E3 06: Mega Man ZX Hands-On

LOS ANGELES--Capcom is bringing out a handful of new Mega Man games for Nintendo's handheld systems. Among those is Mega Man ZX, a side-scrolling action game for the Nintendo DS. We stopped by the Nintendo booth on the E3 show floor to get some hands-on time with the game.

The demo we played contained both of the playable characters in the game. Both Vent and his female partner Aile are couriers working for the Girouette Express. On one particular mission involving the transport of powerful material known as biometal, which lets people assume different forms, the characters are attacked by bandits who want to steal the cargo. A struggle ensues, and the hero character ends up absorbing the Model Z biometal, while the boss of Girouette Express absorbs the Model X biometal. The boss then lends the Model X to the hero character, which results in the Model ZX biometal referenced in the title of the game.

It's a convoluted story for what is basically a side-scrolling shooter, so don't give it too much thought. What it all comes down to is entering themed levels and running from the left side of the screen to the right side while shooting or slashing everything in your path. The demo we played included two levels: Area H, which is home to the boss creature known as Purprill the Mandroid, and Area E, which is presided over by Hivolt the Raptoroid.

The two levels were quite different in style but involved the usual platform-hopping, enemy-killing gameplay. One level took place at an amusement park, with Ferris wheels, miniature trains, and other rides. In one area of the game, we were inside one of those crane games, and we kept sinking into the stuffed animals and other toys while a crane would occasionally come along and pick us up and dump us in a pit. We eventually encountered a massive metool that filled up about half of the upper screen on the DS. As they are known to do, it hid under its helmet, only peeking out to shoot occasionally. This was the only time our shots actually hit the enemy, and it took quite awhile to take the boss down. After we defeated the massive metool, we continued on through the stage, so it looks like there will be multiple boss battles in each level.

The other level we played took place in a futuristic power plant, where an evil corporation was harvesting the power of defenseless cyber elves. This level was filled with more modern enemies and hazards, such as large mounted cannons, crushing pistons, treadmills, and energy arcs. The miniboss of this level was a large bulldozer with a spiked drum on its front. The boss would extend the drum and try to ram us, but we were able to avoid death by latching on to a nearby wall and blasting away at the enemy when it was exposed.

The controls in Mega Man ZX are simple enough to make jumping from platform to platform and fighting enemies feel fast and fun, yet still challenging. Each character has multiple attacks, depending on which form he or she is in. You can hold the Y button to bring up a directional menu that lets you select which form you want to transform to. We didn't notice much of a difference between the different forms during the demo, but apparently, each model has unique saber and beam attacks, as well as special moves such as slides and wall-kicks. We saw a wide range of different moves and abilities for each character. There are sword attacks, dashes, slides, and charge shots, as well as moves that let you glide from one platform to another. The levels are designed to make you take advantage of every move at your disposal, and some of the sections we played presented a respectable challenge.

The game looks good at this point. We did see some slowdown at a few points, but we hope that will get taken care of before the game is released. The backgrounds are colorful and detailed, and the enemy and character sprites look good and animate well.

Of interest is the fact that in the entire demo we played, we didn't have to use the touch screen once. In fact, we never even needed to look at it really, because all the action took place on the top screen. Based on what we did play, it looks like Mega Man X fans will be right at home with ZX. Be sure to stay tuned to our gamespace for more details as they become available.