Revisiting Mega Man X7

Finished the game this week, clocked in around 6 hours at a solid D hunter ranking (I did get a single C on Ride Boarski!). Luckily the game treats all time equally, whether or not it's paused, so if you take a mid-stage break, enjoy your automatic D. I guess it's true an elite Maverick Hunter wouldn't stop for a piss or a yogurt. Presumably what I saw was the "bad" ending, but it's just X saying to Axl "you're not ready to become a MavHunter" (presumably only veteran Hunters are allowed to get D rankings and stay on - a sort of grandfather clause). Not really on the same level of consequence as X5, in which I believe the entire Earth blows up if too much time expires. And what's with Sigma's master plan? He comes back from the dead, takes over a vigilante gang, gets them all killed, and then says "X and Zero will be mine!". You could call it a revenge plot, but it comes across as romance.

In terms of series ranking X7 probably belongs around the middle, between X3 and X5 (as if it needs to be said, the full ordering is X > X2 >>> X4 > X3 > X7 >>> X5 > X6, and I've yet to play X8). And I probably feel better about it than X3, which only barely coasts by on the strength of things done better in X and X2. X7 at least feels fresh and has some new ideas that genuinely work, namely the 3D stages and the weapon and character swapping. The story - while really terrible - is at least perfectly comprehensible, a big step up from the latter two PlayStation games. I even like the pre-fight dialogue with bosses - never hurts to give them some personality, and it's pretty cool that each player character gets unique exchanges. As for the legacy stuff: the 2D levels range from fan-made level editor junk (Soldier Stonekong) to tedious redundant slogs (Tornado Tonion); the Maverick designs are insanely terrible (did you read the names I just quoted?); hostage reploid permadeath is goddamn obnoxious; and copy abilities have never felt more superfluous. In the category of new-but-bad are the frankly humiliating graphics, absolutely pathetic for a 2003 PS2 game from a major studio competing against the likes of Jak II and Going Commando (it doesn't even look to be from the same hardware generation as Capcom's own Devils May Cry or Maximos). Yet more embarrassing is the frequent slowdown, an unheard-of problem on the PlayStation 2 even for games with acceptable sixth-gen polygon counts.

There's a New Game+, which would allow fully powering up all three characters (there are only enough chips in a single playthrough for 16 upgrades; each character has 12 slots). I wonder if that has any reward. I got enough out of the experience that I'd like to get to know it better, although I may wait a month for the Switch Mega Man X Legacy Collection Collection, which collects Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 and Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2. The weapon and character selection add textbook replayability, about half of the bosses seem decent (Snipe Anteator eventually did get some competition for worst), and 3D action-platformers are just a rare thing. I mean, I'm the guy who likes Shinobi '02. On my most recent go-round with Ratchet & Clank Future... Dudes of Destruction? (sounds too cool, must be something stupider), I realized the series thinks it's 3D Mega Man, and started to process it in those terms. So Mega Man X7 is a great point of comparison, as it completely butchers all the presentation and accessibility stuff that makes R&C so palatable, yet maintains the legacy of Mega Man enemy and stage design.