the title alone already exudes "this guy gets it" energy. but then I got to the part where you talk about the menu sound effects and I was like "no seriously this guy GETS it."
The description of the hurt poses was amazing. On the voice acting: we did an interview with Ruth Jarman, the voice of X in X4 as well as Mega Man in MM8, and it really shed a lot of light on the situation. Mostly that they had literally no direction or context for anything, just lines on a page. And they weren't even told that they were recording for two games at once. It's all wild. But you're right that the talent wasn't the problem, it was the direction, or lack thereof.
This is why I love the internet. I 100% agree with megaman being underrated because I've never met an actual megaman fan irl, but thankfully there's videos like this to keep me satisfyed.
i always read the magma dragoon fight as the reverse: that he actually admired x and zero so much to the point of wanting nothing more than an all-out fight with them, because had he just asked them to spar or something clearly they'd hold back, but if he convinces them he's a terrorist, they can go balls to the wall and display their full strength
Apparently, the reason why Colonel and Iris are siblings is that they were originally meant to be 1 Reploid, but its personality was too complex to process in 1 body, so it was divided into two; one that was meant for fighting, and one that was meant for peace. That crystal she uses during her boss fight is actually Colonel's core that she's incorporated into herself, which causes her to become even more unstable than she already was due to the above reason. Like the X games weren't messed up enough, right?
Oh my god, I completely forgot about that piece of trivia. ...Yeah okay this makes it worse, but it's also kind of... cool, in how pseudo-realistic this is.
@@twaggytheatricks4960 Yeah, the idea is further explored in X DiVE in the form of Iris Another, though I don’t know too much about it since I haven’t played the game myself.
@@whichcache2517 I remember that! Another Iris even has several designs, and she's actually called Harmonious Iris in Japanese, in reference to her being the "what if they _could_ unite Colonel and Iris in a single design?" variant. What I can tell you from there is that she's got moves from both Iris and Colonel, and though the Iris body shape is dominant physically, the Colonel mentality is dominant emotionally. At least, that's what the dialogues allude to. (I play X DiVE from time to time)
This a good ass video, Megaman fans be eating good. Low-key I think Megaman fans do a lot of memeing on the lore because at its core the series is probably a lot darker than we realistically want it to be. Even the Repliforce's obvious faulty pride ends up being pretty tragic because they end up being right in the end. General and Colonel announce their desire for seperation from human society and are *instantly* deemed Mavericks by human society meaning pretty clearly they would have been scapegoated for Sky Lagoon whether they complied with X and Zero or not. I very much am in the same boat in that if the Megaman series had better presentations for their stories they'd be recognized more for their decent writing. Hell X4 literally defines X's character for the entirety of the Zero series and that reincorporation shit's pretty neat.
Wanted to add to this tangent at around 45:15 because I love this observation so much, which is that to further emphasis the difference between X and Zero is one very important notion- Zero doesn't get armour upgrades. X must constantly upgrade his base form into new, more monstrous weaponized versions of himself, but Zero doesn't have to. My reading of that has always been because he was Wily's final creation, his ultimate weapon to defeat Dr. Light's creations. And since every reploid is based on X's schematics, architecture, and format, Zero can and does come out on top swinging every time. The *sole* time Zero ever gets an armor upgrade in the mainline games is X5, and it's a missable secret, and most importantly it's not made by Wily, but *Light* rather. Even more interestingly, in the doctor's own words, he has no idea the full extent of Zero's own make up as it's not based on any of his works, so the most this upgrade does is like a stat booster more than a "armour." So why am I going on this tangent which itself is in comment to another tangent? Because it so clearly and thematically establishes the amazing internal conflict within both X and Zero, and ultimately why they're best friends. Despite their different creators, their different purposes- X is a peaceful man with limitless potential to be whatever the world needs him to be, as his own name tells us- yet he is *forced* to fight and kill in the name of that peace he wants so badly. Zero meanwhile is built to kill and destroy with absolute power, and might have done just that if not for Sigma's subduing him, but he comes to using all that immense power for carnage to protect life, protect humans and reploids, because he chooses to. X fights to protect because he feels like he *has* to. Zero fights to protect because he *chooses* to.
Wily honestly lost in the most humiliating way possible, despite actually coming out on top technology-wise. The robot he created to destroy those made by his rival (and former friend) Dr. Light, winds up choosing to use his immense strength in order to help people and achieve peace; most importantly, though, he adopted this philosophy because of *X* the magnum opus of that very same Dr. Light, and that Zero was specifically created to destroy. It's very "power of friendship" but it's handled really well imo. Light didn't win by creating the more powerful robot (as he essentially always had in the past via Rock) but the robot that was more compassionate, and had a set of morals and the charisma and strength to pass those same values onto others.
Lute, I love this video so much1, in fact, I love everysingle video you've make, is greate!!! I hope you can make a video about Megaman Zero in the future, of course if you like it! It has your favorite kind of leveles, Ice levels which everyones knows you love
46:39 I'd like to say, X didn't really gave up, he definitly was way more on the line of completely breaking down, more than Zero, but he still tried his best, and this is what I like about him, this is what makes him MORE HUMAN, just like how Dr.Light wanted him to be, but Zero, on the other hand, he was maded by Wily, Zero isn't the same as X, so he still being OK with all the shit happening, and still moving on, makes the X and Zero palallel even great
Honestly, I rather die like X than keep going on forever like Zero. Mortality gives meaning to life. Living forever will eventually make you either insane, nihilistic, or both. I'm just surprised Zero managed to live as long as he did. Literally everyone he ever cared about died around him. He became super depressed because of immense survivor's guilt, and just wanted to die like everyone else, but couldn't, because he promised X to protect the reploids. He was pretty much a shambling corpse by the time of Zero 2.
I liked iris's voice because I think she sounds very cute. Also, x did have to see someone else die right in he's arms, that's zero. Tho one was a best friend ship vs a somewhat relationship They still very much go through almost the same thing. After the x series, zero is out and x fights for a hundred years, so when he gives it to zero because he's about to die and does die in zero 3, it's not him just saying here I don't want this, it's him saying, zero everything has finally taken a toll on me can you pick it up? And then one game later dies
"zero everything has finally taken a toll on me can you pick it up?" I found those aspects of Zero really wholesome. You can tell X feels bad about putting this burden on Zero to take his place fighting for peace; Zero is just like "of course I will, best buddy".
This really was a great one; I was really late to the PlayStation party, and when I finally did get one in the summer of '98, and later managed to track this down, I was totally blown away. I'd been a Mega Man fan since the '80s, so this was a no-brainer, but this was the first game I remember playing that brought the feel of those big, dumb Action games you'd play in the arcade home to your own TV... even if it was a crappy monaural thing that didn't have anything but coaxial hookups in the back. Then, you start to notice all the details, like the frozen Chill Penguin and Blizzard Buffalo corpses in the background, the catchy synth soundtrack underneath all the shouting and explosions, and eventually the story that got me a lot more invested than I could've ever imagined. Love what you said about X and Zero, too. My sister was born in the '90s, which puts quite a lot of years between us, but she grew up watching me play everything under the sun; we were talking the other day, and she said, "Mega Man X was always one of my favorites, and when I was little, I always understood it like Zero was X's big brother, and I always thought of you as that kind of big sister; I was X and you were Zero." Until this video, I'd never given any thought to how accurate that was, either... I've seen so much; I've BEEN that monster; I've turned myself around from what I was originally to become, and now I just keep going, because I've always had to. I think a lot of what makes X and Zero what they are is exactly that: X always got to be the hero, and eventually, he realizes that there's a never-ending war all around him; a never-ending war that it's his job to win. Zero's quietly killing it behind the scenes, supporting X's growth from the shadows, and he's able to do that without becoming so outwardly world-weary because as tiring as the war against the mavericks can be, he knows how much worse his own internal struggle has been; the rest doesn't seem so bad by comparison. Sorry if this is over-sharing, but I couldn't resist the urge to get a little philosophical; you're so loose and casual in these videos, and still manage to pack so much depth into them. Also, I've been thinking of your Earthbound Zero video a lot lately, because I've finally gotten around to playing YIIK; after almost 20 hours, I get it now.
Well, well, well, look what we have here... Can't go ten paces without running into the likes of you it seems. Either way, hope you have a lovely day, and get back to work Ms. Saulsbury.
What I like about this is the arcade like gameplay to its composition music. Both fits the stages very well. The guy who created the password music in x1 made the whole tracks of x4. I laugh so hard just discovering that because that composer Toshihiko Horiyama is at his best when he develop own composition rather than arrangements. Just because of this I love this game.
Dude, I played this shit ALL summer when it came out. I was never able to have an SNES to play Mega Man X 1-3 but my brother gave me his PS1 when he went off to college. I just remember being really worried that X was asking Zero to destroy him if something went wrong. And watching Zero suffer time and time again in this game was alot to take in as a 13 year old.
Christ, I wish you were my IRL friend growing up. 8 and X4 were my favorite games, and I have their soundtracks downloaded. Aqua Man's stage, Frost Man's Stage, Astro Man's stage, Wily Stage 2, the X4 command room and Split Mushroom's stage are my favorite tracks. Great video, you got a new sub for sure :)
You can actually smoke a lot of bosses in this game with zero if you know a few tricks. Magma dragoon, for example, when he does the flame beam attack and transforms his hit box doesn't extend to the edge of the stage so you can jump over him and stand behind him and swing while he breaths fire. If you do the full combo you get some good damage in but you really melt his health bar when you learn to dash cancel your combo. There are tricks for every boss that feel very satisfying to figure out and pull off. Also, the electric sword technique is really good against the midboss in split mushrooms stage. Give it a shot and you'll probably kill him after he's destroyed maybe 2 platforms.
Yo Lute, I have no idea if you'll read this but you're quickly becoming one of new my favorite channels, I love your Tail of Concerto vid and 2nd installment of Playing on the Computer or whatever it's called, your vids are so unique and I love the deep dives you go on, keep up what you're doing I'm a new fan but I'll stay here for a while and I enjoy the content that you create :)
43:30 I'm so glad that someone else finally gets what I mean when I say that main characters in anime all have the same high pitched scratchy voice that's grating on the ears. I'm sure you don't mean it exactly the way I said it but yeah I agree that they all sound the same
@mlg noob i dunno, i like the anticipation of wondering how this is going to get derailed next. I know it's a less serious video, so it doesn't bother me.
@mlg noob I genuinely appreciate that you stated exactly why you kind of dislike the tangents, only to then express your understanding as to why someone else than you would like 'em. Really based, man, I'm glad you're as chill as the rest of the audience here seems to be.
I loved this! The X series desperately needs to be fleshed out more and finished. It was great hearing someone who grew up with this talk about it; I didn't play it until I was 16 but it quickly became my fav in the series. I used a voice pack for the old PC version that swapped the in-game voices with their Canadian ones from 8/CM and it sounded great! (vids are Lucas/Mark in X4 on youtube) Also love the shoutouts to MMHP! I used to browse the site all the time as a kid, when I could only play X1-3 on emulators (PS1/2 emulation were still new). Mandi Paugh also wrote some really fun fanfiction, including one where Classic Megaman meets some other versions of himself including Ruby Spears Megaman. She also did the sprites in Dragon Ball Z Legacy of Goku 2, of all things :o and hell yeah all pigs are class traitors
I've always loved X4's cutscenes. I don't have the bias of x4 or even x1 being my first mega man game either as my first was mm2. The voice acting out of context is hilarious, and I love that for it. Every single line is a meme. But that's only possible because in context, it's actually good
42:55 If you strip out the voice acting, this scene is powerful This reploid is supposed to be one of the toughest, hardest, and fiercest of the Maverick Hunters But here, in this moment, we find out what breaks him I always laugh at this scene because the VA clearly had some trash direction, but it is an impactful moment in the game (and on Zero's entire story)
Bro, the wrap up at the end was great. I think we feel pretty similarly about the series. The whole story is a compounding tragedy. Nothing ever gets better, only worse. It's the reason I'm terrified of robots and AI. X is built, and has to watch as the technological revolution based on his design systematically destroys humanity. Zero can't escape the violence he's destined for, and even his relentless, duty-bound attitude cracks after being forced to kill his own friends, leaving him bitter and jaded. I have a fucking X tattoo on my forearm, and consider him my favorite character design of all time. X4 goes so hard, it's probably the best action platformer of all time. Sure, the video was a nostalgia ramble, but that's what made it good. Thanks for this.
I only ever had X1 & X4 as a kid. I never could beat either of them yet I played them to death. I finished X1 as I got older and it has been one of my comfort games for longer than I can remember, but X4 has also always held a special place in my heart. It has so much style and charm. A best friend and I finally finished it a few months ago. It's still awesome.
MMX 4 is my absolute favourite, and I love how the composer for the BGM had a total hard-on for Vince DiCola. Like, something about Slash Beast's and Jet Stingray's music makes me think of the stuff DiCola composed for the 1986 Transformers movie, like the shuttle escape scene, or the battle over Autobot City.
I watched my sister playing this game wayyyy back when I was little. I must have been 4 or so. And ever since that moment I have loved this game. I've replayed it so fucking much to the point I have the stages memorized. Every stage has a banger soundtrack especially sky lagoon when playing as Zero. God I love this game. I just watched your mother video, and decided to view your channel and saw you uploaded this just a couple days ago. New subscriber right here my dude.
I've gotta comment to say that I'm a pretty tough crowd with comedy, and there were at least 5 moments in this video that got a genuine laugh out of me. This video is on a level few content creators can reach. Your channel is definitely going to grow quickly if you upload regularly. Best of luck! subbed
I’ve been so excited to see this since you started talking about it on twitter! It’s easily one of my favorites so far, it’s so lovely to just get a tour of something you obviously love presented with this kind of breathless enthusiasm, and it has the funniest diversions. Really great job!
You representing the rank challenge in Cyber Space not being tacked on with Martin Luther nailing up the 95 theses is the stupidest joke I've seen in a long time. I loved it
Man... Lute you make the absolute comfiest gaming videos on this whole site. Your passion for each and every game you cover is inspiring, and you have loads of comedic and analytical talent. I'm here for whatever comes next, thank you for creating.
EVERYONE always say "Why make a fat robot? why design him fat?" My theory is that psychologycally, fat men are seen as less of a threat by other males, he is fat, is not going to take your spot as the alpha, letting them integrate faster in group dynamics, so for a double agent, makes sense to look innofensive.
This was my first game I ever played. I love your take, it makes me feel younger again Also I think Double was intentionally designed to be silly/pathetic, it adds to his innocence and makes him seem non-threatening. But since he is a "Double Agent" you wouldn't expect his nightmarish transformation
*[Fair Warning: long comment below. A bit nerdy, definitely geeky, but not hostile.]* I'll say a few things; and I want to preface this with the following. Uh, I love this channel? As in like, I discovered it randomly when I was looking for video essays on Wario Land 4, then I saw the Paper Mario one afterward and it _really_ got me going. I've since binge-watched every video on this channel because these are two of m favorite games, I _really_ wanna play Earthbound Zero and noticed a lot of fun parallels with Undertale, _and_ now I'm happy to see that you're also a Megaman fan. I'm just so happy you're bumbling your way through distractebility and good tastes, man. Keep doing what you do - and I _really_ need to drop more comments here. I kinda hate that this is the first one, so, I'll make it up to you later. I say this because I know long comments are typically a bad thing in RUclips, and I don't want to be some sort of obnoxious idiot, but there's just a bunch of things I want to address for love's sake. Ugh. Why does it sound so intimidating. Well, here goes! I hope this comes across as nice, since it's supposed to be. •The first thing that comes to mind is tiny. It's with regards to Light. He totally does put the M in Mad Scientist, but to be fair to him, he never built robots like Cut Man for any other purpose than to cut down trees, and even had a failsafe to make sure he wouldn't do anything dangerous. Blaming him for it being repurposed is like blaming whoever made the chainsaw because the chainsaw massacre happened, y'know? Wily's the bitch for removing the failsafe and then reprogramming Cut Man as a battle robot - which is true for pretty much all the robots made by Light. The rest of them in Megaman 2 and onward are, for the most part, either made by Wily, or other people like Dr.Cossack. So like, Light is waaaay less at fault than what was implied here. He also put X in statis for 30+ years to run tests on his mind and make sure he stayed a good boi, and given that _that_ succeeded, he's honestly not _that_ bad. We even see what would happen if he didn't do that (look up Copy-X, if anyone cares), and the difference is pretty frightening. •The second is with regards to X - and it's what made me want to write this comment. I'm biased because I _utterly adore him,_ but also, I did play the Zero games, and for anyone who was interested in playing them, please know that X didn't completely give up. Or rather, what he did give up wasn't fighting. It was his entire physical body. He did this to prevent a new world plague from forcing robots to become insane, and he specifically entrusted the care of the world to Zero because that's the only dude he really trusts; and Zero accepted because they both share peace as a goal. Oh, this is also why Lute's video is still worthy of respect, by the way: like he stated, both X and Zero are super relatable, and Zero is just literally built different. Or rather, _X_ is built different. [Clever Segue] Basically, the biggest reason X struggles way more than Zero about the bloodshed thing is mostly because of the 30+ years of testing I mentioned earlier. X was built to be literally just a man. Zero, amnesia or otherwise, was built _specifically_ to be a murder machine. So, even when he eventually becomes a good dude, he naturally has an easier time coping because X is a some dude with a gun going through years of Vietnam, whereas Zero is a Day-1 war vet' (who went through way, way worse than X, but still a Day-1 war vet'). However, _both_ Zero and X eventually kept fighting 'til their end; X just grows slower than Zero in that regard because again, mentally-speaking, he's literally just a dude. I don't think comparing them is super fair for that very reason, but I still respect the opinions shared in this video up there, it's just... Well, the Megaman series means a lot to me too, so, I felt compelled to share mine. If anyone bothered reading all of this, I love you for caring, and Lute deserves all of your support because his videos are cool. At least I and the rest of his watchers think so.
after resolving my sleep deprivation i wanted to add shoutout to Xebec for doing not only the cutscenes for X3 (that volt catfish intro rules since it has Auto from Classic Megaman as a cameo), but also doing the animation cutscenes for motherfuckin Killer7. also shoutout to u for also using Megaman 8's stage select theme which is one of my favorites
I really appreciate you highlighting some of the positive aspects of this game’s story. Could it have been better? Yes. But, as it is, does it contain interesting ideas worth exploring and talking about, or even building upon elsewhere? Absolutely. Even the most flawed, unusual stories hold value as long as there is genuine earnest backing them up-and I feel _X4_ contains one of those stories.
If I can say something about Iris' death and the voice acting (you probably know this but I didn't see you bring it up): If you watch the Japanese version of the cutscene, it's absolutely *HEARTWRENCHING.* Zero truly sounds like someone who lost the love of his life, arguably by his own hands. Also, Lucas Gilbertson (who voiced Zero in Megaman X8 and Maverick Hunter X) made his own fandub of the cutscene, bringing out the serious intent if the scene. Both are on RUclips if you're curious.
That ending where you talked about the internet culture being affected by Megaman was spot on. The first RUclips video I ever watched was a ytp of that Zero Iris video. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
X4 is my favorite for sure. The stages actually felt like there was a larger populated world out there, with dramatic, gritty sets of sprawling bases and cities. The random glowing lights that we see in these games (peeping from between plants or in the far distance, for example) actually feel dystopian, here. Visual-wise I love the lack of "clean/smooth" anime cel-style art in the gameplay. Instead, it's a badass pixel style. 10:00, 10:23, 10:37, for example. It's just a great look and marries the environment/boss designs together. The OST is pure awesomeness. The tracks immersed me, and had a sound texture imo that best 'fits' the look of the X universe. A bit dark, reminiscent of old anime. As a kid, the Zero/Iris scene made me cry, and it still hurts to watch when you think about who Zero is, and what Iris wanted to believe in. Storywise I enjoyed it a lot. I like the big politics that reach society instead of mainly just the "bad guys". The characters' betrayals, and the fact that their deaths leave an impact on X and Zero in different ways. I don't know. X4 is just built different. Might not be everyone's favorite, but it's the X game that captured my imagination most. I feel like it leaned closer to Gundam (in no way a literal comparison), than a colorful toy, if that makes sense. ...Also, it was my Baby's First "DAMN!" Lol. Thank you for the segment about saying that X is not a "whiny baby" and pointing out the painful irony of a character that dislikes violence above all else, being the character that is constantly being weaponized/upgraded. There is so much sadness surrounding X and Zero that I feel gets forgotten. Also thanks for the MM8 tracks sprinkled throughout. Honestly this was such a top tier vid.
This video is basically every single one of my intrusive thoughts all at once, and its about one of my favorite games ever. I love this. Insanely good editing too. You got my sub! Also thank you for using stills of Connor O Malley and Gregg Turkington. They made me so happy.
X4 is peak mega man. When I was a kid I probably beat it as zero a few hundred times just cuz I wanted to see the cutscene of him fighting sigma because I thought it was the most bad ass shit ever.
18:12 This makes more sense if you're playing as X. X is a huge pacifist, he hates fighting and needless violence. Even after watching Sigma slash Zero unconscious, X still disarmed and refused to shoot Sigma. It took Sigma launching warheads and nuking a city for X to get pissed enough to attack him. Dragoon would never get the same level of fight out of X by just challenging him. At best, X would hold back and consider it only a duel or sparring, or even decline his challenge. Dragoon is like Akuma (lol Street Fighter moves), he wants a fight to the death. Challenging Zero he may have gotten that, though Zero won't hold back he's still likely only to go so far. With X it's a different story lol.
I believe that the consensus on the W on Zero's forehead on top of infecting nearby robots (Sigma) with the Maverick Virus was a kinda a system update for Zero that was meant to make him not totally crazy and evil. Sigma forced an unsafe reset on Zero's mind during the process which caused the update to break and just make him not crazy.
I think the funniest part about me as a kid is that playing X4, I never got too far, my X Collection was on PS2, but I noticed that X and Zero do say 'damn' a couple times, which I felt was badass, not to mention they'd be running around doing cool stuff at night in cities, but then I'd never put it together that Sky Lagoon and Grounded Lagoon were basically the same location, I just thought that was what the ground looked like. I can't believe Dragoon threw Lagoon into the Spitoon emulation based as fuck ftw, thanks for the amazing and wonderful video yet again!!
I have seen a lot of people praising a Mega Man game. But in very few videos do I feel the love and passion you have for X4. Everyone knows it's a great game but not exactly why, you know? Sure it's a solid installment on a technical level, but it's also more than that. You really capture the fun and enjoyment to get out of this game, even its stupid shit. Also is there a lore reason for fatass robots? Like is there a functionality to their big tummy?
megaman 7 on the snes was the first time i ever played a video game,and also megaman x6 was the first game i ever played on PS1 so to me megaman is a franchise i hold very dear since it was basically my start into gaming.
One of my favorite series ever I just love megaman. The X games are my favorite series but X4 is my favorite out of all of the X games. Great video man I love any video about megaman like this I just like seeing this series get more attention since it’s “death” and hiatus for a few years
I love X4, X5 and even X6. I actually enjoy how stupid hard X6 is. I find myself going back to X4-6 all the time for some reason. I just vibe with them, ya know?
Always nice to see some Megaman X4 love! It's my favorite Megaman game _ever_ and I really like how they went completely dark with the story and explored Zero's backstory and how the Maverick Virus (which later became the Sigma Virus) was born and spread through the reploids. 43:08 Yeah, this scene is _really_ sad in the japanese version. The voice acting is top notch there even if you can't understand japanese; it's conveyed in such a tragic way. Ryotaro Okiayu's voice acting is amazing. I'm glad I actually experienced X4 in japanese because my local video-game rental store only had the japanese version available. 46:56 It's interesting because originally Zero's design was going to be X in early development, but he looked so drastically different than Megaman that Capcom was afraid people wouldn't connect with him, so they made Zero a separate character.
I remember x4 was one of the only games I had on my psvita like almost a decade ago now. I have a lot of fond memories with this game. Hell yeah lute, let's go
The Megaman X collection was my shit as a kid and the feeling of pay off beating each of them was so high. X1 might be my favorite too go back to, but X4 is probably the biggest and baddest of the series. The added lore, Zeros fluid combat, the music, X4 will probably be my favorite for life
There is something to be said about repliforce being dumb because of what they represent. Like you might say they're supposed to be compared to people who demand Japan return to it's military past and I'm here for it but in the very simplest terms they're a military and are supposed to show that they're concerned with honor but not with actually saving lives. Yes, they could hold themselves accountable to the people they serve but it's more important to protect themselves from the dishonor of admitting fault. You can see stuff like that in the real world when Australia protects it's war criminals and prosecutes journalists or in Japan when right wing imperial apologists refuse to acknowledge the horrors the empire committed. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but it's the love I have of these games that make me want to understand these things. Great vid btw!
Dude, can't stress enough how much of a badass one felt as a kid watching that anime violence in a videogame. Might seem quaint nowadays but I remember saving those FMVs from the PC version to my shitty ipod knockoff and showing Double slicing people's arms off to my friends and we all thought that was the coolest shit ever. I played the earlier X games when I was younger but this is the one that's stuck the most with me over the years, the only thing I dislike is the (lack of) Sigma stages but I forgive the game, the core 8 stages are really strong. Damn I'm feeling a connection to you. Between this, Wario 4 and Paper Mario, we share a bunch of adolescence/childhood faves. Cheers.
oh boy lute is back with a new video. love the comedy very on point. hearing you talk about mega man man me feel old. thanks for not describing mega mans difficulty like a souls like......every time i hear that description i die a lil inside.
The thing with Repliforce makes more sense when you understand the politics of the world. Repliforce was clearly framed for the Sky Lagoon attack, but they don't have a real alibi for why they were there in the first place. So even if Colonel were to go quietly with the Maverick Hunters, there's no way in hell they wouldn't still get branded Mavericks because of how sus things look. Now, once a Reploid gets branded a Maverick, that's it. They don't get a fair trial, they don't get to plead their case, they get retired. Reploids are critiqued A LOT more harshly than humans, to the point that even prioritizing another Reploid over humans gets you branded a Maverick. Meaning that yes, if Colonel had mentioned he was there searching for his sister Iris, he'd _still get branded a Maverick_ because instead of trying to aid in evacuations for the attack, he was prioritizing the safety of his sister. Yes this is fucked up, glad you noticed. So Repliforce was screwed. They did nothing wrong, but it looked so bad and any attempt to plead their case makes them look WORSE, so they're Mavericks now. They have two choices here. One: Give themselves up to be destroyed willingly _knowing full well they did nothing wrong here,_ or Two: fight for Reploid independence. They chose to do that, but since A) they ARE a military faction, and B) they're openly rebelling against humanity, they have no choice but to fight back. And as for why the base for the new Reploid only society is a giant orbital laser, that's simple. It was meant to be a deterrent. "Don't fuck around unless you want to find out" essentially. They weren't going to ever have to fire it in an ideal setting, but due to the circumstances I've mentioned above, they kind of didn't have a choice but to look as threatening as possible to scare people away from attacking them. My point in all of this is, Repliforce was innocent, and everyone needs to apologize to them right now. #RepliforceDidNothingWrong
To the people getting ready to play this for the first time, here's a tip for Zero: do a regular slash before using his electric attack and it'll come up way faster without windup frames. It makes that boss in Split Mushroom's stage that destroys the platforms stupid easy. You can kill him after about the third platform.
I love the Brave Little Abacus and I used to scream “I NEED TO LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW!!!!!” Whenever that Zero cutscene happens. So when you mentioned them in the SAME BREATH?!?!???? Had to listen to the whole song. Thanks Lute, you are the best guy on here.
Is always a good time when I find someone talking about Megaman and I mean ANY MEGAMAN. Good job also X4 is indeed my favorite X game too but that's a given for anyone who has play it.
I’ve only ever beaten Megaman 3 (a ball-grating experience but rewarding experience if their ever was one) but watching this video has really inspired me to go through the series until I get to X4 and see what a bad ass game it is from the perspective of playing through the series; thank you for this fucking awesome video
Amazing video! I have a lot of nostalgia from watching my brother beat this game, but i have yet to do it myself. Loved the Mega Man 6 appreciation as well.
I'm glad the algo brought me here. I love Mega Man X4, it was my first X game because I was a Genesis kid growing up, and I love your tone and voice. Please do more Mega Man content.
I'd feel rude if I dropped this comment without saying the obvious, this is a damn good deep dive. You deserve more views and I think you'll get another break in due time. If you like this game, I think you might like another called chained echos. I've made this game my personality over the past couple of weeks so bear w/ me. If you're fine w/ non-grinding rpgs with sometimes adult plots (I mean nukes, not nudity), I think you'd like it. It's got mechs, funky ass music, a twist on the combat system (another change: you get refilled to 100% on stats after combat, even if you don't like rpgs, this might be a different enough experience) and good characterization. For some reason, I think it'd be up your alley. Edit: I also want to point out that the game is free on gog games.
The stupid slow electricity attack actually works much better in a combo. Doing the first two slashes and then using thunder attack makes it so it cancels into the attack with almost no start up frames.
![Twenty One Pilots - The Line (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XCz7WUotXs8/mqdefault.jpg)
the title alone already exudes "this guy gets it" energy. but then I got to the part where you talk about the menu sound effects and I was like "no seriously this guy GETS it."
Apollo justice mention aswell this guy double gets it
The description of the hurt poses was amazing.
On the voice acting: we did an interview with Ruth Jarman, the voice of X in X4 as well as Mega Man in MM8, and it really shed a lot of light on the situation. Mostly that they had literally no direction or context for anything, just lines on a page. And they weren't even told that they were recording for two games at once. It's all wild. But you're right that the talent wasn't the problem, it was the direction, or lack thereof.
Seems to be the case with Resident Evil.
Seems to be the case for damn near all English dub recordings handled in Japan.
Damn LOL! Ngl though as silly as Zero’s dorky teen voice is when THAT scene happens he sounds like his heart shattered into a thousand pieces
This is why I love the internet. I 100% agree with megaman being underrated because I've never met an actual megaman fan irl, but thankfully there's videos like this to keep me satisfyed.
"Zero, I've got heartburn. Have you seen my Tums anywhere?" That won't be leaving my mind for a long while.
i always read the magma dragoon fight as the reverse: that he actually admired x and zero so much to the point of wanting nothing more than an all-out fight with them, because had he just asked them to spar or something clearly they'd hold back, but if he convinces them he's a terrorist, they can go balls to the wall and display their full strength
one of the little things I love about Zero's campaign is when your health gets low he goes "It's not over yet!" And it's my favorite line in the game.
Apparently, the reason why Colonel and Iris are siblings is that they were originally meant to be 1 Reploid, but its personality was too complex to process in 1 body, so it was divided into two; one that was meant for fighting, and one that was meant for peace. That crystal she uses during her boss fight is actually Colonel's core that she's incorporated into herself, which causes her to become even more unstable than she already was due to the above reason.
Like the X games weren't messed up enough, right?
Oh my god, I completely forgot about that piece of trivia.
...Yeah okay this makes it worse, but it's also kind of... cool, in how pseudo-realistic this is.
@@twaggytheatricks4960 Yeah, the idea is further explored in X DiVE in the form of Iris Another, though I don’t know too much about it since I haven’t played the game myself.
@@whichcache2517 I remember that! Another Iris even has several designs, and she's actually called Harmonious Iris in Japanese, in reference to her being the "what if they _could_ unite Colonel and Iris in a single design?" variant.
What I can tell you from there is that she's got moves from both Iris and Colonel, and though the Iris body shape is dominant physically, the Colonel mentality is dominant emotionally. At least, that's what the dialogues allude to.
(I play X DiVE from time to time)
@@twaggytheatricks4960 That must make things super awkward for Zero, everything considered...
You said megaman so I subscribe it’s that simple
This a good ass video, Megaman fans be eating good.
Low-key I think Megaman fans do a lot of memeing on the lore because at its core the series is probably a lot darker than we realistically want it to be. Even the Repliforce's obvious faulty pride ends up being pretty tragic because they end up being right in the end. General and Colonel announce their desire for seperation from human society and are *instantly* deemed Mavericks by human society meaning pretty clearly they would have been scapegoated for Sky Lagoon whether they complied with X and Zero or not.
I very much am in the same boat in that if the Megaman series had better presentations for their stories they'd be recognized more for their decent writing. Hell X4 literally defines X's character for the entirety of the Zero series and that reincorporation shit's pretty neat.
Wanted to add to this tangent at around 45:15 because I love this observation so much, which is that to further emphasis the difference between X and Zero is one very important notion- Zero doesn't get armour upgrades. X must constantly upgrade his base form into new, more monstrous weaponized versions of himself, but Zero doesn't have to. My reading of that has always been because he was Wily's final creation, his ultimate weapon to defeat Dr. Light's creations. And since every reploid is based on X's schematics, architecture, and format, Zero can and does come out on top swinging every time. The *sole* time Zero ever gets an armor upgrade in the mainline games is X5, and it's a missable secret, and most importantly it's not made by Wily, but *Light* rather. Even more interestingly, in the doctor's own words, he has no idea the full extent of Zero's own make up as it's not based on any of his works, so the most this upgrade does is like a stat booster more than a "armour."
So why am I going on this tangent which itself is in comment to another tangent? Because it so clearly and thematically establishes the amazing internal conflict within both X and Zero, and ultimately why they're best friends. Despite their different creators, their different purposes- X is a peaceful man with limitless potential to be whatever the world needs him to be, as his own name tells us- yet he is *forced* to fight and kill in the name of that peace he wants so badly. Zero meanwhile is built to kill and destroy with absolute power, and might have done just that if not for Sigma's subduing him, but he comes to using all that immense power for carnage to protect life, protect humans and reploids, because he chooses to.
X fights to protect because he feels like he *has* to. Zero fights to protect because he *chooses* to.
Holy shit
Wily honestly lost in the most humiliating way possible, despite actually coming out on top technology-wise. The robot he created to destroy those made by his rival (and former friend) Dr. Light, winds up choosing to use his immense strength in order to help people and achieve peace; most importantly, though, he adopted this philosophy because of *X* the magnum opus of that very same Dr. Light, and that Zero was specifically created to destroy.
It's very "power of friendship" but it's handled really well imo. Light didn't win by creating the more powerful robot (as he essentially always had in the past via Rock) but the robot that was more compassionate, and had a set of morals and the charisma and strength to pass those same values onto others.
Lute, I love this video so much1, in fact, I love everysingle video you've make, is greate!!! I hope you can make a video about Megaman Zero in the future, of course if you like it!
It has your favorite kind of leveles, Ice levels which everyones knows you love
pelo!!! what's your favorite mmx game?
I didnt know you like mega man too this is mega fantastic
Holly shit I wasn't expecting to see Pelo in Lute comment section. That's awesome 😊
i always knew pelo also fw mmx4
The Dr. Light description of Cut Man's rampage was so good.
46:39 I'd like to say, X didn't really gave up, he definitly was way more on the line of completely breaking down, more than Zero, but he still tried his best, and this is what I like about him, this is what makes him MORE HUMAN, just like how Dr.Light wanted him to be, but Zero, on the other hand, he was maded by Wily, Zero isn't the same as X, so he still being OK with all the shit happening, and still moving on, makes the X and Zero palallel even great
X in the end just runned out of juice how someone once said, he never gave up, he just... lost sadly...
Honestly, I rather die like X than keep going on forever like Zero. Mortality gives meaning to life. Living forever will eventually make you either insane, nihilistic, or both.
I'm just surprised Zero managed to live as long as he did. Literally everyone he ever cared about died around him. He became super depressed because of immense survivor's guilt, and just wanted to die like everyone else, but couldn't, because he promised X to protect the reploids. He was pretty much a shambling corpse by the time of Zero 2.
I love your Brian edit of Iris's death scene, definitely wasn't expecting it after you insisted we take this game seriously lmao
i absolutely couldn’t help myself
Props though it was such a good edit
36:57
"Zero, I have heartburn. Have you seen my Tums anywhere"
You killed me there so hard lol
I liked iris's voice because I think she sounds very cute.
Also, x did have to see someone else die right in he's arms, that's zero. Tho one was a best friend ship vs a somewhat relationship
They still very much go through almost the same thing.
After the x series, zero is out and x fights for a hundred years, so when he gives it to zero because he's about to die and does die in zero 3, it's not him just saying here I don't want this, it's him saying, zero everything has finally taken a toll on me can you pick it up?
And then one game later dies
"zero everything has finally taken a toll on me can you pick it up?"
I found those aspects of Zero really wholesome. You can tell X feels bad about putting this burden on Zero to take his place fighting for peace; Zero is just like "of course I will, best buddy".
Thank you for covering this game with such care and relaxed enthusiasm. Truly a childhood gem.
This really was a great one; I was really late to the PlayStation party, and when I finally did get one in the summer of '98, and later managed to track this down, I was totally blown away. I'd been a Mega Man fan since the '80s, so this was a no-brainer, but this was the first game I remember playing that brought the feel of those big, dumb Action games you'd play in the arcade home to your own TV... even if it was a crappy monaural thing that didn't have anything but coaxial hookups in the back. Then, you start to notice all the details, like the frozen Chill Penguin and Blizzard Buffalo corpses in the background, the catchy synth soundtrack underneath all the shouting and explosions, and eventually the story that got me a lot more invested than I could've ever imagined.
Love what you said about X and Zero, too. My sister was born in the '90s, which puts quite a lot of years between us, but she grew up watching me play everything under the sun; we were talking the other day, and she said, "Mega Man X was always one of my favorites, and when I was little, I always understood it like Zero was X's big brother, and I always thought of you as that kind of big sister; I was X and you were Zero." Until this video, I'd never given any thought to how accurate that was, either... I've seen so much; I've BEEN that monster; I've turned myself around from what I was originally to become, and now I just keep going, because I've always had to. I think a lot of what makes X and Zero what they are is exactly that: X always got to be the hero, and eventually, he realizes that there's a never-ending war all around him; a never-ending war that it's his job to win. Zero's quietly killing it behind the scenes, supporting X's growth from the shadows, and he's able to do that without becoming so outwardly world-weary because as tiring as the war against the mavericks can be, he knows how much worse his own internal struggle has been; the rest doesn't seem so bad by comparison. Sorry if this is over-sharing, but I couldn't resist the urge to get a little philosophical; you're so loose and casual in these videos, and still manage to pack so much depth into them.
Also, I've been thinking of your Earthbound Zero video a lot lately, because I've finally gotten around to playing YIIK; after almost 20 hours, I get it now.
Dude that Brian Griffin bit had me wheezing in the middle of my work, that got me so good
Well, well, well, look what we have here... Can't go ten paces without running into the likes of you it seems. Either way, hope you have a lovely day, and get back to work Ms. Saulsbury.
What I like about this is the arcade like gameplay to its composition music. Both fits the stages very well. The guy who created the password music in x1 made the whole tracks of x4. I laugh so hard just discovering that because that composer Toshihiko Horiyama is at his best when he develop own composition rather than arrangements. Just because of this I love this game.
Dude, I played this shit ALL summer when it came out. I was never able to have an SNES to play Mega Man X 1-3 but my brother gave me his PS1 when he went off to college. I just remember being really worried that X was asking Zero to destroy him if something went wrong. And watching Zero suffer time and time again in this game was alot to take in as a 13 year old.
Christ, I wish you were my IRL friend growing up. 8 and X4 were my favorite games, and I have their soundtracks downloaded.
Aqua Man's stage, Frost Man's Stage, Astro Man's stage, Wily Stage 2, the X4 command room and Split Mushroom's stage are my favorite tracks.
Great video, you got a new sub for sure :)
that fucking collage of 9/11s with the Sonic Adventure 1 Perfect Chaos as the center image fuckin cracked my dumb-ass up at 2:20am
You can actually smoke a lot of bosses in this game with zero if you know a few tricks. Magma dragoon, for example, when he does the flame beam attack and transforms his hit box doesn't extend to the edge of the stage so you can jump over him and stand behind him and swing while he breaths fire. If you do the full combo you get some good damage in but you really melt his health bar when you learn to dash cancel your combo. There are tricks for every boss that feel very satisfying to figure out and pull off.
Also, the electric sword technique is really good against the midboss in split mushrooms stage. Give it a shot and you'll probably kill him after he's destroyed maybe 2 platforms.
Yo Lute, I have no idea if you'll read this but you're quickly becoming one of new my favorite channels, I love your Tail of Concerto vid and 2nd installment of Playing on the Computer or whatever it's called, your vids are so unique and I love the deep dives you go on, keep up what you're doing I'm a new fan but I'll stay here for a while and I enjoy the content that you create :)
Lute? Clearly he’s an industry plant
43:30 I'm so glad that someone else finally gets what I mean when I say that main characters in anime all have the same high pitched scratchy voice that's grating on the ears.
I'm sure you don't mean it exactly the way I said it but yeah I agree that they all sound the same
Finally, a high quality video that focuses on my niche hyper-fixation.
I love all of the random tangents you go on out of nowhere. Great work!
@mlg noob i dunno, i like the anticipation of wondering how this is going to get derailed next.
I know it's a less serious video, so it doesn't bother me.
@mlg noob I genuinely appreciate that you stated exactly why you kind of dislike the tangents, only to then express your understanding as to why someone else than you would like 'em.
Really based, man, I'm glad you're as chill as the rest of the audience here seems to be.
I loved this! The X series desperately needs to be fleshed out more and finished. It was great hearing someone who grew up with this talk about it; I didn't play it until I was 16 but it quickly became my fav in the series. I used a voice pack for the old PC version that swapped the in-game voices with their Canadian ones from 8/CM and it sounded great! (vids are Lucas/Mark in X4 on youtube)
Also love the shoutouts to MMHP! I used to browse the site all the time as a kid, when I could only play X1-3 on emulators (PS1/2 emulation were still new). Mandi Paugh also wrote some really fun fanfiction, including one where Classic Megaman meets some other versions of himself including Ruby Spears Megaman. She also did the sprites in Dragon Ball Z Legacy of Goku 2, of all things :o
and hell yeah all pigs are class traitors
I've always loved X4's cutscenes. I don't have the bias of x4 or even x1 being my first mega man game either as my first was mm2.
The voice acting out of context is hilarious, and I love that for it. Every single line is a meme. But that's only possible because in context, it's actually good
42:55 If you strip out the voice acting, this scene is powerful
This reploid is supposed to be one of the toughest, hardest, and fiercest of the Maverick Hunters
But here, in this moment, we find out what breaks him
I always laugh at this scene because the VA clearly had some trash direction, but it is an impactful moment in the game (and on Zero's entire story)
Bro, the wrap up at the end was great. I think we feel pretty similarly about the series.
The whole story is a compounding tragedy. Nothing ever gets better, only worse. It's the reason I'm terrified of robots and AI. X is built, and has to watch as the technological revolution based on his design systematically destroys humanity. Zero can't escape the violence he's destined for, and even his relentless, duty-bound attitude cracks after being forced to kill his own friends, leaving him bitter and jaded.
I have a fucking X tattoo on my forearm, and consider him my favorite character design of all time. X4 goes so hard, it's probably the best action platformer of all time.
Sure, the video was a nostalgia ramble, but that's what made it good. Thanks for this.
14:15 I speak for my entire country, we don’t claim him
I only ever had X1 & X4 as a kid. I never could beat either of them yet I played them to death. I finished X1 as I got older and it has been one of my comfort games for longer than I can remember, but X4 has also always held a special place in my heart. It has so much style and charm. A best friend and I finally finished it a few months ago. It's still awesome.
MMX 4 is my absolute favourite, and I love how the composer for the BGM had a total hard-on for Vince DiCola. Like, something about Slash Beast's and Jet Stingray's music makes me think of the stuff DiCola composed for the 1986 Transformers movie, like the shuttle escape scene, or the battle over Autobot City.
I watched my sister playing this game wayyyy back when I was little. I must have been 4 or so. And ever since that moment I have loved this game. I've replayed it so fucking much to the point I have the stages memorized. Every stage has a banger soundtrack especially sky lagoon when playing as Zero. God I love this game. I just watched your mother video, and decided to view your channel and saw you uploaded this just a couple days ago. New subscriber right here my dude.
I've gotta comment to say that I'm a pretty tough crowd with comedy, and there were at least 5 moments in this video that got a genuine laugh out of me. This video is on a level few content creators can reach. Your channel is definitely going to grow quickly if you upload regularly. Best of luck! subbed
I’ve been so excited to see this since you started talking about it on twitter! It’s easily one of my favorites so far, it’s so lovely to just get a tour of something you obviously love presented with this kind of breathless enthusiasm, and it has the funniest diversions. Really great job!
You representing the rank challenge in Cyber Space not being tacked on with Martin Luther nailing up the 95 theses is the stupidest joke I've seen in a long time. I loved it
Man... Lute you make the absolute comfiest gaming videos on this whole site. Your passion for each and every game you cover is inspiring, and you have loads of comedic and analytical talent. I'm here for whatever comes next, thank you for creating.
i love your videos dude, everything you make is so chill. youre like a human quaelude
It was cool hearing a bit about the animation studio that did the cutscenes. Those sequences in x4 and megaman 8 are my shit fr fr
EVERYONE always say
"Why make a fat robot? why design him fat?"
My theory is that psychologycally, fat men are seen as less of a threat by other males, he is fat, is not going to take your spot as the alpha, letting them integrate faster in group dynamics, so for a double agent, makes sense to look innofensive.
This was my first game I ever played. I love your take, it makes me feel younger again
Also I think Double was intentionally designed to be silly/pathetic, it adds to his innocence and makes him seem non-threatening. But since he is a "Double Agent" you wouldn't expect his nightmarish transformation
*[Fair Warning: long comment below. A bit nerdy, definitely geeky, but not hostile.]*
I'll say a few things; and I want to preface this with the following. Uh, I love this channel? As in like, I discovered it randomly when I was looking for video essays on Wario Land 4, then I saw the Paper Mario one afterward and it _really_ got me going. I've since binge-watched every video on this channel because these are two of m favorite games, I _really_ wanna play Earthbound Zero and noticed a lot of fun parallels with Undertale, _and_ now I'm happy to see that you're also a Megaman fan.
I'm just so happy you're bumbling your way through distractebility and good tastes, man. Keep doing what you do - and I _really_ need to drop more comments here. I kinda hate that this is the first one, so, I'll make it up to you later.
I say this because I know long comments are typically a bad thing in RUclips, and I don't want to be some sort of obnoxious idiot, but there's just a bunch of things I want to address for love's sake.
Ugh. Why does it sound so intimidating.
Well, here goes! I hope this comes across as nice, since it's supposed to be.
•The first thing that comes to mind is tiny. It's with regards to Light. He totally does put the M in Mad Scientist, but to be fair to him, he never built robots like Cut Man for any other purpose than to cut down trees, and even had a failsafe to make sure he wouldn't do anything dangerous. Blaming him for it being repurposed is like blaming whoever made the chainsaw because the chainsaw massacre happened, y'know?
Wily's the bitch for removing the failsafe and then reprogramming Cut Man as a battle robot - which is true for pretty much all the robots made by Light. The rest of them in Megaman 2 and onward are, for the most part, either made by Wily, or other people like Dr.Cossack. So like, Light is waaaay less at fault than what was implied here. He also put X in statis for 30+ years to run tests on his mind and make sure he stayed a good boi, and given that _that_ succeeded, he's honestly not _that_ bad. We even see what would happen if he didn't do that (look up Copy-X, if anyone cares), and the difference is pretty frightening.
•The second is with regards to X - and it's what made me want to write this comment. I'm biased because I _utterly adore him,_ but also, I did play the Zero games, and for anyone who was interested in playing them, please know that X didn't completely give up. Or rather, what he did give up wasn't fighting. It was his entire physical body. He did this to prevent a new world plague from forcing robots to become insane, and he specifically entrusted the care of the world to Zero because that's the only dude he really trusts; and Zero accepted because they both share peace as a goal. Oh, this is also why Lute's video is still worthy of respect, by the way: like he stated, both X and Zero are super relatable, and Zero is just literally built different. Or rather, _X_ is built different.
[Clever Segue]
Basically, the biggest reason X struggles way more than Zero about the bloodshed thing is mostly because of the 30+ years of testing I mentioned earlier. X was built to be literally just a man. Zero, amnesia or otherwise, was built _specifically_ to be a murder machine. So, even when he eventually becomes a good dude, he naturally has an easier time coping because X is a some dude with a gun going through years of Vietnam, whereas Zero is a Day-1 war vet' (who went through way, way worse than X, but still a Day-1 war vet').
However, _both_ Zero and X eventually kept fighting 'til their end; X just grows slower than Zero in that regard because again, mentally-speaking, he's literally just a dude.
I don't think comparing them is super fair for that very reason, but I still respect the opinions shared in this video up there, it's just... Well, the Megaman series means a lot to me too, so, I felt compelled to share mine.
If anyone bothered reading all of this, I love you for caring, and Lute deserves all of your support because his videos are cool. At least I and the rest of his watchers think so.
25:50 at the very start of the level is also Blizzard Buffalo frozen in the background
after resolving my sleep deprivation i wanted to add shoutout to Xebec for doing not only the cutscenes for X3 (that volt catfish intro rules since it has Auto from Classic Megaman as a cameo), but also doing the animation cutscenes for motherfuckin Killer7. also shoutout to u for also using Megaman 8's stage select theme which is one of my favorites
I really appreciate you highlighting some of the positive aspects of this game’s story. Could it have been better? Yes. But, as it is, does it contain interesting ideas worth exploring and talking about, or even building upon elsewhere? Absolutely. Even the most flawed, unusual stories hold value as long as there is genuine earnest backing them up-and I feel _X4_ contains one of those stories.
If I can say something about Iris' death and the voice acting (you probably know this but I didn't see you bring it up):
If you watch the Japanese version of the cutscene, it's absolutely *HEARTWRENCHING.* Zero truly sounds like someone who lost the love of his life, arguably by his own hands. Also, Lucas Gilbertson (who voiced Zero in Megaman X8 and Maverick Hunter X) made his own fandub of the cutscene, bringing out the serious intent if the scene. Both are on RUclips if you're curious.
That ending where you talked about the internet culture being affected by Megaman was spot on.
The first RUclips video I ever watched was a ytp of that Zero Iris video. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
X4 is my favorite for sure.
The stages actually felt like there was a larger populated world out there, with dramatic, gritty sets of sprawling bases and cities. The random glowing lights that we see in these games (peeping from between plants or in the far distance, for example) actually feel dystopian, here.
Visual-wise I love the lack of "clean/smooth" anime cel-style art in the gameplay. Instead, it's a badass pixel style. 10:00, 10:23, 10:37, for example. It's just a great look and marries the environment/boss designs together.
The OST is pure awesomeness. The tracks immersed me, and had a sound texture imo that best 'fits' the look of the X universe. A bit dark, reminiscent of old anime.
As a kid, the Zero/Iris scene made me cry, and it still hurts to watch when you think about who Zero is, and what Iris wanted to believe in.
Storywise I enjoyed it a lot. I like the big politics that reach society instead of mainly just the "bad guys". The characters' betrayals, and the fact that their deaths leave an impact on X and Zero in different ways.
I don't know. X4 is just built different. Might not be everyone's favorite, but it's the X game that captured my imagination most. I feel like it leaned closer to Gundam (in no way a literal comparison), than a colorful toy, if that makes sense.
...Also, it was my Baby's First "DAMN!" Lol.
Thank you for the segment about saying that X is not a "whiny baby" and pointing out the painful irony of a character that dislikes violence above all else, being the character that is constantly being weaponized/upgraded. There is so much sadness surrounding X and Zero that I feel gets forgotten.
Also thanks for the MM8 tracks sprinkled throughout. Honestly this was such a top tier vid.
X4 soundtrack was so far ahead of its time, the world still hasn't fully caught up to it yet
There is not one memorable tune in there
Dude, you made me cry with the Iris scene. Great content.
X4 is a Shakespearean masterpiece.
And I'm right there with you on voice actin'. Gimme the janitor they pulled walkin' by man. It's just genuine.
This video is basically every single one of my intrusive thoughts all at once, and its about one of my favorite games ever. I love this. Insanely good editing too. You got my sub!
Also thank you for using stills of Connor O Malley and Gregg Turkington. They made me so happy.
X4 is peak mega man. When I was a kid I probably beat it as zero a few hundred times just cuz I wanted to see the cutscene of him fighting sigma because I thought it was the most bad ass shit ever.
This man has great taste in music. Loved the Autechre tree.
18:12 This makes more sense if you're playing as X. X is a huge pacifist, he hates fighting and needless violence. Even after watching Sigma slash Zero unconscious, X still disarmed and refused to shoot Sigma. It took Sigma launching warheads and nuking a city for X to get pissed enough to attack him.
Dragoon would never get the same level of fight out of X by just challenging him. At best, X would hold back and consider it only a duel or sparring, or even decline his challenge. Dragoon is like Akuma (lol Street Fighter moves), he wants a fight to the death. Challenging Zero he may have gotten that, though Zero won't hold back he's still likely only to go so far. With X it's a different story lol.
This channel is amazing it's like having a second running shine
I believe that the consensus on the W on Zero's forehead on top of infecting nearby robots (Sigma) with the Maverick Virus was a kinda a system update for Zero that was meant to make him not totally crazy and evil. Sigma forced an unsafe reset on Zero's mind during the process which caused the update to break and just make him not crazy.
my fav kind of robots are military themed ones just love the look of camo
I think the funniest part about me as a kid is that playing X4, I never got too far, my X Collection was on PS2, but I noticed that X and Zero do say 'damn' a couple times, which I felt was badass, not to mention they'd be running around doing cool stuff at night in cities, but then I'd never put it together that Sky Lagoon and Grounded Lagoon were basically the same location, I just thought that was what the ground looked like. I can't believe Dragoon threw Lagoon into the Spitoon
emulation based as fuck ftw, thanks for the amazing and wonderful video yet again!!
This was awesome. I love how you didn't rag on the voice acting like everyone else.
Review Megaman 8 next? Plz? Prty plz
I have seen a lot of people praising a Mega Man game. But in very few videos do I feel the love and passion you have for X4. Everyone knows it's a great game but not exactly why, you know? Sure it's a solid installment on a technical level, but it's also more than that. You really capture the fun and enjoyment to get out of this game, even its stupid shit.
Also is there a lore reason for fatass robots? Like is there a functionality to their big tummy?
megaman 7 on the snes was the first time i ever played a video game,and also megaman x6 was the first game i ever played on PS1 so to me megaman is a franchise i hold very dear since it was basically my start into gaming.
One of my favorite series ever I just love megaman. The X games are my favorite series but X4 is my favorite out of all of the X games. Great video man I love any video about megaman like this I just like seeing this series get more attention since it’s “death” and hiatus for a few years
I love X4, X5 and even X6. I actually enjoy how stupid hard X6 is. I find myself going back to X4-6 all the time for some reason. I just vibe with them, ya know?
You have a great sense of humor. Ive been binging your videos
Always nice to see some Megaman X4 love! It's my favorite Megaman game _ever_ and I really like how they went completely dark with the story and explored Zero's backstory and how the Maverick Virus (which later became the Sigma Virus) was born and spread through the reploids.
43:08 Yeah, this scene is _really_ sad in the japanese version. The voice acting is top notch there even if you can't understand japanese; it's conveyed in such a tragic way. Ryotaro Okiayu's voice acting is amazing. I'm glad I actually experienced X4 in japanese because my local video-game rental store only had the japanese version available.
46:56 It's interesting because originally Zero's design was going to be X in early development, but he looked so drastically different than Megaman that Capcom was afraid people wouldn't connect with him, so they made Zero a separate character.
I remember x4 was one of the only games I had on my psvita like almost a decade ago now. I have a lot of fond memories with this game. Hell yeah lute, let's go
I love your presentation and your sense of humor. Thanks for making these man
The Megaman X collection was my shit as a kid and the feeling of pay off beating each of them was so high. X1 might be my favorite too go back to, but X4 is probably the biggest and baddest of the series. The added lore, Zeros fluid combat, the music, X4 will probably be my favorite for life
I've never seen this channel before, but easy sub.
Megaman x4 does own.
There is something to be said about repliforce being dumb because of what they represent. Like you might say they're supposed to be compared to people who demand Japan return to it's military past and I'm here for it but in the very simplest terms they're a military and are supposed to show that they're concerned with honor but not with actually saving lives. Yes, they could hold themselves accountable to the people they serve but it's more important to protect themselves from the dishonor of admitting fault. You can see stuff like that in the real world when Australia protects it's war criminals and prosecutes journalists or in Japan when right wing imperial apologists refuse to acknowledge the horrors the empire committed.
Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but it's the love I have of these games that make me want to understand these things.
Great vid btw!
This is a criminally underrated review.
Dude, can't stress enough how much of a badass one felt as a kid watching that anime violence in a videogame. Might seem quaint nowadays but I remember saving those FMVs from the PC version to my shitty ipod knockoff and showing Double slicing people's arms off to my friends and we all thought that was the coolest shit ever. I played the earlier X games when I was younger but this is the one that's stuck the most with me over the years, the only thing I dislike is the (lack of) Sigma stages but I forgive the game, the core 8 stages are really strong.
Damn I'm feeling a connection to you. Between this, Wario 4 and Paper Mario, we share a bunch of adolescence/childhood faves. Cheers.
25:49 There is also Blizzard Bufallo frozen in ice right at the beginning of the stage
The "Brian's dead" gag had more emotion than the entirety of the English dub of this game.
oh boy lute is back with a new video. love the comedy very on point. hearing you talk about mega man man me feel old. thanks for not describing mega mans difficulty like a souls like......every time i hear that description i die a lil inside.
seeing the autechre flowchart was like a flashbang back to like 3 years ago when i started listening to those guys lol
The thing with Repliforce makes more sense when you understand the politics of the world. Repliforce was clearly framed for the Sky Lagoon attack, but they don't have a real alibi for why they were there in the first place. So even if Colonel were to go quietly with the Maverick Hunters, there's no way in hell they wouldn't still get branded Mavericks because of how sus things look.
Now, once a Reploid gets branded a Maverick, that's it. They don't get a fair trial, they don't get to plead their case, they get retired. Reploids are critiqued A LOT more harshly than humans, to the point that even prioritizing another Reploid over humans gets you branded a Maverick. Meaning that yes, if Colonel had mentioned he was there searching for his sister Iris, he'd _still get branded a Maverick_ because instead of trying to aid in evacuations for the attack, he was prioritizing the safety of his sister.
Yes this is fucked up, glad you noticed.
So Repliforce was screwed. They did nothing wrong, but it looked so bad and any attempt to plead their case makes them look WORSE, so they're Mavericks now. They have two choices here. One: Give themselves up to be destroyed willingly _knowing full well they did nothing wrong here,_ or Two: fight for Reploid independence. They chose to do that, but since A) they ARE a military faction, and B) they're openly rebelling against humanity, they have no choice but to fight back.
And as for why the base for the new Reploid only society is a giant orbital laser, that's simple. It was meant to be a deterrent. "Don't fuck around unless you want to find out" essentially. They weren't going to ever have to fire it in an ideal setting, but due to the circumstances I've mentioned above, they kind of didn't have a choice but to look as threatening as possible to scare people away from attacking them.
My point in all of this is, Repliforce was innocent, and everyone needs to apologize to them right now. #RepliforceDidNothingWrong
To the people getting ready to play this for the first time, here's a tip for Zero: do a regular slash before using his electric attack and it'll come up way faster without windup frames. It makes that boss in Split Mushroom's stage that destroys the platforms stupid easy. You can kill him after about the third platform.
Also, you can jump cancel out of it earlier as well.
13:11 how does a robot have a sister? ‘roll’ with it, lol genius
OH SHIT that rules i didn’t even realize that connection till you pointed it out. lmfao
I was 7 when I first played this. Such a great Christmas. X4 is the best
bro. i found myself thinking "this guy has the exact same love for this game that i do" in the first five minutes
so glad to have found your content!!
I love the Brave Little Abacus and I used to scream “I NEED TO LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW!!!!!” Whenever that Zero cutscene happens.
So when you mentioned them in the SAME BREATH?!?!???? Had to listen to the whole song. Thanks Lute, you are the best guy on here.
36:50 bru you have a amazing shadow impression
Is always a good time when I find someone talking about Megaman and I mean ANY MEGAMAN. Good job also X4 is indeed my favorite X game too but that's a given for anyone who has play it.
Perfectly encapsulates why I love this game so much and hilarious too, left a like
I’ve been searching for content like this, thank you!
I’ve only ever beaten Megaman 3 (a ball-grating experience but rewarding experience if their ever was one) but watching this video has really inspired me to go through the series until I get to X4 and see what a bad ass game it is from the perspective of playing through the series; thank you for this fucking awesome video
Amazing video! I have a lot of nostalgia from watching my brother beat this game, but i have yet to do it myself.
Loved the Mega Man 6 appreciation as well.
I'm glad the algo brought me here. I love Mega Man X4, it was my first X game because I was a Genesis kid growing up, and I love your tone and voice. Please do more Mega Man content.
This guys is literally the more diverse version of cybershell.
I'd feel rude if I dropped this comment without saying the obvious, this is a damn good deep dive. You deserve more views and I think you'll get another break in due time.
If you like this game, I think you might like another called chained echos. I've made this game my personality over the past couple of weeks so bear w/ me. If you're fine w/ non-grinding rpgs with sometimes adult plots (I mean nukes, not nudity), I think you'd like it. It's got mechs, funky ass music, a twist on the combat system (another change: you get refilled to 100% on stats after combat, even if you don't like rpgs, this might be a different enough experience) and good characterization. For some reason, I think it'd be up your alley.
Edit: I also want to point out that the game is free on gog games.
Lute be killing it with these videos my boy going to make it big I’m calling it now boys.
Couldn't agree more. Watched all the way through and it felt like I was telling someone about the game myself.
I could literally listen to you talk about stuff your passionate about for hours, it’s so interesting. Great video
The stupid slow electricity attack actually works much better in a combo. Doing the first two slashes and then using thunder attack makes it so it cancels into the attack with almost no start up frames.
X4 is is my favorite X game. I love the graphics, music, bad voice acting and the ability to play with either X or Zero.
Yoooooo love the video homie, you’re quickly becoming one of my new fav game RUclipsrs. Also I gotta say I died seeing the King Cobra still in here.