Belated Throwback Thursday - Mega Man X

Sorry for the delay of this week's Throwback Thursday.  I did not allow myself enough time to prepare this post and the 2017 Game Awards went longer than I expected last night.  But huzzah for Breath of the Wild winning Game of the Year, and let me just say, what a year 2017 was for amazing soundtracks in games!  Every game in that category more than deserved to win.  Truly phenomenal sound design.

So as not to slight this week's pick, I decided to allow an extra day for this entry.  That's because making the dash this week: It's the game of shooting lemons at robotic villains that is Mega Man X.

Released on December 17th, 1993, Mega Man X was the first of a new Mega Man series to debut on the new SNES console.  Making use of these new system capabilities and larger color palette, Mega Man had been redesigned for an edgier, more "hardcore" aesthetic.  Gone were the days of the conniving Dr. Wily, replaced with a darker undertone and backstory of an uprising of criminal replicate androids and their maverick robot hunters.  It was still important to the designers to keep the core elements of what makes a Mega Man game, to which you will see many familiar mechanics such as the selection screen of robot masters, gaining new abilities from defeating these robot masters, and that classic feeling of jumping and shooting.  In fact, the controls of Mega Man X feel nearly identical to that of the classic Mega Man series (because there wasn't really any reason to change what worked in the first place).  However, two new mechanics would help define and push forward this Mega Man X series: Wall jumps and dashing.

With these new mechanics, Mega Man had more versatility than ever, and as such could approach combat and level progression like never before.  Levels were no longer contained to single screen obstacle courses, but were now open flowing experiences.  This made for more fast paced and dynamic action sequences, requiring the player to more quickly react and attack the situations at hand.  It also allowed for greater use of vertical stages thanks to wall jumps, which stand out as some really unique stages and offer some welcome variety to the left to right traversal.  Also new to the game were a number of hidden armor and other upgrades.  Players were give additional reason to explore beaten stages in search of these lucrative secrets, which was made all the more enjoyable as each stage would often have new elements based off the ramifications of other defeated stages.  For example, upon defeating Chill Penguin, Flame Mammoth's Fiery Factory becomes a frozen industrial zone.  These neat little touches make the world of Mega Man X truly feel interconnected and like a real world.  That, and perhaps what is one of the best soundtracks of any SNES game ever.  Seriously, this soundtrack is amazing.







Bonus: For a humorous, more in depth look into Mega Man X and game design in general, I highly recommend checking out Egoraptor's Sequelitis video on Mega Man Classic vs Mega Man X (NOTE: Parental discretion is advised for viewing the following video link due to strong language):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM