''Mega Man X6'', known as in Japan, is a
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developed and published by
Capcom. It is the sixth main entry in the ''
Mega Man X
is a series of action platform video games released by Capcom. It is a sub-series of the ''Mega Man'' franchise. The first game was released on December 17, 1993 in Japan (January 1994 in North America) on the Super NES/Super Famicom; most o ...
'' series. The game was first released on the
PlayStation in Japan on November 29, 2001 and was later made available in both North America and Europe.
The plot of ''Mega Man X6'' takes place during the 22nd century where humans and intelligent
Robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...
s called "Reploids" live together. The game follows shortly after the events of ''
Mega Man X5
''Mega Man X5'', known as in Japan, is a video game developed by Capcom. It is the fifth main installment in the '' Mega Man X'' series. It was first released for the PlayStation in Japan on November 30, 2000 and in North America and PAL territor ...
'' in which planet Earth was devastated by an attack by the "Maverick" leader
Sigma and the protagonist
Zero
0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by multiplying digits to the left of 0 by the radix, usual ...
sacrificed his own life to save it. As the world recovers, a Maverick known only as the "Zero Nightmare" has begun spreading chaos. Zero's comrade
X, curious of its name, seeks out this new threat. Like past games in the series, ''Mega Man X6'' is an
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
-
platformer
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...
in which the player tackles a series of stages and adds the unique weapon of each boss to X's arsenal.
Prominent series artist and producer
Keiji Inafune
is a Japanese video game producer, illustrator and businessman. Starting his career at Capcom in the late 1980s, his job was as an artist and illustrator. The first two games he worked on were the original ''Street Fighter'' and ''Mega Man'' in ...
was not involved in the game's production, as he had intended the fifth installment in the series to be the last with Zero's death. Critically, ''Mega Man X6'' has received mixed to positive reviews. The game was released for the
Microsoft Windows in different parts of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
in 2002 and 2003. It was also re-released in 2006 as part of the North American ''
Mega Man X Collection
''Mega Man X Collection'' is a compilation of video games developed by Capcom. Released on January 10, 2006, exclusively in North America for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 platforms, ''Mega Man X Collection'' contains the first six games in the ...
'' for the
GameCube and
PlayStation 2. ''Mega Man X6'' was made available on the
PlayStation Network as part of the PSOne Classics line on July 8, 2015 in Japan. It was released for Windows internationally, along with
PlayStation 4,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
and
Nintendo Switch as a part of ''
Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2
''Mega Man Legacy Collection'' is a series of video game compilations based on Capcom's ''Mega Man'' franchise. Each compilation features several playable video games from one of the ''Mega Man'' sub-series and adds new gameplay features and bonus ...
'' (''Rockman X Anniversary Collection 2'' in Japan) on July 24, 2018 and July 26, 2018 for Japan.
Plot
Three weeks have passed since the events of ''
Mega Man X5
''Mega Man X5'', known as in Japan, is a video game developed by Capcom. It is the fifth main installment in the '' Mega Man X'' series. It was first released for the PlayStation in Japan on November 30, 2000 and in North America and PAL territor ...
''. Zero is missing, presumed dead. As a result of the Eurasia
space colony incident, Earth's surface has been rendered uninhabitable, forcing the human population to take refuge underground. An intelligent Reploid researcher, Gate, is searching through the ruins of Eurasia and finds something unusual. A week later, Gate goes mad as he completes an experiment, and declares his intentions to turn Earth into a utopia for high-class Reploids.
Meanwhile, X is awakened by Alia after a dream involving Zero, and she informs him of a large Maverick near Eurasia. He briefly encounters a
being reminiscent to Zero, although the being appears distorted and discolored. X then meets a scientist named Isoc and his subordinate, High Max, who are in the search of the Zero-like being, which they identify as the "Zero Nightmare". Isoc invites all Reploids to join his cause to destroy the Nightmare phenomena, which is turning the Reploid population into Mavericks. However, this is revealed to be a ruse to lure Reploids to areas affected by the Nightmare, where they will become Mavericks under Gate's control.
X journeys to the suspected areas to investigate the Nightmare phenomena and rescue the Reploids who volunteered to help. He learns that Isoc's eight investigators have been infected by the Nightmare and become Mavericks. During his battles, X can also encounter the Zero Nightmare and defeat him. Following this, the real Zero appears, unaware of how he survived his battle against Sigma. Nonetheless, he reunites with X, and rejoins the Maverick Hunters to continue investigating the Nightmare.
Following the defeat of the eight investigators (or High Max), X and Zero meet Gate, who reveals he found a piece of Zero's DNA at the Eurasia crash site. The DNA drove Gate insane, and he created the Nightmare phenomena alongside the Zero Nightmare to help build his utopia.
The Hunters go to Gate's laboratory to put to a stop to his plans. Following Gate's defeat, he confesses he has rebuilt Sigma, and was using him as a trump card, but Sigma is a shell of his former self: a partially coherent, half-built body, with his programming still severely damaged. However, Sigma has enough strength to nearly kill Gate, and challenges X and Zero. With his sanity slipping, Sigma is once again defeated and one of three endings will occur, depending on which character defeats Sigma:
*If X defeats Sigma and previously defeated the Zero Nightmare, Zero is alongside X as he rescues Gate so that Alia, his former colleague, can try and revive him if she chooses to do so. The three make a pact to repair the devastated Earth, while Gate's ultimate fate is never revealed.
*If X defeats Sigma, but did not defeat the Zero Nightmare, Alia is instead with X at the end, who thanks him for rescuing Gate. X leaves Gate's fate up to Alia, which is left unknown. Zero is then shown to be alive, but refrains from revealing himself to X and Alia, despite the two being able to sense his presence. Zero says he'll be leaving the fighting to X for a while, as there's something he needs to do.
*If Zero defeats Sigma, he is seen at a laboratory at an undetermined period in the future. Fearing that he still possesses the Sigma Virus and could become a Maverick, he requests to be placed in stasis. An unknown scientist agrees to help him, and seals Zero away for the next 102 years, presumably leading to the events of the ''
Mega Man Zero
is a series in Capcom's '' Mega Man'' video game franchise. It was developed by Inti Creates, with Co-Producer Keiji Inafune and Director Yoshinori Kawano. The series consists of four games that were first released on the Game Boy Advance and ...
'' series.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to ''
Mega Man X5
''Mega Man X5'', known as in Japan, is a video game developed by Capcom. It is the fifth main installment in the '' Mega Man X'' series. It was first released for the PlayStation in Japan on November 30, 2000 and in North America and PAL territor ...
''. The player can select X with the option to outfit him with different armors offering unique abilities (most of which have to be downloaded, as always, through Dr. Light's hidden capsules.) Zero can be unlocked after finding and defeating the Zero Nightmare, bringing his own weapons and techniques to the fold, including a refined Z-Saber fighting style. Both characters can be equipped with various power-up items earned after rescuing certain Reploids.
''Mega Man X6'' has an increased emphasis on rescuing Reploids over previous titles in the series. Whereas previous games rewarded the player with health or an extra life, ''Mega Man X6'' rewards the player with additional parts or other permanent prizes. Rescuing Reploids was made more difficult in this game with the addition of the Nightmare, which makes any Reploid it infects evil, thus rendering the Reploid impossible to save. The parts system was altered as well. Rather than attach a certain part to a certain armor, parts are attached to the character itself. The number of parts that can be equipped at once is dependent on the player's rank, which is increased by harvesting Nightmare Souls.
Depending on the player's actions during the game, it's possible to unlock what are normally the final set of stages, namely Gate's laboratory, much earlier than normal than what is considered the norm for the X series; with the exception of ''Mega Man X5'', players normally had to defeat the 8 main bosses before unlocking the final stages. In ''X6'', defeating both the Zero Nightmare and High Max, Isoc's bodyguard, are enough to unlock Gate's laboratory before even defeating most of the main bosses.
Development
Series producer
Keiji Inafune
is a Japanese video game producer, illustrator and businessman. Starting his career at Capcom in the late 1980s, his job was as an artist and illustrator. The first two games he worked on were the original ''Street Fighter'' and ''Mega Man'' in ...
was not involved in the development of ''Mega Man X6''.
He had originally intended for the
fifth chapter in the series to be the last due to the death of Zero at that game's conclusion. "And so I’d always planned to make Zero come back to life in the
Mega Man Zero
is a series in Capcom's '' Mega Man'' video game franchise. It was developed by Inti Creates, with Co-Producer Keiji Inafune and Director Yoshinori Kawano. The series consists of four games that were first released on the Game Boy Advance and ...
series, but then ''X6'' comes out sooner from another division and Zero comes back to life in that, and I’m like, 'What's this!? Now my story for Zero doesn’t make sense! Zero's been brought back to life two times!'"
Inafune also felt he owed fans of the series an apology for the decision to create ''Mega Man X6'', although the series was "starting to go in a direction out of
is/nowiki> control" at that point. Artist Haruki Suetsugu, who had worked on both previous PlayStation ''Mega Man X'' games, signed on as the game's primary character designer and promotional artwork illustrator. Suetsugu stated that the development schedule of ''Mega Man X6'' was tight. As such, he described his designs for the Maverick bosses were "relatively simple", and he took a similar approach to designing all of them: for instance, all of the Mavericks have the characteristic head fins and forehead jewel found on their creator Gate's helmet. The designs for other characters also feature unique traits, including Gate as a "merging of scientists and combatants, High Max as "big and strong", and the DNA-like Nightmare.
The background music for ''Mega Man X6'' was composed by Naoto Tanaka. The game also features the opening vocal songs "Moon Light" and "The Answer" by Showtaro Morikubo
is a Japanese actor, voice actor and singer who has voiced characters in anime, drama CDs, and video games. He was formerly affiliated with I'm Enterprise, Sigma Seven and VIMS. His most notable roles were Shikamaru Nara from ''Naruto'', Sou ...
(the voice actor for X) and the ending theme "I.D.E.A" by RoST. This is one of the few X games to have the opening song appear in both the Japanese and English versions. All of the game's instrumental and vocal music was compiled on the ''Capcom Music Generation: Rockman X1 ~ X6'' soundtrack released by Suleputer in 2003.
The game was not dubbed in any language other than the original Japanese, and the North American and European versions retained the Japanese voice tracks, using translated English subtitles to tell the story. The voice tracks for the cutscenes were removed completely when Mega Man X6 was re-released as a part of Mega Man X Collection
''Mega Man X Collection'' is a compilation of video games developed by Capcom. Released on January 10, 2006, exclusively in North America for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 platforms, ''Mega Man X Collection'' contains the first six games in the ...
for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
in North America in 2006, though the in-game voice tracks are still retained.
Reception
According to the Japanese magazine ''Famitsu
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...
'', ''Mega Man X6'' was the seventh best-selling game in Japan during its week of release at 39,318 units sold. Dengeki Online reported that ''Mega Man X6'' sold a total of 106,980 units in Japan by the end of 2001, marking it as the 109th best-selling game of the year in the region. The game eventually saw a re-release as part of the PlayStation the Best range of budget titles. ''Mega Man X6'' was also included on the North American ''Mega Man X Collection
''Mega Man X Collection'' is a compilation of video games developed by Capcom. Released on January 10, 2006, exclusively in North America for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 platforms, ''Mega Man X Collection'' contains the first six games in the ...
'' for the Nintendo GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
and PlayStation 2 in 2006.
''Mega Man X6'' received mixed reviews, with an average score of 69% on GameRankings. GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
gave the game a 7 out of 10, saying that the game is "a disappointing effort. The nightmare system and item collecting add variety and longevity to the game, but... The graphics aren't really even up to the standards set by older games in the series, and while the music is good, there aren't any tracks that particularly stand out. Despite these shortcomings, it's still Mega Man, and the gameplay is still entertaining, making X6 an attractive package for hard-core Mega Man fans." IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
gave a more positive review, an 8 out 10, stating "It's an all-new Mega Man game, yet it's still pretty much the same. There's nothing wrong with that"; they praised the soundtrack and replay value. Among the most negative reviews, ''Electronic Gaming Monthly
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
History
The m ...
'' gave the game a 3.5 out of 10, saying "I thought I’d sooner see Sasquatch ride a Chimera bareback through the streets than a bland series like Mega Man X last through six installments."
In retrospective, 1UP.com
''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conten ...
referred to ''Mega Man X6'' as "sloppy" citing multiple issues within its design such as repetitive stages and background images.
References
External links
Official website
{{Mega Man series
2001 video games
Mega Man X games
PlayStation (console) games
PlayStation Network games
Windows games
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Video games developed in Japan
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