The Mega Man of the 90's. Set hundreds of years in the future after the original series that began on the NES, "Mega Man X" reintroduced the franchise for a lot of kids in the 16bit era. While the game retained the original series' bright and colorful look, it was at the same time layered with an edgier art style, darker atmosphere, and a very seriously played story involving rouge robotic special forces units being led by an insane commander out to kill every last human being. You, as Mega Man X, are part of a futuristic police force of sorts known as a Maverick Hunters and it is your mission to take down these insurgents and quell the Maverick threat.

The game wastes very little time throwing you into the mix with one of the best designed introduction levels ever made. The Central Highway intro stage is the very definition of show don't tell. Against the backdrop of a ruined futuristic freeway with an absolute BANGER of a soundtrack, it will teach you to move, jump, blast, and climb your way across stages through some well thought out enemy placement and action sets. The only way I think it falls short is that if you are completely new to the series it doesn't really teach you that you can hold the fire button for a stronger blast but that isn't exactly rocket science so its not that big an issue.

At the end of the intro stage waits Vile: your first boss encounter. This Boba Fett inspired enemy can make short work of you in a deadly Mech suit that is completely invincible to your attacks and in a flash you are in his literal grasp awaiting death. Though scripted, this boss fight serves to establish the story and introduce us to X's best friend Zero, who blasts his way onto the stage with a single blast and a rockin' tune in a now iconic rescue scene. At the end of the encounter you learn that even though you lost the fight you have the potential to grow stronger. X and Zero teleport off and thus the intro ends.

Now the game opens up and you are reintroduced to the familiar stage select layout with all eight bosses free for you to take on as you please. This is where the game starts to truly differentiate itself from the classic series. That line that Zero said about growing stronger? That's an actual game mechanic he's talking about not just a story beat. Across all 8 stages lie various different upgrades to collect and add to your arsenal. Special Weapons received from defeating bosses, Heart Tanks that increase the life bar, Sub Tanks that you can fill up with reserve energy to use when you are in danger, and Armor Parts that expand everything from firepower to how much damage you can tank. The most important part and what really sets Mega Man X apart from what came before being the Leg Parts. These introduce the Dash mechanic. Similar to the original Mega Man's slide, this mechanic is instead mapped to a single button and retains its speed when jumping, allowing you to quickly maneuver through stages when mastered and greatly increasing the pace of the game. Once you get this down you'll find you seldom even use the walk/run option. Whether one sees that as a positive or a negative is up to the player. Lastly, there is also a secret upgrade in the form of an iconic special move from another Capcom franchise waiting to be found. Kind of cryptic to discover but totally worth it if you can find it.

Accompanying all these great new gameplay features are gorgeous 16 bit graphics with animated and colorful sprites modeled after Keiji Inafune's artwork accompanied by vibrant and detailed backgrounds. From snow covered mountains, to robotic forests, and from futuristic power plants to underwater bases, every stage is full of life and personality with rarely a dull moment. But as great as the game looks, it is an undeniable fact that it wouldn't be as highly regarded and memorable as it is if it wasn't for the amazing soundtrack. Every. Single. Song in this game is a work of art that fits each stage's theme and makes the gameplay and visuals come together in an explosive way. It's an absolute delight that has to be experienced to fully appreciate. Composed by Setsuo Yamamoto, Yuki Iwai, Toshihiko Toriyama, Yuko Takehara, and Makoto Tomozawa, the music of Mega Man X has to be one of the greatest collection of songs in the 16bit generation. Maybe of any generation. You decide.

All this comes together in a package that is short, sweet, memorable and immensely re-playable. Mega Man X stands up there with SNES titans like Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, and Super Castlevania IV. It is well worth your time if you are a fan of the 16bit era. Putting it simply this game is just a damn good time. Give it a whirl.

The Magnum Opus of the franchise. Its got all the MGS tropes you'd come to expect up to this point: sneaking, guns, explosions, plot twists, triple crosses, supernatural bosses, and of course, hours of dialogue via cutscenes and radio conversations. But not everything is the same old song. This iteration takes us back to a 1960's Cold War setting in which you are Naked Snake: A young but experienced CIA Operative
sent out to rescue a Soviet Scientist. The gameplay takes you beyond the urban environments of the past two games and out into the Russian wilderness.

With that come new gameplay mechanics in the form of a camouflage system to help you hide, ambush, or evade the enemy. New Survival mechanics in which you must hunt, eat, and even treat battle wounds and illnesses. Finally, we have the introduction of the CQC system. This Judo/Krav Maga-like fighting style allows Snake to counter enemy attacks and knock them out by slamming them onto the floor. It takes a bit of practice to master but once you get the hang of things its a blast and can make those No Kill runs a lot of fun. It even works on some bosses which is incredibly satisfying to pull off.

The biggest way in which "Subsistence" improves upon the base game is by adding a fully maneuverable 3D camera. The original had a fixed camera angle that could make the game a tad frustrating to play in some sections. This greatly streamlines the experience. It also adds a lighthearted "Snake vs Monkey" minigame that pits Solid Snake against the Monkeys of "Ape Escape". A demo theater to view the various cutscenes in the game as well as some wild new ones that are completely batshit funny. The cherry on top of this Metal Gear goodness is the original two Metal Gear MSX games included for those who want to experience the origins of the series.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is widely considered the high point of the series and deservedly so. The base game was already fantastic and this expansion only improved on it.

A classic RPG from the tail-end of the PlayStation's heyday. Combat is your standard JRPG romp with some extra flair added. Attacks, Spells, and Summons range from simple to flashy with some nice looking Dragoon Transformations to boot. The score is very well done with a nostalgic, late 90's/early 2000's sounding style featuring some catchy battle tunes, a memorable menu theme, and beautiful overworld music. The game's main issues in my opinion are that the devs locked the max items you can hold to 32 for some reason, which makes the inventory management more annoying than anything. The translation is also pretty rough making it kind of difficult to be able to understand what's going on in the story. If you look online you can find patches that fix both these problems with one doubling the item limit and a script rewrite that makes the story far more coherent.

Despite its shortcomings, it is overall a good game that could have been great with some extra time in the oven. If ever a game could benefit from the remake craze of the modern age, The Legend Of Dragoon is it.