Mega Man X4

"A good port of the graphically superior PSX version."

Capcom seems to have done quite well with the MegaMan X series ever since it started on the SNES nearly 5 years ago. It's quite debatable now as to which series actually holds greater popularity, the original MegaMan series or the rather new X series. In any case, X4 for the Playstation is a great jump from X3, which American video game players only saw for the SNES. The question here, however, is how the Saturn version stacks, not only against itself, but against the PSX version.

The Saturn has always been acknowledged as a superior sprite handler compared to the PSX. Unfortunately, this cannot be seen at all in this version of MegaMan X4. While other Capcom games, namely their Street Fighter series, take full advantage of the system's 2d capabilities, MegaMan X4's graphics are seem a bit flawed. The most glaring of these flaws lies in handling of transparencies; the player will see a lot of dithering as a result of overlapping transparencies, as transparencies are created whenever your character, either X or Zero, dashes. While the Saturn has no problem handling transparencies when handling sprites, MegaMan X4 actually handles the "sprites" the same way the PSX handles them...as textures mapped onto two triangles. Since these are polygons, the power shown by this game is limited by the system's 3d capabilities. Second, the Saturn's 3d system renders individual rectangles rather than individual polygons. As a result of all of these differences in the hardware, MegaMan X4 looks less than spectacular in certain scenes.

The PSX version's graphical superiority is not only flaunted in the game. FMV sequences in the Saturn version also show more compression artifacts and look of lower resolution than the PSX cinema, a phenomenon common to nearly every game which both systems share.

Which is not to say that the PSX version is superior in every way. The opinion of most people is that the 6 button faced Saturn pad is an infinitely superior method of controlling X and Zero. Also, in informal tests, the Saturn version loads much faster than the PSX version. Perhaps more important is the face that the Saturn actually has a superior music playing engine. While the XA music which the PSX version has to stop momentarily to go back to the beginning of a stage's background music, the Saturn BGM (which uses the same proprietary format which can be found in the Street Fighter Alpha 2 game for Saturn) repeats without a hitch. Many people may find this to be worth the various graphical costs, as the music for some stages shows typically above-average Capcom production value and a few tunes can stick in your head. Sound effects are approximately of the same caliber as those of the PSX release; both versions flaunt QSound on the box, though in the heat of a stage, you really won't notice.

The differences between the American version and the readily available Japanese import is only slightly noticeable. Some bits of cinema are cut out from the American release, voices of bosses are dubbed in English, and a few names are changed around.

MegaMan X4 could have been a much better game...if only Capcom had decided to create the Saturn version first, or at least redo the game for the Saturn release so as to take full advantage of the superior 2d chipset. Still, MegaMan X4 is a fun game in both Saturn and PSX incarnations.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99