Box Art
Game: Megaman X4
First Released: August 1, 1997, Playstation
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Playstation, Saturn, PC, Gamecube, Playstation 2,
Mobile Phones
Rated: E-10, for Cartoon Violence and Animated Blood
First Released: August 1, 1997, Playstation
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Playstation, Saturn, PC, Gamecube, Playstation 2,
Mobile Phones
Rated: E-10, for Cartoon Violence and Animated Blood
How I Came To Play This Game
The First Boss
My experience with the Megaman X series is similar to my experience with the xlassic series, being that I'm playing them on a collection disk. The Megaman X Collection is no doubt a must have for the Gamecube or Playstation 2. Who wouldn't want to have the first six Megaman X series games on one disk to play whenever they feel like it? Well, it turns out this game is very rare to find in stores used. This was way back before I used the internet to buy things, so the best I could do is wait for one to pop up at a store. I later found out that the Gamestop store in Taylorville, Illinois which was 86 miles away. Luckily for me, we were going on a trip soon to visit my Grandma who lives in Chicago, so I was able to convince my Mom to stop at Taylorville to get it. It was well worth the trip too!
Story
In the year 21XX, two large Reploid armies currently exist to counter the Mavericks: The Maverick Hunters and the Repliforce. The two organizations cooperated on several occasions, and during this time Zero befriended Colonel and Iris of Repliforce. But one day, the aerial city Sky Lagoon was attacked by Mavericks, who sabotaged its power generator and causing it to fall onto the city below, killing thousands. As the Repliforce was present in the area, they were under suspicion and Colonel was asked that the Repliforce surrender for questioning. Having great pride, Colonel refuses and leaves with his sister. Their leader, General, is indignated by the suspicion and starts a coup d'état to build a nation only for Reploids. Although General says they only want to live in peace, not wanting harm for the humans, the entire Repliforce is considered to be Mavericks, and the Maverick Hunters are sent to stop them, starting a war between them. Little do they realize that behind the scenes, a mysterious cloaked figure pitted them against each other, in a bid to wipe out both sides. During the war, Iris assists Zero while X is assisted by the rookie Double. After defeating several members of the Repliforce, the Hunters fight against Colonel and defeat him. The Repliforce travel into space to begin their nation, and the Hunters chase after their satellite/space station. When playing as Zero, Iris is angered by her brother's death and fights against him. The battle leaves her mortally wounded and she dies in Zero's arms. As X, it's revealed that Double was a spy of the cloaked figure and the two fight, resulting in Double's death; but not before insulting X for his naivety. The Hunters finally reach General and a battle ensues that leaves him alive, but severely damaged. Suddenly, the weapon in the station prepares to destroy Earth, and the cloaked figure is revealed to be Sigma. Sigma is destroyed by the Hunters, but the weapon can't be stopped by them. General sacrifices himself to stop the weapon, and the station explodes.
Mavericks
Frost Walrus, Jet Stingray, Slash Beast, Web Spider, Split Mushroom, Cyber Peacock, Storm Owl, and Magma Dragoon.
Review
Megaman X4 was released for a next generation console at the time, so it has many enhancements over the previous games in the series. The graphics are better due to using the new 32-bit engines and the music is wasy better. Despite that, the game still plays a lot like the SNES games in many ways. There ares still eight stages, there are four armor upgrades, and eight heart tanks. This game has only two Sub Tanks, but also includes a Weapons Tank to replenish weapon energy. Many elements are also taken from Megaman 8. There is a midway point between each stage where if you die and continue you will start from the mid-point instead of the beginning of the stage. Your weapons energy refills if you die. It also has animated FMV cutscenes with voice acting, but I would have to say these are some of the worst choices for voice actors for this game. X sounds like a girl, how could they get that wrong? One of the best things in this game is that Zero is now a full fledged playable character. When you start a new game, you get to choose if you want to play as X or Zero. Zero has his own side of the story with his own FMV cutscenes, dialogue, and progress. My favorite charatcer in the game is Magma Dragoon. Do you remember the two Street Fighter moves from the first two games? Well this guy can use both of them. Thats right, Magma Dragoon can use both the Hadouken and the Shoryuken, which take big chunks out of your health bar.
Releases
Megaman X4 was first released for the Playstation in 1997. Later that year it was released for the Sega Saturn. In 1998 it was ported to the PC. Then in 2006, it was bundled with the five other games in the series as part of the Megaman X Collection which was released for both Gamecube and Playstation 2. Then two versions were released for Mobile Phones, the X game in 2011 and the Zero game in 2012.
My Rating
I give this game a 10/10. After a while of playing the 16-bit games, it was nice to see some new styles introduced.