What do you want to see in X9?

[Flame]

I have X7. Why would it be 50 Bucks...?

[Protoman Blues]

As in, you pay $50 and get a game like X7.

[Hypershell]

Or we could pay $50 and get a game like X4, which kicks the [parasitic bomb] out of both.

[Flame]

Hell yes. But like I asked PB, why 50 bucks? seriously, it can be gotten for far less...

[Tickle Buffalo]

Flame are you even trying?

[Hypershell]

o/~ By the way, if you walked in late,
allow me to reiterate: o/~

We mean a new game of comparable quality to the old games mentioned.  Hence the use of the word, "like".

[Flame]

Flame are you even trying?

I dont get it.
I mean really. who would buy X4 for 50 when I can get it for less than 10 on ebay or the used bin in gamestop?

[Zan]

We mean a new game of comparable quality to the old games mentioned.  Hence the use of the word, "like".

[Tickle Buffalo]

Is there like a "Most Obtuse Member" award that he's going for or something, d'y'think?

[Satoryu]

In this case:

Like = Similar To

[Fxeni]

I'd much rather get a game that has the quality of X1... but that's me. It's also highly doubtful.

[Hypershell]

There are certain things about X1 that really only work because it is X1.  The armor upgrades in particular, outside of the buster they're all either not applicable or over-used by now.  The character designs are considerably more simplistic than the series in general, and the sprite style really tailored towards such (which is why I maintain that reverting to the SNES sprite style is a poor choice).

What X1 did right, which I wouldn't mind seeing revisited:
- Ass-kicking special weapons.
- Boss weapon effects outside of the usual weakness (incidentally we saw some of this in Xtreme2 with Ray Claw).
- Buster upgrade of at least triple strength, plus frikkin' shockwave (DAMN YOU, MHX!!! ).
- Helpful stage-clearing bonuses.  Frozen lava, flooded jungle, and such.



Really, though, if MM9 made one thing clear to me it's that returning to roots and ignoring the advancements made are two different things.  I will never stop cursing the fact that Rock refuses to slide.  There is no excuse for that not at least appearing as an option or unlockable (WITHOUT double damage/knockback, thank you).  It's also hard to wrap my mind around the fact that some idiot still finds the MM2 NES weapon-drum appealing enough to copy-paste.  For all the audio manifestations of greatness in NES MegaMan, that was not one of them.

Returning to roots does not mandate reverting the visuals to an early stage, either (NSMB and Metroid Zero Mission come to mind).  And the X-series is, I feel, among the worst possible candidates for such an approach.  The X-series sprite style is the textbook definition of a lack of foresight.  They redesign Zero, who at this point is a long standing co-star, and the corner that they drew themselves into becomes painfully inadequate.  There is no reason to return to that.

And if the Xtremes, 2 especially, are any indication, then I think the devs are aware of that.  Despite appearing on inferior hardware, they did more than just scale-down the SNES for the visuals.  A lot of it is clearly based off of X4.  X's teleport animation, ghetto dash shadows, nearly all that is Zero, and even one of the fortress stages (which is rather odd when you consider that near all of the bosses are lifted from SNES).

[Flame]

Dont forget Iris.
It was just one room that was X4 though. (I still wonder how the hell that works. Berkana and Repliforce hire the same builder maybe? )

[Police Girl]

What I want to see in X9... Existance.

[Hypershell]

It was just one room that was X4 though. (I still wonder how the hell that works. Berkana and Repliforce hire the same builder maybe? )

Two rooms and a hallway, actually.  The background at the start of the Gareth/Berkana stage is from the pre-Iris/Double area in Final Weapon.  In addition to that, the boss rooms for Gareth and Berkana are reminiscent of Sigma's first X4 room.

[Flame]

Two rooms, actually.  The background at the start of the Gareth/Berkana stage is from the pre-Iris/Double area in Final Weapon.  In addition to that, the boss rooms for Gareth and Berkana are reminiscent of Sigma's first X4 room.

Oh right, right. I forgot that part. I just remember the demon face BG since its just so memorable.  A giant demonic face with a thing floating in its gaping jaws.

[Dexter Dexter]

Me personally, I would like to see an X9 with semi-32-bit graphics while it silll has a 16-bit feel, almost like MM&B. I don't know of you guys would accept such an idea, though...

[OmegaZ]

I say 16-bit altogether.

[Hypershell]

I certainly wouldn't object to SNES-style Buster sfx.  PS1 definitely wins for Z-Saber, though.

So far as I'm concerned the PS1 style is near perfection, especially visually.  But a new style could work just as well.  Actual 2D works a lot better than 2.5D for X IMHO.  And as a whole they really need to worry less about visuals and more about physics.  When the GBC out-performed the PS1 in air-dashing, that should have been a wake-up call.



Something Zan and I have discussed in regards to "SNES X9" is that the SNES style does not fit the current X-series style of storytelling.  The SNES storytelling is all done in real-time with a dialogue box.  Think for a moment how unthinkable much of the PS1, especially X4, would have been if this continued to be the case.  The moment you so much as show your first piece of full-screen art (outside of Weapon Get, anyway), you broke the SNES style.

[Sub Tank]

The PS style, while nice and all, reminds me too much of bad level design.  I think they tried too hard to make everything pretty.  I don't ever remember thinking "I wonder what's up here..." because the stages were mostly just point A to point B.

The 16-bit levels were much more open and explorable.

[Hypershell]

Get equipped with: X6

Most of the core level design of X6 is especially solid, more so than the other two PS1 games.  Definitely more so than X3.  Lots of nooks and crannies to explore, and there's always some work-around for lacking a boss weapon (which cannot be said for any other X-series game, SNES included).

Unfortunately, the Nightmare System (which is horrendous) tends to overshadow it.  You just need to realize it is an effect and not a level design.  Then try and figure out the lesser of the two or three evils available for a given stage.

[Protoman Blues]

What X1 did right, which I wouldn't mind seeing revisited:
- Ass-kicking special weapons.
- Boss weapon effects outside of the usual weakness (incidentally we saw some of this in Xtreme2 with Ray Claw).
- Buster upgrade of at least triple strength, plus frikkin' shockwave (DAMN YOU, MHX!!!).
- Helpful stage-clearing bonuses.  Frozen lava, flooded jungle, and such.

*grabs Magical Talking Fish and smacks Hypershell with it!

YOU FORGOT MUSIC!   

[Hypershell]

*gives PB ZEE UPPERCUT!!*

Kickass music is something the X-series never stopped doing, sans Xtreme1 anyway.

[Protoman Blues]

Marth: COUNTER!

It STILL should be mentioned!

[Flame]

Marth: COUNTER!

It STILL should be mentioned!

*steps in the middle*
It should'nt, and doesnt- need to be mentioned.
*gets blown away by the collision of PB and Hyper*

*gives PB ZEE UPPERCUT!!*

Kickass music is something the X-series never stopped doing, sans Xtreme1 anyway.

hmm. For my personal opinion, X8 is another. It's music was good, but a few tunes gratedon my nerves, and a few were very forgettable.