Collection essentials #217: Mega Man X (SNES)

A note to start: one, the “X” in the title is not a Roman numeral, it is the letter X. This is not “Mega Man 10.” The game is called this because the main character is named “Mega Man X”, or “X” for short, and he is a distinct character from the other “Mega Man”, who does not appear in this game or future “Mega Man X” games. Yes, “Mega Man X” would go on to be its own separate series running alongside regular Mega Man, welcome to confusiontown.

It took a while for Mega Man to truly make the jump to the 16-bit generation of consoles. This is partially because Capcom kept making Mega Man games on NES well after the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo launched, with the sixth and final one coming out near the very end of 1993 in Japan and 1994 in America, being among the last NES games ever released. Mega Man X was actually developed around the same time as Mega Man 6. And, boy, they sure made it a game that could never be done on NES hardware. 

Mega Man X adopts a similar format to standard Mega Man, with eight levels and eight bosses (now “Mavericks” rather than “Robot masters”), with each boss granting a new weapon upon defeat, which exploits a weakness of one of the other bosses. The first change to the NES Mega Man formula you’ll notice is that Mega Man X has an “intro stage” that you play before gaining access to the level select. The intro stage does a great job at presenting a level that guides the player into learning the basic gameplay mechanics without giving a text-based tutorial, such as one section where X is thrown into a pit and must utilize his wall jumping ability to get out. 

Another major difference is that Mega Man X places a large emphasis on hiding permanent power-ups throughout the game’s levels, and the player is expected to revisit levels even after the bosses are already beaten in order to try and find more upgrades. As X gains more abilities, he’ll be able to use them in order to get things that he wasn’t able to before. This provides a great sense of progression, and the process of finding power-ups and getting gradually stronger is very fun and rewarding.

Something cool about Mega Man X that may not be immediately obvious is that the order you beat bosses in will affect future levels that you play. For example, defeating the ice-themed boss will freeze over the fire-themed boss’s level as a consequence, making it a little easier. This is a really cool attention to detail that adds replay value.

One new power-up I love in this game is the dash ability. Mega Man 3 had introduced the slide, which is similar, but in Mega Man X you can jump out of the dash to cover greater distances. Add that to the wall jump ability, and you have a character that feels a lot more nimble, which I love. It makes the game feel like a real upgrade to NES Mega Man.

I’ve got to mention the soundtrack too, which sets a futuristic vibe as well as the tone of each level, with some very catchy tunes that take advantage of the SNES sound chip effectively.

As for my personal history with Mega Man X, it’s a series that I knew about as a kid but didn’t get to play until my teen years. And the first one I played was a sequel, not this one. And, believe it or not, when I first tried out Mega Man X, I…didn’t like it! This was partially because I didn’t understand the game very well and wasn’t good at it right away, and I was annoyed by the fact that the enemies respawn if you back up even an inch and go back to where they were originally. That’s the thing with a lot of video games, especially old ones, sometimes you have to get off on the right foot with them, or else they can seem bad when they’re really not. Hearing people talk about the game made me want to give it another try, and lo and behold, once I got the hang of it, I actually enjoyed it a lot and realized why it’s great. Video games in general are an entertainment medium where you really benefit from listening to people who have more experience with them, rather than going in with zero context.

I also have a story behind the copy of the game in the photo. Over a decade ago, I discovered a cool store in Ware, Massachusetts that is no longer in business called Revolutionary Gamer. One day I was in there, and I saw a sealed Mega Man X behind the counter somewhere with no price, and commented on it. The store owner showed it to me, telling me that he was unsure of what to do with it since there was a significant tear in the seal. The next time I went, I discovered that he decided to take the seal off completely rather than sell it as a semi-sealed game. The price was great, so I grabbed it! And I actually never played this particular cartridge even once, since I wanted to keep it as a practically pristine and untouched copy. Unfortunately, it is a copy from a reprint run that cut costs by changing the instruction manual to black-and-white, so not having color for the manual is a bit of a bummer.

The original Mega Man X is a great example of Capcom improving on their game design, and it’s one of the best Mega Man-related games ever made, one that should be considered among the best Super Nintendo games, which, as you can tell from how many posts you’ve been reading, is no small feat. You can play it on modern platforms as part of the “Mega Man X Legacy Collection”, which you should really consider if you’ve never touched it. A true classic.