Mega Man X3

Mega Man X3
Protagonist(s): X Genre(s): Action Platform Platform(s): Super Nintendo Entertainment System PlayStation Sega Saturn Microsoft Windows Android iOS Release Date: SNES JP: December 1, 1995 NA: January 30, 1996 EU: July 25, 1996 Saturn/PlayStation JP/EU: April 26, 1996 PC January 1, 1997 Mobile JP: June 19, 2010 Developer(s): Capcom Minakuchi Engineering Publisher(s): Capcom Laguna Video Games (SNES, PAL) Virgin Interactive (PS1, Saturn and PC, PAL) Country: Japan Series: Mega Man X Predecessor: Mega Man X2 Mega Man Xtreme (chronologically) Successor: Mega Man X4 Mega Man Xtreme 2 (chronologically)

Mega Man X3, known as Rockman X3 in Japan, an action shooting game made for the SNES and was released in December 1, 1996 in Japan and in July 25, 1996 in America, it is the sequel to Mega Man X2, is the third and final installment in the SNES Mega Man X Trilogy and is overall the third entry in the Mega Man X series, co-developed by Capcom and Minakuchi Engineering (the same company behind the Game Boy Mega Man/Rockman World games (except for Mega Man II) and Mega Man: The Wily Wars for the Sega Genesis) and initially released by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, with a later re-release on PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Microsoft Windows that added in CD-quality music and FMVs. The enhanced CD version was later included as part of the Mega Man X Collection for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube, while the original SNES version was included as part of the Mega Man X Legacy Collection for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2018.

Plot

A Reploid scientist named Dr. Doppler has apparently managed to solve the problem of his fellow Reploids turning into Mavericks, and has brought many of them together to found a new community called "Dopple Town." However, it seems that this was a ruse, as another Maverick uprising takes place, apparently under the command of Doppler. X and Zero are sent to Dopple Town to deal with the uprising.

Why It Rocks

1. For the first time in the series, Zero is playable although in a limited state. He's the equivalent of a fully-upgraded X, with an additional Beam Saber attack that can instantly kill anything short of a boss, which comes in handy in the early levels.
2. Ride armors, which were only accessible in one or two levels in the previous games, can now be accessed in most of the levels, and you get four different types of them.
3. Great gameplay that is greatly expended compare to the previous games.
4. Solid controls.
5. Further improvements in graphics quality.
6. The selective of weapons are miles and bounds better than X2 and compete with X1 with raw damage output and versatility. Spinning Blade and Tri-Thunder are extremely powerful and fun weapons, and Acid Burst is a balanced close range, but high damage dealer.
7. Vile makes his return, after being killed in X1.
8. In addition to the usual upgrades, X can also install "enhancement chips" that give him a particular special ability. However, only one chip can be installed, and never changed, forcing the player to decide whether to install a chip and make the Maverick levels easier, or wait until the first Doppler stage and obtain the powerful Hyper Chip.
9. Dr. Doppler is a really interesting antagonist.
10. X can now air dash upwards, instead of just left or right.
11. The reveal of Sigma's identity is handled much better here than it was in X2, which suddenly sprung it on the player with no foreshadowing after the rematch with the Mavericks.
12. The storyline takes the first steps to the darker and more dramatic atmosphere of the later games in the series, with the revelation that a virus is what causes Reploids to turn into Mavericks, and foreshadowing that X will someday be forced to choose whether or not to destroy Zero.
13. This is the first game in the X series to have FMV cutscenes, at least, on the PlayStation, Saturn and PC versions. Mavericks also have their own unique FMV sequences that play before the start of their levels.
14. While not as great as the music in other games in the X series, this game still has a good soundtrack. Highlights include the intro stage, Zero's theme, Blizzard Buffalo, Crush Crawfish, Toxic Seahorse, Gravity Beetle, Blast Hornet, Volt Catfish, the first Doppler stage and the end credits.
15. Brings back some of the stage changes from X1, like reactivating the lights and melting the ice in Buffalo's stage, activating the elevator in Vile's secret stage or weakening the Head Gunner Customers by defeating Blast Hornet.
16. The endgame bosses are determined by if you destroy Vile or/and the Nightmare Police early on with their weaknesses. This improves replay-ability because the boss fights change depending on the actions you take.

Bad Qualities

1. This game is considered by many fans to be the hardest game in the Mega Man X series, mostly due to cheap enemy placements, enemies having an attack that is hard to avoid, and how the Mavericks can defeat X in a few hits. Although some Mega Man games did have their own difficulty curve, its most noticeable here. A notorious example is Kaiser Sigma dealing 14 damage with his missiles, which will demolish X in a few hits, even when he has a full health bar!
   • You only get one life for Zero throughout the entire game. If he dies for any reason, you can't use him again without starting over (or using a password generator).
     • Furthermore, unlike X, Zero cannot fight any bosses (with one exception in Doppler Stage 2).
2. The level design is subpar, likely because Capcom farmed the game development out to Minakuchi Engineering, who usually handled the Game Boy entries on the classic series. A lot of the times, stages do feel large and spacious, but empty of enemies and interesting stage gimmicks. There is a large presence of wall type enemies that constantly hit you back down like the Wall Cancer enemies.
   • Excessive enemy repetition shows laziness, for example Doppler Stage 2 is notorious for repeating the Hamma Hamma enemy constantly without much variation. While there are over 30 enemy types in the game, many of them are limited to just a few areas, while others like Notor Bangar are seen almost everywhere in the game.
3. Problemative weapons:
   • Gravity Well is one of the worst weapons in the entire series, because it only affects small enemies that take longer to kill than your buster shots, and it has no effect on big enemies.
   • The Cross Charge Shot was a MASSIVE LETDOWN and Wasted Potential because of how useless it is.
4. Some cryptic and poorly explained things include how you can only use the Ride Armors after finding the secret in Blast Hornet's stage with Tunnel Rhino's weapon, or how defeating Blast Hornet removes the blocks blocking the heart container in Gravity Beetle's stage.
   • There is however a helmet upgrade that would let you show important items on each stage including projecting the entire map but problem is that it has to be encountered when you got at least two of the four armour upgrades and at least a few weapons, it's intended purpose becomes almost pointless as most of the hidden parts of the game would've been discovered before getting that piece. It could've been easily obtain as X2 made the helmet obtainable without requiring any upgrades.
5. While the Saturn version is still good and playable, it suffers from slowing down sometimes, especially in the PAL release.
6. The game has some technical issues:
   • Boss fights are generally seen as poor because of their broken AI either making the boss go back and forth, as seen with Blizzard Buffalo, Tunnel Rhino and Vile's Armor, and all suffer from Spark Mandrill Syndrome, where the battle becomes trivial due to the bosses being stun locked over and over again.
7. Due to a programming bug, Dr Light's theme in X3 plays an awful sounding tune of how it was originally supposed to sound. Neon Tiger's theme becomes grating fast with the number of repetitions.

Reception

While not as well received as the previous two games, Mega Man X3 received positive reviews by critics and fans alike.

Trivia

• A ROM hack of Mega Man X3, titled the Zero Project, was developed by XJustin3009X, which enhanced Zero as a playable character by not only giving him the ability to collect items and defeat bosses like X, but also giving him a double jump like the later X games, along with some gameplay tweaks for X and quality of life improvements, such as adding a save feature instead of passwords.
• Mega Man X3 is the first and (so-far) only game in the main-line Mega Man X series to have no Fire-themed Mavericks, alto both Vile, Dr. Doppler and Sigma use's fire-based attacks.

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