This post is part of a series of deep dives into Mega Man X 3. In this piece, we take a look at any leftover observations about the game.

Here are the links to the rest of the deep dives:

• Weapons
• Story
• Bosses
• Environmental Storytelling

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Spoiler Preface!!!

This post contains content that some may deem as spoilers. You have been warned

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A Good Review!

By some stroke of luck, I actually found an amateur analysis of Mega Man X 3 that not only goes to bat for the game, but does so in a thoughtful, analytical manner. The author of the piece is one Andy Primm, and I am so very glad to have come across it. Mr. Primm is a far deeper student of the game than myself, and his observations on its difficulty and design made me think about it in ways I had not previously considered.

Primm’s defense the game essentially boils down to the following:

• Yes, the game is hard, but there are lot of things you can find and do to make it easier. If you play your cards right, the odds are only stacked against you in the very beginning.
• Not all these tricks and secrets are immediately obvious (though they are easy to use/do once you find them or figure them out).
• The fact that they are not obvious is acceptable, because this is the third game in the series, and it wants to offer returning players a good challenge to sink their teeth into.

I personally believe that these tips, tricks, and strategies are far too opaque, even for veteran players. In terms of total hours played, total games played and total games beat, I’d consider myself an extremely veteran Mega Man fan, and yet I never would have discovered on my own that Frost Shield is guaranteed to cause certain enemies to drop health. Primm is still correct that the game is far better designed than people give it credit for, and that it has much to offer to seasoned vets. At the same time, it doesn’t do itself many favors with its opacity, and I can understand how that might turn a lot of people off.

In any case, I cannot overstate how pleased I was to find such a good critical analysis. I wish more writing about retro games was so thoughtful.

How to Unlock the Z-Saber

It is possible to unlock the ability to use Zero’s beam saber as X, and the process for doing so is probably the best example of what I mean by X3 being opaque:

• First, you have to find Vile Mk II so that you can fight him.
• Next, you have to beat Vile with his weapon weakness. This ensures that you fight an alternate boss in Doppler’s fortress near the end of the game.
• I think you have to collect all of the heart containers, subtanks, etc, though I’m not 100% on this. The fact that I don’t know this for 100% says something entirely different about the state of fandom these days. You would think that people would know these things definitively¹.
• You have to get to Area 2 of Doppler’s fortress with Zero still being alive.
• In Section 2, you have to enter the Vile/Alternate boss chamber with Zero. Keep in mind that normally Zero is not allowed to enter boss chambers. This is the only one in the entire game where an exception is made, and there is no indication that this is the case.
• Defeat the boss using Zero.

Doing all of this will trigger a scene where the boss kamikazes into Zero and damages, forcing him to retreat for repairs. Before he leaves, he hands his sword off to X.

Holy crap is that lot, and it’s all rather ridiculous. The process requires you to do things that break the existing rules of the game, mainly having Zero step into a boss chamber. That’s the kind of thing that most players would never think of doing. They probably tried it before - several times even! - only to be rejected time and again. What’s more, all this does is allow X to use the weapon for, what, the one and a half Doppler stages left in the game? The whole thing feels more like a gag than anything.

Another Example of Opacity

There is a heart container in Tunnel Rhino’s stage that is hidden behind a boulder suspended from the ceiling by a rope:

What do you think will bring it down so you can get to the prize? The Spinning Blade is sharp, so maybe that’s it.

Nope!

Okay, how about the Gravity Well. Maybe that could suck the boulder up.

Still nope!

How about Tunnel Rhino’s very own weapon, the Tornado Fang? Surely a rocket drill will carve its way through that rock.

Still wrong!

The answer to this puzzle is to unleash the fully charged version of the Triad Thunder. For some reason the fully charged version of a weapon that creates a personal shield involves pounding the ground and releasing a shockwave, one that conveniently destroys the boulder.

Not only is it bizarre that that weapon generates that move, but who would have thought this to be the solution to such a puzzle? This is not so much a case of “experiment with the game” as it is “Use trial and error until you figure it out”.

What’s even worse is that this is not the only place in this stage where this puzzle exists. You have to do the exact same thing in order to access a Dr. Light capsule to get the Helmet armor upgrade. So not only is this puzzle annoyingly obtuse, but also recycled. I can see why this might frustrate some folks!

On the Other Side of the Spectrum …

So far we have seen examples of X3’s secrets being obtuse and weird, but there are also examples where it kind of just throws powerups at you, without putting up any sort of challenge. At most you may need the leg armor upgrade to obtain them. For example, there is this one:

And this one:

And another:

Yet another:

And one more for good measure:

I’m not sure what to make of this. Either the developers are implicitly admitting their game is tough, and so giving you some “freebie” powerups to compensate, or they spend to much energy on hiding some of other secrets that they just kind of dumped the rest of them out there wherever was convenient. There is an argument to be made here that the act of compensating for difficulty with some easy to find equalizers doesn’t excuse having such extreme difficulty in the first place. Personally, I don’t mind these. The fact that you get three of the four subtanks for free only means so much when you consider that you still have to figure out how to fill them easily, and I generally prefer a Mega Man game’s difficulty to come from its enemies and hazards, rather than from finding hidden powerups. Still, I can see how some might see this as lazy on the part of the development team.

Using Zero

In my review I claimed that it was not worth using Zero, but the Primm post takes a different opinion. He believes Zero is particularly useful in the early game, since he has a full health bar and powerful weapons.

I kind of see what he means, but I also don’t. The problem with this suggestion is that you can’t get X’s upgrades while you are using Zero. Unless you already know where they are going to be, you may miss some of them. And yet, if you do know where they are, then this is probably not your first time through the game, in which case you probably don’t need Zero in the first place. The suggestion really only makes sense if you are replaying the game and are still struggling with it.

Armor Upgrades

The armor upgrades in X3 are all excellent. Each one feels like a smart and useful iteration of some of the previous upgrades in X1 and X2.

The leg armor allows you to once again dash in midair, but now it also lets you dash straight up into the air. This is more useful than you might think. It helps you gain access to many upgrades, and can be useful against a number of bosses.

The chest armor once again boosts your defense, but this time it creates an extra protective shield around you after getting hit, which can absorb most projectiles. I see it as a way of helping you reset and get back into your flow after taking a hit.

The helmet armor is a sort of replacement for the helmet upgrade from X2. Instead of sending out a radar that looks for secrets, it now shows you a map of the stage, highlighting where the powerups are in red:

You still have to figure out where precisely they are and how to get them, but it still takes a lot of the guesswork out. Many folks dislike this powerup because it always displays at the start of every stage, but you can dismiss it very quickly by mashing the Y button.

One more thing - I have heard, but cannot confirm, that once you get all the armor upgrades you use less weapon energy, which is pretty handy.

Character Select Screen

After finding the helmet armor upgrade, the character select screen updates to show you all the powerups in each stage, as well as which ones you have and have not acquired yet. This is extremely helpful, if for no other reason than for helping you get a feel for where everything is, and how it is distributed among the different stages.

Upgrade Chips

In addition to the standard armor upgrades, there are a series of additional upgrade chips found within pink Dr. Light capsules. These chips offer tremendously useful power boosts, with the caveat being that you can only install one of them.

Here is what each of the chips does:

• One boosts your defense even higher, turning X into a brick shithouse.
• One refills your health bar and your subtanks if you stand in place. This is arguably the best one, at least if you are patient.
• One gives you an additional weapon that lets you fire fully charged X-Buster shots without charging up. Keep in mind that it is listed as an actual weapon in your arsenal, with weapon energy that can be depleted:

Now, there is a fourth, super secret, golden chip that gives you all three upgrades:

Don’t get too excited. To get it, you cannot get any of the other three chips. Furthermore, it is found in the Doppler Fortress, meaning you only get to use it for a little bit of time near the end of the game (the other three chips can be found within the standard Maverick stages, meaning you have the chance to use them for most of the game if you play your cards right).

Lastly, unlike the other upgrade chips, this one cannot be saved via password. If you reload the game with your latest, freshest password, the chip won’t be there anymore.

The Information Superhighway

I posted this already in the story Deep Dive, but I wanted to re-highlight this bit from the instruction manual:

Notice how the text is formatted to look like it is being viewed in a browser window in an old version of Mac OS, complete with Hyperlinks. Considering this game was first released in 1995, when the public facing Internet was still in its infancy, I find this little detail to be impressively forward thinking, and quite appropriate for a game that is supposed to be set in the future.

Surprise Pits

Of all the complaints people have against X3’s, arguably the most common one is the existence of some very “cheaply” placed pits which are extremely difficult to avoid. I agree that some of them are pretty bad, but others are avoidable as long as you take it slow and steady until you have the stage memorized.

Here are clips of two of these pits. I leave it up to you to determine their cheapness.

Password Screen

I just remembered that, just like in X2, the game lets you know that a password is valid by showing you Zero’s ugly mug.

Why game? Why Zero again? Screw this game. I take it all back. 0/10 would not play again.