In 1996, the Mega Man X series parted ways with Nintendo hardware. Mega Man X3 is how it ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.
The first Mega Man X game got things off to such a solid start that it was almost inevitable that a letdown would come sooner rather than later. After all, with so little room for improvement, what could the sequels really do but overcomplicate themselves? Mega Man X2 did an admirable job of keeping the ball in the air — focusing more on refinement than innovation, for better or for worse — but X3 can't find much to do but repeat the past, with noticeably diminished returns.
The storyline is about what you'd expect. There are eight Mavericks to be stopped by our hero X, with a few familiar faces turning up along the way. Defeating each of the main bosses gives you a new ability, and there are upgrade capsules scattered throughout the levels. The mastermind behind this game's evil deeds is Dr. Doppler. Or so we're told. Anyone who knows their Mega Man, however, will see where that's going from the very start.
So far, so familiar, but it's not the story that lets X3 down — it's the design.
Too much of the game is, simply, empty. X can amble around for what seems like a comically long time without encountering an enemy, and far from creating tension it just makes us wonder if the developers forgot to finish the levels. There's a carelessness to the placement of hazards and obstacles. They're there alright, but unlike the exquisite torture of the first two X games, there's very little in the way of strategy that you'll need to learn. At least, most of the time.
The rest of the time, strategy gives way entirely to forced memorisation. Traps — some of which trigger instant death — appear from nowhere, with necessary leaps of faith turning into a mindless gamble until you remember how far you need to fall in which direction.
X3's design spends too much time at each of these extremes. You'll either need no strategy whatsoever, or an immediate flash of perfect foresight. Rewarding game design is between those extremes, and X3 avoids that middleground whenever possible.
The traps at the bottom of falls also reflect another problem with the design: platformers of this kind are not compatible with large, open rooms. Throughout the classic series — and nearly always in the previous two X games — the player is guided along a clear path. How they're meant to survive that path is the puzzle they'll need to solve, but "Where do I go?" is never a question they'll need to ask. Here the player needs to ask it constantly, because there is often no clue as to a room's exit. Sometimes that big drop in front of you means death. Other times it's the only way to progress. Sometimes your blind leap will put you on a platform. Other times you'll land on a bed of spikes and die.
Any of this could have been alleviated by the introduction of visual cues — whether hints in the background layer or visible activity below — but instead we just need to cross our fingers whenever we encounter a vertical drop. Or, for that matter, climb.
The poor design and lack of imagination extends to the bosses. It feels like an unfunny joke that so many of the major fights in X3 (from Mavericks to mini-bosses to fortress guardians) see the enemy ramming itself repeatedly into a wall while you slowly shoot it to death. That's a preposterously simple attack pattern for even one boss to have, but in X3 if you master the fine art of not standing still, you're way ahead of the curve.
In other cases, aspects of the game that should have been fun turn frustrating due to their illogical execution. As in X1, beating one stage can have an impact on another. Unlike X1, however, it's almost impossible to notice the difference. A light, for instance, might flicker. Hooray. This becomes problematic when you spy a heart tank behind a box that looks exactly like other boxes you're able to destroy. For some reason, you can't destroy this one. You return again and again with new weapons, but you'll never get rid of it. What do you have to do? Beat one particular stage, and that one particular box disappears. Why? We have no idea. What fun.
There's one single weapon that will get most of the upgrades for you, which in itself is disappointing. There's nothing to figure out; it's a simple matter of repeating the same thing every time you see cracks in the wall. And yet, in one stage, you'll see you need to break a rope to get an upgrade. There are plenty of logical ways to do this — from cutting it to burning through it — but none of that works. Instead, you need to charge up an electric weapon which — again, illogically — makes X punch the ground. How this breaks the rope but a blade does not is beyond us, and it doesn't seem at all like the product of thoughtful game design.
The soundtrack is another disappointment. While ports of the game to other consoles saw a significant downgrade in sound quality, the ostensibly superior SNES soundtrack isn't exactly easy on the ears. Some tracks — Neon Tiger's and Tunnel Rhino's in particular — are absolutely grating, and their repetition makes exploring their stages a chore.
Additionally, certain bosses need to be defeated with their weaknesses unless you want to fight them again later. Why a player should be rewarded for defeating them the "cheaper" way is beyond us, but there you go.
All of that, however, makes this more of a disappointing Mega Man X game than it does a disappointing game in general. A few of the boss fights can be rather fun, and there's still a sense of achievement when you manage to collect all of X's parts.
We'd also be remiss if we didn't mention the opportunity to summon Zero during the stages. While you're limited in terms of how much you can use him — and his moveset isn't as versatile as it would later become — playing as Zero is a fun way to inject a bit of life into an experience that sorely needs it.
In the end, X3 is frustrating mainly for what it fails to be. It fails to be a solid addition to the X lineup, and it fails to bring the SNES trilogy to a satisfactory close. If this were the first game in its series we might be a bit more forgiving, but instead it takes several big steps backwards, and seems to indicate that the minds behind this series were already losing interest...a suspicion that the quality of later X games can't really dispel.
Conclusion
By no means a bad game, Mega Man X3 still manages to be disappointing. From a design standpoint, there's simply too much that feels lazy and incomplete. Unremarkable weapons, illogical solutions to environmental puzzles, long areas of nothing at all, repetitive boss fights, and a soundtrack that seems to pride itself on being intermittently annoying all come together to make this a pretty sad swansong for X's adventures on the SNES. For fans of the series, there's enough here to warrant a play-through. Those looking to dip a toe, however, would be much better served by either of its predecessors.
Comments 69
too bad its not on 3ds, even if its not that great. but x4 just came to vita last week!!! i heard that ones awesome, will have to pick it up and see.
Have the first two so will be getting this when it comes to Europe. Probably next week.
Come to EU baby. and bring Megaman 7 with you.
Edit:
I just read the whole review. It seems I will have to wait for a discount to get X3.
Eh, I hated the soundtrack at first. But after listening to the PS1 version with better music, and then listening the SNES one again. I find it more consistently than the PS1 version.
This was a mediocre review.
X3 is one of my favorites from the MM X series second only to X4.
How the mighty fall. I brought x at launch (the box art was so good) I never played x3 and with all the quailty megaman offerings on the vc and based on the above I don't suppose I ever will.
This was pretty much my experience. Playing as Zero in the intro stage was cool, but from then on it was just reused enemies and bland, dark music. Flashes of creativity in the level designs were rare.
How dare you! Tell the truth...lol. Everyone has different tastes but I agree that of the three X games on SNES X3 was the worst. Playable (yet utterly useless) Zero to appease the rabid Zero fanboys was a good sign right from the start that the game didn't have the right focus in mind.
It's better than a 5/10, but it's still not great. The series improves greatly with X4 and X5, though.
Nah, 8/10 for me. The only problem I had with the game was the difficulty level. This game is brutal, especially with the bosses! I liked the chips and riders the game introduced, which sadly the series never carried over since. However, this isn't to say it's my favorite in the X series since X1 is still my favorite. Just played through X4 and it's good, but not X3-good.
I disagree with this review. Mega Man X3 is among my favorites. I don't have the same nostalgic attachment to it that I do X1 or X2, but it is almost as good.
wow, although what is said in the article isn't untrue, X3 is by far my favorite of the original 4 games in the series (since after that they are unplayably bland and horrible and entirely lifeless). honestly i would have given alot more credit to the game for what it does right. its another fun MMX romp with some great tunes and if you played it back when it was new, the randomness was never a problem, it was par for the course most of the time.
also the multiple versions of the game is an intriguing thing, it was available for SNES, Sega Saturn and then Playstation 1 (which included video cutscenes of the bosses and such and was awesome).
Man that's disappointing. Pretty harsh review. I'll still get it since this and x5 are the last X games I haven't played.
This is actually my second least favorite X game. I'd even take X7 over this. :/
This has the best Mega Man X soundtrack out of all the games in the series. Nothing can touch Zero's Theme, Gravity Beetle or Intro Stage Theme! Not even Spark Mandrill, Storm Eagle, Armored Armadillo or Sigma's Fortress 1 Theme from X1. The problem that X1 does not have, is that the music quality is very consistent and it never degrades that much like with X3's case. X3 had some below-mediocre tunes, but when it got high, it got as high as the clouds. Ups and downs. The strong tracks overshadow the weak ones. Also, the game gets a 7/10 from me. X1 as a game would score a 8.5/10. Those would be fair scores for both games.
I've picked it up. I'm glad that Capcom is supporting Wii U in some fashion, even if it's mostly the virtual console
That verdict is surprising. X3 is probably my favourite of the first three, at least its the one i come back to the most often.
In my opinion, a 5 is way to low, but then again, im heavily biased when it comes to any MegaMan game.
what the hell is this review how can you possibly be so negative about such a great game, x3 has always been my favourite in the series it's certainly no less fun than 1 and 2 I'm totally shocked
Glad they are completing the VC lineup with this but I'll keep to X/X2 for my own digital collection
I couldn't agree more with this review. Back when I first played this, I actually thought I had picked some kind of bootleg version by mistake. The basics were there, but no Mega Man game I'd ever played had levels this boring, empty and repetitive! No offense to those of you who enjoy it, but you see something here that I certainly do not.
well, better wait for GC games to come to VC.....and then Capcom can put the Anniversary sets on there (You know they would.). XD
Hm, I rather enjoy this one. I love the soundtrack too.
I do agree though, that it's the weakest of the SNES trilogy. Also, Blizzard Buffalo is basically just Tunnel Rhino with a bigger room, and Crush Crawfish is an exploitable little chump.
We all have to agree on terrible design choices for the levels and how the game just didn't care about Zero that much. What I don't like is that the amount of damage that you take from enemies at start is doubled from X1 and X2. And the difficulty could be brutal at times, no joke. The surprise bosses certainly didn't help either. In my book, it ranges from a 7.0 to a 7.5. The X-Hunters side-quest from X2 (for obtaining Zero's parts, preventing the X vs. Zero battle and getting the true and "alternate" ending) was a great addition, but none of that stuff can be found here and instead, it has a lot of bosses that you have to deal with in the Doppler/Sigma stages, depending on the choices you've made when battling certain ones in the main levels (whether you had, and used the special weakness weapons on them or not). The music is the best part about this game and it really delivers (and shines).
5/10? I disagree. I enjoyed the heck out of MMX3 on my old SNES. It's definitely a much better game than what you make it sound like in this... this... "review".
Tough review & I see what he's seeing too. I still really like X3. There are multiple secrets and endings in the game. I remember the original game pro article for X3....[I still have it.] One of its highlights were "Stages being twice as long." I think this game caters to those that are experienced MMX-players because many parts of the game were hard or required some advance technique to get by. Soundtrack wise some of my favorite MMX tunes goes from X3.
SN: I just REALLY HAPPY that we FINALLY got X3! I waited so long for it to come on the Wii but never did. Love X3 but X2 will always still be my favorite among the X games on the SNES. "Double Shot upgrade! Come on! What can beat that? I hit you for two point damage with 1st charge shot & then hit you with four point damage with my 2nd charge shot while your still blinking! Amazing! & you get Goku's Kaio Ken if you charge the Speed Burner power. Haha!" XD
5/10 is just too harsh. This is by no means a bad game but it isn't the best in the franchise (X4 to me is the best). 7/10 sounds more correct imo.
I usually agree with most Nintenfolife reviews. But this one is just.....I can't even think of the word to describe it. Hopefully this reviewer does better research on future reviews.
I strongly disagree with this review, X3 is a great platformer, the OST is among the best of the MMX games (unlike the bastardized OST found in the PSX version) and the graphics are the C4 chip at its best. Playing as Zero is quite fun even if it is limited to certain areas plus multiple endings based on your actions and some nice extras (chips, golden armor and Z saber). Mega Man X3 for the SNES is truly a great game and does not deserve such an unfair low review based on the personal preferences of the reviewer.
I must ageee with others this is a harsh review but everyone's entitled to their opinions but i must disgree. It's by no means perfect but still it brings to question the debate of personal preference. I wont download this because if i want to play it i'll just pop in my Megaman X collection for the gamecube and enjoy the X series in all its splendor…minus 7 & 8 unfortunately
I for one am glad that the score was not inflated to reflect the game's name. I don't see much personal bias in this review at all; if there were any, the score would likely be higher on the basis of Zero's inclusion as a playable character. I mean, that's pretty cool. Anyway, the game really does have notable issues in many aspects of its design. 5/10 does not refer to a bad game anyway, not on this site.
During the time that I played some of this game's levels, I was wondering whether or not I was playing a finished game. For a game that does so little new, it's quite a departure from its excellent predecessors.
X3 I love making this face X3
Hopefully this reviewer does better research on future reviews.
This was at least my 30th time playing through X3. Let me know how many times I should play the next one I review.
Mega Man X3 for the SNES is truly a great game and does not deserve such an unfair low review based on the personal preferences of the reviewer.
I agree; reviews should never reflect the personal preferences of the reviewer.
...erm, wait.
i can't believe this review! i disagree with everything! x3 is one of my top 5 megaman games, soundtrack included.
I really hated the bosses in this game. They were difficult in a way that just required you to do the same thing over and over again for way too long a time. I remember the Snow Bison or whatever it was was especially brutal. I think I even had his weakness weapon and the buster upgrade, and still it took at least 6 or 7 shots before he went down, and the whole fight required me to dash around the stage 4 times before I had a chance to get off a shot. And you had to do the pattern perfectly, or you'd get hit. Not fun. Not fun at all.
OK, I thought it was just me... I beat X and X2 and enjoyed them both. But then I got to X3 and couldn't even play more than a couple levels because I found it so dull.
This was a great game. It's a bit harder than the first two, but still pretty fun. The bosses get pretty easy after you master them, too. Replays give you many ways to play it from different bosses and hidden items to even a slightly different ending. I really like this one.
Not a bad review, I just don't agree with it.
I wouldn't say it deserves a 5/10 it's not that bad. I personally would give it a 7/10 but nothing higher. X3 just can't compare to the original X or even X2.
I'm surprised the review didn't mention my biggest complaint with this game. Nearly every enemy has some type of shield. I don't expect to mow through every single enemy in the game completely mindlessly, but the books -when they're actually there- are a chore to fight through.
@Philip_J_Reed I guess 31
This review highlights one of the reasons I miss the old Nintendo Power reviews, which took the average of a full panel of reviewers' scores. There's nothing inherently wrong about this review; it's the reviewer's personal opinion, and does speak for a certain portion of players, as the comments show. However, the comments also show that there's a significant portion of players whom the review is not representing, who actually thought the game was quite good. Unless there are more players out there I haven't noticed who think the game is even worse than a 5/10, it seems like the review happens to fall at one end of a range of overall opinions about the game, rather than being a moderate representation of all of them, which is bound to happen sometimes with a single-reviewer system.
Again, this isn't a criticism of this particular review, but, rather, of the single-reviewer system. Granted, I'm sure there are practical reasons that having multiple staff members contribute to every review would be difficult; I won't pretend I understand the logistics of that better than the staff. However, I still feel the need to say this because it seems like this review is just one of a number of recent Nintendo Life reviews that have encountered the problem of being unable to represent everyone's perspectives.
You guys love that photo of X in the mech, eh?
I never actually played the X games back in the SNES days. When I first played X3 on the X collection game I have for PS2, I wondered why X3 had a different feel than X1 and X2. I then found out that X3 was the Playstation version. Which is better? The Playstation or SNES version?
Still a worthy buy. The cart of this thing easily goes for $150.
@nik1470 The review makes this look like a terrible game. It's not. Unlike games like X6, it's still very enjoyable from beginning to...near end.
@Melkac
MMX6 is also enjoyable from beginning to end...I'd even say it's better than X3 which was a serious letdown.
Mega man x5 and x6 are THE best megaman games ever and the whole series should be brought to eshop
It just hasn't aged well. When this game was new, it was exciting to finally play as Zero and find out that Sigma was in fact a virus. X4 really put this one in a deep, dark shadow. In the end, X2 was my favorite on the SNES but X3 did have time when it was great.
This series as a whole is pretty mediocre.
I loved X3 when it first came out- but I've not played it since! Has it really aged that badly?? Either way, I'll download it when it's availible in Europe
I agree with the people saying it's a 7/10. It's a good game, and went over well when it came out. Revisiting it here and there over the years hasn't hurt it. It has it's flaws (Zero is sort of an afterthought, some stages are a bit too long, and handful of music tracks are repetitive). The chip system was a nice touch, and earning the gold armor and z saber made you feel like a god lol. It also has a more coherent story than the previous too (not saying a whole lot, but still).
tl;dr: if you're just thinking about grabbing one mega man game, look elsewhere. By if you got X 1 and 2, you might as well grab this and finish. It's not a "5/10," and it sounds like a handful of unmet expectations for the reviewer lead to a lower score than necessary (just in my opinion).
Terrible review
I love this game and its in my opinion a great Mega Man game
Sure, its not a 10, but its definitely not a 5 in any way or form.
Minimum 7, Id say 8,5
@MrL1193
Could not have said it better myself
I never agreed with the criticism thrown at this game. It's easily an 8 in my book - not as good as the original Mega Man X, but on par with X2 and better than pretty much every Playstation iteration of the series that came later - now THOSE were bloated, uninspired pieces of software.
At least the Gravity Beetle´s theme is awesome. Or maybe it was that Ocremix version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_pZULmkBsI
@shonenjump86 The main difference between the SNES and PSX is the OST and a few FMV cinematics. Try to listen both versions of MMX3 OSTs in youtube and then form an opinion of your own.
Personally (and have been playing the Mega Man X games since childhood) I think Capcom bastardized the music in the PSX version (which was included in the Anniversary Collection) so I prefer the excellent OST found in the SNES version which I rate quite high among the Mega Man X games (and Mega Man X 2d games are usually known for having great OST).
One of the few arranged PSX/PC tracks that are better or equal than their SNES counterparts in my opinion is Blizzard Buffalo stage, the rest are way worst and if you listened the original SNES tracks you probably are going to dislike or hate them.
But again the last two paragraphs are biased due it is my personal preference (and that of the people I've known) so I recommend you to listen to the OST of both games and form an opinion of your own,
I really don't get why everyone hates X3. I thought it was just as good as the first two.
The first time I played it I didn't like it the same as X or X2, the game has a bit more of exploration and less action from what I remember. But I ended up liking it a lot.
For me it deserves a 9.... at least 8.5
Mega Man X3 is one of those game that you either love it or hate it. Me I love it so I would definitely rate it around an 8/10.
I'm picking it up soon. My son is still playing X2, so after that. I do genuinely like X3. I also like X4 and 5 (kinda fell off at 6). Honestly, I don't get the hate for 3, which I didn't even know was a thing! I thought the new tweaks to the armor parts where fun, and they found more imaginative uses for X's upgraded weapons. Compare to X 1 where those upgraded attacks had minor effects, aside from that one area in Sigma's fortress you may want to use the Chameleon Sting's cloak to breeze through.
@Aldebaran
I see, I did actually listen to the SNES OST. I like it more than the Playstation version. I can't stand the OST in the Playstaion lol. Thanks.
@mjc0961 I do agree Mega Man X6 is by far the worst of the 2d Mega Man X games, altough still quite an enjoyable game, X3 is much better than X6
The worst Mega Man X games are X7 and X8, still X8 is a fun game with nice 2d anime artworks (terrible graphics and lazy level design but nice once you ignored that), plus you can play as Alia and Vile returns from X1 and X3.
But X7 is such a disgrace although for fans it can be passable (it has a couple of nice tracks and stages overall, plus Axel is a nice addition as a hunter)
@shonenjump86 You welcome
I do not know one single person who has liked the PSX OST (excluding the reviewer) if they've listened before the SNES OST. Although I'm sure people with such preferences exist out there, and some might prefer actually the PSX tracks.
BTW the reviewer said: "There's one single weapon that will get most of the upgrades for you, which in itself is disappointing."
Well is the same in Mega Man X2, once you've defeated Wheel Gator you can get most of the armor upgrades and that game was not criticized for that in their respective NL reviews.
Actually that affirmation from the review is not even true in Mega Man X3, unlike in X2 in which you need Wheel Gator's simple weapon to get most of the armor upgrades; in Mega Man X3 you need at least 2 different enemy weapons (Thunnel Rhino's and Volt Catfish) plus the X-buster upgrade in order to get most of the armor parts, let's not mention the enhanced chips.
SNES X3 has better OST than X2, the second X game has overall a nice OST and there are a couple of good tracks like Flame Stag or Bubble Crab. However such tracks are actually few and less energetic than the Zero/X themes, Gravity Beatle, Neon Tiger, Blizzard Buffalo, Volt Cat fish, Blast Hornet or Doppler's Fortress OST's found in the third X game (SNES).
WOW I couldn't disagree more. I have the Mega Man X collection(MM X 1-7 on PS2) and MM X3 is in my opinion the best one. It has a ton of secret weapons and upgrades and like the previous 2 has outstanding controls I'd give it an 8/10 or at least a 7, but a 5/10 c'mon...
@legend_of_Shawn Check out this Virtual console realese it is the SNES version (not included in the Anniversary Collection) it has a VERY different OST from the one you got (PSX version)
All MM games feel/seem the same to me. Even these X games. I like them all pretty much equally.
7/10 is good for this game. I'm playing it right now and it's not as bad as some people say (including the reviewer which should try to be more open-minded and positive towards games like this, I'm sure it's the right way). It's just not as straightforward and action-oriented like some people want it to be.
Probably the worst review NintendoLife has ever pulled. From cynical text to unreasonable complaints, it falls apart at the moment you look back to all said 9/10 and 10/10 NES entries: the level design is basically THE SAME in all previous Mega Man games. Little has changed. I don't remember MM1 or 2 having "clues" of what path to follow (Quick Man stage, I'm looking at you) before getting randomly killed. If you haven't noticed in all previous 10 or more entries, Mega Man was always about trial and error, about dying until you learn, memorizing patterns and NEVER standing still against bosses, no matter how dumb they act.
This game has some flaws but design isn't one of them for sure. And it's far from being a 5/10 piece of software.
Tap here to load 69 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...