I was never a fan of the original Mega Man games, but Mega Man X... The game is almost thirty by now, I first played it at least twenty years ago, and yet it feels like it didn't age a second. It might be the best glow-up a franchise ever got, with Capcom doing an incredible job in adapting their cute little robot mascot to the SNES generation and the much better hardware it offered them.

Speed, as well as ease of movement, are what defined MMX and set it apart from its predecessor, as for the most part, the game's core remained exactly the same: you move to the right, you shoot things, you jump over gaps, you defeat bosses and steal their powers to destroy other bosses. However, getting rid of screen transitions, along with introducing dashing and wall jumping, completely changed the feel of the game, allowing the player to approach stages and bosses in completely different ways.

That's not to say these were the only important changes. The world of Mega Man was completely redesigned to look more serious. No longer are enemies cute robots with googly eyes, or the bosses funny little men with cute hats led by a grumpy old man. No longer is the music cheerful chiptunes. No, this time we're listening to some metal while some mean looking robot bashes your head against the ceiling (did anyone else think Boomer Kuwanger was really scary as a kid, or was it just me?).

The X franchise may have had its ups and downs, but the original stands as a quintessential action platformer.