Together Retro: Mega Man X

[ExedExes]

The Rolling Shield one is great, especially for filling up your Sub-Tanks before Sigma.

Also good to use on the elevator ride in Boomer Kuwanger's stage.

Is there a way to actually get Boomer Kuwanger's heart tank...

... without having to return with the Boomerang Cutter to retrieve it?

I'm on target to complete this game tomorrow. That makes good time to at least hopefully get the first four done this month.

[MrPopo]

Yes there is. Watch a speed run; it requires extremely precise timing but you can get it with just jumping. Either AGDQ or SGDQ did a Mega Man X 100% race between four people, so you can see optimized routes that only visit stages once (except Armored Armadillo).

[Xeogred]

He was involved for all of about one sentence:

" As stated by producer Keiji Inafune, "I had very little to do with X5. I just told the team to 'finish off the series with this title,' and left it at that." (Mega Man X: Official Complete Works. Udon Entertainment. January 6, 2010. pp. 48–55. )

Inafune wasn't the designer (Toyozumi Sakai), he wasn't the director (Kōji Ōkohara), producer (Tatsuya Minami), or even executive producer (Yoshiki Okamoto). Just because Inafune said "make this the final game" doesn't amount to him having squat to do with X5's actual construction. Now if you have a source to cite otherwise, I'm all for reading it. Otherwise I consider your opinion badly informed and invalid.

This. Just playing X5 for a couple of minutes and you can tell that he had next to nothing to do with it. There is so much frivolous nonsense like suits that you can't use until they are complete because the artists didn't want to have to create multiple sprite sets or the level system that punishes you unless you deliberately die about 12 times in order to artificially level up the bosses or the fact that the entire plot of the first half of the game has no bearing whatsoever on the success of the mission which is determined by random and can completely screw you if you invested your resources into the wrong character for the scenario it chooses for you.

Even the big climactic battle that they'd been building to since the end of X2 was a rushed affair that felt entirely unimportant.

And then X6. Oh god X6.

I was an apologetic for X5, I still sort of am but I recognize it's a flawed game. When X6 came out I remember thinking, "It can't be that bad."

It was so much worse than even my lowest expectations. It felt like an unfinished pirate knock-off of Mega Man X.

Amazing soundtrack though for what it's worth.

It's a masterpiece compared to X7-X8.

That's a funny way to put it though, it does feel like a rom hack or something. Still, despite the story being total garbage by this point, I don't think X6 is all that terrible. Still has some cool levels, music, designs, etc.

[ZeroAX]

Otherwise I consider your opinion badly informed and invalid.

That is quite true, but those are still better words than most people would pick to describe your manners right now.

This. Just playing X5 for a couple of minutes and you can tell that he had next to nothing to do with it. There is so much frivolous nonsense like suits that you can't use until they are complete because the artists didn't want to have to create multiple sprite sets or the level system that punishes you unless you deliberately die about 12 times in order to artificially level up the bosses or the fact that the entire plot of the first half of the game has no bearing whatsoever on the success of the mission which is determined by random and can completely screw you if you invested your resources into the wrong character for the scenario it chooses for you.

Even the big climactic battle that they'd been building to since the end of X2 was a rushed affair that felt entirely unimportant.

I haven't played X5 since 2002, do you mind reminding me what this is about? The mission thing I mean.

[Exhuminator]

That is quite true, but those are still better words than most people would pick to describe your manners right now.

Going back and rereading what I wrote, yeah I did come off as being a jerk (protip: I'm a jerk). I apologize for having such an abrasive tone.

On a very technical level you could say Inafune was involved with X5, considering he did at least tell the team to make it the final game. So you were actually kind of correct. Unfortunately his influence wasn't anything near the influence he had with prior games in the series though, as Flake did a good job of pointing out.

[TSTR]

I have discovered that I suck at Mega Man.

[Flake]

I haven't played X5 since 2002, do you mind reminding me what this is about? The mission thing I mean.

Obviously SPOILERS for anyone who hasn't played but in the beginning of the game you are trying to acquire the equipment necessary to destroy the Eurasia space colony that is being dropped on Earth. How that turns out will determine if Zero is alive or dead at the end of the game or if X goes Maverick. It is totally random. Collecting the devices will trigger the cutscenes but has absolutely no impact on the outcome. So it is possible to focus on developing Zero and then lose him at the end of the game leaving you with only an X with minimum stats. It was totally stupid.

[Gunstar Green]

It's a masterpiece compared to X7-X8.

That's a funny way to put it though, it does feel like a rom hack or something. Still, despite the story being total garbage by this point, I don't think X6 is all that terrible. Still has some cool levels, music, designs, etc.

I can't agree with the levels. The art was fine for the most part, though the Mavericks all looked terrible. The levels themselves were all so poorly thought out that they were boring at best and borderline broken at worst.

Don't even get me started on stuff like the crap enemy placement, fake walls, the stupid repeated donut boss and missable crucial items. Were they trying to make it in the style of a bad NES game?

I think my hatred for this game is one of my most strongly held video game opinions. To be fair I don't really blame the people who worked on it since they were given no time and little money to quickly produce a cheap cash-grab at the end of the PS1's life.

The problem with X7 and X8 is they had forgotten how a Mega Man game is supposed to play. Not only are they mediocre on their own but they just don't feel like part of the series. Nobody at Capcom seemed to know what to do without Inafune involved.

It's a shame because I think Powered Up and Maverick Hunter X showed the series could work in 2.5D but those weren't great sellers and we never got to see them build off of that.

[Exhuminator]

Nobody at Capcom seemed to know what to do without Inafune involved.

For the most part, I agree with you. But as far as I know, he wasn't involved with the Mega Man Xtreme GBC games, and those are surprisingly competent. I'm guessing not too many folks around here have played them. They are very solid, especially considering the platform.

[Gunstar Green]

Nobody at Capcom seemed to know what to do without Inafune involved.

For the most part, I agree with you. But as far as I know, he wasn't involved with the Mega Man Xtreme GBC games, and those are surprisingly competent. I'm guessing not too many folks around here have played them. They are very solid, especially considering the platform.

I'm not a big fan of the first one though it was certainly ambitious. The biggest fault is many of the levels don't translate well to the Game Boy screen. The second is a little more polished and I love the X-Treme mode where you can freely switch between X and Zero.