Soapbox options allow our particular person writers and contributors to voice their opinions on scorching subjects and random stuff they have been chewing over. As we speak, to rejoice the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of Mega Man X in Japan, Ollie dives into what makes its introductory stage so darn good…
The unique Mega Man collection is well-known for its punishing issue, significantly for newcomers. With time, endurance, and persistence, it is comparatively simple to be taught the ropes and get by means of every entry with little fuss, but when there’s one factor the unique franchise lacked — significantly on the NES — it was a tutorial. You have been merely thrown into the ring with a choice of six to eight levels to select from, and that’s about it.
Now, one might argue that Mega Man didn’t actually want a tutorial. In any case, you simply run, shoot, and in later entries, slide. You would simply decide up the fundamentals as you progressed by means of whichever stage you occurred to choose first, however the designers of Mega Man X will need to have thought the franchise’s non secular successor might do with one thing to present newcomers a little bit of a leg up. Fortunately, the outcome is among the coolest introductory levels of all time.
Happening in opposition to a cyberpunk-esque metropolis backdrop, the extent basically sees you progress in a comparatively straight line from level A to level B, defeating enemies each massive and small alongside the best way. One of many superior methods wherein the brand new recreation took benefit of the SNES’s 16-bit energy was that sure enemies might truly drill down into the platforms and destroy the surroundings, which might pressure X to leap over these newly fashioned gaps.
The largest change, nonetheless, and presumably the primary purpose for together with the tutorial within the first place, was X’s potential to leap up partitions and attain excessive ledges. The stage forces this at a number of intervals by introducing the ‘Bee Blader’: a big, mechanical helicopter resembling the overall look of a bee. Destroying these will pressure them to crash down onto the platform, inflicting the entire thing to drop down with you on prime of it.
Now, if this have been OG Mega Man, you’d be caught — like, fully caught. However this isn’t OG Mega Man; that is Mega Man X. The primary time you bounce in opposition to the wall and realise you may maintain ascending in perpetuity is actually type of mind-blowing. It fully adjustments the best way that Mega Man video games play (some would argue for the more severe, however they’re fallacious), and I like the best way the introductory degree teaches you this new mechanic.
As you make your strategy to the top of the extent, a number of new enemy sorts make themselves recognized, together with the quite ingenious ‘Highway Attacker’, a crimson automotive that, for those who shoot the driving force particularly, might be ridden by X himself (there’s no real profit to doing this, but it surely’s a good way of showcasing the quite a few methods you possibly can work together with enemies).
It’s not lengthy till a formidable mech drops down from an airship and fully trounces X in a head-to-head showdown, pulling a ‘Souls-like’ trick many years earlier than the style even turned a factor. With X grounded, we get our first peek at Zero, who blasts an arm off the mech in a single swoop, immediately turning into the fan favorite he was at all times destined to be.
I wish to reiterate that Mega Man, and certainly Mega Man X, most likely would not want a tutorial degree. The gameplay, whereas tough to grasp, is straightforward to be taught by itself, so Mega Man X might have fairly gotten away with presenting its eight essential levels and be performed with it. Nonetheless, I am so grateful for its elegant tutorial stage: with its satisfying mixture of enemies, banging music, and gripping conclusion, it is the right introduction to Capcom’s wonderful sub-series.
Now the place’s Mega Man X9, Capcom?