Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on MegaMan 2 and X. We talk difficulty for sure, before turning to our usual takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: More of MegaMan X

Issues covered: the big story turn inside the boss, the tedium of taking out enemies again and again to get drops, minimal loot tables, seeing more of an enemy, the limitations of trial and error and difficulty, playtime and quarters, designing around lives, fighting games, a bad port, the social experience of arcades, shifting marketing, a different design mentality, hot-swapping weapons, other usability additions, reusing a formula, mini-bosses and learning things, simpler patterns, the dash on a button, good boss character design, doing the hard thing, Ornstein and Smough, game structure around bosses and experimentation, having to account for the Buster, getting things from the bosses, variety of environments, the cohesion of the levels, character feel, the mascot, vibrancy of the visuals, accessibility, games and agency, Solaire as an accessibility option, house rules as an accessibility option.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Castlevania, Super Metroid, Dark Souls, NES/SNES, Sega Genesis, Pac-Man, Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, Nintendo, Sony, Circuit City, Fry's Electronics, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, Mario (series), Metal Gear (series), Sam Thomas, The Last of Us II, Ratchet & Clank, Super Smash Bros, Celeste, Dark Forces, id Software, Ninja Gaiden, Tomonobu Itagaki, Candyland, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia, Dog Game Club.

Links: SSB Mega Man trailer Bit Brigade Concert

Next time: ??? Time will tell

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