Mega Man: The Power Battle is a cool little novelty, taking the formula of Mega Man and converting it into a fighting game taking down the Robot Masters from their respective games as either Mega Man, Proto Man, or Bass. For what it is it's kind of fun, though if you have played most of the classic series, you'll have no problem playing this game. This has got to be the easiest fighting game I've played not because I'm familiar with the core gameplay (I mean I am), but with the continue system. Every time you die and put in another credit, you resume the gameplay with the opponent's health remaining unchanged after taking some damage. I experienced everything in like half an hour, and there was no incentive for me to keep playing. I recommend it to those who love to explore the weird world of Mega Man spinoffs, but don't expect much from this one.

I have a bit of history of hearing about this particular Capcom series as I've caught a few glimpses of the title and the character itself, whether it's through re-releases via smaller arcade machines or in compilations, or character appearances like Marvel vs. Capcom. I first picked up Strider 2014 for my PS4 and was fascinated by its gameplay, but never got far into it, and I wanted to experience the 1989 arcade release. After wasting money by purchasing the game individually from Capcom Arcade Stadium, I delved into the whole game, and my thoughts on it... eh.

First things first, I love the setpieces and cinematic flair that was implemented in the game, and probably for 1989 standards, it looked impressive visually. Strider himself looks impressive too as I love his acrobatic nature when he jumps and flips in the air, swinging his plasma sword toward enemies, but controlling Strider himself is a different story. It's not terrible, but Strider feels stiff to control as some of the enemies are a chore to hit without dying several times to finally strike them down, including the bosses in the second half, and don't even get me started on the final boss. The stages themselves are ok albeit kind of cheap in areas like the crusher in the Air Fortress stage where you think you'll reach the top with no problem until a drone comes to ruin your day, and the majority of the final level as examples. At least the checkpoints are lenient so you can continue where you left off. When I beat the game, I never felt a sort of satisfaction when clearing the levels I'd overcome, more of a sign that I was done with the game entirely.

Strider might've been impressive for the time but it has its issues, and while I'm not a big fan of the game, I can see why others have a soft spot for this one.

MultiVersus is the definition of a mediocre fighting/party game. A crossover with all of the Warner Bros IPs sounds cool on paper but falls flat in its gameplay. If I can describe the gameplay for MultiVersus, it'll be the "button-mash to win" type. It's definitely like Smash Bros, but for that series there is some skill involved to take down other players; MultiVersus has none of that. I wish I spent more time on this before the Open Beta was shut down until its eventual full release in 2024, but I've seen about everything the game has to offer. I also hate how the developers monetize an Open Beta with microtransactions and offer Deluxe Editions, and the fact that this won Best Fighting Game last year that could've been given to other games such as King of Fighters XV is beyond me.

What makes a video game sequel unnecessary to exist? Video games are no strangers when it comes to sequels, and the sole reason these follow-ups exist is to capitalize on a popular game, but it can also be a way to expand on these previously-told stories or create new ones in this expanded universe they want to envision. Sequels can range in quality, but they garner attention and that's why they're so common in different mediums, but sometimes, stories come to an end with the intent of the producer moving on from a project to another. But with a major franchise such as Mega Man in the hands of a big corporation such as Capcom, they can greenlight more sequels on a particular franchise going against the creator's intentions, and this was the case with Mega Man X6. Releasing a year after X5 and a year after the release of the PlayStation 2, X6 was solely made just to continue with the series and obviously money; and after experiencing X6 myself, yeah, this does feel like it was made in a year. This was where the X series started to dip in quality as the game was criticized for its sloppy level design and its newly implemented system, and while I agree with these opinions, I didn't have an awful experience compared to most, and I'll touch upon why that is.

The gameplay is more of the same as previously, are you surprised? Added to X's arsenal is Zero's Z-Saber; it has its own designated button and can be used to slice down enemies and blocks that are in your way. It took some getting used to when having both the X-Buster and Z-Saber in X's hands, but once I did, the more I started to love the hybrid as there are some instances where the saber can be more effective to slash down than just primarily shooting, and that was genuinely the most fun I had with the game. Let's move on to the Armor Upgrades as we got two new sets in X's collection. The Blade Armor is nothing special except for its noteworthy mechanic the Mach Dash; when holding the jump button for like five seconds, X will perform a quick air dash that covers a lot of distance. The last new armor set is the Shadow Armor. When equipped, X can walk and wall climbs on spikes, his normal shot fires shurikens randomly at three different angles, and his charge shot produces a powerful Z-Saber slash, but he cannot air dash and is unable to use special weapons. This is a better version of the Gaea Armor in X5 and is easily the best armor set in the game, but similar to X5, you cannot equip them unless you got the whole set, which again, is kind of dumb. The Falcon Armor returns from X5 but the rocket move has been nerfed to a one-second invincible air dash, which is kind of a bummer, but it's understandable why they did this. Now if you're playing this game for the first time, stick to the Falcon Armor until you obtain the armor sets, because armorless X sucks dick in this game, and it feels as though the levels were designed around the armor sets more than just simply tweak them for all playable version of X. It is possible to beat the game without them, but you'll be suffering through hoards of enemies and death spikes that you cannot see on the bottom of your feet. Zero plays the same as before, meaning he's still fun to play, so I don't need to explain his move set again.

Let's move on to the sole reason why people hate Mega Man X6 so much, the stages. Now outside of a few areas such as the insta-kill ice blocks in Blizzard Wolfang's stage or the circular mini-bosses in Blaze Heatnix's stage, I didn't find the Maverick stages to be that bad. I think they're kind of fun if you're someone like me who plays Mega Man X games carelessly, progressively moving forward while taking damage. The second reason why people hate some of these stages is the aggressively annoying task of saving the Reploid hostages. X6 expands upon the Reploid system by containing every Maverick stage with injured Reploids with a total of 128 to collect. Some of these Reploids give you nothing, but some carry parts, so it's more of a requirement to rescue them in order to obtain them. Here's the catch however; there is a common enemy in the game called Nightmare Viruses, and you have to destroy them because if you don't destroy them in time when they're near a Reploid, they'll brainwash them into a Maverick and you have no choice but to destroy them, and when that happens, that hostage you failed to save is permanently gone, and so does the specific parts some of them carry. Your only choice into rescuing them all without failure is by resetting the game and reloading your save. Now I've failed to save like 10 hostages, and I think most of the spots weren't too bad, but locking you out of an important piece that is useful for upgrading your abilities is terrible game design and should never be allowed in a video game.

The problem I have with the stages themselves is that they're not consistent when it comes to difficulty. Mega Man X6 is cited as the hardest game in the series but not for good reasons as I've touched upon earlier. While the stages have their moments, the Mavericks themselves are piss easy, and some can be easily shot down in less than ten seconds (well except for Infinity Mijinion). The first half I was competent in persevering without much issue outside cheap deaths here and there, but the second half takes everything about good level design and chucks it out of the window. Gate's stages have got to be one of the worst final levels in all of Mega Man, and I only played most of the mainline classic series and about half of its subsequent sub-series. It feels like a test of requirements than a test of skill. Let me explain what I mean by this. Gate Stage 1 has you plummet down to the laboratory and the first thing you see when you hit the ground is a wall of spikes. You cannot wall jump or else instant death, so the two options available are using Ice Burst and using the Blade Armor to air dash or utilizing the Shadow Armor to climb up the wall of spikes, and this depends if you have these armor sets. And this was with X because Zero can get through this efficiently with his double jump as X6 was never designed well with those two Maverick Hunters in mind. Gate Stage 2 is the worst level in the game, bar none, as it culminates into one big shitshow. There are totem poles you have to defeat to progress with moving vertical platforms and blue orb-like enemies that are a bitch to kill, and the nicknamed "impossible jump" if you're using the Shaow Armor as X. There is a trick to get across by sliding down the wall as close to the bottom as possible and dash off the wall and release the charge shot and then use the Giga Attack while you're charging up, and after the animation is over, release your second charge shot to reach the platform. I for the life of me cannot pull this off without bumping X's head into the ceiling, so I gave up on it; not to mention, this stage is split into two parts, meaning if you decide to quit and equip another armor set like the Blade Armor as I did, you have to defeat High Max again and then make your way to Gate. This section of the level for X is abysmal as this is a stark contrast to playing as Zero as he has a much easier section compared to what pisspoor design X received. Gate himself is a jerkish boss to this already jerkish stage. He'll follow you around and then eventually send out moderate-sized orbs that vary in color and abilities that you have to shoot or swing with your sword by getting one of the six shots to hit Gate himself. This fight was hell as you have bottomless pits to worry about, and the battle drags on forever and can release his orbs and destroys the platforms whenever he feels like it. After finally defeating him, my response to all of the suffering was, "fuck this dude, and fuck this stage." The final stage shouldn't be stressful to take care of as it consists of the traditional boss rush we all know at this point, and then defeat Sigma, who was honestly a pushover this time around. The second half felt like whiplash, and I was happy to be done with the game. If you want to learn the "Leap of Faith," check out this YouTube Short here.

https://youtube.com/shorts/xC3V_WnhWAs?feature=share

Before I wrap things up, here are my favorite songs to come out of X6's soundtrack. Blizzard Wolfang's Stage exemplifies the theme of an icicle cavern extremely well as this is my favorite when it comes to Mega Man ice themes. Metal Shark Player's Stage nails the theme of an industrial factory the game was trying to go for. I love the futuristic but sort of creepy vibe in Ground Scaravich's stage as I teleport through randomly-generated sections and destroy the totem poles that are blocking my path. As much as I loathe this fight, Gate's theme is my favorite song to come out of Mega Man X6, and it's a good thing that it's great because you'll be hearing it through dozens of loops. Naoto Tanaka was the sole composer of the game's soundtrack and he previously worked on X5's soundtrack as well, and I think X6 was his best work when it comes to composing Mega Man music, and this soundtrack alone was the best thing to come out of this game.

Mega Man X6 was a mess from start to finish. While I enjoyed the soundtrack and its consistent gameplay, its difficulty was inconsistent with pisspoor level design and fundamentally flawed ideas that aggravate the player like the Nightmare system and the perma-death for the Reploid hostages. It felt like it was made fast and cheap, and it was made fast and cheap. While I think it's a bit overhated, it's my least favorite game in the PS1 trilogy and I wouldn't call this a guilty pleasure game as much as I wanted to. This is a sequel that shouldn't have been made.

Altered Beast can be defined by a single word, depressing. It's a barebones beat 'em-up game where you jump, punch, and kick your way to five colorless levels that ramp up in difficulty (sometimes) with drab music playing in the background. The transformations are kinda cool and OP and a few of the bosses can be taken down in seconds if done correctly.

The main issue I have with this game is the difficulty. It's an arcade game that was ported to the Genesis, I get that, but it can be all over the place depending on how you play. Your health bar can be drained quickly if you're not careful and this can lead to draining all of your lives in seconds.

Altered Beast might've been impressive at the time, but I don't consider this to be a Genesis classic.

Ah, Knockout City, a multiplayer game with a unique concept that unfortunately didn't stick around for long. The idea of converting dodgeball into 3v3 matches is a neat one, and it was fun playing some matches online and trying out the new game modes, but after that, there just wasn't enough to keep me engaged for much longer. Sucks to see it go, and the first trailer they've shown off didn't do the game much justice, which is a shame, because it's a decent game. Even though the servers have shut down, I look forward to seeing what Velan Studios has in the future.

When talking about video game franchises, some things must come to an end at some point. Nothing can last forever in that regard, whether it's a spinoff of that said series or just business decisions that can affect a game's development. Video games, just like any other medium in today's society, have their unique ways of ending things. A story can end from start to finish in one game, and then the next numerical entry provides another story for us to tell, or they can leave us with an ending or cliffhanger and continue where it left off in the next installment. This game's subject is more on the latter side, as developers/producers want to conclude a story they've told us through previous entries and move on to a new project. What needs to be properly executed when saying farewell to a beloved series is well, the finale. It requires a suitable conclusion of what came before it and not vice versa, or it becomes a jumbled mess; and in the case of Mega Man X5, it falls somewhere in the middle. For how it wanted to end as Keiji Inafune intended, I think it's a solid way to end the series, but there are those particular parts sprinkled in there that just stick out like a sore thumb that left my experience of X5 to be a mixed bag.

The game opens with a new minor antagonist named Dynamo contacting a mysterious voice, which isn't mysterious at all because it's Sigma; hey at least X5 is aware of that because he appears way early on in the game. Anyway, once you begin the intro stage, you are interrupted by loads of text coming from Alia, a Reploid who works as a navigator and operator for the Maverick Hunters. This was where I start pointing out my first issue with X5, the pacing.

She delivers information about recent objectives and Maverick spottings while also guiding X and Zero in the field. There's nothing wrong about giving a little more context as to what's going on in the stage they're in, but she disrupts the Maverick Hunters with loads of dialogue about how to play the freaking game. There's nothing wrong about needing a tutorial for newcomers, but keep in mind, this is the fifth entry to a game that was supposed to be the last in the series, so why do they feel the need to implement it in there? It's a design hindrance to those who have played the previous installments beforehand. This unfortunately carries out to the Maverick stages, informing us of some situations that a first-time player might realize without needing that much text.

What I love about the opening stages of the Mega Man X games is how they start you off with energetic music that'll hype you up while learning the controls. They give off great first impressions of the game, providing a sense of speed and excitement with an appropriate length that doesn't affect the pacing. For X5, I just skim-read through the text as I wanted to progress further, but even that felt long. I feel as if they wanted the same duration to clear an opening stage similar to the previous ones by throwing in text because when we take that away, the stage itself is relatively short.

Anyway, after defeating the Sigma Head, someone occupied Eurasia (an old space colony) and took control of it, scattering a virus and using its gravity systems to set a collision course toward Earth. That someone in question was Dynamo himself, the one I mentioned earlier. The Maverick Hunters have 16 hours before Eurasia wreaks havoc, and they plan on using a large particle cannon named Enigma, but that needs to be upgraded for it to succeed. Signas, the new commander, assigns X and Zero to grab the necessary parts to upgrade the Enigma (with the assistance of Douglas the engineer) before it's too late. To make things difficult, Sigma scattered the Sigma Virus all over the world as you can see through gameplay with those flying Sigma Heads.

I won't talk about the gameplay for too long, as X and Zero play similarly to how they were in X4. Let's start with the minor improvements; you can now switch to either X or Zero, depending on the stage you selected. Yeah, in the character select screen, you still have to choose either Maverick Hunter to start with, but after the opening stage, you can freely choose who you want to play in a particular level. If you're playing this blind, pick X because as a bonus, you get the Fourth Armor from X4 right at the start, as in the whole set. If you choose Zero first, X loses his Fourth Armor permanently, and you're left with his Z-Buster, which sucks. I know the game says X is great for casuals, and Zero is great for veteran players, but I had a much easier time with him compared to X if I'm being honest. I don't know if it's just my multiple playthroughs of the game, but I feel as though the Maverick stages were made with Zero in mind, while I feel the final stages were made with X in mind.

The stages themselves though kinda suck, but before I mention a few of these levels, let's talk about the names of the Mavericks. In the international release back in 2000, the Mavericks were named after members of Guns N' Roses. This was all done by Alyson Court, Claire Redfield's voice actress from Resident Evil 2. She explains in an interview that her then-husband was a massive fan of the band, and that's how we got names such as Axle the Red, Grizzly Slash, and Squid Adler. I think that was a neat little reference, but unfortunately, the Legacy Collection (where I played X5) have changed them back to their original names, and that makes me kinda sad because I'll never witness the true legendary title that was Duff McWhalen.

Back to what I was saying about the level design, there are certain stages that I found to be quite a nuisance. For Spike Rosered/Axle the Red's stage, there are those thorns that spring up when you get close to them when hanging on the rope, and that shit made me fall through bottomless pits a few times. Tidal Whale/Duff McWhalen's stage was a boring slog, as it's a slow auto-scrolling level with three mini-bosses to defeat. Not to mention there is a Light capsule that requires obtaining the Maverick's weapon, meaning I have to back and do all of that boring shit again. Volt Kraken/Squid Adler's stage was the worst level for me as we start with the Ride Chaser with a jump I never had time to react with when starting the stage up for the first time. There are eight plasma balls to obtain to break the wall if you want to reach the castle, but accomplishing that while trying to destroy the walls and not fall to my death was a pain in the ass. It doesn't end there as I make my way down to those mechanisms I have to hit to open those locked doors that remain open for a limited time. Doing these with X was really annoying, but doing them with Zero wasn't all too bad.

X and Zero can now crouch in this game; I don't know why they implemented it now when numerous entries in the series can be suitable for it, but it's a nice little edition. Another minor thing I want to get out of the way is the Injured Reploids; Reploids you can save and be rewarded with an extra life and get a bit of your health back. Again, nothing major, but were welcome editions.

Now let's get to the Armor Parts. I already mentioned the returning Fourth Armor, but there are a total of four armor sets that X can obtain. In the first four Maverick stages, X can obtain parts for the Falcon Armor. I won't get into part specifics, but X can gain the ability to fly while gaining invincibility for a limited time. This feature alone can break the game in half, making the second half feel trivial, but it's so damn fun to use. The other armor added to X5 is the Gaea Armor; collecting the four parts allows X to walk and wall jump on spikes, push blocks, and can charge up his X-Buster fast, but at the cost of slow movement speed, forbids the use of the Maverick weapons, and cannot use the air dash. I only use this armor just to get the remaining heart tanks I needed, but other than that, this armor is useless. Now the way we obtain the armor is a different story. Since the Sigma Virus is spreading around the planet, Dr. Light feels it's unsafe to equip them one at a time, so instead we can't use the armor until all the parts are collected, which is super lame. I get this is a dire situation happening in the plot, but this kills the satisfaction by obtain the parts piece by piece, and obtaining them this way feels like you're making progress throughout. Now Zero doesn't have the cool armor sets as X does, but he does have the same techniques from X4 we can unlock again, which is nice. Finally, we have the Ultimate Armor for X, and Black Zero for well... Zero. Originally cheat codes from Mega Man X4 can now be obtained near the end of the game. The Ultimate Armor is a modified Fourth Armor that increases special weapon energy and can perform the Nova Strike an unlimited amount of times. Black Zero enhances Zero's defense and saber power and increases his weapon energy, and that's about it. These are the best armors in the game and are nice endgame unlockables, and that's all I can say about them.

You know, talking about the armors kind of undermines the emphasis on the new parts system. Ok, so every time you clear or exit a level, you are rewarded with parts that you can augment your armor with, like faster movement speeds, higher jumps, powerful shots, and stuff like that, but you're limited to the amount that you can handle, and if I'm being honest, I barely used this. I never really knew what to do with these parts until I looked up a few reviews (specifically SomecallmeJohnny), and I didn't realize we can do that in X5, but I genuinely believe you're better off without them. I play the game how I originally played it like with the previous X games without needing to touch the new shit.

Another thing that can slightly impact your playthrough of Mega Man X5 is the Hunter Rank. After a Maverick stage is completed, you'll be rewarded with a rank by how fast you cleared it with the highest being SA. I didn't know what they meant when on my first run of X5, but after doing a little research, it turns out it can impact the upcoming Mavericks I face. Let me explain, Alia gives me two options; either "Weapons & Life" or "Weapons & Energy." If I pick life, that basically means I gain an extra life, but if I select the latter, that'll provide me with more weapon energy for the Maverick Hunters. When entering the boss room, there should be a "level #" on the bottom of their health meter, and the increased weapon energy depending on my rank can decrease the level for the Maverick I'm facing, or as how I describe it, whether you want the game a bit easier or harder for the first half of the entire game. The reason I say the first half is because when fighting them again in the final level (obviously), they come back with longer health bars with the same level, and I don't see my ranking until the end credits, so the second half is pointless. When discovering and learning more about the parts system and Hunter Rank, the more I feel they're convoluted and underdeveloped.

Speaking of underdeveloped, I feel the same way when it comes to its story. I feel as though the story has some plot holes that left me with some questions, like with Dynamo. I know he's the one responsible for the whole Eurasia crisis, but I don't know what the hell happened to him after fighting the hunters just for sport. I know Mega Man games don't have the greatest stories out there; hell, X4, my favorite game in the series has a messy story. Certain things were left unanswered, and this is no different from how I feel about X5's story and character development.

There are three endings you can obtain in Mega Man X5; two ending for X (good and bad) and Zero's ending, with all of them leading to the same fate and conclusion, but are worth checking out if you're curious or want to be a completionist. Though the bad ending can be total RNG when you reach the point where the Enigma cannon was unsuccessful and have to proceed with a new plan, which in all honesty depends on luck. Similar to my experience with X3, X5 has an overreliance on backtracking, with all of the armors and multiple endings I can achieve, not to mention the heart tanks that X nor Zero can get when switching characters, so it feels as if I have to do multiple playthroughs.

I feel the story overall is ok. I think X5's ending does a fine job of concluding the series as Inafune intended so he can work on the Mega Man Zero series, but as we all know by now, Capcom made a sixth installment with Inafune which sort of retcons the endings.

I like to share a few of my favorite songs from the X5 soundtrack before I wrap things up. I love the remix for Bubbly Crab's Stage from Mega Man X2 that was used in Tidal Whale/Duff McWhalen's Stage. There are a few songs from older titles that were arranged as if the soundtrack was a celebratory piece to give the proper sendoff to the X series. The Boss theme is my favorite standard boss theme in the series so far, symbolizing the intensity and if the Mavericks' fate was decided upon. X vs. Zero is my favorite song to come out of X5, symbolizing their destined duel and their awaited fate. The Credits theme is a perfect way to end the X series if it was only concluded with this mainline entry. It feels as if we're rolling through memories of someone you've been with through all of the hardships you've faced. I wouldn't say this is better than X4's soundtrack, but it's still solid overall.

Mega Man X5 feels like another mixed-bag entry in the series. While I think the story and music are decent, everything else they've added to the table feels like it's tacked on, vague, and underutilized, and I feel as if the team was adding things just for the sake of adding things. While this isn't my least favorite game in the series, this is another one I don't see myself replaying the most.