Caltrops - Mega Man 10 - X and X2: Replaying Mega Man X Collection

Forum Overview :: Mega Man 10

by Lurker 15954 09/05/2014, 6:56am PDT

Analysis X-X2:

Mega Man X
+The game starts off, as the Sequilitis states, by introducing the two most important concepts of the game. First is that you can cling to walls, climb them, and jump all around. This is your bread and butter for killing bosses for the rest of the series. Second is that you'll start with a piddling little lifebar, but you'll be able to grow as strong as (or stronger than) Zero, who manages to be awesome despite having giant shiny orb breasts. This concept is cemented by the fact that you're given the dash boots in the first level you choose (or it's Ice Penguin's stage. I just always happen to choose that first and made the assumption). The game gives you an upgrade capsule with a vital piece of equipment so that you know to be on the lookout for others.
+Secrets are hidden in plain sight, but are still a fun challenge to find. We all know to slide down every seemingly bottomless pit for goodies now, but the game is still a marvel of how much you can do with a mostly linear 2D world.
+Enemies have tiny little reactions to the smallest things (in a good way). Certain enemies will pause and chuckle when they hit you, giving you time to whip around and kill them. It's such a minor detail that it's no surprise they forgot to include it in later games :(
+Beating certain stages will affect other stages, either switching up the difficulty or allowing you to access secret areas. My favorite is how defeating the flying fortress eagle dude will make his airship crash into the power plant, causing rolling blackouts but removing the electric ground crawlers from the beginning. It gives the sense that you're not just going Blade Runner on a bunch of robot furries, but you're completely ripping apart the infrastructure of this city to do so.
+Bosses will have GIGANTIC reactions to their weaknesses, but will also react to OTHER weapons occasionally. The most notable example is that you can cut off the octopus's arms with the cutter weapon, removing his whirlwind attack. This is actually to your disadvantage since his whirlwind attacks is the easiest to dodge, but he effort is appreciated.
-The final boss is fucking terrible. Sigma's 3rd form is incredibly easy to dodge once you realize you can keep the edge of one foot on a platform, but the only way to hurt him (aside from a Hadouken) is with a fully charged blast, doing a grand total of 1 plib of damage. 30 charged shots to the face and oh my god this is what Valdis Story stole from.

Mega Man X2
+The game once again starts off with the NEW features. You already know how to wall slide and charge you buster, so fuck that shit. You're also given the dash ability from the get go since of course you've already played Mega Man X and know that only assholes walk. The big things here are that some enemies can get pieces shot off but not die (fun for some bosses) and they've developed a little 3D action (this is not a good thing).
+Air dash boots! Another boots feature that becomes indispensable in later games.
+The first game didn't really know what to do with the helmet upgrade. In X, it would let you open up around 2 secrets by letting you Mario-break special blocks and absolutely nothing else. Here, it's a fun little radar device that points out secrets for you. The catch is that you can't shoot or change weapons while it's scanning, so you can't just run the whole level popping off crosshairs.
+If you kill the Nature Vine boss with the cutter, he'll actually get cut in half before doing his little explosion death animation (tested with other weapons to make sure)! I'm not sure if there's other hidden boss deaths, but this one made me happy.
+I loved the little "Save Zero" mini-quest they added in. It lets you completely skip one of the final bosses! And you can fail it if you don't fight the X-Hunters soon enough! Wonderful!
-The buster gun upgrade is fucking AWFUL. Did you not have to foresight to jump before firing off that second super shot? Looks like you'll be rooted to the ground for a second. Did you immediately press fire after releasing a charged shot to begin charging again? Looks like you just shot off your second charge and now you're rooted in place for a second. As with the first game, charging secondary weapons is cool, yet impractical.
-There's no longer any interaction between levels, so killing one boss won't completely change the layout of another area.
-They went a little bit overboard and made the final boss WAY easier. Sigma's second form is good, but the wireframe face that you finish off with is kind of lame. It felt like they were banking on it being such a novel thing to have quasi-3D enemies. To be fair, it did show, not tell, how reploids are made and how Sigma was able to corrupt them all (DURRRRRR WHO CARES ABOUT THE STORY IN MEGA MAN).
+Overall, I'm happy that they used X2 to try out as much new shit as possible while still making the same damn game. It's minor details that make the difference between Super Mario and Bubsy, and even today's shell of a Capcom is one of the best when it comes to lovingly crafted tidbits that no one will ever see built around rock solid mechanics (I still won't buy Dead Rising 3).