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Hey guys, I know I'm very late I mean given what's been going on I think that you can cut me some slack while I focused on other priorities. But anyway during these UNCERTAIN TIMES we have to keep ourselves and each other occupied and hopeful. So what better way than to give people hope for the future by looking at a civil war between robots for the safety of humanity? I know I was going somewhere with this but screw it it's the Month of Mayga Man once again and now I can finally talk about my favorite entry in the Mega Mans series; Mega Man X.
Last year I started off by talking about my favorite robot Masters from the classic series so why not do the same for the X series? Now admittedly the Mavericks aren't exactly as memorable as their Robot Master predecessors so there may be some times where aesthetics triumphs over all or only because their weapon is awesome but at least it will be much shorter since there's 8 mainline X games as opposed to the 11 of the classic series. Now rest assured there are some bad Maverick bosses in these games, but that's for next time for now let's get to the good ones.
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| From the Original Mega Man X we have Storm Eagle. |
Originally a Maverick hunter alongside X and Zero; Storm Eagle fell in with Sigma after he was bested in battle by the former Maverick Hunter leader. In battle he relies on both his aerial skills and the arena to eliminate anyone who dares to stop him and his new master. He provides a decent challenge for those who pick him as their first stage and his weapon the Storm Tornado is one of the best weapons in the franchise for the amount of coverage and damage it can dish out to common enemies. Him being a formerly noble Maverick Hunter also gives a decent amount of weight to the encounter between him and X in Maverick Hunter X where you can hear the regret in Eagles voice as he declares his intention to fight for Sigma. Also the humanoid bird design is simple but effective, a nice base to judge other Mavericks by in my opinion.
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| X2 we have yet another bird Maverick, Overdrive Ostrich |
Just like Storm Eagle Ostrich was formerly a Maverick Hunter who joined Sigma after recognizing his new speed after he was forced into retirement when he lost his ability to fly after an accident on a mission. (But then again good thing he was based on an Ostrich which ca't even fly in the first place so I honestly don't know how he could fly in the first place, rockets maybe?) Anyway his weapon is one of the three that works on the X-Hunters, making him a top priority if you want to save Zero. Thankfully his strategy is easy to figure out and provides a decent challenge if you do decide to go after him first. Though outside of the X-Hunter weakness his Sonic Slicer is just ok.
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| Blizzard Buffalo was picked for X3, though mostly because he was the only one you can beat to star the weakness chain. |
Now a major problem with X3 is that there's no happy middle ground with the bosses, either you stream-roll them with their weaknesses or they crush you with their high defenses, nearly unavoidable attack patterns and hard hitting attacks. The only reason Blizzard Buffalo is on this list is because he has an exploit that you can use to take him down and start the weakness chain. Though to be fair his weapon does cause enemies to drop heath when they're destroyed with it so there's that.
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| X4 I picked the only Maverick that actually affected the story, Magma Dragoon |
Now unlike Storm Eagle who only go expanded on in the remake; Maverick Hunter X Magma Dragoon's actions actually do have an impact on the story as he was the one who caused the Sky Lagoon to crash thus sparking the conflict between the Maverick Hunters and Repliforce. Though his reasoning was rather weak as he only helped Sigma so he could have a chance to fight X and Zero. Now at least outside of Japan this is weak but apparently this is elaborated in expanded material that never left Japan. But aside from that we do have a chance to fight him using a Ride Armor making him at least a decent choice for the first pick of the weakness chain. Also he's basically a walking Street Fighter reference and hey if Capcom decided to reuse him as the practice mode boss in X5 I'm guessing someone else liked him too.
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| For X5 I picked one of two survivors of Repliforce, Spiral Pegasus |
As X4 was the first to try to expand on the Maverick's back stories aside from "humans suck all hail Sigma" Pegasus here is a sign of continuity between the games as he and Burn Dinorex are the last surviving members of Repliforce. Now X and Zero don't want to kick him when he's down but since Pegasus has a component for the Rocket that is humanity's last hope and that he's infected with the Sigma Virus he unfortunately has to be taken down. Plus Pegasus has the chance to avenge either General, Colonel or Iris (depending on who fights him) while trying to uphold the honor of his fallen organization. Also just like Storm Eagle his outdoor battle arena offers him a major advantage, on top of the fact that his weakness doesn't annihilate him in one click of a button making for an actual challenge that I can appreciate. Sadly his weapon is just ok with X and rather tricky to pull off for Zero but nevertheless I have to give the thumbs up for fly boy here.
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| X6 is Blizzard Wolfang, the best of the worst Mavericks from the Worst game in what I consider the worst game in the X series. |
I'll save my complaints about X6 for later but hey at least Wolfang looks cool (pardon the pun) and at least this game really tries to give the Mavericks some decent backstories for why they're helping the bad guys. Mostly due to a debt that they owe the main villain of X6, Gate. In Wolfang's case he was blamed for a cave in that North Pole research team and left to freeze to death by Alia. Shame that only gets mentioned at the end of the level but I can at least acknowledge the effort, but that's all.
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| X7 is where I bring up yet another avian Maverick, Wind Crowrang. |
X7's Mavericks all have their own unique quirks, most of which can be fixed by switching to the Japanese audio track on the Legacy collection. But just like X6 there's not much to these guys other than Axl's former teammates. Out of all of these guys I'd say that Crowrang is at least the most interesting from a visual perspective. Maybe it's just because the Avian Mavericks still have the pseudo humanoid design along with their wings but I just think that they look cool. I'll unfortunately have more to say on Red Alert when I get to the worst Mavericks list but at least Crowrang just barely manages to slink on by on his design.
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| Lastly we have X8 and the last bird, Burn Rooster. |
X8 is a step back in the right direction for the most part in terms of Maverick designs. Of these New Generation Reploids I have a bit of a soft spot for Burn Rooster. While the rooster design sounds goofy the emphasis of his legs in his design blends in well with his flaming kick attacks, those talons helping out with that. On top of that if players aren't careful and minding the arena Rooster can roast them with his desperation fire tower and Melt Creeper combo. With that I'm officially back in action, next time I get into the guts with what I consider to be the worst Mavericks.
Megaman X is owned by Capcom.
