Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release: 01/96 Genre: Action
Mega Man X3, like many of Capcom’s late SNES titles, was an interesting release. After misreading the market and ending up with surplus copies of Super Street Fighter II they were skittish about printing high volumes of further games. Then there is also its release date; by 1996 there was not much software left for the SNES. One would assume Mega Man X3 would have been released on the PlayStation or Saturn instead. It actually was a few months later. As one last hurrah for the SNES the game is solid. I may not like it as much as its predecessors but this is still a good action platformer.
X3 continues the strong narrative of the series. Sometime after the second defeat of Sigma the maverick problem has been resolved. Dr. Doppler invents a new technology that prevents reploids from going berserk. The reformed mavericks form a utopia in his honor named Doppler Town. But it is not long before they all rampage again. Thinking Doppler is responsible X and Zero investigate.
Although it largely follows the same template established by its predecessors there a host of new features in Mega Man X3. The most significant and I’m sure what most players looked forward to is playing as Zero. Sadly it does not live up to the hype here. Using Zero has numerous limitations. Zero has no armor upgrades, cannot collect them for X (obviously) and can’t even fight the end level bosses! This is more of a novelty at best. Thankfully the sequel would rectify this egregious mistake.
The levels are larger and more spacious and with good reason. X3 goes overboard with hidden items and is a completionist’s nightmare. Everyone loves to see what new upgrades X will get and Mega Man X3 has them in spades. The armor pieces are creative in their design and really strong, with one in particular being indispensable. The head upgrade displays a rough match of each stage and the approximate location of any important items of which there are many. In addition to heart tanks, sub tanks, and armor upgrades Dr. Light has hidden 4 more powerful pieces. The catch is you can only equip one. These are really great such as being able to air dash twice in succession, shoot fully charged X-buster shots at all times or refill health. And if you want to go even further there are two ultra-secret items somewhere in the game.
What could have been the most interesting addition is largely disappointing. The Ride Armors that occasionally make an appearance are now items you can collect. There are four ride armors but you will need to find the Chimaera armor first. Ride armors can only be summoned and used in brief segments, often only to find other items. It is a nice idea in theory but I think expectations were higher for such a feature.
Mega Man X3 is notably more difficult than the previous titles. X takes a lot of damage from regular attacks initially and your short life bar certainly doesn’t help. All upgrades are harder to find in general, especially the precious heart tanks. It makes the first few battles with each maverick boss especially brutal. Once you’ve found their weakness the battles are very short but it requires some time to reach that point. The increased difficulty was a bit of a surprise at first but I actually like it. In both the first and second game it was easy to find the upgrades and be all but invincible in short order. Now you actually have to work for it.
From a technical perspective Mega Man X3 is the most advanced on the SNES. There are very few bouts of slowdown that plagued the earlier games. The C4 chip is used a bit more for its polygonal effects throughout the game as well. But artistically I find this the worst of the three games. Although most of the game takes place in industrial environments they lack the imagination of the prior two games. It’s actually kind of boring to look at. There is a noticeable heavy recycling of enemies that also adds to that feeling. The bosses may look impressive but it is kind of embarrassing to see how many spend their time trying to ram you into a wall rather than put up a decent fight.
Mega Man X3 was ported to a number of platforms, chief among them the PlayStation and Saturn. For the most part these are straight ports with very few enhancements. Graphically the Saturn version keeps the original aspect ratio while the PlayStation stretches the image. There is also an animated intro that basically recaps the original Mega Man X as well as a redone soundtrack although its quality is dubious.
The music is probably the biggest change. For this game there is a new composer who lends a different sound than before. It goes all in on the rock, heavy on the guitar riffs and less of the melodic tunes of the past. It has its fans but I am not one of them. I appreciate their technical quality but simply don’t like it next to Mega Man X2.
In Closing
While it isn’t as great as its predecessors Mega Man X3 is still a good game overall. It doesn’t do anything particularly new with the formula but doesn’t break it either. This was a clear cash grab but at least Capcom and their development partners put in the work and turned out a decent title. Personally it ranks near the bottom of the series.
