This preview image of Mega Man X comes from GameFan Vol. 1 issue 9. It’s been thrown around here and there, but my buddy AWD! just tossed this high quality scan at me. The issue probably came out close to the middle of 1993. From the looks of the screenshot shown the game was pretty far along in development (the only oddity is the use of P on the life meter, instead of the X we’d come to see). But man, what is with that artwork? Is that one of the original concepts for X? Maybe his fully armored form? This image didn’t even end up in the Official Complete Works, so we may never know.
Looking back on this image makes me fairly nostalgic. I’ve had very few of those “wow moments” in my gaming life, but Mega Man X was one of them. Maybe I was at that right age, but the game really blew me away at the time. The presentation, the gameplay, the attitude, it all upstaged the classic games. And while Mega Man 2 will probably always be my all time favorite game, even that never “wowed” me like the original X did.
I’ve been feeling lately that it’s time for Capcom to turn back to Mega Man X again. Admittedly I’m slightly iffy about a Mega Man X9, since I don’t personally feel that X2-X8 ever reached that bar the original X set, though some are still quite good. But I would definitely like to see something. At the very least they can throw Mega Man X up on the Wii Virtual Console. That’s been way overdue, as it’s not just a great Mega Man game, it’s a great game period.
I feel that some of the strongest support among our fandom here is for the X series. Do you ever get nostalgic for the series? How would you like Capcom to return to 21XX?
Scan:
A Small Glimpse at the Origins of Mega Man X : The Mega Man Network
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