Mega Man X4

God damn this is a long one...

Mega Man X4, or as I like to call it "Zero's Bad Day," for the Playstation, and later Sega Saturn. I think this game plays really well, but there's a lot of mixed feelings on it across the board. On the one hand, you've got a new control scheme that feels very fluid and fun, but others prefer the the classic controls. You've got a lot of new elements to the game, but a few really shitty ones as well. The animated cutscenes look alright, but once again, the local team completely fucked up the sound (this is much worse than Mega Man 8). The story answers a lot of questions and sets up the next game well, but Jesus Christ the motivations of the characters here are so vague and stupid. You'll see what I mean in a bit.

I think the general amount of flak aimed at this game is a mix of hatred of the very shitty job the local team did dubbing this game, and a bit of nostalgia from the older X games. The nostalgia applies a bit to X5 as well, though it does have some problems. X6 is a beast all on it's own, but X4 I feel is pretty good.

New Features

• Zero is available from the start, and has his own separate story.
• Sub-tank limits have been lowered to two, but they will always fill up a little after each energy pellet you grab, not just when you are full energy.
• The Weapon Tank is also added to refill weapon energy, although it's unlikely you'll need it. There's also an item that increases your starting lives from two to four, called the EX tank.
  
• This is the first game in which before each boss fight, the boss and the hero speak. This tradition continues with the rest of the X series, and even into the Zero and ZX series.
• Also this is the first instance of the big flashing WARNING over the screen, and this would come in to just about every platforming Mega Man game afterwords.

Story

I've played this game several times, looked at online analysis, read the script word for word, and it still doesn't make sense to me. Welp, we'll give it a shot anyway. Since you can choose X or Zero, the story changes a bit depending on who you play. There is no set canon as to which story happens, so we'll just assume they both happen at the same time with slight alterations or whatever.

By the way, I've spoiled all the other games so far because story in Mega Man is poison, but this is the first time I'll be spoiling the events out of the order in which they take place. This is because when you look at the story in it's entire context, it makes no sense. Fair warning if you give a shit (you shouldn't).

So after the defeat of Sigma in X3, everyone's getting pretty pissed about this Maverick shit. Dr. Cain decides to sanction a new reploid militia to assist the Maverick Hunters, and builds three new reploids to deal with them, General the leader, Colonel the strategist and second in command, and his sister Iris. Don't ask me how reploids can be related, maybe they had the same motherboard? (HURRR).

After about six months after X3, the Maverick Hunters, and the public, becomes concerned about this new Reploid army's, named the Repliforce, methods. Tensions begin to build. Meanwhile, Zero has been having nightmares where he's waking up covered in blood - or motor oil or whatever the hell reploids have in them - and he see's a shadowy figure telling him he must destroy his rival's creation! Zero yells to the shadowy figure, wanting to understand who he is and what he means, but the figure walks away. The shadowy figure is Dr. Wily if you were paying attention.

After some time, General is meeting with another shadowy figure (doesn't anyone believe in lighting their meeting rooms in this series?), and the figure tells General that he must destroy the Maverick Hunters because, in their efforts to please the humans, they will destroy many innocent Reploids. The General rebukes his notion, and the shadowy figure tells him he'll soon change his mind.

A few weeks later, all hell breaks loose. A city built in to the sky called, "Sky Lagoon," comes under attack, and Maverick Hunter Intelligence indicates the Repliforce is behind it! X and Zero teleport away to investigate and come across Magma Dragoon, leader of the 14th Unit of Maverick Hunters. He says a Maverick destroyed the power core of the city and it's going to crash into the city below it! X and Zero have no choice but to teleport out to keep from getting caught in the wreckage, and they go down to the crash site. The crash kills thousands of reploids and humans, it's about the equivalent of a nuclear bomb going off in Manhattan. X and Zero vow vengeance for this atrocity. Remember the Alamo!

Zero comes across Iris, who is injured (what she is doing there is never explained). Iris, for future reference, is Zero's Navigator at the HQ and a love interest of Zero's. So to answer your question, yes Robots can love. X/Zero fight a giant Mechlaniod dragon, and come across a uniformed Repliforce commander, Colonel, who claims he is there looking for his sister, but X/Zero acting on the evidence against Repliforce, tell Colonel he needs to disarm and come back with them for questioning.

Here's where things get stupid. Colonel, rather than doing the rational thing and clearing the name of the Repliforce, who have been linked now to the murders of thousands of humans and reploids, decides to cop an attitude and risks all the lives of his militia, because he doesn't want to drop his sword. Does Dr. Cain install an idiot chip in all the reploids he builds?

If we really stretch things, we might be able to assume the Repliforce would still be found responsible, as the evidence has probably been planted against them in the first place, but I'm not keen on giving Capcom a lot of credit for their stories. X and Zero worry that the actions of Colonel will just cast further suspicion on the Repliforce, and they'll be labeled Mavericks. Guess what happens?

The next day, or week, or month, or whatever the hell passage of time has taken place, the General makes a speech to his bots in blue, that he doesn't like being called a Maverick, and that the best way to deal with this is to form a nation of only reploids, you know, the very definition of going Maverick. Unlike Sigma's revolt however, the Repliforce feels they are not revolting, but defending. The best way to defend themselves of course, is to attack the humans. Very logical indeed. The shadowy figure (it's Sigma ok? There's no way it could be anyone else!), laughs and menacingly says "what will you do now my Maverick Hunters? Bwahahahaha!"

Anyway, the coup against the humans begins, and the Repliforce is labeled Maverick. During this time, or maybe at the Sky Lagoon incident happened, Magma Dragoon joins up with the Repliforce and betrays the Maverick Hunters. At the same time, a new reploid joins the force named Double, a fat, clumsy, dopey yellow reploid. Who the hell would build something like that? Double tells X about the coup and X worries they are jumping to conclusions. Double then basically tells him to get moving. and X is instantly like "I'm OFF!" You got over that pretty fast X...

Double will serve as X's navigator, and Iris as Zero's navigator, and she is extremely worried what will happen between Zero and Colonel.

X and Zero are dispatched to face eight Mavericks across the globe. You were wondering when the game would start weren't you? All of the Repliforce make comments about fighting for their duty, and being ordered to destroy X/Zero, except Magma Dragoon, who actually is a Maverick by the definition of the word. He just wanted to fight X/Zero, and "some mysterious guy" offered him power he couldn't refuse. He also let the Sky Lagoon crash into the Earth, and I theorize, that he probably actually caused the crash, starting this whole series of events in motion. I mean, besides them not ever explicitly saying he caused it, there's no reason he couldn't right?

After you defeat four mavericks, Colonel calls out X/Zero. If you're X you get to fight him. If you're Zero, you watch a cutscene, and Iris yells at Zero and Colonel to stop. Colonel tells Zero he won't stop next time, and walks off. Iris tells Zero that she's afraid one of them will end up dead. Zero says, "someone... must... stop... Repliforce!" If you're X, once you beat him, Colonel runs off saying "I'll get you next time Gadget!" See, that's a joke because Mega Man is kind of like a large... nevermind.

Anyway, the Repliforce heads in to space where they built a space colony that has a gigantic fucking laser of doom on it. Colonel and Zero meet at the space port for their final battle, where Zero defeats Colonel. If you're X you fight him too, but canon wise, Zero has to have been the one to kill Colonel for what happens next. Colonel tells Zero to tell Iris that he died happily.

At this point Zero returns to Hunter HQ and finds Iris missing. Worried about what will happen next he heads to the space colony.

In X's story, Double gets a mysterious call telling him to wipe out the reploids. He suddenly turns into a much more dangerous looking Maverick and goes ape shit on Hunter HQ, then heads to the colony. X runs in to him and learns that Double was a... wait for it... A DOUBLE AGENT! Oh you so clever Capcom! "I trusted you Duo!" "Think it over in heaven! Die, X!" Very threatening battle cry I must say. Double was apparently working for someone else outside of Repliforce all along.

Zero on the other hand, is going to have an even worse day. He runs in to Iris, devastated at her brother's death and filled with Rage. She decides she must have vengeance on Zero. and Zero has no choice but to defend himself against her. He critically damages Iris and she's dying... I can't even do this scene justice in text... it is so sad it has to be seen, and by sad. I mean the voice acting. This is the most infamous and damning scene. that proves the local team did not give a shit. Alright, it's still a little sad in the tragedy sense too...

Anyway, Zero gets over this within seconds. because gameplay resumes the instant the cutscene is over. Zero doesn't ask too many questions. X/Zero face General. "There must be alternatives to this meaningless fighting!" says X. "We were labeled Mavericks, what choice did we have to fight? It's too late now X/Zero!" General is a big dude, making you wonder what the point of making him so big was. Anyway after the battle, General is still alive but badly damaged. Too late to deal with that though, as the giant laser of doom is activating without the General's consent. General tells X/Zero that they have to quickly stop it before it is used on Earth!

X and Zero take off for the big revelation, Sigma was behind the whole thing all along! X seems shocked, but I think Zero is more annoyed than anything. X pretty much goes straight into the fight, but Sigma explains a nice backstory through a flash back cutscene to Zero.

Zero was once a Maverick when they found him. Sigma at the time was the leader of the Maverick Hunters, and went to stop him. The fight was brutal and Sigma barely won by smashing the crystal atop Zero's head. This caused Zero's crazy virus to transfer from him to Sigma, and so it is ultimately Zero that is responsible for the Maverick wars... well actually it's Dr. Wily's fault, but you can bet at the end of this day Zero, is going to have some survivor guilt about this shit.

Although at the moment, Zero doesn't seem to give a shit. He literally says "what's your point?" Ah Zero, there's something bad ass about the way you just tell the villain to fuck off. The fight ensues, and as he is being destroyed, Sigma keeps the final weapons kill settings activated or something. The remains of General decide to sacrifice themselves to stop the weapon, while X and Zero escape.

As they are returning to Earth, Zero laments in anguish his inability to save anyone, and worries about his purpose being to destroy his, perhaps only, friend X. X on the other hand is worried that, perhaps it is the fate of all reploids to go Maverick, and tells Zero that he wants him to "take care of him" if X ever goes Maverick. Zero is silent at first, then says, "don't be ridiculous. Now hurry on back." and breaks the communication.

The game ends with some cryptic message by a narrator about X and Zero's imminent battle which is coming soon, next game in fact!

Well that was a bit of a downer. None of the Mavericks were actually Mavericks, Zero lost almost everyone he cares about, and he might have to kill his friend one day, and X is starting to lose all hope for the reploids, and to think it all could have been avoided if Dr. Cain wasn't a shitty programmer and made Colonel less of a cocky ass hole. I think Dr. Cain's starting to get a bigger death count than Wily at this point.

The story is alright, but it would be so much better if the characters motivations didn't seem so contrived. All of them act like their hands are being force, but that's not true at all. It was clear nobody except Dragoon was actually infected by the Sigma virus this time ( a concept that could have worked well in this games favor), but they sure as hell act like they are until it's inconvenient in the story. The best way to enjoy this story is to press the button to skip all the dialog and cutscenes, and think of it this way, kill 8 Mavericks, defeat Sigma. Happy end for all!

Aesthetics
Oh god, I thought I was never going to finish blathering on and on about that story. Geeze! Anyway, this game looks good. 32-bit graphics really work well with the X series better than they do with the classic series, and the classic series didn't even do a bad job with Mega Man 8. The overall pallet is a lot darker than the classic series for sure, but look how fucking depressing this game is. It suits it well. Each stage has a unique look and feel to it, with a boss that fits in well with the stage. This game goes back to the original X1 and X2 style of introducing the bosses, through small cinematics, rather than, where in X3, they just float down from the ceiling. You'll see a boss run along side a train, phase into existence from the cyber-world, or Shroyuken out of the lava.

Magma Dragoon is the best boss in the series. He's a throw back to Ken and Ryu of Street Fighter, and attacks with their moves. Not only that, but his attack pattern is pretty randomized, as he's able to jump in and out of different attacks without any set pattern. He's a tough fight, but doesn't come across as unfair. Did I mention you can fight him with a ride armor? Oh but hell, I'm talking about design now...

The animated cutscenes are considerably improved over Mega Man 8, but not without their flaws. The lip syncing is terrible, but we already know the local team doesn't give a fuck, and the colors contrast pretty dramatically with the game itself, but that's nit picking.

The in game animation is very fluid, and I just love the touches added to dashing, to give you a real sense of speed with it. X has been given a special giga attack charge called, "Nova Strike," that is pretty sweet as well. Pretty good looking game for the time. Sure it's in 2D, but only the numb nuts at SCEA had a problem with that.

Sound
The music is alright, but we're getting into territory where it's getting pretty generic. I've seriously listened to the sound track for this game for several hours in preparation for this review, and I still can't remember any of the songs.

Where the real fuck up is however, is once again in the voice acting. If you thought Mega Man 8 sounded bad, wait till you hear X's voice. It's the same actress, doing the same voice as 8 year old Mega Man. What... The... FUCK? Why was this decision made? X doesn't even sound like that in the fucking Japanese version! You know what he sounds like? Like a young adult male. LIKE YOU WOULD EXPECT HIM TO!

And Zero, Zero, where to begin. Just go back and look at the link to the video above. It was so bad, that the new voice of Zero for Mega Man x8, Command Mission and Maverick Hunter X re-dubbed it for free for the fans. What does that tell you?

And these videos you're watching, they don't even reflect the audio levels of this game. Once again, the game volume is about 20 times louder than the cutscene volume, meaning you won't even hear these terrible voices unless you preemptively turn the game way the fuck up!

Design
X4 has the biggest overhaul in the Mega Man formula by introducing Zero as having a role as big as X in this game. First of all, his buster is gone, traded up for the Z-Saber. This makes Zero a close range melee fighter, who learns new moves as he beats the bosses instead of gaining new weapons. This gives the player two ways to try the game, and it works well.

In general, the stages are easier with Zero who gains abilities like double jump, and his sword takes out most enemies in one hit. X on the other hand, takes out the bosses much easier with their weaknesses, and being able to stay away from them. Both styles are fun to play as, and require learning the patterns in different ways.

The final fight with Sigma is completely different with X than it is with Zero, and it really helps the game here. Zero would continue to be a playable character and introduce his own gimmicks as the series went on.

The levels are nice, but a little bit on the short side, and I wish the weapons were more useful, although lightning Web is a cool idea. The only level that drastically sucks is Jet Stingray's level. I hate it when they make these levels. It's basically a 2D version of a rail shooter. It's nearly impossible to avoid taking damage without just memorizing an exact route to take jumping up and down in the level. I just hate these levels.

Cyber Peacock's stage is pretty cool though. You get graded by your speed through the level, and rewarded with cool upgrades if you make it through. This level really demonstrates the speed this game wants you to use.

Playability
The engine has been upgraded, and I think this is why I enjoy the PSX games more than the SNES games. I love the feel Dash Jumping has, and speeding through the levels is a lot of fun. One new trick is you can hover with X for a little bit after you get the leg upgrade by tapping A after you jump. The funnest thing to me about these games, are the way they feel, and even though X6 is designed like shit, I still like playing it because it feels so fluid.

Extras

• Boss Order: Web Spider, grab the leg upgrade if your X. Then do Split Mushroom, you'll get double jump if you're Zero. Then Cyber Peacock, which will take practice to get all the items no matter how far into the game you are. Go Storm Owl after wards with X, but if you're Zero save him for last and go to the next Maverick. Magma Dragoon is an easy fight with the ride armor, run back to Web Spider, and grab the missing heart tank, then go to Frost Walrus, Jet Stingray, Slash Beast and finally back to Magma Dragoon to get your missing body piece if you're X. Yes, I have a strategy.
• Use Lightning Web as a platform to jump off of to get to higher areas.
• Lots of Zero's bosses share weaknesses, remember that.
• The top of Frost Walrus's stage is a sweet place to fill up your sub-tanks.
• Sigma is a hard fight, but here's a tip for form 3. The head form of Sigma has two attacks. The first attack blows you towards spikes and is pretty easy to avoid damage. The second attack he sucks you in and spits out debris. This is extremely damaging. You can avoid it by waiting in between where the red and blue heads would spawn, just in case he goes into this attack. Try to avoid the incoming debris, usually a dash will do it, then jump to the right wall and stay there for the attack. You won't be able to get an attack off, but conserving energy for this fight is a must.
• There is an easy mode in the form of hidden armors for X and Zero if you enter a code at the starting screen. I'd give you the code, but it's dependent on which platform you own. Check gamefaqs.

I love this game despite it's flaws, and feel it's better designed overall than X5 and X6. I pick this one up every once in a while and you should too.

Playthroughs
HideofBeasts minimalist speed run (amazing).