Gaming off the Beaten Path

Come on, you knew this was coming.   I telegraphed this a mile away last week, but we are going to talk about the other forgotten member of the X series, Mega Man X6. I mean it can’t be all bad.  Its predecessor was a solid, if underwhelming entry into the franchise, with some fun boss fights making up for less inspired level design.  So maybe X6 was the one that put it all together?  Did it combine the great level design and soundtrack of X4 with the outstanding boss fights and more polished graphics of X5?  In a word, no. Despite not necessarily being a “bad” game, X6 is among the worst in the entire Mega Man franchise (both old school and X games).  I would certainly say its the worst X title and if you were to bring the older games into the fray, the only one I disliked more was probably Mega Man and Bass.  Again, this isn’t some jank franchise that has been around for five years, so its a different set of standards, but if you are going to try to jump

I wanted to start this review by waxing nostalgic about the Mega Man franchise, but I realize I already went that route in the “Command Mission” review, so there goes that.   For such a mainstream series, Mega Man sure goes off on its share of tangents.  We already discussed one of those tangents, but there were so, so many others.  But perhaps the most forgotten games are the middle entries in the X series. Look, I think most gamers agree the first two Mega Man X games were classic.  The third is considered a solid effort and the original cart is a SNES collector’s item, while the fourth received middling reviews in its day but has since been recognized for the quality game it is.  Mega Man X7 is pretty much universally hated (though not by me, I could probably write an entire post on it) and X8 is thought of as a return to form.  It’s weird, even though the latter two games have a reputation, its almost as if non mega fans don’t even know X5 and X6 exist

Lets talk about video game crossovers. Nowadays, they are common.  You have Marvel Vs. Capcom, Mortal Kombat vs D.C., Mario and Sonic’s Olympic Games and dozens of others.  That’s to say nothing of Super Smash Brothers, which is arguably the greatest crossover game of all time.  Just look at all the characters in the latest version. They weren’t always as common as they are now, but gaming crossovers have always had a place in the medium.  For all the things developers mess up, they are also something that is usually done right.  In 1993, Tradewest probably figured “hey, our two biggest IPs are among the gaming world’s most popular beat em ups, lets mix them together!”  So, we got Battle Toads/Double Dragon on SNES/Genesis.  Anyone who owned an NES is probably very familiar with these two franchises (this game also came out on the NES, by the way). Both were two player co-op beat em’ ups where you moved to the right and put the boots to anyone in your way

Last week I discussed some of the broader points of Dark Cloud, but there is a ton going on with this game (and I spent too much time on it) for me not to do a second post.  So lets get right to it. The first thing I commented on was the graphics and I don’t think I quite gave them enough credit.  Yes, they are incredibly boring but they are very well done.  There was a huge graphical jump between the N64/PS1/Saturn and the PS2/XBox/GameCube and it really shows here.  Every thing is super clean and well animated.  All of the areas look unique and feel lived in once you release all the residents.  The dungeons are okay as well and fit their areas appropriately. I also have to give credit to the sound. There aren’t any grand, epic tracks but the minimalist sound design really fits here.  Each track adds to its respective dungeon or town.  The sound effects are okay too.  The characters voices aren’t annoying and the weapon effects are fine.