What makes this game so fucking perfect? The other Megaman/X

i always liked the first two games. I sort of consider them a single story in my mind, with x2 resolving the death or zero from x1. This is especially compelling if you consider the "bad" ending of x2 to be canon, because it makes the penultimate climax of the entire story so far a duel between once best friends. Also, in x2 the final boss has not yet lost some meaning via mass repetition in further sequels. It is not a feeling like an obligatory, "of course its sigma again..".

also, the gap between x1 and x2 is seamed together logically and expectedly.

For those reasons x1 and x2 feel unified and complete together, in a way that the rest of the games dont. In fact, to me the rest of the x series serves to dilute the completeness that x1 and x2 have, although many of them are good games standalone.

x2 does for some reason feel a little "lighter" to me for some reason, i think it might be because the color scheme feels a little brighter when compared to x1 which feels a little duller (not as in the game is dull, but as in the color scheme is literally duller/darker than x2).

Just my thoughts from 20+ years of mega man x, not meant to be the "correct" view.

>>3685445
to add a few extra thoughts as well:

starting in x3 i start to get the same feeling i get after the first 3 pirates of the Caribbean movies. Not that i particularly love those movies, but they are a good example of the feeling ive been describing. you have the first movie, which is sort of complete on its own, and then the second one stretches that story and sets up a further story arc which is completed in the third movie. At that point the story arc is complete.

From the forth movie on it just seems like "we have these profitable characters, what new adventure can we stick them into?" instead of acknowledging the completeness that is already established. It would be like if after destroying the one ring in mordor, and the Lord of the Rings coming to a conclusion, there is a new movie where Sam and Frodo now have a new and mostly unrelated adventure to go on. Sure, it might be a good adventure, but odds are it wont be better than the first, and it will almost certainly "dilute" the complete story that has already happened. Instead of the amazing story of the Lord of the Rings, now the journey to destroy the one ring is just one story out of several.

Sadly it's only one step away from perfection, it needs to have the dash from the get go.

I like X2 better

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>>3685356
>The other Megaman/X games, while being the same in almost every sense, can't even compare
X1 is one of my favorites but I can't say its the best in the series. X2 destroys X1, I'd say X4 is better too although I can understand why someone might think X1 would be better.

As for why most of the series itself is so perfect though, it's because Megaman X is one of the tightest controlling characters in videogames period. The bosses and level design take advantage of this fact (aside form X1 which was mostly made to be beatable without the dash)
It also lends itself to multiple playthroughs due to how easy or hard you can make it for yourself by collecting/not collecting items and parts.
The bosses are also alot of fun to fight too, especially if you're just using the X buster. If you're extra autistic, there's even fun to be had trying to beat them with weapons they aren't weak against.
Speaking of weapons, most of the X games have had some genuinely fun to use and/or unique weapons. It's almost a shame the X-buster is so damn trusty, otherwise people might be more inclined to use them.

>>3686025
Pic not related right? I never understood what Im supposed to do with that "weapon"

>>3686664
you can use it to pick up items or pull yourself closer to a wall.

it isn't as good as the boomerang, no

>consistently solid, yet varied level design
>almost every weapon is useful outside of the bosses weak to them
>good music
>good bosses
>no bullshit

Personally I feel X4 is better for these same reasons plus being able to play as Zero, but I wouldn't argue with someone saying X1 is the best X game.

>>3685356
X2 is the perfect follow-up, lacking a little only in the music department.

>>3685356
I disagree

X4 is the best in the series. My rankings go

X4 > X3 >X1 > X2 > X5 > X6 > X8 > X7

>>3685467

In X2, I would've liked there to still be the X-Hunters and all that, but remove Sigma, instead having the final battle be with some sort of new X-Hunter commander, or a "final form" boss of all three X-Hunters combined together. This would have made Sigma's return in X3 a bit more interesting, and perhaps somehow they could have linked it to X2 by having Doppler secretly be the one who built the fake Zero or something like that.

Basically, I would've liked X2 to have been a clear interlude, mostly disconnected from the Sigma storyline with the X-Hunter motivation simply being anger at X killing the Mavericks, with X3 wrapping up the plotline by having Sigma return for a final battle. After that, just continue the rest of the series, but not make it where Sigma is the one behind almost every single bad thing that happens.

>>3685356
I had always figured what happened was X1 was the "purest" version of Mega Man X and thus the "safest" one. The other seven games do build on the formula, but more in gimmicky ways that make each title unique instead of steadily improving the game design.

So I feel what happens is you'll either like a given X sequel better or worse than the first depending on what it did - some people might hate things like optional bosses, multiple characters, different armor sets, tag teams, and what have you. Others might enjoy that sort of thing.

I do not know if it is my favorite, but you could argue that X1 is the "perfect" entry in the games because it is precisely the core gameplay people like in Mega Man X with no bells or whistles attached. For many people, this is all they ever want from the games, and that's entirely fine.

>>3687818
It kind of sucks storywise that Sigma is always the mastermind behind every evil plot, but I think is more or less like a memento from the classic series where Dr. Wily was always the bad guy. I'd like to know what direction the Maverick Hunter X games would've taken if they weren't cancelled.

Why the fuck is there that shitty forest mid-boss and no Vile in that image?

>>3687845
Wait, what the hell? I never noticed that!

Where the fuck IS Vile?!

>>3685356
I'll tell you exactly what it is: the overall game design.

—Levels are varied and also contain several different parts. You have Boomer Kuwanger stage with lots of vertical climbing, Storm Eagle one with lots of moving platforms in the air, a water level that actually gives you higher jumps instead of constraining you, and so on. All of them have a lot of inspired moments and cool sub-bosses (and even offering alternate paths).

—Also they almost never go in a straight line. In the only case when they kinda do (Sting Chameleon), they have an excuse to do so (it's a forest level after all), and spice up things with robot riding, sub-boss fighting and so on.

—The enemies are pretty challenging, and worthy of being in a MM game. For example, the rocket robots have 2 different attacks which should be dodged differently, and take a lot of hits to kill. Most enemies actually aim their shots, and a lot of them have shields meaning mindless buster abuse won't work. This constantly creates challenge and makes the game interesting to play.

—The bosses are challenging but fair. They have a lot of varied patterns which make you think before you attack and you can't just cheese them out that easily. They also don't abuse invincibility much, you can hit them most of the time (even when you may think you can't). Overall, they're hard but not unfair; you can beat anyone with buster alone, and while it's hard it's also very interesting.

—There's also a lot of cool gimmicks in the game which help build the atmosphere. Beating one stage can change the other stage: e.g., if you beat Chill Penguin, then Flame Mammoth's stage freezes. There are also short but cool things like how in Storm Eagle stage when you blow up rocket robots in control towers they will cause glass to explode.

—Finally, the secrets. They're well placed and don't usually scream "you need weapon X to get this". Also love how the game has optional sub-bosses. Plus gotta love that hadoken.

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>>3687845
>>3687847
Like you can see in this beta screenshot of X1, the "forest mid-boss" appears in the intro stage (which has pretty different graphics, but still recognizable), my theory is that Vile originally didn't existed, this thing was the boss of the intro stage (and thus is shown with the others big bosses), the promotional picture probably was also made during this stage of development.

>>3687871
And one last thing: the """Wily""" stages after the main 8 don't feel that much worse. The bosses in them are pretty cool too. Just fuck Sigma, you pretty much need rolling shield ammo to be full to beat him without it getting ridiculously hard.

>>3687874
I had no idea about X1 beta material. Your theory is reasonable.
Thanks for the info!

>>3687845
> that shitty forest mid-boss
I liked him. He is pretty cute. Would fit in MM7

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>>3687884
>Would fit in MM7
Are you saying that because you're unconsciously linking him and Auto, considering that they're similar?
Sounds fair.

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>>3687884
Funny you say that, since he looks similar to Auto
>>3687893
beat me to it as I was posting, you're fast

>>3687893
Fuck. I felt I saw him "somewhere"…

But then again, Auto first appeared in MM7, which came out only in 1995. So this MMX sub-boss (whose name is RT-55J by the way, good luck remembering that) predates Auto by ~1,5 years. Seeing how he was in MMX beta, I think maybe Capcom had faith in that green robot idea. Maybe they just thought he was too cute for MMX and left him for MM7?

>>3685356
>Want to give X1 another go
>Get reminded you start without dash
Nope.

x2 was better than x1 in pretty much every way.

X4=X2>X1>Power Gap>X6=X3>Massive Power Gap>X5

>>3687931
Why not just start from Chill Penguin? THat's what I do all the time.

Speaking on the subject, I think Capcom has a very bad habit of milking their franchises. They don't feel ashamed of making very mediocre sequels just to make more money. Think Final Fight 2, Megaman V, and the general direction Megaman has come in the recent years except for 9 and 10.

At the same time, they can make wonderful games which feel VERY late to the party, like Mighty Final Fight or Rockman & Forte. Or just make one cool game like Bionic Commando and never ever touch the franchise again for several decades. I have no idea why they do that.

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Earthworm Jim > Megaman

>>3687984
meh, i like earthworm jim fine, but even as a kid in the 90s, the "gross is cool" sort of thing never really resonated with me. i loved mega man x1 and x2 because they had great gameplay, but i also liked the story, which takes itself more seriously than earthworm jim. granted, the story gets so nuts after tons of sequels.

>>3687984
We're not talking about megaman contrarian-san

>>3685356

X1 is easy modo, X2 is for us hardcore gaymurs

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>>3687984
Earthworm Jim could almost have been good… If it didn't force the player to go through its long-ass gimmicky stages. Speaking of run 'n' gun parts, allowing the player to run WHILE you gun would help a lot.

But in any case, comparing EWJ to Megaman is nearly pointless. MM has very tight controls and an excellent game design; almost every enemy and weapon/ability have a point to them. Conversely, EWJ has none of this, it feels like an OK game slapped above a great cartoon. Love EWJ as a character, but the game? Meh, I'll pass.

>>3688006
X2 is the easiest of the three snes games.

>>3685356
X4 > X1 > X2 > X3 > X8 > X5 > X6 > X7

>>3688508
this

>>3688931
are you me anon?

X2 is the best because -
- you start with the dash
- you can obtain every item in the game without having to revisit a stage.

>>3687874
I want a leak of the beta with that alternate intro stage, probably my most wantes beta stufd ever

>>3687984
EWJ 1 was alright
EWJ 2 was ass

Both games had phenomenal graphics/music but had clunky gameplay

I feel like X4 being on PlayStation really fucks up the amazing pacing of the X games since every level has to be broken up by a loading screen.

>>3689223
Same issue with Strider 2