Mega Man X 30th Anniversary

When you are young and playing videogames, you don’t realise how much one of those titles could stick with you for the rest of your life. My dad was a big fan of the Mega Man titles on the NES, so when I was nine, I saw a story about Mega Man X releasing on the Super Nintendo in Nintendo Power magazine (complete with Mega Man X trading cards). It didn’t take much convincing to make him agree to pick it up.

The story revolves around X, a mechanical being created by Dr Light (the inventor who created the original Mega Man). He is a new type of robot created with the ability to feel, think, and make his own decisions. Dr Light realises that this trait could end up making X quite dangerous, so he seals him away in a capsule for 30 years of testing to determine a way to ensure the safety of everyone and the world around him. 100 years later, this capsule was unearthed by an archaeologist named Dr Cain. He was super excited by the possibilities this robot presented, so he disregarded all the warnings that Dr Light had put into the capsule, creating a legion of robots that have free will like X had. He called these robots "Reploids." Of course, things go horribly wrong. What do you expect when you ignore all the warnings? Those were there for a reason!

Like the Mega Man titles on the NES, Mega Man X had stages to complete and evil robot masters to defeat, all based on some sort of animal like Armoured Armadillo, Storm Eagle, and Chill Penguin. Even Boomer Kuwanger, which doesn’t seem like any type of animal, is actually a twist on the Japanese name for the stag beetle. Once defeated, you would gain a handy weapon to use against the other robot masters who were waiting for you. The mastermind and leader of the Reploids is Sigma, and his right-hand “man” is Vile. I’m sorry, Dr Wily, but these guys are way more of a threat than you! Plus, Sigma has a dog named Velguarder, which makes him more cool. I have always hated Vile because of the opening scene of the game, where he almost destroyed Zero. These cinematic scenes really added to the game and made you care about the characters and their journey to take down the evil Reploids.

Hidden around the stages were capsules containing holograms of Dr Light, where he would reward X with a type of power-up, whether it be a new piece of armour or a heart container. These weren’t always out in the open; some of the upgrades took a lot of work to find, and if you were really dedicated, you could find the ultimate power, Ryu’s Hadouken attack. I have managed to unlock this secret once; it is so powerful that it makes the final boss fight against Sigma a lot more manageable!

As soon as I started the game, I was taken aback at how gorgeous the characters and environments were. Mega Man X maintained the high standards set by the NES titles, the colours are vibrant, there’s a huge variety of enemies that you will encounter, and each of the stages has a different theme. X's new look is really cool and futuristic to his aesthetic in the earlier titles, especially once you get all the new upgraded armour pieces. Continuing on with the series is the amazing music that you hear in all the different stages. Somehow, the composer was able to make super-catchy tracks that you would never get tired of hearing, no matter how many times they looped. In my opinion, the Mega Man series easily has some of the best music in gaming.

I could keep raving about the game, how great it is, and how tight the controls are, but no one has time for that. All I will say is that Mega Man X is one of my favourite games on the Super Nintendo and is on my list of the best games that I have ever had the pleasure of playing. Just talking about it makes me want to go back and play through it again to remind myself how amazing this title really is.

 

Happy 30th Anniversary, Mega Man X! I hope gamers who haven’t gotten a chance to check this title will check it out now in the Mega Man X Legacy Collection, it has aged beautifully and is still an awesome, must-play title!