History YMMV / MegamanX4

** Vengeance is worthless, and it ends horribly for everybody, including the grudge holder. The Zero vs. Iris fight was caused by Iris wanting to avenge Colonel's death. The result of the fight: Iris dies, and Zero ends up [[HeartbrokenBadass broken]].

** Don't be quick to jump to conclusions, especially if there are prejudices involved. While the relationship between humanity and Repliforce were already shaky, it ultimately is humanity accusing Repliforce of the Sky Lagoon incident just because Colonel was there and refused to actually do something that would clear his name that caused Repliforce to go Maverick.

** Vengeance is worthless, and it ends horribly for everybody. The Zero vs. Iris fight was caused by Iris wanting to avenge Colonel's death. The result of the fight: Iris dies, and Zero ends up [[HeartbrokenBadass broken]].

** It's possible to exploit glitches with the Ride Armor in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxWwvjTvpno the volcano stage]] to retrieve the chest piece early and in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwKLeJSBTKE the train stage]] to use it against Slash Beast.

** The upper-right Sigma body and the three Sigma heads have attacks that are easy enough to evade and counter once you know the right way to dodge them, but the bottom-left Sigma's attacks revolve around either pushing you towards a wall of spikes or pulling you in before filling the screen with debris while guarding itself with one of the Sigma heads, giving you absolutely no safe opportunities to counterattack.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Most players choose the Plasma Shot upgrade over the Stock Charge, owing to its greater power being more useful than the stored shots. Capcom seems to have caught on to this, as the Plasma Shot is the upgrade that comes with the Fourth Armor in ''X5'', as well as the Ultimate Armor. Speed runners, however, prefer the Stock Shot because it has higher damage output against bosses like Magma Dragoon and Slash Beast.

* VindicatedByHistory: While fairly well-received at launch, ''X4'' got a significant amount of criticism from critics for sticking to 2D sprite-based graphics at a time when everyone was pushing for 3D, as well as [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks being too similar to its predecessors]]. Today it's one of the most popular games in the series for its refinements and new features (namely Zero) and has stood the test of time incredibly well as a result of its 2D graphics and gameplay, coming from an era when most franchises making the VideoGame3DLeap were having problems figuring out how precisely to work in the third dimension and still make something fun.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: ''X4'' has by far the best art out of all [[VideoGame/MegaManX the series']] PSX games. Every stage has immaculately constructed and animated backgrounds, every character's movement bounces with a sense of life sadly absent from ''X5'' and ''X6'', and then there's the cool anime [=FMVs=]!

* DracoInLeatherPants: While Repliforce is a lot more sympathetic than most Mavericks, there is a tendency in parts of the fandom to downplay or ignore Repliforce's more negative traits, often depicting them as an incredibly noble and competent organization only declared Maverick because of humanity's intolerance of robots showing any sort of autonomy and despite this going out of their way to avoid human casualties, glossing over their [[AllThereInTheManual history of city-destroying levels of failure]]; insubordination for petty reasons while under suspicion of committing a massacre; questionable hiring decisions that would include in their ranks [[WilyWalrus an unrepentant Maverick]], [[DinosaursAreDragons a black market arms dealer]], [[OminousOwl a war criminal]], [[SinisterStingrays a city-destroying war criminal]], and [[DraconicHumanoid the guy who framed them]]; brutal and ruthless attacks on civilian centers; and their construction of a planet-destroying superweapon they lost control of. The next game would go on to establish that their space campaign forced so many space colonies to be abandoned that Sigma was able to snag one of them for his ColonyDrop plans.

* ContinuityLockout: ''X4'' manages to have this [[AllThereInTheManual with its own manual and supplementary material]]. The game opens on X and Zero investigating Sky Lagoon, and after it crashes into the city below, they aggressively demand that Colonel come in for questioning, leading to Colonel refusing and igniting Repliforce's rebellion. The manual explains that Repliforce already had a reputation for doing more harm than good, while later material reveals that Colonel had no capacity for peaceful negotiation due to developmental flaws. Without this information (which is especially bad for later re-releases which don't have the info at all), X and Zero come across as overly aggressive while Colonel comes off as {{idiot|Ball}}ic.

* ItWasHisSled: The scene where Iris dies is the game's SignatureScene and the source for [[MemeticMutation a popular meme]], so it is hard not to be spoiled. The identity of [[spoiler:TheMole]] in X's story ([[spoiler:Double]]) qualifies as well, though far less discussed due to lacking the emotional weight and/or memetic value of Iris's death.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: This game got an "E for Everyone" rating. This is the same game that has ''the'' most violent cutscene deaths ever seen in the entirety of the franchise, with [[spoiler:Double]] bloodily and mercilessly murdering an entire squad in a rather gratuitously violent scene, and [[spoiler:Zero maiming the hell out of Sigma before he gained amnesia, never mind the FreezeFrameBonus of the slaughter of other Maverick Hunters he did before.]] Even before that, the game explicitly has Sky Lagoon be wiped out, killing potentially ''tens of millions'' of people in one fell swoop that the characters outright remark upon in horror while showing you the ruined aftermath up close, and the plot itself thinly veils what amounts to not just fighting rebellious robots, but a flat-out genocide of the entire (''sentient!'') Repliforce solely because they bucked their leash and threatened Earth due to being framed and baited by Sigma. Perhaps because of changed standards, the ''X Legacy Collection'' silently bumped the game up to "T for Teen".

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: This game got an "E for Everyone" rating. This is the same game that has ''the'' most violent cutscene deaths ever seen in the entirety of the franchise, with [[spoiler:Double]] bloodily and mercilessly murdering an entire squad in a rather gratuitously violent scene, and [[spoiler:Zero maiming the hell out of Sigma before he gained amnesia, never mind the FreezeFrameBonus of the slaughter of other Maverick Hunters he did before.]] Even before that, the game explicitly has Sky Lagoon be wiped out, killing potentially ''tens of millions'' of people in one fell swoop that the characters outright remark upon in horror while showing you the ruined aftermath up close, and the plot itself thinly veils what amounts to not fighting rebellious robots, but a flat-out genocide of the entire Repliforce solely because they bucked their leash and threatened Earth. Perhaps because of changed standards, the ''X Legacy Collection'' silently bumped the game up to "T for Teen".

** Compared to [[spoiler:Double]] in X's route, Iris isn't terribly difficult -- just slash her to keep her at bay, then focus on the core. Justified as Iris was never meant to be a fighter and the project that spawned her and Colonel, spawned the two for a reason. [[note]]They were originally one and the same Reploid meant to replicate the paradox X had with {{technical pacifis|t}}m, but Iris' innocence and pacifism didn't go well with Colonel's spirit of combat and honorable nature, so they were SplitAtBirth.[[/note]]

* EvenBetterSequel: This game is a huge step-up in comparison to ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX3 X3]]'', with a more memorable soundtrack, interesting level design, and an entire second campaign starring Zero with [[DivergentCharacterEvolution a more varied gameplay style]] compared to the last game. It also helped to establish ''X4'' as, along with [[VideoGame/MegaManX1 the original]], a ToughActToFollow for the remainder of the ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX X]]'' [[VideoGame/MegaManX series]]. It is also considered by most fans to be the only game in the ''X'' series to, at minimum, rival [[FirstInstallmentWins the original]] in quality.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: One of the biggest complaints about ''VideoGame/MegaManX7'' is that X does not get much focus in favor of [[SpotlightStealingSquad Axl]]. This can be traced back to this game, where Zero gets more story involvement than X does. The difference is that X is still the main character of his ''X4'' story. When comparing both of ''X4''[='s=] story campaigns, although X doesn't get nearly as much emotional investment or backstory as Zero does, he is still very much an important player in the conflict and goes through many of the same beats Zero does. By contrast, ''X7'' has X undergo TenMinuteRetirement as an unlockable character instead of being available from the start, and has little involvement in many of the big story scenes with Axl calling most of the shots. Adding to this is how Zero [[BreakoutCharacter had grown to become the most popular character in the series over the course of the previous three games]] to make his focus not feel undeserved while Axl got his focus as early as his first appearance and had yet to earn his fanbase (he was TheScrappy in ''X7'' but was RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap in [[VideoGame/MegaManX8 the next game]]).

-->'''Split Mushroom:''' Are you X? I'm under orders to terminate you.\\

** To a lesser extent, the Plasma Shot ArmCannon (not the Stock Shot one) in this game deals massive damage to minibosses with its "leftover plasma orbs", and it's also effective (although slightly less) to normal bosses. Those orbs can also be an impromptu "shield" that destroys whatever projectiles can be destroyed for 2-3 seconds. Sadly, next games nerf those orbs to be completely ineffective against normal bosses, and (in the {{nerf}}ed Force Armor in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX5 X5]]'') only one plasma orb can be generated at a time (while Ultimate Armor can still make more than one).

* QuestionableCasting: Infamously, X has the voice of a prepubescent girl in this game's English dub, when the original Japanese had a man voicing him. This was because X's actress in English recording for classic Mega Man and X at the same time without being told she was recording for both ''VideoGame/MegaMan8'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManX4''.

** We're ''meant'' to pity Repliforce, [[BigBad Sigma]] tricked them and the government unfairly deemed them Mavericks, but their actions don't endear them. After [[ColonyDrop a national disaster]], Colonel refuses to disarm and come in for questioning, saying it's an insult to Repliforce's honor (he might have been more sympathetic if he stated a lack of trust in the Maverick Hunters/their superiors instead of that). General, Repliforce's leader, revolts to declare an independent, Reploid-only state: a huge space station with a WaveMotionGun pointed ''down'', and parts of Repliforce launch organized attacks on civilians (particularly Jet Stingray, who apparently destroys an entire city) to buy time for Repliforce to launch. Of course the government would call Repliforce Mavericks -- peaceful intentions or not, they refused to follow the law after a huge disaster and declared civil war. But the ending here and the attitude towards them in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX5 X5]]'', suggests we're supposed to view them with ''sympathy''. The only sympathetic ones are General (who, in the opening cutscene, didn't want to rebel and later committed a HeroicSacrifice to save Earth), Iris (she didn't rebel and went insane when Colonel died), The Skiver/Spiral Pegasus from ''X5'' (doesn't hold a grudge and fights because he knows he'll become a Maverick soon), and arguably Colonel (his programming flaw made him lack a peaceful side, [[AllThereInTheManual not that the game itself tells you this]]).

* VindicatedByHistory: While fairly well-received at launch, ''X4'' got a significant amount of criticism from critics for sticking to 2D sprite-based graphics at a time when everyone was pushing for 3D, as well as [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks being too similar to its predecessors]]. Today it's one of the most popular games in the series for its refinements and new features (namely Zero) and has stood the test of time incredibly well as a result of its 2D graphics and gameplay, coming from an era when most franchises were having problems making a VideoGame3DLeap.

* QuestionableCasting: Infamously, X has the voice of a prepubescent girl in this game's English dub, when the original Japanese had a man voicing him.

* QuestionableCasting: Infamously, X has the voice of a prepubescent girl in this game's English dub.

* VindicatedByHistory: While fairly well-received at launch, ''X4'' got a significant amount of criticism from critics for sticking to 2D sprite-based graphics at a time when everyone was pushing for 3D, as well as [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks being too similar to its predecessors]]. Today it's one of the most popular games in the series for its refinements and new features (namely Zero) and has stood the test of time incredibly well as a result of its 2D graphics and gameplay, coming from an era when most franchises were having problems making a VideoGame3DLeap.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: ''X4'' has by far the best art out of all the series' PSX games. Every stage has immaculately constructed and animated backgrounds, every character's movement bounces with a sense of life sadly absent from ''X5'' and ''X6'', and then there's the cool anime [=FMVs=]!
* BestBossEver: Magma Dragoon, who has a badass design in general, steals moves from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' like the Hadoken and Shoryuken, and is one of only three fights in the entire series where you can bring a Ride Armor into the boss room and fight him with it. [[note]]The other two being [[VideoGame/MegaManX7 Vanishing Gungaroo]] and [[VideoGame/MegaManX8 Bamboo Pandamonium]].[[/note]] He's even the only Maverick boss in the series to have an actual death scene instead of just exploding, and was even "brought back" as [[WarmupBoss the boss of the tutorial stage]] in the next game.

* EvenBetterSequel: This game is a huge step-up in comparison to ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX3 X3]]'', with a more memorable soundtrack, interesting level design, and an entire second campaign starring Zero with [[DivergentCharacterEvolution a more varied gameplay style]] compared to the last game. It also helped to establish ''X4'' as, along with [[VideoGame/MegaManX1 the original]], a ToughActToFollow for the remainder of the ''X'' series. It is also considered by most fans to be the only game in the ''X'' series to, at minimum, rival [[FirstInstallmentWins the original]] in quality.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Repliforce was quite justified in their lack of trust in the Maverick Hunters - the Hunters basically did whatever they were told by the humans, and had killed thousands if not millions of Reploids in their crusade against Mavericks. From Repliforce's perspective, the Maverick Hunters had a stranglehold on all of Reploidkind and wouldn't allow anyone to change or evolve, lest they threaten the supremacy of the humans. Sigma put it well: