The game that broke my controller!

Megaman X!!!

Yep. I've never played a Megaman game. The friend of yore had a copy he tried to get me into, but I couldn't figure it out. I don't think I could even get passed the opening highway level. I'll be honest, I could barely do it now. But I'm doing this retrospective, so now's the best time to give this fabled franchise a genuine attempt. Guess how many times I saved scummed!

So I start the game, and I'm blown away by the background visuals. They're something Sega could do, and I'm spending more time looking at them than the guys trying to murder me. And so I died! But I returned, only to fall into a pit. And then get run over by a maniac driver. And then a giant beats me up, but my friend saves me!

From here, the real gameplay begins. We take our mostly mute robot boy, Megaman X, into eight levels with unique visuals, gimmicks, and bosses. We platform our way across pitfalls, blast through an entire army of robots with our arm cannon, and kill the rouge mechanical replicants at the end. When we defeat them, Megaman can use their powers, and it's the key to victory. That and finding the various upgrades scattered through all eight stages.

And I'm trash at this game! Getting used to the controls was a mess, but that's on me. You can change them in the main menu, but I never did that. All the pros suggest you do. But once you grasp how to grasp a controller, you can stand a chance at felling a boss. And with your first boss down, Megaman becomes a puzzle game. Most bosses are long, drawn out slugfests unless you have their weakness. That weakness does more damage and often places them in a vulnerable state. But there's no way to see an opponent's vulnerability until you test it on them. So it's all risk/reward.

And despite me being hot garbage at this, I had a lot of fun! Once I got the hang of it, of course. Understanding how to jump and timing enemy shots gave me that endorphin reward I hear about. Seeing bosses melt when I hit them with the proper gun triggers the American in me. There are even reasons to explore like an RPG because of the armor upgrades and health increases. And I wanted all of them, even the Shurukan! I was so invested that I overly grasped my controller and pressed too hard on the A button, making it permanently depressed. Just like me!!! I could have fixed it, but I've complained enough about the Rockcandy and just splurged on a brand new one. So Megaman X opened the path to freedom. Too bad I can't beat it. Sigma's too strong, and I lack the ability to do anything more than just tank hits. I'm too old for this.

Plot: basic. X doesn't talk much, nor does Sigma. But his underlings are a big deal, and it's not an RPG from 1995. It's about the gameplay. 5/10

Gameplay: by design. I suck, but everything works perfectly, almost to a detriment sometimes. Hitboxes weren't big in 1995, but don't tell Capcom that. Too bad there are no side missions. 8/10

Art: stunning. I wish I had artistic talents. I would love to make old school backgrounds like this professionally. And every weapon looks rad! 10/10

Sound: highly regarded. OcRemix has this soundtrack strung across four albums and nearly three dozen remixes. And I understand why! It's all great, high octane rock songs. Nothing stuck out to me, but that's clearly a me problem. I will say, though, a few mellow or sad songs would be nice. 8/10.

Charm: shocking. I didn't expect this while playing, but there's a lot of cool stuff here. Stages change depending on who's been beaten. Zero is a good enough NPC, and there are a few ways to get through the well paced gameplay. 10/10

It's a difficult game, but if you can master it, you'll find it's actually not. I've always thought being good at Megaman is a cool flex, so it makes sense I suck. Is Megaman X a goat game? Probably not, but the franchise, as a whole, is worthy to be called to the council. If X is the chosen representative, then I don't think anyone can be upset.

Meganan X for the SNES is a 41/50 game.