Mega Man X and Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X

So here it is.  Finally.  :3 

On Friday May 28th and later that night, I beat MM:MHX and MMX, respectively. I kinda figured I’d finish the PSP remake first because it was much easier to play than the original game.

It took me a couple more playing sessions to finished MM:MHX. Wednesday I started the D-Rex stage (Sigma Palace 3) which it turned out this was where X finds Zero and fights Vile. In the original game it was in Sigma Palace 1.  Anyway, D-Rex wasn’t hard to beat here. Then I had about 15 more minutes to play because I had to head to the gym. But I wanted to try and finish the game. Wolf Sigma still proved pretty difficult, maybe since I tried to rush it. I saved that last battle for a later time. At least I didn’t have to start from the very beginning of Sigma’s Palace.

Then Friday afternoon I had some time to go ahead and give it another try. I always finished uh, Sigma’s pet’s battle fairly quickly, and the first battle with Sigma was harder because he shot yellow bullets at X in addition to his usual attack of jumping from wall to wall with his saber. It varied how well I did each time because the pattern of his attacks change each time I lost a life. That’s what makes both games challenging. I lost some lives, got up to 8, lost a few more lives, and then I didn’t have to use a Sub-Tank until the Wolf Sigma battle. I realized he’s not that hard to fight after all; I just needed to know where to go whenever he attacked and watch out. He didn’t spit electric balls at X like in the original game. But that’s alright.

I want to compare the endings of both games. Story-wise it is the same, but the epilogue’s words are quite different… (narrator versus Dr. Thomas Light)

I finished MM: MHX first, so I’ll start with that one. Fighting Sigma here is more fun that in the original, that’s for sure. After Sigma’s defeat, the game cuts to an anime ending scene with X looking over the cliff he stands on, watching Sigma’s Palace fall apart. The credits begin. The anime switches from X to Dr. Cain watching Dr. Light’s message of X’s creation and situation.

In the original MMX after X defeats Sigma, X still stands on the edge of the cliff watching Sigma’s palace collapse, but there is narrating text rising up from the bottom of the screen, an epilogue of a sort. It says X is “exhausted” and must he keep fighting, and asks the player “How long will X’s pain last?” and those suggest that he seems human. Mega Man X is capable of feeling tired and experiencing physical and emotional pain, especially after losing his bosom buddy :3 Zero.     

Then the game shows X running down the highway in the late night, and slowly the sky begins to light up as the sun is rising. Now the credits are showing, and then there is also a list of the mavericks that X fought in each stage. Then the Boss Mavericks are listed, along with an image of them. Then Vile, then Sigma, and then last and the best, Zero. My sis and I went like, “Awwwww, Zerooooo.” It was sort of an In Memoriam sort of moment. Finally the list says “And YOU as Mega Man X” as X does his dash move into the new day. Then the actual credits begin.

---------------SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!  Kinda sorta...----------------

Comparing Zero's death in both video games:

In MMX, X only kneels down next to Zero, and only Zero speaks.

“My power is fading fast…You are more powerful than I thought. Maybe you will defeat Sigma…”

In MM: MHX, after X defeats Vile, he runs up to Zero, kneels down and picks him up, holds him close so he can see him and talk. X talks too; it is a conversation between both Reploids, rather than a one-character speech. The background music is piano; it is the same song that plays during this scene in the original game. It sounds much more endearing an emotional here. In this game there are voice actors, so you hear X and Zero’s voices, and Zero sounds like he’s really in pain (because robots don’t feel pain, but Reploids are a kind that do). Their facial expressions can change. X wants to get Zero fixed but Zero tells him to leave him and defeat Sigma.

ZERO: “I’m always telling you to be more careful. Now look at me…”

X: “Don’t talk, Zero! We gotta get you fixed up!”

ZERO: “No… [you go on ahead]. Sigma is close…very close…”

I didn’t notice (after so many times of getting to that part in the original) that Zero’s lower body is missing until I got to this part in Maverick Hunter X. I thought, Oh, man, he’s in really bad shape. Where are his leg—oh.”

What really makes it harder for me to watch is the part when Zero stops talking. X, (and whoever plays the game) hear only the electric sound coming from the broken Zero. Then his head falls limp in X’s arms…I know they're robots/Reploids but  it's still emotional and sad.  I would have to say that the game was enhanced in so many ways in this PSP version.

@,@