Mega Man X Level Analysis

When it comes to great tutorial levels, the first stage in Mega Man X is absolutely amazing. This is a game which teaches you nearly all of the mechanics of the game, both old and new, in one simple yet eventful stage. Yet, it does so without even giving the player a single literal tutorial, control sheet, or any tips whatsoever. But how?

All of the teaching is done through the gameplay that occurs throughout the level, which is carefully constructed by the designers to continuously challenge the players and force them to use their heads to figure out how to defeat certain enemies and escape traps. To better understand what I am going into here, feel free to enlarge and then take a look at this analysis of the entire stage, which includes everything from the player (Mega Man X), the platforms, enemies, traps, mini bosses, and boss.

The design starts off right from the get go, leading the player to the right and instantly provoking an encounter with the first enemy, a (rather stupid) Spiky. The spiky rolls at a pretty high speed, but is small and can easily be jumped over by X. Wait, what? But how do you jump? The game forces you to explore the four buttons on the pad to figure out which one does which, until they figure out the right one to press to dodge the Spiky's attack. Phew! One enemy down.

Suddenly, the player encounters another enemy. A dreaded Gun Volt! These enemies are too big to jump over, so an alternative must be found. This is when the player is forced to use their buster for the first time. The Gun Volt will fire off projectiles that must be jumped over (now that the player knows how to do this), doing so until it is defeated by the players buster. Alright! Now the player has mastered firing.

The next enemies encountered are pairs of Crushers, who position themselves above the player and slam their spikes down to create sizable pits in the platforms below them and (ideally for them) the player. If the player successfully dodges their attacks, his only method of defeating them are to jump and shoot at the same time, combining the two previously learned techniques.

After fighting through a few more enemies and progressing to the second section of my analysis, the player encounters the first mini boss, a massive Bee Blader. With ever hit of the buster, the Bee Blader advances one more space to the player as it attempts to spawn enemies which slowly make their way to the player as well. Once the Bee Blader is defeated, it falls down on the platform below it, causing both the player, the remains of the Bee Blader, and the platform to crash down to a sort of cavern below. The player has absolutely no knowledge of how to get out of this predicament... Until they attempt to run towards the wall. This is when the player learns how to wall jump by jumping and holding themselves against the wall, allowing them to escape the pit and progress forward inside the level. In addition to this, the two health packs are visible as the player is stuck in the pit, allowing them to go down and retrieve them to test out their newfound skills.

For the remainder of the level, the player progresses through a gauntlet of enemies, running and gunning their way and jumping off of falling platforms until they get to a long straightaway road which leads them directly to the boss of the level, Vile. Vile spawns from an airship which approaches from the top of the screen, and starts to fight the player after a brief monologue. The player can try to fight Vile, but will do absolutely no damage, until Vile inevitably stuns the player and puts them into some sort of energy cage. It is at this moment when the player feels absolutely hopeless, as all of the tactics and methods that they have previously learned have failed them.

But! Out of nowhere, Zero (Another Mega Man) fires off a shot at Vile, causing him to flee and rescuing you in the process. He tells you that while you are powerful, you still have much to do and are not as powerful as you can be. This inspires the player to go forth and play through the game, where they collect armor and ability upgrades and various powerful weapons to defeat Vile and even bigger, badder bad guys later in the game.

This game is an absolute masterpiece in terms of teaching the player through its level and enemy design, and I cannot stress that point enough. Every game designer should know how it accomplishes this feat, and I reccomend that you play through it to see for yourself if you haven't already!

As always, thanks for reading!