Mega Man X3 (PlayStation) review "Some experiments are elephant toothpaste, this one is more like elephant drool."

This is the one that sits down whenever any other title raises its hand to answer the question. Many of you might be unaware of its existence, as it was a tepid, half-start on both the Playstation and Saturn. By all accounts, what few there are, are not whelming at all. Why is that?

The Playstation is leagues more powerful than the console for which this game was originally developed, the Super Nintendo. We might consider this as an experiment, learning the systems that had to contain the awesome that Capcom had yet to deliver. Some experiments are elephant toothpaste, this one is more like elephant drool.

Context matters, and the context of this title is that it was technically overshadowed by everything else in the Playstation’s release schedule. If you’re curious, the information is out there, but we’re going to focus on what succeeded and what failed in this instance. It all orients around the lack of “new and exciting” in this package, and Capcom was well aware of this.

For those familiar with the Mega Man X games, this is exactly what has been delivered so far: Stylized low resolution pixel art with a bombastic soundtrack, world saving themes and a hero that becomes stronger as you acquire body part upgrades and other useful gear. A tic-tac-toe game mechanic has you chasing down foes in environmentally unique levels with whatever weapons you have on hand in the hopes of surviving long enough to defeat the boss and obtain something new, a little used, for someone blue.

What will have you blue is the music and the animated cutscenes. In the theme of slapdash patches, the quality of the animations is less than impressive. Technologically this a massive leap for the Mega Man X franchise. Never before has it had access to full motion video, and high quality soundtrack capabilities. There’s not the slightest resemblance here, these two systems are worlds apart.

But why is MMX3 on PSX so darn forgettable? The music certainly forgot about leg day, so it’s not doing any lifting. From head banging rock we’re transported to what sounds like light 80s synths with someone slamming their fingers real hard on the keyboard, to little effect. Some of the themes sound like soft jazz, for cripes sake.

Graphically the bag has mixed and disappointing content: Instead of cutting edge, we’re edge cutting on pixels so large you could count them on the CRT that was their original display medium. They’re fine, and even impressive on the SNES, but the PSX has so much leg room that instead of a strut we get a walker assisted limp. It’s not much fun to play, frankly.

It all works just fine, and the variety of level design gives you lots to experiment with, along with all of the cleverly hidden weapons, items and gear. You’ve got to work for a living in this game, and your thumbs are going to feel it, later. If you’ve done this before on SNES, then you’re probably not going to bother to do it all over again for less fanfare.

Now if the mention of FMV caught your interest, grab an E-Tank and a seat. These poorly animated scenes aren’t going to be taking you for any kind of ride. While it’s a possibility that Capcom was using this as a learning experience, it’s probable that the release was spurned by the limited run of cartridges made for the SNES, which was near its End of Life, anyway.

The whole problem with this game is expectation subversion, and not the fun kind. Expecting a rocking soundtrack? Too bad for you! How about new effects and bigger bosses? Nope! Awesome animation and exciting intros? Sorry! Your princes are in another castle!

The MMX series was gaming royalty on the SNES, and it was a disservice to release this to fans whose expectations were vaulted into the stratosphere by a spiffy new console. Make no mistake, this was a move for profit, not gaming integrity, and a solid reminder that corporations are not our friends.

Let’s ask ourselves, though, if this is all the Mega Man X you had, would it be that bad?

Unfortunately for us in the gaming retrospective camp, we have the hindsight of experience that tells us the PSX had some truly excellent games to look forward to from this franchise. As a standalone product, it still performs well, has excellent controls and is a quality title with plenty to explore. The music isn’t poorly composed, just lacking suitable instrumentation. The graphics don’t suck, they just underutilize the capabilities of the Playstation.

Perspective is annoying, isn’t it? The load times wouldn’t be so bothersome if we hadn’t 90% of the same game on an instant loading cartridge. We could site other examples, but there’s a principle at work here that I believe is core to the dissatisfaction most of us had with this game. We were rooting for the underdog.

Ambition in game development scales relative to the performance and technical specifications of the console in question. We’re especially impressed when we see something that is either a) new, b) technically impossible, or c) never been tried before. Especially if it’s wrapped up in a thematic package that we enjoy.

The SNES release of MMX3 goes beyond the limits of the hardware it was made for, whereas the PSX release doesn’t even reach for the fences. Capcom could have skipped the game altogether and given us Mega Man X4, instead, but the likelihood of that was near to zero (not that Zero). All that work and retail potential wasted? Not a chance.

Meanwhile for us this title is a disappointment and not even a blip on anyone’s radar.

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Community review by hastypixels (August 20, 2025) Wisdom comes from effort and mistakes.