When Nintendo leaped into the 16-bit universe, many of their core franchises got substantial facelifts. They looked brighter, sounded better, and were just bigger and better versions of their 8-bit counterparts. And a lot of them got "Super" added to their titles (Super Metroid, Super Punch-Out, Super Castlevania IV, Super Ghouls 'N' Ghosts). We never got "Super Mega Man", though. We got Mega Man X.

A complete re-boot/spin off of the original Mega Man series, Mega Man X took place in the future, years after the original series. It stars new characters and some new gameplay mechanics, while maintaining the core fundamentals of the previous Mega Man games. You have to defeat 8 boss robots, in any order you want. When you defeat them, you gain access to their weapons, and each robot is weak against another one's powers. After you beat them all, you go fight a final boss, and save the world. Capcom comes up with 8 more robots, and you rinse and repeat.

X took the series in a cool new direction. He looked badass, the robot masters looked incredible, the music is the best on the SNES (I don't care what you say). This game gave the Mega Man series a new coat of paint, and it's fucking awesome. The Mega Man franchise is one of my all-time favourites, and for my money the debut of X is the best of the bunch. This game is one of my "video game comfort foods". I'll never get tired of playing it.

My buddy Tyler is my guest this week, and if you haven't figured it out by now, we talked about how much we like Mega Man X. Give it a listen.