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LTTP: Mega Man X6 (Were Mega Man games always this hard?!)

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Boogiepop

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So after discussing Mega Man games with my friend the other day, I came to an abrupt realization. Though I've beaten a pretty significant portion of the Mega Man series (1-10+Bass, X1-5+7, all the Zeros, ZXs, and Battle Networks, plus Legends 2 and Star Force 1), I've never beaten X6. All I could remember was finding a secret area in the ice level, getting completely crushed, and rage quitting.

As such, I found my copy of the X Collection and went ahead and loaded this game up. And... damn is it hard! I mean, maybe it's just that it's been a while since I've last played a Mega Man game, but this game is kind of sort of kicking the crap out of me, even in spite of my experience with the series. Thus far I've beaten Commander Yammark (who was surprisingly easy), Rainy Turtloid, and Shield Sheldon (though this one was just BARELY, with a fraction of health left on my last life). I tried the trash compacter level and made it to the miniboss, but it was super frustrating and killed me. I also couldn't kill the first stupid wheel thing in the magma area, which isn't good.

The weirdest thing I'm feeling is that something just feels... off about the game. I mean, the trash compacter thing felt super cheap, especially when I realized you could die by accidentally standing up. Also, the levels just don't feel like they're all the way there in general. They just kind of feel weirdly slapped together, which is probably not helped by the stupid "nightmare" robots that just float through everything. Also, I've never really been fond of the "rescue" system, though I guess the extra lives are helpful. Oh, and I couldn't even deal with the stupid lasers in the laser institute. I'm sure there was something hidden had I managed to take the longer path, but trying too turn those stupid panels while the flies swarmed around you and the lasers hurt you and it was hard to tell what could turn was just too much of a pain.

Oh well, I'm sure I'll persevere because I'm a Mega Man fan, and if I managed to make it through X7 I'm sure I can make it through this.
 
6 is....eh.

It's not amazing, but it's not...well...x7.

It's a perfect example of a game getting too complex for it's own good.
 
Really? X6 was hardly a hard game for me... maybe it was simply because I beat X6 in the prime of my X playing days, but I remember breezing through the entire game in an afternoon, unlocking all of the suits, and all without using any sort of cheat or guide.

I had a lot more time to game back then... X6 did just feel off in general. It wasn't just because the translation somehow managed to get WORSE from X5 to X6, though that had a role to play... The whole game just felt rushed, hit detection seemed a little off, and in general controls seemed a little looser than previous titles.
 
The game is hard for all of the wrong reasons. It just screams poor both game and level design all over the place. Most of the deaths aren't your fault, it's the game's poorly designed levels at fault. One of the worst Mega Man games ever.


Also, fuck Blaze Heatnix's stage. The whole fight the same exact sub boss 5 times was almost the worst thing. The one with the giant robot in the background on the other hand... WHY WAS THAT A THING? The maverick boss fight was truly awful too, possibly the worst Maverick boss fight in existence.

And the Nightmare system.. oh my god, why did this have to exist? It's bad enough the level designs were poorly made, now you have to deal with black outs and ghosts attacking you from all directions throughout the stage. What the hell were they thinking????
 
I think X6 was a rushed game. It's not just you, the game is incredibly cheap difficulty wise. Some of the levels, especially the alternate paths are rage inducing.
 
The level design in this game was just pretty bad. For first timers, the hardest parts are Blaze Heatnix's stage, junkyard stage, and Gate Stages.

There's also this one part in Gate's stage where it's impossible to make this jump if you're in the Shadow Armor without the right abilities lol

This was one of the hardest MM games for me if not the hardest. It becomes a lot easier once you know what to abuse (Zero or some of X's charged weapons).
 
The thing that made me feel like this game betrayed me was the fact that I played it just off of X4. It controlled just as well, and it took me a while to realize that, despite controlling well, looking fine, and having great music, Mega Man X6 sucks ass because the levels are absolutely horrendously designed. This is most notable in Blaze Heatnix's stage (that big stupid red donut? yeah there's like five of those and about one screen of actual level in between the first and second) and the first level of Gate's Laboratory, where if you didn't either collect the entire Blade Armor and rescue one specific Reploid that lets you jump higher, collect the entire Shadow Armor (which you can't use special weapons with, by the way), or defeat Nightmare Zero and unlock Zero (who I'm pretty sure takes more damage than X in any armor), you could not progress past the first screen.

Fuck that game.
 
It's... not great.



X5 was the last one that Inafune worked on directly, after that he focused on the Zero series more or less full-time. The "time limit" mechanic was clever in that it prevented you from mining for power ups, but it drove some series fans nuts that they could never collect all of the parts in one run.

X6 wasn't terrible but it did have some weird difficulty spikes.

X7 was hot garbage

X8 was surprisingly good, although the 2 vehicle stages were basically junk.
 
I hated it and don't get me wrong, I loved all of it's predecessors.

The level design is atrocious, the story is laughable. I hate it.

Cherry on the cake is that X7 is even worse.
 
Yes, Mega Man games were always hard. I'm coming back to them on VC and marvelling at the fact that kid me could beat these games in a single rental. I have become so soft.
 
GooeyHeat said:
The thing that made me feel like this game betrayed me was the fact that I played it just off of X4. It controlled just as well, and it took me a while to realize that, despite controlling well, looking fine, and having great music, Mega Man X6 sucks ass because the levels are absolutely horrendously designed. This is most notable in Blaze Heatnix's stage (that big stupid red donut? yeah there's like five of those and about one screen of actual level in between the first and second) and the first level of Gate's Laboratory, where if you didn't either collect the entire Blade Armor and rescue one specific Reploid that lets you jump higher, collect the entire Shadow Armor (which you can't use special weapons with, by the way), or defeat Nightmare Zero and unlock Zero (who I'm pretty sure takes more damage than X in any armor), you could not progress past the first screen.

Fuck that game.
Click to expand...

Charging up the tortoise's or the shark's(?) weapon was a lifesaver in Blaze's stage.

And I think you could use the ice to freeze the enemies and jump on them to get past the first area in Gate's stage.
It's been awhile so I could be remembering wrong.

Oh, and screw that one miniboss in the secret areas where you need to use a special weapon to make him vulnerable.
 
LiveFromKyoto said:
Yes, Mega Man games were always hard. I'm coming back to them on VC and marvelling at the fact that kid me could beat these games in a single rental. I have become so soft.
Click to expand...

The X games were always a little easier, in my opinion. With all the E tanks and armor enhancements the games really get easier the more you explore. X6, if I remember correctly and I'm not mixing it up with X5, starts you off with armor that you can use. That alone already enables it to ramp up difficulty early on. However, even besides that the level design and some of the level features just make it frustrating and cheap.
 
Rapscallion said:
The X games were always a little easier, in my opinion. With all the E tanks and armor enhancements the games really get easier the more you explore. X6, if I remember correctly and I'm not mixing it up with X5, starts you off with armor that you can use. That alone already enables it to ramp up difficulty early on. However, even besides that the level design and some of the level features just make it frustrating and cheap.
Click to expand...

They both let you start off with armor. In X5 depending on who you picked first X or Zero you would lose an ability for the other character. Example if you started as X you lost Zero's buster. X6 made you start with X so there was no choice there. And the stage design was super bad it'd go from super easy to super hard.

Grief.exe said:
How do you guys rank the X games? I only have the original on SNES.
Click to expand...

I'd say:
1. X + X2
2. X4
3. X5
4. X3
5. X8
6. X7
7. X6
 
X1>X4>X3>X2

Haven't played X6, X7, or X8, but X5 kinda takes away a lot of what made X4 great and although is an 'okay' game, it's just not as good.
 
qq more said:
High Max? Yes, he's a total pain in the ass. Very awful.
Click to expand...
That's the one. I played X6 when I was in 6th grade, and X3 was the last one I played before it.
I was seriously confused at what happened with the series.
Grief.exe said:
How do you guys rank the X games? I only have the original on SNES.
Click to expand...
X1 > 2 > 4 > 3 > 5 > 6

Only played the first stage of 7 and 8 is just sitting on my shelf.
 
Rhapsody said:
Charging up the tortoise's or the shark's(?) weapon was a lifesaver in Blaze's stage.

And I think you could use the ice to freeze the enemies and jump on them to get past the first area in Gate's stage.
It's been awhile so I could be remembering wrong.

Oh, and screw that one miniboss in the secret areas where you need to use a special weapon to make him vulnerable.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I charged the turtle's weapon (the vertical water shot) and I could finally beat it. Still fucking annoying as crap.
In Gate's lab, I remember that you had to use the ice to put a block on the ground, jump off of it, and then air dash to get past that first wall of spikes, but you couldn't jump high enough even off of the block without the upgrade, which somehow I could never find on either of my attempted playthrougs (it was probably a reploid that was placed right next to a nightmare douchebag, knowing my luck). So that left Zero (who could jump to the ceiling and dash off) or Shadow Armor (which could do the same, but was immune to spikes anyway).

And yeah, fuck High Max. Although if you beat him, you get a free ride to Gate's Lab, but you probably want more weapons/armor/upgrades anyway. The only other good thing about beating High Max was being able to fight Dynamo, which was a fun fight with good music. Of course, both the fight and the music were ripped out of X5 anyway, so that isn't really special.

Like I said in the last post: Fuck that game.

Grief.exe said:
How do you guys rank the X games? I only have the original on SNES.
Click to expand...
I haven't played much of the series, but from what I've read in general, you have the best one. Second best is X4 for PS1, which I have played, and it's great, although it's a little easier than other Mega Man games. After that I just see X2, X3, X5, and X8 floating around in various orders. Then X6, which we've been over, and X7, which is somehow worse.
 
X1 > X2 > X4 > X3 > X8 > X5 > X6 > Command Mission >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Megaman Soccer>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> X7
 
Grief.exe said:
So basically I need to somehow find X2 and X3 SNES carts, thanks a lot guys ;)

Apparently X4 had a PC version.
Click to expand...

X2 and X3 are mad expensive if you don't strictly look for people selling them who have no idea what they're selling.

X2 runs you about $70 and X3 around $130. Yep.

X3 also had a PC version.

EDIT: Not really "mad expensive" given plenty of other games (including Mega Man 7) are more expensive, but they're still two of the pricier SNES games around.
 
I mostly look around Craigslist, you would be surprised at the rare SNES and GBA games I've been finding on there.
At quite the prices as well. I picked up Mega Man X for $10 and Super Metroid for $15 the other day.

Interestingly enough, I can only find shovelware on the DS.

Why are X2 and X3 so expensive? Limited production runs?
 
Grief.exe said:
I mostly look around Craigslist, you would be surprised at the rare SNES and GBA games I've been finding on there.
At quite the prices as well. I picked up Mega Man X for $10 and Super Metroid for $15 the other day.

Interestingly enough, I can only find shovelware on the DS.

Why are X2 and X3 so expensive? Limited production runs
Click to expand...


If you have either a gamecube/wii or a PS2 you could also look into just finding The Mega Man X Collection. It's a pretty good collection.
 
X6 is so bad that I'm pretty sure one of the final levels is impossible to beat with some armors, which is pretty awful level design.
 
Grief.exe said:
Why are X2 and X3 so expensive? Limited production runs?
Click to expand...

X3 was released right at the end of the SNES's life, so very few copies were shipped. X2? No idea. I can assume it didn't sell all that great, which is a shame because it's as good as X1 if not better.
 
Rapscallion said:
If you have either a gamecube/wii or a PS2 you could also look into just finding The Mega Man X Collection. It's a pretty good collection.
Click to expand...

lol I don't have any of those.

I am looking to grow my GC collection next, is that the definitive version?

qq more said:
X3 was released right at the end of the SNES's life, so very few copies were shipped. X2? No idea. I can assume it didn't sell all that great, which is a shame because it's as good as X1 if not better.
Click to expand...

That is a shame.
 
Do a Blaster Only playthrough. It's far and away the best way to play Mega Man and Mega Man X games.
 
qq more said:
The game is hard for all of the wrong reasons. It just screams poor both game and level design all over the place. Most of the deaths aren't your fault, it's the game's poorly designed levels at fault.

And the Nightmare system.. oh my god, why did this have to exist? It's bad enough the level designs were poorly made, now you have to deal with black outs and ghosts attacking you from all directions throughout the stage.
Click to expand...
This sums up my thoughts on the game. The level design is just nowhere near as good as previous games, and it doesn't help that you pretty much will ALWAYS encounter a reploid that needs to be saved but NOPE you don't have the special weapon or upgrade, meaning they're gonna get taken over by the nightmare. You pretty much can never rescue every reploid unless you play the game so many times and lay out a plan in order to get the most that you can. & it doesn't help that once they're gone, THEY'RE GONE FOR GOOD. Why do that when it worked just fine in the previous games with them being hidden and couldn't be hurt by anything?

At least with X5, while I feel like was when the series was starting to decline in quality, was still a decent game. The timer was done in a way where it wasn't a huge stress on the player, plus it COULD be stopped once you reached a certain point from what I remember.
 
qq more said:
X3 was released right at the end of the SNES's life, so very few copies were shipped. X2? No idea. I can assume it didn't sell all that great, which is a shame because it's as good as X1 if not better.
Click to expand...

To expand as well, X2 and X3 were actually really expensive to manufacture (and thus a high risk sale). Not many stores picked up copies of the game... this was mostly due to the Cx4 chip inside both games. The Cx4 handled enhanced sprite position/rotation/transformation effects as well as wireframe 3D effects (as seen in a few sub bosses).

The cart was at a premium price at launch... couple that with being late in the SNES life cycle, being more expensive than other games, and that's why the game was in short supply and so costly now. I think there may also have been a higher rate of failure with carts because of the cx4 chip, but don't quote me on that.

(edit) Also, on the subject of the X collection... either it, or the mega man 25th anniversary collection had really shitty non-changeable controls (literally mapping the same buttons to the SNES equivalents, even though the GCN's buttons were not lined up the same) so the PS2 version will probably do you better.
 
Wray said:
Do a Blaster Only playthrough. It's far and away the best way to play Mega Man and Mega Man X games.
Click to expand...
On a game like X6? No way!

Zonic505 said:
This sums up my thoughts on the game. The level design is just nowhere near as good as previous games, and it doesn't help that you pretty much will ALWAYS encounter a reploid that needs to be saved but NOPE you don't have the special weapon or upgrade, meaning they're gonna get taken over by the nightmare. You pretty much can never rescue every reploid unless you play the game so many times and lay out a plan in order to get the most that you can. & it doesn't help that once they're gone, THEY'RE GONE FOR GOOD. Why do that when it worked just fine in the previous games with them being hidden and couldn't be hurt by anything?

At least with X5, while I feel like was when the series was starting to decline in quality, was still a decent game. The timer was done in a way where it wasn't a huge stress on the player, plus it COULD be stopped once you reached a certain point from what I remember.
Click to expand...
The reploid rescue system was such bullshit in X6. There's already too much bad game design to worry about rescuing reploids... ugh.

I remember in Blaze Heatnix's stage, there was a vertical segment (don't remember it was auto scrolling or not). There was a reploid at the very top of the screen and then a Nightmare enemy. You had literally 2 seconds or less to react or the Nightmare corrupts the reploid. So stupid cheap.

KojiKnight said:
To expand as well, X2 and X3 were actually really expensive to manufacture (and thus a high risk sale). Not many stores picked up copies of the game... this was mostly due to the Cx4 chip inside both games. The Cx4 handled enhanced sprite position/rotation/transformation effects as well as wireframe 3D effects (as seen in a few sub bosses).

The cart was at a premium price at launch... couple that with being late in the SNES life cycle, being more expensive than other games, and that's why the game was in short supply and so costly now. I think there may also have been a higher rate of failure with carts because of the cx4 chip, but don't quote me on that.
Click to expand...

Ah, that too. Never thought of that.
 
X6-8 are the only ones I haven't beaten. I have the collection too, and FUCK MMX6. It's not even hard because of any sort of legit difficulty. So much cheapness.
 
Played a little more, and beat the dung beetle guy (man he was easy, but his stage was especially lazy with the warps to zones full of nightmares and little else) and the Zero ghost. I then tried to beat Infinity Mujinion (what exactly is he supposed to be, anyway?) with Zero, and... it didn't go so well. Having no weakness weapons and compromised health and the extra damage from being Zero not mattering made it pretty much impossible. Bleh. Oh well, only four more bosses, and then maybe some scrounging around for upgrades (already found the helmet and boots for the Blade Armor).
 
Grief.exe said:
lol I don't have any of those.

I am looking to grow my GC collection next, is that the definitive version?
.
Click to expand...

I think the two of them are identical, with the only difference being preference of controller for most fans. The Mega Man Anniversary Collection, however, is vastly superior on the PS2.
 
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