Customer Reviews

Mega Man X Collection

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mega Man X Collection(2006). A showcase collection to gather the first six Mega Man X games all on one disc, as well as the unreleased-in-America Mega Man Battle & Chase.

The reason for my review title stems from a grudge I had a long time ago. Most gamers from the 90s should remember a popular used game-selling company known as FuncoLand (now they are Gamestop). Well back in March of 1997, I saw listed in FuncoLand's catalog the fully priced MM:B&C. I was a very impatient kid back then who needed to have everything Mega Man, and so I quickly reserved a copy of the game before it was set to be released. I was really excited because it looked like it was going to be a pretty neat game, combining the classic Mega Man formula with racing. Unfortunately as it turned out, in a last minute action caused by Sony, Capcom was unable to release the game here in the US. So disappointed, then I demanded that FuncoLand return my money. They never did. I learned a hard lesson that day. And now, they finally decided to put the game on this Mega Man X collection, and having waited such a long time, I did not hesitate to unlock it. Unfortunately, I was majorly let down by what turned out to be a third-rate Mario Cart/Crash Team Racing clone that sucked for the most part. I can excuse the archaic graphics since I grew up with a PS1, but the game itself just seemed kinda... dull.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, onto the REAL reason to own this collection: the Mega Man X games! Yes, here Capcom decided to throw their first spin-off series to one of their top franchises, taking the first three games that originated on the SNES, and the second three that resided on the PS1, and left off X7 and X8 (due to the fact that those two games are widely available on the PS2, and so it would be pointless to include them).

Now let's look at each X game!

-Mega Man X
INFO: Here's where the series starts off, introducing players to the story of the reploids, Zero, Sigma, the new anime-influenced look, a rocking soundtrack, robot-ride vehicles, heart-tanks, and the armor collecting feature that lets X do things like dash, head butt, and supercharge special weapons.
MY THOUGHTS: Of all the X games, I find that this one and X4 have the most attention to detail in the little things. I'm talking about the features such as animations and things like taking out Chill Penguin's stage and causing another stage to freeze over. Very cool. It's an excellent place to start for beginners since the difficulty is not too terribly high. The levels are a bit sparse compared to the others (though not nearly as bad as in X4) but there are still plenty of secrets to collect, and being the first game, I can't fault it. The boss fights are fairly simple, but challenging enough for those who haven't played an X game before.

-Mega Man X2
INFO: The sequel brings forth a few new surprises such as the air dash, speeder vehicle, double charge shot, giga attack, and the ability to alter the ending based on defeating certain bosses throughout the game. It also featured a new graphics chip that enabled some interesting 3D wire frame effects to occur at various points.
MY THOUGHTS: While the first X game was great, here is where the series really started to shine, IMO. There was a lot more that you could do; the levels were just large enough to really house some secrets, and just small enough to provide plenty of nonstop action. It's considered a favorite for many fans. Plus, of the classic X games, this one just has a great feel to it. My only gripe with the original SNES game comes from the IMMENSE SLOWDOWN, which was thankfully fixed in this collection. Bonus points go to that.

-Mega Man X3
INFO: The next entry featured the ability to call in for Zero's help and play as him briefly, a more complex super armor-collecting system, and the ability to call on special robot-ride armor vehicles at certain points of the stage.
MY THOUGHTS: This one has always been my favorite, and to me was the series's definite high point. It's also the only game that I didn't have, considering how rare and expensive it was. As for the game, the difficulty is very high at this point and they give us a lot more stuff to do, such as find hidden stages and super armor pieces. No gripes here, other than the fact that they could have done more with the ability to play as Zero. But Capcom gave us a huge surprise here! They decided to take a game that was already great to begin with, and give the fans the previously "import-only" improved PS1/Saturn version that contains improved music, sound effects, and added anime cutscenes! How cool is that? If you buy this collection for JUST ONE REASON at all, get it for this nice bonus.

-Mega Man X4
INFO: The SNES was done, and Capcom decided to give the series a major cosmetic overhaul for the 32-bit generation, showing off with animation on par with the Street Fighter games. In addition, Zero could now be played completely for the first time, offering fans an alternate style of play to X's. Anime cutscenes run abundant here as well (though voice acted poorly).
MY THOUGHTS: X4 quickly became a fan-favorite due to the anime cutscenes and excellent blend of action. This new look inspired the creators to pay attention to the cool little animation details once again, and give the game a nicely polished feel. In terms of this, the game succeeds beautifully. Plus, the soundtrack is probably the best a Mega Man game's music has ever been. However, I'll be the first here to point the game's vital fault that everyone always seems to overlook: the stage layouts are a huge letdown from X3's, putting us back to X1's simplistic approach. Keeping the action tight is good, but not at the expense of completely linear and short stages. Not only that, but there aren't nearly as many secrets to find this time around. Zero's quest is fun, though nothing is really different except for the story and the melee-oriented play style. The good thing though is that being on a Gamecube disc now, the loading times are NONEXISTENT! (this is true of both X5 and X6 also). I might sound a bit picky, but X4 really is a fun game that serves as another great place to start, though it's also the quickest of the six games to be done with. In its favor, I'd say that this one, along with X2, has perhaps the best feel and atmosphere to it, which sadly did not carry on to the next two games.

-Mega Man X5
INFO: introducing a new countdown timer that alters the game's ending, multiple armor sets to collect, and the ability to upgrade different aspects of the player's abilities. X and Zero can both now be switched back and forth at any time.
MY THOUGHTS: It's typical of everyone to say that this is where the series started to go downhill and in many ways they are correct. However, X5 isn't as horrible of a game as people will get you to believe. For one, the stage layouts have improved immensely from the last game, and there are more secrets to collect once again like the 2 different armor suits. That's not to say that X5 doesn't have its faults. Quite the contrary: CAPCOM SHOULD HAVE RID OF THE MANDATORY INTERRUPTIONS THAT ALIA GIVES!! They had a chance to take off this major hindrance here and they blew it. If you're playing the games in order, this becomes especially annoying since all it does is provide "vital" hints such as "Don't run into spikes!" which do nothing but insult the player's intelligence after getting through X1-4. Also, X5 has ridiculously easy bosses, eliminating the need to "find the right weapon" when they can all be slaughtered rather easily by Zero's blade and the X-buster. And while the stages themselves are expansive enough, the designs seem a bit derived from X4's stages. These drawbacks make X5 my least favorite of the first six X games, but it's still a very worthwhile play if you can get past them.

-Mega Man X6
INFO: features a new "nightmare" system, a reploid-finding feature, the ability to wield Zero's saber with X, and a new control scheme for Zero.
MY THOUGHTS: Wow. I must be the only fan that doesn't hate this game with a passion. While I agree that it's FAR from a classic compared to the others, it does have its moments of brilliance. I'd say the perfect description for X6 would be "rough around the edges". It has some ideas that are perfectly executed, and others that fail miserably. For instance, I love the reploid finding feature as it adds more depth to the stages, and the alternate exits are a nice touch. On the other hand, the nightmare system was a horrible attempt to bring back X1's stage altering elements, which could've worked with some more time and effort, but it falls completely flat and should've been left out. Also, forget the story, as after X5 it becomes just throwaway garbage. However, I'm REALLY GLAD they got rid of X5's terrible drawback here. It's a very difficult game that should probably be played last, since the nightmare elements add so much harm to the stages that it's nearly impossible to go unscathed. However, if you can last through the randomness of the nightmare system long enough, you'll be treated to two of the best armor suits in all of the X games. How much you will like this game depends primarily on how patient of a gamer you are.

I was a bit worried at first about playing the games with the Gamecube's oddly distorted controller setup, but I quickly adjusted with no problems. Plus, you can switch the controls at anytime too, which is nice. There are some bonuses like early artwork for characters, secrets for each of the X games, and some of X3's remixed music. That's it though, so if you were expecting a cartoon like in the previous Mega Man collection, you'll be disappointed. I would've liked to seen some of the rejected ideas for bosses, that would be interesting for fans.

Overall, this collection is for all the fans that grew up on these games, and also for those who started more recently and want to get acquainted with the series' roots. If you don't like Mega Man games, then this isn't going to change your mind. So just get equipped with Bubble Lead and check it out. For $30 this is a definite steal, especially considering how rare some of these games are to find...

This review is mainly for the GameCube version. And now we have the x collection. Contained in it are the MegaMan games released on the SuperNes and the PlayStation consoles. These are MegaMan X, X2, X3, X4, X5, and X6. There is an unlockable game as well. Most importantly, the controls CAN be modified to fit your liking. This was a huge gripe of some GameCube owners who bought the previously released MegaMan 1-8 collection which had the jumping done with the B button and the shooting with the A and no way to customize. This is all fixed with the new X collection. In fact, the default is how we old schools like it which is jump with A and shoot with B (this refers to the GameCube controller). I'm sure the PlayStation2 version is just as good. I don't need to say how good these games are. They are classics. Considering the price, this is a great package. Especially since the X2 and X3 SuperNes cartridges would be on sale used online for around $70-80 dollars!!

I've been a Fan of the MMX games for SNES for a long time, and I even played X4 on my old Play Station. I wanted a bit of nostalgia so I purchased this game to work on my Wii. Unfortunately I ran into two separate problems. When on the Wii you need to use the standard video cables, I was using component cables for my Wii however, (and I have no idea why this is) the video would go black, but you could still hear the audio. An online search revealed this was a common problem but using the original cables solved it.

Also, I disliked the control scheme on the game cube controller (however it is fully customize-able in each game). I found a more SNES looking game cube controller and now it's perfect.

My son begged for this game. It was the only thing he wanted for his eleventh birthday. It's been over a month and he still raves about it. He says it's challenging and rewarding to play, and he continues to play it daily. In his words: "I LOVE THIS GAME!!! I see no emulation problems from the original form. Some of the best games made all on one disk. It's fast paced, 2D side scrolling at it's finest."

If you liked any of the Megaman X games you'll want to pick this up. I never got to play the whole story of Megaman X, but now with this collection I can. The controls are fairly easy to use, and it really dose have the nostalgic feelings. It says there is a racing game on it but I either have to unlock it of find it some place. But in all totally worth the money.

The product came just like it said it would and it came right on time. My kids were very happy and so was I!

I bought this game for my grandson's birthday. It was in perfect condition and arrived in time for the big day. He was very pleased with the game and has enjoyed playing it.

This game is great, the whole collection in one well priced game. Just wish you did not need to unlock the last one to play it.

My first exposure to the Mega Man universe was Mega Man 4 back when I was in fourth grade on the original NES. I'd never heard of it, but it seemed interesting so I gave it a rent at the little hole in the wall video rental/gas station in a small town called Mendon, Illinois. It was interesting; you'd fight a boss, get his weapon, figure out which boss was vulnerable to that weapon, take HIS weapon and on and on. After that I went on to play MM3 then MM2.

A few years later I played Mega Man X2, as the first X game came out before I had a SNES and couldn't find the original at that same hole in the wall video rental/gas station in the small town of Mendon. What I played was far more interesting, edgier, had a better story, looked a lot better and overall played far better than the original Mega Man series. Now the blue bomber could jump up walls, dash, drive a fast vehicle and large suit of armor, and find new armor of his own!

Eventually I got ahold of the original X and X3, also for the SNES. Enjoyed them both and honestly feel that each was better than the one before it. I also had the misfortune of renting Mega Man 7, although by this time I lived in central state by Springfield. MM7 was just a big let down for me. After being spoiled by X's new abilities, it just didn't feel right to not be able to wall jump or dash. I just didn't enjoy it all that much. From then on, it was obvious to me that if the 24th letter wasn't in the title, it wasn't worth getting. It just wasn't "Mega Man" to me without that one letter.

So when I saw this collection at Gamestop for a low price, I knew I had to have it. I have a Wii, and assuming you have a Gamecube controller and memory card, it'll play Gamecube games. Replaying these games and getting to play for the first time X 4 through 6.....well, 4 and 5 anyway, has been a blast.

The original trilogy is definitely worth the price of admission alone. The classic games remind me of what they were back in the day. Certainly doesn't take anything from what they are now (I've got an XBox 360 and love playing current games to death on it) but it is good to relive the past a little.

The original was the kickoff point for the series and also the transition into the bigger and better things the series would end up showcasing. In addition to the aforementioned new skills, X got a new friend named Zero who has no real back story revealed, he's just there to help provide moral and tactical support for X. The game also had its share of collectibles and armor upgrades to find. Also a Street Fighter 2 themed power to find if you were diligent enough to look for it.

X2 added an extra mini-set of bosses to come across to fully complete the game. While optional, defeating the extra bosses got a better ending. Also the air dash was introduced. And another SF II bonus, of course.

X3 gave us some more upgrades to find (more armors and a set of power ups that could either be immediately collected, or something extra awesome could be taken at the end for the patient gamer) and Zero could be brought in, although with severe, crippling limitations that made it almost completely moot, especially when X gains more powers and abilities. (see X4 mini-review for details.) It also hints at what is to come with X and Zero, although nothing that would give any real answers.

X4 was good, although I cannot bring myself to like the hoverboots. i loved X3's multidash ability, and I cannot fathom why Capcom stripped that away and in its place gave X these slow as molasses hoverboots. It was nice to finally get to play as Zero for real this time, and not X3's "play as him until you get to a mini-boss or end level boss" nonsense though. There were a LOT of spots in X3 where you'd have to switch off too! Oh, and once you played as him once in a level, you couldn't do it again. No, this time you play through the whole game as Zero if you choose him. Big plus. Also gives some hints of his origins. The voice acting is awful though. Simply, inexcusably awful and the fact that Capcom couldn't be bothered to let us, the gamers turn it off and have subtitles on is outrageous.

X5 has its flaws but I enjoyed it almost as much as the original trilogy. Chief among the "Why Capcom, why????" however is that the time limit mechanic, while a great idea, ends up being executed rather poorly, because I don't know how many times I'd get everything you're supposed to get, but both attempts fail (I won't say anything else to keep this spoiler free) Basically, Capcom should've made a more dependable, transparent system in determining whether either "attempt" would succeed or fail. The second biggest complaint is Alia. She later had a son named Otis who ended up being the maintenance guy in a mall in Willamette, Colorado. You will get sick and tired of her interrupting the gameplay to point out something that is blatantly obvious. Even after you've played through the level once, if you play through it with the other character, she will say the EXACT SAME THING to the other character. The bosses are also much easier, even when on higher levels (you'll understand if you play the game.) And the additional characters are useless. Signa? Really, Capcom? You took the villian's name, changed one letter, made him look like the Colonel from X4 and boom a new character? Seriously??? Douglas is even more pointless. Alia could've been given his tech support role and it'd have done the game no injustice. And Lifesaver is even more worthless than Douglas! At least he has a name that won't make you roll your eyes! However, the expansion on Zero's origins, the multiple endings, the ability to play as either character in the same playthrough, picking upgrades at the end of a boss fight, the time pressure mounting, plenty of hidden collectibles, no horrendous voice acting and a water level that doesn't suck all combine to make this a rather competent entry to the series.

X6....wow. Where to start on this mess of a game. The nightmare system is horrible. Simply horrible. The leveling system whereby X and Zero gain more slots for their special abilities is interesting and keeps in the theme of trying to build a bigger, better character, and the new armor suits are interesting, especially the one that lets you stick to the ceiling. All in all though, this game is by far the worst of the 6. I don't know how it ranks with 7 and 8 as I haven't played either, but of the 6, this one is easily the worst, hands down. One of the complaints I have is that X5 built up to what should've been an eventual confrontation with an old enemy, but it's as if Capcom wanted us to forget all about this in 6. Doesn't really help that if a hostage gets possessed you have to completely reset to get another shot to rescue the poor bastard. Play it if you must but don't say I didn't warn you. You will hate yourself.

The unlockable racing game isn't worth it. It's a blatant Mario Kart rip off, plain and simple. Capcom doesn't even try to hide it, it's that obvious and shameless. All I can say is that Capcom made the right decision to not release this game before in the 'States and oh, if only they would've continued in that wise decision. It's not even a fun racing game. Just stay away from it. Pretend it doesn't exist like the Mario brothers pretend their movie never happened.

So here's how I'd break the games down, on a scale of 1 to 10. And please remember, this is an armchair review, such scores are my own personal opinion and should have no merit on your own.

X: 9

X2: 9.75

X3: 9.5

X4: 8.5

X5: 8.5

X6: 5

Racing Trash: 1 only because a scale of 1-10 doesn't allow for 0 or negatives.

If you can find this collection somewhere, then get it. It really is a no brainer, especially if you can get it used at a cheap price.

If you're a fan of Mega Man, then the Mega Man X Collection gathers up the first six Mega Man games in one easy to use group!

These games originally came out for the Super Nintendo and original PlayStation system. Few people have those systems around in working order any more! With this collection you get to play through Mega Man X1, Mega Man X2, Mega Man X3, Mega Man X4, Mega Man X5, and Mega Man X6 as well as a mario kart style racing game.

I've written detailed reviews in the past of all the individual Mega Man games - we love the series - so I don't rehash all the details here. Suffice it to say that the games do quite well in bringing them all into one location. Better than well. With the original three games, you had to remember "secret codes" as you finished each level - and type them in proper if you came back later and wanted to start at that spot. I.e. there was no "save game" - the game made you remember codes to jump to a certain spot. In this current version it does that remembering for you.

Also, your one save game remembers your progress in ALL the different Mega Man games. So you could be a third through on Mega Man X1, halfway through on Mega Man X3, and so on, and the save game will remember all your different spots.

If you haven't played any of the Mega Man games before, it's important to note this is an OLD SIDE SCROLLER game. This is not cutting edge graphics with Halo 3 intensity. This is about a little blue guy running left or right, dodging bullets, jumping up platforms and solving puzzles. If you enjoy that type of old school fun, you'll be thrilled! If you need to have super graphics and three dimensional involvement, you probably won't be keen on this one.

I definitely recommend this for Mega Man fans. If you're a gamer that's tolerant of old style graphics, at least give this a try with a rental. You might realize just why Mega Man fans are so loyal to their series.