More X’s than an adult video store.

Author’s Note: This review was originally published on January 18th, 2006. Re-reading this review, I was hoping that the 2003-2005 cringe level would be less severe. Nope, not the case in this review. The review’s title should be enough to let the reader know what they’re is in for.

Collections of classic games continually castigate consumers causing said collections to become condoned. Who is the alliteration master? Oh, I am! For those of you who didn’t get that, I said that most of the collections of classic, old-school games are generally nothing to write home about. The exception of course was the Mega Man Anniversary Collection. To ring the new year in properly, Capcom gave us another collection, but this time with Mega Man X-Mega Man X6. The collection as a whole is great, with some interesting things to unlock. However, some things were changed while others were left unchanged, making the collection not as fun as it could have been.

Since there are 6 games with semi-different stories, I won’t go into details about all of them. Mega Man X games go like this: you control Mege Man X and destroy 8 Maverick Reploids, usually named after types of animals. In Mega Man X3-X6, you can use Zero and Mega Man X. Anyways, after you get rid of them, you fight Sigma, the head honcho of the Mavericks. Add in some secrets about the past of X and Zero in each game, and you get the basic story of each Mega Man X. It is very cool learning about the past of X and Zero, but by the fourth installment, you know who is what. Not that I mind, though, because I love these games. It’s not because of their stories, but their game play.

I really shouldn’t have to explain what you do in a Mega Man X game. Therefore, I won’t. I will, however, talk about the new things added to each consecutive X game. In Mega Man X3, you can call Zero to assist you in the stages, but you can’t use him for the bosses. In X4, you’ll play as X or Zero, each with their own story lines and which is by far the best in the series. In X5 and X6, you play one game as X and Zero, switching however you want. Zero is harder to use because he is short range, but he is much more fun to play as. Of course, X is the long range attacker but his attacks are weaker and after playing as Zero enough, you grow tired of X. Like all Mega Man games, you get the special abilities of the enemies you kill. Zero gets new sword skills for combo creation, while X gets more of a projectile attack. I’m making this sound more complicated than it really is, so what it really comes down to is old-school action with your favorite “blue bomber” of the future.

Like the game play, the graphics were left unchanged, and this is a good thing. They are 2D sprites, full of color. Not only did the graphics look great back then, they look great now. They put some PS2 sprite based games to shame. Oh, I said it! Most of the music, which is something of great importance in any Mega Man game, was left unchanged as well. The music in MMX3 is the exception here. Actually, the entire game of MMX3 was changed from the SNES version. Is this a bad thing? Not really, because there are now cool anime scenes, but the music sounded much better on the SNES. Ah well, turn the sound off it gets annoying.

Now for the things that should’ve been changed. First off, Mega Man X5 and X6 put the series to shame. They just aren’t fun, and I feel that things should’ve been added to make them more fun. On the other hand, certain things should’ve been left out of these two games, such as Alia. God I hate her. The game selection screen isn’t as cool as the first Mega Man collection, and the extras are rather hum-drum. You can unlock a racing game never released in America called Mega Man Battle and Chase. After being introduced to games like Mario Kart and Chocobo’s Racing, MMBnC just lacks the fun factor needed for a racing game. Sure it’s fun unlocking new things, but it’s not worth stressing over.

There really isn’t much to say about the MMX Collection. In the end, I love it because nothing is more fun than MMX-MMX4. The last two games could use some work, but 4/6 ain’t bad. This is a collection that should appeal to fans of Mega Man. Most fans will be able to over-look the few flaws and enjoy re-living good gaming as we knew it.

Overall, 9/10.