Mega Man X4
Year: 1997
Rating: KA
Time Played: ~8 hours
Much like how I enjoyed Mega Man’s evolution to Mega Man X when the franchise evolved to the 16-bit era, I equally enjoyed Mega Man X4’s jump to the next generation of console gaming. There’s some amount of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” here, which has honestly been what the Mega Man and Mega Man X franchises have touted for decades. And yet, the improvements that came with the jump in processing power were put in the few spots where it mattered. This refreshing upgrade brought back some of that “cool factor” that appealed to me with Mega Man X.
Ever since Zero’s introduction in the first Mega Man X game, it took way too long for him to be a fully playable character. Sure, there are small sections you can use him for in Mega Man X3, but Mega Man X4 truly makes Zero their own character with a unique fighting style that would eventually find its way into the future franchise installments of Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX. In fact, while playing with X can lead to a more conservative approach to battle by attacking enemies from a distance, Zero’s style requires the player to come in much closer to the action, thus naturally increasing the difficulty.
My nostalgia may be showing, but I think the visuals and music for this title are some of the strongest in the Mega Man X series—in part because of the upgrade to PlayStation hardware. The fresh new characters of General, Colonel, Iris, and Double were a welcome change to the (still cool) Vile. I also liked the anime cut scenes included in this game, even if I have to admit that some of the voice acting makes me cringe. Still, the fact that this game had voice acting at all was a tremendous step up from the games on the Super Nintendo. Overall, Mega Man X4 is one of the few games in the franchise that I regularly replay.
Another cool upgrade to the Mega Man X franchise, I give Mega Man X4 4.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
