Mega Man X3

"We can rebuild him -- make him faster, stronger, more reliable."

The days of the SNES were starting to come to close with the release of Mega Man X3. This was the final appearance that the Mega Man X series would see on the system but it maintained the great quality that we had come to know in the series thus far. What really sets MMX3 apart from the other two titles is the amount of items that you are able to collect, there is just so much that you have to gather -- many different armors, more upgrades, more enhancements, etc. There was also the inclusion to finally play as the reploid we've all come to love over the past few years, Zero. This easily surpassed the quality that X2 had given due to these things alone. Not to mention the overall difficulty of the game had been increased as well. Capcom had left the SNES with a serious bang!

For the most part Capcom was using the same engine they had used in prior MMX games except they added some extras and gave it a face lift so to speak. One that really sticks out in this game is the sheer amount of power-ups you had the ability to gather. There was just so many you could get whether it was armor, chips, sub-tanks, hearts, etc. If there was ever a reason to go back through a level for more than just fun this was it. It is impossible to gather everything from all of the stages on your first way through, after you've completed all eight Maverick's you have to go back through each level if you want any sort of upgrade. They were extremely well hidden to boot. This added lots of replay value and length to the game. This was, by far, the longest game in the series yet.

Storyline-wise this one focused on the scientist reploid, Dr. Doppler. He had created an anti-virus that had wiped out almost all of the Mavericks completely, he and his reploids kept things in peace for quite a while. However, Dr. Doppler had gone mad and was housing more than plenty of Maverick's himself. As it turned out he was also creating a body for some unknown person. X and Zero are sent to investigate just what the deal with Dr. Doppler is. I don't believe the story is as good as the previous two MMX games were but it did manage to add a lot of depth to the series as a whole with the virus situation.

Since MMX3 uses the same engine as the prior two titles there really isn't much of a difference in game play. The one that does stand out, and is new to the series, is the effect of using the Maverick's weakness on them. If you had the special weapon that would affect the Maverick the most it would cause him to not be able to attack. Their entire way of going about doing it was being completely changed. It put real emphasis on actually gaining the special weapon before facing the Maverick that was weak to that weapon.

The music portion of the game really isn't changing much per title. The game is pretty much the same as MMX and MMX2. That doesn't mean it's bad but it only had an average soundtrack at best. The one cool thing about the music was it changed depending on who you were playing as. If you switched over to Zero you could really get a feel for how his attitude was through his music, same goes for X. If there is one really exceptional thing about the composition of the sound in this game it's the difference between that of X and Zero. Overall though pretty much the same hard rock/techno we had come to love.

While on the subject of Zero, the one major thing that was awesome to have in MMX3 is the option to play as Zero. In any level you could switch over through transmission to call upon him and take the place of X. The only problem with this was you could not upgrade Zero or face bosses with him. At the start of the game he is much stronger than X. His health is higher, he can charge all the way to green (four times), and has the unique Z-Saber. Since he couldn't be used in pivotal parts of the game it kind of brought his usefulness down, however, this was the first game you were able to play as him in.

So what we have here is the last MMX game on the SNES. This trio of games was definitely something any gamer should try out, but MMX3 really set the bar with the great amount of power-ups, the slightly advanced gameplay, and the ability to play as Zero. While this game was better than X2 there is still no stopping what started the series in MMX. If you've played the other two this a must have, if you haven't it is still worth checking out simply because of the quality the game has.

Final Score: 9.0

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/04, Updated 05/30/06