Mega Man X6 (PlayStation) review "'I know you just came back from the dead, Zero, but we're going to need you to cover a shift.'"

I never thought I'd say this about a Mega Man game, but here it goes: Mega Man X6 is awful. It's not “awful for a Mega Man title,” or “awful by today's standards,” or “awful for a 2D platformer.” It's just plain awful.

Playing it reminds me of the old GamePro magazine. They kept a zany score card at the end of every review that examined graphics, sound, control, gameplay, and “fun factor,” usually represented with both a score out of 5 and a weird face. Mega Man almost always scored a 5 in controls, punctuated by a cartoony face that looked like he was having an intense orgasm. For some reason, that always stuck with me and I saw this franchise as the standard bearer for tight play control. Then X6 happened and threw all of that out the window...

I took the series' standards for control response for granted. I thought there was no way Capcom would muck up something so apparently simple. However, they decided to opt for added convenience this time that resulted in a more volatile setup. Mainly, you can now execute a midair dash using the jump button while airborne rather than relying on solely the dash button. The problem with this change is that if you're trying to make a leap from the very edge of a platform and you press the jump function just a hair too late, you'll end up racing across the screen when you don't want to. Or if you're like me, you sometimes “panic press” the hop button while midair, causing you to careen into spikes or enemies. This was never a problem in previous outings...

You also have to take into account that sometimes mechanics aren't fully responsive. There were numerous moments where I'd have to press buttons a couple of times to get them to respond properly, all depending on the surface upon which I was standing. On ice, the dash ability didn't want to work about one-third of the time, so I'd have to press it a couple of times for a response. I also experienced issues leaping off of walls, as sometimes X just plummeted rather than hopping off.

Speaking of ice, all of these problems become further exacerbated when you're on such a slick surface. Yes, Mega Man games have had icy stages before, but for some reason this one takes frosty platforming to agonizing new levels. X slides like he's been bathing in KY Jelly, quite often slipping off platforms with the tiniest nudge. You also have to land straight down on frosted flooring, otherwise you'll shoot right off the edge.

Let's make things even worse, shall we? Your opponents constantly cheap shot you. Any time you're locked in combat, you've got numerous enemies flying toward you with cannons firing, sometimes retreating into invincible shells so you have to wait before you can kill them. By the time they become vulnerable again, they've let their ordnance fly, so you spend more time either dodging bullets or just letting them hit you so you can take advantage of the invincibility frames to give you cover while you fight. More than anything, the experience forces you to lean hard on locating goods that boost your stats before you can make any significant progress. Thankfully, at least one of the Mavericks, Commander Yammark, is easy enough to defeat right out of the gate.

And don't even get me started on level designs. One volcano stage has you fighting mini-bosses the entire time, and not simple ones, either. You battle four or five of these massive wheel-like constructs that could best be described as robotic donuts. Each one has four weak points, but their bodies are so large that you can only easily hit one vulnerable node at a time. You end up spending most of these battles climbing walls to get over the massive foes so you don't get crushed by them while they roll at you. In order to defeat them, you'll need to leap to either side of them, and even then you only get precious seconds to unleash a few bullets and scratch off small slivers of their hit points. More than anything, these battles prove to be tedious and annoying, and the entire level is filled with them.

Really, that's X6 boiled down. It's an installment that tries to be the hardest of them all, but only succeeds in being a drawn-out, cheap, irritating affair where you keep asking yourself why you're still playing. In previous outings, even in the not-so-good X5 and the just-above-mediocre X3, I found plenty of moments where I said, “Oh, cool!” This time around, I can't count how many sections and features left me saying, “How stupid...”

I'll be honest, though: X6 is awful, but not abysmal...

For instance, the soundtrack absolutely slaps. The boss selection music remains among the best, and individual stages hit in so many different ways. Blizzard Wolfgang's level smacks of older X games, coming at you with that appropriately over-dramatic tone that accentuates the series' awesomeness while maintaining an even tempo. Meanwhile, Ground Scaravich and Infinity Mijinion sport intense BGMs, the latter of which calls to mind “The Final Countdown.” Yeah, it's cheesy, but oh so fun.

Also, this game fully realizes its immediate predecessor's concept of rescuing wounded Reploids and acquiring new passive abilities to attach to your heroes. You gain new chips to add to player characters by saving fallen allies before robots called “nightmares” can steal them away. If you destroy a nightmare, you gain a little power core that acts as experience, thereby bolstering your rank and allowing you to equip more complex items.

And they matter, too. Increasing movement speed or jump height actually got me through a couple of points where I either needed to reach one of Dr. Light's many armor upgrades or advance in a level. The first of the final stages, for instance, features tall walls lined with spikes that X can't get over unless you have equipment to strengthen his leaping height (or Zero, who can double-jump).

All the same, Mega Man X6 is awful because it tries really hard to be insanely difficult, but only ends up being a laborious, insufferable, sucker-punching piece that will make you yearn for even average Mega Man offerings. Never mind that X5 was intended to be the final title and that this one comes across as Capcom trying to squeeze every last ounce out of the concept; X6 fails because it doesn't implement its stiff challenge factor in a way that's invigorating or engaging. It's just infuriating.

Staff review by Joseph Shaffer (January 16, 2024) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.