Mega Man X3

About Mega Man X3

Mega Man X3 (1995) is the last SNES Mega Man X, in which X battles Dr. Doppler's Maverick utopia and Zero becomes playable for the first time.

Mega Man X3 in Depth

In the 22nd century humans live alongside intelligent robots called Reploids, some of which turn to crime and are branded Mavericks. After twice defeating the Maverick leader Sigma, the Maverick Hunters X and Zero face the Reploid scientist Dr. Doppler and the utopia he has built for his Maverick followers. As in earlier games, X tackles eight stages in any order, each ending with a Maverick boss whose weapon he gains, and since every boss is weak to one weapon, the order can be planned to exploit those weaknesses. X can run, jump, dash, cling to and climb walls and fire his chargeable X-Buster.

Armour parts for the head, body, legs and X-Buster are hidden in capsules, and new chips add further abilities, though X can usually benefit from only one at a time. Heart Tanks extend life, Sub-Tanks store energy, and Ride Armor vehicles return, now summonable at any time once found. Zero can be called in to replace X in almost any stage, but he cannot collect armour or power-ups or fight bosses, with one exception that unlocks a secret weapon for X, and if he falls he cannot be used again. Like X2, the cartridge uses the Cx4 chip for basic 3D effects such as rotating and scaling wireframe objects.

Making Mega Man X3

Capcom produced the scenario, character designs and artwork, but much of the game design was sub-contracted to Minakuchi Engineering, which had made most of the Game Boy Mega Man games; Keiji Inafune, by now director, producer and writer, recalled "psychological turmoil" at letting outsiders develop it. Released in Japan on 1 December 1995 and in the West in 1996, it was well received for its gameplay, graphics, controls and playable Zero. GamePro enjoyed its difficulty and effects even though it brought little new, GameFan called it "a fitting 16-bit finale to a great series" and IGN ranked it the 67th-best SNES game, while Super Play found it far too similar to Mega Man X2. It later appeared in Mega Man X Legacy Collection in 2018.