• The Mega Man X snes games are completely amazing, even X3. X3 has a few flaws, the major one being the ridiculously long "invulnerable times" the bosses got, but it's still great. I hated the PSX transition from day 1. X4 might be ok to play, mostly because the level designs aren't awful, but the horrible anime plot and lovely voice clips are major strikes against it.
  
  
• X5's plot is even worse and its idiocy ruins other things in the game that should be cool, like Dynamo. A cool mercenary who's not a virus-maverick working for the bad guys? Awesome! Oh the bad guys want to DESTROY THE ENTIRE WORLD, eh? That kind of makes his moral ambiguity pointless doesn't it? Not to mention the awful overwrought drama that managed to make the battle between X and Zero just feel stupid. And what's this about the virus making Zero stronger? Huh?
  
  
• Beyond that, the playstation X games just... look bad. The sprites are more detailed, sure, but in a bad way. The feet are loving gigantic for no real reason, they went totally overboard with the lighting effects, the animation looks generally "off", and the Mavericks and levels don't really look anything like Mega Man characters, and it's entirely due to the in-game art, not the designs.
  
  
• I really didn't like how they messed with the classic games' armor-upgrade system, switching between armors while trying to guess which on you need for each stage is stupid, having no-armor X be completely useless is crappy and unfun, and the armors were generally overdesigned and unpleasant-looking, especially ninja X. Plus I liked being able to use a part as soon as I got it, instead of waiting to assemble the complete sets. I really hated how they gave everyone air-dashes from the get-go in the later games, too.
  
  
• I also hate how zero plays in those games. Say what you will about how useless he was in X3, they made his saber seem special in it, and in X2. He used his busters primarily and they were dang good, but when he got the saber out he did REAL damage, it was super powerful. Making it his default weapon kind of ruins what he's about, and necessitated making its damage much more mundane and forgettable. The Zero games struck a good balance since it's actually feasible to rely on the buster in them.
  
  
• Mega Man 8 is the worst game in the original series, mostly because it keeps trying to replace the classic Mega Man gameplay with gimmicky bullshit. But I also levy the same charge as the playstation X games to it regarding the art. It's bad in a different way, but it's still bad. Everyone moves in an exaggerated floppy way, which is totally wrong for a game about robots, and the platforms and enemies just chew up the scenery too much by being overdetailed and faux-3D. The voice acting, weird boss order gimmick, stupid soccer ball weapon and embarrassing plot really don't help.
  
  
• I'm slightly more tolerant of Mega Man and Bass. While it's got some really wonky level design and has the same floppity art style, they're still Mega Man stages and not space shooters or whatever, Bass' gameplay is interesting and most of the bosses have the decency to shut the hell up. Plot's bad but not mind-bendingly bad like 8 or the playstation X games. Plus those CDs are cool.
  
  
• Mega Man 9 and 10 are great games. While I felt 9 was a bit on the cheap side with the instant death gimmicks and not allowing you to shop between wily levels, I think they're both equally awesome games on the whole. I think the only reason 10 gets flack is because it wasn't such a breath of fresh air after a loooooong period without a good Mega Man game.
  
  
• My only issue with both of them is that the design philosophy is based too heavily on aping Mega Man 2. Obviously removing the slide and charge are part of this, and while I could take the charge being removed, I do feel it's become as key to Mega Man's gameplay as getting boss weapons by this point. Removing the slide is just bullshit though. And yeah, you can play as Proto Man to get them, but he takes extra damage and can only shoot 2 pellets and drat it, I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get Mega Man to play like Mega Man.
  
  
• More important though, is MM2's influence on the art direction. The games certainly look good, but they purposely limited the design to be composed of repeating patterns of blocks with contrasting colors and such like Mega Man 2. The later NES Mega Man games have incredible backgrounds with really good use of the NES' limited color palette. Inafune purposely discouraged the artists from doing fancier things that still fit the NES style constraints because he wanted maximum nostalgia appeal to Mega Man 2, which kind of sucks no matter how you look at it. If we get a Mega Man 11 without Inafune, we might see a visual progression in that department.
  
  
• Speaking of Inafune, I feel he's a brilliant game designer but an absolutely horrible writer. All the awful plots I mentioned from X4, X5 and MM8 are his idea. The Zero games do a better job of being story-heavy without hurting your brain, but still have more drama than necessary, and some heinously written characters (Elpizo, Ciel). Plus it seems almost every good story idea in those games was plan B, meaning if he'd gotten his way we'd have gotten a game where X is genuinely evil (bullshit) and other stupid crap.
  
  
• Speaking of lovely writing (again), Mega Man Zero 4's writing is an abomination, and it's part of why it's my least favorite game in the Zero series. The first 3 games create a really good arc, with everything coming to a head at the end of 3, but with enough loose ends to leave the door open for a sequel. Then 4 cocks everything up. The entire plot is that Weil and his robots want to destroy nature. Compared to the relatively complex stuff in the first 3 games, that's horrendous. It's the standard JRPG plot of the big mean evil empire with high tech destroying the peaceful nature loving rebels. Even worse, the plot is basically a retread/homage of Mega Man X5, whose plot was legendarily bad, so it's lovely and reminds us of another lovely thing. X's generals apparently died at the end of 3 so they're not even in this game despite having some interesting character growth and being more interesting than any of the characters 4 introduces. Then Zero dies at the end and I guess the series ends there? Ugh.
  
  
• ZX's plot and setting are the very worst in the entire Mega Man franchise, even worse than the awful bullshit of Command Mission. It really makes it hard for me to get into the gameplay. Everyone's a Mega Man! Anime drama! No relatable characters! Arghlebargle. Again, this is Inafune's "vision". As much as I respect him as a creator, I can't be too sad he's not involved in Mega Man any more. Of course there's still a good chance whoever makes the next Mega Man games will be an even worse writer, if X6, X7, X8 and Command Mission are any indication...
  
  
• Maverick Hunter X is stupid and anime and has dumb graphics and crappy music and rewrites the plot of the first game and the general setting of the X games in the worst possible ways. Ignoring the whole nature of the "virus" thing? Suffering circuit? W-T-F. It missteps just about everywhere a remake could without loving up the gameplay completely.
  
  
• I don't understand why the X games tried to redefine Maverick Status as a social thing starting with X4. It's not like people don't know there's a virus, and everyone who's accused of possibly being maverick but isn't infected by the virus reacts by going "Oh yeah????" and declaring war on humanity and slaughtering innocents, so any possible debate about the term feels completely retarded and forced. The Zero games get it right, but that doesn't retroactively save the writing of the later X games.
  
  
• Command Mission is a Bad Game with only a few good gameplay elements going for it, and a fuckton of unfun JRPG grindfest bullshit, bad designs and lovely story weighing it down. If you like it you are Wrong.
  
  
• Mega Man 4-6 are fine games. They've got some flaws, don't really innovate and the Robot Master designs get pretty silly but they're still great, and shouldn't be despised as much as they are. I don't understand hating on the charge since it's a totally optional thing that just adds different possible strategies to the game. Either you shoot like a gatling or you shoot bigger and stronger attacks far less often. And I prefer when getting hit doesn't reset the charge because that makes it basically impossible to use in some situations and just feels like a kneejerk reaction to people who thought the charge made the game "too easy", which isn't even true.
  
  
• MM7 is fine too. Yeah the game feels slower and more cramped due to the bigger sprites, and splitting up the robot masters into groups of 4 was lame, but neither is a deal-breaker, and you can use a password to bypass the latter. It plays fun, introduces Bass, has some cool Robot Masters. The shop was great, and I love the use of Beat as a "save you from holes" thing instead of an attack widget, and the super adapter is the bomb. The 8-bit demake is great and plays better/faster, but I wish they'd kept the shop and proper Beat, so it could be perfect.
  
• I may be alone in this, but I really don't give a gently caress about the Legends games. The platforming and fighting is clumsy and uninspired, not nearly as fun as classic 2D gameplay, it's got that early 3D feel of everything being too far away for no reason and super blocky, and the plot and characters are pretty forgettable. For every Bonne family member there's a thousand really poorly voiced and boring NPC, and that stupid last boss who's basically an early 90s anime. I mean I don't hate the games but I really don't get how people are so attached to them.
  
  
• MMBN is a fine series for what it is, but the more JRPG/gotta catch 'em all elements tend to keep me from getting really into it. Star Force is poop from a butt though.
  
  
• Mega Man Powered up looks fun, I wish I could get a copy. The cutesy art style may have gotten complaints but I could dig it. I hate the new Robot Masters though, especially Oil Man. Any game that lets me play as Guts Man gets automatic props.
  
  
• Mega Man Universe had a hideous art direction (not just the characters: the enemies and stages looked awful, and everyone's movements seemed awkward and slouchy and generally hideous) and seemed to be yet another game that acts like Mega Man 2 is the only good game in the series, so I'm not TOO broken up about it getting canceled, even though it had a lot of fun ideas going for it.
  

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