Looking Back at Mega Man X6 Speculation

During some recent conversation over on the Rockman Corner Discord, I was reminded of some of the speculation that went on when the first news of Mega Man X6 dropped, and so I thought this might be a good time for a follow-up of sorts to my previous article, “Waiting for Mega Man X5.”

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that with the extremely quick turnaround time between Mega Man X5 and X6, versus X4 to X5, maybe there’s not quite as much to talk about here as there was then. Still, there are a few things that will always stick in my memory regarding the lead-up to the release of that game.

Like when people thought Gate was X.

Someone needs Clear Eyes.

When the first word of Mega Man X6 — or perhaps more accurately, Rockman X6 — began to come out, there was very, very little information about it. And with that reveal, there were maybe three screenshots available at the time, one of which was the closeup of someone’s eye seen above. (Well, more or less — this image, I captured from Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2. But it was basically the same shot.)

Upon seeing it, and not knowing who Gate was, some people were sure that X was going to go Maverick in this game, or at least something to that effect. Whatever the case, they were sure that was X.

Others countered the argument, of course. The most obvious points were that X’s eyes aren’t normally drawn like that, and the curvature of the helmet that’s visible is different from X’s norm. And of course, those people were proven to be right when the game was finally released. But hey, can you imagine if this sort of thing had come up after Mega Man X8 and Mega Man X: Command Mission had shifted X’s core design radically?

Looking back, I have to wonder why Capcom chose to release that screen shot. I’m guessing they didn’t imagine any such confusion would arise from it. On the other hand, perhaps they were counting on it? It did create quite a buzz, after all.

Then we have the Duo/High Max connection.

“Hi, Max!” “Hi, Duo!”

“What High Max/Duo connection?” you might be asking. And you’d be correct to do so, for there is no connection between the two. However, back in the day, it seemed like people would look for connections to anything Classic in the Mega Man X series, like how some theorized that Zero used to be Proto Man. Or Roll. Or Rush. Or some combination of the three. Maybe Bass was in there at some point, too, I’m sure someone thought of it. Maybe that’s worth reminiscing about sometime.

But back to the matter at hand. Unlike most cases, I don’t think anyone believed High Max to be a rebuilt Duo, but more of a Mega Man X-era member of the same race/Star Marshal force Duo came from.

I mean, you can kind of see it. They both have these big, burly physiques and some similar facial structures that differ from most of the Earth-based cast. Plus, plot-wise, it only made too much sense… kind of. If you believed in the theory that the Maverick Virus was derived from the Evil Energy of Mega Man 8, and Sigma spent the entire last game just coating the planet in it, you have to imagine that would have to set off some alarms somewhere across the galaxy, in the offices of whoever’s job it is to monitor this stuff.

And I’m not going to lie: of all the different fan theories I’ve seen, especially those from back in the day, this is kind of the one I wish had come to be true the most.

Finally, here’s something of a bonus: the matter of Zero. Back in the day, Electronic Gaming Monthly ran with this information, taken from Mega Man Outpost via the Internet Archive:

Ha! If they only knew…

So, it was believed that yeah, “he dead.”

But as we crept closer to the game’s December release date (and wow, looking back, what a circus that was), an image started making the rounds online, indicating that maybe Zero wasn’t quite as “dead” as we thought…

“It’s a hand-me-down from my big brother in another universe. Don’t ask.”

I think we knew about something called “Nightmare Zero” (more correctly referred to now as “Zero Nightmare”) by this point, which someone, somewhere decided to capitalize on by spreading the above image. Some sites, including The Mega Man Network — or rather, “Mega Man X Online” — were a bit more skeptical of it, however:

Suffice to say, the picture was effectively debunked only a short time later with the game’s release, though you would — and can — still find it floating around out there. And in a way, it would eventually come to pass in the games… sort of.

They say nothing ever dies on the internet, but you might be hard-pressed to find much on this stuff now, even with the Internet Archive. So I hope you enjoy this little time capsule into the Blue Bomber’s past, from the fans’ perspective.

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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.

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