Mega Man X3: Depressing, yet Brilliant
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- Doing another deep dive on a Mega Man game which I had only a bit of prior experience with. This time we are going into a lot of comparisons between the soundtracks of X, X2, and X3. Also, I provide my official ratings for the categories of soundtrack, game play, and artwork!
#nes #megaman #videogames #retrogaming
Tips greatly appreciated!:
ko-fi.com/vgre...
Box scans:
gamefaqs.games...
Manual scans:
www.retrogames...
Videos referenced:
• The DEFINITIVE Guide t...
• Let's Play Megaman X3,...
Soundtrack:
Composed by Kinuyo Yamashita
• Full Mega Man X3 OST
They should’ve added Zero as a fully playable character in the Legacy Collection and gave him the three slashes version.
There is a "playable zero" romhack. Works great. Check it out sometime. It's based on his moveset in X3, though, not X4.
The composer for the soundtrack also worked in the first Castlevania game.
I tought this video was gonna be abiut gameplay, but I think I haven't seen a retrospective that is more about gushing over memories and aesthetics. Pretty good.
Hey thanks! Glad I could bring something a little different to the table. I try to incorporate a little about gameplay of course, but my channel is definitely more of an aesthetic and memories type deal haha.
The first time I played X3, I also noticed that it was way different than X and X2. Almost feels like X3 was like a 32 bit game ported to the SNES.
Megaman X3 is my favorite of the orignal trilogy. The ps1 opening for x3 is so good and makes me want an anime base on X and his adventure. Day of Sigma was good but i really like the 90s anime look.
I never knew much about the PS1 version but did a little looking into it after I uploaded this. The script for a video on that version would be like completely different than this video it's pretty cool!
@VGReader I really did enjoy your video and agree, and X3 does indeed have a higher starting difficulty than x1 and x2, but I do think the pay of at the end feels great.
This is and has always been my favorite Mega Man game.
Its my favourite in the X series for sure. Its such a grim hint at whats to come and how horrible the maverick virus really is. Its no longer about dealing with a few random mavericks and sigmas struggling genocide. Its now a full war against something that is robbing people of their sanity and will, and a cure is a long way off. These aren't soldiers anymore, they are victims you cant save and all you can do is a final kindness.
NGL weird take but I've liked X3 the most out of the SNES trilogy. It's certainly not as visually appealing as X2 nor as narratively driven as X1, but I dig the exploration-heavy level design above all else, and the upgrades certainly feel like they're at their strongest.
The upgrades in X3 are really incredible for sure
Man I still think about the intro to X3 whoever was on the guitar had absolutely no business going that hard
It's one of the most memorable tracks in the game for sure! I had to include it in my analysis!
Hi... 90s kid here, who played and owns an original copy of game.
YES, there was a website back in the day, but it was a subsection of the Capcom website proper. It looked a little different than the manual, but the information was the same. Monitors were not the same dimension as a physical manual. Much of the information on the site is the same as the manual, but it was presented more of an advertisment, wanting you to buy the game.
Excellent! Thank you for the info, I am so glad somebody explained this haha!
oddly enough, x3 was my favorite out of the entire x series
I've come to like it a lot more than I used to! I think any of the 3 are a valid pick for a favorite. I would have to rank them X2, X, X3. But it's all just personal preference at that point.
@@VGReader not faulting your choice, agreed, x2 had the better soundtrack, but i guess i played 3 more than the other 2. x2 was hard to find even when it was new because of the c2 chip
Cool to hear that you were able to play X3 a lot back in the day! Thanks for sharing!
Finally someone talks about how depressing this game feels, even when it has amazing mechanics (for the time) and it's very fun to re-play between time. I didn't figure about the music, but also the backgrounds, colors used, and the overall story are very depressing.
I found x3 just had too many long stretches of nothing. No enemies, lots of flat/simple areas.
But that said…it’s still great, and I loved every play through of it!
I wish they would do a reboot and start pumping these out again, maybe charge 30 dollars per game. Megaman 11 was really good, I played through it twice
That would be cool!
They already did, it was called Maverick Hunter X for the PSP, but nobody bought it.
@Bingo_the_Pug you just taught me something new. So I have a trimui smart pro and was just on Megaman x6. Ran to the psp section and it's there. Visually, it looks terrible! Lol I'm still going to play it, thanks
@@Bingo_the_Pug a shame too, it was pretty good
@@Bingo_the_Pug they should have released it on PlayStation instead of just PsP
I dont feel anything depressing about most of the beats on these mega Man games and I play em still to this day almost every day
I never understood why people say that X3 is the most difficult out of the first 3. I always thought Spider boss and Sigma 2 from X1 were the hardest. X2 is my favorite also btw! You can tell Capcom put the most amount of effort and care into that one. X Hunters kick ass, and the music fucking rocks!
Aww man that Spider boss in X1 is such a pain! Sigma's second form is also pretty tough. I boil it down mostly to a lack of experience for me with X3. And the harder parts of X3 are in the beginning but not so much later on, for me at least.
Well it wasn't really explained in the video, but when you start the game you are extremely underpowered and you usually die in 3 hits, also knowing that they took the dash trick out of this game makes most bosses a real pain, and if you do the weakness chain you will literally have to backtrack to every stage with the exception of Tiger, Crawfish, and Hornet.
Yeah, I did struggle with that guy too. But really it just comes down to knowing the AI and reactions. X3 is hard tho cause everything hits like a tank, and sometimes even with the armor it can be a bit of a pain. Still though, it was a fun play. If I had to choose the easiest, most def X2.
X1 is insanely easy, I find X3 10x harder.
Try beating Sigma without any upgrades.
For me I think X2 is the ugly duckling of the first trilogy. X1 is my favourite and X3 closely follows (PS1 version). I do still think X2 is good, just not quite as good as the other 2 which I consider to both be legendary.
great music breakdown of x3 , while i don't particularly like most of it's ost myself , i do appreciate the themeing that you explain here
and yeah very good to point out the major toneal shift that x1's 1st sigma stage brings to the table
LOL MM SOCCER MENTIONED , that game is surprisingly fun....
I've actually never played the soccer game haha! I guess I'll have to give it a shot now!
@@VGReader unironically chad.yes with a friend
That soccer game was entertaining, back in those days of yore, when simple things were enough.
It's depressing when you realize X is fighting to wipe out nature and all non-human life just so humans can have the world to themselves.
That's how Copy-X is.
@@blazingsonic Nah. EVERY version of X.
I barely remember this game. I remembered x1 & x2 way more.
Next video should be about the volt catfish and what that mf MOUTH do! Got dam!
😂😂😂😂😂😂
hell naw 💀
Megaman X and X4 are my favorite Megaman X games.
Two things: If you OWN Legacy Collection, download a emulator and play the game emulated. Frankly it will work better.You already own the original copy either way, but the difference is that the emulation Capcom uses have input delay and HOLY COW it makes this hard game even harder. It's a shame, but it is what it is. Play it emulated after buying the thing. It's for the best.
X3 always kicked my tail end when I was a kid playing this game on the X collection on the PS2
Always loved this game, I used to think it was very hard but at the same time very rewarding has some of my favorite X bangers. I never knew about Doppler's ending until a friend told me and I remember being blown away in the CTR because the game had a different ending.
Oddly enough, I hate X2's OST, I think it's just the type of synth they used, but yah. It would be really hard for me to rank X3 over X2 due to the BS needed to prefect the game, but in saying that, that's also why I played it most, because there are so many different outcomes. X1 is nearly the perfect game, the only one I could say that comes close to matching it is X7 (kidding, X4).
IF I had to rank them, in my current mood, it sits like this:
Top G:
X1
Great, but not X1:
X4 - This to me is like if X1 was 32bit and it had Zero, each playthrough is the same, since there are no branches, but it's a fun time.
X3/X2 - X3 is great for different options, getting different parts, saving for the gold chip, killing or saving Zero, a lot of options here, X2 is like X1, straight forward, but with the ability to save Zero.
Good, but not X4:
X5 - I love the armors here, just a fun time, though the RNG hurts it.
Why did you rush this!?:
X6 - The game can be fun, but there are too many things wrong with it, I'm really glad fans are doing stuff to fix it.
They tried I guess? I actually like this game more than most, and I'd play it over X8 for the lulz:
X7 - I love a few tracks from this game though, and hot take, I love the terrible voice acting, I really have a lot of laughs playing this. I actually love Flame Hyenard.
If this were made in 16 or 32bit (I know someones doing it), it would likely be on X4's level:
X8 - This game had a lot of content, but I really dislike looking at it, I think it's the ugliest X game, and yes, THAT INCLUDES X7. It was fun though, I beat it 9 times, includiong with the navigator girls, Black Zero, White Axl, Ultimate X and all their base forms..
I would love to see someone do a DeMake of X7, because I think it would be a great game in 16 or 32 bit as well, especially if they keep the voice acting xD.
@@ZenKrio great rankings! I have legitimately zero experience with any of them after X4, but hey, maybe one day the second X collection will call my name.
Boss man goes boom
They sure do 😂😂😂
The music didn’t feel iconic and hyped like 1,2…. Tho it was deep! it felt like the end of the world playing x3! 😅
11:10
Armored Armadillo stage for fill ups...... 😂💀
how could you not cover the first time we get to play as Zero and the epic sound track behind the first time you play as Zero?? Either way, good breakdown.
Good point, I honestly just view X4 as the first "real" experience with playing as Zero so I did gloss over it here.
X3 is glorious, just like x4, after that, everything went downhill
Play Zero Project 4.8 + MSU1 + added cutscenes. It's the definitive way to play this game and corrects a lot of your complaints. It brings more life to this depressing title.
There's something about American game manuals and box art that nothing can replicate. I personally prefer the Japanese versions, but they don't have that strange 90s American cheesiness.
@@doozy5184 totally agree. I had never seen the X3 manual before I did this video and I just love how corny it is!
This was the last game in the series I played before we got robbed by a rampaging bridge troll. What they didn't take they smashed up. My guitar was safe with me and I eventually got the PlayStation.
The early game of X3 is rough if you aren’t super experienced, but as you get more heart containers & armor parts it gets really easy, especially if you get the Z saber. The soundtrack is also sort of a step back from X2, but I still like it
X3 is awesome honestly. Always been my favorite.
I played this game so much that I still have this code memorized
1454
3535
6162
7162
Does that take you to Doppler with all the upgrades? So awesome that you have that memorized still!
@@VGReader yes sir it’s so you can get the gold armor from the upgrade pod in d2
The original X3 literally became UNPLAYABLE due to the existence of Zero's rom hacks for the SNES rom. That patch did more than just making Zero fully playable.
It is the Megaman X Game I had the least fun with from the first collection. Second Collection is still open. But after playing Megaman the first half of the year left me a bit empty with playing the X Series (Command Mission excluded. Man I love this Game)
This was a really nice video! : ) While I have much the same thoughts on X3 (placing X1, X2, and X4 over it) I've recently started feeling that it's a bit underappreciated.
Not too long ago, I finished my seventh playthrough of the game, and I had come out with a very positive outlook on it. Everything seemed to finally click, and it only took about two hours and two minutes (I'm no speed runner, though) which is about as fast (though, maybe a tad slower) as I can get through X2.
Seven playthroughs may sound like a lot in a vacuum, especially for those who rank X3 so lowly, but compared to the other three of the first four X games, it's not much at all. I can't even put an exact number on them, but I've beaten X1 about 50-60 times, and X2 and X4 both around 35-50 times.
I had always avoided X3 after my second playthrough, feeling it was slow, overly difficult, and generally not very fun, which only further lead to the difference in my familiarity with it compared to X1, 2, and 4, highlighting the huge gap in playthroughs. Despite this, as I've played the other games so much, it's nice to occasionally play something you're not as familiar with, and X3 has plenty of aspects that shouldn't go ignored.
One aspect that you mentioned, the brutal early game, is something that I've come to appreciate. I just finished my first playthrough of Maverick Hunter X, the PSP remake of X1, and I was playing it on hard mode. I was a bit surprised by how quickly the damage racked up, being so used to X1, but it ended up making the experience much more exciting.
Going through something so familiar, yet not quite the same... it's a bit of a surreal moment. You can't be as reckless with any challenge as you normally can, but you still have the courage and pride of having gone through it beforehand, which serves to make you your own worst enemy due to being overly bold. And then you slip up, die, and face the consequence of failure. You'd think that would make you mad and wound your pride, but what really happens is that you realize that the game you loved to the point of playing it to triviality had just become an exciting, new experience again.
That's what X3's early game became to me. It's so easy to die, but when you're finally so familiar with the terrain and enemy layout, it doesn't matter anymore... until you inevitably slip up once and take massive damage. :P But then you pick yourself back up and feel all the more cool when you finally make a fool out of what slain you moments ago. Tough, but fair. Not to mention, of the first three games, I believe X3 has the most pre-placed health drops within the stages.
Another secret advantage of the difficult early game is that it makes heart tanks feel more like a reward and incentive for exploring. Not too long ago, I played through X2 for the billionth time, but I decided not to pick up any of the heart tanks, sub tanks, or armor pieces. With the exception of both Violen fights and the Serges Tank in X-Hunter Stage 2, I still hardly struggled. I then realized that from now on, picking up the heart tanks will only feel like busywork, a chore to satiate my need to always 100% these games. If you think the X games are easy as is, they become nearly challengeless when you have 32 health and an armor that halves damage.
Even with all the upgrades, X3 still doesn't pull the punches, and you can't just recklessly charge through enemies or obstacles with your health alone, which is something I can appreciate. Of course, on a first or second playthrough, it'll just feel cheap, which is why I think many players overlook X3 in the first place, much like how I used to.
Bah, I go on too long. 5 whole paragraphs going on about the early game? Really?! And yet I still have more to say!
I'm also a bit surprised that you didn't go over the in-game art all that much. It fits perfectly with your point on how much more depressive and dark X3 is to the first two games. Sorry for another huge text wall, but I absolutely adore X3's usage of colors, composition, lighting, and animation. In terms of art design/direction, X3's my favorite of any video game (even MM7, MM8, Zero 4, and Sonic Mania)! There's certainly a noticeable increase in detail and general artistic quality going from X1 to X3, much the same as there is for Mega Man 1 to MM6, and Zero 1 to Z4.
One miniscule and nearly unnoticeable point: Zero has a different set of sprites in every SNES game, and in X3, his outline color (RGB 32 32 32) is darker than it is in X1 (RGB 56 40 40). Funnily enough, his darkest outline is in X2 (RGB 32 24 24) but it's kind of fitting in a way, considering he's dead most of the time, so one could argue that that's when he was at his darkest moments. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Regardless, it's interesting, nonetheless, to see the shift to an increase in darker colors in X3. For Zero's sprite, what was once technically just a very dark red, is now a neutral gray.
Now, onto something you'd probably care more about:
Blizzard Buffalo's stage really gets the whole "desolate frozen wasteland" aesthetic down, with the deep blue/purple hues of the metal backgrounds and starry twilit background, weathered beige ground tiles, and shifted and frozen-over buildings in the background. At the very end of the stage is a machine that darkens the screen and increases the intensity of the blizzard. If you destroy it, the (admittedly, slightly annoying) windy snow and darkness effects go away. (Similar to X2's sandstorm in Overdrive Ostrich's desert base.)
Blast Hornet's stage really takes the artists' cakes, though. I don't think I've seen another video game do the whole "muddy and dirty green and brown" style and look good/vibrant while doing so.
The militaristic design of the factory is done extremely well, with an abundance of conveyors spawning enemies, and hexagonal cells and hornet-shaped drones in the background, reminiscent of the boss and its influence.
These hornet drones are the same kind as the ones that were attacking the Hunter Base during the intro, but are now shown, not as vibrant red-eyed killers, but as coolly-shaded green-blue hunks of sleeping metal, constantly-pulsing orange highlights being the only sign of warmth they show.
Once you're outside, the sky's a worrisome greenish gray with billowing clouds above, showing slight signs of light. The terrain and buildings are pale and worn, with some partially-destroyed hexagonal fences and an infinitely-sprawling desert in the background.
And if you thought that I'd never shut up, that was only two stages that I lightly skimmed over. I could go on forever just on the art (it's truly immaculate stuff) but I really have to shut up at some point. :P
I sincerely thank ANYONE who even bothered to read this whole thing, even if you disagree with me wholeheartedly. : )
Awesome comment! I did read the whole thing! I think it was longer than my script for the video itself, haha! I totally could have talked more about the in game art and how it helps with the theming. Definitely something I'll keep in mind for future videos. Thank you for your comment!
@@VGReader When it comes to the X series, whether it be narrative, art, gameplay, level design, or just about anything else, I always have too much to say lol. Thank *you* for your response!
You should try the X3 Zero Project hack where you can play as a restored Zero all the way through, use boss weapons, and get the black armor.
Thank you someone who loves X2 as much as I do and I feel the armor in X 2 is the best armor overall. That second shot is so damn powerful
Am I the only person who once I beat the X series (X, X2, X3, X4, etc..) normally, I try to beat it with just the base armor and just the Xbuster, no special weapons?
As a child, I saw X3 as the Holy Grail of Mega Man. As an adult, I feel that it tries to do too much and fumbles in some aspects. It lets you 'play' as Zero until any mini-boss or maverick fight, unless you go for his saber in a certain playthrough-path.
Now, I prefer X and X2 over X3. However, childhood idiocy at being unable to handle the crushing wall segments left a permanent core memory that hampers my full enjoyment of X2 over X.
Byte is super hard!!!
Oddly enough i always prefered Blizzard Buffalo's theme to Chill Penguin's and it's one of the MMX3 tracka I liaten to regularly on my ipod.
Please do the zero serious one day
I have very little experience with the games but I did own the first Zero game at one point. Would love to play them all and review them for sure!
I should really sell my SNES cartridges. I have X1-3, Super Metroid, and a slew of others just collecting dust.
or play them shits instead of watching videos about them😊
It’s subjective too me x1 and x2 is good but I feel more freedom playing mmx3 it’s a good time and I like the more serious tone it’s my favorite for me personally.
I have the mega man x 3 snes cartridge. I don’t if it works but u can have it
My two biggest irks with this game is that every hit you take just gobbles up your healthbar, and the overuse of that grungy guitar in all music tracks. I also think the use of special effects felt more prominent in X2. I would never call it bad but there's something off about the whole game. Maybe because Capcom outsourced the title instead of doing it in house?
I always hated the full charge shot in X3 because of how slow and clunky the animation is. For the damage it deals its not worth it.
We beat these games as kids (pre teen, my twin brothers as kids), so you honestly just need to git gud, lol.
Also I miss my snes collection (emu > og hardware), only because my collection would have been worth so much right now, lol.
Edit: I think kids these days would have gone insane if they were raised on nes games, try beating those hard ass old ass games with limited continues and no save states or checkpoints 😂.
that not how you play megamax X franchise. you hold the dash and never release it unless you need to dash LOL.
high jump is life in megaman, it's like bunny hop in Counter strike.
The most bleak in tone game from the snes games. This is the Streets of rage 3 of the Streets of rage trilogy.
Ohhhh 🤬 i wished you would've put the story & gameplay om the beginning of the video.
The game has bad pacing. What I mean by that is it’s not enjoyable to the average gamer looking to enjoy their progress compared to the previous titles. In mmx if you are pursuing the armour pieces within few stages being played it will result in a four stage play through. In mmx2 it’s five because you need wheel gator to bypass routes where the armour is hidden. Mmx3 has you dealing with multiple weapons and upgrades you need in order to access those parts to become fully equipped with armour. By the time that happens your six stages in the game and in order to complete your armour set in the shortest time possible. Making it not fun.
12:40 Lol what? I thought the opposite, such a disappointing boss
X3 is a difficult game to play. Bosses and even basic enemies hit like a truck. Even the weakness order isnt obvious in this game. Once you get going its bettet though.
The Buster Arm upgrade is needed to charge weapons to get other upgrades but it 's charge shot fking sucks. Ita unwieldy and doesnt do more damage than regular charge shots. X2 done the cross buster shot better.
X3 Music was pretty bad. Weakest part of the game for sure.
Lol I was waiting for you to make a comment regarding the "helmet text" on the box art. An obvious mistake on Capcom's part don't know how that slipped through the cracks
x3 had too much stuff going on, n the boss order i found confusing...and finding all the items was a pain