Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, known as Irregular Hunter X (イレギュラーハンターX, Irregular Hunter X) in Japan, is a remake of the original Mega Man X. It was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2005/2006. The game is also cross-playable on the PlayStation Vita via PSN Download, available since the PlayStation Vita's launch on February 15, 2012.^[1] This remake has new gameplay features and character redesigns, and due to its altered story elements, it is considered a separate continuity from the rest of the Mega Man X series.

Differences and Extras[]

As a remake, Maverick Hunter X provides a large amount of changes and new features to the original Mega Man X experience.

Gameplay[]

• A brand-new graphical art style featuring 3D graphics. Many characters and items have been redesigned to a more modern aesthetic reminiscent of Mega Man X8, which released in the same year as this title (e.g. Light Capsule designs, Life Energy and Weapon Energy designs, Ride Armor designs). Notably, the eight Maverick bosses have undergone heavy redesigns.
• The Password function from the original game is completely absent, instead the player can now save their progress.
• The player can remap game controls.
• After completing the game and saving it, the player automatically unlocks Free Mode for that save file, allowing the player to battle against all of the bosses by progressing through their respective stage.
• All bosses behave invariably different from their original game counterparts, some having different attack patterns entirely.
• Two difficulty options are available to choose from upon starting a new game: Normal or Hard. Selecting Hard causes the player to take more damage and gives bosses more difficult attack patterns, some even utilizing new attacks.
• The Day of Σ, an unlockable four-chapter cinematic animation. It is a prologue story that depicts the events directly preceding Maverick Hunter X, including the beginning of Sigma's Maverick rebellion and his first confrontation with X.
• At the end of the Opening Stage, Vile now has an energy bar and X must defeat him in order to progress.
• Shuffled locations of the Light Capsules containing the Armor Parts:
  • The Foot Parts are in Flame Mammoth's stage, in the same place as the Arm Parts in the original game but with the ceiling lowered for easier access. Unlike the original game, it is not mandatory to for the player to collect the Foot Parts to complete the game.
  • The Head Parts are in Chill Penguin's stage, in a new hidden area in the vertical passage just before the Foot Parts in the original game. It is barricaded by blocks that require the Foot Parts to destroy.
  • The Body Parts are in Storm Eagle's stage, in the same place as the Head Parts in the original game.
  • The Arm Parts are in Sting Chameleon's stage, in the same place as the Body Parts in the original game.

• The Sigma Palace stages have drastically different layouts, and the boss rematch order in the stages has been rearranged:
  • Sigma Palace 1 goes under the palace's moat rather than scaling the wall, and features rematches with Launch Octopus and Boomerang Kuwanger. Vile is not encountered here, his battle having been moved to Sigma Palace Stage 3.
  • Sigma Palace 2 has new underground and above-ground platforming segments, and features rematches with Armored Armadillo, Storm Eagle and Spark Mandrill.
  • Sigma Palace 3 is a hall of banners featuring rematches against Chill Penguin, Sting Chameleon and Flame Mammoth, followed by the fight with Vile (without battling his Ride Armor).
  • Sigma Palace 4 remains relatively unchanged, although Sigma remains in the background during the fight with Velguarder.
• As in the original game, if the player first reaches the fight with Vile in Sigma Palace 3 without the Arm Parts upgrade, Zero will grant them his. However, the charged shot acquired from Zero is different from the one acquired from the Light Capsule; the capsule's parts have the classic Spiral Crush Buster charge shot, while Zero's parts have a red blast identical to Zero's Z-Buster charge shot which does more damage to bosses.
• Most of the cast features voice clips in gameplay, such as X calling out the names of his Special Weapons and the Maverick bosses taunting the player during their battles.
• Completely rewritten dialogue, including two sets of pre-boss battle conversations with X for each of the eight Mavericks; the second set of conversations occurs after watching The Day of Σ from the menu. These dialogues are fully voiced, bringing over the full-voiced dialogue features of Mega Man X8 into this game as well.
• A completely redone soundtrack, mostly consisting of remixes of the original music from Mega Man X. There are some noticeable changes, such as Zero's theme containing an additional segment similar to the version used in Mega Man Zero, and some completely new compositions such as Sigma's theme lifted from The Day of Σ.
  • Vile now has the Sigma Palace boss theme for his first battle rather than the regular boss theme.

• Vile Mode, an unlockable non-canon story featuring Vile as the protagonist. As a playable character, Vile has access to three different weapons - one for his Arm, Shoulder, and Leg respectively - and he acquires new weapon sets as he defeats each Maverick boss, which must be equipped before each stage. He can use these three weapons an unlimited number of times, but is locked to those three weapons for the entirety of the stage. Each attack uses some of Vile's auto-charging Weapon Energy. However, this game mode is considerably more difficult than X Mode due to the altered enemy distribution in each stage and Vile's inability to gain Armor Parts (somewhat compensated by the Speed Devil and Frozen Castle upgrades). This mode culminates in Vile facing X and Zero simultaneously as a final boss.
• The method of acquiring the secret Hadouken capsule only requires one trip through Armored Armadillo's stage, but the player must take no damage the entire time. The Hadouken itself works much the same with one key change: Sigma's final form is no longer immune to it, allowing players to defeat him in one hit.^[2]
• A playable demo for Mega Man Powered Up, which includes Cut Man's stage and boss fight in both Old Style and New Style.
• The player can now use a secondary attack button for X to fire the X-Buster in addition to the regular attack button (same as Mega Man X4 ~ X6), but the X Buster can't be charged when holding the secondary X Buster attack button, unlike X4 ~ X6. Netherless, it can be used to input the Hadouken while being equipped with other weapons.
• Electric Spark got a different charged attack, where X launches multiple electric energy balls from his body. (Originally, his Buster threw an electric wall forwards.)

Continuity[]

Unlike Mega Man Powered Up, Maverick Hunter X is a reboot to the X series. It was the intention of Keiji Inafune to completely redo the first six games of the Mega Man X series in this new continuity, but this project was discontinued due to poor sales of Maverick Hunter X. Examples of the remake's continuity changes are:

• A Navigator sometimes relays information to X at the Stage Select screen. She also speaks directly with X at the start of the Opening Stage, but does not contact X during any other stages, unlike the Navigators of other X games.
• The city where the Central Highway is located is identified as Abel City, and part of it is destroyed by a missile strike prior to the events of the game.
• Dr. Cain is killed by the missile strike on Abel City.

Gallery[]

For this subject's image gallery, see Mega Man Maverick Hunter X/Gallery

English Logo

Cover art

Japanese cover

Japanese cover (CapKore)

North American cover

European cover

Thumbnail for Capcom Japan's list

Value Pack Japanese cover.

See also[]

• Mega Man Maverick Hunter X Damage Data Chart (X)
• Mega Man Maverick Hunter X Damage Data Chart (Vile)
• Mega Man Maverick Hunter X Script (X's story)
• Mega Man Maverick Hunter X Script (Vile's story)
• Vile's weaponry
• Mega Man Powered Up
• Irregular Hunter X / Rockman Rockman Value Pack

Trivia[]

• According to Keiji Inafune's comments in Mega Man X Official Complete Works, Vile was chosen to be the second playable character in order to give players the opportunity to see the same events from a villain's perspective, feeling that it would have been "too obvious and boring" if the new option was to play as Zero.^[3]
• Before the game's release, Capcom made a promotion in Japan where five winners received a script of the game signed by five of its voice actors.^[4]
• The game's engine has been repurposed and used for Mega Man X DiVE.
• The Japanese version contains a unique vocal track played during the start up intro. The North American version instead plays a standard original theme and has Mark Gatha as X announce "CAPCOM".^[5]
• This is the only game where X talks during Dr. Light's dialogues.

External links[]

• Irregular Hunter X official site (archive)

References[]