but I dont think it should be excused for it.

Other than that technical limitation, the game was great fun and I really liked how I could notice myself getting better at the game as I played though it. I feel like I could run through this game twice as fast with half the difficulty if I played it again. It seems highly highly replayable and Im excited to play through it in the future and play the next games in the series.

overall, easier and shorter than what I was expecting, but the experience was great and I feel like those qualities are going to go a long way in making replays of this game fun. Music was top-notch. strong 9/10. I fully expect myself to bump that score up after replaying it

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uhhhh

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I don't think you mentioned it but did you get the Street Fighter fireball?
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Lmao, I speedran it and beat it in less than an hour when I was in high school. Though I was also playing the Zero series at the same time and that is what really taught me all the tricks.

Learning to kill Sigma with nothing but a Hadouken was the true challenge.

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Im aware of the Hadoken but I didnt bother getting it tbh. I had the requirements filled but I wasnt planning on using it on my first playthough for the final stage bosses so I figured why bother. This is definitely a very replayable game though so I will definitely do it on a future play through. Also I plan on hitting up Maverick Hunter X on psp to mix it up for a future playthrough.

In terms of other games in the franchise, Ive played NES Mega Man 1-3, and Mighty Gunvolt if you wanna count that, lol. Also Battle Network 1 but thats totally different. I didnt like BN1 but still plan on giving BN2 and 3 a shot because theyre apparently a lot better. NES Mega Mans are all fun, so i plan on playing up to MM6. For X, Im going to play up to X5 and then jump to the Zero series

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how u feel bout it tho?

Copy_X_Mk_ll posted...

To me is the most replayable Mega Man title in the entire metaseries

Definitely the most replayable of the X series. I would say that X2 is the best, but X kills it in replayability.

And personally I find the 8 bit Mega Mans aside from 1 to be the most replayable.

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even just playing it once its amazing how obvious it is that this is a very replayable game. I feel like Ive taken in 100% of the game already but the point of replaying it is simply doing it better and faster and more skillfully

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I try to play the Zero series but then elves happen and i turn the game off.

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The MMX series has several of my favorite games. X, X2, and X3 are fantastic. X4 is also pretty good, but that's the first mark of a minor decline in quality imo. They got a little too cute with level design in a couple of places.

I've probably beaten the first three games at least ten times each, and I know I've passed twenty with X3.


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