In early 2006, Capcom released "Megaman: Maverick Hunter X" for the Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable). A total overhaul of the original Megaman X game, MHX, touting all kinds of cool new bonus features. The graphics were updated to look similar to MMX8, and voice acting was added with cut scenes. Here are some of the basic differences it had from the original SNES game.
There's a difficulty setting, including a "Normal" and a "Difficult" mode.
I absolutely loved the voice acting. Light years beyond the days of X4.
Boomer Kuwanger's name was changed slightly to Boomerang Kuwanger. It just doesn't flow as well as before… No matter; he will always and forever be Boomer to me.
The intro stage is a bit different than before; namely the battle with Vile. This time, you must actually fight and defeat Vile. He's not super difficult, just aim for Vile himself; attacking his battle mecha does nothing.
The Maverick's stage layouts are mostly similar to the SNES game. The biggest difference seems to be Dr. Light's capsule upgrades. They've been switched around.
Foot Part - Flame Mammoth (located where the Buster part used to be - no other upgrades are required to reach it)
Head Part - Chill Penguin (on the right side of the vertical cave section - Foot part is required)
Armor Part - Storm Eagle (same place as the Head part used to be - Head part is required)
Buster Part - Sting Chameleon (same place as the Armor part used to be - defeat the big green robot; need Foot part to reach it)
While the Mavericks fight mostly like they did before, don't expect them to be exactly the same. For example, Armored Armadillo has two different ways he launches his Rolling Shield, requiring you to be a little more vigilant.
Sigma's fortress is totally different than it was in the original game. When you fight the Mavericks a second time, they're also in completely different spots. The big battle with Vile is moved from the middle of the first section of the fortress to the end of the third section, right before the D-Rex fight. Speaking of which, Zero still gives you his Buster part if you didn't get Dr. Light's, but his is noticeably different. Light's Buster still fires the purple cluster shot, but Zero's fires a large red plasma shot.
Stage 1 - Launch Octopus > Boomer Kuwanger > Bosspider
Stage 2 - Armored Armadillo > Storm Eagle > Spark Mandrill > Ragnda Bangda
Stage 3 - Chill Penguin > Sting Chameleon > Flame Mammoth > Vile > D-Rex
Stage 4 - Velguader > Sigma > Final Sigma
Hard Mode
There's a hard mode setting as well. Here, you seem to take more damage from attacks and/or it takes more hits to kill enemies. Also, some of the bosses have an extra attack added to their repertoire.
Vile - Performs a dash move that's very hard to dodge.
Flame Mammoth - Shoots blue fireballs that erupt into gigantic flames when they hit the ground.
Chill Penguin - Rapid-fires Shotgun Ices, covering the room in a hailstorm of ice splinters.
Storm Eagle - When blowing you back with his wings, Eagle will also shoot feather arrows at you.
Armored Armadillo - While performing his Rolling Shield, Armi will fire scatter shots of plasma bullets
Vile's Game
There's more to the game, though, than prettier graphics, anime sequences, sweet voice acting, and a remodeled Sigma fortress. Once you finish the game once with X, you'll unlock Vile's game. That's right, folks; you get to play as Vile!! He has a completely different moveset than X, and his game seems to be considerably harder. While all of the stage layouts are the same, the enemy placement is different, and they are often put in the most inconvenient places.
As far as the story goes, Vile appears to just want to prove that he's the ultimate Repliod; not X, not Sigma. He goes on pretty much a killing spree, wiping out the other Mavericks in a murderous rage. Hey, this is Vile we're talking about. He doesn't need a reason to kill people. When he beats a Maverick, he gains a variety of different kinds of equipment that can be equipped before beginning each stage. The fortress levels go through the same routine as X's game until the third level. X and Zero are the final boss, and you fight them where you fought Vile in X's game.
If there's a real problem I have with Vile's game, it's the fact that all of his stages rehash the exact same tune. The exception is the fortress levels, which have the same ones from X's game.
'Day of Sigma' OVA
An anime OVA is also a part of this game. It plays during the intro of the game, and is also viewable from the main menu when you finish the game once. This 15-20 minute movie goes into more detail about the events leading up to the game itself; Sigma's rebellion, Vile, X and Zero in the Hunters… All in all, I thought it turned out great. There were just a couple of inconsistencies with what we've seen later in the series.
Dr. Cain apparently dies before the events of X1 even transpire. We see the building he's in get vaporized in Sigma's missile attack, and it's unlikely he survived, considering he was shown hooked up to all kinds of life support equipment, suggesting he was already very frail.
Sigma's facial scars are shown to be caused by X, but in the MMX4 flashback, we see that the scars were caused by Zero well before these events supposedly took place.
Since Capcom has announced that the events of MHX are the new canon, however, I think it's safe to assume that when an if they continue the MHX series, they'll hopefully clean up the many inconsistencies that have plagued the series for a good while now.
Overall, I love this game! (Despite what Vile thinks...) Capcom did an excellent job in revamping the original game we came to love, and the hard mode and Vile's game were enough to keep it fresh. There's been no word yet of a MHX2, but I for one will certainly look forward to it.
