Battle Geek Plus’s Awesome Video Game Memories of Mega Man X5 to X7

The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic on my end, but things have calmed a little now that the storm of the Electronic Entertainment Expo has passed, so hopefully I can catch up on a few things.

I’m not the only one doing some catching-up, however, as Ryan of Battle Geek Plus has recently decided to pick up their “Awesome Video Game Memories” look at the Mega Man X series from where he left off back in November with Mega Man X5. (Warning: Not Safe For Work)

Mega Man X5 is a pretty divisive game for numerous reasons, not the least of which being that it effectively created a schism among fans, dividing them between those who do acknowledge anything past this game and those who don’t. Part of that is due to narrative intent, as this was meant to be the series’ swan song before Mega Man Zero was to take over, but also because this is where the series began to see something of a dip in quality that — while later entries would have their fans — it could be argued it never recovered from.

For my part, I rather liked Mega Man X5, and would probably have never known it was meant to be a true end to the series had it not been said otherwise. If nothing else, having Dr. Wily return yet not really appear made it feel to me like bigger things were still to come. And while Mega Man X6 seemed to pick up some of those loose threads, they were then dropped so quickly that one has to question if they should have even bothered.

Funny thing about that final boss battle: Does anyone else remember when a popular thought was that Wily had merged Sigma with Gamma from Mega Man 3?

Anyway, next up is, of course, Mega Man X6. (Again, Not Safe For Work)

Yeah, this one isn’t one of my favorites. I generally like the story, music, cut scenes (I always felt Mega Man X4‘s were lacking, so I enjoyed the stock art look used in Mega Man X5 and Mega Man X6 more, with the bonus here being that the frames were larger), and even voice acting (Japanese or not, at least the voices sounded appropriate), but unless you know exactly what you’re doing (and maybe employ the Ultimate Armor code), the game skews more towards frustrating than fun.

Mega Man X6 is one of the biggest reasons the failure of Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X to catch on was a disappointment, as I’d love to see this game remade with more than around a year’s worth (probably less) of development time. It had a lot of strong ideas, I feel, but needed much more time in the oven.

The same could easily be said about Mega Man X7. (Did you guess it’s Not Safe For Work? Then take a cookie.)

Part of me says I should beat this game someday. The other part of me says I don’t hate myself that much. Maybe someday.

I have played it, and I do own it — still sealed, because I’d played it before. I imagine I’ll do it someday, but if I do, I’d like to be able to stream it while I do, because why suffer alone?

Yeah, I know I’m not saying as much here — that’s because I could probably fill an entire article on what this game did wrong or right on its own, and still never touch on everything.

Anyway, that’s got us caught up for now. What are your memories of playing these three latter-day entries in the Mega Man X series? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

LBD "Nytetrayn"

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

For a full list of places to find him online, click here.