Mega Man X series post MMX3- Are they worth playing?

[Opa Opa]

X7 sounds like a good candidate for TR.

[jfrost]

X1 and X4 are the best in that series. I regularly speed run through them.

[Bradtemple87]

I enjoyed x4-6 quite a bit on the ps1

[Xeogred]

Story wise X5 and X6 took the series into a huge nosedive. But I know I know, that's taking Mega Man too seriously. The core gameplay is still there however. I think X4 is easily the best out of the PSX games and hands down had the best budget because it actually has anime styled cutscenes. X5-X6 did not have these and I remember them both coming out brand new at budget prices ($30 I think). They're both still worth playing though.

As others said, avoid X7.

X8 I played once and it was okay, but extremely forgettable (I mean nobody's even mentioned it yet). It's pseudo 2D/3D, which usually looks ugly. Sigma wasn't even the final boss so it was just weird, this one is probably skippable as well.

[Veno]

I actually liked X8. Plenty of different weapons to use, alternate routes during some stages, plus the playable navigators. I love going through a stage as X and Alia and haul ass.

[gennss]

I really liked X4, I still play it every so often, highly recommended.

[ZeroAX]

Up to X5 the series is very good. Afterwards Kenji Inafune said the series continued in Megaman Zero for the GBA. X6-X8 are bastard childs in other words, without their creator's input.

[Flake]

Spoilers.

X4 is probably the pinnacle of the series. It takes everything that made the first three great and does it bigger and better.

X5 is where the series started to take a turn for the worse. Infune began to add in elements of other genres in order to 'evolve' Megaman X and avoid the (bullshit) criticisms that X4 had received about not advancing the series formula.

So a kinda sorta level progression system was put in - but the game never bothers to explain it very well (maybe due to poor localization) and a lot of people will go through the game without ever realizing how to control their characters development. Even then, it's a stupid system. Here's a hint: you can't 'max' your character out unless you deliberately die nearly 10 times in a row before beating a single boss.

The 'goal' of X5 was to finish the X story line and lead into the already-proposed Megaman Zero series. All the plot elements that were hinted at in X2, X3, and X4 came to fruition - X's susceptibility to the Maverick Virus, Zero's origin as a Dr. Wily robot, and the predestined show down between the two as the world around them fell apart.

Awesome stuff, right?

But Capcom corporate began to interfere, adding more suggestions and not giving the team enough time or resources. The result is a real mixed bag of a game that COULD have been better than X4 and closed the series out in style - instead it is remembered by many as the end of the good 'ol days.

Then came X6. X6 wasn't supposed to happen. Inafune didn't find out it WAS happening until the project had already been greenlit. While Capcom wasn't going to keep Inafune out of the project...they were also willing to make the game without him. Inafune had to unfuck both X5's now non-canon story line AND rewrite the storyline for the entire Megaman Zero series as it was entirely screwed by X6 even EXISTING.

The game had no money, no time, and was given zero resources for localization. The result is a game that is hard due to poor level design, full of bugs, with a stupid story, and served only to undermine the entire series.

Capcom decided that it couldn't leave well enough alone and made Megaman X7. That's all I am going to say about that mess.

X8 was supposed to be a step in the right direction but in my opinion it is an example of too little, too late. The game lacks the charm that made the earlier X games wonderful and feels like a wasted effort.

[lwcook]

MMX4 definitely is a must. X5 and X6 are pretty decent, and are good fun if you need a Mega Man fix.

Although...X7 and X8. They can burn every copy in a fire and it'd make the world a better place. Every now and then I get the urge to pick up X8 again (X7 not so much,) and every time I play it I end up rage quitting. It just...makes me sad.

[WrathOskvro]

I like all of the X games. I've played every one of them except for X7. I actually REALLY enjoyed X8, though it wasn't very challenging, it was still fun to me. If you like X1-3 you may as well play them all if you really like the series.