History VideoGame / MegaManX1

Having free will, some of the Reploids went rogue and are branded Mavericks. To counter the threat, a law enforcement group known as the Maverick Hunters, led by Sigma, were formed. Then Sigma himself goes Maverick, taking many of the Maverick Hunters with him to lead an anti-human rebellion. X, feeling responsible for the chaos and desperate to stop it, heads out with the Maverick Hunters, now led by ace warrior Zero, to confront the Sigma and his Maverick rebellion.

Having free will, some of the Reploids went rogue and are branded Mavericks. To counter the threat, the Maverick Hunters, led by Sigma, were formed. Then Sigma himself goes Maverick, taking the Hunters with him. X, not wanting the fighting to continue, heads out with the Maverick Hunters, now led by Zero, to confront the Mavericks.

** In Chill Penguin's stage, the area immediately after you recieve the dash upgrade is designed to encourage you to use it, allowing you to rush over most of the enemies in your path.

* BossBonanza: The Sigma stages have multiple bosses to fight per stage. The first stage has a battle with Vile, followed by the return of Boomer Kuwanger, and then Bos(s)pider to end it. The next stage pits you against Chill Penguin and Storm Eagle for the second time before bringing on Rangda Bangda. The third stage features rematches against Armored Armadillo, Sting Chameleon, Spark Mandrill, Launch Octopus, and Flame Mammoth, culminating with D-Rex. The final stage is a BossOnlyLevel where you have to destroy Velguader before the climatic battle against Sigma can commence.

* DubNameChange: This is the first Mega Man game to change he names of the bosses for the American version, a tradition that will go on the next games, being Boomer Kuwanger the only exception. So, they are, from Japanese to American:

* EarlyGameHell: The game starts off quite hard if you don't get the upgrades right away and fight bosses out of a specific order and without their weaknesses. Half of the bosses (Armored Armadillo, Sting Chameleon, Spark Mandrill, and Launch Octopus) are very hard to fight with your X-Buster alone, and a lot of the platforming in stages like Flame Mammoth's and Storm Eagle's stages tend to be tight and demanding of precision or have frustrating obstacles to overcome (the lava in Mammoth's stage can kill you in two hits, and you're being hounded by columns of fire and Degraver enemies at the same time, and Sting Chameleon's stage has a very tedious collapsing cave segment). On top of that, even the easier boss fights like Storm Eagle and Boomer Kuwanger have fast and hard hitting attacks that you have very little time to dodge. The game gets considerably easier once you get the dash upgrade in Chill Penguin's stage, and even easier once you get the other upgrades and the bosses' weapons.

** Flame Mammoth's stage, besides the typical lava obstacles, has large piles of junk that can fall on you if you try and rush through, testing the player's reflexes before they fight the behemoth Maverick.

** The Dash is given to you through a capsule rather than being an ability that X already has. (This would get a clever retcon in X2, as X deciding in-between games that the Dash particularly was incredibly vital, so he "interalized" its function into himself.)

** The boss refights are done ala ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'', being interspersed throughout the Sigma Fortress stages in a fixed order instead of having their own dedicated level where the player can choose who they fight.

* FrictionlessIce: The icy areas in Chill Penguin's stage.

* SelfImposedChallenge: Several have been thought up, and multiple ones can be combined for even more challenge:
** Low% (not taking any upgrades except the Boots, which cannot be skipped except via password, and Zero's cannon)
** Dashless
** No damage
** Buster only
** Reverse boss order (defeating the bosses in the opposite order of their weakness)

* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Sigma's OneWingedAngel form.

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/270px-mmxpromo_5341.jpg]]

* KaizoTrap: If you get blown off the edge of the map just as you beat Storm Eagle, you fall to your death with no chance to grab onto the edge, as defeating the boss locks your ability to move.

** The Dash is given to you through a capsule rather than being an ability that X already has.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: ZigZagged. The Fire Wave is a short-range flamethrower that does unremarkable damage and chews up ammo rather quickly. Not a very useful weapon overall, and the boss that's weak to it, Chill Penguin, can easily be beaten by the Buster just as well. It is, however, ''excellent'' against mooks and even makes short work of the Mole Borers.

** Boomer Kuwanger can also be stuck in a loop by an extremely risky dance of death--he'll try to teleport in to bull rush X and slam him into the ceiling, but if you dart out of range while he attempts this, you get a bunch of free shots on him. This is such an effective strategy that most high-level speedrunners choose to tackle his stage second and buster duel him to death.

* EarlyGameHell: The game starts off quite hard if you dont get the upgrades right away and fight bosses out of a specific order and without their weaknesses. Half of the bosses (Armored Armadillo, Sting Chameleon, Spark Mandrill, and Launch Octopus) are very hard to fight with your X-Buster alone, and a lot of the platforming in stages like Flame Mammoth's and Storm Eagle's stages tend to be tight and demanding of precision or have frustrating obstacles to overcome (the lava in Mammoth's stage can kill you in two hits, and you're being hounded by columns of fire and Degraver enemies at the same time, and Sting Chameleon's stage has a very tedious collapsing cave segment). On top of that, even the easier boss fights like Storm Eagle and Boomer Kuwanger have fast and hard hitting attacks that you have very little time to dodge. The game gets considerably easier once you get the dash upgrade in Chill Penguin's stage, and even easier once you get the other upgrades and the bosses' weapons.

* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice: Zero. It doesn't quite stick.]]
* HollywoodChameleons: Sting Chameleon.

* WarmUpBoss: Chill Penguin has a very predictable attack pattern and is rather easy to dodge.

* AIBreaker: Lots of bosses in this game can have their behavior broken by their weaknesses. Chill Penguin goes up in flames, Spark Mandrill is literally frozen in place, and Sting Chameleon will bounce back and forth between two corners of the ceiling easily reached by X's boomerangs. Boomer Kuwanger can also be stuck in a loop by an extremely risky dance of death--he'll try to teleport in to bull rush X and slam him into the ceiling, but if you dart out of range while he attempts this, you get a bunch of free shots on him. This is such an effective strategy that most high-level speedrunners choose to tackle his stage second and buster duel him to death.