As I used to be reorganizing my Mega Man assortment after a transfer — which is a wonderfully regular factor for a human being to say — I paused a minute when trying on the Mega Man X collection. Whereas the unique Blue Bomber made a return to the highlight in 2018 with Mega Man 11, his edgier successor nonetheless hasn’t made a comeback in a mainline sport. It’s a disgrace that Capcom hasn’t found out how to do this but, however within the meantime, the 1993 authentic nonetheless holds up.

Mega Man X guidelines, that’s all

It’s unimaginable how typically Mega Man X comes up in common conversations with my friends (you’re speaking about retro platformers on a regular basis too, proper?). Just lately, I gabbed about how I mistook the Armored Core 6 tutorial boss as a basic From Software program “you’re usually speculated to lose” battle — half-asleep — attempting to speed up my run-through of the primary degree. Whelp, the next sport over display screen was a wake-up name, to say the least!

I used to be conditioned to search for most of these battles early on in my gaming profession via Mega Man X, the place you can’t defeat Vile, the intro-level boss. Like a real anime shonen hero that compelled failure offers you one thing to work towards, and each single weapon you purchase and armor piece you discover is an accomplishment. By the top, donned in X’s totally upgraded go well with, it could possibly really feel such as you’re dishonest. The facility-progression system was unequalled on the time, and Capcom manged to do it whereas making a world crammed with vibrant visuals, tight controls, and sprawling (however not overly huge) degree designs.

Past that clear intro, Mega Man X is sort of spotless. It wasn’t simply the primary time I had seen the phrase “Kuwanger,” I used to be additionally blown away by the level-based scavenger hunt system, which tempted gamers to search out all 4 subtanks and all eight coronary heart containers like a Siren’s track. It wasn’t till I began sharing my exploits across the schoolyard that I even realized there was extra to find.

I nonetheless really feel that rush when taking part in Mega Man X for the one hundredth time.

Mega Man X is tremendous simple to play, even now

If I offered you (otherwise you’re feeling whimsical and need to play it once more), the unique Mega Man X may be very simple to search out. It’s not solely part of the Mega Man X Legacy Assortment (which is on a ton of platforms), it’s additionally very low cost on the secondhand market for those who’re in search of an SNES copy.

In contrast to Mega Man X2 and X3 which may go for $100+ and a number of other hundred {dollars} respectively, X1 SNES copies are roughly $30 on common. Get on it!