Mega Man X Series Box Art

Well, it had to happen.  I can't ignore the stats page any longer....even though nobody has made a single comment on the post, it's gotten almost 14,000 hits, so apparently it's being viewed fairly regularly.  So....being a greedy bastard, I might as well try and double my hits!  And so, I give unto you the Mega Man X Series Box art!

 Taking place 100 years after the original series, Mega Man X starts an all new adventure and story line involving Mega Man (Now usually just referred to as X) hunting down Reploids (known as Mavericks) under an evil robot named Sigma's control.  All the robot masters are now based on animals, which was an interesting concept.  X still takes each defeated master's weapon and game play is still classic run and jump platforming, but there are now introductions of upgrading your armor and mega buster.  The artwork is classic and iconic.  Mega Man X also introduces us to a new ally - Zero.

X2 is a direct continuation of Mega Man X.  A new threat faces X and the Maverick Hunters...a group of robots calling themselves X-Hunters.  They lure X in with parts from Zero, who was destroyed in the first installment.  X must try and recover Zero's body parts to have Dr. Cain rebuild him.  If he fail's Sigma rebuilds him and X must fight his old friend himself.  That's some powerful stuff for a Super NES release!

The final Mega Man X release on the Super NES console.  This installment sees the Reploid threat being neutralized by a Repoloid Scientist named Dr. Doppler, who creates a new technology.  The reformed Reploids form a sort of robot utopia that they call Doppler Town.  All is well until these Reploids revert back to their evil ways and go on an all out attack.  X and Zero head out to destroy 8 new robot masters.  After defeating Doppler, they find out that Sigma is alive and well as a computer virus.  Sigma corrupted Doppler, forcing him to create a new body for him.  Hey.....are you starting to see a trend with Sigma here?

X4 is the first of the MegaMan X series to appear on the Playstation console stateside.  X3 had a PS release in Europe and Japan.  X4 is the first in the series to present Full Motion Video cut-scenes.  An army known as Repliforce is created to assist the Maverick Hunters.  Repliforce is lead by General and Colonel.  General is meeting with shady characters in the background and when the floating city known as Sky Lagoon comes crashing down, killing thousands, X and Zero are dispatched to investigate.  Colonel denies any involvement, but we know betting.  8 new Maverick Leaders spring up and after defeating them and General & Colonel...surprise, surprise...we find out that Sigma has been pulling the strings the whole time!

X5 is a pretty cool edition to the series.  Sigma wastes no time in attacking after the events of X4.  He openly attacks the Maverick Hunters intending to lose and spreading a new virus.  He has a keen interest in Zero in this installment, wanting to "unlock his true power" and taking X down at the same time.  There is a plot to crash a space colony into Earth as well.  X and Zero must defeat eight more Maverick Leaders to collect the parts needed to upgrade a super weapon called "Enigma".  The success of this mission is completely randomized by the game, which is a first.  Another first is the fact that this is the first Mega Man game to feature multiple endings!

X6 was the first time that series creator Keiji Inafune was not involved in the game.  He had intended to end the series with the death of Zero in X5.  X6 finds the surface of the world virtually uninhabitable, Zero is missing and presumed dead.  A new Maverick called Zero Nightmare is causing havoc and X is infuriated that this Maverick would use his friends name.  Defeating Zero Nightmare, we find that Zero is alive and recovering from his injuries.  Together X and Zero seek out the creator of Zero Nightmare.  A Reploid known as Gate who.....wait for it.....also has been rebuilding Sigma!  X and Zero again defeat the nearly rebuilt Sigma.

With X7, the series jumped from the PSOne to the PS2.  In this installment, we find that X has had enough of war and violence and starts to question whether or not the Maverick Hunters are doing the right thing.  He steps down as a Hunter, and this causes a void in the ranks of Maverick Hunters.  A new group arises called Red Alert...who are sort of like Repliforce, but more vigilante with very questionable tactics.  A young member named Axl has had enough of Red Alert and leaves, which infuriates the leader, Red.  Red sends out a Mechaloid after Axl, who is saved by Zero.  Red issues a challenge to the Maverick Hunters, releasing eight Maverick Leaders that he had in custody....who ever manages to take them down first will get control of Axl.  Zero and Axl are your two main characters for most of the game, until X gets his head out of his ass for the final battle against Red.  When we get to Red's fortress we find that yet again Sigma has been rebuilt.  Time to whoop his robot ass again, I supppose.

The final of the numbered X series games, X8 is an odd one.  Humans have finally had enough of this Reploid war and are trying to colonize the moon.  A new generation of DNA based Reploids are created that have special inhibitor chips that prevent them from going Maverick.  These new Reploids can use DNA data to change their shape, which is pretty cool.  We find out that Axl is actually a prototype for these.  All is going well until a resurrected Vile (defeated in X3) kidnaps the lead Reploid project leader.  The Maverick Hunters go after and we soon find that Sigma's DNA is implanted on all the chips put in the new generation.  So all these Reploids that aren't supposed to be able to go Maverick.......they go Maverick.  Sigma is finally defeated once and for all, but then Lumine, the kidnapped Reploid takes his place and launches an all out assault on the Maverick Hunters, stating that in order for evolution to take place, humans and obsolete Reploids must be destroyed.  Lumine is defeated, of course....but at a cost.

This is a spin-off of the X series, but I figured "what the hell" I'll include it here.  Command Mission takes place about 100 years after the events of X8.  A meteorite falls and a new substance known as Force Metal is extracted from it.  This Force Metal is used in the engineering of new Reploids.  Cause, you know....that's a good idea.  A whole floating city called Giga City is created in the middle of the ocean, who's sole purpose is harvesting and smelting Force Metal.  Well, shocker, Giga City is attacked by a group of Reploids led by one called Epsilon.  X and Zero are dispatched along with another Hunter named Shadow to take care of the situation.  Well, Shadow betrays them....cause...you know....Reploids named Shadow sound trustworthy to begin with.  Turns out Epsilon isn't a Maverick.  He's fighting the good fight against the Reploid who sent X to Giga City to begin with, Redips, who IS Maverick.  Sigma is nowhere to be found, thank god.  This is a turn based strategy game, which is a huge departure for the series, but still very cool.


Well there ya have it!  The Mega Man X Box Art series, with capsulized reviews of each game!  Hope you enjoyed this as much as the classic series and.....seriously.....leave me a comment or something.  I don't bite.  Much.

Rygar - NES

It was a sunny afternoon in late summer when I rented Rygar for the first time.  There was just something about the box art that appealed to me. I had no idea about the Diskarmor at this point, so I had no clue as to what exactly the fiery object on his arm was.  But he was leaping over some kinda monster and fighting off some other winged creatures and that was good enough for me!

I brought the game home expecting more of a beat 'em up type of deal and was actually a bit put off by the fact that it wasn't a straight side to side scroller.  See, the instruction book was missing (as usual) so I wasn't entirely sure what the heck I was supposed to do.  Luckily, I just happened to have a book that covered the game.  I THINK it was Jeff Rovin's How To Win At Nintendo Games....but I dont' have the book anymore and I can't seem to find a list of the contents of that book....so if anyone out there can help me out with that, it would be much appreciated!

Anywhoo....after finally figuring out (well, not really figuring out.....reading) what I had to do, I gave it another go and really started to enjoy the game.  It was reminded me of a cross between Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and Karnov.  Why?  I don't know....but that's what the gameplay always reminded me of. 

In the game, you are Rygar (obviously) and you must protect your kingdom of Argool from the evil King Ligar.  Interesting side note....there is not distinction between "L" and "R" in the Japanese language.....sooo.......Rygar/Ligar....hhhhmmmm.   Anywhoo, you must level up and collect items from five Indora Gods.  Only then can Rygar ascend up to Ligar's flying castle and defeat the evil King.  Cool, eh?

I never beat the game when I was a kid, but thanks to NES emulators of today and websites like Retro Uprising, I'm going to give it another go.    The original arcade version has been released to the Wii's Virtual Console, but not the NES version.

Classic Mega Man Series Box Art

One of my all time favorite video game series is Mega Man.  I bought the original game at The Electronics Boutique with some birthday money I had received.  I had already rented and played Mega Man 2 and I was itching to try out the original and I wasn't disappointed.  

I thought I'd take a few moments and give tribute to the Blue Bomber's classic series.  A look at the evolution of the classic series.....and the evolution of the box art for the games.  For better or worse, these pieces of video game art give me the warm fuzzies all over.  Let's dive in!

Ah, the original Mega Man.  There's quite a difference between the American and European releases of the Blue Bombers first outing against the forces of Dr. Wily's evil Robot Masters.  I'm a pretty nostalgic kinda guy so the American release that I grew up up with is

near and dear to my heart.....but the European art is friggin awesome!  In the American release, Mega Man looks like an old guy with a mustache....with a crooked helmet.  He looks like he means business though!  Then there's the European version with a younger looking Mega Man and Dr. Wily is really looking like a mad scientist.

Mega Man 2 was actually the first Mega Man game that I ever played.  I rented this bad monkey from Video Paradise back in the day.  Alot of people say that the artwork for the first two games is terrible, but I'll tell you what....my twelve year old mind was blown away by the cover of this game.  Though I did ofter wonder in my adult years why it is that Dr. Light is apparently hiding behind Crash Man.  It doesn't really seem as though he's being held prisoner.....but more looking for protection as he witnesses Mega Man and Quick Man battle it out.  The European cover art is just plain bizarre.  Mega Man is all chromed out and looks like an extra from an 80's Human League music video.  It almost reminds me of the artwork for Atari 2600 games or maybe even Commodore 64. 

Mega Man 3 is where they started to use the more robotic looking Mega Man on the American box artwork.  The artwork always sorta bugged me on this one.  It's pretty clear that Mega Man is blasting Spark Man here....but Spark Man is looking pretty generic.  Apparently this was before Wily gave him his orange paint job.  Speaking of which....why in the hell is  Top Man green?  I'm sure that it's probably due to the fact that the artwork was created before the finished game...and perhaps while still in prototype stage, Top Man was green....but somehow it bugs me.  The European art is quite interesting on this one as well.  Mega Man takes on more of his (now) familiar anime style as well as the floating heads of the robot masters he must face.  But then there's a less cartoony Dr Wily looking pretty damn freaked out.  The hair standing on end cracks me the hell up too. 

Mega Man 4 is another cover that looks pretty cool, but when you actually stop and think about what you are looking at you start to really question what the hell they were thinking about when creating the cover art. 
Here we see Mega Man, either jumping in the air, or sliding down a hill.....in the background we see an onion domed castle with a GINORMOUS Pharoah Man firing his Pharoah Shot apparently at random.  Why do I say he's GINORMOUS, you ask?  Well, he is standing on top of the giant onion dome of a castle.  Judging by the picture I would have to say that Pharoah Man is rought the size of King Kong or Godzilla in this particular piece of art.  Why is he standing on a Russian looking building?  Well that's because we initially think that the villian behind Mega Man's headaches is Dr. Cossack.  Turns out Wily was forcing him to do his bidding by kidnapping his daughter.  The European version is essentially the same, with the purple Capcom border missing....and a slightly different expression on Mega Man's face.  His look in the European version looks a bit more like a determined  resolve to defeat Wily......while the American artwork has him making a face like a kid who's up to no good.  I should know....I was constantly up to no good as a kid!

Mega Man 5.  Alot of people say that this is their least favorite Mega Man game. 
The game itself is great...just like all the other games in the series, but I think that the artwork here is probably my least favorite of the original NES titles.  No particular reason.....it just.....feels off to me.  I can't quite put my finger on it.  Maybe it's because Mega Man is making an odd face.....which could be due to the fact that apparently he's absorbing an energy shot from Gravity Man.  Huh.  I dunno.  Weird.  Proto Man is also in the background firing down upon Mega Man.  This is the second game to have the ol' switcharoo....where you think that you're facing a new arch enemy, but in fact it turns out that Dr. Wily was running the show all along.  Surprise, surprise. 

Mega Man 6 was the last of the original NES games.  Some of the Robot Masters were a bit silly in this game, but it's still a fun one.  The cool thing about the cover art for Mega Man 6 is that it features Knight Man and Wind Man, which are the two Robot Masters that were designed by North American fans in a contest run by Nintendo Power.  The other six Masters were created by Japanese fans....which was nothing new.....there had been several contests to create a new Robot Master in Japan for several of the sequels....but this was the first time that a contest was run in North American.  Out of  more than 200,000 entries, only 8 were selected.  That's a lot of Robot Masters!

Mega Man 7 was the first and only of the "Classic" Mega Man games to appear on the Super Nintendo (The Mega Man X series was the 16 bit systems focus in the series).   The box art is so-so....nothing really ever jumped out and grabbed me about the artwork.  The background is pretty much monochromatic aside from Dr. Wily and a few assorted mechanical baddies.  Mega Man does look pretty cool though in this one!

Mega Man 8.    Worst.     Cover Art.      Ever.      Period. 

Mega Man 9.  The return of classic Mega man in all his 8-bit glory.  Released as a downloadable game on e VC, PSN and XBLA, this artwork is a return to the humanistic look of Mega Man.  What's insanely awesome is Dr. Wily's new look!  It's like a Darth Vader meets Shredder from TMNT topped off with the obligatory mad scientist look (which of course, he is!).  Mega Man is looking like he hit the robot gym and is charging up the Mega Buster for some action.  I like how in addtion to his Mega Buster, he's also holding a laser gun.  Dig that crazy robot with the buzz saw hands running after him too! 

Mega Man 10 came out in 2010, which could be considred 20XX by Mega Man standards, which is pretty awesome!  Anywhoo.  The artwork to Mega Man 10 is just as awesome as the Mega Man 9 artwork.  This one reminds me a lot of the original Star Wars poster....in this case Mega Man taking Luke Skywalkers pose and Proto Man taking the Princess Leah pose....only he's not clinging ot Mega Man.  Because that would be weird.  I had always thought that Mega Man would make an awesome movie when I was a kid.  20 years later, I STILL think it would make an awesome film and the posters for parts 9 and 10 absolutely prove it!  With the special effects being what they are today, I think that a Mega Man movie is long over due.....and I want Wily to look like he does in the Mega Man 9 poster! 

Well, that's it so far for the classic Mega Man games.  I truly hope that Capcom will bring the Blue Bomber back for more downloadable adventures.....because quite frankly, I never want this series to end.  I don't even care how silly the Robot Masters get, I'll still play.  Some said that Sheep Man was ridiculous....I say BAAAA!  No more ridiculous than Snake Man, Toad Man, or Centaur Man!  I thought they were all pretty cool.....and hey.....they were invented by a mad scientist!  What do you expect?  Dr. Wiley has had  his ass handed to him 10 times thus far and still hasn't given up yet.  I've got a feeling that Wily has got more tricks up his sleeves.  I can't wait to see what new Robot Masters the future holds for fans!

PS:  Capcom, if you're reading this....please, please, PLEASE....I wanna see Cthulhu Man!  Now THAT would be a fierce Robot Master!  SHYEAH!