The "X" of Mega Man stand for Variable, it's the "X" you seen in a mathematical formula, to stand for any kind of number, the infinity possibility. As the Lore goes, created by Dr. Tomas Light, X was the first ever robot to be given the full capability to act, think, feel freely and independent for himself, to not being bound by any robotic laws, but that also means there's a certain danger should X choose to broke the robotic law that: "A robot must never harm a human being", hence why X was given his namesake, X represent a future possibility that even Dr. Light himself is unable to foresee, but could only hope for the best.
Indeed Dr. Light's precautions of sealing X to correct any undesirable variables paid off as X always sided with humans and reploids alike even if he had to sacrifice himself. Just look at what happened to the copy-X Ciel created. Being hastily created without any safety measures Copy-X grew to be a Tyrant with a godlike complex.
Actually X is not 10 in this case. X is actually the name of the protagonist and this happens far into the future of the Mega Man series. Mega Man 10 and 11 are already out if you want to check those games out. You don't need to know anything in the number series and can indeed play starting with X to X8 without needing to know everything before.
@@nhonstop X here is based on the variable X, which can be anything, representing unlimited potential, X himself can adapt to any situations and grow stronger in perilous situations.
Something I didn't see anyone point out about Spark Mandrill, is that it has something of a dueling guitar thing going on. The right side and left side both have a lead guitar (or maybe also a keytar?) that take turns playing the main melody and sound a bit different from each other. Towards the end they come together to play the melody. The video other people mention "Something about Mega Man X" by Terminal Montage makes a nod to this actually. Also ToxicxEternity and Gametal did a cover of it together that really captures the spirit of that. Senn In Space also has one that features a keytar like it kind of sounds like it would to me lol. Also, I wouldn't worry about getting overwhelmed by starting the games if you just want to play the X series. They're mostly short games and you'd be fine just playing X1 through X5. X6 is just.... well the music is good but it can be a frustrating game to play. X7 and X8 have a few good songs but overall their OSTs are nothing too special, X7 is also just a terrible game, but X8 was pretty good. X8 was the last main game they made and that was originally on PS2 so... not like you need to worry about even more of them coming out lol.
So for all the megaman games, any distinction in the name is a new series and it starts over. Example: Megaman Megaman X Megaman Zero Megaman ZX Megaman Battle Network Are all seperate games that start with their own numbered games.
@@thenonexistinghero legends is kinda all but confirmed to be in the “robitics” time line. The guys at inti creates who made the Zero and ZX games specifically made the story lean towards the direction of the legends series. So it’s largely considered to be the last in the that time line for now unless capcom decides to change something… but then that would mean they’d have to do something with the series 🙃
I love these re-visits that you do! It's fun to see someone finally learn the full context of an original source just as much as hearing something for the first time.
7:17 I think you nailed it right there when it comes to Megaman X versus the original series. The music in the X series still sounds a lot like earlier games, but with more of a punch. I think a big part of that was that they wanted to show off the sound capabilities of the Super Nintendo / Super Famicon, because you see the same thing in a lot of other games, like Super Mario World and Zelda: ALTTP. The music sounds like something from the NES games, but with more complexity and much better sound quality. With Megaman in particular, the goal was to make a series that was more aggressive and "grown-up" than the original, and the music just kinda followed suit.
Something about the composition of all of the MegaMan X tracks was never truly replicated in future titles. The music felt so good in this game it's kind of unreal. All of the titles featured here were some of my favorites along with Boomerkuanger. The Sigma stages were also great my favorite being stage 2.
I loved Mega Man and the X series growing up. The music was invariably awesome, the games were fun, and it was always exciting to see what new weapon (and sometimes other stuff!) you would get from beating the boss. I thought the Energy Tanks and Sub Tanks looked cool, the sound effects were effective, and don't even get me started on the armor system introduced in Mega Man X. Or what Proto Man's deal was in Mega Man 3, because that was REALLY not made clear. The X series then introduced the real rock music tendency and that led to different and even more awesome music. For me, Mega Man was a household name. I hope you'll do X3 as well at some point. I love X2 but a lot of people seem to dislike the soundtrack. I'm less familiar with X4+ but from what I've seen, they started getting a little weird with the storyline in that era. Since you asked, the story in X is different and in some ways more developed than the original series. Mega Man X had some pretty dramatic scenes. Having encountered it for the first time at a friend's house, I was blown away by all of it. If I sound like I have a lot to say about it, it's because I started playing the games when I was maybe 8 years old and have been enjoying the series ever since. And yes, somehow Capcom has this thing with music. I don't know how to describe it but whatever you're thinking about it, you're probably right.
Megaman X is a game that has aged extremely well. Fantastic gameplay, some really cool level design choices, excellent soundtrack. I love that even with the limitations the SNES it was super obvious what kind of sound they were going for.
Spark Mandrill entered the more general public (gaming) concious after a Terminal Montage video, where they used a cover/remaster by MyNewSoundtrack called: "Mega Man X - Spark Mandrill (No Console Limitations)"
You mentioned you kind of remembered the Armored Armadillo music - it was the theme song for the Screwattack podcast Sidescrollers years ago, so that's might be where you remember it from.
Armored Armadillo's stage will always be my favorite X1 track. To answer your question as to the composers I decided to look it up. There were a few. Most of the soundtrack was done by Setsuo Yamamoto with the exceptions of Chill Penguin (Yuki Iwai), Boomer Kuwanger (Yuko Takehara), the password screen (Toshihiko Horiyama), Storm Eagle and Spark Mandrill (both of these were Makoto Tomozawa). Also, X does not mean 10 as X is a future iteration on the original Mega Man. In the old cartoon X even meets the original Mega while chasing some of his own villains back through time (though I don't remember if this was ever canonized). The X is a variable because X's true power level is unknown as he has what's considered Unlimited Evolutionary Potential. His name is X. Even in the Zero series (which takes place 100 years after the X series) they just refer to him as X.
Spark Mandrill and Storm Eagle's stages were composed by Makoto Tomozawa. Armored Armadillo's stage was composed by Setsuo Yamamoto, he did most of the music for the game. Chill Penguin's stage was composed by Yuki Iwai. Other composers who worked on Mega Man X are Yuko Takehara and Toshihiko Horiyama. Sting Chameleon and Launch Octopus's stages are also very good.
Megaman X is the start of the X series of Megaman, which started on SNES & went to SNES, PSX, PS2. So you'll see X2 & up. It's confusing, but an easy way to remember is you're controlling X, the character, who is slightly taller. The original Megaman games on the NES & SNES going 1 to 9 are about Megaman, the shorter, all blue mascot from say, Smash Bros. & personally, while the others are great, this one is near & dear to my heart. The Megaman franchise has a long story going throughout it all, but they're simple kind of in the way a fighting game franchise is. Exposition at the start, bit more after all the bosses before the final mission(s), & the ending. If you wanted to know if you could dip your toe into X alone & be fine? Yeah. I think so. I take no responsibility if you get hooked, but one can be enough, especially this one. Just make sure you go for the original, not the Maverick Hunters remake. That one has some bad baked in input delay, apparently.
Yeeeeeeessssssss! Spark Mandrill finally! Megaman X is so terribly underrepresented here, and these are some of the best. Shame Flame Mammoth isn't here, but I hope there's more down the line from this and the other games. And you were absolutely right while you were listening to Storm Eagle in that they sound very 80s metal inspired, all of the SNES ones (X1 to X3) really do. X, as others have mentioned doesn't stand for 10 in this case, but it is the protagonist's name in this saga. The Megaman series does follow an interesting story, but it's sort of presented similarly to fighting games among different sagas, just through a little exposition here and there. It starts with the OG Megaman which is basically the battle between 2 scientists through their robot creations, then X who's named after a variable because of him being the first fully sentient robot who then indirectly sparks a whole sentient robot society for the next few centuries, then comes the Zero series some 100 years into the future, the ZX series another couple hundred years into the future, and the Legends series about thousand years from there. And then there's the Battle Network series which is just the weird cousin from out of state.
Honestly some of the best and most underrated Mega Man music comes from the Zero series on GBA. It takes place 200 years in the future and the music is often darker and more serious. If you ever listen to any of those songs, listen to their versions from the Mega Man Zero Collection on DS. It’s the same music but the samples are played in much higher quality compared to the GBA versions which sounded more muffled and fuzzy. Still great either way. You’ve already heard the remix of “Cannonball” but there’s so many other great songs from that series you’re missing out on.
Mega Man works in a way in which your presented with a stage select, where you can choose what order to play the stages, all with a boss at the end. After completing all (typically 8) stages, you are then tasked with doing several “fortress stages” in a row until you get to the final boss. Also every time you beta a boss, you gain their ability, and certain abilities are strong against other bosses like rock paper scissors
"Can you just play X and let the series go after that?" Yeah. And it wouldn't be considered weird either. There's lots of people that only play the really popular games like Mega Man 2 and Mega Man X and then don't touch anything else in the series.
Why you might be familiar with Armored Armadillo: you mentioned in the past you watched AVGN videos. For a long time he was partnered with a website called ScrewAttack, and they used the opening of Armored Armadillo (or remixes of it) as one of their background themed.
Mega Man X would definitely be worth a play through. It’s not as difficult as the old Mega Man games and the controls feel better imo. Two more iconic tracks to check out that actually play back to back in game are “Zero’s theme” and “Demo” sometimes called “Variable X”.
Whats the background music your playing in the beginning? Its pretty smooth reminds me of a lot of SHMUPs music. Almost all the old classic studios like Atlus, Treasure, HAL, Square, Capcom, Nazca, etc all had A) similiar hardware obviously for the sound but very often B) their own soundfont libraries that basically got shared over projects. If your someone like me and go back to listen to music and sound effects from old games by the same developers, you can hear the same SFX or VSTs going way way back to some of their oldest games.
18:00 Q1. Spark Mandrill Q2. Spark Mandrill Q3. Mega Man X Mega Man X is easily a top 5 videogame for me, I've replayed it countless times. Highly recommended, even if can be pretty hard.
If you ever play Mega Man X, think about each series as self contained. There is extensive lore but it's locked behind Japanese only books and other media like Audio Dramas sold in CD format, making it a pain in the neck to follow.
I'm a lifelong Mega Man fan, and for me, Mega Man 2 and Mega Man X1 are tied for some of the most legendary soundtracks in the franchise. As for playing? X1-4 are the sweet spot, I feel like X5 gets bogged down and X6 is a mess (we don't speak of X7...). Classic series, 1-4 again where you get a steady climb in advancement and memorable bosses before it levels off, though 7 and 11 are worth experiencing. Classic series is light on story, each game is self contained. X does more with a progressing background plot that only comes through to the main plot once you hit X5. If you want story with your Mega Man, that's Legends, which is a whole different beast.
If you went through the megaman x series it'd be pretty neat. Canonically it was supposed to go up to x5, but x6 has some pretty good and memorable songs as well and cool gameplay, and x8 is alright :P (And we don't talk about x7.) As far as games go, the original megaman series goes up to 11, x goes up to 8, zero has 4 games, zx has 2 (zx and zx advent), legends has 2. that would be the "main timeline" of the games, in chronological order. Megaman does have pretty deep lore, but quite frankly, you don't need to get super entangled in that when playing them, because they're quite simply just about beating a bad guy and saving the day against robots turned evil. :P I'd say the x series was where they really attempted going deeper into the lore aspect. Also, as far as mechanics go, x builds upon the foundations of the original megaman and introduces more mechanics, zero and zx have a bit more complexity and difficulty, legends and legends 2 went 3D and tried a whole different thing with a more open exploration and story based gameplay, but still very action. (I rather prefer legends 2 over the first because it has more polished movement.) That is all to say, I think playing through megaman x series could be pretty fine, it has a start, middle and end, and things get fairly resolved. (albeit they were meant to resolve in x5, like I said up there, and then they moved the goalpost to x6, and then again later. But the zero series was supposed to actually follow after. x5/x6 :P) So from there you can really decide whether you want to dive into something else or just call it there. Oh, and, as for battle network, that's actually a separate timeline from all those other games, funnily enough. (It's also worth noting x4 was a bit of a staple in the x series, being one where the story went a bit more edgy and it has a lot of very iconic songs, as well as being the introduction to the series for a lot of people because it felt more acessible than x~x3. It also modernized the graphics a little further than x~x3) :P Oop I had to go through quite a few edits. But anyways, my favorite is likely x4 and x6, and it was especially for the music, actually.
They have a mega Man collection for the original and the mega Man x series and mega Man zero so they're all in neat little collections and you can play them at your leisure
The story of Megaman X (and Zero) is quite dark when taken as a whole, but the games largely can't do it justice due to the gameplay format and technical limitations of the time.
If you followed Screwattack at some point, I’m pretty sure they used that part of Armoured Armadillo for their intro for something… For some reason the name Sidescrollers comes to mind… I think it might have been something like a podcast… I think one of the founders of the website has started a podcast of the same name again, although I forget if it was originally that format or not… It might have been used by other people too… I’m not sure… I remember hearing that section a lot though.
I've heard remixes and arrangements of these and other Megaman songs being used as background music in many different videos across the internet from creators big and small. You may have heard any number of them which may be why only certain sections of a song seem familiar. Megaman games in general always went pretty hard with their music to the point that they're pretty iconic and known to even non-megaman fans in the gaming communities. I'm not sure a single (non-spinoff)MM title had a dud in terms of its soundtrack. You ought to react to some of the MM Zero tracks.
Mega Man X was a game I'd dip in and out of as a kid a ton, but I only finally finished it around 4 years ago. Spark Mandrill is probably my favourite song from it. I'm very familiar with Chill Penguin and Storm Eagle as they tended to be the first two levels I'd do. Again and again...lol. You should play it sometime! It's not a long game.
The three songs you picked were in my opinion definitely top 5 bangers from the game maybe top 3 for some. To your question about how much lore is in the game, the first games are pretty basic stories; go fight the villain and his 8 henchmen. In the later games of the X series the story gets more fleshed out but the premise is the same go kill the 8 henchmen bosses in their stages, then go fight big bad in his secret lair.
Megaman X came out after Megaman 6 as a spinoff series from NES Megaman to SNES Megaman X Megaman X1-3 are SNES). But MM7 was a SNES game, MMX4 and other sequels to it would be PS1 games. Also by the time MM9 and 10 came out, it was a download game on XB360/PS3/Wii
Mega Man X is a musical masterpiece, while there's other great games in the series, if you were to only play one game, this one is THE game to play. But I suggest you also play/react to Mega Man X4 music and specifically, X vs. Zero from X5
I have that on my phone's music Playlist. Just came up yesterday. Glad to know someone remembers that one. FamilyJules did a medly of all the bosses, title, and password screen which is a banger.
Sorry hope you don't mind but I just want to take a moment to plug Stone McKnuckle - dude has the most amazing Mega Man remixes ever, particularly for Spark Mandrill. Now with that out of the way - the story for Mega Man X is very dark and only gets more and more desperate after X4 (Inafune had intended 5 to be the official ending but Capcom said no) My favorite game in the franchise is X4, and I think the best stage music is a tossup between Bubble Man (2) and Spark Man (3) Also fun trivia: In Japan he's called Rockman, which makes Roll's name make far more sense (yes it really is Rock & Roll that's the joke) and Proto Man is called Blues (you've probably heard his theme it is iconic AF) The main characters all have musical names like that; Bass (Forte) Treble (Gospel) Beat, Rush, Tango. Mega Man 2 was the very first video game I can remember playing and the franchise has always been one of my most cherished
I heard the Armored Armabillo tune the most playing the game as there is a hidden Easter Egg weapon in that stage that requires specific conditions to get by playing that level a few times. Its a hidden SF2 Ha-Dou-Ken shot within that level. This would be done again with the flaming Dragon Punch in MMX2. MMX3 it was just a gold armor having nothing to do with SF2.
I recommend Neon Tiger from Megaman X3. It sounds similar to the Guns and Roses song My Michelle, and it's not a coincidence, it was deliberately inspired by Guns and Roses.
If you want to go back to play Megaman X then I recommend reading the manual beforehand, scans of which are available everywhere online. This is one of those 90s games where it just kinda assumes you read the manual, as you likely won't understand the story otherwise.
Storm Eagle will never NOT be a bop haha. As for Spark Mandrill, it’s also just an absolute classic. I really have had a hankering to replay these games recently. Good games
Certainly with these earlier games, where the songs are shorter and not as numerous, it's be cool to get a "deep dive" type video where you just cover the whole ost. I get that's more work than me just saying it, but I know you've mentioned before that people are hesitant to reccommend some earlier games due to track length. All that said, i'm so glad you've covered more Megaman X. I adore this game and the music is no small part of that. Spark Mandrill used to be my favourite but over the years Flame Mammoth and Boomer Kuwanger have eked it out of the top spot.
If you ever want to get into them each game is very short, maybe like 3-4 hours to beat if you don't know what you're doing, and 1 hour if you do (at least the ones I've played). Solid action, cool abilities, and rocking soundtracks. There are legacy collections for both to play on newer systems and on Steam (someone else might have experience or opinions about which versions to get).
Theres some channels that do sound channel combo deconstruction breakdowns for this and other old school games that might be worth checking out as just a thing for yourself.
Hi, Jesse, I wanted to recommend you two songs from Persona 3 that you haven't heard yet. "Mass Destruction - Reincarnation" and "Burn my Dread - last battle - Reincarnation" I'm pretty sure you will like them.
The story is developed, but probably not well. Translation difficulties, and they churned them out. Each one has its issues but the bad ones you can at least figure out what you don't like. You can see where they made wrong decisions. I enjoyed my time with X7, and would replay it, especially that i think the voice acting issue is kinda overblown, but it has problems. A little patience and taking breaks to look away from the tv in snipe anteator's stage really helps. And they're short enough that they don't get boring, at least not in the action games. Oh, and megaman X6, embrace the pain, embrace the unfairness, play it on hard mode, play every stage in nightmare phenomenon. Especially rainy turtloid. Oh, maybe blaze heatnix is boring, now i recall. But Rainy Turtloid, you must play that in nightmare mode. If you do play X6. It's so atmospheric. Including the suffering, that's atmospheric too.
Mega Man X don't have enough games... the stories are awesome and the gameplay smooth. The gameplay is simple so if you get to it, you can complete them in less than 3 hours even if you are not good at it, even the latest game which is X8 released in 2004 have a short length because of the nature of the core game. So you can technically finish them all of the 3 classic style sagas in less than a week (the classic, X and Zero/ZX) (the other sagas are different gameplays and spin-off like, despite the ones mentioned being also spin offs from the classic, it has an understatement about being far futures from the classic) I bet that the classic ones will be the ones to take most of your time because of how technical old are so it can be pretty hard and punishing by sending you back to 0 when dying compared to the full of chekpoints in the more modern series (except Zero saga which is a rougelike game).
For a completely different approach to genre from the Rockman/Megaman franchise (versus rock or electronic) consider checking out the Super Famicom release of “Rockman and Forte”. I feel that liking one game in a series can be a slippery slope with quality of sequels blinded by nostalgia from your first time, keeping variety and novelty from other games in the mix can offset that in our binge era.
"Mega Man X mentioned"
I appear.
The "X" of Mega Man stand for Variable, it's the "X" you seen in a mathematical formula, to stand for any kind of number, the infinity possibility.
As the Lore goes, created by Dr. Tomas Light, X was the first ever robot to be given the full capability to act, think, feel freely and independent for himself, to not being bound by any robotic laws, but that also means there's a certain danger should X choose to broke the robotic law that: "A robot must never harm a human being", hence why X was given his namesake, X represent a future possibility that even Dr. Light himself is unable to foresee, but could only hope for the best.
That explains the theme with Zero and Sigma also being mathematical symbols.
Indeed Dr. Light's precautions of sealing X to correct any undesirable variables paid off as X always sided with humans and reploids alike even if he had to sacrifice himself.
Just look at what happened to the copy-X Ciel created. Being hastily created without any safety measures Copy-X grew to be a Tyrant with a godlike complex.
Actually X is not 10 in this case. X is actually the name of the protagonist and this happens far into the future of the Mega Man series. Mega Man 10 and 11 are already out if you want to check those games out. You don't need to know anything in the number series and can indeed play starting with X to X8 without needing to know everything before.
@@nhonstop X here is based on the variable X, which can be anything, representing unlimited potential, X himself can adapt to any situations and grow stronger in perilous situations.
“Sounds like mid 90’s Capcom” …yep. It uh… it sure does!
Something I didn't see anyone point out about Spark Mandrill, is that it has something of a dueling guitar thing going on. The right side and left side both have a lead guitar (or maybe also a keytar?) that take turns playing the main melody and sound a bit different from each other. Towards the end they come together to play the melody. The video other people mention "Something about Mega Man X" by Terminal Montage makes a nod to this actually. Also ToxicxEternity and Gametal did a cover of it together that really captures the spirit of that. Senn In Space also has one that features a keytar like it kind of sounds like it would to me lol.
Also, I wouldn't worry about getting overwhelmed by starting the games if you just want to play the X series. They're mostly short games and you'd be fine just playing X1 through X5. X6 is just.... well the music is good but it can be a frustrating game to play. X7 and X8 have a few good songs but overall their OSTs are nothing too special, X7 is also just a terrible game, but X8 was pretty good. X8 was the last main game they made and that was originally on PS2 so... not like you need to worry about even more of them coming out lol.
So for all the megaman games, any distinction in the name is a new series and it starts over.
Example:
Megaman
Megaman X
Megaman Zero
Megaman ZX
Megaman Battle Network
Are all seperate games that start with their own numbered games.
Forgot Megaman Legends :(
@@GameDragon2k wasn't my intent, I'm sure I missed a few other offshoots.
@@GameDragon2k Star Force in a corner:
@@GameDragon2k Legends is not confirmed to be part of the timeline. Also pretty sure Battle Network and Star Force are its own universe/timeline.
@@thenonexistinghero legends is kinda all but confirmed to be in the “robitics” time line. The guys at inti creates who made the Zero and ZX games specifically made the story lean towards the direction of the legends series. So it’s largely considered to be the last in the that time line for now unless capcom decides to change something… but then that would mean they’d have to do something with the series 🙃
I love these re-visits that you do! It's fun to see someone finally learn the full context of an original source just as much as hearing something for the first time.
Ayyy Spark Mandrill, love this one. Brings back some really good memories.
Storm eagle ❤ my favorite song from the 1st game.
dude literally the 3 best songs in a video, this is perfect
Armored Armadillo is my favourite Megaman X song, it's a banger and so perfectly encapsulates that radical, high octane energy the X series has.
Smooth McGroove made an epic cover of Spark Mandrill like a decade ago, I wonder if maybe that’s where you heard it?
Ha I used to hangout with smooths brother. He is actually a really good musician as well lol
Spark Mandrill. Once you heard it it becomes part of your soul. It's THAT good!
Can't wait to see Jesse's reaction to Mean Bean Machine vs theme. It's my pick for greatest track of the entire Sega Genesis library
There are some amazing remixes/covers to these tracks , some of my favorite and earliest memories of great vgm covers
7:17 I think you nailed it right there when it comes to Megaman X versus the original series. The music in the X series still sounds a lot like earlier games, but with more of a punch. I think a big part of that was that they wanted to show off the sound capabilities of the Super Nintendo / Super Famicon, because you see the same thing in a lot of other games, like Super Mario World and Zelda: ALTTP. The music sounds like something from the NES games, but with more complexity and much better sound quality. With Megaman in particular, the goal was to make a series that was more aggressive and "grown-up" than the original, and the music just kinda followed suit.
Something about the composition of all of the MegaMan X tracks was never truly replicated in future titles. The music felt so good in this game it's kind of unreal. All of the titles featured here were some of my favorites along with Boomerkuanger. The Sigma stages were also great my favorite being stage 2.
I loved Mega Man and the X series growing up. The music was invariably awesome, the games were fun, and it was always exciting to see what new weapon (and sometimes other stuff!) you would get from beating the boss. I thought the Energy Tanks and Sub Tanks looked cool, the sound effects were effective, and don't even get me started on the armor system introduced in Mega Man X. Or what Proto Man's deal was in Mega Man 3, because that was REALLY not made clear. The X series then introduced the real rock music tendency and that led to different and even more awesome music. For me, Mega Man was a household name. I hope you'll do X3 as well at some point. I love X2 but a lot of people seem to dislike the soundtrack.
I'm less familiar with X4+ but from what I've seen, they started getting a little weird with the storyline in that era. Since you asked, the story in X is different and in some ways more developed than the original series. Mega Man X had some pretty dramatic scenes. Having encountered it for the first time at a friend's house, I was blown away by all of it. If I sound like I have a lot to say about it, it's because I started playing the games when I was maybe 8 years old and have been enjoying the series ever since.
And yes, somehow Capcom has this thing with music. I don't know how to describe it but whatever you're thinking about it, you're probably right.
Capcoms sound team was on another level in the 90's. I still jam out to this OST at work.
Playing X and X only is precisely what I did. It works just fine. Music stuck with me for life.
Megaman X, my favorute game, the OST always gives me the nostalgic hammer and I get the goosebumbs part!
Like you said, the gates are open and the Megaman fandom is waiting for you to listen to more.
Megaman X defined the 90s capcom sound. Bangers all the way through.
Megaman X is a game that has aged extremely well. Fantastic gameplay, some really cool level design choices, excellent soundtrack. I love that even with the limitations the SNES it was super obvious what kind of sound they were going for.
Spark Mandrill entered the more general public (gaming) concious after a Terminal Montage video, where they used a cover/remaster by MyNewSoundtrack called:
"Mega Man X - Spark Mandrill (No Console Limitations)"
Hoping for Launch Octopus to show up one day, cause a certain someone may appreciate da BASS~
You mentioned you kind of remembered the Armored Armadillo music - it was the theme song for the Screwattack podcast Sidescrollers years ago, so that's might be where you remember it from.
Not sure if you know a podcast called side scrollers but their intro is a metal cover of armored armadillo maybe thats why it sounds familiar.
Armored Armadillo's stage will always be my favorite X1 track.
To answer your question as to the composers I decided to look it up. There were a few. Most of the soundtrack was done by Setsuo Yamamoto with the exceptions of Chill Penguin (Yuki Iwai), Boomer Kuwanger (Yuko Takehara), the password screen (Toshihiko Horiyama), Storm Eagle and Spark Mandrill (both of these were Makoto Tomozawa).
Also, X does not mean 10 as X is a future iteration on the original Mega Man. In the old cartoon X even meets the original Mega while chasing some of his own villains back through time (though I don't remember if this was ever canonized). The X is a variable because X's true power level is unknown as he has what's considered Unlimited Evolutionary Potential. His name is X. Even in the Zero series (which takes place 100 years after the X series) they just refer to him as X.
No kidding, Chill Penguin's theme SLAPS.
Same, his level is my favorite theme too
That was a cool episode, but it's non-canon, unfortunately
Don’t worry, i didn’t notice they were all animals until halfway through the fourth game
Spark Mandrill and Storm Eagle's stages were composed by Makoto Tomozawa.
Armored Armadillo's stage was composed by Setsuo Yamamoto, he did most of the music for the game.
Chill Penguin's stage was composed by Yuki Iwai.
Other composers who worked on Mega Man X are Yuko Takehara and Toshihiko Horiyama.
Sting Chameleon and Launch Octopus's stages are also very good.
Megaman X is the start of the X series of Megaman, which started on SNES & went to SNES, PSX, PS2. So you'll see X2 & up. It's confusing, but an easy way to remember is you're controlling X, the character, who is slightly taller. The original Megaman games on the NES & SNES going 1 to 9 are about Megaman, the shorter, all blue mascot from say, Smash Bros. & personally, while the others are great, this one is near & dear to my heart.
The Megaman franchise has a long story going throughout it all, but they're simple kind of in the way a fighting game franchise is. Exposition at the start, bit more after all the bosses before the final mission(s), & the ending. If you wanted to know if you could dip your toe into X alone & be fine? Yeah. I think so. I take no responsibility if you get hooked, but one can be enough, especially this one. Just make sure you go for the original, not the Maverick Hunters remake. That one has some bad baked in input delay, apparently.
Yeeeeeeessssssss! Spark Mandrill finally! Megaman X is so terribly underrepresented here, and these are some of the best. Shame Flame Mammoth isn't here, but I hope there's more down the line from this and the other games. And you were absolutely right while you were listening to Storm Eagle in that they sound very 80s metal inspired, all of the SNES ones (X1 to X3) really do.
X, as others have mentioned doesn't stand for 10 in this case, but it is the protagonist's name in this saga. The Megaman series does follow an interesting story, but it's sort of presented similarly to fighting games among different sagas, just through a little exposition here and there. It starts with the OG Megaman which is basically the battle between 2 scientists through their robot creations, then X who's named after a variable because of him being the first fully sentient robot who then indirectly sparks a whole sentient robot society for the next few centuries, then comes the Zero series some 100 years into the future, the ZX series another couple hundred years into the future, and the Legends series about thousand years from there. And then there's the Battle Network series which is just the weird cousin from out of state.
Honestly some of the best and most underrated Mega Man music comes from the Zero series on GBA. It takes place 200 years in the future and the music is often darker and more serious. If you ever listen to any of those songs, listen to their versions from the Mega Man Zero Collection on DS. It’s the same music but the samples are played in much higher quality compared to the GBA versions which sounded more muffled and fuzzy. Still great either way. You’ve already heard the remix of “Cannonball” but there’s so many other great songs from that series you’re missing out on.
Mega Man works in a way in which your presented with a stage select, where you can choose what order to play the stages, all with a boss at the end. After completing all (typically 8) stages, you are then tasked with doing several “fortress stages” in a row until you get to the final boss. Also every time you beta a boss, you gain their ability, and certain abilities are strong against other bosses like rock paper scissors
"Can you just play X and let the series go after that?"
Yeah.
And it wouldn't be considered weird either. There's lots of people that only play the really popular games like Mega Man 2 and Mega Man X and then don't touch anything else in the series.
Why you might be familiar with Armored Armadillo: you mentioned in the past you watched AVGN videos. For a long time he was partnered with a website called ScrewAttack, and they used the opening of Armored Armadillo (or remixes of it) as one of their background themed.
So Megaman X was my gateway drug into metal music due to all the covers done on youtube when I was a kid.
Lets gooooo I love the theme of these three stages!
Mega Man X would definitely be worth a play through. It’s not as difficult as the old Mega Man games and the controls feel better imo. Two more iconic tracks to check out that actually play back to back in game are “Zero’s theme” and “Demo” sometimes called “Variable X”.
Whats the background music your playing in the beginning? Its pretty smooth reminds me of a lot of SHMUPs music.
Almost all the old classic studios like Atlus, Treasure, HAL, Square, Capcom, Nazca, etc all had A) similiar hardware obviously for the sound but very often B) their own soundfont libraries that basically got shared over projects. If your someone like me and go back to listen to music and sound effects from old games by the same developers, you can hear the same SFX or VSTs going way way back to some of their oldest games.
Cosmic Vegetation - BR2
I only came to know about those songs by Terminal Montage....
I know everyone loves Spark Mandrill but Armored Armadillo has always been my favorite track AND stage.
I'm literally streaming mvc Collection while watching this...😅 And im sure again, youve probably heard these as smooth mcgroove tunes.
THE ONLY DAY I DID A GOOD SLEEP AND YOU DO A TRIPLE FEATURE!? W A O
YOOOOOO the first Megaman X "Big Three"
18:00
Q1. Spark Mandrill
Q2. Spark Mandrill
Q3. Mega Man X
Mega Man X is easily a top 5 videogame for me, I've replayed it countless times. Highly recommended, even if can be pretty hard.
i just noticed armored armadillo theme has a gospel rhythm lmaooo
If you ever play Mega Man X, think about each series as self contained. There is extensive lore but it's locked behind Japanese only books and other media like Audio Dramas sold in CD format, making it a pain in the neck to follow.
I'm a lifelong Mega Man fan, and for me, Mega Man 2 and Mega Man X1 are tied for some of the most legendary soundtracks in the franchise.
As for playing? X1-4 are the sweet spot, I feel like X5 gets bogged down and X6 is a mess (we don't speak of X7...). Classic series, 1-4 again where you get a steady climb in advancement and memorable bosses before it levels off, though 7 and 11 are worth experiencing. Classic series is light on story, each game is self contained. X does more with a progressing background plot that only comes through to the main plot once you hit X5. If you want story with your Mega Man, that's Legends, which is a whole different beast.
"Damn, this song is good"
YES JESSE YOU SHOULD PLAY THIS IS LITERALLY LIKE 3 HOURS AT MOST
Ah yes, Armored Armadillo. One of the few themes that I never get tired of hearing.
These might be my favorite 3 tracks from this game. The entire OST is great though.
"Yo. This song is _really_ good"
8:10 quick, nobody tell him about Launch Octopus
If you went through the megaman x series it'd be pretty neat. Canonically it was supposed to go up to x5, but x6 has some pretty good and memorable songs as well and cool gameplay, and x8 is alright :P (And we don't talk about x7.)
As far as games go, the original megaman series goes up to 11, x goes up to 8, zero has 4 games, zx has 2 (zx and zx advent), legends has 2. that would be the "main timeline" of the games, in chronological order. Megaman does have pretty deep lore, but quite frankly, you don't need to get super entangled in that when playing them, because they're quite simply just about beating a bad guy and saving the day against robots turned evil. :P I'd say the x series was where they really attempted going deeper into the lore aspect. Also, as far as mechanics go, x builds upon the foundations of the original megaman and introduces more mechanics, zero and zx have a bit more complexity and difficulty, legends and legends 2 went 3D and tried a whole different thing with a more open exploration and story based gameplay, but still very action. (I rather prefer legends 2 over the first because it has more polished movement.)
That is all to say, I think playing through megaman x series could be pretty fine, it has a start, middle and end, and things get fairly resolved. (albeit they were meant to resolve in x5, like I said up there, and then they moved the goalpost to x6, and then again later. But the zero series was supposed to actually follow after. x5/x6 :P) So from there you can really decide whether you want to dive into something else or just call it there.
Oh, and, as for battle network, that's actually a separate timeline from all those other games, funnily enough.
(It's also worth noting x4 was a bit of a staple in the x series, being one where the story went a bit more edgy and it has a lot of very iconic songs, as well as being the introduction to the series for a lot of people because it felt more acessible than x~x3. It also modernized the graphics a little further than x~x3)
:P Oop I had to go through quite a few edits. But anyways, my favorite is likely x4 and x6, and it was especially for the music, actually.
They have a mega Man collection for the original and the mega Man x series and mega Man zero so they're all in neat little collections and you can play them at your leisure
The story of Megaman X (and Zero) is quite dark when taken as a whole, but the games largely can't do it justice due to the gameplay format and technical limitations of the time.
If you followed Screwattack at some point, I’m pretty sure they used that part of Armoured Armadillo for their intro for something… For some reason the name Sidescrollers comes to mind… I think it might have been something like a podcast… I think one of the founders of the website has started a podcast of the same name again, although I forget if it was originally that format or not… It might have been used by other people too… I’m not sure… I remember hearing that section a lot though.
Lol, I like how the comment section turned into where I possibly could have heard it :'D
Wish I knew, it's just one of those things ^_^
They still use a cover of Armored Armadillo by Paul Hadouken for the Side Scrollers intro.
Hell yeah, Armored Armadillo! That's my favorite let's fucking goooo
I've heard remixes and arrangements of these and other Megaman songs being used as background music in many different videos across the internet from creators big and small. You may have heard any number of them which may be why only certain sections of a song seem familiar.
Megaman games in general always went pretty hard with their music to the point that they're pretty iconic and known to even non-megaman fans in the gaming communities. I'm not sure a single (non-spinoff)MM title had a dud in terms of its soundtrack.
You ought to react to some of the MM Zero tracks.
Rockman goes hard
Mega Man X was a game I'd dip in and out of as a kid a ton, but I only finally finished it around 4 years ago. Spark Mandrill is probably my favourite song from it. I'm very familiar with Chill Penguin and Storm Eagle as they tended to be the first two levels I'd do. Again and again...lol. You should play it sometime! It's not a long game.
Mega Man series full on bangers on bangers! 🤘
The three songs you picked were in my opinion definitely top 5 bangers from the game maybe top 3 for some. To your question about how much lore is in the game, the first games are pretty basic stories; go fight the villain and his 8 henchmen. In the later games of the X series the story gets more fleshed out but the premise is the same go kill the 8 henchmen bosses in their stages, then go fight big bad in his secret lair.
Megaman X3 the Gravity Beetle stage is my fave in that game
If you haven't heard it yet, I suggest giving the remix called High Gravity Malt Beetle a try (from the Dwelling of Duels competition).
OOO! That is nostalgia right there! I need to play this game again! ❤
Megaman X is one of the best game I ever played, it's just so fun everytime I play it.
Megaman X came out after Megaman 6 as a spinoff series from NES Megaman to SNES Megaman X Megaman X1-3 are SNES). But MM7 was a SNES game, MMX4 and other sequels to it would be PS1 games. Also by the time MM9 and 10 came out, it was a download game on XB360/PS3/Wii
Mega Man X is a musical masterpiece, while there's other great games in the series, if you were to only play one game, this one is THE game to play. But I suggest you also play/react to Mega Man X4 music and specifically, X vs. Zero from X5
"Fine, I'll do it myself"
Protricity did a remix of Spark Mandrill and Storm Eagle a couple decades ago called Brainsick Metal, and this video made me go relisten. Thanks.
I have that on my phone's music Playlist. Just came up yesterday. Glad to know someone remembers that one.
FamilyJules did a medly of all the bosses, title, and password screen which is a banger.
Sorry hope you don't mind but I just want to take a moment to plug Stone McKnuckle - dude has the most amazing Mega Man remixes ever, particularly for Spark Mandrill.
Now with that out of the way - the story for Mega Man X is very dark and only gets more and more desperate after X4 (Inafune had intended 5 to be the official ending but Capcom said no)
My favorite game in the franchise is X4, and I think the best stage music is a tossup between Bubble Man (2) and Spark Man (3)
Also fun trivia: In Japan he's called Rockman, which makes Roll's name make far more sense (yes it really is Rock & Roll that's the joke) and Proto Man is called Blues (you've probably heard his theme it is iconic AF)
The main characters all have musical names like that; Bass (Forte) Treble (Gospel) Beat, Rush, Tango.
Mega Man 2 was the very first video game I can remember playing and the franchise has always been one of my most cherished
I recommend all first 8 stages from x, x2 and x3. Those songs play during the stage not at the boss fight, but each stage has its own boss.
I heard the Armored Armabillo tune the most playing the game as there is a hidden Easter Egg weapon in that stage that requires specific conditions to get by playing that level a few times. Its a hidden SF2 Ha-Dou-Ken shot within that level. This would be done again with the flaming Dragon Punch in MMX2. MMX3 it was just a gold armor having nothing to do with SF2.
At least the gold suit gave you all the secondary upgrade chips. Though one could argue by the time you get it you don't really need it.
Omg this is a blessing
I recommend Neon Tiger from Megaman X3. It sounds similar to the Guns and Roses song My Michelle, and it's not a coincidence, it was deliberately inspired by Guns and Roses.
If you want to go back to play Megaman X then I recommend reading the manual beforehand, scans of which are available everywhere online.
This is one of those 90s games where it just kinda assumes you read the manual, as you likely won't understand the story otherwise.
even i've played mega man x. get that gamer cred, jesse. you need that gamer cred.
Waiting for the "Something about Mega Man X" by Terminal Montage reaction. I'm sorry, but there is no other way. :D
Storm Eagle will never NOT be a bop haha. As for Spark Mandrill, it’s also just an absolute classic. I really have had a hankering to replay these games recently. Good games
Im suprised no one reccomended x vs zero to him yet
Certainly with these earlier games, where the songs are shorter and not as numerous, it's be cool to get a "deep dive" type video where you just cover the whole ost.
I get that's more work than me just saying it, but I know you've mentioned before that people are hesitant to reccommend some earlier games due to track length.
All that said, i'm so glad you've covered more Megaman X. I adore this game and the music is no small part of that. Spark Mandrill used to be my favourite but over the years Flame Mammoth and Boomer Kuwanger have eked it out of the top spot.
If you ever want to get into them each game is very short, maybe like 3-4 hours to beat if you don't know what you're doing, and 1 hour if you do (at least the ones I've played). Solid action, cool abilities, and rocking soundtracks. There are legacy collections for both to play on newer systems and on Steam (someone else might have experience or opinions about which versions to get).
*Terminal montage memes intensifies*
The mega X series has amazing music. I hope one day I get to see you react to some MegaMan X4 music. It has some of the best tracks in the series imo.
Megaman x is so METAL. 🤘
Megaman x is so good.
Also the main continuity goes like this:
Megaman - megaman X - Megaman zero - megaman zx - megaman legends
God I love Mega Man X music.
Boomer Kuwanger theme is my favorite.
Jesse says it feels like classic mid 90s capcom. Hmm. Wonder why. ^.^
Theres some channels that do sound channel combo deconstruction breakdowns for this and other old school games that might be worth checking out as just a thing for yourself.
clearly we need to get jesse to watch terminalmontage's storm eagle vid
Did we all forget about Flame Mammoth and Boomer Kuwanger?
Hi, Jesse, I wanted to recommend you two songs from Persona 3 that you haven't heard yet.
"Mass Destruction - Reincarnation" and "Burn my Dread - last battle - Reincarnation"
I'm pretty sure you will like them.
The story is developed, but probably not well. Translation difficulties, and they churned them out. Each one has its issues but the bad ones you can at least figure out what you don't like. You can see where they made wrong decisions. I enjoyed my time with X7, and would replay it, especially that i think the voice acting issue is kinda overblown, but it has problems. A little patience and taking breaks to look away from the tv in snipe anteator's stage really helps. And they're short enough that they don't get boring, at least not in the action games. Oh, and megaman X6, embrace the pain, embrace the unfairness, play it on hard mode, play every stage in nightmare phenomenon. Especially rainy turtloid. Oh, maybe blaze heatnix is boring, now i recall. But Rainy Turtloid, you must play that in nightmare mode. If you do play X6. It's so atmospheric. Including the suffering, that's atmospheric too.
Mega Man X don't have enough games...
the stories are awesome and the gameplay smooth.
The gameplay is simple so if you get to it, you can complete them in less than 3 hours even if you are not good at it, even the latest game which is X8 released in 2004 have a short length because of the nature of the core game. So you can technically finish them all of the 3 classic style sagas in less than a week (the classic, X and Zero/ZX) (the other sagas are different gameplays and spin-off like, despite the ones mentioned being also spin offs from the classic, it has an understatement about being far futures from the classic) I bet that the classic ones will be the ones to take most of your time because of how technical old are so it can be pretty hard and punishing by sending you back to 0 when dying compared to the full of chekpoints in the more modern series (except Zero saga which is a rougelike game).
Every theme in this game is a banger, my favorite being Boomer Kuwangers'. Hopefully you give it a listen and play the game.
Aw, was really hoping for it to be a first time reaction... oh well, that's fine
For a completely different approach to genre from the Rockman/Megaman franchise (versus rock or electronic) consider checking out the Super Famicom release of “Rockman and Forte”.
I feel that liking one game in a series can be a slippery slope with quality of sequels blinded by nostalgia from your first time, keeping variety and novelty from other games in the mix can offset that in our binge era.