Vile goes through the exact same stages as X with small changes, the major difference being himself of course but also the same freaking theme song playing for every stage. Also, his story can be summed up in 1 word: jealousy. Like X, Vile has a completely unique story to him with voiced dialogue against every major character. It’s actually everyone’s love-to-hate tutorial boss Vile! I knew this was going to happen before I played the game as it’s already been about fifteen years, but if I played this at release I probably would not have expected Vile to become playable over easy choices such as Zero. To be honest, I’m still not sure what to think of this change but I believe I came up with a reason for it.Īfter you beat the game as X, you actually unlock a different character to play as unlike the original! And surprisingly no, it’s not Zero or Sigma. But on the other hand, it’s not like the collectables actually changed places they were just switched around. On one hand, I wasn’t against this change since Capcom tried to give me a new experience by exploring the stages all over again. After I got the dash boots, finding the remaining power-ups was a piece of cake, but I think it’s easy to understand my confusion.
I knew that spot required another upgrade that I didn’t own yet, so I didn’t bother looking there but alas, it was actually there. Were upgrades handled differently in this game instead of being found in stages? The answer is no the dash boots upgrade were actually in Flame Mammoth’s stage, in a spot you could not access in the original if you didn’t have the head part. My knowledge of the original was being used against me and I didn’t like it. This made me really paranoid during my first playthrough of the game because I just had no idea what to do. But when you reach said place, he’s… not there? When I went to other stages to search for parts in places I remember power-ups being, sometimes I got a heart- or energy tank but mostly 1-ups. Light awaits you here with the dash boots, which are essential to X’s movement. Veterans of the franchise know that it’s common knowledge to go to Chill Penguin’s stage first because Dr. Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X pulls a stunt that I’m still conflicted on whether I like it or not. But I can hear you asking ”well Neppy, you wonderful fan of the Mega Man franchise, why does this paragraph say mostly?”, and there’s a good reason for that. Another neat- and harmless addition was giving each boss some dialogue before the battle, to give them a bit more personality.
The stages are also the same with the exception of the final stages which was a change I liked since it took the Mega Man 1 approach. X still controls very fluid and has access to all the power-ups and weapons he got in the original game–even a very top secret power-up nobody knows about from this almost 30-year-old game.
On that front, I’m glad Capcom made the right decision and kept the gameplay pretty much exactly the same. Mega Man X is still a timeless game, and any additions to the gameplay would be hit- or miss with the fans. The most important thing that Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X had to do was… not change the gameplay too much.