E95: Mega Man X

Mega Man X, first released in 1993 and developed by Capcom, is a certified Super Nintendo classic.  Widely considered to be one of the strongest entries in the entire expanded Mega Man franchise, it took the classic formulae of running and gunning and turned it up to 11.  The graphics were more colourful and detailed, the music got bumped up a notch, and the arsenal available was wider than ever before.  X even had expanded movement options, and the slide/dash of the game is wildly influential in its own right.

But are all these changes from the original series for the better?  The dash massively improves your ability to move through the stages with ease, but has the platforming and enemy threat been ramped up to match?  The more zoomed in perspective helps better appreciate the graphical fidelity, but does that restrict the range and tactical fidelity of encounters?  In changing and expanding on everything, has what makes the original games so great been accidentally left in the dust?

On this episode, we discuss:

• What do we think of the boss battles of Mega Man X?  How well do the attacks match the capabilities of the player?  Do the bosses having weaknesses to specific weapons detract from the overall experience?
• Is Mega Man X even a platformer any more?  Or is it just a straight up action game?
• What did we think of the abilities and weapon power ups of Mega Man X?  Are they all useful in the right situation, or is it just one or two useful weapons with a lot of gimmicky side options?

We answer these questions and many more on the 95th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Megaman X OST: Setsuo Yamomoto

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Is Mega Man X the best of the X games?  Is Mega Man Zero worth us trying, and if so, which one is the best to play?  What other cool level/item interactions exist that we completely missed?  Come let us know what you think or suggest a new game for us to play on our community discord server!