Mega Man X3

Mega Man X3, known as Rockman X3 in Japan, is the third game in the Mega Man X series and the last game to appear on the Super Nintendo, released in 1995. The game was remixed and re-released for the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation in Japan and Europe in 1996 and for the PC in North America and Europe in 1998 featuring FMV sequences and an orchestrated soundtrack. The game's remixed counterpart was also later released as part of the Mega Man X Collection. This is the first game where Zero is playable, which will become a staple in the series (although he only has one "life" and cannot fight stage bosses, with a few sub-bosses as exceptions). It is considered by some fans to be one of the most difficult games in the X series. This is for numerous reasons. Many standard enemies are designed to be approached strategically or with caution, with many having defenses, counter attacks, or other behaviors that prevent the player from just charging in with the Arm Cannon blazing. For example the Drimole-W enemy in Tunnel Rhino's stage, the drills that it launches block shots, and when it's destroyed those drills automatically fire as a last ditch effort. There's also the Walk Blaster in Crush Crawfish's stage, which are programmed to dodge the players shots by laying down to fire as soon as the attack button is pressed. The Crablaster enemies in Volt Catfish's stage break before being fully destroyed, and they emit an energy field that has to be shot through before the job can be finished. Additionally, many bosses have attacks that take off huge chunks of X's health bar, especially before the body armor is obtained.

Story
In the year 21XX, all the Mavericks have been neutralized thanks to the efforts of a Reploid scientist named, "Dr. Doppler". Using his Neuro Computer he has been able to suppress any abnormal behavior in the Reploids and prevent them from going berserk. Many of the most advanced Reploids have gathered near their new mentor and founded "Doppler Town", a perfect Utopian community. With Dr. Doppler guiding them, the world seemed ready to enter a new golden age...

A few months later, the Mavericks who were supposed to have been neutralized by the Neuro Computer suddenly appeared and began to riot... At the Maverick Hunter's headquarters, all the intelligence indicated that Dr. Doppler was the mastermind behind the invasion. Soon, the call went out to X and Zero to destroy the invading Mavericks and to bring Dr. Doppler to justice.

A few hours later, a emergency contact was made by the Maverick Hunter headquarters. They are under attack from Doppler's force. X and Zero return to base immediately to stop them.

After defeating the Mavericks in the headquarters, X and Zero fight against Mavericks around Doppler Town. Analyzing the defeated Mavericks, Dr. Cain pinpointed the location of Doppler's hidden laboratory. When X confronted and defeated Doppler, he found out that Doppler was not responsible for the revolt - Sigma was. Doppler had been infected and had built a new powerful body for Sigma, "Kaiser Sigma", but in the end he is defeated by X. However, he turns into a pure viral form, chasing X and cornering him in an attempt to possess his body.

There are two endings to the game. They both show that Dr. Doppler completed a true anti-virus. One ending shows that Zero picked Doppler's anti-virus and used it with his Z-Saber, dropping down and dealing a fatal blow to Sigma. In the other ending, which occurs if Zero is defeated and is undergoing repairs (that includes obtaining the Z-Saber for X), Dr. Doppler himself comes to the rescue, sacrificing himself to use the anti-virus on Sigma.

Gameplay
Mega Man X3 follows its predecessors in terms of gameplay. Players still control X whilst battling Mavericks and managing through obstacles and tough terrain. Once a boss is defeated, X will copy the weapon of the defeated boss. However, this game also debuts the first playable appearance of Zero, a previous NPC who appeared during cutscenes to assist the player. Zero is first playable in the intro level and can be called upon at certain times in the game. He possesses a stronger variant of the X-Buster, the Z-Buster, which is capable of four level charges. The fourth level charge fires two fully charged Z-Buster shots followed by a slash from the Z-Saber, the most powerful weapon in the game. He also always starts out with a fully upgraded HP gauge as well. However, Zero is unable to do combat with bosses and automatically leaves upon nearing the boss door and thus, cannot gain new weapons.

The Armor collecting from the first and second games return, but has further emphasis. In addition to the armor, the player may collect Enhancement Chips which further upgrades the armor parts, giving X a wider range of abilities. However, if the player collects all of the armor parts but none of the enhancement chips, it is possible to unlock a gold palette swap for the armor which provides all of the enhancement powers automatically. Finally, if certain conditions are met, X can obtain the Z-Saber from Zero, but at that point, he can no longer be summoned to help anymore for the rest of the game.

Bosses
Eight Mavericks:
 * Blast Hornet
 * Blizzard Buffalo
 * Crush Crawfish
 * Gravity Beetle
 * Neon Tiger
 * Toxic Seahorse
 * Tunnel Rhino
 * Volt Catfish

Others:
 * Maoh the Giant
 * Vile MK-2
 * Bit
 * Byte
 * Godkarmachine O Inary
 * Press Disposer
 * Volt Kurageil
 * Dr. Doppler
 * Sigma

Armor

 * See Main Article: X's armors

This is the first and only game in the series with Enhancement Chips. You may receive the normal Upgrade Chips from standard-colored Dr. Light capsules, but from pink Dr. Light capsules, you may receive further enhancements. You may only receive one chip at a time, but you can find all four at once in a special way, similar to the Hadouken and Shoryuken in previous games.

Helmet Upgrade, in Tunnel Rhino's stage: Look for a peculiar boulder in the underground section of the level. Charge up a Triad Thunder to destroy the boulder. The first one you come to will contain a Heart Tank, and the second will contain the Capsule.
 * On the Stage Select screen, text will reveal what items are yet to be found in what stages. Enhancement Chips will be marked as ??????. When you enter a stage, a general map of the stage will be shown by X's helmet.

Helmet Enhancement , in Blast Hornet's stage: Look for a very large pit near the Ride Armor platform. Dash-jump with the Ride Armor to reach the Helmet Enhancement.
 * Whenever X stands still for a while, his energy and Sub-Tanks will begin to be refilled. This is useful in the corridor before Boss battles.

Body Upgrade, in Volt Catfish's stage: In a spike-lined tunnel, you'll arrive in a high room with a strange device at the bottom. Charge a Gravity Well to reverse gravity and allow the device to carry you to the Body Upgrade.
 * Halves the damage X takes and puts up a barrier that reduces the damage X takes from the next hit even further. It lasts for 5 seconds or until the next hit X takes.

Body Enhancement , in Crush Crawfish's stage: While in the outside area, grab a Ride Armor from the platform. Drop down the deep vertical passage and look for what appears to be a bottomless pit next to the broken girders. Drop down and crush the wall, opening the passage to the Body Enhancement.
 * Further decreases the damage X takes, and the barrier both lasts the full 5 second duration, reducing damage EVEN further during that time, no matter how many times X is hit.

Arm Upgrade, in Neon Tiger's stage: Look for a wall with cracks in it, and drill through it with the Tornado Fang. (If your X-Buster shots bounce off of a wall, it's breakable.) Continue into the room to find the Arm Upgrade.
 * If X charges both arm cannons and fires them both in quick succession, the shots will combine and become much more powerful. X can also charge his weapons.

Arm Enhancement , in Gravity Beetle's stage: Again, look for a breakable wall by searching them for cracks and firing at them with the X-Buster. Use the Ride Armor to break it, and continue to find the Arm Enhancement.
 * Adds the Hyper Cannon to X's arsenal; when selected, X will fire charged shots by using the Hyper Cannon's weapon energy. If X has multiple levels of charged shots (Left X-Buster, Right X-Buster, Z-Saber), they will fire in the order they are fired normally. The Hyper Cannon (or Hyper Charge) will not activate until its energy meter is completely full. Its energy is restored as X takes hits, NOT damage; it refills 1 bar every 2 hits.

Leg Upgrade, in Blizzard Buffalo's stage: When snow begins to fall, get as high as possible. Leap off of the third platform and grab onto a ledge. Continue into the tunnel to come upon the Leg Upgrade.
 * Allows X to air-dash once in the air if he has not entered the air through a dash-jump. New to Mega Man X3's air-dash is the ability to air-dash up, albeit not very far.

Leg Enhancement , in Toxic Seahorse's stage: In the underwater area after the Ride Armor platform, use the Frog Ride Armor to destroy the two fans high up. Get out of the armor and climb up the wall. Jump while on the surface of the water to surface-jump. Repeat this technique to cross the water, and you will reach the Leg Enhancement.
 * Allows X to air-dash twice in the air from a normal jump, or air-dash once from a dash-jump.
 * Note: In the SNES version, while it is impossible to obtain more than one upgrade chip in game, it IS possible to trick the game into giving you more than one via passwords. The Password Generator on the Mega Man Home page has options for enabling each chip and up to 3 can be "forced" into the password. (Trying to put in all 4 acts as the Secret chip and will not work). Also, apparently the password has the potential to enable the helmet upgrade chip WITHOUT the armor enhancement, but this is not true of any other part.
 * Note: In the SNES version, while it is impossible to obtain more than one upgrade chip in game, it IS possible to trick the game into giving you more than one via passwords. The Password Generator on the Mega Man Home page has options for enabling each chip and up to 3 can be "forced" into the password. (Trying to put in all 4 acts as the Secret chip and will not work). Also, apparently the password has the potential to enable the helmet upgrade chip WITHOUT the armor enhancement, but this is not true of any other part.

Secrets

 * Hyper Max Armor.
 * X's use of the Z-Saber.
 * In part three of Doppler's Lab, in the chamber with all the teleporters leading to the Maverick rematches, there is some sort of pod in the middle of the room, which can be shot for item pickups (life and weapon energy). If you slash the pod with the Z-Saber, it will blow up but an 1UP will appear on top of it. This can be done each time the pod is restored after each Maverick rematch.

Trivia

 * Neon Tiger's stage music bears a strong resemblance to Guns 'n Roses' My Michelle.


 * Crush Crawfish's stage music early segment sounds very similar to the NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title screen demo music.


 * This is the only game in the Mega Man X series without a fire-elemental Maverick.


 * In the CD versions, during Volt Catfish's intro, a robot very similar to Auto can be seen.


 * This is the first game that allows the player to control Zero.


 * At the end of Mega Man X3, the text says: "To save mankind, he (X) must destroy Zero". This came to pass in Mega Man X5, with a duel between the two of them in Sigma's lair, though it was not actually X who destroyed Zero, but rather Sigma. It should be noted, however, that the Japanese version of the line above never mentions anything about destroying Zero, just that he has to fight him.


 * In the US release of Mega Man X Collection, the European version for Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation was used instead of the U.S. SNES version.


 * In the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation versions, the traditional Robot Master stage intro music is used near the end of the Mavericks' introduction FMVs. That tune is also used in the first Mega Man X game (as well as its remake Maverick Hunter X).


 * In the Sony Playstation version, as well as the Saturn version, the ending credits theme has an uncanny resemblence to the ending theme heard in Resident Evil, another game made by Capcom which was made in the same year for the same consoles as with Mega Man X3.
 * This game makes the first instance of X using the Z-Saber when conditions are met, the second and last instance is Mega Man X6 where X has the Z-Saber by default.