History VideoGame / MegaManX7

The game follows the usual formula of its predecessors as players complete a series of stages and defeat the bosses to gain their special attacks. In an attempted to bring the ''Mega Man X'' series into 3D, ''Mega Man X7'' combines the series' 2D run-and-gun gameplay with a 3D third-person shooter and changing between the two gameplay styles at key points of the game. In addition to gaining the bosses' abilities, players can rescue injured Reploids scattered throughout the stages. Like in the previous game, some of them can be found easily in some stages, while others may require scouring through every corner of a stage...and must do so very quickly in this game as [[EverythingTryingToKillYou anything]] -- enemy fire and stage hazards alike -- [[OneHitPointWonder will kill them in one hit]]. Rescuing some of the injured Reploids may reward players with extra lives, Life or Weapon Ups, or a Power-Up Chip that can augment the Maverick Hunter's abilities. This game also introduced the ability to bring two Maverick Hunters as a team and swap between the two during gameplay, however, only Zero and Axl are available until X is unlocked, and if any of two team members are defeated, the player loses a life [[LazyBackup regardless of their partner's condition]].

The game follows the usual formula of its predecessors as players complete a series of stages and defeat the bosses to gain their special attacks. In an attempted to bring the ''Mega Man X'' series into 3D, ''Mega Man X7'' combines the series' 2D run-and-gun gameplay with a 3D third-person shooter and changing between the two gameplay styles at key points of the game. In addition to gaining the bosses' abilities, players can rescue injured Reploids scattered throughout the stages, some of whom may reward players with extra lives, Life or Weapon Ups, or a Power-Up Chip that can augment the Maverick Hunter's abilities. It also introduced the ability to bring two Maverick Hunters as a team and swap between the two during gameplay, however, only Zero and Axl are available until X is unlocked, and if any of them are defeated, the player loses a life [[LazyBackup regardless of their partner's condition]].

Red, the leader of Red Alert, is not happy about this, and challenges the Maverick Hunters to a contest over custody of Axl. Releasing their captured Mavericks and Mechaniloids, Red proposes that whoever destroys the most Mavericks - including each other's forces - gets to keep Axl. Axl feels responsible for the chaos, and [[TagalongKid tags along with Zero]] to help him out in the conflict.

* NewGamePlus: After beating the game, you can keep all of the upgrade chips you get from the Reploids you rescue and power-ups into a new round. X is also playable from the start, and all the armor parts previously collected.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: The rescuable Reploids can die by anything, and they can't be brought back, so if one of them had a chip you needed, it's gone for good. This is similar to how the Nightmare viruses could infect rescuable Reploids in ''X6''x

* VideoGame3DLeap: This is the first 3D Mega Man X game. At least it has this credit.

The Earth has finally recovered from the Eurasia crisis, and things have returned to somewhat normal. However, X retires from the front lines of the Maverick Hunters, as he tries to find a truly peaceful solution to the Maverick problem. This power vacuum allows Maverick crime to rise, leading to a new vigilante syndicate called Red Alert forming to pick up the Hunters' slack. However, one of the members of Red Alert, a mysterious Reploid named Axl, suddenly flees the organization. He runs into Zero, who takes him into custody.

The Earth has finally recovered from the Eurasia crisis, and things have returned to somewhat normal. Howevver, X retires from the front lines of the Maverick Hunters, as he tries to find a truly peaceful solution to the Maverick problem. This power vacuum allows Maverick crime to rise, leading to a new vigilante syndicate called Red Alert forming to pick up the Hunters' slack. However, one of the members of Red Alert, a mysterious Reploid named Axl, suddenly flees the organization. He runs into Zero, who takes him into custody.

The Earth has finally recovered from the Eurasia crisis, and things have returned to somewhat normal. Howevver, X retires from the front lines of the Maverick Hunters, as he tries to find a truly peaceful solution to the Maverick problem. This power vacuum allows Maverick crime to rise, leading to a new vigilante syndicate called Red Alert forming to pick up the Hunters' slack. However, one of the members of Red Alert, a mysterious Reploid named Axl, suddenly flees the organization. He runs into Zero, who arrests him and takes him into custody.

The game begins with X retiring from the front lines of the Maverick Hunters, as he tries to find a truly peaceful solution to the Maverick problem. This power vacuum allows Maverick crime to rise, leading to a new vigilante syndicate called Red Alert forming to pick up the Hunters' slack. However, one of the members of Red Alert, a mysterious Reploid named Axl, suddenly flees the organization. He runs into Zero, who arrests him and takes him into custody.

* Flame Hyenard, gives the [[GrenadeLauncher Circle Blaze]] to Axl (+ [[GunsAkimbo Double Bullets]]) and X, and the [[GroundPound Bakuenjin]] to Zero

* Soldier Stonekong, gives the [[ExtraOreDinary Gaea]] [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Shield]] to Axl and X, and the [[CounterAttack Gokum]][[AttackReflector onken]] to Zero
* Vanishing Gungaroo, gives the [[HavingABlast Explosion]] to Axl (+ G-Launcher) and X, and the [[SwordBeam Hadangeki]] to Zero
* Splash Warfly, gives the [[BubbleGun Splash Laser]] to Axl and X, and the [[MakingASplash Suiretsusen]] (+ [[BladeOnAStick D-Glaive]]) to Zero

* Wind Crowrang, gives the [[RazorWind Wind Cutter]] to Axl and X, and the [[SwordBeam Souenbu]] (+ [[KnifeNut V]]-[[DualWielding Hanger]]) to Zero

* AllThereInTheManual: The game's soundtrack released with a Japan-only prologue story called "Golden Days" (''Ōgon no Hibi''), which explains the opening FMV cutscene featuring Axl's assassination of Cedar and Aluce. Would you have known that the mission was to recover a mysterious Sigma Virus-like program, and that it's what got Sigma to get in contact with Red Alert in the first place? Probably not.

* AerithAndBob: The names of the rescuable Reploids in this game are so ''normal'' that it's jarring. In a series where the focus is on characters named X, Zero, and Sigma, these Reploids have names like ''Tony,'' ''Bruce,'' and ''Tim.''

Red, the leader of Red Alert, is not happy about this, and challenges the Maverick Hunters to a contest over custody of Axl. Releasing their captured Mavericks and Mechaniloids, Red proposes that whoever destroys the most Mavericks - including each other's forces - gets to keep Axl. Axl feels guilty, and [[TagalongKid tags along with Zero]] to help him out in the conflict.

The [[VideoGameLongRunners seventh entry]] in the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series, ''Mega Man X7'' was the series' first appearance on the [UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames sixth console generation]] (UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 2}} and [[UsefulNotes/WindowsGames PC]][[labelnote:*]][[NoExportForYou in Korea]][[/labelnote]]) and its first and only attempt at true 3D gameplay, which achieved [[PolygonCeiling middling results at best]]. This game is also notable for introducing [[KidHero Axl]], a third protagonist in the series who was a bit of a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] until the [[VideoGame/MegaManX8 next game]] [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap came along]].

Red, the leader of Red Alert, is not happy about this, and challenges the Maverick Hunters to a contest over custody of Axl. Releasing their captured Mavericks and Mechaniloids, Red proposes that whoever destroys the most Mavericks - including each other's forces - gets to keep Axl. Axl feels guilty for being the cause of all this strife, and [[TagalongKid tags along with Zero]] to help him out in the conflict.

The game begins with X retiring from the front lines of the Maverick Hunters, as he tries to find a truly peaceful solution to the Maverick problem. This power vacuum allows Maverick crime to rise, leading to a new vigilante syndicate called Red Alert forming to pick up the Hunters' slack. However, one of the members of Red Alert, a mysterious Reploid named Axl, suddenly flees the organization during a Maverick outbreak. He bumps into Zero, who arrests him and takes him to Maverick Hunter headquarters.

Eventually, it's revealed that Axl fled Red Alert once he noticed his comrades were becoming more ruthless and twisted by the day. Additionally, X is inspired to come out of retirement and help fight the Mavericks once more. As it turns out, Sigma, using the alias "The Professor" has [[HijackedByGanon corrupted Red Alert]] in his efforts to get Axl and his unique DNA copy ability.

The [[VideoGameLongRunners seventh entry in the]] ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series, ''Mega Man X7'' was the series' first appearance on [[UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames the sixth console generation]] (UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 2}} and [[UsefulNotes/WindowsGames PC]][[labelnote:*]][[NoExportForYou in Korea]][[/labelnote]]) and its first and only attempt at true 3D gameplay, which achieved [[PolygonCeiling middling results at best]]. This game is also infamous for introducing [[KidHero Axl]], a third protagonist in the series who developed a bit of a reputation as a [[TheScrappy scrappy]], at least until the [[VideoGame/MegaManX8 next game came along]].

The game begins with X quitting the Maverick Hunters, as he tries to find a truly peaceful solution to the Maverick problem. This power vacuum allows a rival organization, Red Alert, to keep up with the Hunters. The game begins with one of their members named Axl fleeing the organization during a Maverick outbreak. He bumps into Zero, who escorts him to Maverick Hunter headquarters.

Red is not happy about this, and releases all of Red Alert's most dangerous Mavericks and challenges the Hunters to a contest. Whoever captures or destroys the most Mavericks gets to keep Axl. Axl feels quite guilty about being the cause of all this strife, and [[TagalongKid tags along with Zero]] to help him out. As it turns out, Sigma, using the alias "The Professor" [[HijackedByGanon corrupted Red Alert]] in his efforts to get Axl and his unique DNA Copy ability.

* AIBreaker: During the first bout with Sigma, standing on the top left blue platform will often cause him to stand in one place and shoot at you, with the problem being that his shots will always miss unless you deliberately jump into them. Zero in particular capable of mercilessly abusing this because the spot Sigma likes to stand in just happens to leave him in range of Hieijin (provided Zero is facing right), and that not being his weakness it won't cause him to get knocked over when he's hit with it, meaning he can he beaten with it incessantly. Sometimes he'll decide to move somewhere else, but Souenbu (his actual weakness, though due to how it affects him exclusively using it makes the fight drag on forever) can be used to bump him around until he gets back into his stupor.

* DifficultyByRegion: The western versions reduces the damage value of most the player character's attacks (up to half in some instances), making battles more drawn-out.

* AnimeThemeSong: "CODE CRUSH" by Rina Aculi in the Japanese version.

The [[VideoGameLongRunners seventh entry in the]] ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series, '''''Mega Man X7''''' was the series' first appearance on UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames (UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 2}} and PC[[labelnote:*]][[NoExportForYou in Korea]][[/labelnote]]) and its first and only attempt at true 3D gameplay, which achieved [[PolygonCeiling middling results at best]]. This game is also infamous for introducing [[KidHero Axl]], a third protagonist in the series who developed a bit of a reputation as a [[TheScrappy scrappy]], at least until the [[VideoGame/MegaManX8 next game came along]].

Red is not happy about this, and releases all of Red Alert's most dangerous Mavericks and challenges the Hunters to a contest. Whoever captures or destroys the most Mavericks gets to keep Axl. Axl feels quite guilty about being the cause of all this strife, and [[TagalongKid tags along with Zero]] to help him out. As it turns out, [[HijackedByGanon Sigma, using the alias "The Professor" corrupted Red Alert]] in his efforts to get Axl and his unique DNA Copy ability.

!!Tropes featured in Mega Man X7 includes:

* AnimeThemeSong: "CODE CRUSH" By: Rina Aculi

** Now that the game's a part of [[CompilationRerelease Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2]], this is now largely averted. While the game still bombards you with loading screens between each section, [[https://youtu.be/O96HT_wwLhc?t=1629 they're thankfully MUCH shorter than they were before]].

* PermanentlyMissableContent: The rescuable Reploids can die, and they can't be brought back, so if one of them had a chip you needed, it's gone for good. This is similar to how the Nightmare viruses could infect rescuable Reploids in ''X6.''

* PolygonCeiling: This game is a good example on how NOT to do a VideoGame3DLeap. Gameplay is very slow, there is not enough feedback (your characters will not flinch when hit), and [[EnsembleDarkhorse Zero]]'s attacks are very hard to aim in 3D.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: This is the only game in the series that includes a checkpoint between Sigma's 1st and 2nd forms.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: For some reason, Zero's ending foreshadows the original script for ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1'', where [[spoiler:X was the BigBad instead of a copy]], even though the latter game was released the '''PREVIOUS''' year. Though considering that [[spoiler:Copy X, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin being a copy of X]], would look identical to the original X (even taking the Zero series' ArtShift into account), the ending still works as foreshadowing for Copy X.]]