Introduction
I had some time between finishing Dragon Quest IV and the beginning of this year’s Final Fantasy V Four Job Fiesta so I did a run of Mega Man X8. I haven’t played this game in years. I remembered it fondly as it was the first Mega Man X game I played through. Nowadays I would say I enjoy some of the other X games more but this was still fun to play through again.
I haven’t heard or seen a lot of chatter on X8. The X series was well liked until X6 came along. I forget the exact details but basically X5 was supposed to be the end of the series and provide a cool transition to the then-new Zero series. But the executives decided they wanted more money so they rushed out a new X game behind Inafune’s, the series director, back. X6 is largely looked down on as a rushed game with frustrating gimmicks and level designs. With X7 they tried to bring X into 3D. They failed; X7 is largely regarded as a pile of garbage.
So it seems like when X8 came along people were just done with the X series. A shame because as I mentioned this is a solid entry and a step back towards the series’ roots.
Plot
This game’s plot isn’t anything special or gripping. With the constant war humans are migrating to the moon as part of the Jakob Project. The project is made possible by new generation reploids, reploids with the ability to shapeshift who were introduced in X7. The project is led by a new generation reploid named Lumine. Its main feature is a huge elevator that goes into orbit called the Orbital Elevator.
Vile, an old enemy thought destroyed in X3, returns and kidnaps Lumine. Then a bunch of new generation reploids go Maverick (term used for reploids that disobey humans and go on destructive rampages) in areas critical to the Jakob Project. This is strange since the new generation reploids were supposed to be immune to the Sigma Virus (a virus that causes reploids to go Maverick; named after Sigma who is leader of the Mavericks, source of the virus, and main antagonist of the series). This leaves our heroes, X, Zero, and Axl to put down the latest Maverick threat and find out why the new generation reploids are going Maverick.
The Maverick Hunters
X – The titular character. He maintains the same basic playstyle. He can shoot enemies from afar with his X-Buster and charge up his shot to deliver a powerful blast (the default fully charged shot covers nearly the entire vertical length of the screen). He also brings back the tradition of being unable to move his arm cannon up or down making enemies above or below a challenge. He gets varied new weapons from each boss.
From left to right, top to bottom: the Neutral Armor, Icarus Armor, and Hermes Armor
Like every X game X gets some new armor you can find and assemble. This game introduced something I like in the Neutral Armor. You can pick one of each armor part you find and thus customize X’s armor upgrades to your liking. Past games made it so you couldn’t mix parts from different sets. The only complain I have is that the Neutral Armor and the two sets it gets its parts from, the Hermes Armor and Icarus Armor, all look the same except recolored. The armors give upgrades like damage reduction, increased mobility, and different charge shots.
Zero – Zero is the melee specialist as usual. Does the most damage per strike but usually also takes the most due to having to get up close and personal. He also has the lowest mobility with a noticeably short dash. The exception is his double jump which is needed to get to some areas. Getting the defensive upgrades for Zero is important. Also nice is the D-Glaive which is like a D&D reach weapon in a platformer. Longer reach but you suddenly can’t hit anything right next to you.
Axl – One improvememt X8 has over X7 is how it handles Axl. X7 Axl was apparently just a worse version of X. In X8 Axl is a lot different. He can’t charge his shot but instead rapid fires. He can also aim in eight directions. He’s the most agile and maneuverable of the three Hunters and has the ability to hover while firing or to hover and propel forward a decent distance before sinking.
Tag Teams
X7 introduced picking two characters to bring to a level instead of just one. X8 returns with this mechanic and expands on it. First, you can tag out your characters at any time as long as the other Hunter isn’t KO’d. There’s also a recovery gauge that plays into this. When your active Hunter takes damage some of it will remain on their life gauge in red which will gradually disappear. If you tag that Hunter out they gradually recover that amount in red. Thus, I often will tag a Hunter out right after taking a hit. However, one thing that prevents abuse of this is that when a Hunter tags in all their red health completely disappears. Taking tons of hits in short succession will still hurt even if you tag a lot.
The tag teams can help each other more directly too. If your tagged in Hunter is immobilized by an enemy attack you can tag out and the secondary Hunter will free the trapped one. There is also the Dual Attack, a flashy attack in which time is stopped for both Hunters to unleash their full firepower on all enemies on screen. To use this you need the Dual Attack gauge filled (done by getting high combos and picking up certain power ups) and then hit at least one enemy with an aura. Finally, if one Hunter is KO’d then filling up the Dual Attack gauge will revive that Hunter.
General Gameplay Notes
I believe I mentioned this in another Mega Man post but here it is again: I know I suck at these games so I give myself some help. I look up the locations of all the upgrades. In this one you also have to buy the upgrades after you found them. Rather than grind for it there’s a glitch to give yourself more Metals than you’ll ever need. I used that after four or five stages and that greatly increased my Hunters’ durability due to being able to get all the Max HP upgrades and some other defensive upgrades.
That said, there’s a lot of instant death in this game. That’s pretty typical for a Mega Man game but I swear it seems like a lot even with that in mind.
Intro Stage: Noah’s Park
A decent intro stage. It shows off a lot of the mechanics, especially the pair mechanics and each Hunter’s unique abilities. That said, a lot of this comes from a navigator stopping play to tell you what to do. Makes me think of the video I saw about Mega Man X1’s Intro Stage. X1 did it amazing as it taught you all you needed to do through pure level design; no NPCs stopping you to tell you what to do.
Beating this stage unlocks the traditional eight stages with eight bosses that will give you new weapons for beating them that can be used against the other bosses.
Troia Base
Optic Sunflower
Troia Base is basically a bunch of holodecks used for training. And you can’t have holodecks that don’t eventually malfunction and try to kill the people that use them. X8’s love of instant death starts here. I died in the first room by getting knocked back by a weak enemy hit into a pit. Clearly a combination of being out of practice and missing the no-knockback upgrade.
Optic Sunflower has an interesting laser attack. It originates from the floor or ceiling and switches when it bounces off one end of the room. You need to use the platforms as cover to avoid it. Easy enough when there’s only one but two makes it more difficult. His super attack is to call down a satellite laser. Requires a timed dash to avoid. Overall, fun boss but not too difficult and thus a good choice for first boss to take on.
Sunflower gives light weapons. X basically gets the ability to shoot a firework, Zero can punch the ground to summon a satelite laser because why not, and Axl can shoot lasers. Other than the next boss I never use these weapons.
Pitch Black
Dark Mantis
A surprising lack of instant death here. Also, only one section where you can’t see where you’re going which is good because I hate those sections. Most of it is dodging spotlights that summon enemies and fighting said enemies.
Dark Mantis is quite mobile and likes to jump around, charge at you, and throw dark boomerangs. It can be difficult to hit him with his weakness especially with X’s version of it. His super attack is two large slashes that cover all but one corner of the arena. I always misread the first one and get hit by it.
Mantis gives X a homing boomerang which is nice for hitting difficult to hit enemies. Zero gets an aerial spin attack that makes him sawblade like. Axl gets a crossbow that shoots homing bolts.
Primrose
Gravity Antonion
I really liked this stage on this run. The only part I don’t like involves five large blocks that keep floating up and down to crush you. I ended up skipping it because I triggered a Vile fight in the room it happens.
Anyway, this is the gravity screw stage. Lots of places where you hit a switch to flip the room. Watch out that you don’t flip yourself onto spikes or get crushed. One devious spot allows you to trap yourself such that your only move is to crush yourself. Towards the end there are moving platforms with switches over spikes. You need to do timed manuevers like air-dashing to a platform and hitting a switch when it will flip gravity so that you land on another moving platform. Reminds me of the 2D gravity parts in Super Mario Galaxy.
Antonion is a weak boss. Doesn’t help two of the weapons he’s weak to are homing. His main attack is to summon a block to drop on you which is easily dodged. His super attack is to summon a bunch of blocks in various formations requiring timed dashes to dodge. I always mess up at the end and take one hit.
X gets a slow moving black hole that eats some projectiles. Zero gains a slow but wide and armor piercing slash that is the special move I use most with him. Axl gets a big magnum that shoots armor piercing shots with a slow rate of fire.
Metal Valley
Earthrock Trilobyte
This stage revolves around a giant humanoid robot. First it chases you until you reach a cliff with a crane you can ram into it. Then you chase it. Finally, you fight it in an L-shaped room. The 2.5D of this game is pretty cool there.
Trilobyte attacks by conjuring Crystal Walls which can fall on you and block shots. He can also shoot shots that bounce off the walls. Finally, he has a shell but all his weaknesses are armor piercing and destroy the shell. X’s Squeeze Bomb (black hole) eats Trilobyte’s shots which make it great for this fight. Trilobyte’s super attack is to conjure a bunch of Walls to try and pin you against the arena wall. The pattern is simple but a couple wall jumps just barely clear it and I tend to mess up. X’s high jump armor part trivializes this attack.
X gets the Crystal Wall which is kind of lame but the charged version can unearth burried upgrades. Zero has his Z-Saber turn yellow and he can block projectiles with it. However, he doesn’t go full Jedi and return them to sender. Axl shoots big hoops which bounce off walls. As with any Mega Man bounce off walls shot this seems mostly annoying because it hardly ever comes in handy for me and the onscreen projectile limit results in this lowering the fire rate until some shots finally disappear.
Dynasty
Gigabolt Man-O-War
The first of a few stages I’m not fond of. Here the game reenacts the air-car chase from Star Wars Attack of the Clones. For gameplay that makes this stage a rail shooter where you have to keep boosting to keep up with Gigabolt to shoot him. Meanwhile, you need to dodge signs, traffic, and bombs. The boosts are powered off weapon energy so having all the Weapon Ups helps.
The boss gets destroyed by Zero with his weakness. Zero’s version of his weakness is an upgrade to his Z-Saber rather than a technique so if Zero hits Gigabolt at all he does heavy damage. Gigabolt has an easy to avoid lightning attack and can spawn small jellyfish which Zero can destroy. His super attack is to call down huge lightning but you’re shown where it will land first with plenty of time to find a safe spot. An easy fight to flawless victory.
X gets a short range lightning attack that will chain forward if you hit something with it and will aim itself at a nearby enemy if you’re close enough. Zero gets an attack where he stands still, turns invisible while dashing, then reappears with a lightning trail. Cool but I never use it. Axl can shoot short range bursts of lightning.
Central White
Avalanche Yeti
Another rail shooter stage, this one on snowmobile. You can move left and right and shoot enemies and bombs. There is a large aircraft mini-boss. The tricky part comes with the pits. Some are in tricky spots and require you to swerve right to hit a ramp but then swerve left to actually clear the jump.
Yeti is one of the tougher bosses. He charges, he covers himself in an ice shield, he can burrow through snow. X’s lightning is best for him since its aim will help you hit Yeti. His super attack is persistent; he conjures large snowflakes that fall for the rest of the battle. X’s lightning can chain off th snowflakes.
This boss gets X an ice attack that fires diagonally up and down and can be gatling gunned. One of the better weapons since it helps X with his vertical firing problems. Zero gets a rising helicopter ice attack. Axl gets a literal ice gatling gun.
Inferno
Burn Rooster
This stage has too much instant death for me. Starts with forced vertical scrolling with platforms and falling is instant death. The next section has a bunch of spikes and tricky jumps. This includes one air-dash with low ceiling over spikes I never pulled off; the Prickle Guard allows you to hit spikes once without dying. Then another forced scrolling section and yet another one going up after the boss. That last section I don’t remember having trouble with but I did this time. Zero’s double jump was good here for extra control.
Props to Burn Rooster for his pre-fight pose: he slowly and dramatically crosses his arms and then caws and it makes me chuckle every time. Rooster slowly floats around and I nail him with Zero’s ice move before he does something productive. He counters with an easy to dodge ground-crawling fire. His super attack is to put the walls on fire for the rest of the battle. Rooster is another easy one to flawless with his weakness.
X gets the ground crawling fire. Zero gets a fiery down-stab I don’t think I’ve ever used. Axl gets a flamethrower.
Booster Forest
Bamboo Pandamonium
This stage is a return to ones I like. Conveyor belts are featured heavily, some with spikes on them. Partway through you get to comandeer some Ride Armor, a large armored humanoid mech with a strong punching attack that can even walk on spikes. This armor is like Yoshi from Mario; sometimes you have to temporarily ditch it to progress. There’s also fights with enemies in Ride Armors which feels like Rock’em Sock’em Robots fights.
First of all, I love the idea of a panda boss named Pandamonium. You can bring the Ride Armor to the fight but I never have managed it. Pandamonium can shoot rockets that come down after a delay, toss bombs, and stab with his claws. I used to be able to flawless this fight with good spacing and timing but I took some hits this time. His super attack is to charge up an attack and then surge forward with a powerful claw attack. Simple as it is I often screw up the timing on the dodge.
X gets an exploding missile. Zero gets a quick stab forward that I believe can break barriers. Axl can shoot out bombs.
***** SPOILERS AHEAD *****
Jakob
The top of the Orbital Elevator
I really like the theme on this stage: https://youtu.be/31heBiBpfto . The Hunters find out that Sigma is involved in the new Maverick outbreak and he’s taken over the moon. Thus, it’s time to chase him. This level is like any elevator stage: no traps it just goes up as you fight off enemies. Zero is nice here with his high power and his low mobility isn’t an issue here.
Vile
Vile is the boss here. He tends to stay in the air and his weakness is ice which is nice since all the ice attacks can go in the air. Vile’s attacks can be difficult to dodge. He can fire shots in varying formations including spread, at your location, and homing. His super attack is to shoot out six lightning bolts and rotate them. To dodge you have to wait for one bolt to disappear momentarily and dash through. Vile is an interesting fight but with all the upgrades you can attrition him.
Gateway
Copy Sigma
Gateway has the traditional refights against the eight Maverick bosses and not much else. After each fight you get some life and weapon refills. With the defensive and recovery upgrades this usually results in full life for each battle. This game actually has justification for the refights as when each boss is taken down they’re revealed to be a different new generation reploid copying the original boss.
After the fights the stage boss is Sigma. He gives a line that always makes me chuckle:
X: “Sigma!?”
Sigma: “I shall allow you to call me by that name for I am indeed Sigma.”
I once saw a joke where all the Mega Man characters went to a potluck and Sigma brought potato salad. When asked Sigma replied, “I shall allow you to call it by that name for it is indeed potato salad.”
Anyway, Sigma mostly uses a beam saber and attacks by charging forward or with an upward slash. He can also summon a barrier as he charges up an attack. If you don’t break his barrier he will fire a screen-filling shot. His super attack is to set the floor on fire so you have to stick to the walls. His weakness is darkness. Zero’s aerial spin attack is good since it can get a lot of hits in a row and Sigma tends to hover in the air.
As my caption has already spoiled this Sigma is actually just another new generation reploid who was copying Sigma. The final stage awaits.
Sigma Palace
Very good final level. You start outside on the surface of the moon. Then you move into the palace itself. The enemies inside are all new generation reploids copying Sigma. They’re not as powerful or durable as the boss but it’s still pretty cool to fight through a legion of Sigmas. Some shoot at you and others use a shield to protect allies. X’s fully charged X-Buster laser shot is very good for taking them down.
Vile is also encountered as a mini-boss. He’s largely the same but brought a Ride Armor this time. Breaking his guard will knock him out of it. This time he explodes on defeat.
The rest of the stage has some tricky Copy Sigma placement and spikes. Although challenging I like this part. Probably due to the lack of low ceiling jumps which I suck at. The end has some tricky maneuvering where you need to wall jump off platforms with spikes on top and bottom and then over the spikes on one platform. Finally, there’s a tricky jump that I usually fail and activate the Prickle Guard on. This time I managed to clear it.
The trend with the last few bosses is that with all upgrades you can just outlast them. The final stretch is actually difficult even with the upgrades since there are three tricky bosses in a row.
Mugshot of Belial Sigma
Fighting Belial Sigma
The true Sigma is confronted in a new form, Belial Sigma. I really like the boss theme here, especially the beginning: https://youtu.be/82jTIawq0Uw .
He fights like the copies but can teleport and uses the much bigger Sigma Blade. He also shoots loops you’re supposed to air-dash through but I suck at doing that. His weakness is light but those weapons are difficult to aim so I usually just use each Hunter’s default weapon. His super attack sets a wall on fire. Switching Hunters is important here to recover health through this whole stretch.
After the battle Sigma is destroyed and Lumine is saved (remember him?). But then Lumine says this is all according to plan and attacks! Not the most original plot twist in most series but this is actually a big twist for a Mega Man game. Sigma was the final boss in all seven other X games. This would be like a Zelda game where it turned out someone was using Ganondorf.
Final Boss – Lumine
Lumine
Lumine wanders around in a figure eight until he uses one of eight orbs to power himself up to attack. His attacks are the eight super attacks of the eight Maverick bosses. He also takes on their weakness. I usually use default weapons unless he uses an attack that is easy to spam the weakness against. Some super attacks are easy to avoid but hard to counter while doing so.
After the battle the Hunters demand to know what’s gotten into Lumine. Lumine reveals that he and the other new generation reploids haven’t been involuntarily infected; they can go Maverick at will. Then he goes into his final form and the final arena is a heavenly looking place filled with clouds (on the moon, I guess; it is cool looking anyway).
Lumine’s Final Form
Another good theme here: https://youtu.be/zUsLWZqRSks .
First, this boss lasts even longer since he periodically summons a shield. Unlike other shields this one soaks up some damage before disappearing instead of needing to be broken with certain attacks. His weakness is ice which is great for X and Axl. Both of them can rapid fire their ice weapon and aim upwards where Lumine spends most of his time.
Lumine attacks with a variety of patterns. He can send shots out in rotating circles where you have to jump through a small window. He can send them out in horizontal patterns that require precision jumps to navigate. Finally, he has a vertical pattern which is easy to dodge as it falls down but them the shots come back up through the floor and you have to remember what order they came down in.
Lumine’s super attack is Paradise Lost. The sky turns dark and he focuses on blocking your attacks with a conventional shield. If you don’t finish him in 90 seconds it’s instant game over. Interesting idea but I’m not fond of it. I always feel like I’m almost out of time when I finish him.
Ending
Lumine gives a stereotypical bad guy dying speech about how new generation reploids are the future and both humans and older reploids will be wiped out. Then he hits Axl with some tentacles and X blasts him to bits with a charged shot. Not the greatest ending but I do like this exchange between Zero and X for dialogue and the music (starting at 1:30, but the rest is good too): https://youtu.be/Nd_oILW0ktw .
Postgame
I didn’t go past the ending this time but each Hunter gets some powerful postgame upgrades. X gets the Ultimate Armor. Besides some good defensive and mobility upgrades it has the Nova Strike: an attack that turns X into a flying arrow of energy. In every game this is overpowered but in most it’s because you can spam it keeping X invincible and doing constant damage. In this one it can’t be spammed but it does collosal damage: 3/4 of one of the eight bosses’ health. And it recharges itself.
Zero gets Black Zero, twice the damage taken and dealt. Not fond of it but it’s optional. Better is that he can also get the Sigma Blade. It’s powerful, breaks shields, and is as long as the D-Glaive without the short range issue. Axl gets White Axl which enhances his hovering and copying.
Conclusion
Like I said, a strong entry in the series. I would rather less instant death but perhaps that’s just because I’m not good at it. And seeing how long this post got on such a short game I believe it’s time for me to refocus on brevity in the future.
Super Romo Brothers 