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Mega Man X6

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Mega Man X6
Developer(s)Capcom Production Studio 3
Publisher(s)Capcom
Platform(s)PlayStation, PC
ReleaseJapanNovember 29th, 2001
United States December 4th, 2001
European UnionFebruary 8th, 2002
South Korea 2003 (PC)
Genre(s)Platformer
Mode(s)Single player

Mega Man X6 is the sixth main game in the Mega Man X series by Capcom, and is the first to not be directed by series creator Keiji Inafune. It was released in 2001 for the PlayStation. The game was released for the PC in 2003 as well, but only in Asia. The game was re-released on January 10th, 2006 as part of the Mega Man X Collection for the GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Story

The story begins three weeks after the Eurasia Incident - with Zero missing, presumed dead, and the Earth's surface rendered uninhabitable - when a Reploid researcher named Gate, curious about the state of the world, stumbles across the Eurasia colony crash site, where finds what he thinks is a piece of debris and takes it back to his lab to analyze it. A week later, Gate is revealed to have gained tremendous power, and as a result becomes Maverick and begins plotting against the Maverick Hunters.

At a Maverick uprising near the crash site of the Eurasia, X comes across a malfunctioning yet powerful Mechaniloid. He battles and weakens it, but suddenly, a hazy, purple form of Zero appears and destroys it. To add to the confusion, a mysterious Reploid named High Max appears, and claims to be investigating something called the "Zero Nightmare". Angered that a Reploid would speak ill of his late friend, X attacks High Max, his shots deflecting harmlessly off Max's powerful armor. High Max shrugs off the attacks, telling X that "he is not wanted" and to "stay away."

Afterwards, an influential group of Reploids begin stirring trouble by spreading rumors about sightings of a mysterious phenomena called Nightmares, which seem to be centered around Zero. Gate's right-hand man, Isoc, gives a speech telling the other Reploids that the Zero Nightmare is pure evil and causing a great deal of chaos throughout the world. He opts to build a Reploid Utopia (akin to General in X4), to protect them from the Nightmare while Gate, the leader of the new Reploid organization, sends eight of his researchers to investigate the eight critical areas where the Nightmares were sighted. This in turn piques X's curiosity, as he doesn't trust Gate or his researchers, and goes to investigate the eight areas himself (there also seems to be a connection between Gate and Alia that Alia is not willing to share). However, the effects of the Nightmare have altered not only the physical state of the areas (some areas becoming completely revamped or plagues with strong winds), but also X's perception of them (shifting lights making it hard to see, or showers of psychosomatic acid rain).

In his mission, he comes face-to-face with the Zero Nightmare, and after destroying it, finds out that Zero is alive and well, simply keeping a low profile to repair his damaged body. X, overjoyed, brings Zero back to Hunter Base, in which Signas asks Zero to help X in their investigation, as the Hunters ranks were greatly dwindled after the Eurasia incident. Zero agrees, and one by one, the eight researchers fall to the hunters.

During that time, Gate had been pondering the existence of Zero, as well as noticing Isoc's somewhat unhealthy obsession with him. But his research comes to a halt when his eight researchers are destroyed by X and Zero. Enraged, Gate challenges them to a fight, and allows them to gain access to his laboratory. High Max is attacked and ultimately destroyed, as well as Isoc, who seemed to malfunction after High Max dies. It is then that Gate reveals his intentions; he was the one who formed the Nightmare out of what he thought was a piece of debris from the crash site, only to have had it analyzed and found out it was a piece of Zero's DNA. He uses the DNA once more to power himself up for a final battle. X attacks Gate, but doesn't destroy him, and in his weakened state, Gate claimed to have one more surprise to unleash upon the hunters.

Apparently, at the crash site, Gate also uncovered the remains of Sigma, the Maverick overlord. Sigma's re-built body was incomplete when unveiled, being only a few weeks old. Sigma then challenges X to a final battle. X arrives at Sigma's chamber and sees his partially-made body, making him look akin to a robotic zombie. A battle ensues, with Sigma's form deceptively more powerful than it looked. Once his first form explodes, Sigma loses all sense of sanity and unveils his second form: a fierce-looking metallic battle body. X triumphs and teleports away with the remains of Gate.

In the end, Zero asks X why he brought Gate back. X tells him he learned that Gate was a former colleague of Alia in the past, and brought him back as a show of mercy.

Characters

Main article: List of Mega Man characters

New characters

Template:Vg-in-universe Gate

An intelligent and well-known Reploid scientist. Gate had created several other Reploids, all of which were extremely advanced and virtually unequaled in their respective fields. However, his colleagues, being unable to properly analyze Gate's specialized Reploids, grew fearful of his skill and plotted to do away with his creations. This led to all of his Reploids being terminated, usually with Gate's colleagues framing them as Mavericks or sabotaging their systems. Those that survived committed suicide out of guilt. Highly angered from this, Gate leaves his research lab and swears revenge.

In the beginning of X6, Gate goes to explore the remains of the Eurasia crash. There, he finds a piece of Zero. Zero's virus-infected DNA caused him to go insane, but, at the same time, also gave him incredible power. With Zero's DNA as a base, he is able to create a far more powerful strain of virus dubbed "Nightmare", as well as develop a powerful and near-indestructible suit of armor for both his creation, "High Max", and himself. He even goes so far as to resurrect the evil Sigma, though the process leaves Sigma both half-complete and half-witted, barely able to move.

Gate is the main villain of X6 and is voiced by Keiji Fujiwara.

Isoc

Gate's mysterious assistant, who is obsessed with finding the original Zero, even going so far as to claim that he knows everything about him. Curiously, he bears a slight resemblance to Dr. Wily from the Classic series. Whether or not Isoc is possibly connected to Wily is unknown.

High Max

A powerful Reploid created by Gate, built supposedly to investigate the Nightmare virus alongside his fellow investigators. In reality, he is Gate's strongest creation, and is nearly invincible to any and all attacks.

Returning characters

Gameplay

The gameplay is very similar to Mega Man X5. The player can select X with the option to outfit him with different armors offering unique abilities (most of which have to be downloaded, as always, through Dr. Light's hidden capsules.) Zero can be unlocked after finding and defeating the Zero Nightmare, bringing his own weapons and techniques to the fold, including a refined Z-Saber fighting style. Both characters can be equipped with various items earned after rescuing Reploids throughout every level, boosting their abilities further.

Items

  • Heart Tank - Extends the life meter for whoever finds them. There is one in each stage.
  • Sub-Tank - There are two of them in the game, and they can be filled with energy pellets for later consumption. It takes 16 pellets worth of energy to completely fill one tank, with large pellets counting for two and full-life pellets counting for four.
  • W-Tank - Can be filled with weapon pellets and used to reload your arsenal.
  • EX Tank - Extends the starting amount of lives from three to five when the player continues from a save or game over.

Armors

Just as in X5, all four pieces of each armor must be found before the armor can be used.

Falcon Armor - A watered-down version of the same armor from X5. As a result, certain abilities have been altered. X starts the game in this armor.

Abilities

  • Air Dash - The flight function is damaged and can only work long enough to enable an Air Dash.

It can also damage weak enemies on contact.

  • Damage reduced by 50%.
  • Falcon Buster - The charge shot is the same laser shot from X5, but it no longer goes through walls. The Buster is now capable of charging weapons (it couldn't in X5).
  • Giga Attack - Showers the screen with lasers.

Blade Armor - Designed with a Samurai motif, this armor uses strength and air mobility as its strong points. The Z-Saber takes the form of a broadsword in this armor.

Abilities

  • Mach Dash - X hovers in place for a moment, then flies in the direction you hold on the D-pad. The Mach Dash can go up, down, left, or right. It can also damage weak enemies on contact.
  • Damage reduced by 50%.
  • Blade Buster - The charge shot fires a drill of plasma that will sometimes drill into an enemy and continues to damage it. Holding Up as you release the shot will instead create an energy-enhanced Z-Saber slash. The buster can also charge weapons.
  • Giga Attack - X fires an energy arc forward from the Z-Saber. This is similar to X's enhanced Z-Saber attack from Mega Man X3.

Shadow Armor - Designed with a ninja motif, this armor excels in some areas and fails in others, making this armor quite unbalanced. The Z-Saber takes the form of a katana and turns orange in this armor.

Abilities

  • Ninja Jump - Holding Up as you jump will result in a higher jump. If X hits a ceiling, he'll stick to it for a while. While sticking, he can shoot a 3-way shot towards the ground. If X equips the Ultimate Buster, he cannot fire ninja star buster shots while hanging from the ceiling.
  • Spike Guard - The armor makes X immune to spikes. Gate's lab is almost impossible to get through without this armor as a result.
  • Hyper Grip - X can hang onto walls without sliding.
  • Damage reduced by 50%.
  • Shadow Buster - The buster's standard shot fires ninja star-like shots in various (and random) forward angles. The charge shot is an extra-powerful Z-Saber slash. This buster cannot use any other weapons.
  • Giga Attack - A pair of energy crescents encircle X, damaging enemies at close range.

Ultimate Armor - The enhanced version of the X4 armor. Available by entering a secret code. When activated, X will start the intro stage in this armor. Unlike X5, the Ultimate Armor does not replace the Falcon Armor, which can still be equipped.

Abilities

  • Air Dash.
  • Hover function.
  • Damage reduced by 50%.
  • Plasma extension - A fully charged X-Buster shot will fire a destructive ball of energy. The ball will leave behind trails that continue to damage enemies.
  • Ability to charge weapons.
  • Nova Strike (renamed as Invincible Dash) - X flies forward in a plasma-powered air dash. Can be used indefinitely.

Black Armor - Upgraded armor for Zero accessed by a code. A method of getting it without a code exists in the game (beat Zero Nightmare at level 4) but it is impossible to do this in a normal game.

Abilities

  • Damage reduced by 50%.
  • Zero is not knocked back at all by damage.
  • Slightly increased Z-Saber attack power.
  • Z-Saber slashes can destroy enemy shots. (The Z-Saber is purple instead of green to show this.)

Maverick bosses

Main article: List of Mavericks
Name Form Stage Copied weapon Learned technique Weakness
Commander Yammark Dragonfly Amazon Area Yammar Option Yammar Option Ray Arrow/Rekkoha
Rainy Turtloid Snapping turtle Inami Temple Meteor Rain Ensuizan (Circle Water Slash) Ice Burst/Z-Saber
Shield Sheldon Scallop Laser Institute Guard Shell Guard Shell Metal Anchor/Rakukojin
Blizzard Wolfang Wolf North Pole Area Ice Burst Hyoroga (Ice Wolf Fang) Magma Blade/Shoenzan
Blaze Heatnix Phoenix Magma Area Magma Blade Shoenzan (Soaring Flame Slash) Ground Dash/Sentsuizan
Infinity Mijinion Water flea Weapon Center Ray Arrow Rekkoha (Splitting Light Command) Guard Shell
Metal Shark Player Hammerhead shark Recycling Lab Metal Anchor Rakukojin (Falling Steel Blade) Meteor Rain/Ensuizan
Ground Scaravich Dung beetle Central Museum Ground Dash Sentsuizan (Spinning Crash Slash) Yammar Option

Criticism

The game is infamous for its poor translation which contains various spelling mistakes and awkward grammar, such as Sigma saying "THE BADDEL HAZ JUSD BEGUNN!", but quotes such as the ones from Sigma (most of them, anyway) are seen as a reference to Engrish and poor video game translations. It also has a bizarre storyline containing numerous continuity errors and unexplained events. Additionally, the game was not dubbed, leaving only Japanese voice-overs in all territories (the voicework was taken out of cutscenes in the Mega Man X Collection, though the in-game voices remained intact.) These issues are widely believed to stem from the game's rushed marketplace entry, allowing little time for quality localization.

The game is also exceptionally hard, and is the first game in the entire X series where, due to substandard level design, the player can become stuck in a level (the only recourse being to kill off all of the character's extra lives and selecting 'Stage Select Screen' on the Game Over menu, as 'Continue' would pit the player right back where he/she got stuck). Because of this, some fans regard this as one of the weakest games in the series.

The game also received criticism due to its disregard of the storyline from Mega Man X5 in which Zero is defeated by Sigma and goes into hibernation (to be awakened in the Mega Man Zero franchise) by inexplicably reviving him shortly into X6. This has resulted in a contradiction to the plot of Mega Man Zero and may mean that Zero has effectively been resurrected twice. However, the ending for X5 was not totally specific about when Zero went into hibernation. Given this unexpected storyline twist, creator Inafune adapted the plot of the Zero series from MMZ2 through MMZ4, advancing a storyline requiring that Zero continue to fight until sometime during the Elf Wars, an event taking place much later in the X series timeline.

However, Zero's ending in the game shows him going into a hibernative state in a small capsule, in which he would awaken 100 years later; he felt he was a threat to Earth, and assured the scientist that all will be fine, because "there is a superior Maverick Hunter", meaning X. This ending is considered non-canon as Zero appears again in Mega Man X7, X8, and Command Mission. One could conclude that Zero's hibernation was interrupted, or that he goes into the capsule sometime after Command Mission .

Differences From The Previous Games

  • This is the first, and only, game under the Megaman name to use live guitars.
  • Unlike earlier games in the series, X6 preserves the Japanese names for each Maverick in the English edition, the exceptions being Shield Sheldon, whose Japanese name is Shieldner Sheldon, and Metal Shark Player, whose Japanese name is Metal Shark Prayer. The latter is either a mistranslation of the intended name, or a reference to his "resurrecting" powers. It is also the first to preserve all the Japanese voices as well; but this is more likely to be a result of the rushed North American localization of the game, which was released only a week after the Japanese version. Most likely, the correct translation should be 'Metalshark Preyer' (the katakana for his name reads Metorushaku Pureiya).
  • X's Ultimate Armor is black in this game instead of the navy blue, as it was in X4 & X5.
  • Zero's spritework got an overhaul for this game; his slashes were changed completely, his double-jump got a summersault motion instead of the older games' method of repeating his usual jumping frames. In addition, his standing motion is leaning back a little more, and his right hand is open instead of being a clenched fist.

Trivia

  • The opening song is "The Moonlight" and "The Answer" by Showtaro Morikubo, the voice actor for X. The ending theme is "I.D.E.A" by RoST. This is one of the few X games to have the opening song appear in the US version.
  • Several of the music tracks from the Japanese release have been altered in the US and European releases. Most noticeable are Zero's theme music (which has altered instruments) and the Opening Stage (which has a guitar rift in the western releases.)
  • Oddly enough, the opening sequence states that 3 weeks have passed from the Eurasia Incident. In Megaman X5, X's ending (without Zero going Maverick) states that 3 years have passed.

References to other Mega Man games

  • The song played when X reunites with Zero is a remix of Zero's Death from the original Mega Man X game.
  • The music in Gate's Lab is a remix of the 3rd Sigma Stage in X2.
  • Holographic versions of Sting Chameleon (Mega Man X), Magna Centipede (X2), and Blast Hornet (X3) are special attacks of Metal Shark Player.
  • Diving replicas of Storm Eagle are the charged attack of Metal Anchor.
  • The reploids in the boss corridor of the intro stage are similar in appearance to Middy and Techno, two hacker Reploids from Mega Man Xtreme.
  • The theme heard when fighting the final form of Sigma is a mix of three: The fight with Sigma's first form in Mega Man X, and both Sigma forms in X2.
  • The Soul Eraser Incident from Xtreme 2 is directly mentioned by Alia in this game.
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