Tuesday, February 24, 2015

#GamingBucketList: Mega Man Xtreme/Rockman X: Cyber Mission (GB/GBC)



Mega Man X finds himself somewhere very familiar to him. A place called Central Highway. Not knowing the how or why he finds himself back where his fight for justice began is he works his way down Central Highway again to then run into a ghost of his past, Vile. Confused even further he destroys Vile once more and then suddenly finds himself back in front of the Mother Computer at Hunter Base and this is where his 3rd adventure begins!

Welcome to Mega Man Xtreme or Rockman X: Cyber Mission which is the 1st of 2 interquel games for the Mega Man X series. Where we are currently in X's fight against Sigma is that X & Zero have taken out Sigma for the 2nd time and during this peace the Mother Computer of Hunter Base has been hacked and is "reproducing fighting data of the past." Zero always 2 steps ahead of the game acquires the help of Middy who just happens to be the world's greatest computer genius. Middy's plan is to digitize X to infiltrate the Mother Computer and take out the digitized ghosts of X's previous battles and stop whoever's behind all of this.

This is where we come in. The world needs saving and we're tasked with the job and we can get it done. With some hard work and some X-Buster shots and peace will be restored in no time at all.

Once we get into the Mother Computer we're greeted by 4 familiar faces. Chill Penguin, Spark Mandrill, Storm Eagle & Flame Stag. In order to get deeper into the Mother Computer we've got to take out those digitized ghost Mavericks. Now history would dictate we'd take out Chill Penguin as it is customary to do to get the Leg Part but if you wish to save a bit of time, some backtracking and get the Body Armor part first then I'd suggest taking out Flame Stag first.

Now I will admit you're putting yourself at a slight disadvantage by doing this first because of how the Leg Armor part works in this game but some careful wall jumps will get you through the tough part and the Heart Tank early. The other thing I will point out here is because this game does take place between X2 & X3 is there's a hidden boss located in the same place where the X-Hunter door was in X2. As far as I know there's nothing special you get for taking this boss out but know if you came here after beating Chill Penguin is that this boss is very weak to the Shotgun Ice but charged X-Buster shots do the job just as well. In this same section the Body Armor part is hidden here as well so be sure to pick it up if you can find it.

Flame Stag is no joke but if you stick to a wall and hit him with charged X-Buster shots then he'll go down in no time at all. Know that he's also weak to the Storm Tornado so if you have that in tow then be sure to fan the flames of justice. You'll pick up the Speed Burner for your victory here.

The reason I suggest taking on Chill Penguin 2nd is not only for being able to get the Heart Tank which is located in the same place where it was in X1 but Icy Penguigo is a bit tougher to deal with because the arena isn't as big but having the Body Armor part and the Speed Burner will keep the advantage on your side and that's what we want. Your defeat of Chill Penguin will get you the Shotgun Ice.

We're paying Storm Eagle and the Heliport a visit next. The Heart & Sub Tank have switched places since our last visit to the heliport however the Helmet Part is in the same exact place so pick all 3 of them up on your way to Storm Eagle.

Storm Eagle as well is the same old dance. Enough charged X-Buster shots will again even in Cyber Space will send the Swordfish Base crashing into the digital ground. You'll pick up the Storm Tornado for your victory here.

All that's left is to take out Spark Mandrill. The Heart & Sub Tank are both located in the same place as they were in X1 which seems to be a running theme in this game. However, you can also find the Arm Parts in the 2nd dark section if you have the Helmet so be looking toward the ceiling for some blocks to break. Spark Mandrill is again weak to the Shotgun Ice so use that to take him out in no time. For some fun use the charged version to create the Ice Sled during for hilarious results! For your victory here you'll acquire the Electric Spark.

With all 4 bosses defeated is the protection for the Mother Computer's core is down so X heads deeper to attack the core head on!

The core is of course represented by Sigma Fortress stages from the 1st 2 X games.

Sigma Fortress 1 is the 1st fortress stage from X1 except instead of Vile as the 1st boss of the stage you'll be introduced to Zain if you haven't introduced yourselves previously. Zain is real easy to take out if you know his pattern. He'll do 3 jumping slashes and with each one you need to dash behind him and either the Shotgun Ice of a fully charged X-Buster shot. His 4th jumping slash will be a bit lower and he'll spin around after it. In this version of the battle is he actually moves across the screen during the spin so be careful. He'll fall in no time at all and the rest of the stage should be familiar even with the rematch with Bospider. Use the charged Shotgun Ice on it and as soon as you hit it pause and switch to another weapon and quickly back to the Shotgun Ice so you can have another one ready to go when it comes down for the next volley. Keep this up and the fight's over in no time at all.

Sigma Fortress 2 is the 3rd fortress stage from X2. One thing that's still here if you can find it is the Shotokan Capsule which in this game\ gives you both the X1 Hadoken & X2 Shoryuken for finding it. Both moves aren't as overpowered as their console counterparts but they do more overall damage than a fully charged Level 4 X-Buster shot so be sure to use them both in lieu of said Level 4 X-Buster shot from here on in.

Instead of facing off against Agile's 2nd form, you'll be facing off with Serges' 2nd form instead. You'll be dispatching of him the same way you did in X2 including his weakness to the Speed Burner. Enough of those he as well will be digitized dust.

Sigma Fortress 3 is the Digitized Zombie Boss Rematches so dispose of the bosses just as you have before and afterward you'll find out that as usual Sigma's behind the madness so time to take him out. Just stay to the top of the wall and wait until he's right below you and as he moves to the next wall hit him with Level 4 X-Buster Shots, the Electric Spark or Speed Burner and just repeat this until he's dead.

As it was in X1 is Sigma will transform into his Wolf Sigma form and the final battle begins. Here's the thing though, in your current arsenal you don't have a weapon weakness but you do have acid in those lemons X shoots so go right ahead and shoot those. Wolf Sigma doesn't have invincibility frames so you can just let loose with X-Buster shots until this is wrap. Also, If you've been listening real close then you may have the power of the Shotokan and a couple of Hadokens or Shoryukens will swiftly bring this battle to a close.

With the defeat of Sigma, the sanctity of the Mother Computer has been restored and peace alongside it is X & Zero have a calming moment as they ready themselves for the next threat to the world...

Or you'd like to think so anyway because this fight is far from over!

After the credits you're given the option to save your game to carry it over to the Hard Mode of the game and I definitely suggest taking the option for reasons I'll soon explain.

Reloading the save you just made puts you back on Central Highway but with all of the boss weapons and anything else you picked up during Normal Mode. Even though you have the boss weapons is Vile is still going to take more damage from the X-Buster so stick to that.

Having a bit of Déjà vu is X once again finds himself in front of the Mother Computer because the same thing we just dealt with is happening again except we now have 4 new but familiar faces to deal with in order to get past the protection to the Mother Computer's core which are Wheel Gator, Magna Centipede, Armored Armadillo & Morph Moth.

Because we loaded that save is you have 2 weaknesses off the bat for either Armored Armadillo or Morph Moth. So because of how the charged Rolling Shield is super broken here I suggest taking out Armored Armadillo first.

Back to the Energy Mine Ruins again and just as with previous stages both the Heart & Sub Tank are in the same locations as they were in X1 but also where the Hadoken was once hidden there's something new there instead...the Zero Scramble Program. Think of these like assist calls that are very damaging if you use them correctly. Every stage in Hard Mode has a Zero Scramble Program to be found if in Normal Mode you found a certain armor part which in this case is the Helmet which you'll get if you either didn't have it on a previous save or started a game straight from Hard Mode. The one here is the first of 4, Dash. Zero just appears and slashes anything in his way on the ground. Zero will dash in whatever direction X is facing so be sure you're positioned right or you'll waste valuable energy otherwise. Also know calling upon Zero uses a meter you can't fill normally so be cautious in your use of these programs.

You'll soon meet up with Armored Armadillo and he's quite a bit harder here than he was in either X1 or Maverick Hunter X because without the Electric Spark this battle can go for a long time so be careful in your use of the weapon to take him out. Also know that he can actually block Electric Spark shots until the game just decides to let him get electrocuted which destroys his armor and if his armor isn't destroyed is he can absorb the energy of charged X-Buster shots and send the energy back so be careful of that as well. Even given all this you'll be able to take him down and get the Rolling Shield for your victory.

Like I mentioned earlier the charged version is broken because not only does the shield last as long as you don't collide with an enemy that would go down with more than one Rolling Shield is that it can also stand up to Mets, can stand in lava without being instantly killed and stand & walk on spikes but you can't wall jump spike walls however. Being broken always has its limits! This is the new and improved Chameleon Sting for the most part so take advantage of having this as part of your arsenal.

Wheel Gator's next and where the Dual Buster in X2 once was is now occupied by Zero Scramble Program: Rising or you'll get the Arm Parts if you didn't have it already. Rising calls Zero out to do a Rising Slash so again be sure to be positioned correctly so you aren't wasting energy. The Heart Tank is in the same place as well and you can either used a charged Speed Burner or Rolling Shield to just hop to where it is. There's also a hidden boss fight in this stage as well and its located in the same place where the X-Hunter door was in X2. This hidden boss is weak to the Speed Burner so let it loose and this will be over in no time.

Wheel Gator in my view is a bit harder because he stays invulnerable to shots for most of the fight and even if you had the Magnet Mine it doesn't do that much damage so if you have the Hadoken & Shoryuken then just use those because they do more damage and when that's done you'll get the Spin Wheel for your victory here.

Morph Moth is next and the Heart Tank and Capsule are located in the same place as in X2 except you can jump right to the Heart Tank and there's a 1UP there as well. Use the Spin Wheel to find the 3rd Zero Scramble Program or the Body Armor parts if you didn't yet for Zero Scramble Program: Earth Gaizer. Zero comes out and punches the ground and it does damage to all enemies on screen. A very powerful attack so again be careful in using it.

Morph Moth is the same fight in X2 as it is here but he has an additional weakness to the Rolling Shield which leads me to believe at some point Morph Moth and Flame Stag were switched given the weakness and how you can get the Body Armor part here if you didn't have it already. Just use the charged Speed Burner or Rolling Shield shots to take him down in no time. You'll get the Silk Shot for your victory here.

Taking out the final level of protection lies in taking out Magna Centipede. The Heart & Sub Tank are in the same places as they were in X2 so grab them both. The 4th Zero Scramble Program, Final or the Leg Parts if you didn't have them already are located in the falling block section so be looking to the ceiling for some blocks to break with your helmet and break them and get it. Final summons Zero and he does a combination of Dash and Rising for massive damage to whatever it hits. Be sure to use it on bosses for some fun times.

Magna Centipede's the same boss fight from X2 so be sure to take advantage of his weakness to the Silk Shot so you don't have to deal with those attacks that use his tail. Taking him down will net you the Magnet Mine.

With these 4 protections down once again is we're headed to digitized Sigma's fortress for more of the same except for the following changes and new stuff to be aware of.

In Sigma Fortress 1 your mid-boss fight with Zain has been replaced by Geemel and if you didn't fight him in Wheel Gator's stage this will be your first meeting. The fight mainly has Geemel throwing multiple shuriken in which you'll counter with Speed Burner shots and halfway through the battle he'll disappear and start gliding on his ninja kite and you'll still be shooting him with the Speed Burner until he goes down.

Also for note, now that you have the Magnet Mine as a part of your arsenal know that it is Bospider's alternate weakness and a charged Magnet Mine is just a bit better than a charged Shotgun Ice so use that instead.

Sigma Fortress 2 hasn't changed at all other than Serges' additional weakness to the Rolling Shield. So either it or the Speed Burner will bring this battle to a swift end.

Sigma Fortress 3 is Digitized Zombie Boss Rematches for the Hard Mode bosses and Sigma again afterward so dispatch of them however you see fit.

You'll take on Wolf Sigma again in the finale and it's the same boss fight except now you have both  of his weapon weaknesses in the Rolling Shield as it was in X1 and the Spin Wheel as well. Do whatever you wish to take out Sigma "once and for all" and put an end to this for now.

After the credits you'll now have access to Xtreme Mode which makes the game function like regular X games by having all 8 Mavericks available from the start. Here's what you should know about Xtreme Mode.

The Armor Capsules are located in the 4 Normal Mode Maverick Stages and the 4 Zero Scramble Programs are located in the 4 Hard Mode Maverick Stages.

Storm Eagle is weak to the Spin Wheel if you were wondering what his weakness was and if you use a charged Spin Wheel is you may be able to figure out why that actually is the case.

Other than these changes everything is mostly the same outside some enemy placement and additional attacks from bosses as well. The same could be said for Hard Mode but you really don't get a taste of that until the end of it anyway.

Use all you know to formulate the best way through Xtreme Mode! You can do it! I know you can! Simply because I'm just that damn good at what I do!

Some other things of note.

Know this game is very accommodating given its portable nature. The game gives you options for Auto Charge and Rapid Fire and you should be sure to take advantage of having both options at your disposal.

There's a Simple Type Button Configuration that lets you use the Start Button as an alternate Dash command. Down + A which is the Classic Series Slide command also works but has the downside of not being able to do a Dash Jump from it so I wouldn't use it over pressing →→ or pressing the Start Button however just know it's there though.

Take advantage of the Autosave feature. Once after you lose all of your lives is you can reset the game and reload the last autosave to go back to the last checkpoint you made it to so please abuse this! You can only do this once so keep that in mind.

Best of luck on your Cyber Mission! Bring peace back to the world X & Zero!

The reason that this GBL is even here is because you'll be seeing this and its sequel on #RunDatReXXX really soon as we prepare to get back into the X Series proper with X4! A GBL on Xtreme 2 is coming soon so be watching for it!

So you know what to do now and I'm going to let you do just that!

Until next time!

-Triple Da G.O.D!

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