Review #285: Megaman Maverick Hunter X

 And thus I conclude with my Megaman Xathon.

 So, Megaman X was amazing, arguably the best game in the series. Let's go back in time, Megaman X's story had gotten incredibly convoluted, after Keiji Inafune kinda left the series to work on Megaman Zero, so with Maverick Hunter they planned on reboting the entire series. Sadly, sales weren't very high, and the whole plan was scrapped.

 While there is a story to each installment in the series, it's a mess, both in part due to poor translations(on all entries, even X4 had a few errors(Like Magma Dragoon being referred as an Irregular, what the Japenese call the Mavericks)), but Maverick Hunter features, for the first time in the series, a good translation and fantastic voice-acting. If you've played the first game, you know the deal, Sigma goes Maverick and it's up to X and Zero to stop him, although Zero works on the background, while you, as X, do the legwork. The 8 Mavericks have been given a bit more developement, thanks to dialogue before each battle, and they get three different, fully voiced introductions: One for X, another one for X after watching the OVA and a third one in Vile Mode. Speaking of the OVA, finishing the game unlocks an animated 30-minute OVA as well as Vile Mode.

 As for the game itself, it's basically the same 2-D Action-Platform game from before, but now with 3D graphics. There's been slight changes to some levels, and while the Heart and Energy tanks are hidden on the same places that they were before, the four capsules have been switched around, and if you opt for the secret Z-Buster, it's actually different from the upgraded X-Buster. I noticed that some things are slightly harder this time around, and others are easier. For example, Armored Armadillo's stage, destroying the excavators is much easier this time around, but remember those annoying birds near the end of the stage? They can knock you out of the mine-cart very easily this time around(I think it has to do with the minecarts being a bit smaller than before). Boomer Kuwanger's invincibility period lasts longer, so you can no longer just spam missiles until he dies... but Spark Mandril can now be frozen immediately after he defrosts, making him a much easier boss. After you are done with the 8 Mavericks you'll unlock the 4 Sigma Stages... and they've been completely redone. While they are not terrible, they are not quite as good, or fair, as the originals. But hey, at least now you can replay Sigma Stages, save mid-way through them and keep the Hadoken! These changed stages would've made me lower the score a bit, but while Megaman X(SNES) had the better stages, Maverick Hunter X makes up for it with....

 VILE MODE! Clearing the game unlocks Vile, and he plays entirely different from X. Mind you, at the start, it's incredibly challenging, expect to die on the tutorial stage. Multiple times. Not only is Vile slower, but the new enemy placement is much cheaper and annoying. When you start off as Vile, you are supposed to move slowly and take out enemies methodically... until you defeat your first Maverick(Preferably Chill Penguin, since he drops an upgrades that halves the damage you receive) and get new weapons. Unlike X, who carries 8 different weapons from the 8 Mavericks, Vile can only take 3 weapons with him.... from a weapon pool of 45! There's a ton of variety and combinations to make Vile a lean, mean killing machine. Vile Mode is a fantastic little extra with a ton of replay value by itself.

 If there was one thing to complain about, besides me preferring the old Sigma stages, is that every now and then, the game suffers from slowdown. It's not a huge deal, and it's not very prevalent, but it's there and it's a tad annoying. One time, the game froze for a second or two as it decided if X had died or not(To be fair, a lot was going on at the time of my death!).

 I wouldn't say that Maverick Hunter X is superior than the SNES game, but I wouldn't say it's worse either. It has different strengths and weaknesses. I may not like the 4 redesigned stages, but Vile Mode is a blast and the 30-minute anime OVA is a nice treat. It's clear that a lot of work went into this game, and the result is phenomenal, it's a shame it didn't sell much, but what was Capcom expecting making it a PSP exclusive?
 9.0 out of 10