Mega Man X4

Mega Man X4
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom Virgin Interactive
Platform(s)	Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PC
Release date	Sega Saturn July 31, 1997 August 1, 1997 PlayStation August 1, 1997 October 9, 1997 January 1, 1998 2007 PC December 3, 1998 January 1, 1998
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: K-A (E for PC)
Media	1 x CD ROM

Mega Man X4 (ロックマンX4, Rock Man X4) is the fourth game in the Mega Man X series. This game was originally released on July 31st, 1997 for the Sega Saturn in North America. Both the Sega Saturn and PlayStation versions were soon released simultaneously on August 1st, 1997 in Japan. The PC version was released in January 1st, 1998, and runs in operating systems after and including Windows 95. It was part of the Mega Man X Collection for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation version was also released in Singapore's AMK Hub on 2007.

Background

Following the third defeat of Sigma, Cain Labs issues an initiative to create a supplementary military force to complement the Maverick Hunters. The army, called the Repliforce, is a strict military regime led by General and his second-in-command, Colonel.

Six months following the inception of the group, Cain Labs finds its methods to be ineffective, questionable, and potentially dangerous in the Maverick defense. To make matters worse, behind the scenes, General has been meeting with a mysterious figure who plots the Hunters' demise, insinuating that they are a "significant threat" to the jurisdiction of the Maverick Hunters.

Mayhem breaks out when the Sky Lagoon, a massive floating city, is sent crashing down onto the city below it, killing millions of civilians, humans and Reploids alike. The game begins here where either X or Zero is dispatched to investigate possible causes of the disaster only to become entangled, once again, in a struggle against Sigma to save the world.

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to the previous installments of the X series, but there are some important changes:

At the beginning of the game, the player chooses to play either as X or Zero. Unlike future games in the Mega Man X series, the player is committed to the choice throughout the game (i.e., he cannot switch to the other character at any time). Though both of them go through the same stages, they operate differently, and get different challenges from the terrain. They must avoid obstacles like falling debris and spikes, and destroy enemy robots to reach the end of the stages.

X wields a plasma cannon (X-Buster) on his arm that he uses to attack foes from a distance. It can be charged to fire stronger shots. When he defeats a boss, he gains a new weapon for his buster. These weapons have limited ammo, displayed by a meter next to his health. In some stages, X can find capsules that contain upgrades that greatly enhance his capabilities.

Zero is more melee-oriented than X, using a saber (Z-Saber) rather than his usual arm cannon (Z-Buster). Its power and accuracy compensate for his lack of range. Not all of his moves are weapon-based— rather than acquiring weapons from bosses, he learns "techniques" such as the air-dash (Hienkyaku) and double-jump (Kuuenbu). However, Zero cannot upgrade any of his body parts in this game.

Two new Tanks have been added: a Weapon Tank, which will fill all of your Special Weapons up; and an EX Tank, which increases your default lives from three to five, should you have to start over or reset.

This is the first X game where your characters have conversations with the bosses before the battle begins, rather than the boss simply entering the room and attacking immediately. For this reason, there is no music specifically used to accompany the boss's entrance, as was the case with the first three games.

Body Upgrades (X only)

• Boots: In Web Spider's stage, there is a cavern hidden by a waterfall right before you jump down into the part with the gaps that you must cross SMB2 style by jumping on logs. Enter this capsule to receive the boots, witch allow an air dash and a hover upgrade.
• X-Buster: Near the beginning of the 2nd part of Storm Owl's stage, there is a wall of spikes that lead upwards. Use Web Spider's weapon to climb up the wall while avoiding the spikes. You will have two choices of X-buster upgrades. The capsule on the right allow you to store 4 charged shots of the same caliber you started out with. The capsule on the left is a much more powerful charged shot. Both upgrades allow for charging special weapons.
• Armor: Halfway into the 2nd part of Magma Dragoon's stage, jump to the ledge that's blocked by a tower of square shaped rocks. Use a charged-shot of Slash Beast's weapon to destroy them. This upgrade will allow you to perform one Nova Strike when weapon energy is fully charged.
• Helmet: In the third section of the first part of Cyber Peacock's stage, earn S class to get the helmet. It may help to use Soul Body on the gold eyes to get there faster. The helmet will allow you to use special weapons infinitely, although a charged shot will consume energy.
• Ultimate Armor: By entering a secret code in the character selection screen, X will be given the Ultimate Armor when entering the first capsule he finds. It possesses the air-dash and hovering abilities of the Boots, the powers of the black version of the X-Buster upgrade, and the weapons energy conservation capabilities of the Helmet. The singular difference between the full version of the regular upgrade armor and the Ultimate Armor, is that the latter is capable of executing the Nova Strike an infinite number of times, making most boss fights much, much easier.

A noticeable change from earlier games was that X did not teleport into a stage wearing all the pieces of armor he had preciously collected, as was the case in X through X3. Instead, he teleported in without armor, after which, the armor pieces would materialize. This was presumably done to avoid designing sprites for all 16 different combinations of armor for the teleport animation.

Development

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Originally, the American release of the PlayStation version was put on hold after Sony denied Capcom permission to release it solely because it was a 2D video game; Due to early American policies at the time, Sony wanted only 3D games for their system. Apparently, other Capcom titles that had fallen victim to this policy included Mega Man 8, Mega Man Battle & Chase, and the PSX version of Mega Man X3, though the latter remained unreleased until 2005. After much debate and persuasion -- apparently Capcom, the company that had also created PlayStation's first million-selling game Resident Evil, threatened not to release the hotly-anticipated sequel Resident Evil 2 after being upset of being denied permission of releasing their games -- Sony caved in and allowed Capcom to release it.

Characters

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X

See main article: Mega Man X

Zero

See main article: Zero (video game character)

Double

A short, yellow Reploid who appears at the beginning of X4. He says that he is assigned to be X's assistant, even though he appears to very clumsy and carefree. He turns out to be a double-agent sent by Sigma to infultrate the X-Hunter base and destroy the Maverick Hunters and X. This is shown which he morphs into a taller, sinister fighter robot and takes out of few of the Maverick Hunter workers in the HQ. He subsequently is destroyed by X after a battle.

Sigma

See main article: Sigma (Mega Man X)

Colonel

Repliforce's second in command. He is supposedly a former rival to Zero. He wields a deadly beam saber similar to Zero's and he is a brave guardian to his sister, Iris.

Maverick bosses

Repliforce

• Colonel

• General

• Iris

Voice actors

References

1. ^ "Mega Man X4 preview" http://www.navgtr.org/library.html (Copyright©: NAViGaTR)