A Small Glimpse at the Origins of Mega Man X
This preview image of Mega Man X comes from GameFan Vol. 1 issue 9. It’s been thrown around here and there, but my buddy AWD! just tossed this high quality scan at me. The issue probably came out close to the middle of 1993. From the looks of the screenshot shown the game was pretty far along in development (the only oddity is the use of P on the life meter, instead of the X we’d come to see). But man, what is with that artwork? Is that one of the original concepts for X? Maybe his fully armored form? This image didn’t even end up in the Official Complete Works, so we may never know.
Looking back on this image makes me fairly nostalgic. I’ve had very few of those “wow moments” in my gaming life, but Mega Man X was one of them. Maybe I was at that right age, but the game really blew me away at the time. The presentation, the gameplay, the attitude, it all upstaged the classic games. And while Mega Man 2 will probably always be my all time favorite game, even that never “wowed” me like the original X did.
I’ve been feeling lately that it’s time for Capcom to turn back to Mega Man X again. Admittedly I’m slightly iffy about a Mega Man X9, since I don’t personally feel that X2-X8 ever reached that bar the original X set, though some are still quite good. But I would definitely like to see something. At the very least they can throw Mega Man X up on the Wii Virtual Console. That’s been way overdue, as it’s not just a great Mega Man game, it’s a great game period.
I feel that some of the strongest support among our fandom here is for the X series. Do you ever get nostalgic for the series? How would you like Capcom to return to 21XX?
Tags: editorial, GameFan, Mega Man X, nostalgia
Filed under: Editorials, Other News
returning to the SNES style, (calling it 16 bit is really wrong, as the PSX games, and even the Zero and ZX games work on that magic number 16 as well. they just do it differently) Is such a bad Idea, its AMAZING how people are blinded by the thought of nostalgia. its like a druggie wanting a hit really badly. Nobody seems to notice how detrimental it would be to not only the character design, but story as well. An X9 following up on what X8 established and left us hanging with, simply cannot be SNES. It just would not be able to handle that level of story telling with the self imposed limits of the style. (X4-6 also work on the same color limits, and yet have a far superior graphical style. Zero and ZX as well.)
X1-3 also never displayed Zero right. Ad looks too cartoonish for the X series as well. Oh **** there I go again ranting.
@ Lumine1412
I think that was my favorite part out of X4 thru X6…
… IT WAS LIKE BEING INSIDE FINAL COUNTDOWN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jK-NcRmVcw
@Omar
Select Xtreme difficult, then use normal X with no Subtank and Hearttank, then I am pretty sure it won’t be your favourite stage anymore
btw, the link to youtube video have been removed
@flame
What I don’t understand is how the character design in Mega Man 9 and 10 didn’t suffer from re-8bit-afication, but you claim that it will for the X series (and 16-bit)… Who says the story telling will be affected? What we know from X4 and beyond was created from the 16 bit games! If anything, with the new technology we have, 16 bit games would look much more phenomenal than they did. Shoot, Zero wouldn’t look any different at all. X’s complexities lay with his armor designs, and Axl would be easy to 16-bit.
As for the story, I remember my jaw dropping from X2 and X3′s ending. Maybe it was because I was a kid, but that one little line from X3′s ending hit me harder than any of the X4-X8 endings.
Story telling suffers from bad story tellers.
These are video games. A lot of modern games seem to use their graphics as a crutch: like Hollywood they throw in exciting visuals so you ignore the lack of real story.
Yes, sometimes going with a simplified format (16-bit) will restrict you from certain story telling aspects, but as a whole it shouldn’t hurt a game like Mega Man X. I mean, Final Fantasy 6 was 16-bit and it still had a great, in depth story!
@flame
Dude you should have just said you would like to have X reach the highest quality possibly using current gen tech. It doesn’t matter what the series looked like when it began, the same way it could be a great game 16/32 bit, it can be a great or…definitely a better game in current gen formats, a good game is a good game that’s all there is to it. If you had said this I would be behind you 100%, maybe then we could put up a fight against these (revert to 16 bit because X 1 wowed me as a kid and X 1 was the greatest game ever capcom made bad games recently, must mean they can’t ever make a good one with updated features such as graphics and music) people.
@Otaku
Um…Final Fantasy 6 (RPG) Mega Man X (ACTION,PLATFORMER,SHOOTER) bit of a
difference don’t you think?
And to all of you people who like X and says (Keiji Inafune will fix everything, people at capcom don’t know what they’re doing), need I remind you it was the advisers at capcom that stopped him for making Zero the new X, thus changing the entire series to begin with. I’m pretty sure Keiji likes change as much as I do, so long as it’s an improvement, but how will you know if you don’t try?
Sorry but I had to speak out for the hard workers at capcom trying to do nothing but please, while so called “fans” sit here and bash their efforts.
Also if they make another X (which I want them to continue) either way, I will be fair to it, and if it’s bad give opinion on how to make it better next time, because that is what a true fan does.
@ RedrazerZero
Do you work at CAPCOM Ind. or something?
@Flame
MMZ and ZX used 32bit sprites, not 16bit like MMX1-3.
I loved Mega Man X and X2! X3 suffered from bad music, but had some cool bosses (Bit and Byte were sick!) X4 remains my favorite of the X series, with awesome music, bosses and graphics, not to mention the anime scenes! X5 felt rushed and copied mostly from X4. The removal of anime scenes was sad and the graphics were pretty lame next to X4. X6 and X7…we don’t talk about those games
X8 was a great effort to revive the series, and I really enjoy the new elements the game introduced. While some of the boss designs were lame (Gigabolt and Trilobite come to mind) Capcom produced a solid title. I’d love to see a 32 bit X9!
Ah yes, the blue megaman X armor. I remember that being released on that article, uh, with the white first level. Still have that image somewhere. This is a better scan of the design then that one was though.
i agree with you redrazor zeo
aron watz up with x7 you cant say something like that. i mean comon deud
i mean x7 music is not tht bad of music. that capcom fist try of ps2 gen system appreciate what is.
Im telling you, X4-6, Zero and ZX are under the same limitations as the SNES X series games. 16 colors. (15 colors + Transparency) meaning its just a new style, under the same limitations in color, just done differently. (and better)
I clearly remember seeing this version of X somewhere! But it’s been so long I can’t remember WHERE I saw it! I think it’s the original concept art of X and his first upgraded armor. Pretty cool, though the shoulder armors look a little big on him. The orange visor’s a nice touch. X rocks!