This was my introduction to the Mega Man series. All I have to say is WOW! At this point, everyone has wonderfully explained why this game is fantastic, so I'll just go over the aspects that solidified this as one of my favorite 2D platformers of all time! Mega Man X is an absolute thrill ride from beginning to end, never breaking the pace in jarring ways. Very few platformers, let alone Mega Man games, are able to accomplish this. It also manages to be challenging without becoming frustrating and there are so many awesome details that show Capcom poured everything they had into this beauty, such as how some levels change when clearing other ones. As good as X2 and X4 were, they were not as consistently well-designed as X. This game is the definition of lightning in a bottle and challenges the belief that there is no such thing as a perfect game. If you haven't played it yet, play it RIGHT NOW!