 |
Octo's Guide to Megaman X: Cyber Mission
Hey everyone. Octo here, with a full run-down of Megaman X: Cyber Mission (aka Megaman Xtreme, but that name is way too corny for my tastes). Cyber Mission was X’s debut on a GameBoy system. It was initially released for GameBoy Color, but it is also playable on the original GameBoy as well as GBAdvance. This game is a hybrid of sorts between MMX and MMX2. It features Mavericks from both games as well as nearly identical stage layouts. While it is lacking in new features, it’s still a great game to pick up and play, and is a welcome addition to the MMX series. Story: Sometime between MMX2 and MMX3, a Maverick named Techno has hacked into the Hunters’ Mother Computer and is wreaking havoc in cyberspace. In addition, he has taken the data stored on the computer and revived a multitude of Mavericks from the past. X must dive into the computer and stop Techno, and to do so, he must defeat the demons from his past once again. Graphics: I must say, considering this is an 8-bit game, I am quite impressed by the graphics. Granted, the sprites are seriously lacking in color (only 2 colors), but they more than make up for that with amazingly fluid animation that is worthy of the X series. The backgrounds have numerous colors and are almost as good as their SNES counterparts. There is one small complaint, though. Sometimes, when there are several things moving at once, some sprites become transparent, and difficult to see. Especially notable are your weapons; the Silk Shot in particular is very difficult to see where it’s going. That happens a lot when in the ride armor as well. But, I suppose that’s better than the usual problem of slowdown, which was common on 8-bit systems. Sound: All of the BGMs are simply 8-bit versions of tunes from X1 and X2. Gameplay: If you’ve played a MMX game before, you should already be familiar with how it plays. However, there are a couple added twists thrown in. Namely, the ‘Hard’ and ‘Extreme’ modes. When you start out in Normal mode, only four Mavericks are selectable, much like the other GB games from the original series. When you defeat them and complete the fortress stages, Hard mode becomes available. You can either try it with the save data from Normal mode, or go at it with no previous upgrades. Hard mode showcases four different Mavericks, but the same fortress stages. When Hard mode is beaten, Extreme mode is unlocked. There, you can choose from all eight Mavericks, and there are no story sequences. Also, there is a battery save function, which is a relief, since the passwords in X1-3 were very long and complex and took a long time to copy down and re-enter. In addition, there are flashing columns of light in parts of stages which act as checkpoints. If you die, you’ll restart from there. It also acts as a quick save feature; if you shut the game off and reload your file, you’ll start from your last checkpoint; but the quick save data will be lost. Another feature is the ‘Zero Scramble’. While Zero isn’t a playable character in this game, X can call on him to perform a brief attack if he collects various scramble programs from certain capsules. Mavericks: Normal Mode – Chill Penguin Spark Mandrill Storm Eagle Flame Stag Hard Mode – Wheel Gator Magna Centipede Armored Armadillo Morph Moth Weapons:
Acquired from: Chill Penguin Normal: Fires a chunk of ice that diffuses when it hits something. Charged: Shoots a large ice block that slides across the ground (you can’t ride it like in the SNES game).
Acquired from: Spark Mandrill Normal: Shoots a lightning orb that electrifies any walls it touches. Charged: Creates two electrical fields and sends them away from X: one forward, one backward.
Acquired from: Storm Eagle Normal: Fires a powerful blast of air straight ahead. Charged: Creates a spinning vortex around X, extending far above and below him.
Acquired from: Flame Stag Normal: Shoots a fireball straight ahead. Charged: Causes X to streak forward, engulfed in fire. Can be used while jumping to gain some extra distance.
Acquired from: Wheel Gator Normal: Creates a bladed wheel that falls to the ground and rolls forward. Charged: Fires blades in all eight directions.
Acquired from: Magna Centipede Normal: Fires a projectile that can be controlled by pressing ‘up’ or ‘down’. Charged: Fires a high-density orb that can be controlled by pressing ‘up’ or ‘down’.
Acquired from: Armored Armadillo Normal: Shoots a spinning sphere that rolls across the ground. Charged: Protects X with a force field.
Acquired from: Morph Moth Normal: Fires a ball of junk that falls to the ground and shatters, sending shrapnel in four directions. Charged: Fires a larger junk ball that shatters into eight pieces. Zero Scrambles: When you acquire one of these parts, you can call Zero to help you clear out enemies. Zero does have a gauge just like your weapon gauges, however, and each attack uses energy. Dash Location: Armored Armadillo (In the capsule at the end of the mine car ride at the end, the same place the Hadoken capsule was in X1.) Function: Calls Zero to perform a dashing attack straight ahead. Rising Location: Wheel Gator (Near the beginning of the stage use the Foot part to go up a shaft; it’s the same spot as the Buster upgrade in X2.) Function: Zero does a sword strike straight upward, hitting enemies above you. Earth Gaizer Location: Morph Moth (Right before the first checkpoint, use Spin Wheel to break through the floor; same place as X2’s Armor upgrade.) Function: Zero causes a large explosion, damaging all on screen enemies. Final Location: Magna Centipede (In the part where the crosshair is chasing you, head to the top section and use the Helmet part to break the ceiling.) Function: Zero does a swift, and powerful combo on the enemy in front of him. Heart Tank Locations: Those of you who played an X game are probably familiar with Heart Tanks. X starts with a relatively low amount of health, but collecting these little gems will raise your heath capacity. Each Maverick stage has one. Chill Penguin – Take the ride armor to the cave entrance. Jump out of the ride armor and climb to the top of the cave. Use the Speed Burner to destroy the bluish-colored dome. The Heart is inside. Spark Mandrill – After the first turtle, climb the wall instead of going down the ladder. The Heart is on an overhang above that wall. You’ll need the Foot part to be able to jump around the overhang. Storm Eagle – When you reach the spot with floating platforms moving up and down, take the first lift up and jump to the left, into the control tower. Keep walking left until you hear a tone, indicating you picked up the Heart. Flame Stag – This Heart is much easier to get than in the SNES version. In the spot with the rising lava, hurry up the shaft. The Heart is in plain view, on a platform to the left. Wheel Gator – After climbing the ladder after the ride armor section, you can see the Heart on a ledge to the left, protected by a spiked wall. You must have the Buster upgrade and either the Speed Burner or Rolling Shield. Charge the Speed Burner and jump off a platform to the right, then activate it for the extra distance necessary to reach the Heart. Or just charge Rolling Shield and climb the spiked wall. Magna Centipede – Before the first checkpoint, you’ll notice a shaft in the ceiling leading up. Don’t let the spotlight catch you and charge the Speed Burner to reach a part you can grab hold up so you can climb the shaft and claim your prize. Armored Armadillo – When you encounter the second large mining robot, get behind it and rapid-fire it for all you’re worth. You must destroy it before it reaches the shaft leading up to the Heart so you can reach a spot to climb up. Morph Moth – Near the beginning of the stage, right before you go inside the building, just jump off the platform to the top of the building and grab the Heart lying there, along with a 1-Up. Sub-Tank Locations Sub-Tanks are similar to the Energy Tanks of the original series. But these require you to store energy in them first. When you pick up health while your gauge is full, it will be transferred to a Sub-Tank. When full, you can use it to completely replenish your health. It can be used when partially full, but it doesn’t refill your health nearly as much. Spark Mandrill – Right before the end of the section with the electric floors at the beginning, climb down the ladder instead of proceeding to the checkpoint. Keep going until you see the Tank, with four blocks barring your path to it. Kick against them with the Foot part to clear them away. Storm Eagle – At the beginning of the stage, ride the track platforms to the top of the area, then dash jump to the left to find the Tank. Magna Centipede – After the section with the large crushing blocks, charge the Speed Burner again, and dash jump over the pit, activate the Speed Burner, and grab the end of the shaft. Climb it for the Tank. Armored Armadillo – When you jump down the first shaft and find the first mining robot, grab the left side the wall and slide down until the robot bursts out of the wall. Climb back up and wait until it passes. Once it does, jump down and go left to find the Tank. Upgrades As always, if X can find Dr. Light’s capsules He will gain added abilities that are a great asset later on. Foot Upgrade Location: Chill Penguin (You can’t miss it. The capsule is sitting smack in your path. If you can’t find it, just open your eyes.) Function: Allows you to dash jump off walls (because of the controls, you can’t do this normally), as well as break certain walls by kicking against them. Helmet Upgrade Location: Storm Eagle (After climbing the tower, drop down to the other side. Dash jump to the right and shoot the barrier to destroy it. The capsule is inside.) Function: Allows you to break certain walls by head-butting them from underneath. Armor Upgrade Location: Flame Stag (Right underneath Zain’s room. Before climbing the shaft to fight him, dash jump to the right to find the capsule.) Function: Raises your defense power. Buster Upgrade Location: Spark Mandrill (Near the end of the stage, look carefully at the ceiling for a spot to break through with the Helmet part.) Function: Allows you to charge your buster to a higher level, as well as charge special weapons. Walkthrough
Highway Stage This is the same as the intro stage in X1. Make your way down the highway without falling into the holes created by the flying robots with spiked bottoms. There are two Bee Bladers in this stage. Rapid firing can destroy each one easily. Don’t even worry about charging. Watch for cracked portions of the road. They’ll collapse if you step on them.
You’ll now have four Maverick stages to choose from; Chill Penguin, Spark Mandrill, Storm Eagle, and Flame Stage. Go for Eagle first. Storm Eagle Stage Take the track platforms as high as they go, then dash jump off to the left. Land on the top of the building to find your first Sub-Tank. When you reach the spot with floating platforms moving up and down, take the first lift up and jump to the left, into the control tower. Keep walking left until you hear a tone. You just found a Heart Tank. Just past the floating platforms, you’ll see a set of tanks below the floor you can destroy by shooting it. Inside is a 1-Up. After the floating platforms is a high tower, climb it, then drop down to the other side. Dash jump to the right and shoot the barrier to destroy it. The capsule is inside
Flame Stag Stage At the start of the stage, you’ll find a rock wall. A big beetle will also descend and start trying to ram you. You can lure it so it hits the weak part of the wall, which will knock it down, or you can just climb the wall and hop down the hole at the top. You’ll now find yourself at the bottom of a shaft with rising lava. Luckily, it doesn’t rise as fast as it did in X2. I wouldn’t try for the 1-Up. It’s a trap. Instead, shoot up the shaft as fast as you can, and be sure to grab the Heart Tank on the left. You’ll soon be faced with a fork in the road. You can take the top road and fight Zain, or take the bottom road and cross a big lava lake with collapsing platforms. Whatever you do, be sure to get the Armor Upgrade by taking a big dash jump off the platform you enter the cave on.
The final shaft has fire-throwing squirrels, but the gas pipes don’t explode this time if flames hit them.
Chill Penguin Stage The opening of Penguin’s stage is pretty tame. No snow bunnies, no bomber flies, just those jolly lumberjack bastards that laugh at you if they hit you. As you climb through the ice cave, you’ll find the capsule containing your Foot Upgrade. You can’t miss it. In fact, I don’t think it’s possible to skip it. You’ll see a ride armor after exiting the cave. This ride armor is like the one from X2; it has spiked hands that can be charged, and the unit can hover as well. Take the ride armor to the cave entrance. Jump out of the ride armor and climb to the top of the cave. Use the Speed Burner to destroy the bluish-colored dome. There’s a Heart Tank inside.
Spark Mandrill Stage In the SNES game, you could get rid of the electric floors by defeating Storm Eagle before coming here. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work here, so you’ll just have to watch the sparks traveling along the floors. Right before the end of the electric floor section, climb down the ladder instead of proceeding to the checkpoint. Keep going until you see a Sub-Tank, with four blocks barring your path to it. Kick against them with the Foot part to clear them away. The next section is very dark, and is only lit up by fireflies that streak through the area. It’s very hard to make out where the floor begins and ends, so proceed with extreme caution to avoid falling down an unseen pit. The mini-boss of sorts is a large bubble-like-thing. It bounces around and tries to shoot lightning at you, crush you, or pelt you with sticky goo. Rip it apart using the Storm Tornado. After the first turtle, climb the wall instead of going down the ladder. A Heart Tank is on an overhang above that wall. You’ll need the Foot part to be able to jump around the overhang. More turtles, then another darkened section at the end. As the fireflies pass, watch the ceiling for a place you can break through with your Helmet part. Your Buster Upgrade awaits.
At this point, if you’re playing Normal mode, you’ll go to the fortress. If you’re starting Hard mode or if you’re playing Extreme mode, read on. Armored Armadillo Stage Capcom must’ve caught onto the trick a lot of players used in X1 to fill their Sub-Tanks, involving walking up and down the slope at the beginning of the stage, killing the bats, and collecting all of the health capsules they dropped. Here, the bats drop no health whatsoever. The Battonton that provided unlimited 1-Ups is gone as well. Be careful as you drop down the first shaft; a big mining robot will burst out of the wall on the left. It can destroy any rocks in its way and can kill you in one hit. Slide down the shaft slowly, and when the robot comes out of the wall, shimmy back up. After it passes, drop down and into the little nook it was in for a Sub-Tank. When you encounter your second digger, drop down behind it and start pummeling it with the strongest weapons you have. There’s a shaft leading to a Heart Tank up ahead, and if the robot destroys the rocks around it, you won’t be able to reach it. The last section has you riding a mine cart. At the end of the ride, jump out into a room right above the boss door to find a capsule with the Zero Scramble Dash program.
Morph Moth Stage Near the beginning of the stage, right before you go inside the building, just jump off the platform to the top of the building and grab the Heart Tank lying there, along with a 1-Up. Before the first checkpoint, there’s a well-hidden room containing the capsule for Zero Scramble Earth Gaizer. You must have Spin Wheel to find it, though. Use it at around this location to break away the floor. The junk golem is back, with those annoying little pink bugs. Thankfully, Storm Tornado owns them both. The green bugs are also quite irritating. If they latch onto you, you’ll either jump or fire uncontrollably until they let go. Shoot them from a distance, or use Storm Tornado, as with their pink counterparts.
Magna Centipede Stage The beginning of the stage has spotlights all over the place. If one catches you, blocks will drop from the ceiling, with turrets firing at you, and some parts of the floor will collapse. Just be careful, though and you should be fine. Before the first checkpoint, you’ll notice a shaft in the ceiling leading up. Don’t let the spotlight catch you and charge the Speed Burner to reach a part you can grab hold up so you can climb the shaft and grab another Heart Tank. The next section has large blocks that fall down into certain niches that can crush you, killing you instantly. The red blocks can be destroyed with your buster. Just be patient and look before you leap. Once you’ve made it past them all, charge the Speed Burner again, and dash jump over the pit, activate the Speed Burner, and grab the end of the shaft. Climb it for a Sub-Tank. The first mini-boss is a big green robot. It just jumps back and forth, firing shots you form the ground. Charged Shotgun Ice is found to be quite effective. After climbing down the next shaft, you’ll be in a large room with falling debris, and a crosshair chasing you around. Each time the crosshair catches you, the next mini-boss gains new attacks. Try to avoid it and look for a spot on the ceiling you can break through to find Zero Scramble Final. As I said, the next mini-boss’s difficulty varies depending on how many times the crosshairs caught you. Green is the easiest, then blue, red, then purple being the toughest.
Wheel Gator Stage Look for an upward shaft near the beginning of the stage. Climb it for the Zero Scramble Rising. There’s another brief ride armor section, but it’s easy. After climbing the ladder after the ride armor section, you can see a Heart Tank on a ledge to the left, protected by a spiked wall. You must have the Buster upgrade and either the Speed Burner or Rolling Shield. Charge the Speed Burner and jump off a platform to the right, then activate it for the extra distance necessary to reach the Heart. Or just charge Rolling Shield and climb the spiked wall. As you ride the lift upward, you can jump off to the left and proceed through the stage, or continue upward to fight Geemel.
Now for the fortress stages. The first fortress level was ripped from X1’s first fortress stage. The second stage come from X2’s third fortress stage. Computer Core: 1st Station There are several lifts passing over a wide ravine with a couple of flying robots that aren’t afraid to knock you in. Ward them off with charged Storm Tornado or Rolling Shield. When you don’t see another lift, you must make a leap of faith to the right to land in the next area. Where you fought Vile in X1, you’ll now fight Zain, Geemel, or both, depending on which mode you’re on.
If you are on Extreme mode, you will fight both Zain and Geemel, one right after the other. Your next challenge is making it through a section with infrared beams and springboards placed to throw you into them. If this happens, the turrets in the rea will fire upon wherever you’re standing, so you’d better keep moving. Next is a long shaft with wall-waling robots and robots carrying shields and flails. Use Electric Spark to fry the robots on the walls, then charge it to eliminate the shielded robots once they shoot their flails at you. Bospider: AKA That @#^&#@^ing spider. This is one irritating boss. Bospider will appear at the top of the screen, and will follow the tracks that appear in front of it own to the ground. If you are a quick observer, you can predict the spider’s path and be ready when it lands, which is the only time it’s vulnerable. But it may not descend at all, but rather toss out a couple of baby spider to throw you off. Bring a full Sub-Tank and be ready for when it lands. Use Shotgun Ice or Magnet Mines for best results. Computer Core: 2nd Station There are two shafts to climb using those odd platforms. You change direction on them by jumping and landing back on the platform again. If you recall the Soryuken capsule from X2, you’ll be glad to know it’s in the same spot as before. And it includes the Hadoken as well. To get it, you must be able to reach the top ladder next to the spiked wall. Reaching it requires either some tricky maneuvering with that flying platform, or buy simply charging the Rolling Shield and climbing the wall (Rolling Shield is awesome in this game; the force field from it makes you virtually invincible!). Then you must make your way through a spike filled area, either by using some fancy footwork combined with charged Speed Burner. When you fins yourself on a long downward shaft, slide down the left side until you go through the wall. The capsule is there. When you have Hadoken and Soryuken, you can use them by charging all the way (when X glows pink) and hold either ‘up’ or ‘down’ as you release the B button. Holding ‘up’ uses Soryuken, while ‘down’ uses Hadoken. Unlike their previous games, you don’t need to be at full health to use them, although the tradeoff is that they lack the power that they had before. The final section is annoying; a spiked floor, with few footholds, and lots of green bugs swarming around. Again, Rolling Shield is your best bet. If you don’t have it yet, use Storm Tornado to clear them away. Just watch your jumps. Serges: It seems Serges has also been revived, and he’s actually tougher in Normal mode, when you don’t have the weapons to deal with him easily. On Normal mode, use charged Electric Sparks to destroy the four turrets. When they’re destroyed, hit Serges with the Speed Burner. You just have to aim well, because you must hit Serges’ head. That’s not easy, though, since you’re on a moving platform, being bombarded with shots. You will most likely need a full Sub-Tank. On any other mode, charge the Spin Wheel to take out all the turrets at once, then pummel Serges from above with Rolling Shields. Computer Core: 3rd Station After climbing a shaft, you’ll find the teleporter room, where you fight the Mavericks again. An annoyance here, though, is the fact that the game sometimes glitches here, causing the screen to not scroll in the teleporter room.
|
|
Shotgun Ice
Electric Spark
Storm Tornado
Speed Burner
Spin Wheel
Magnet Mine
Rolling Shield
Silk Shot
Vile: At the end of the stage, you’ll fight Vile in his ride armor. Zero won’t be there to bail you out this time, but thankfully, either X has gotten much stronger since X1 or Vile is weaker. Vile moves back and forth in a simple pattern, and X should have no trouble taking him out with charged buster shots. (Incidentally, Capcom flubbed in their translation here and called Vile by his Japanese name, ‘Vava’.)
Storm Eagle: Eagle’s attacks mostly involve trying to blow you off his ship. He’ll often flap his wings, causing large gusts of wind, or use the Storm Tornado, which can blow you away easily if you don’t dash against it. As you do this, pummel him with charged shots. He can also spawn flocks of smaller birds to swarm you (similar to Pipi eggs in the original series). When he flies off the screen, get ready for him to start dive-bombing you. This is his most damaging attack. Keep dashing back and forth to avoid it. If you’re especially nimble, you can jump out of the way of the dive bomb and shoot him with a charged shot. Once you unlock Extreme mode, you’ll find he’s weakest against Spin Wheel.
Zain: I honestly can’t think of any reward you get for fighting Zain here. But if you decide to fight him, he’s pretty easy. Just dash under him when he jumps at you and fire a charged shot or Shotgun Ice at him from behind. His big sword will deflect all frontal attacks. After every third jump, Zain will jump again, ending with a spinning attack. But he’s quite predictable and should pose no difficulty.
Flame Stag: Stag spends a lot of time bouncing between the walls of his room. Other than that, his attacks include shooting a pair of fireballs (one arcs up, the other arcs down) and a fire dash. Use the Storm Tornado to knock him out of the air. Not a hard fight at all. 
Chill Penguin: Penguin has a nice assortment of attacks. He’ll fire Shotgun Ice in sets of four at a time. He can also slide across the floor and ram you (he’s invincible while doing this), or use his icy breath to freeze you and create a pair of penguin-shaped ice sculptures. He’ll usually then grab the ring on the ceiling to create a blizzard that blows the penguins at you. It sounds like a lot on your hands, but it helps if you simply keep your distance from Penguin so you can anticipate his attacks, and blast him with the Speed Burner whenever you have a clear shot.
Spark Mandrill: Mandrill is by far the hardest of the first four if you are only using the X-Buster. If you have Shotgun Ice, though, he’s quite manageable. Mandrill will punch the ground, sending Electric Sparks along the ground, as well as climb along the ceiling and try crushing you. He also has a wicked dash punch. You can freeze him solid using the Shotgun Ice. Fire at the wall behind you so it will diffuse, becoming harder to dodge. As he thaws, charge the Shotgun Ice. When he breaks out and stops flashing, hit him with the charged version to do some serious damage. Repeat that process a few times and you should have him licked.
Armored Armadillo: Armadillo’s thick armor repels a lot of your attacks. He himself fires shots of his own, and rockets around the room with his Rolling Shield. If you have Electric Spark, hit him with two consecutive shots to blast off his armor. This will make him much easier. If you don’t have it, then just rapid-fire him with your X-Buster. Do not charge!! If you hit him with a charged shot, that just pisses him off, and he’ll send a shower of shots around the room.
Morph Moth: Moth begins the fight in a chrysalis stage, sucking up debris in a clockwise or counterclockwise circle. You’ll need the Foot part to circle the room with enough speed to stay ahead of it. He’ll also drop to the floor and roll around, spewing out garbage. This is a good time to smack him around using Rolling Shield or Speed Burner. When his health drops to about ½, Moth will complete his metamorphosis, and completely changes his attacks. He’ll fly about the room, alternating between scattering damaging pollen or firing a potent ray. It helps to keep moving and stay on the walls to avoid the pollen. Keep using Rolling Shield or Speed Burner whenever you have an opportunity.
Magna Centipede: Centipede threw a lot at you in his stage, and he isn’t about to go easy on you now that you found him. Use the Silk Shot to smash his tail. With that gone, he can only teleport around the room, tossing Magnet Mines out in sets of three. Even if he’s on the ceiling, the range of the Silk Shot when it shatters should reach him if you know where to fire. If you don’t have Silk Shot, good luck. With the tail intact, Centipede can sting you, causing you to lose your abilities to charge, rapid-fire, and dash, making the fight much, much harder.
Geemel: As with Zain, there seems to be no apparent reward for defeating him. Geemel will toss his shuriken at you a few times, then he’ll warp to the other side of the room and repeat the process. Simple enough. Beat him down with Speed Burner or charged shots.
Wheel Gator: Gator isn’t super-tough, just annoying. He spends a considerable amount of time in the grungy muck, before emerging and performing one of several attacks. He may fire a pair of Spin Wheels at you, fire a spray of plasma bullets, or do a spinning attack (the latter attack doesn’t damage the wall as in X2). He can also launch Spin Wheels while submerged in the drink, or grab you and start gnawing. Keep moving when Gator is underwater to avoid becoming lunch. Whenever you get an open shot, hit him with Magnet Mines.
Sigma: After defeating the Mavericks a second time, you now fight Siggy, and he’s donning the same guise as when you fought him in X1. Equip the Electric Spark and climb a wall to on of the upper corners and wait for him to climb up after you. When he gets high enough, drop down and blast him with a couple of Electric Sparks, then repeat the process. Sigma does a lot of damage with his attacks, but this pattern should help against him.
Ultimate Sigma: Pshaw. X should know better by now than to think he could defeat Sigma so easily. Sigma returns in his final form from X1. Climb a wall and wait on one of the two claws rotating near the head. If you’re on Normal mode, shoot the head with charged buster shots. On any other mode, use Rolling Shield. Your perch should keep you safe from most of Sigma’s attacks, but if the claw you’re standing on stops, get off! That’s a sign it will zap you with a thunderbolt.