MegaMan X4 is handing my ASS to me

[GameMasterGuy]

Oh, and did I mention how unbalanced the weapons were, and how awful an idea of two different buster upgrades is?

[Flake]

Oh, and did I mention how unbalanced the weapons were, and how awful an idea of two different buster upgrades is?

The weapons are unbalanced? I have to disagree there. There is nothing that is so unbalanced as the weapons in X1, for instance.

I liked the two upgrades idea. They both served radically different purposes and were much more enjoyable than the 'two armors' idea in the rest of the games.

[GameMasterGuy]

Except that one was nearly useless, and you should never have to backtrack after 100%ing a game. As for weapon balance, yes, it was a flaw in X1, but X2 and 3 were much better about it. X4 didn't really have overly overpowered weapons, but it certainly had its duds. I dare you to name one conventional use for that web attack outside of the boss that uses it and the upgrades that require it.

[Flake]

Except that one was nearly useless, and you should never have to backtrack after 100%ing a game. As for weapon balance, yes, it was a flaw in X1, but X2 and 3 were much better about it. X4 didn't really have overly overpowered weapons, but it certainly had its duds. I dare you to name one conventional use for that web attack outside of the boss that uses it and the upgrades that require it.

Avoiding upgrades
Maintaining an aggressive stance against Simga's second form
Short cuts in Cyber Peacocks stage
short cuts in the first Space Weapon stage
delaying attacks in Sigmas third form

[GameMasterGuy]

Really? Besides avoiding upgrades I didn't even know about those!

[Flake]

Really? Besides avoiding upgrades I didn't even know about those!

Yeah.

Sigma's second form does those crazy eye lasers. The only way to avoid them is to either A) Time your float perfectly and stay completely still (snooze) or you can shoot one at him, jump off it, and land behind him in a position to keep shooting your buster.

Cyberpeacock's stage sucks if you do not have soul body and even then the third section of the first half can be rough. The lightning web lets you create temporary walls to speed your ascent.

It's unorthodox but the lightning web is essentially built to help you either speed through the game or avoid things that would usually require being able to air dash. For an armorless game, it is essential.

[noiseredux]

Sigma's 2nd form is the jerkiest. He'd always suck my life away so that I was left with very little for 3rd form... but DAMMIT I loved that game!

[GameMasterGuy]

I no-damaged it easily. For some reason the third form was annoying. Not the three small heads, but the two bigger bodies.

[LoneCynic]

Reading this topic made me break out the MegaMan X Collection and start re-playing the series. I had no idea my skills had gotten so rusty. I'm up to X5 now, and halfway through it. Looking back at X1-X4, my opinions on some of them has changed somewhat. First off, I always try to play the games in different orders each time that I pick up the series, however, I try to minimize the number of revisits to stages to pickup stuff I miss too.

In X1, this is always fairly easy to do, as there are ways to play through that one that only require a single revisit. I opted this play through to go through most of the stages without armor upgrades first to increase the challenge a bit. It was fun and still an enjoyable game.

X2 is my favorite title in the series, there are so many ways to play through that one and make it a different experience each time. I think it is the most well rounded title in the whole series, and has the coolest looking armor set.

X3 has dropped in fun factor for me. To make certain Bit, Byte and Vile all die during your first encounter with each of them, you have to play through in a specific order and it requires a lot of stage revisits. The game, no matter how you choose to attack it, always starts to feel like a chore halfway through, and the stages are annoying to navigate. Not just because of the enemy placement and layout, but because the X-Hunter rooms are a part of it rather than side routes like in X2. The game just takes forever to play through no matter what, and it has lost points with me because of that over the years. I also don't like the crossover charge shot, it seems to be more annoying than it is worth sometimes.

X4 I used to dislike some when I was younger, but it is more a return to form like X1 and X2 without a bunch of the tedious stuff X3 has. It has actually gained points with me in terms of playability and fun over the years. It also has two ways to play, as X or Zero, which is just as cool now as it was when I was a kid.

X5 I got around its two tedious and unfun bits by just creating a save file years ago that has the bosses at higher levels already so they all give upgrades, and the eurasia colony already destroyed. That way, each time I play I skip that time nonsense. Play the intro level, then load that one save file, and continue the rest of the game from there, saving progress to a different file. Done in this fashion, it becomes as enjoyable as X4, otherwise that timer garbage and randomness of the colony destruction failures would test my patience every time I tried to play it.

I'll be playing X6 after I finish X5, I remember it being ridiculously difficult. It will be the one game where I probably will just use the ultimate armor code to even the odds a little bit. Otherwise, you are just asking for frustration with that one.

What do you guys think? Which is your favorite entry in the series and why? I only ever liked X1-X6. I have X7, and I refuse to acknowledge or even attempt to play that heap of trash again. They ruined the series with that one.

[Gamerforlife]

Reading this topic made me break out the MegaMan X Collection and start re-playing the series. I had no idea my skills had gotten so rusty. I'm up to X5 now, and halfway through it. Looking back at X1-X4, my opinions on some of them has changed somewhat. First off, I always try to play the games in different orders each time that I pick up the series, however, I try to minimize the number of revisits to stages to pickup stuff I miss too.

In X1, this is always fairly easy to do, as there are ways to play through that one that only require a single revisit. I opted this play through to go through most of the stages without armor upgrades first to increase the challenge a bit. It was fun and still an enjoyable game.

X2 is my favorite title in the series, there are so many ways to play through that one and make it a different experience each time. I think it is the most well rounded title in the whole series, and has the coolest looking armor set.

X3 has dropped in fun factor for me. To make certain Bit, Byte and Vile all die during your first encounter with each of them, you have to play through in a specific order and it requires a lot of stage revisits. The game, no matter how you choose to attack it, always starts to feel like a chore halfway through, and the stages are annoying to navigate. Not just because of the enemy placement and layout, but because the X-Hunter rooms are a part of it rather than side routes like in X2. The game just takes forever to play through no matter what, and it has lost points with me because of that over the years. I also don't like the crossover charge shot, it seems to be more annoying than it is worth sometimes.

X4 I used to dislike some when I was younger, but it is more a return to form like X1 and X2 without a bunch of the tedious stuff X3 has. It has actually gained points with me in terms of playability and fun over the years. It also has two ways to play, as X or Zero, which is just as cool now as it was when I was a kid.

X5 I got around its two tedious and unfun bits by just creating a save file years ago that has the bosses at higher levels already so they all give upgrades, and the eurasia colony already destroyed. That way, each time I play I skip that time nonsense. Play the intro level, then load that one save file, and continue the rest of the game from there, saving progress to a different file. Done in this fashion, it becomes as enjoyable as X4, otherwise that timer garbage and randomness of the colony destruction failures would test my patience every time I tried to play it.

I'll be playing X6 after I finish X5, I remember it being ridiculously difficult. It will be the one game where I probably will just use the ultimate armor code to even the odds a little bit. Otherwise, you are just asking for frustration with that one.

What do you guys think? Which is your favorite entry in the series and why? I only ever liked X1-X6. I have X7, and I refuse to acknowledge or even attempt to play that heap of trash again. They ruined the series with that one.

I actually think X7 is better than X6. The level design is not as sloppy and not as frustrating, though X6 is certainly beatable without codes. Unlike most people, I didn't have an issue with the 3d. It could have been implemented less awkwardly, but once you know what you're doing it's a much more enjoyable game than X6. The reploids are better implemented, X's auto-targetting works well and Zero doesn't have any awkward controller inputs for his moves like he does in X6. The voice acting for the bosses in X7 though makes me cringe

X4 is my fave, it made Zero fully playable and added melee combat to the series. I like Zero better than X and the whole game feels like it caters to him. Plus, X4 fleshed Zero's backstory, dropped any doubts about Wily's place in the continuity, gave us an epic cutscene battle between Zero and Sigma, promptly followed by the epic final boss battle. I also loved the bosses. Magma Dragoon with his Ken/Ryu attacks, the colonel with his light sabre, The screen sized General and Sigma's cool Grim Reaper-like first form

I agree that X3 was a bit convoluted. I still liked it though. The boss theme and Zero's theme are awesome in that game

I like X2 better than X1, but only by a small margin. I think X2's boss fights were better designed

X8 is solid and worth playing. It actually added some nifty things to the series like the upgrade system, the tag team attacks, and I like having playable females in the game

Maverick Hunter X on the PSP is excellent, a perfect remake