Mega Man X4 - Reception and Legacy

Reception and Legacy

Reviews for the PlayStation and Saturn console versions of Mega Man X4 have been generally positive. Critics praised the added option to play through the game as either X or Zero, noting that the drastic differences in the way the characters played the same levels added to the game's replay value. However, the same critics concurred that Mega Man X4's 2D side-scrolling gameplay was tired and overdone well before the game was released. GameSpot concluded that "All in all, a few more 3D effects would have been nice, but the decision to stick with a true 2D environment is bold, if somewhat outmoded. Aesthetically, Mega Man X4 is a sizeable improvement over its predecessors, but you must remember that it's only a side scroller." Electronic Gaming Monthly listed the game at number 78 on its "100 Best Games of All Time" in the 100th issue of the magazine in 1997.

The PC version of the game was met with much lower review scores. Tom Price of Computer Gaming World felt appeal of the game itself is limited to Mega Man and platformer fans, who likely already own the console version of Mega Man X4. Computer Games Magazine summarized, "It's simple. If you're a Mega Man fanatic you'll love this game. If you're not, you won't. Yes, Mega Man X4 is better than Mega Man X3, but that's like saying Beach Babes from Beyond is a better movie than Redneck Zombies: it's all drek anyway, so why bother?"

Capcom expressed satisfaction with the commercial performance of Mega Man X4, which it attributed to the company's marketing campaign for the franchise's 10th anniversary. According to Famitsu sales information, the PlayStation version of the game sold 197,385 copies in Japan alone in 1997, making it the 61st best-selling game in the region for that year. In 2002, Capcom re-released the PlayStation version of the game as part of the North American Greatest Hits range, confirming that it had sold at least 350,000 units. Mega Man X4 has also been re-released in multiple budget versions in Japan including PlayStation the Best, PSone Books, and Sega Saturn Collection.

Despite derision for retaining the same gameplay formula that the Mega Man franchise had been using for a full decade, Capcom continued to use 2D side-scrolling for another two installments of the series, Mega Man X5 and Mega Man X6. These three games, as well as the three installments that precede them, were included on the North American Mega Man X Collection for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 in 2006. A mobile edition of Mega Man X4 for au and DoCoMo customers was made available for purchase in Japan. A version featuring X as a playable character was released on December 25, 2011; a version with Zero on January 1, 2012.