Mega Man X Collection
Seven games for less than the price of one.
Published: January 23, 2006
Few games have defined Capcom through the years like the Mega Man. The company is comfortable with sequels, rarely venturing out to create new experiments in the form of potential franchises and usually it's when they stick to their core that they're at their best. Sure, a couple of solid entries have resulted in games like Viewtiful Joe or Resident Evil or even Devil May Cry becoming established, but there are plenty of examples of failed attempts at doing something new.
Mega Man X Collection is a perfect example of this. The series is founded on a very simple formula: a bad guy is out to destroy the world and a robot rises to stop him by defeating an octet of evil robots while taking their powers to eventually confront a multi-stage boss. All of the Mega Man X games employ this basis, but as the series has gone on, attempts at a story and some funky gameplay additions (like, ugh, putting everything under a time crunch) are rarely viable expansions of this same core theme -- the addition of X's pal Zero as a playable character in X3 and X4 were probably the best of the bunch.
In fact, with six Mega Man X games included right next to one another, it's very easy to see how the series has started to run out of steam. This is an unfortunate byproduct of a collection like this, and it's the counterbalance to experiencing some classic 16- and 32-bit games in perfect emulated condition. The older games hold up remarkably well, but the newer ones, bogged down with stories that aren't needed, aren't quite so lucky.
The result is a collection that feels complete, but sadly lacking as the games move from simple screenfuls of text to animated intros and endings. They aren't horrible games (well, maybe Mega Man X6 is), but they show a steady downward turn as you play through them.
On the plus side, you'll play them exactly as they originally appeared; nary a hint of slowdown or funkiness to be found here. As an added bonus, the Japanese 32-bit version of Mega Man X3 was included rather than the SNES version, and it brings with it more video clips. The traditional password system has been supplanted by a unified savegame system (buried under the Password (or if you will Pass Word) sections of the games that lets you save your progress in a single file.
If there was any muddling in the game's code, it seems to be in updating the original Mega Man X's text to make it more coherent (this could of course just be in my head), but this just makes the inexplicably bad translations for the other games that much worse. Capcom added in unlockable soundtracks and artwork for those that dig those sorts of things (I never really got into the soundtracks for the X games as much as I did the originals, but that doesn't mean they aren't a nice bonus).
The biggest addition, of course, was Mega Man Battle & Chase, a game that only appeared in Japan and Europe. For a game that clearly borrows from Mario Kart, it's a surprisingly solid racer with the nice addition of allowing you to pilfer parts from other racers after crossing the finish line. Of all the titles, it's the one that shows the most graphical aging (something about sprites keeps them relatively timeless, but the PlayStation's lack of filtering and texture memory is glaringly obvious), but it's a perfect distraction from all the platforming you'll be doing otherwise.
Generally speaking, you're going to want to be a Mega Man X fan before you pick this game up. It's a retro collection that isn't terribly forgiving, quickly begins to descend into complete retardation when it comes to the storyline, and starts heaping unneeded bits of gameplay or weird changes onto a formula that was already a little stale to begin with. Still, for fans, it's awesome stuff, and no amount of poo-pooing it will dissuade you from proclaiming the series' greatness.
The fact that it's all emulated so nicely means it looks and sounds, well, classic, and it is a testament to the state of 16- and 32-bit emulation these days if stuff like this can be pulled off well -- especially given all the add-on bells and whistled that Capcom used to include with the later SNES-era games.
Oh, and the $30 price tag sure doesn't hurt either.
Mega Man X Collection is a perfect example of this. The series is founded on a very simple formula: a bad guy is out to destroy the world and a robot rises to stop him by defeating an octet of evil robots while taking their powers to eventually confront a multi-stage boss. All of the Mega Man X games employ this basis, but as the series has gone on, attempts at a story and some funky gameplay additions (like, ugh, putting everything under a time crunch) are rarely viable expansions of this same core theme -- the addition of X's pal Zero as a playable character in X3 and X4 were probably the best of the bunch.
In fact, with six Mega Man X games included right next to one another, it's very easy to see how the series has started to run out of steam. This is an unfortunate byproduct of a collection like this, and it's the counterbalance to experiencing some classic 16- and 32-bit games in perfect emulated condition. The older games hold up remarkably well, but the newer ones, bogged down with stories that aren't needed, aren't quite so lucky.
The result is a collection that feels complete, but sadly lacking as the games move from simple screenfuls of text to animated intros and endings. They aren't horrible games (well, maybe Mega Man X6 is), but they show a steady downward turn as you play through them.
On the plus side, you'll play them exactly as they originally appeared; nary a hint of slowdown or funkiness to be found here. As an added bonus, the Japanese 32-bit version of Mega Man X3 was included rather than the SNES version, and it brings with it more video clips. The traditional password system has been supplanted by a unified savegame system (buried under the Password (or if you will Pass Word) sections of the games that lets you save your progress in a single file.
If there was any muddling in the game's code, it seems to be in updating the original Mega Man X's text to make it more coherent (this could of course just be in my head), but this just makes the inexplicably bad translations for the other games that much worse. Capcom added in unlockable soundtracks and artwork for those that dig those sorts of things (I never really got into the soundtracks for the X games as much as I did the originals, but that doesn't mean they aren't a nice bonus).
The biggest addition, of course, was Mega Man Battle & Chase, a game that only appeared in Japan and Europe. For a game that clearly borrows from Mario Kart, it's a surprisingly solid racer with the nice addition of allowing you to pilfer parts from other racers after crossing the finish line. Of all the titles, it's the one that shows the most graphical aging (something about sprites keeps them relatively timeless, but the PlayStation's lack of filtering and texture memory is glaringly obvious), but it's a perfect distraction from all the platforming you'll be doing otherwise.
Generally speaking, you're going to want to be a Mega Man X fan before you pick this game up. It's a retro collection that isn't terribly forgiving, quickly begins to descend into complete retardation when it comes to the storyline, and starts heaping unneeded bits of gameplay or weird changes onto a formula that was already a little stale to begin with. Still, for fans, it's awesome stuff, and no amount of poo-pooing it will dissuade you from proclaiming the series' greatness.
The fact that it's all emulated so nicely means it looks and sounds, well, classic, and it is a testament to the state of 16- and 32-bit emulation these days if stuff like this can be pulled off well -- especially given all the add-on bells and whistled that Capcom used to include with the later SNES-era games.
Oh, and the $30 price tag sure doesn't hurt either.
