Mega Man X8 (Game) - Giant Bomb (2024)

Overview

Mega Man X8 (known in Japan as Rockman X8) is a 2.5D action platformer developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 on December 7, 2004. It was later released for the PC in Japan and Europe on 2005.

The eighth (and final) main installment of the Mega Man X series (and the sequel to Mega Man X7), Mega Man X8 removes some of the more unpopular elements of its predecessor (such as the third-person gameplay segments and enemy lock-on) while enhancing the tag-team mechanics (allowing both characters to combine their powers into a powerful attack and allowing one character to break another character out of a bind) and adding a new "Navigator" mechanic, where players can pick one of three Navigators (Alia, Layer, or Palette) to assist the player with information about bosses, enemies, and secrets. The game also introduces "guard breaks" to the series (where certain enemies can make themselves resistant to all attacks except a unique attack) and removes the abilities to duck and rescue captured Reploids.

Set in 21XX, the game takes place sometime after the events of Mega Man X7. Growing weary of Reploids becoming Mavericks who wreck havoc across Earth, humans begin colonizing the Earth's moon with the "Jakob Project" (including an orbital elevator) and an advanced new generation of Reploids (who can shapeshift for versatility and have a computer chip granting immunity from viruses). When the Reploid supervisor of the Jakob Project, Lumine, becomes kidnapped by revived Maverick mercenary Vile, it's up to Maverick Hunters Mega Man X, Zero, and Axl to stop a new wave of Maverick attacks across the world while finding the whereabouts of Lumine.

Gameplay

Mega Man X8 does away with the 3-D elements that was found in Mega Man X7; the game stays true to its 2-D roots. Axl, who was introduced in the previous game, returns as a playable character. New features are also introduced in the game, such as the R&D Lab - which acts as a item store.

When first choosing a stage, the player has the option to pick two of three characters. The new feature in the game is a double attack move; a meter is presented on the left side of the health bar. When filled, the player can unleash a dome around the character; if a maverick is near by the dome, the player will enter a matrix-like zone and unleash an onslaught attack. A tag team mechanic is also featured, it can be useful when one of the characters is caught in the hands of a giant maverick. The tag team can also be useful when a character's health is badly damage - sometimes when a character gets damaged, part of the health meter will turn red, meaning that part of the meter can be recovered if the player tags out to the other character; it works similarly to how the health meters worked in the Marvel Vs. games.

The game retires the ability to save reploids that was first introduce in Mega Man X5, but in replace of that is the rare metals. The rare metals are found hidden in the stages, and they are used to unlock new chips in the R&D lab.

The R&D lab is pretty much the item store that was in the original Mega Man series. The player can collect metals that are found in the stages of the game. They are use to purchase chips that are use to improve on certain abilities of each of the playable characters.

The player can also be ranked for his or her performances after completing a stage. The player will be judged based on the amount of mavericks destroyed, metals collected, and the amount of time spent in the stage.

Another new feature in the game is the ability to choose a navigator. Alia returns along with two new characters to the X series, Layer and Palliette. Each navigator has their own traits, Alia explains the nature of each of the stages, and warns the player about certain dangers that the stage contains. Layer explains weak points that are found on the bosses of the stages, and Palliette will expose secrets in the stages.

Armors

While X8 does have multiple suits of armor like a few of the previous X games, one new feature in this game is the ability to mix and match different parts of different suits to create your suit of choice. This being the case, here is a list of the individual pieces and their enhancements, as opposed to a list of each suit of armor:

Icarus Armor

• Head Parts - Powers up jumps so that they hurt enemies above the player character if they collide with them.
• Body Parts - Cuts the damage the character takes in half.
• Arm Parts - Gives the character a powerful continuous laser attack if they charge up all the way that stops them in mid-air if they do it there.
• Leg Parts - Increase jump height.

Hermes Armor

• Head Parts - Faster weapon charge speed.
• Body Parts - Activates X-Drive, which increases the armor's abilities so long as the character has a lot of energy left.
• Arm Parts - Gives the character a three-way Charged Shot.
• Leg Parts - Makes it so the character are invincible while they dash.

Ultimate Armor

This one is a full suit of armor on it's own, and is obtained by beating the game with 100% of X's items that can be bought from the store with metals gained in the levels. The player character can move faster and jump higher, and they have an invincible dash. It also gives them an incredibly powerful X Buster, even if it isn't charged. It cuts the incoming damage in half and gets rid of knockback when the character takes damage, as well as unlocking a crazy special attack that rockets X forward and cuts boss's HP down to exactly one point. Yes, even the final boss.

Mavericks

Mega Man X8 once again introduces a series of bosses with unusual names, the game's rogue reploids - simply known as Mavericks. As with previous Mavericks, their names are comprised of an animal and a type of attack they tend to employ.

Gravity Antonion

• Stage - Primrose
• Weapon - Squeeze Bomb
• Weakness - Shadow Runner

Earthrock Trilobyte

• Stage - Metal Valley
• Weapon - Crystal Wall
• Weakness - Squeeze Bomb

Gigavolt Man-o-War

• Stage - Dynasty
• Weapon - Thunder Dancer
• Weakness - Crystal Wall

Avalanche Yeti

• Stage - Central White
• Weapon - Drift Diamond
• Weakness - Thunder Dancer

Burn Rooster

• Stage - Inferno
• Weapon - Melt Creeper
• Weakness - Drift Diamond

Bamboo Pandamonium

• Stage - Booster Forest
• Weapon - Green Spinner
• Weakness - Melt Creeper

Optic Sunflower

• Stage - Troia Base
• Weapon - Shining Ray
• Weakness - Green Spinner

Dark Mantis

• Stage - Pitch Black
• Weapon - Shadow Runner
• Weakness - Shining Ray

Cut Man (side boss)

• Stage - Troia base
• Weapon - None
• Weakness - ???

NOTE: All weapons listed are for X ONLY. The same weaknesses still apply with Zero and Axl's corresponding weapons.

Soundtrack

The Soundtrack for Mega Man X8 was composed by Yuko Komiyama, Naoto Tanaka, and Shinya Okada.