There's an old saying that goes, "Third time's a charm", meaning that even if one does not succeed the first two times, prosperity shall arrive on the third attempt. Mega Man X3 proves that this isn't always the case and, in fact, that the opposite is true. As evidenced in our reviews of
Mega Man X and
Mega Man X2, the introduction of the X series was a boon to the SNES and to Mega Man fans everywhere. Those games were great fun, offering a new take on the classic formula that made the "classic" series such a success. Mega Man X3 takes the foundation lain by its predecessors and gives it a hearty knee to the groin.
Once again, we arrive on the scene during the year 21XX, set after the events of Mega Man X2. X had defeated the stronger body that the spirit Sigma, the Maverick leader, had possessed in order to finally crush his nemesis. Sigma had changed form into Neo Sigma, a seemingly virtual embodiment of himself, but X also disposed of that with little sweat off his digital brow. And so, Sigma was declared gone for good, and both X and Zero were able to gaze into the sunset, hoping their work was done. As well, a Reploid scientist named Dr. Doppler had made significant technological advances that would reverse the negative Maverick tendencies of the Reploids to make them docile again. They had even founded a new utopian society called "Dopple Town" to live outside of Maverick influence! Everything was going smoothly, and life was good.
Or so everyone thought! Suddenly, those Reploids who were treated by Dr. Doppler turned Maverick once again and returned to their old habits! It appeared that Sigma's demise hardly marked the end of Maverick attacks on humans. Dr. Doppler is declared to be the mastermind behind this incidence, and so the Maverick Hunters, led by X and Zero, must track down Doppler and bring him to justice. Of course, anyone who is familiar with Mega Man lore knows that there's more to the story than this. If you thought for one second that Dr. Doppler was indeed the primary antagonist to this story, you have another thing coming! Sigma's definitely hiding in the background on this one...
The biggest change you'll notice when you play X3, especially if you complete the first two X games prior, is the spike in difficulty. Previous games had a fairly balanced difficulty so that even newcomers could ease their way in, particularly the first one. In Mega Man X3, the difficulty has been raised so significantly that newcomers will be quite turned off. This is NOT the game for novices to enter the series because it will toast them like bread. You'll spend more time dodging enemies' cheap shots and attempting to avoid their awkward placement in the stages. My fingers hurt after some battles because of how much quickly timed dashing and leaping was involved to stay alive. Evasion over destruction isn't exactly part of the Mega Man-tra, and the need for this leaves the gameplay feeling tasteless and bitter. Even the boss battles suffer from this unfortunate reality. Just about every boss fight required me to injure my own thumbs having to dash off the walls so frequently during battle. Their attacks are far more intrusive and difficult to avoid. This causes trouble when you're trying to wedge your way into the game's natural cycle by having to defeat one Maverick so you can gain their power and defeat another using it. Having backup Sub-Tanks for extra life is a MUST, even with just regular Mavericks.
As is custom, Mega Man X3 features eight new Mavericks to tackle, each one based off of an animal. X3 doesn't boast anything particularly inspiring, although there are a surprisingly higher number of oceanic Mavericks than usual: three, which are Toxic Seahorse, Crush Crawfish, and Volt Catfish. It took a truly outlandish mind to concoct a terrifying opponent based off a catfish. Thankfully, Capcom had the heart not to set all of these underwater, or at least not for the entire stage. A gamer can only handle so many water stages before they go berserk. Otherwise, the Mavericks are standard fare, although props go out to Neon Tiger for sounding like an 80s synthpop band. You'll have quite the fun trying to figure out which Maverick is weak to which weapon, as there isn't any rhyme or reason this time around.
X can also upgrade his weapons and armor by finding capsules, just as he has always done. (I'm still wondering where the enhancements I found in X and X2 went. Maybe he outgrew them, and Sears didn't have his size of X-Buster upgrade in stock?) As well, as in previous games, X can also hop into a Ride Armor and walk around in funky mech fashion. This time around, X can't use any of them until he not only finds the main part for each type of armor, but also one particular piece that serves as the "base" for the other armors. Of course, once he hops in, he'll feel like the Terminator, blasting through walls and enemies alike with the ferocity of a tiger baited with tenderloin!
Perhaps the biggest change is that you can now play as Zero, the ponytailed comrade. Though not an integral part of the game, Zero is indeed finally playable after spending two games being a borderline supporting character to a semi-full-fledged member of the assault team. In addition to a regular blast cannon, Zero sports the green blade of his powerful Beam Saber, though at the cost of being unable to use other special weapons. There are other restrictions on Zero: he can only be called upon once per level, he can't pass through boss doors, and he only has one life in the entire game. You kill him once and that's that: Zero is done. My advice: if you want the better ending, keep that flaxen-haired mechanical maven alive!
Mega Man X makes his official debut on a next-generation console, and it fails to impress.
Mega Man X3's graphics are comparable to the X games before it. I will note, however, that after playing X and X2, the environments of X3 seem rather drab and uninteresting by comparison. Perhaps the point about the overreach of technology in the year 21XX (which is now) is being driven home here. I also found the designs of the enemies to be less interesting as well, as they really tend to repeat themselves a lot in this game and are generally lacking in the same innovation that lured players to the other games. The 32-bit versions of Mega Man X3 added special animated sequences throughout, including a brief one for each Maverick after selecting their stage. It's a bit odd, as I'm used to just seeing their name and a quick pose by the sprite. Also, kudos to the Volt Catfish intro for sneaking in a cameo from Auto... Sadly, the anime clips are extremely grainy in quality and don't really help to push the story forward.
The music featured in the PlayStation version consists of remixed tunes from the SNES version. But in trying to make the audio sound more "modern", they actually took what little life was actually left in those songs and tossed them aside in favour of sounding incredibly generic (although, granted, the songs do fix the original soundtrack's issue with off-key notes strewn about like a mangled meatloaf). I admit that X3's soundtrack is hardly its strong suit, but the PlayStation CD audio has managed to weaken the game further. The song that plays when you access one of Dr. Light's capsules was terrible on the SNES, but here, it's practically circus music! The sound effects also have been upgraded, but they are less punchy than their SNES counterparts.
Mega Man X3 isn't a terrible game as a standalone title, but by comparison to what came before it, the game seems to fall short. The shortcomings are even more apparent in this supposed "port". Maybe it's the grittier graphical style and the subpar soundtrack, or maybe it's the blisters on my thumbs talking. X3 isn't a step forward in the series, but it's not necessarily a step backward either. It's more like Capcom decided to take a breather on a park bench rather than finish the race. It's one of the least accessible games of the series, both from a skill perspective and from a literal perspective (it had the lowest print run of the original trilogy, and only recently has it become available on the Virtual Console). Mega Man X3 is only for those who have a serious affection for the series, but casual players would be better off with a different entry point.
