When this game first hit store shelves, I asked, "Why Capcom? Why o God almighty? Why ruin a classic?" I'm talking about the good old classic multi-part saga of the blue bomber, Mega Man-- and his dog Rush! I thought that Mega Man X would put the series to shame...

I WAS WRONG!!!

      Mega Man X is one of the best platform action games for the Super Nintendo. It offers challenging levels, killer graphics & special effects, a great MI-2 like soundtrack, and a new hero who takes crap from no one.

      Here's the premise of MMX: a century has passed since Mega Man took the decisive blow against what seemed to be the unending battle against Dr. Wily. Peace has engulfed the earth and technology has rapidly advanced over the years. With new technology comes new threats, and with the times comes the villanous Sigma, an AI android that is raising an army out of reengineered robots, toasters, bats, etc. As Sigma's dark army approaches, who will stop him? Thank God for Dr. Light and his look towards the future. Sometime before Dr. Light's death, he created another Mega Man, the one he calls X. When scanners picked up on trouble in the world, X would be released to fight against that evil. Thus, X came out of hybernation and the battle between him and Sigma begins.

      The game is great as it explores Mega Man mythology (with guest appearances by Dr. Light!) X will learn his origins as well as where his future lies. MMX takes the cute mushy look out of the Mega Man series and gives it a futurisitc techno look-- kind of like what Batman Beyond did to Batman the cartoon series. MMX is totally hardcore and full of suprises-- even a few basic 3D objects.

      Fans of the classic series will notice that MMX has new moves up his sleeves and on his feet! X can dash, cling onto walls, and perform a whole multitude of new actions-- including charging his cannon (a manuever that began in Mega Man 2 with Heatman's fireball weapon.) One feature that is utilized nicely in this game is that there are more items to find within the levels (as opposed to only obtaining items from beating a leader.) There are alternative routes X can take and this makes the adventure more entertaining-- that and the gazillion explosions that flood the game.

      The only downside to this game is that like most Mega Man games (excluding Mega Man 3) the game is only hard until you defeat one of the bosses and obtain their weapon-- the reason for this is that first that particular weapon gives you an edge on the level and once you figure out which other leader it can beat, well, the weapon basically destroys that leader with ease. It goes on and on this way throughout all Mega Man games. The only real challenge is Sigma's final transformation in which the only weapon that can beat him is the rolling shield. What makes this leader so hard is 1.) the slowdown in frame rates makes MMX harder to control, and 2.) the spikes and beams in the room make Sigma nearly impossible to beat-- yet, it is possible and to beat him is a true honor for any video game player.

PEKNYO