MegaMaster Musings

Originality
November 1, 2006

I must admit I’m somewhat on the fence on this one.

It’s pretty inarguable that Mega Man ZX is basically a Mega Man Zero game with new characters. This more so than, say, the X series was to the original, since the X series is pretty ambiguous about its status as being the future of the original series, with plenty of related plot holes to boot. ZX, on the other hand, is quite clear where it stands in the Mega Man Zero timeline...despite being called a “new” series.

Some would consider this a downside. They would say: you can’t just take a game, slap new graphics into it, add a couple of new features, and call it a new series. It’s common practice to alter an existing game a little, add new levels, and call it a sequel. But an entirely new series? They didn’t even move to a new console system or anything like the X series did when it was birthed from the original. This is literally the same game engine—with exactly the same style sprites and graphics and game play as the Zero series—just reworked a little to fit the new plot.

On the other hand, the Zero games were good games, outside of a few irritations that ZX has taken care of quite handily. ZX has the interconnected stage feature that I was sorry to see vanish after Mega Man Zero 1. ZX also gets rid of a lot of the frustration that made the Zero games so difficult (and annoying) to play. Yet it preserves that core game play, with the difficulty level there if you want it.

So is Mega Man ZX a good thing, or a bad thing? The best I can say is that it’s certainly not an original game (even the whole Models thing reminds me of some Japanese TV shows), but it’s definitely a fun one. And, I suppose, when you get right down to it, “fun” is what matters the most.

- The MegaMaster