History YMMV / MegaManX8

** Axl's secret white form is only referred to as "???" on the character select menu, so fans have taken to calling it "White Axl" to match Zero's Black Zero form.

** Is Zero ObliviousToLove in regards to Layer's blatant crush on him, or is he aware, but doesn't want to pursue a romantic relationship again considering [[VideoGame/MegaManX4 how his last one went]]?

** It's revealed that the New Gen Reploids (and by extension, Axl himself) were built via the plans of [[BigBad Sigma]], [[RoboFamily who considers them his children]]. This bothers Axl roughly a thousand times less than Zero's similar origin eats at him; in fact, he's the only one of the three not driven into a HeroicBSOD by this "BreakThemByTalking" done soon after. It helps that:

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Navigators. Making them all {{Action Girl}}s helped a little, but there are other things as well, such as Alia's [[FanservicePack redesign]], [[MsFanservice Layer's]] secret crush on Zero, and Pallette being a TokenMiniMoe to the cast. Capcom seems to have anticipated this, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cEOsLmzKoU there were figures of the girls made alongside the guys]], as well as an alternate title sequence when you unlock the Navigators for play. They were even prepared to bring all three back (along with a fourth) for ''Mega Man Online'', and even offer a poster of the three in swimsuits as a reward for beating ''[[CompilationRerelease X Legacy Collection]]'''s X Challenge Mode on Normal difficulty.

** Axl was the ReplacementScrappy for X in ''X7'', with a whiny voice and [[SpotlightStealingSquad his story consuming the entire plot]]. In ''X8'', his role is still important -- what with his status as the prototype to the rogue New Generation Reploids -- but not all-encompassing. He also manages to [[ShutUpHannibal interrupt]] the BigBad's BreakingSpeech with [[TalkToTheFist a well-placed bullet to the chest]]. He plays similarly to Bass from ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass'' instead of a literal PoorMansSubstitute for X, letting him [[DivergentCharacterEvolution have his own playstyle]]. Finally, he matured a bit in-between games, resulting in Axl being given a youthful but more mature voice in the dub, having his TriggerHappy tendencies toned down to something more reasonable, and serving as the Hunter PowerTrio's emotional core (leading to the aforementioned ShutUpHannibal moment).

** X in this game doesn't complain about violence anywhere near as often as he did in ''X7'', having a brief moment of frustration at the beginning before quickly accepting the new war and his part in it, much to the delight of players. It helps that X's main focus is still saving innocent lives and bringing the latest conflict to as swift a conclusion as possible, preserving his core characterization as a MartialPacifist but making him not come across as UnintentionallySympathetic like he was in ''X7''.

* SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing: After [[VideoGame/MegaMan8 three]] [[VideoGame/MegaManX4 disastrous]] [[VideoGame/MegaManX7 attempts]], this, along with ''VideoGame/MegaManMaverickHunterX'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManPoweredUp'', had some of the best voice acting in the series. Lucas Gilbertson in particular has been considered [[CantUnhearIt the definitive Zero voice]].

** Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage is easily the most reviled in the game, due to the UnexpectedGameplayChange to a 3D RailShooter where you need to give chase after the boss in a Ride Chaser and shoot them down before you get killed by some arbitrary timer. It doesn't help that it's deceptively hard to actually hit the boss on any difficulty level above Easy unless you've managed to NitroBoost until you're five feet away from them, forcing you to collect Weapon Energy pick-ups strewn throughout the stage along the way just to keep up (as opposed to Avalanche Yeti's Ride Chaser level where you can use a NitroBoost as many times as you want), especially if you haven't been upgrading your characters' maximum Weapon Energy and developed the Super Recover Chip. And throughout all this frustration, the boss is yammering non-stop in an annoying voice. With ''X8'' being a return to form and even Avalance Yeti's Ride Chaser level being divisive at worst, Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage feels like a backslide into everything fans hated about ''X7''. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And icing the cake is that despite a majorly better-received dub track, Gigavolt Man-o-War's voice is considered REALLY grating and he'll keep yapping throughout the whole stage which may tempt players to scramble for the Mute button on their monitor.]]

** In the Japanese UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 version and some releases of the 2004 PC version, the game's AnimeThemeSong "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykhPSqnJfqs WILD FANG]]" by Janne Da Arc undeniably puts the "rock" into "Rockman". [[https://www.animelyrics.com/game/rockmanx8/wildfang.htm The song's lyrics]] are just as badass as its name implies.

* BrokenBase: The game's [[ArtShiftedSequel new art style and character redesigns]]. In general, are the slimmer designs better, being more realistic and humanoid? Or are they too different from the older styles in the series? Notably, the very next game in the series, ''VideoGame/MegaManMaverickHunterX'', went back to the designs first implemented in the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation PS1]] era. (And while that could be excused by ''MHX'' being a ContinuityReboot, all future ''X'' series works, like ''VideoGame/MegaManXDive'', also returned to the pre-''X8'' style for everyone except the Navigators.)

** Regarding Sigma and his relationship to the New Generation Reploids: were Lumine and the New Gen Reploids ultimately using him and intended to dispose of him, seeing as Sigma was an "inferior" old-gen Reploid? Or was Sigma in charge of them all along, due to his DNA inside of them exerting a controlling HiveMind effect in them? (As a result, this ''heavily'' calls into question Lumine's claim that he and the New Generation Reploids can go Maverick "at will.") Alternatively, did Sigma ''intend'' for the New Gen Reploids to succeed [[PredecessorVillain him]] to further his stated goal of Reploid evolution?

** In the Japanese [=PlayStation=] 2 version and some releases of the 2004 PC version, the game's AnimeThemeSong "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykhPSqnJfqs WILD FANG]]" by Janne Da Arc undeniably puts the "rock" into "Rockman". [[https://www.animelyrics.com/game/rockmanx8/wildfang.htm The song's lyrics]] are just as badass as its name implies.

* EpilepticTrees: After Lumine's defeat, Axl gets knocked out by a creepy tentacle that comes out of Lumine's chest. In the final shot of the game, it shows that a little fragment of it is still left in Axl's forehead gem. What exactly this means is [[LeftHanging still a mystery]], but his absence from the ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero Zero]]'' series has led to many fan theories about what happened to him. Did he simply die off-screen from the injury? Did he get better after a good night's sleep? [[{{Fanon}} An especially popular theory]] is that Lumine [[GrandTheftMe took over his body]] and turned him evil, necessitating his destruction; this theory is supported by the "White Axl" armor which mysteriously shares its color scheme with Lumine. Only a ''Mega Man X9'' will give us the true answers.

** In the North American UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 version, it is possible to buy a Life Bottle for your Sub Tank while having less than 50 Metals, causing your Metal count to dip into negative values. Picking any Metal while in the negative will skyrocket your Metals to its maximum of '''9,999,999''', effectively axing [[MoneyGrinding Metal Grinding]] out of the game. This was fixed in Japanese [=PlayStation=] 2 release, the original PC version, and in the ''X Legacy Collection 2'' version.
** Zero (and Layer) can use Rasetsusen to ''fly!'' Just use the attack, then hold Up and then Down simultaneously.[[labelnote:Note]]Contrary to popular belief, this isn't limited to the PC version of the game, as the [=PS2=] version uses both the D-Pad and the left stick for movement. The ''X Legacy Collection 2'' version of ''X8'' however fixed this bug.[[/labelnote]]

** Lumine's infamous, "We can go Maverick at will," line settled into this for a lot of fans. Mostly because after the series has jumped between [[AIIsACrapshoot Reploids choosing to rebel before]], and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy the various viruses driving them insane]], Lumine making this statement as a big part of TheReveal in the same breadth as revealing [[HijackedByGanon Sigma DNA in them]] allows this to happen turns into hilariously cheesy nonsense that poorly explains [[TheSociopath what it actually does.]]

** Unlike ''X7's'' [[PortingDisaster disastrous]] Korean-only PC port, the 2004 ''X8'' PC port was developed in-house and programmed far better. On top of being playable on modern operating systems, it supports higher resolutions than the [=PlayStation=] 2 version (up to 1600×1200, although [=DirectX=] wrappers can make it render in higher resolutions) with most of the visuals intact, has support for 3D positional audio, mouse support for the menus, gamepad support, and rebindable keys. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking It also changes the mouse cursor to look like X from the SNES games.]]

** Axl was the ReplacementScrappy for X in ''X7'', with a whiny voice and [[SpotlightStealingSquad his story consuming the entire plot]]. In ''X8'' his status is still important -- what with his status as the prototype to the rogue New Generation Reploids -- but not all-encompassing. He also manages to [[ShutUpHannibal interrupt]] the BigBad's BreakingSpeech with [[TalkToTheFist a well-placed bullet to the chest]]. He plays similarly to Bass from ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass'' instead of a literal PoorMansSubstitute for X, letting him [[DivergentCharacterEvolution have his own playstyle]]. Finally, he matured a bit in-between games, resulting in Axl being given a youthful but more mature voice in the dub, having his TriggerHappy tendencies toned down to something more reasonable, and serving as the Hunter PowerTrio's emotional core (leading to the aforementioned ShutUpHannibal moment).

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: The poor aftertaste of ''X7'' meant fans weren't expecting much of ''X8''. The game was praised for bringing ''Mega Man X'' to 3D well, and having tight gameplay on its own.

** Earthrock Trilobyte's Desperation Attack, Wave Wall, erects crystal walls and turns the arena into a DeathCourse[=/=]AdvancingWallOfDoom. Unfortunately it is easily navigated, killing the tension and wasting a lot of time, making it the bane of speedrunners. And worse, the FinalExamBoss has this as a ''regular'' attack, i.e. one he uses very frequently.

** Lumine's first form uses the Desperation Attacks of the eight Mavericks, including the ones mentioned above. However, there are two attacks he's modified; Avalanche Yeti's attack, which causes gigantic snowflakes that freeze you on contact to rain down, lasts a lot longer, and Lumine still uses other Desperation Attacks while it's in effect. And then Burn Rooster's attack, which covers the walls in flames, never wears off; once it hits the field, you can no longer wall-jump.
** Lumine's second form has his infamous Paradise Lost, which opens up a rift in space. If you don't kill him within 30 seconds, you die and game over, no matter how many continues you have.

** Avalanche Yeti's Ride Chaser level has multitudes of enemies and traditional AutoScrollingLevel obstacles (walls and BottomlessPits), culminating with a MiniBoss fight in two parts, the second of which can easily become a GoddamnedBoss due to [[MarathonBoss how long it takes to destroy it]], especially if you didn't bring X for his charge shots.
** Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage is easily the most reviled in the game, due to the UnexpectedGameplayChange to a 3D RailShooter where you need to give chase after the boss in a Ride Chaser and shoot them down before you get killed by some arbitrary timer. It doesn't help that it's deceptively hard to actually hit the boss on any difficulty level above Easy unless you've managed to NitroBoost until you're five feet away from them, forcing you to collect Weapon Energy pick-ups strewn throughout the stage along the way just to keep up (as opposed to Avalanche Yeti's Ride Chaser level where you can use a NitroBoost as many times as you want), especially if you haven't been upgrading your characters' maximum Weapon Energy and developed the Super Recover Chip. And throughout all this frustration, the boss is yammering non-stop in an annoying voice. With ''X8'' being a return to form and even Avalance Yeti's Ride Chaser level being divisive at worst, Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage feels like a backslide into everything fans hated about ''X7''. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And icing the cake is that despite a majorly better-received dub track, Gigavolt Man-o-War's voice is considered REALLY grating and he'll keep yapping throughout the whole stage which may tempt players to scramble for the Mute button on their monitor]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: While Lumine is appreciated for at least [[BreakingOldTrends breaking the trend]] of having Sigma constantly [[HijackedByGanon behind the plot]], many would also agree that he ended up being a rather undercooked villain. This is because his role as the "true" villain is poorly foreshadowed, he ends up having very little screentime throughout the game, and TheReveal of him being behind everything happens at the very end of the game. His relationship with Sigma, who states that the Jakob Project was "[his] doing", is also poorly explained, resulting in it being [[AmbiguousSituation unclear]] whether [[TheManBehindTheMan Sigma was in control of Lumine and the New Gen Reploids all along]], [[HijackingCthulhu Lumine somehow forced Sigma to bend to his will]], or the two were working initially as equals with Lumine intending to dispose of Sigma later on.

* WinBackTheCrowd: This game was back to form after the incredibly divisive ''X6'' and near-universally despised ''X7''. Unfortunately, low sales rendered it the final ''X'' game as of this writing.[[labelnote:*]]Not counting ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'', remakes, and compilations.[[/labelnote]]

* {{Fanon}}: The names of Zero's weapons have been expanded by fans. The T Breaker is called the Titan Breaker, the K Knuckle is called the Kaiser Knuckle, and the B Fan is called the Bashou Fan.

* BrokenBase: The game's [[ArtShiftedSequel new art style and character redesigns]]. In general, are the slimmer designs better, being more realistic and humanoid? Or are they too different from the older styles in the series? Notably, the very next game in the series, ''VideoGame/MegaManMaverickHunterX'', went back to the designs first implemented in the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation PS1]] era. (And while that could be excused by ''MHX'' being a ContinuityReboot, all future ''X'' series works, like ''VideoGame/MegaManXDive'', also returned to the pre-''X8'' style.)

** It's revealed that the New Generation reploids (and by extension, Axl himself) were built via the plans of [[BigBad Sigma]], [[RoboFamily who considers them his children]]. This bothers Axl roughly a thousand times less than Zero's similar origin eats at him; in fact, he's the only one of the three not driven into a HeroicBSOD by this "BreakThemByTalking" done soon after. It helps that:

** One regarding Sigma and his relationship to the New Generation Reploids: Were Lumine and the New Gen Reploids ultimately using him and intended to dispose of him, seeing as Sigma was an "inferior" old-gen Reploid? Or was Sigma in charge of them all along, due to his DNA inside of them exerting a controlling HiveMind effect in them? (As a result, this ''heavily'' calls into question Lumine's claim that he and the New Generation Reploids can go Maverick "at will.") Alternatively, did Sigma ''intend'' for the New Gen Reploids to succeed [[PredecessorVillain him]] to further his stated goal of Reploid evolution?

** In the North American UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 version, it is possible to buy a Life Charge for your Sub-tanks while having less than 50 Metals, causing your Metal count to dip into negative values. Picking any Metal while in the negative will skyrocket your Metals to its maximum of '''9,999,999''', effectively axing [[MoneyGrinding Metal Grinding]] out of the game. This was fixed in Japanese [=PlayStation=] 2 release, the original PC version, and in the ''X Legacy Collection 2'' version.
** Pressing both the down and up directions while using Zero's Rasetsusen will cause him to fly. This bug, however, was also fixed in ''Legacy Collection 2''.

** Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage is easily the most reviled in the game, due to the UnexpectedGameplayChange to a 3D RailShooter where you need to give chase after the boss in a Ride Chaser and shoot them down before you get killed by some arbitrary timer. It doesn't help that it's deceptively hard to actually hit the boss on any difficulty level above Easy unless you've managed to NitroBoost until you're five feet away from them, forcing you to collect Weapon Energy pick-ups strewn throughout the stage along the way just to keep up (as opposed to Avalanche Yeti's Ride Chaser level where you can use a NitroBoost as many times as you want), especially if you haven't been upgrading your characters' maximum Weapon Energy and developed the Super Recover Chip. And throughout all this frustration, the boss is yammering non-stop in an annoying voice. With ''X8'' being a return to form and even Avalance Yeti's Ride Chaser level being divisive at worst, Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage feels like a backslide into everything fans hated about ''X7''. And icing the cake is that despite a majorly better-received dub track, Gigavolt Man-o-War's voice is considered REALLY grating and he'll keep yapping throughout the whole stage which may tempt players to scramble for the Mute button on their monitor.

** Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage is easily the most reviled in the game, due to the UnexpectedGameplayChange to a 3D RailShooter where you need to give chase after the boss in a Ride Chaser and shoot them down before you get killed by some arbitrary timer. It doesn't help that it's deceptively hard to actually hit the boss on any difficulty level above Easy unless you've managed to NitroBoost until you're five feet away from them, forcing you to collect Weapon Energy pick-ups strewn throughout the stage along the way just to keep up (as opposed to Avalanche Yeti's Ride Chaser level where you can use a NitroBoost as many times as you want), especially if you haven't been upgrading your characters' maximum Weapon Energy and developed the Super Recover Chip. And throughout all this frustration, the boss is yammering non-stop in an annoying voice. With ''X8'' being a return to form and even Avalance Yeti's Ride Chaser level being divisive at worst, Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage feels like a backslide into everything fans hated about ''X7''.

* ContestedSequel: Is ''X8'' a good game in its own right? Or does it only look good after coming off the AudienceAlienatingEra that was ''VideoGame/MegaManX7''[[labelnote:*]]and arguably ''VideoGame/MegaManX6''[[/labelnote]]? Pros include more solid level design, the return to 2D gameplay, ''vastly'' improved voice acting, having a FinalBoss[=/=]BigBad that ''isn't'' Sigma, and giving all the characters [[DivergentCharacterEvolution distinct playstyles]] without none of them feeling redundant. Cons include overuse of gimmick levels[[labelnote:*]]Which, depending on what you count as a gimmick, could mean there's only ''two'' levels that play like actual ''Mega Man X'' levels[[/labelnote]], an extremely [[GuideDangit frustrating 100% completion]], [[MoneyGrinding Metal Grinding]] that drags the game to a crawl even with the [[DiscountCard Metal Discount]] chip[[labelnote:*]](unless you're either content with the upgrades on-hand or use a glitch found only in the North American [=PlayStation=] 2 release to take grinding out the equation)[[/labelnote]], a rather [[ExcusePlot aimless]] and [[AmbiguousSituation confusing]] plot, and the [[ScrappyMechanic retry chip system]][[labelnote:*]](unlike in the previous installments where players are given VideoGameLives, the Retry Chips function similarly to lives in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1'' where they act more like mid-mission continues, and not having any Retry Chips at all means you'll be forced to start over a stage every time you lose)[[/labelnote]].

* ContestedSequel: Is ''X8'' a good game in its own right? Or does it only look good after coming off the complete disaster that was ''VideoGame/MegaManX7''[[labelnote:*]]and arguably ''VideoGame/MegaManX6''[[/labelnote]]? Pros include more solid level design, the return to 2D gameplay, ''vastly'' improved voice acting, having a FinalBoss[=/=]BigBad that ''isn't'' Sigma, and giving all the characters [[DivergentCharacterEvolution distinct playstyles]] without none of them feeling redundant. Cons include overuse of gimmick levels[[labelnote:*]]Which, depending on what you count as a gimmick, could mean there's only ''two'' levels that play like actual ''Mega Man X'' levels[[/labelnote]], an extremely [[GuideDangit frustrating 100% completion]], [[MoneyGrinding Metal Grinding]] that drags the game to a crawl even with the [[DiscountCard Metal Discount]] chip[[labelnote:*]](unless you're either content with the upgrades on-hand or use a glitch found only in the North American [=PlayStation=] 2 release to take grinding out the equation)[[/labelnote]], a rather [[ExcusePlot aimless]] and [[AmbiguousSituation confusing]] plot, and the [[ScrappyMechanic retry chip system]][[labelnote:*]](unlike in the previous installments where players are given VideoGameLives, the Retry Chips function similarly to lives in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1'' where they act more like mid-mission continues, and not having any Retry Chips at all means you'll be forced to start over a stage every time you lose)[[/labelnote]].

** Lumine's infamous, "We can go Maverick at will," line settled into this for a lot of fans. Mostly because after the series has jumped between [[AIIsACrapshoot Reploids choosing to rebel before]], and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy the various viruses driving them insane]], Lumine making this statement as a big part of TheReveal in the same breadth as revealing [[HijackedByGanon Sigma DNA in them]] allows this to happen turns into hilariously cheesy nonsense that flies in the face of ''the entire plot point of Reploids as a sentient, robotic species''.

* {{Narm}}: The religious symbolism in this game is often regarded as being more hilarious for how [[FauxSymbolism heavy-handed it is]] than any serious attempt at being deep.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: While Lumine is appreciatedn for at least [[BreakingOldTrends breaking the trend]] of having Sigma constantly [[HijackedByGanon behind the plot]], many would also agree that he ended up being a rather undercooked villain. This is because his role as the "true" villain is poorly foreshadowed, he ends up having very little screentime throughout the game, and TheReveal of him being behind everything happens at the very end of the game. His relationship with Sigma, who states that the Jakob Project was "[his] doing", is also poorly explained, resulting in it being [[AmbiguousSituation unclear]] whether [[TheManBehindTheMan Sigma was in control of Lumine and the New Gen Reploids all along]], [[HijackingCthulhu Lumine somehow forced Sigma to bend to his will]], or the two were working initially as equals with Lumine intending to dispose of Sigma later on.

** X in this game doesn't complain about violence anywhere near as often as he did in ''X7'', having a brief moment of frustration at the beginning before quickly accepting the new war and his part in it, much to the delight of players. It helps that X's main focus is still saving innocent lives and bringing the latest conflict to as swift as conclusion as possible, preserving his core characterization as a MartialPacifist but making him not come across as UnintentionallySympathetic like he was in ''X7''.

** Regarding Sigma and his relationship to the New-Gen Reploids. Were Lumine and the New-Gen Reploids ultimately using him and intending to dispose of him, seeing as Sigma was an "inferior" old-gen Reploid? Or was Sigma in charge of them all along, due to his DNA inside of them exerting a controlling HiveMind effect in them? Alternatively, did Sigma ''intend'' for the New-Gen Reploids to succeed him to further his stated goal of Reploid evolution?
* AssPull: Some may feel that the twist of Lumine being EvilAllAlong is boring and contrived, having little to no {{Foreshadowing}} besides the ham-fisted opening cutscene, and that it came out of nowhere for no reason other than to have a final boss that wasn't Sigma. It doesn't help that it creates a very confusing AmbiguousSituation where it's unclear whether Lumine was manipulating Sigma or Sigma was in charge all along because of creating Lumine.

* BrokenBase: The game's new art style and character redesigns. In general, are the slimmer designs better, being more realistic and humanoid? Or are they too different from the older styles in the series?
* CatharsisFactor: Vile is infamous due the fact that in [[VideoGame/MegaManX1 previous]] [[VideoGame/MegaManX3 games]], he uses a Ride Armor during his battles, giving him an unfair advantage against you. In Bamboo Pandamonium's level, you can carry a Ride Armor throughout the entire stage. If you have the Ride Armor inside the second mini-boss room and Vile appears, [[https://youtu.be/mdoyQQinsYg?t=5m55s you can finally turn the tables against the bastard and make him pay for all the previous pain]].
* CharacterRerailment: X was criticized in ''X7'' for being DemotedToExtra and for his constant complaining about violence. Here, not only is he playable from the start, but in the one scene he laments fighting, he agrees with Axl that in some situations, fighting is the only solution.

* ContestedSequel: Is ''X8'' a good game in its own right? Or does it only look good after coming off the complete disaster that was ''VideoGame/MegaManX7''[[labelnote:*]]and arguably ''VideoGame/MegaManX6''[[/labelnote]]? Pros include more solid level design, return to 2D gameplay, ''vastly'' improved voice acting, having a FinalBoss[=/=]BigBad that ISN'T Sigma and giving all the characters distinct playstyles without none of them feeling redundant. Cons include overuse of gimmick levels[[labelnote:*]]Which, depending on what you count as a gimmick, could mean there's only ''two'' levels that play like actual ''Mega Man X'' levels[[/labelnote]], an extremely [[GuideDangit frustrating 100% completion]], [[MoneyGrinding Metal Grinding]] that drags the game to a crawl even with the [[DiscountCard Metal Discount]] chip[[labelnote:*]](unless you're either content with the upgrades on-hand or use a glitch found only in the North American [=PlayStation=] 2 release to take grinding out the equation)[[/labelnote]], a rather [[ExcusePlot aimless]] and [[AmbiguousSituation confusing]] plot and the [[ScrappyMechanic retry chip system]][[labelnote:*]](unlike in the previous installments where players are given VideoGameLives, the Retry Chips function similarly to lives in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1'' where they act more like mid-mission continues, and not having any Retry Chips at all means you'll be forced to start over a stage every time you lose)[[/labelnote]].
* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Navigators. Making them all {{Action Girl}}s helped a little, but there are other things as well, such as Alia's [[FanservicePack re-design]], [[MsFanservice Layer's]] secret crush on Zero, and Pallette being a TokenMiniMoe to the cast. Capcom seems to have anticipated this, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cEOsLmzKoU there were figures of the girls made alongside the guys]], as well as an alternate title sequence when you unlock the Navigators for play. They were even prepared to bring all three back (along with a fourth) for ''Mega Man Online'', and even offer a poster of the three in swimsuits as a reward for beating ''X Legacy Collection'''s X Challenge Mode on Normal difficulty.
* EpilepticTrees: After Lumine's defeat, Axl gets knocked out by a creepy tentacle that comes out of Lumine's chest. In the final shot of the game, it shows that a little fragment of it is still left in Axl's forehead gem. What exactly this means is [[LeftHanging still a mystery]], but his absence from the ''Zero'' series has led to many fan theories about what happened to him. Did he simply die off-screen from the injury? Did he get better after a good night's sleep? An especially popular theory is that Lumine [[GrandTheftMe took over his body]] and turned him evil, necessitating his destruction; this theory is supported by the "White Axl" armor which mysteriously shares its color scheme with Lumine. Only a ''Mega Man X9'' will give us the true answers.
* FanNickname: Sigma's broken-down devil form has gotten the name "Belial Sigma" despite never being referred to as such in official material. This is likely because someone put it on the Sigma page on the Mega Man Knowledge Base wiki, and it stayed up there for years before anyone fact-checked it.

* GoddamnedBoss: The 2nd fight against the MiniBoss in Avalanche Yeti's level, which will take far longer than the first phase and it spends most of its time [[GetBackHereBoss way out of range for most of your attacks]].

** In the North American [=PlayStation=] 2 version, it is possible to buy a Life Charge for your Sub-tanks while having less than 50 Metals, causing your Metal count to dip into negative values. Picking any Metal while in the negative will skyrocket your Metals to its maximum of '''9,999,999''', effectively axing [[MoneyGrinding Metal Grinding]] out of the game. This was fixed in Japanese [=PlayStation=] 2 release, the original PC version, and in the ''X Legacy Collection 2'' version.

* ItWasHisSled: Lumine is the FinalBoss. His [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic second form's battle theme]] tends to be the first thing new players think of nowadays when they think of ''X8''.

** Axl was the ReplacementScrappy for X in ''X7'', with a whiny voice and his story consuming the entire plot. In ''X8'' his status is still important but not all encompassing. He also manages to [[ShutUpHannibal interrupt]] the BigBad's BreakingSpeech with [[TalkToTheFist a well-placed bullet to the chest]]. He plays similarly to Bass from ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass'' instead of a literally PoorMansSubstitute for X, letting him [[DivergentCharacterEvolution have his own playstyle]]. Finally, he matured a bit inbetween games, giving him a youthful but more mature voice.

** X in this game doesn't complain about violence anywhere near as often as he did in ''X7'', having a brief moment of frustration at the beginning before quickly accepting the new war, much to the delight of players.

** Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage is easily the most reviled in the game, due to the UnexpectedGameplayChange to a 3D RailShooter where you need to give chase after the boss in a Ride Chaser and shoot them down before you get killed by some arbitrary timer. It doesn't help that it's deceptively hard to actually hit the boss on any difficulty level above Easy unless you've managed to NitroBoost until you're 5 feet away from them, forcing you to collect Weapon Energy pick-ups strewn throughout the stage along the way just to keep up (as opposed to Avalanche Yeti's Ride Chaser level where you can use a NitroBoost as many times as you want), especially if you haven't been upgrading your characters' maximum Weapon Energy and developed the Super Recover Chip. And throughout all this frustration, the boss is yammering non-stop in an annoying voice. With ''X8'' being a return to form and even Avalance Yeti's Ride Chaser level being divisive at worst, Gigavolt Man-o-War's stage feels like a backslide into everything fans hated about ''X7''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Lumine gets a lot of appreciation from fans for at least [[BreakingOldTrends breaking the trend]] of having Sigma constantly [[HijackedByGanon behind the plot]], but many agree that he ends up being a rather undercooked villain. This is because his role as the "true" villain is poorly foreshadowed, he ends up having very little screentime throughout the game, and TheReveal of him being behind everything happens at the very end of the game. His relationship with Sigma, who states that the Jakob Project was "[his] doing", is also poorly explained, resulting in it being [[AmbiguousSituation unclear]] whether Sigma was in control of Lumine and the new gen Reploids all along, Lumine somehow forced Sigma to bend to his will, or the two were working initially as equals with Lumine intending to dispose of Sigma later on.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The new generation Reploids are allegedly unique because of their Copy Chips. However, none of the eight Maverick bosses actually seem to use their Copy Chips to control their DNA in battle, and thus they fight like regular old Mavericks. It would've been impressive to see bosses morph their bodies to attack or copy moves from previous enemies, but this is completely squandered.
* UnnecessaryMakeover: Though it's a BrokenBase, many fans weren't fond of the redesigns most of the cast received in ''X8''. Alia's redesign has been criticized specifically, seen as an unnecessary attempt to make her a MsFanservice despite already being attractive. Ironically, hers is the only ''X8'' redesign that stuck for future material such as ''[=X DiVE=]''.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJPUqbEZrew Jakob]]", the stage music for the Jakob Orbital Elevator will have rocking out while you turn Mavericks into scrap metal.

* MemeticMutation: "Listen to meeeeee!!"

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Following the last three games, you now have the option of not taking a navigator to a stage, meaning if you find the "Can you hear me?" sound prompt annoying and/or you just want to play the game without interruptions, you don't have to deal with it at all.
** After getting progressively worse since its inception in ''X5'', ''X8'' finally did away with rescuing Reploids altogether, allowing players to focus on the action. Secret power-ups and upgrades are back to being hidden throughout the stages ''without'' any injured Reploid tied to them.
** In ''X7'', LazyBackup ensues; if the player loses the current character, they lose a life regardless of their partner's condition. Here, if one character loses and your other character is fine, they will switch places with the fallen teammate (except when falling into an instant-death trap) and they can be brought back if the player can fill the AT Gauge.
** In ''X7'', Axl only had three unique firearms, while the rest of his Special Weapons were no different from X's. Now Axl obtains special firearms (vastly different from X and Zero's Special Weapons) with unlimited ammo from the eight Mavericks, greatly expanding on the interesting yet underused concept.
** The Icarus Armor's helmet provides X with a jumping headbutt, similar to the woefully underused ability of the First Armor in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX1 X1]]'' - however, this time it can damage enemies as well, making it useful in more than a mere handful of situations.
** Sigma's not the FinalBoss for once! He got old and repetitive after 7 games, especially in ''VideoGame/MegaManX6'', so this is a nice change of pace. The new generation Reploids also all have total immunity to viruses, so none of the bosses are just BrainwashedAndCrazy good guys, which was another trope that was getting old.

* IdiotPlot: The entire plot hinges on the fact that no one bothered to check that there was Sigma's viral DNA inside of the New-Gen chips. Even if Sigma was secretly behind the Jakob Project all along, you'd think someone would delete it anyway since immunity to the virus was one of the entire points of the project.