Mega Man X: Command Mission

Mega Man X: Command Mission, known as Rockman X Command Mission (ロックマンXコマンドミッション) in Japan, is the second-to-last game in the Mega Man X series to be released. It was released on both the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo GameCube and is primarily RPG-style in nature. It is considered an unrelated spin-off (side story), set outside of the main storyline. Chronologically, it is currently the last game in the series, taking place sometime in the twenty-third century (22XX time period).

Story
In the year 22XX AD, a mysterious mineral known as Force Metal was extracted from the fragments of a meteor that landed in the Pacific Ocean. Technology based on the metal revolutionized the field of Reploid Engineering.

The government built Giga City, an artificial island, near the meteor site for the explicit purpose of mining and smelting of Force Metal. Everything seemed to go well until a band of renegade Reploids armed themselves and launched a rebellion on the island. They banished all humans from the island, and demanded that the government recognize Giga City as an independent Reploid state.

Its leader, Epsilon, was branded a Maverick by the government, who dispatched a Maverick Hunter team to Giga City to liberate the island from Epsilon's grasp.

As X, Zero, and Shadow travel to the Lagrano Ruins, a collapsed pillar separates them. X must then fight his way to a place where he and Zero are reunited. Upon reaching Epsilon's destination, Shadow betrays the team, Epsilon's Cadre appears and knocks Zero away. X has no choice but to escape and gather up a team to assist in defeating the minions of the Rebellion army.

Main characters
Playable characters:
 * Mega Man X
 * Zero
 * Axl
 * Spider
 * Steel Massimo
 * Marino
 * Cinnamon

Non-playable characters:
 * Chief R
 * Nana
 * Professor Gaudile
 * Aile

Bosses

 * Hippopressor
 * Shadow

Rebellion Army
 * Wild Jango
 * Silver Horn
 * Dr. Psyche
 * Mach Jentra
 * Incentas

Rebellion Cadres
 * Botos
 * Ferham
 * Scarface
 * Epsilon

Far East HQ
 * Depth Dragoon
 * Colonel Redips

Secret Bosses
 * Rafflesian
 * Duckbill Mole
 * Ninetails

Locations

 * Giga City
 * Lagrano Ruins
 * Central Tower
 * Tianna Camp
 * Gaudile Laboratory
 * Ulfat Factory
 * Gimialla Mine
 * Vanallia Desert
 * Melda Ore Plant
 * Grave Ruins Base
 * Far East HQ
 * Babel

Trivia

 * Redips's name was misspelled as "Rideps" in the instruction manual. However, this was likely intentional to avoid any chances of those who read the manual noticing the play in his name.


 * In an early version of the game, X had his usual blue armor with bright colors instead of the new exclusive armor from the final version.


 * This is the only game in the Mega Man X series (so far) without Sigma. However, Sigma's previous English voice actor Dave Pettitt performs the role of Epsilon in this game.
 * This is also the only game in the Mega Man X series (so far) that does not feature any Light Capsules, thus also making this game the only one in the series to lack Dr. Light.


 * While not the first in the franchise to be a role-playing game (MegaMan Battle Network being an action RPG), Command Mission was the first (and only) RPG in the X series and in the robot continuity altogether (as the Battle Network/Star Force series is set in an entirely separate timeline).


 * The background music used during Lagrano Ruins (where Epsilon and other Rebellion members were created) is a remix of the theme used during one of Axl's cutscenes in Mega Man X7, when he reveals to Zero the reason he left Red Alert is his A-Trans copy ability.


 * This is the only game in the X series (so far) that does not feature X's Variable Weapon System. On a related note, Zero's techniques aren't learned normally by defeating bosses.
 * Ironically, the closest to the Variable Weapon System is Axl's Transformation attack, which lets Axl use boss abilites, even though in past games Axl couldn't transform into bosses.


 * Concept art for the game suggests that Mega Man and Cut Man were at one point planned to appear in the game; however, they were removed or left out of the overall game for unknown reasons.