30 years ago, Mega Man X was released on the Super NES and revolutionized the Mega Man franchise. It added a newfound sense of energy and just enough depth to encourage gamers to keep coming back for more and play it in a bunch of different ways.
However, while it’s undeniably a classic, did you know that it was remade in 2006? And did you know that the remake, titled Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, is arguably better than the original game?
That’s not a statement I throw around lightly. It’s not a stretch to say that Mega Man X is one of the best SNES games and highly replayable. Just when the Mega Man franchise was getting stale with yearly releases on the NES, the Blue Bomber’s SNES debut was everything an evolution of the formula should be. It spawned another subseries with its own uniquely solid track record of games, but over time, the Mega Man X series, as well as the Mega Man franchise in general, began to suffer from a glut of releases in the 2000s.
Multiple Mega Man games would be released per year, with several different subseries releasing simultaneously and competing against each other for attention. It’s in this environment that Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X was released. This remake of the original Mega Man X was released opposite the conclusion to both the Mega Man: Battle Network and Mega Man Zero series, the beginning of new subseries like Mega Man Star Force and Mega Man ZX, as well as a compilation of the original six Mega Man X games on consoles. To make matters worse, this remake was released on the still-young PSP, Sony’s first foray into handheld gaming. The PSP didn’t really have a strong early catalog, and Capcom opted to dip their toes in the water with some fairly safe remakes of games like Mega Man X and Street Fighter Alpha 3 instead of wowing audiences with new and exciting games.
All of that resulted in Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X being buried and lost to time, which is a damn shame if you ask me. I’m a lifelong Mega Man fan, and it says a lot that if I was going to replay the original Mega Man X, I would choose this remake over the original or any other port any day of the week. This isn’t even coming from the perspective of someone who played this game before the original. I have vivid memories of trying my damnedest to beat bosses like Sting Chameleon in the original SNES release when I was a kid and losing pathetically. I did play Maverick Hunter X shortly afterward once my brother and I got a PSP, but I didn’t think at the time that it was inherently better. But now, with some more distance, I think my opinion is more concrete.
As far as remakes go, Maverick Hunter X is a fairly faithful remake of the base game. In it, you play as Mega Man X, who, with the help of his Maverick Hunter buddy Zero, team up to stop a robot uprising led by the villainous Sigma. To do this, X must defeat eight Mavericks, robots loyal to Sigma, take their abilities, and use them to put a stop to Sigma’s plans. If you’ve ever played a Mega Man game before, none of this is new. It’s still the same traditional formula but altered ever so slightly with a more serious tone in a world that is noticeably darker than the original series. But much like how Mega Man X remixed the framing device of the series, Maverick Hunter X further remixes basic elements and gameplay designs of the game it’s remaking. In fact, that’s a perfect way to think of Maverick Hunter X – a remix of one of the greatest games of all time.
You’ll still travel through 13 different stages and make your way to the end of each stage and beat a boss. However, while the stages are more or less the same, there are a few minor differences that make this familiar yet different. For example, if you were to ask any hardcore Mega Man X fan which stage they would tackle first, all of them would say Chill Penguin’s stage. Why? Because you get the Leg Parts in his stage, an upgrade that allows X to dash, a feature that would become standard in all future games and makes Mega Man X a much snappier and fast-paced game. In Maverick Hunter X, the Leg Parts are now found in Flame Mammoth’s stage. This subtle yet important difference clearly says to longtime fans of the series that this is the same game but ever so slightly different. You can’t approach Maverick Hunter X with the same mentality that this is a shot-for-shot remake.
I like to think the development philosophy behind Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X isn’t all too different from how Capcom approached their last major remake, Resident Evil 4. It still had several of the major hallmarks and key moments fans remember but redone in a way that made it feel fresh. Here, some of those changes are pretty evident, like how the visuals are now done via 3D models and not through pixel art. Some may cry foul at that, but I think the chunky PSP models have a certain charm to them, especially given how bright and colorful all of the characters now feel because of them. Others are more subtle, like the enhanced story with voice acting that fleshed out the characters just a little bit more or how the Sigma stages have been completely redone.
But when you break it down, Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X is just the original game but more. I wish there was an original mode that kept to the original level design and enemy placement or even just an emulated version of the original game, but Maverick Hunter X isn’t lacking for extra content. Once you complete the game, players will unlock hard mode, which makes the game much more of a stiffer challenge, even for veterans. Enemies hit harder, you do less damage, and bosses have entirely new attack patterns. Then there’s Vile Mode, which allows players to play as series antagonist Vile in a weird side mode where players can customize Vile’s arsenal and play through an alternative campaign, fighting the same Mavericks X does. It’s not exactly great, but it’s hardly a grievous addition, given you unlock it after you beat the main game.
But the biggest and most notable unlockable is an OVA called “The Day of Sigma.” The animated special is a prequel to the game that explains how Sigma became a Maverick and establishes a lot about the world. We see X and Zero team up, several of Sigma’s Mavericks back when they were Maverick Hunters, important characters that didn’t really get fleshed out in the games like Dr. Light and Dr. Cain, and a climax that sets up the rest of the series. It says a lot how all versions of the Mega Man X: Legacy Collection included this film as a free extra. Sure, it does raise some questions about the series’ continuity, especially in earlier games, but the special is still a great addition to a game that was already chock full of extras.
So, despite all of the positives this game has going for it, it’s a shame that this game bombed as hard as it did. It was probably due to a combination of the glut of Mega Man games released during that time, the limited install base of the PSP, and the decline in quality of the Mega Man X series from the sixth game onward that resulted in this game tanking as hard as it did. Thankfully, the game did receive a revitalization of sorts, thanks to a digital rerelease on the PlayStation Vita, but that didn’t help much. I mean, it was a best-selling game on the Playstation Vita. That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.
I find games like Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X fascinating mostly because of how they’ve been forgotten over time, simply because they’re on the PSP. I love this solid handheld, and games like Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X and Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles are some of the best games in their franchises but are rarely talked about because it’s on the PSP. It makes me want to dive in and talk about other forgotten PSP classics like the God of War games, the Dissidia franchise, or even original games like Jeanne D’Arc. It’s a system with a great library of titles that have been forgotten solely because they committed the crime of being released on the PSP.
And make no mistake, Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X is a great game. It’s my go-to way to play Mega Man X, and while it may not replace the original game’s standing in the gaming landscape anytime soon, it’s still a wonderful remake that I would consider to be one of the best ever made. It’s the same classic Mega Man X but with a handful of new ideas and challenges that help to remix it and make it feel fresh again. It’s a game that I highly encourage more people to try, and it makes me think about a hypothetical world where Maverick Hunter X was a hit and led to remakes of all of the 2D Mega Man X games. It’s been 30 years since Mega Man X debuted here in the West, and even if Capcom never does anything with the franchise ever again, at least there’s a piece of Mega Man history that casual fans can still dive into and explore with a fresh set of eyes.
