Mega Man X3

"An emulation of the Super Nintendo classic with the best Mega Man anime cinemas ever."

This will only be a bit of a mini review because I wanted everyone to know about this title. Everyone knows about Rockman, Mega Man in America, and his many titles for many game systems. Very few people know about this game, Rockman X3 for the Sega Saturn. It is extremely rare to find. The game was released during the early days of Saturn and was hard to find even in Import stores(I suspect many stores didn't pick it up because it was an emulaton). I borrowed the game from a friend of mine(he was telling me to check it out repeatedly until it drove me nuts and I gave in and borrowed it) and drooled immediately after I turned the system on. Below are the details on why this title must be known and many people should hunt it down.

The Emulation--9
I am sure the gamers that chose to view this review did so because they are Mega Man lovers(as I happen to be). Most of you have probably played X3 on the SNES. You know the general story of the game--you are the Mega Man of the future fighting an evil cyborg named Sigma. What makes the X series better than the original series are two things--the upgrade parts and Zero. During the game you can upgrade your various body parts and get increased abilities(plus look cooler). Zero is a friend and a bit of a rival with Mega Man--no matter what they are comrads in the fight against Sigma and his rival. One of the classic features of the Mega Man games are the bosses such as Guts Man, Wood Man, and Gemini Man. In the X series the bosses are similar except they are animal-men instead of normal men--the bosses in X3 consist of such creatures as Frost Buffalo and Jet Octopus(I think that's what it was). The emulation of this game is perfect on the Saturn. There are zero loading times, perfect controls, same awesome music and classic sound effects, and lastly, no bugs. The only thing to note is that there are bars on left and right of the screen that give it an arcade feel and, seemingly, a higher resolution. Capcom did a wonderful emulation job and it would've been nice to have X1 and X2 along with X3--perhaps in the future(they are beginning releases of the originals on the Playstation)? That's it about the emulation, now on to the real reason for this FAQ.

The Cinemas--10
As I stated above when I first popped in the game my draw dropped, drool flew and tears dropped. The opening cinema for this game is the most impressive representaion of Mega Man you'll ever see. It starts with Mega fighting some of the normal robot enemies. He then advances foward as his approached by the Hunters(players of the early Xs know what I am talking about) as Sigma retreats into the base behind them. Zero appears and distracts the Hunters. Mega dashes forward after Sigma. As he nears the base the door slowly descends and threatens to stop Mega from reaching Sigma. Mega Man than turns into the complete X Version with all the upgrades and flies under the door just before it closes(using his rocket boots). Here he approaches Sigma and the battle to determine there fate begins. The entire cinema is about three minutes long and it is absolutely stunning and astounding. You know what else? This opening cinema features a brilliant vocal song that is of the Anime style or J-Pop type(Japanese Pop music). I love that song. Just thinking of it and writing is this is driving me nuts! The next cinematic thing to mention are the boss cinemas. Right after you choose the level you wish to play a cinema begins. It will show a bit of what the levels environment is like with a subtle tune in the background, the boss will then appear in some cool way and perform some cool attack or combo or something with the classic Boss music playing(you know the one). For example Frost Buffalo's cinema first shows the frozen landscape, huge ice boulders and such, then Buffalo jumps down from above and does an insanely fast punch combo against a large pillar of ice--when the smoke clears an ice replica of Frost Buffalo giving a thumbs up is seen, the real Buffalo gives a thumbs up and mimics his frost stature perfectly. Great huh? All of the boss cinemas are about fifteen seconds long and done very nicely. The music still goe through my head and I wish I can remember more of the boss cinemas beside the three I remember. Last thing to mention is that there was, of course, a quality ending cinema if you beat the game in the proper way(players of X3 know what I mean). It's a nice reward and the perfect cherry to top off an amazing rerelease of a classic game.

Conclusion
I must thank Capcom for even making this version of X3--it shows they actually care. At the same time though I must chide them. You see, when X4 came out I was glad to see a next generation Mega Man X game finally released. It had a fairly good opening with a decent song(those who never saw the Japanese version missed out)--still the X3 opening had better art and an amazing song that beats this one hands down. When I picked my first level I was disappointed to see this cheezy sprite crap with a flat version of the boss music sound played(although in the Japanese version the bosses also said funny "Engrish" things). What happened? I guess they don't care and they didn't want to spend the extra buck. At the same time I have to complement them for the extra cinemas that drive the game's story(two stories even, one for X and one for Zero). I guess you can't have it all. I still have to ask one more thing of Capcom--WHERE THE HELL IS X5? I know they are busy and all, and Rockman Dash(Mega Man Legends here in America) is taking up their time, but it still doesn't seem right. Where is it guys? We're all waiting. I would like to make one final note. There is a Playstation version of this X3--DON'T GET IT!! Not only does it not have the better resolution from the side bar placement, IT DOES NOT HAVE ANY OF THE CINEMA! IT IS USELESS! It's smarter to play the SNES original than the PSX version. I guess that's it. I hope you guys can find it and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99