Mega Man X

Overview

Mega Man X is a 1993 platform game developed and published by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was the first Mega Man game for the 16-bit console and the first game in the Mega Man X series, a spin-off of the original Mega Man series that began on the Super NES's predecessor, the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game takes place a century after the original Mega Man series, and is set in a futuristic world populated by both humans and "Reploids", robots capable of thinking, feeling, and growing like their human creators. Because of these complex attributes, many Reploids are prone to destructive, renegade activity and are thereafter referred to as "Mavericks". The plot of the game follows the protagonist X, the last creation of Dr. Light and an android member of a military task force called the "Maverick Hunters". With the help of his partner Zero, the last creation of Dr. Wily, X must stop Sigma, a powerful Maverick leader, from taking over Earth and committing genocide against humanity.

With the transition to more advanced gaming hardware, series artist Keiji Inafune explained that the development of Mega Man X involved reinventing Mega Man through gameplay expansion and a more mature storyline while still maintaining the basic concepts on which the franchise was built. Much like the NES Mega Man games that came before it, Mega Man X is a platform game where the player takes control of the eponymous character and must complete a set of eight, initial stages in any order desired. Defeating the boss character at the end of each stage grants the player one new weapon that can then be toggled and used at will for the remainder of the game. However, Mega Man X adds a number of new features and makes radical changes to the original gameplay mechanics of previous releases in the series. These include allowing the player to dash along the ground, scale walls, and obtain armor attachments which grant special abilities.

Mega Man X has met with positive reviews for its gameplay, sound, and graphics, as well as its attempt to augment the aging Mega Man franchise. Some critics have listed it as one of the greatest video games ever made. A longterm commercial success on the SNES, Mega Man X has since been ported to personal computers (PCs) and mobile devices, included in the North American Mega Man X Collection for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 (PS2), and released on the Virtual Console download service for the Wii, the Wii U, and the New Nintendo 3DS. The game also received a remake on the PlayStation Portable (PSP) titled Mega Man Maverick Hunter X. Nintendo re-released Mega Man X in September 2017 as part of the company's Super NES Classic Edition, and iam8bit re-released the physical SNES version in September 2018 in celebration of Mega Man's 30th anniversary. The game is also included in the Mega Man X Legacy Collection for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows. A sequel, Mega Man X2, was released in 1994.

Official trailer

Announcement Trailer. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

SNES Longplay [043] Mega Man X, World-of-Longplays. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Shooter, Platform, Adventure

Developer

Capcom, Capcom

Publisher

Capcom, Hyundai

Series

Mega Man

Platforms

Super Nintendo, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, DOS, Wii U

Age rating

ESRB E

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Co op

No

Age ratings

CLASS IND

L

PEGI

7

CERO

A

ESRB

E

Release dates

Editions

Check out the store

Space and patches

Update patchNo patch

DLC

No DLC. Super Nintendo games had no downloadable content.

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Single player only, with no online features. The cartridge runs on any Super Nintendo, and the game is sold today in Mega Man X Legacy Collection.

Online

Plays offlineYes

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
GameRankings	SNES	88.5	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
Electronic Gaming Monthly	36	40
Famitsu	26	40
Game Players	95	100
Super Play	88	100
Nintendo Life	9	10

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Developer	Capcom
Publisher	Capcom
Producer	Tokuro Fujiwara
Designers	Yoshinori Takenaka, Keiji Inafune, Sho Tsuge, Masayoshi Kurokawa
Programmers	Keiji Kubori, Kouichiro Nakamura
Artists	Keiji Inafune, Hayato Kaji, Kazunori Tazaki, Tatsuya Yoshikawa
Writers	Keiji Inafune, Sho Tsuge
Composers	Setsuo Yamamoto, Makoto Tomozawa, Yuki Iwai, Yuko Takehara, Toshihiko Horiyama

Notes for collectors

• The first Mega Man X game, set about a century after the original Mega Man series.
• The Super Nintendo version sold 1.165 million copies by 2001.
• Later included in Mega Man X Collection on GameCube and PlayStation 2, and remade on PSP as Mega Man Maverick Hunter X.
• Part of the Super NES Classic Edition in 2017.
• Reissued on a new Super Nintendo cartridge for the series' 30th anniversary in 2018.

Credits

Publisher

Capcom, Hyundai

Developer

Capcom, Capcom

Released

1994-01-19

Age rating

ESRB E

Region

US

Time to beat

about 3.6 hours