Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

I started late in the home gaming life, by the time Nintendo 64 came out I was gladly purchasing my first Super N.E.S. . A summer of working and scouting garage sales eventually turned up a system and a box of games. Among the games were Super Mario World, F-Roc, Star Fox, and Mega Man X.

Of all the time spent staying up past bed time, all the time I ignored cleaning my room, Mega Man X filled the time. I had played previous titles of the Mega Man franchise at friends houses and enjoyed them then, but X with its music and feel, in my opinion, is what has kept Capcom on the project. It is the basic game of the group, the level difficulty is just good enough to keep you playing and not walk away out of frustration. The difficulty of the bosses can vary, once the weaknesses are discovered they become far too easy, never the less Sigma at his first appearance succeeds in being a worthy final challenge. This game introduces a new character as well, Zero a maverick hunter like X shows up and displays a teacher/master relationship with X. Over all this game is fun and can be played over and over without disappointment.

Mega Man X 2, apart from being extremely difficult to find in it cartridge days, is a game that holds up the greatness found in the first game. Level design becomes longer and enemy movement is more abundant, with a story that connects to the first game you get the feeling that you're still a part of the original. Boss battles are upgraded and the weaknesses have a lessened affect making a strong challenge no matter how often you have played them. The replay value dips away a bit, finding Zeros parts no matter how you do it always has the same outcome. The X Collection gives people the chance to play X2 that may have never played it before.

Mega Man X 3, when a company runs low on ideas and the tools they are working with get over used they some times will push out a frag-fest. Now a frag-fest is when the level design consists of a swarm of enemies launching a flurry of attacks and enemies that have undodgeable attacks start to appear. X3's difficulty curve is steep once you reach a 1/4th distance in the game. Bit and Bite make an appearance as sub bosses which block your path to the end boss of that stage, their speedy attacks and movement patterns are stacked with the ability to become temporarily indestructible. This game adds a new com-link feature with which you can call Zero and play a short time as him. In the end X3 is a good change in the standard flow of the game, but has often discouraged a player out of fun which is never a good idea in a game in my mind.

Mega Man X 4, this is just what the developers needed to pop the franchise back in to the thoughts of players. With a new graphics engine and a better faster control setup Mega Man became a better example of a solid game then back when he was only known in the U.S. as Rock Man. This game is the first to give you the option to play the game as Zero(unlike in X3), you can fully beat the game as him. Faster paced game play and more intricate level design makes this one of the top games of the collection. Boss design and difficulty were given a much needed tweak, stronger bosses replaced the cheep immortal ones from X3, and the multi-stage fights make for longer more strategic thinking and not just "pew-pew!" action. This also takes the story to the next stage adding a better twisted plot, it is a treat for those who enjoy the history of the Mega Man franchise.

Mega Man X 5, the story is the main part of this installment of Mega Man. Going deeper in to Zero's past and his connection to Sigma you gain a glimpse of his true purpose. Once again you can play as Zero or X, each of them have different outcomes with the end stage bosses, even some changes in enemy placement and tactics which will give you the feel of a more re-playable game. The stages are fun and just difficult enough to keep your interest, but lack the creativity of a new game it just feels like your playing X4 again.

Mega Man X6, it's a shame to say this is the worst one in the collection like X3 it takes the cheap path. Every stage contains a duck and dodge making all the stages slow and without the perfect timing you will die over and over. This is surely a game for the most skilled Mega Man X players out there. I myself don't like the idea of being stuck under a speedy stream of boulders pouring down the hill I'm climbing, forcing me to hide in a pit every few seconds or die.

A collection of all the games wins a 10 in my mind for two reasons. Having all of them on 1 disc beats the hell out of dragging out the old systems to play them and it gives you the chance to play them all without the hunt for past games on E-Bay. It's loaded with extras that give the die-hard fans a goal to work for and in the end an extra game for the fun of it.