Mega Man X

The Rolling Cutter under a different name, although this one can also snatch items and return them to the user. Since it can grab through walls, this is useful to get those hard-to-reach power-ups. If you catch a Boomerang Cutter that you’d fired (it does not strike any enemies), you regain the energy you’d spent in firing. Shooting this while jumping will cause the cutter to arc downward; otherwise it arcs upward. Charging up fires four large cutters at once.

Shoots a three-way spread of green lasers. If charged, it can render its user totally invulnerable for the duration of its effects (a few seconds).

Fires a sphere of energy forward that flies straight horizontally. If charged it fires two vertical streams of energy which travel left and right across the screen.

A stream of fire jets from the user’s arm cannon. This has very short range and consumes energy to sustain the blast. Charging the Fire Wave can be difficult since you waste weapon energy while charging. Try charging another weapon first, then switching to the Fire Wave right before firing. Alternately, you can try opening the subscreen and closing it while holding down the fire button. When charged, this creates a wave of fire that travels along the ground.

Bring in another homing missile! But I won’t begrudge having one because they’re handy; you can cling to walls and fire away at someone running around below you! When charged, you get multiple torpedoes, and they spiral outward.

In its normal form, the Rolling Shield is just that: it fires blue spheres that roll along the floor. However, its charged state is where the shielding comes into effect—this places a blue sphere shield around the user that makes him more or less invulnerable to attacks. The shield remains until it takes a hit that it can’t sustain. Basically the rule is: if the shield can destroy the enemy with one hit, then the shield won’t disappear; otherwise, it vanishes and you take damage.

Shoots a shard of ice forward that will freeze specific objects. One nice effect of this weapon is it leaves a trail of ice dust as it soars through the air, and this dust can actually freeze things as well as hitting directly with the shard. Charging up the Shotgun Ice will give you a platform which you can ride.

Creates a cylindrical-shaped, horizontal tornado that travels the width of the screen. Alternately, charge up to create a vertical maelstrom.

Energy pellets refill your life meter. The small ones refill 2 units—not a whole lot, but it can really add up. They will also fill your Sub-Tanks if your life meter is full.

These globes are the same as energy pellets except that more energy is refilled.

The colored pellets are weapon energy. They refill your current weapon when picked up. If you aren’t equipped with a weapon or your weapon is full, the energy goes to another weapon that needs it.

These are the same as weapon energy pellets except that more energy is refilled.

Extra lives. If you have one of these when you bite the dust, you’ll be given another chance at the stage.

This adds two units X’s energy meter. That’s two units to his maximum health—you can literally increase the total size of your energy bar with these.

These are permanent containers that can be used to store spare energy and carry it around until it is needed. They are reusable and can be refilled as often as necessary. To fill a Sub-Tank, acquire energy when your energy meter is full, and the energy will go to your tank instead. Tanks which are not completely full may still be used, but they won’t restore much of your energy. A full tank, on the other hand, will always completely refill your health no matter how large your energy meter is. Passwords record which Tanks you’ve found, but they never make note of how full they were; thus whenever you restore a game, all of your tanks will be empty. You must refill them whenever you start the game.

This is a robot walker than X can get into and maneuver around. Most of the controls are the same while in the Ride Armor (jump, attack, and so forth). When you are in a Ride Armor and get hit, the armor takes the damage, rather than X, but after it suffers too much damage, it will be destroyed. (You’ll notice it flashing before this happens.) To hop out of a Ride Armor, press up + jump.

The boots power-up is likely the first enhancement you will obtain. In fact, under normal gameplay you cannot get any other enhancements until you have the boots, and you cannot skip the boots capsule on your way to fight Chill Penguin. These restrictions were most likely due to the fact that Dr. Light’s speech when you obtain the boots is supposed to be the first that you see. Anyway, the boots allow X to dash (press the dash button, or tap twice quickly either left or right). He cannot do so until he receives them.

The helmet upgrade allows X to shake off blows to the head that would have injured him without it. Rocks falling from the ceiling? Not a problem! Just let them bounce off the helmet! Note that this only applies to specific situations; if X is shot in the head, it’s still likely to hurt. Also, the helmet enhancement gives X the ability to smash through blocks with...his head!

The armor enhancement is just that: it increases protection to X and decreases damage inflicted onto him.

The X-Buster enhancement allows X to charge up special weapons and also to reach a fourth level charge on his native buster.

A joke Capcom threw in that allows X to chuck fireballs ala Street Fighter. Press down, down-forward, forward and the fire button to execute it; you must be standing on the ground and have a full life bar to pull it off. The fireball will destroy nearly any enemy with one strike, provided you can hit with it. Many targets that are immune to X’s normal shots will also be unaffected by a fireball. This includes most of Sigma’s body in his final form.

Commonly called simply “X,” this robot was built by Dr. Light for reasons unknown. He fights Mavericks to aid both humans and Reploids, but an inner hatred for violence prevents him from being as good of a Hunter as he could be.

A skilled Maverick Hunter who lets nothing hold him back. Most of Zero’s past is a mystery.

Sigma is one of the Reploids Dr. Cain built from information gleamed from X himself. After going Maverick, Sigma has apparently determined that the human race is inferior to Reploids and must either be enslaved or killed.

A reclusive Reploid that probably through no mistake looks like Boba Fett from Star Wars. Vile seems to harbor a hatred for X and Zero and is driven to destroy them.

This is the man who uncovered Dr. Light’s laboratory during a dig. He released X and built the Reploids, which were robots built with the help of X’s design.

The creator of X who manifests only as holograms in capsules. His capsules give X upgrades for his struggles ahead.

This guy rolls himself into a ball and ricochets around the room. His energy shots are far less dangerous. Hit him with an Electric Spark to knock off his armor, and you will have a much easier time at damaging him.

Kuwanger is fast, almost to a fault; he can also teleport around the room. However, he cannot escape the tracking of the Homing Torpedo, so if you want to make your life easier, stay on a wall and fire torpedoes at him.

This is one of the smaller Mavericks (in the X series it’s rare to see an enemy that is smaller than X). As his name suggests, he is another of the ice robots, who can turn X into a popcicle if you give him the chance. He creates ice blocks and then blows them toward you by hanging on the chain on the ceiling. Knock him off by climbing the wall and firing at him. If you feel like a barbecue, toast Chill Penguin with the Fire Wave.

Both tall and wide, this was one of the first bosses to have a room that is bigger than the width of the screen. This is also one of the more irritating “features” added to the series, since half the time Flame Mammoth is scrolled off the screen where you cannot hit him—but he can hit you! I really recommend taking the Storm Tornado to this guy.

This is one of the more busy battles; you can’t stay in one place for long, and fish and homing torpedoes get sprayed everywhere. Whatever you do, don’t let this guy get his arms on you! He’s capable of siphoning off energy for his own use, and often he takes more than he needs. If you get into his clutches, you’ll have a hard time getting out. So either dash away when he spins, or chop off his arms with the Boomerang Cutter. The Rolling Shield is good for damage.

This hulking robot would love to pound you, but you can freeze him into place with the Shotgun Ice—even in the middle of his dash! Beware, however, as he is too strong to remain encased in ice forever...

This guy likes to climb the back wall of his chamber and blend himself into his surroundings, making him almost invisible. I say “almost” because you can see some distortion if you look hard, especially when he moves. Try the Boomerang Cutter or some Homing Torpedoes on him.

A birdman with impressive wing strength, Storm Eagle can blow you for a loop. He likes to dive on his opponents, but if you are fast enough, you can leap him and get a shot in at the same time. For an easier fight, use the Chameleon Sting.