This Week in Defunct Games - April 19, 2011

What Is It? By 1993 one thing was painfully clear: People were sick of Mega Man. It had only been six years since the Blue Bomber hit 8-bit screens, but already he had racked up an impressive five NES adventures (six, if you include the Japanese releases). The once-popular franchise was starting to cool off, people were sick of the never-changing formula and Capcom knew something had to be done. Their solution? Mega Man X on the Super NES!

Mega Man X reboots the series. Instead of using the tried and true robot hero, they went with a slightly edgier take on the formula. This brand new Mega Man ditches the traditional robots and replaces them with brand new baddies based on animals (Chill Penguin, Launch Octopus, Armored Armadillo, Storm Eagle, Sting Chameleon, etc.). The result is a Mega Man game that actually felt fresh for a change, even if it was only a matter of time before everybody started to get annoyed by Capcom's non-stop Mega Man X sequels. I guess some things never change.

Does It Still Hold Up? The gameplay is traditional Mega Man, almost to a fault. This brand new hero is given some new abilities and the bosses offer cool collectible weapons, but you're still playing a traditional 2D side-scroller in the mold of 8-bit Mega Man. Thankfully the graphics look a lot better and there are some fun hidden items to uncover along the way. If you're completely burned out on the formula you may disagree, but eighteen years later I say this game holds up.

Is It Worth The Money? This is yet another great addition to the Virtual Console. Even if the character isn't nearly as iconic, this Super NES title is definitely a must-own game. The level designs are exciting and the bosses are a real breath of fresh air. It's been a long time since a game like this has hit Nintendo's retro service, so it's good to see some of the more high profile titles finally getting release dates. Capcom would eventually overuse this new character, but it's fun to go back and see Mega Man X before it became passe. Best of all, investigative gamers will uncover a way to throw a Street Fighter II-inspired fireball. Hadouken!