Blue Bomb Me

Okay, so I want to start hitting classics from the days of yon. Stuff from the Silver and Bronze age of gaming (depending on your definition, those games that came out after the crash of 1984, up until, and including, the N64 and PSX). I'll start with a game that recently has come back into my heart.

Mega Man X came out around a decade ago (you want specifics, find a fan site). It promised Mega Man in full 16 bit color. It delivered not just great graphics, but great game play too, for it evolved the, even then, tired franchise.

Really, the game play wasn't much different from basic Mega Man. If you could play the classic series, you were right at home with X. What differed though was a slight RPG like upgrade system thrown in to mix things up. Along the way, X could find powers and armoring that would upgrade him, making him stronger and harder to kill.

It changed the style up. Now, you wanted to plan around items you would like to collect. Should you take on Flame Mammoth first, or wait until after Chill Penguin. You really could use that dash boots in Chill's level.

Additionally, some of the stages would change when other bosses were defeated (which was again used in Mega Man X3). Killing the Penguin would freeze up the Mammoth's stage. Killing the Octopus would drown parts of the Chameleon's stage.

I myself felt the play control was tightened up a little, and in general the games, at least at the start, felt a little easier than the classic series.

On the whole, X1 opened up a new breed of Mega Man games, and allowed what could have been a very dead franchise to live on into today, where... the franchise is kinda getting tired.

Capcom seems to lack for new ideas.