Mega Man vs Mega Man X

[JustLikeHeaven]

I will freely admit to being one of those Mega Man fans that completely dismissed the X series when it came out in 90s. However, I've since purchased the awesome Mega Man X Collection on the PS4 and have found that I've been missing out. Mega Man X, in particular, is a wonderful game. It feels like a natural progression of the series and would have been something I adored in the 90s.

So which series do you think is better? Mega Man or Mega Man X?

[Retro STrife]

For me personally it’s Mega Man X, no contest. Growing up, I had Mega Man 3 on the NES, but it was never really a game I gravitated toward. But then I had Mega Man X2 on the SNES, and my cousin and I played that game for endless hours, searching for all the secrets, before we finally got good enough to beat it. Since then, I’ve played the “Collections” of each series and confirmed this preference. The X series evolved and refined the series over traditional Mega Man to me. I consider X1 to X3 on SNES the peak of the Mega Man series, and my preferred game is still X2.

[JustLikeHeaven]

I waffled for a bit, but I'm still in the plain ol' Mega Man camp.

Mega Man X was a much needed leap forward for the series. The graphics were slick, the levels full of secrets, the story more fleshed out. The way that stages interact with each other was nothing short of mind blowing. I really can't think of another game that really did something like that. For those that don't know, beating one stage could cause a profound change on another. This made the order you defeated them even more important. I've only played the first two games in the series, but I'm really kicking myself for missing out on these when I was younger. I feel like if they were called Super Megaman I would have immediately purchased them. I mean I get WHY they didn't name it that, but still.

I find myself gravitating towards the more simplistic and straightforward Mega Man games. I love how the robot masters all have dumb names and their stages are designed around some weird element. They got really creative with some of the latter NES games (Gravity Man comes to mind immediately). The six NES games are probably the most consistent series on the system not named Mario. The quality never dipped despite the formula never really changing all that much.

I'm not a fan of the animal robot bosses in the X series. They're not as compelling as the Robot Masters of Mega Man. It was a rite of passage for a fledgling gamer to spend COUNTLESS hours dreaming up their own robot masters. I can't really imagine the mavericks having that same cultural impact. All kidding aside, I find the controls for the dashing and wall jumping a touch finicky. I might just suck at them though. And for me the music never reaches the height of the Mega Man games.

Still I'm hoping Capcom releases a new X game similar to how they did Mega Man 11.

[MSR1701]

Oh for SERIES it would be the Classic games for overall quality (MM2, MM3, MM V (Game Boy), MMII (Game Boy), MMIV (Game Boy), Mega Man 6, Mega Man 8, Mega Man 10, Mega Man 11, Powered Up) for the games released.

Aside from Mega Man X1, X2, X4, Maverick Hunter X and Xtreme 2, I can't say I enjoy the X games near as much. I love the soundtracks in most of the X games (the same could be said of the classics too), but aside from Boss Rush in X5 and X6, I *NEVER* go back to those games due to frustrating game play. X8 is just dull overall, and the less said about X7 the better.

For CHARACTER, Mega Man X, no contest. Also, MMX1 Armor Set best in the whole series.

[strat]

Megaman X1-4 are great, though as the series dragged on it lost two great features - MMX2 already dumped the alternate level environments (that change when you beat other levels), but at least it had entertaining animations for the mavericks getting hit by their weakness. MMX3 and beyond couldn't even do that... now the weapons only stunlock the bosses, so it becomes a tired exercise in hitting the boss with his weakness, waiting for the invincibility frames, hitting him again, repeat. Needless to say, the boss rushes are a tedious chore. X5, 6 and 7 are unplayable to me.

This is why I prefer the classic series. At least it's fun to rip through the boss rushes because there's a speedier rhythm to the battles. All the games range from good to great (I never cared for 7 and 8 very much, though). Same goes for the Gameboy series.

[MSR1701]

Megaman X1-4 are great, though as the series dragged on it lost two great features - MMX2 already dumped the alternate level environments (that change when you beat other levels), but at least it had entertaining animations for the mavericks getting hit by their weakness. MMX3 and beyond couldn't even do that... now the weapons only stunlock the bosses, so it becomes a tired exercise in hitting the boss with his weakness, waiting for the invincibility frames, hitting him again, repeat. Needless to say, the boss rushes are a tedious chore. X5, 6 and 7 are unplayable to me.

This is why I prefer the classic series. At least it's fun to rip through the boss rushes because there's a speedier rhythm to the battles. All the games range from good to great (I never cared for 7 and 8 very much, though). Same goes for the Gameboy series.

X3 did bring back the level change effects, though if you play thru any of the standard weakness routes you will almost never see/notice them. I only recently learned a mid-boss is removed in Blast Hornet if you beat Gravity Beetle first, which you almost always do.
Some of the bosses in X4 onwards do have special weakness animations (Frost Walrus in flames, Burn Dinorex sucked in a whirlwind, and Rainy Turtloid becomes an ice cube), though the stun lock/pattern reset is still there (see X2 and Flame Stag...).

Classic Megaman also can be bad at the stun lock/pattern reset, and MM7 is easily the guiltiest of these (Cloud Man, Junk Man, Turbo Man, Spring Man, Burst Man all have the stun/pattern reset, though usually with an animation). MM7 and MM8 also had a rare use of the boss reacting to a weapon they are NOT weak to (Freeze Man, when hit with his own weapon, freezes the screen and looks at the player; Grenade Man takes damage from his weapon (which can be hit back at him), but laughs and has dialog for this attack).

[MSR1701]

As an aside, one element of Classic MM that never really showed up in X (or other MM Series) are quick kills of bosses thru non-cheat/glitches. Sample list below of fights thst come to mind:

Metal Man (MM2 NES) - Probably included as a joke, Metal Man can be defeated in 1-2 shots from the Metal Blade, depending on the difficulty mode.

Crash Man (MM2 NES) - A well placed Air Shooter blast to a jumping Crash Man can result in his being killed in 1-2 bursts of the weapon, as the hit boxes of the weapon overlap if timed right.

Wood Man (MM2) - Fully charged Atomic Fire does him in, though you are having to charge up said weapon. May as well use Metal Blades like on everything else...

Shadow Man (MM3 NES) - Kind of a glitch but not, Top Spin can KO Shadow Man in 1 hit, though you may also deal know damage per spin. To make things worse, per useage/hit, the energy usage of Top Spin can be anywhere from 0% to 100% of the weapon energy bar... This quirk also applies to the final Gamma Bot fight, assuming you get high enough to hit.

Wily (Escape Capsule) (MM4 NES) - this is a soft lock that can end your game, but if a well timed Rain Flush is released as Wily flees his next to final mech, he will be destroyed (the sprite has a hit box, and Rain Flush can hit it). Again, if you do this, you are stuck with only Power Off or Reset to free you...

Saturn (MMV Game Boy) - Electric Shock melts this boss in a couple of hits, something that is easy thanks to the boss's size.

[strat]

X3 did bring back the level change effects, though if you play thru any of the standard weakness routes you will almost never see/notice them. I only recently learned a mid-boss is removed in Blast Hornet if you beat Gravity Beetle first, which you almost always do.

What X3 did that's really neat was give two versions of the final stage depending on whether you kill Vile and Bit/Byte during the regular stages with their weaknesses. This results in a tougher Doppler stage 2 with a stupidly easy boss and a chance to get Zero's saber weapon. Good way to tuck in that extra feature.

[MSR1701]

X3 did bring back the level change effects, though if you play thru any of the standard weakness routes you will almost never see/notice them. I only recently learned a mid-boss is removed in Blast Hornet if you beat Gravity Beetle first, which you almost always do.

What X3 did that's really neat was give two versions of the final stage depending on whether you kill Vile and Bit/Byte during the regular stages with their weaknesses. This results in a tougher Doppler stage 2 with a stupidly easy boss and a chance to get Zero's saber weapon. Good way to tuck in that extra feature.

Yeah, and a Bit/Byte replacement boss that is a pain in the neck BEFORE you get the Sabre.

Also, X3 was the first X game with a STUPIDLY hard Sigma fight, with "Captain America" Sigma, Battle Body Sigma, and Escape Virus Sigma... makes some of the MM Zero final bosses quite easy in comparison