OVERVIEW
 
After 5 successful NES games (Mega Man 6 was not out yet), Capcom released a new Mega Man game that one can say followed a trend of when DC and Marvel Comics were releasing "2099" and "3000" versions of popular superheroes portrayed by different people around that time. In this case Mega Man was given an upgrade in the form of Mega Man X which again drives home that this is not the exact same Mega Man from the regular series. He is given the name X. He was the last robot created by Dr. Light before he died. The latter knew that he would not live to see his new creation take action which had the ability to feel emotion and choose his own path. Dr. Light seals X into a capsule to be awaken in the future and he is discovered by Dr. Cain. Around this time, other reploids were roaming the earth and some of them turned rogue and became known as Mavericks. There was a team of Maverick Hunters led by Sigma that were sent to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, Sigma himself turned Maverick and would become the Big Bad for the entire series save for the final game.
 
CONTROLS - A+
 
One of the main features you will see that sets the game apart from the classic series is the ability to cling to walls and jump up them as well. While this has been used in other games like the Ninja Gaiden series and Batman (NES), Mega Man X and it's future games has the ability to jump up just one wall with ease instead of jumping from wall to wall. Not only that, you can keep jumping up the same wall when there is a ceiling right there to avoid any danger below until it passes. When you first start playing this game, you will notice that the A button serves no purpose. Once you get to Chill Man's stage, you will acquire the Dash Boots (Leg Adapter) which will give you the ability to dash forward and allow you to travel faster than just walking. This is X's equivalent to Mega Man's sliding but unlike the latter, you will be able to jump further distances which allows you to reach items normally out of reach such as the other upgrades. The other upgrade with significant value is the arm adapter. Aside from charging your main X Buster up a level but it also allows you to charge all of your weapons. (The only weapon capable of that at the time was the Atomic Fire from Heat Man in Mega Man 2. Even that preceded the Mega Buster introduced in Mega Man 4). The extra buttons also allow for a convenient change of weapons without having to pause each time to change one. Just use L or R. The classic series didn't get such pleasure till Mega Man 7 and even the earlier games eventually got it first when ported to PSX
 
SOUND/MUSIC - A
 
The music and sound were made excellent in this game. A lot of tunes are catchy and classic. My favorite tunes from this particular game were Chill Penguin, Spark Mandrill, Storm Eagle and the first Sigma stage. The upgraded 16-bit sound really did justice to this game.

GRAPHICS - A+
 
The selling feature to this game which would later be incorporated into the above 8-bit Mega Man games, is some enemies reacting to certain weapons used against them or elements that affect them. While the elemental factor applies mostly to the smaller enemies. The weapon reactions apply to most of the bosses. Chill Penguin will show himself being burned, Spark Mandrill will be frozen momentarily, Armored Armadillo will show shock damage the first time he is hit with a spark ball but he will flinch when hit with a spark ball after that. Sting Chameleon will not show any reaction but he will flinch when hit with a Kwanger Boomerang. For the minor enemies, the enemies in Flame Mammoth's stage will burn up in the lava or be flattened by a press.

The stages are also a thing of beauty as some of the designs can give you a hint on what to do or interact with you in certain ways. For example, assuming you got the Boomerang, you will see some items in a wall that you will never be able to get to as there is no hidden walls. That's where the boomerang comes in to snag the item. Lava in Flame Mammoth's stage is an indicator to stay away from it at all cost. You might see a Heart Tank down there but there is no need to sacrifice a life or any health to get it because... As an added bonus, some of the stages will change depending on if you defeated a certain boss before entering or re-entering it. Remember that lava I spoke of earlier? Beat Chill Penguin and the lava freezes over when you enter Flame Mammoth's stage. Spark Mandrill's stage has shiny electric sparks on the floor waiting to zap you at every turn and a midboss that utilizes the electricity too. Beat Storm Eagle and his stage will crash into Spark Mandrill's and disable the electricity in the level even the midbosses electric attack. One more change is beating Launch Octopus will cause Sting Chameleon's stage to flood over and become a swamp and you know what water and mud causes. I cause part of the earth to sink away and uncover a heart tank that you could not reach earlier.
 
GAMEPLAY - A-
 
You start off with an introductory stage that gets you accustomed to the game and teach you a thing or two about things that were not available in the original series like wall jumping and the unfortunate getting killed by a fallen enemy which is a drag. You will also face an unbeatable boss named Vile who is invincible and will take your energy down to 2 bits before paralyzing you and the fight is over. He can still kill you if he jumps on you before the paralyzer ball hits you. You are rescued by Zero who sends you out to gather enough power to face Sigma by defeating eight of his Maverick Bosses: Storm Eagle, Flame Mammoth, Chill Penguin, Spark Mandrill, Armored Armadillo, Launch Octopus, Boomer Kwanger, and Sting Chameleon. As you can say, there are no "men" in Mega Man X only animals or plants. It is this way the entire series. Each boss is weak to another one's weapon which as you may have noticed that I have listed the bosses in order of who they are strong against. Sting Chameleon beats Storm Eagle who in turn beats Flame Mammoth etc. Hidden in each stage is a heart tank that increases maximum health by two bits. Also in most stages is an E-Tank used to refill your health but you have to fill it up by collecting life-ups when your health is full. There are four adapters you must collect for your head, arms. legs, and torso. In later games, each stage would have either a E-Tank or an adapter. Once all eight are down, you go through four Sigma stages which sadly, Zero will die for the first time in the series. Same can be said for Vile as well after you beat him. Sigma is not too much of a pushover but his final form will fall to one of the most unlikeliest of weapons: the Rolling Shield. That's been a staple for the majority of Mega Man games in general so no big deal there.
 
REPLAYBILITY - B+

There is a lot to this game to explore, the first time you start playing the game you are trying to figure out the weaknesses of the bosses by yourself and also trying to find the upgrades in the game. There is even a special upgrade in the game that you can obtain and it is the Hadouken which is Ryu's signature move in Street Fighter (Ken's is the Shoryuken which you get in X2). What you do is get everything else (upgrades, E-Tanks, Heart Tanks, and boss weapons) then play through Armored Armadillo's stage 5 times. You can escape the stage or choose to die and replay the stage. On the fifth try, when you are on the rolling platform wait for it to take flight in the air and jump off of it at maximum height to get leverage to the top of the cliff. Dr. Light will be in a capsule wearing Ryu's gi and headband and present you with the Hadouken that kills everyone in one hit (except final Sigma and the armored Vile who is invincible in the rematch until Zero destroys his armor and himself in the process).
 
OVERALL - A-
 
The game will take some time to adjust to if you are playing this straight off of playing the Mega Man series because like I said earlier, it plays similar but not exactly the same. Overall, it is an excellent game. The classic series did not have any bad games to speak of but while this game itself is excellent, I can't say the same about the entire series being great. I'm looking at you X6 and X7.

mega man x legacy collection is coming out for Pc and Ps4 very soon so if you have the money, preorder the game 

I have to say, this is quite a well-worded review you created here, like you normally expect a well-written review should look like.

As for Mega Man X, I remember playing this game a couple of times here and there while I was young, it was quite an interesting and entertaining part of the Mega Man franchise, and who knows, I might return to playing this once again when I buy the Mega Man X Legacy Collection.