Boy, I take some downtime from the internet and look at what I miss?
On the original topic, no matter how many magic fish smacks and boots to the head I bequeath, the fanboy favoritism will never die. The NES style, despite being technically limited, is still a worthwhile format in that they actually present a nice level of detail considering the technical limitations they're adhering to (that and the whole thing is cheap and easy, so it helps minimize development costs). The Classic series also contains relatively simple designs no matter what technical limits are applied, simply because that's the atmosphere they built it on.
The SNES X-series style, on the other hand, is a different story. It was made for the relatively simple armor designs of X1, and two sequels later it was all too obvious that the series character design had outgrown the visual style. Zero's revised armor was never displayed properly on the SNES, and the X3 capsule upgrades were a complete mess of pixels. I could accept this if it were a technological limitation, but it's not, it's a style flaw. The SNES is capable of better. The style chosen for X on the SNES was adequate for its conception but is too lacking in detail for the later evolutions of the series. As the designs have grown even more complex since the series left the SNES, these issues have only been magnified further (how in any way do you expect an SNES-style Axl to be done well?). Also, from a production standpoint, the relative complexity of the SNES as compared to NES lessens the development cost benefits. Hell, it's the same number of colors to a character on the SNES as on PS1 or NDS, the extra processing power of later systems were merely used to add bells and whistles: more/larger objects, faster framerate, recorded audio clips, and a few spiffy effects like transparent dash shadows. Take that away, and the only difference is that the SNES uses an inferior drawing style. There's no reason to return to those shackles.
I have no issues against a 2D X9, mind you. But there's no reason to adhere to the archaic and now inadequate SNES visuals (SFX, on the other hand, are another story). Either do PS1 style sprites and re-think the physics (air-dash momentum in particular), or just build a new style.
yeah, the graphics seemed sorta bad in places, such as how no one has facial expressions. this is the biggest issue with X though. as hes just standing there with no expression, screamin REDIPS! YOU... YOU MAVERICK! which is hillarious to watch. also then theres some of the "forced VAing. lol, RRRREDIPS!
You say that as if facial expressions are common in MegaMan games. Besides Legends they have never been utilized as part of 3D models. For that matter their use in mugshots is pretty rare as well; X5, X8, MHX and Z4-ZX are about all that come to mind for the platformers.
Note also that the three X-series games that bothered with expressions are extraordinarily lazy for a far less subtle reason: armor neglect. In X5 (not so much an issue except in the X vs. Zero aftermath, which could have been corrected sprite-wise without having to edit art) and X8 it was just lazy; in MHX it was downright laughable.
who else agrees that if they make an Elf wars game, it should be like CM? I mean, it WAS a final strike that defeated Omega...
Agreed, but for another reason. In an X-series RPG the party mechanic throws a monkey wrench into the story: You need something to tip the scales in order to justify single boss so blatantly overpowering X or Zero on their own, something which post-X1 always has fans raising eyebrows. In XCM, it was Force Metal. For Elf Wars, a possible factor such as that has already been established: Cyber-Elf abuse.