RYAN: Oh, yeah And then I can remember you can ride on the top of the cars

TIM: Oh, yes Yes 100 percent RYAN: Oh, Tim TIM: Let me see if I can blast one of these guys off of there

RYAN: Yeah This is the future The suspension there [INTRO MUSIC PLAYING] RYAN: Hello, my friends, and welcome back to PlayStation Underground On today's episode we are looking at Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 and 2 which is available on July 24th

And I'm joined by Tim Turi from Capcom Tim, welcome to the program, sir TIM: Hey Hello, Ryan Thanks for having me, man

RYAN: It's good to have you here It's good to have Mega Man X here Why don't as I kind of go through my rigmarole, why don't you boot us into — we're kind of playing on a PS4, an unfinished version This is the demo version of Mega Man X TIM: Yeah

This is what we've been rolling around to trade shows like E3 RYAN: So why don't you jump into kind of a classic and iconic level in the Mega Man X series, and we will see that in just a minute But for those that haven't heard about this collection yet, it's kind of split in two You can buy them separately, Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 and 2 TIM: Yep

RYAN: One has X one through four, and the second collection has X five through eight TIM: Yes, you nailed it RYAN: I had it all written down I'm cheating TIM: A hundred percent

And it's going to be like digitally I want X Collection 1 or X Collection 2 or a digital bundle or a physical bundle, lots of options for how you want to go back to this RYAN: And it's approximately $20 US each Or you can get it in the bundle Let's take a look Again, this is not the final version of the game, but it will give a nice little look

Oh my gosh Look at this little man TIM: So here's our little blue man This is X, not to be confused with Mega Man He's actually a different robot

But I'm going to do a little quick customization here So this is a quick glimpse at some of the different options you have You can do a neat little smooth filter or CRT action I love those clean, crisp pixels You can mess with the screen size if you want

Just some of the classic Legacy Collection features But, yeah This is sort of my style RYAN: It's looks fantastic We were talking about this before, but, you know, I grew up with these games, and it's just so great to actually see them in action again and to give folks another opportunity to play

TIM: Oh yeah Same with me So I think it's been super fun to work at Capcom You know, 1994, this was a great way to kick off 1994 One of the 16-bit classics I think of its day

RYAN: Absolutely You beat me to it, but the original release in Japan was December of '93, right? And then the US release was right after that in '94 on the Super Nintendo Again, kind of a classic part of the series The Mega Man series overall, but specifically to kind of give it a new identity a little bit of a darker, more gritty esthetic with some emphasis on story and what's happening in this world of Reploids and Mavericks TIM: Yeah

It's definitely a grittier tone, post-apocalyptic This stage is also just a good practice in level design where it's just like, "Oh crap I'm stuck down here I guess I'll just — hold on Why is there dust coming off of him?" You know, you don't even have to read the instruction book and, you know, like, I can — RYAN: But you always should

TIM: Yeah Exactly And then it's just like, hey, there's secrets in this video game This opening highway stage is really one of my favorite opening stages of any game RYAN: Oh, yeah

Absolutely People have done tons of editorial and videos on why this is such a brilliant stage to introduce players to all the mechanics that you'll be using throughout the game And this is, again, just one of what is essentially eight games in the whole collection in 1 and 2 together TIM: Exactly We got some extra options for the X Collections that we'll be talking about here

One that we kind of breeze past here is a rookie hunter mode where it's like if you just want an easier challenge or maybe you want to play it with someone who hasn't played a lot of Mega Man games, that doesn't have, like, 30 years of muscle memory built up There's a rookie hunter mode where it changes damage values and whatnot RYAN: Oh, okay TIM: Which is nice to have It won't save you from the instant death spikes or anything like that, but good to have

RYAN: Maybe a little more forgiving for folks that want a lighter challenge let's say TIM: Some of them are so hard Like Blast Hornet in Mega Man X 3 is just brutal What I haven't been showing off because I don't have it quite yet is another innovation in the X series, the dash You get that from Chill Penguin stage, the boot armor upgrades

But we're just showing off the intro stages for each of the games now RYAN: And I can remember you can ride on the top of the cars TIM: Oh yes Yes 100 percent

RYAN: Oh, Tim TIM: Let me see if I can blast one of these guys off there RYAN: Yeah TIM: Look RYAN: This is the future

The suspension there Mm-hmm Mm-hmm TIM: The suspension, it's so good And, of course, just like any nitty-gritty, post-apocalyptic future, you have this intimidating airship that just shoots out robots that ride race cars

Why not? RYAN: In any kind of cyberpunky, post-apocalyptic future, you need those, that airship launching cars, launching the cyber-hotrods I don't know TIM: It's really good RYAN: You can go with it, right? Who's this intimidating gentlemen? TIM: So we got Vile who's VAVA in Rockman X But, you know, this intimidating man, Reploid man gone Maverick, which that's sort of the crux of the story is that there are these — and I've been playing through Detroit Become Human, and as I've been working on Mega Man X it's been like deviants, Mavericks, androids and Reploids

But basically it's — he is a Reploids who has gone Maverick and wants to hurt humans because he thinks they are holding back Basically, Sigma, the former Maverick hunter lead that would hunt people like Vile, has basically betrayed humanity and wants to wipe 'em out because they're holding back That's what they think anyway So you're designed to lose that fight RYAN: I was going to say, it seems like there's no way you could win this fight, Tim

TIM: That's why I really phoned it in Usually I would try a little harder RYAN: "You worthless piece of scrap metal" Was that good? TIM: "Did you really think you can defeat me?" That's pretty good RYAN: I always throw a little voice acting into the PlayStation Underground recordings

TIM: It's good for some flavor RYAN: Yeah Oh my gosh Who's this daring hero? TIM: He is an awesome, radical new edition to the staff RYAN: Radical

TIM: So X, who is not the classic "Blue Bomber," he comes with a new friend who's a fellow Maverick hunter named Zero who's, like, the cool guy He's, like, the Raphael of the group I feel like a little bit RYAN: Tim, let me tell you what, you throw a ponytail on someone, and they are going to be cool TIM: And we could try to debate the functionality of a robot having a flowing ponytail RYAN: I thought that was the source of solar energy, you know, absorption

TIM: I read your fan fics I know what you're all about RYAN: Folks, that have followed my career for many years will know that when I was a kid I thought Zero was a girl for, like, a really long time May have harbored feelings for him before I had the truth revealed to me And I felt a little silly

TIM: That's all right RYAN: But look at that ponytail I tell you what TIM: I have platonic love for this particular Maverick hunter So this is the intro to the game

And you can fight any of the eight Mavericks in any order that you want Obviously, we're playing — RYAN: In the full version it won't just end you right there TIM: Yeah Absolutely So I can quickly talk about, you know, you have X1 and the other 2, 16-bit titles, X2 and X3, which are just increasingly challenging but really just tight platforming

And then X4 was where, you know, the series made this leap to PlayStation and had this really close connection from this point on with PlayStation consoles So, yeah This was originally launched on PlayStation 1, and it integrated fully animated cut scenes and what have you So that's a fun one And each also has what people have come to expect from our legacy collections which is — you know, you got galleries of production art

RYAN: Love it TIM: You even get down to, like, these really great 360 crayon drawings of, you know, each of the different powers You get like 360 — what is the back — what's going on underneath that ponytail? RYAN: Yeah What's going on underneath that ponytail? Where are all the solar arrays, their power cells? TIM: So in addition to that, we've added some extra nostalgic trailers Actually, the actual day-of Sigma prologue anime is included which was originally in Maverick Hunter X, the PSP title, the remake of Mega Man X

So that's a fun one to kind of experience the origins RYAN: And what's that little icon at the bottom of — TIM: This little guy RYAN: Yeah What's that little guy right there? TIM: This guy is — what makes Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 and 2 really special is the X challenge mode Do you want to check out a little bit of it? RYAN: A little bit, if that's okay with you

TIM: Yeah 100 percent RYAN: Let do it TIM: Let jump in there So what this is — it is rough

There's a couple of difficulty modes But, you know, unlike our previous legacy collections, I think this one really sets it apart This is a spoiler warning that if you haven't seen these Mavericks before, you may want to see them in the main game before jumping in RYAN: That's very nice Look at you guys, always considerate

Also, there is a lot of radical lightning happening on that main menu TIM: And you heard that squealing electric guitar? RYAN: Oh, I heard that guitar come roaring into my earphones TIM: So there's a loose story set-up for all of this which is just you destroyed all these Mavericks They're back for some reason, and they want you dead RYAN: Okay

Everybody's gunning for X TIM: 100 percent So for the first time in the series you can fight two Mavericks at once in a 2-on-1 battle And they're themed You know, like Arctic Antics

You got Chill Penguin from Mega Man X, Frost Walrus from Mega Man X4 RYAN: Cool TIM: Go to the North Pole and fight these fellas is the rough set-up there And then you have two lives basically, so three tries, to get through three sets of these X challenge modes RYAN: And you can pick your equipment, huh? TIM: Yeah

You can choose three, but you're locked in for those So you have to kind of strategize Like, isn't so and so weak to strike chain? I'll kind of mix and match here So it's interesting because Chill Penguin is very agile and jumps around a lot, and Frost Walrus is more hulking and slow-moving So you have these different sort of plains

RYAN: Oh my god So how are you going to do this, dude? TIM: That's a great question There's a couple things that are going to happen here real quick, Ryan, which is personal preference RYAN: Are you going to customize? TIM: I'm going to customize I know it kills the momentum a little bit but — RYAN: No, no, no

I want you to do you TIM: It's important that I have, as a personal preference, dash on R1 It's really important It's, you know, a special sort of thing for me Not everybody would go this route, but what I love about having dash on R1 — I'm sorry about that

RYAN: No, not at all You're under tremendous pressure Here's the thing, Tim, it is very difficult to play and talk at the same time I commend you for even coming in here and trying TIM: Thank you

Thank you So, all right What we got going on here is I've got the dash attached to R1 which allows me to jump and shoot I think at the apex of my arc a little bit more naturally, just for me You can also double tap in a direction to dash which is pretty classic But, so there's a couple ways to do this

All right Do I want to focus on one of these guys more than the other? I'm just going to try to survive I think RYAN: Yeah Just try to survive And the great thing is what I love about this mode is that you have kind of the developers come in, and it's like a remix at a club

You got all these hot jams from your — hot nostalgic jams that you get to experience in a new way that really hasn't been done before, you know, in any official capacity TIM: Yeah it's certainly not in any Mega Man games Man, these guys are really wiping the floor with me They did really want revenge RYAN: I think you have this actually

TIM: I appreciate the vote of confidence RYAN: You're in rough shape, Tim But that's okay That's part of Underground It's a fun, learning experience, very casual

No one's gonna say that you didn't give it an honest what for TIM: And here's the thing also with seasoned Mega Man players, they know generally if you haven't fought these guys in a while, the first run is kind of an exploratory run RYAN: You're greasing the wheels Is that a term? TIM: Yeah Let's go with that

I mean, they're robots They need greased joints RYAN: Yeah They need motor oil and a variety of other — I don't know I'm going to end my joke there

TIM: Okay So, yeah Looking rough Oh geez Classic

Classic RYAN: You had those two little bars of life left Isn't that so quintessentially Mega Man though You have that one, single bar of life and you get through a battle That is the best feeling

TIM: It's super, super, super satisfying RYAN: I wonder if a lot of my childhood anxiety was actually a result of Mega Man in some capacity TIM: I can almost guarantee it And sort of the tension of a boss fight, I feel like most boss fights had a lot of tension in classic games, in any game growing up But I think the fact that there was always those entrance doors before each fight, that anticipation of, "Oh great

I got a checkpoint," but it's mixed with like, "Oh shoot I only have one try against this boss" RYAN: Any opening corridor in a house, it was instant anxiety If there's two doors in sequence at, like, my friend Billy's house all of a sudden, I'm like what happens at the second door? Why do you need two doors to get into your house, Billy? TIM: If we're talking about the same Billy, it was also all those killer robots in the house RYAN: It was

TIM: Which I think is a good reason for anxiety RYAN: Billy is another name for Sigma actually TIM: Oh, you watched Dave Sigma, the animated prequel that reveals his true identity as Billy I see Oh, man

RYAN: Again, things are rough for you TIM: It's a tough time RYAN: When you're done with this run, what I suggest is we go into X Legacy Collection 2 and maybe we check out an item from that TIM: Yeah Good suggestion

I'm going to give it the old college try, which in this case was Berkeley's College of Music RYAN: As we established earlier in the episode TIM: I'm wondering who's going to fall first Usually it's Frost Walrus just because he's got the bigger hit box and sprite and what have you RYAN: Does a walrus really need to be frost

Aren't walruses just kind of naturally inclined to cold environments? I don't know I'm not a biologist or a marine biologist TIM: That's not your specialty? RYAN: No It really isn't TIM: We can look it up after the show

RYAN: Surprise, surprise A quick Wikipedia search will reveal all about the walrus' natural habitat I'm sure there's a variety of types as well, maybe some that launch giant icicle blasts at passerby TIM: I'm sure Again, I haven't been out in the wild to see that yet but

RYAN: Tim, I'm feeling really loopy today I think it's just getting back from a small vacation that I'm having a little too much fun TIM: Good for you though Oh, shoot I'm down to one pip

RYAN: It's the one, the one little bar Is it actually called a "pip"? Is that the official name? TIM: So, yes I agree So basically for everyone watching, take this as me saying do better than me Get in there

RYAN: You're just showing off a little bit of what's to come That was the point TIM: I got the governor spring on here, and I'm holding back a little bit because I don't want to make people feel too bad when theynget in here and get their butt kicked But let's jump into X Collection 2 and kind of see where the series goes in the long run here RYAN: Sounds good

Let's do it All right, Tim We're back now We're in Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 Why don't you take us and maybe show off a little example from one more game before we call it a day

TIM: Yeah Let's do it So this is Legacy Collection 2 And we've got X5, X6, X7, and X8 X5 and X6 were both additional PlayStation 1 titles, continued the side-scrolling, sprite-based look of the game

Very comparable feel to the classic titles X7 switched things up with fully 3D character models and some actual 3D platforming, introducing a new character called Axl, kind of a rapid-firing Maverick hunter And X8 brought it back more strictly to a side-scroller but with 3D visuals, and Axl continues through We also got X challenge Volume 2 which has some of the same battles from X Challenge Volume 1 from X Legacy Collection Volume 1, but also some unique ones to that title So as I jump in here, I'm going to go to Mega Man X8 which I think is a cool representation of where the series went as they sort of experimented and evolved the formula

RYAN: Yeah After several years — I don't have the release year of the X8, but yes It's a number of years after the original TIM: And we're fully into the PlayStation 2 era now So they're really able to do new things with the visuals which have these 3D character model-based cut scenes

RYAN: I'm like literally looking it up as we record Don't worry about me, folks TIM: 2004 There we are RYAN: There it is

TIM: So I'll jump into normal RYAN: December 2004 TIM: I'm going to save the very dramatic cut scene which involves an elevator to the moon RYAN: My favorite elevator TIM: Spoilers

That's where we're going in the future I guess we can do a quick glimpse of what some of these cut scenes look like which is pretty cool Get those Mechaniloids out there RYAN: Got to get 'em out there Come on

What are you guys doing? TIM: So we're in Noah's park and playing as Axl and X here And Alia is kind of giving some — RYAN: Mission guidance? You got it I was very close to X's actual response TIM: Yeah So you can swap characters on the fly, which this intro stage will play a little ways into it

Because this is actually one of beefiest intro stages of all the X series But he runs left and right, and he shoots out of his Mega Buster or his X Buster in this case RYAN: There you go TIM: One thing I'm going to do again because it's just my own little tendencies is get that options over so that I can get my dash on R1 It just feels better to me

RYAN: And that's the beauty of allowing customization of your gameplay experience TIM: Exactly So you got X who can now — his Air Dash from later X titles is included here now And then on top of that, you can, again, switch on the fly to Axl who also has a hover and a rapid-fire shot which is really nice for enemies like this where I just want to hover above their missiles and change up my tactics RYAN: Terrible design flaw on those enemy parts that they can't fire upwards

TIM: X unfortunately himself suffers from that flaw since Mega Man 1, but that's what the extra weapons are for RYAN: Exactly We need to challenge ourselves in order to rise to the tasks TIM: 100 percent I think our engineers are up to it

She's got good foresight RYAN: Those claws, I mean those are some claws right there TIM: They mean business RYAN: Yeah Those are some business-meaning claws

TIM: 100 percent And this is actually a pretty solid fight that teaches some of the applications for the tag assist, which is one of the features I really like about 7 and 8 So you can dodge it like that, but I'm sure I won't be so lucky every step of the way I can switch to Axl, get a couple of — RYAN: Get that hover shot in there Whoa

There's a lot going on TIM: It is RYAN: Oh Oh TIM: Okay

So I actually got him here this time RYAN: Well done Look at you TIM: Pretty quick RYAN: You mopped the floor

You wanted to redeem yourself after that Chill Penguin, Frost Walrus TIM: I did They're a deadly duo it turns out So we got some samples from that particular Maverick And then X takes a hike

And pretty soon there's these little crabby guys down here These are a good use case for I can't duck and shoot, but I can hover above them and shoot them And, again, teaching about that snazzy — RYAN: Oh this is going to be tough You got it? TIM: Yeah RYAN: Second tries the charm? TIM: I'm going to go this route here

Boom RYAN: Oh, look at that Look at these artful dodges that you're doing TIM: Thank you RYAN: These well-timed hovers

It's like you've done this before TIM: A couple times RYAN: How many times did you practice this before you came on the show? At least once? TIM: At least once Let's just give it at least once I'll be honest, you know

RYAN: You're like, "I got it I got it" TIM: Man, we'll also see another — we got three playable characters this time, so we're bound to get to the second RYAN: I like how you're just clipping the nose of this one, just a little bit Oh, right in the gut

TIM: Gotta work those angles RYAN: Secret cave door Double secret cave door TIM: I think you can get the trajectory just right there Get a few of these "bat baddies

" They actually are reminiscent to me of enemies from Armored Armadillo stage in Mega Man X1, the robotic bats And there's like one classic Batton from the original Mega Man series hidden in there like a classic sprite Little Easter eggs RYAN: I like that you called them "bat baddies," correct? I think that there's a case for you being the official namer for all the various enemies TIM: Thank you for your trust

Capcom USA may have actually taken some liberties with the instruction manual back in the day with like Mega Man 2 and naming them like the Lightning Lord rides his Thunder Chariot and ogres and goblin and stuff like that It's totally incongruous with the Japanese naming, but RYAN: It was the wild west back then, Tim TIM: It really was So now we're Zero, and we got this training boss back here

I think we should take down this form and maybe call it a day RYAN: Sounds good to me TIM: And he's got his patented Triple Slice And, you know, say I wanted to use him for those enemies and then switch to Axl because he can aim straight up RYAN: And how are you switching between them? TIM: L2 is the option there

RYAN: So you did not want her to finish that sentence TIM: No RYAN: We have precious little time TIM: Exactly So here we go

And that can keep up our attacks a little bit better RYAN: Oh, nice Cool TIM: Let's see here Which way is it coming from? I always love a good waterfall boss

RYAN: Oh, 100 percent TIM: Actually, I can work that angle a little bit There we go RYAN: Oh, look at that angle I like the switching mechanic

This is keeping things really, you know, kinetic TIM: I'm into it I think Mega Man X5 integrated the ability to start switching between characters And in this case before I lose a life completely, I was able to switch to Axl and mix things up Oh man

He got me RYAN: Shoot It was all the talking you were doing TIM: That's my bad RYAN: No, it's all good

But that is a nice look at Mega Man X8 which is part of Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 TIM: Yep Tough games RYAN: Oh, yeah Absolutely

You can't be a slouch You got to stay on our toes TIM: 100 percent RYAN: Tim, I really appreciate you coming Any final thoughts before we let you go? TIM: It's just a lot of fun to go back to these ones

And if you didn't get around to some of the later half of the X series, this is an awesome opportunity I just hope everybody has a good time RYAN: Great Tim from Capcom, thank you so much for joining us This has been a look at Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 and 2, both of which are coming out on July 24th on PS4

Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen, and we will see you next time [OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING]