Line #9 VideoGame/MegaManX7


1	!!All spoilers for previous ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' entries preceding this one, including ''VideoGame/MegaManX6'' may be unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
2	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mega_man_x7_art_small.png]]
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4	->''"I want Axl back. Now, don't you worry. I know he won't come back easily. So how about this? Like you, we are hunters. We've trashed our share of Mavericks. So how about a duel? A duel to determine who the real Maverick Hunters are. I'm sure you won't mind if we use the Mavericks that we've captured so far. So, the last one standing wins! If we lose, we'll surrender Axl to you. And if we win? Well... We'll leave that to your imagination!"''
5	-->-- '''Red, ''Mega Man X7''.'''
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7	The [[VideoGameLongRunners seventh entry]] in the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series, ''Mega Man X7'' was the series' first appearance on the [[MediaNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames sixth console generation]] (Platform/{{PlayStation 2}} and [[Platform/WindowsGames PC]][[labelnote:*]][[NoExportForYou in Korea]][[/labelnote]]) and its first and only attempt at true 3D gameplay. This game is also notable for introducing [[KidHero Axl]], a third playable protagonist.
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9	[[YearX In the year 21XX]], the Earth has finally recovered from [[VideoGame/MegaManX5 the Eurasia crisis]], and life is returning to normal. However, this means Maverick crime is on the rise again, and to make matters worse, X retires from the front lines of the Maverick Hunters to seek peaceful solutions to Maverick problems. This power vacuum allows a vigilante named Red to form a rival syndicate called Red Alert to pick up the Hunters' slack.
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11	One member of Red Alert, the mysterious Axl, notices Red becoming increasingly cutthroat and jumps ship to join the Hunters. He is pursued by Mechaniloids, causing so much chaos that Zero arrests him. Red 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 -- gets to keep Axl and remain the "true" hunters. Axl feels responsible for the chaos, and [[TagalongKid tags along with Zero]] to escape his former team.
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13	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 attempt 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 and if any of two team members are defeated, the player loses a life [[LazyBackup regardless of their partner's condition]].
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15	The eight Maverick bosses of this game are Red Alert's eight members:
16	* Soldier Stonekong. Axl and X earn [[DishingOutDirt Gaea]] [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Shield]] from him, and Zero earns [[DeflectorShields Gokumonken]].
17	* Vanishing Gungaroo. Axl and X earn [[HavingABlast Explosion]] (plus Axl's [[{{BFG}} G-Launcher]]) from him, and Zero earns [[SwordBeam Hadangeki]].
18	* Splash Warfly. Axl and X earn [[MakingASplash Splash]] [[BubbleGun Laser]] from him, and Zero earns [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice Suiretsusen]] (plus Zero's D-Glaive).
19	* Tornado Tonion. Axl and X earn [[ShockAndAwe Volt]] [[BlowYouAway Tornado]] from him (plus Axl's RayGun), and Zero earns [[{{Shoryuken}} Raijinshou]].
20	* Ride Boarski. Axl and X earn [[SpikedWheels Moving Wheel]] from him, and Zero earns [[DeadlyDisc Zankourin]].
21	* Flame Hyenard. Axl and X earn [[GrenadeLauncher Circle Blaze]] (plus Axl's [[GunsAkimbo Double Bullets]]) from him, and Zero earns [[GroundPunch Bakuenjin]].
22	* Wind Crowrang. Axl and X earn [[RazorWind Wind Cutter]] from him, and Zero earns [[BattleBoomerang Souenbu]] (plus Zero's [[DualWielding V-Hanger]]).
23	* Snipe Anteator. Axl and X earn [[HomingProjectile Sniper Missile]] from him, and Zero earns [[EnergyBow Hieijin]].
24	-----
25	!!Tropes featured in ''Mega Man X7''includes:
26	* TenMinuteRetirement: At the beginning of the game, only Zero and Axl are playable. X has given up Maverick Hunting and gone full pacifist. [[spoiler:After you rescue 64 Reploids or beat all eight Mavericks, X changes his mind.]]
27	* AMillionIsAStatistic: During X's Ending, Alia and Signas try to appeal to X to allow Axl to become a Maverick Hunter by citing several of his recent missions that he did well on. One of these missions is off-handedly noted to have had 16 casualties.
28	* ActualPacifist: X decides to find a non-violent solution, at first. Then he realizes ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer.
29	* AdvancingBossOfDoom: The first Red Alert stage has a bulldozer mechaniloid chase you across a DeathCourse, finally becoming vulnerable near the end of the stage.
30	* AerithAndBob: The names of the rescuable Reploids in this game are jarringly normal compared to the rest of the cast. In a series where the focus is on characters named X, Zero, and Sigma, these Reploids have names like ''Tony'', ''Bruce'', and ''Tim''.
31	* AllThereInTheManual: The game's soundtrack released with a Japanese-only prologue story called "Golden Days" (''Ōgon no Hibi''), which explains the opening FMV cutscene where Axl assassinates the two Reploids. Would you have known that the mission was to recover a mysterious Sigma Virus-like program, that the Reploids names are Cedar and Aluce, and that it's what got Sigma to get in contact with Red Alert in the first place without knowing about it? Probably not.
32	* AnimeThemeSong: "CODE CRUSH" by Rina Aiuchi in the Japanese version.
33	* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
34	** Rescued Reploids stay saved, even if you fail to complete a level.
35	** This is the only game in the series that includes a checkpoint between Sigma's 1st and 2nd forms.
36	** This game returns to the norm of ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX4 X4]]'' and previous games of allowing X to equip armor parts the moment he picks them up, as opposed to only being able to equip the entire set at once (as was the case in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX5 X5]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX6 X6]]'').
37	* ArtifactTitle: With X quitting the Maverick Hunters as the game starts, you wonder why the game is named after him. [[HesBack Then he comes back.]]
38	* AttackReflector: Zero's Gokumonken can deflect many projectiles back to the attacker. Including the FinalBoss.
39	* 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, while X and Axl's Sniper Missile works in a similar way, Hieijin doesn't consume ammo whereas Sniper Missile does), 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.
40	* BashBrothers: This is the first console ''Mega Man X'' game where you get to choose two Hunters to enter a stage with (''[[VideoGame/MegaManXtreme2 Xtreme 2]]'' did this in its hardest difficulty). You can switch between them on the fly, too.
41	* BigFun: Tornado Tonion seems to be this, due to his obsession with dancing and always trying to impress Axl and Zero with it before giving up and fighting them.
42	* BigNo: Sigma yells this when Axl [[DestinationDefenestration shoots him out of a window]] [[DisneyVillainDeath to his death]].
43	* CounterAttack: Zero stands his ground while using the Gokumonken and will not move. If any enemy walks close to him, he responds with [[{{BFS}} a slow, oversized overhand chop]].
44	* CoversAlwaysLie: At least the North American and European cover does. Zero and Axl are prominent on the Japanese cover with X as a barely visible background character. On the North American cover, the X artwork is front and center with Zero and Axl barely visible behind him, while the European cover only features X with Zero and Axl nowhere to be seen.
45	* DefectorFromDecadence: The tutorial is all about Axl escaping from Red Alert headquarters, as he wants nothing to do with them anymore.
46	* DifficultyByRegion: The NA version reduces the damage value of most the player character's attacks (up to half in some instances), making battles more drawn-out.
47	* EarnYourFun: The gam'es entire design is built around this idea. In order to make the characters move, attack or damage even reasonably, the player is forced to grind through the levels and rescue every last reploid possible to get upgrades (while praying that [[PermanentlyMissableContent none of them get killed]]). This also applies to unlocking X, which requires either rescuing a certain number of reploids or beating all 8 of the bosses.
48	* FakeLongevity: The game has been accused of this. Common criticisms include the character feeling slower than in past games, long cutscenes, [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading the game's loading screens being too frequent and too long]], [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper Alia repeatedly teaching redundant tutorials]], and bosses [[DamageSpongeBoss taking longer]] than any other ''Franchise/MegaMan'' game even with the bosses' weaknesses.
49	* {{Fauxshadowing}}: 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 ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero Zero]]'' series' ArtShift into account), the ending still works as foreshadowing for Copy X]]. X's dialogue with Snipe Anteator [[spoiler:implies the same thing, as Snipe Anteator asks if he intends to build a utopia over the graves of rebels, which is exactly what Copy X tries in ''Z1''.]]
50	* GuideDangIt:
51	** Go into the options menu and turn Auto-fire ON. Now, [[ScratchDamage Axl's pistols]] are auto-fire instead of [[ButtonMashing manual]]. You're welcome. [[note]]Auto Repeat also affects X's shots and prevents him from charging his weapons normally unless the Auto Charge setting is also enabled. No, the game doesn't tell you this in advance either.[[/note]]
52	** The machine that Hyenard rides on has a pair of horns. While they would at first appear to be entirely decorative since they can't be targeted, the truth is that they can be attacked and destroyed (provided you manually line your shot up and don't wind up auto-targeting Hyenard instead), and taking both of them out will stop the thing's constant missile barrages, making it less of a hassle to deal with Hyenard, whether by staying by the neck and shooting at him while he's on the head or going to the center and stabbing him up with Suiretsusen.
53	** Zero's Gokumonken technique completely and utterly nullifies the second Sigma phase's super-fast charging punch attack that would normally knock you on your ass or into the BottomlessPit below. There isn't a sound effect or any indicator whatsoever that this works, and it's usually a move intended for [[DeflectorShields blocking projectiles.]]
54	* HitboxDissonance: The collision of the X-Buster's fully charged shots are suspect at best, as they're capable of going through some objects that they really have no business going through. The stand-out example is the blue platforms in the Professor battle, as Axl's G-Launcher and even more bizarrely a partly charged shot from the very same X Buster are not capable of going through them the same way fully charged shots are.
55	* IncrediblyLamePun: Tornado Tonion is a fat Onion-based Reploid who must weigh at least a TON. His Japanese name uses Debonian (debu = fat) instead.
56	* InterfaceSpoiler: The fact that you need to select the characters in your two-person team (complete with an overly-detailed tutorial from Alia) despite there being only 2 characters available is a dead giveaway that X will [[TenMinuteRetirement come out of retirement at some point in the game]].
57	* KangarooPouchRide: Vanishing Gungaroo pilots a Ride Armor modeled after a mother kangaroo, with the cockpit located in its "pouch".
58	* LastLousyPoint: One Reploid in Flame Hyenard's stage, Leon, is among the most difficult Reploids to rescue. This is entirely due to his positioning, under a bomb that will kill him very quickly near some ring lasers that you have to pass by. If they hit you, you'll get knocked down far too long to save the reploid. The only ways to rescue him reliably are to use Axl's roll move (which grants temporary invincibility) to cut through the ring lasers, exploit Triple Invincible (a chip effect that triples the time your MercyInvincibility is active), or to know that Reploids despawn when offscreen, but the time bombs in the stage will still permanently explode, meaning you can trigger the time bombs and then immediately run away to despawn Leon before they explode. A lesser specific example is Edie in Soldier Stonekong's stage, who is essentially wedged in a spike pit. It's not impossible to get him without dying, but it's a hassle. In general, any Reploid who dies easily or is in an obscure/obtuse place. At least Leon doesn't have any sort of part, so it's no huge loss if he gets blown up.
59	* LazyBackup:
60	** ''X7'' has a team mechanic, where you choose two Hunters and can switch between them without leaving the stage. However, as soon as one of them is defeated, you lose a life and have to start over. Where did the other Hunter go?
61	** Possibly done this way because said Hunter actually dies when this happens. Luckily gets fixed in ''X8'', where losing all the HP on one of your two characters just makes them retreat for a while and get repairs.
62	* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: Every section of a level has a dedicated load screen, and the loading times aren't short either. The game also has to load any time you lose a life, as well as when you exit a stage. Luckily, the version in ''[[CompilationRerelease Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2]]'' almost completely fixes this, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O96HT_wwLhc#t=27m9s the load times are now almost instantaneous.]]
63	* MercyInvincibility: Averted in the case of lava -- if you touch hazardous terrain, even while invincible, you lose a life. We haven't seen this behavior since ''VideoGame/MegaMan1''. The invincibility frames still work on the SpikesOfDoom, though.
64	* NewGamePlus: After beating the game, you can keep all of the Power-Up Chips you get from the Reploids you rescue and power-ups into a new round. X is also playable from the start, and has all the armor parts previously collected.
65	* NostalgiaLevel: Zero's part of the intro stage is the same highway X traveled through in ''VideoGame/MegaManX1'', complete with a few Bee Bladers returning to act as mini-bosses.
66	* PermanentlyMissableContent: The rescuable Reploids can be killed by any enemies, and they can't be brought back, so if one of them had a chip you needed, it's gone for good unless you try again from your last save. This is similar to how the Nightmare viruses could infect rescuable Reploids in ''X6''.
67	* PowerCopying: in addition to the series' typical boss-copying mechanic, Axl has his own ability, A-Trans, which allows him to turn into certain {{mooks}} by finishing them off with his Copy Shot, and use their unique abilities to fight through the stage and find hidden Heart Tanks/E-Tanks/Armor Capsules.
68	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Red, after you beat him in his boss fight, sets their current location to self-destruct and dies with it, to make up for letting Sigma manipulate him. Axl doesn't take the death of his best friend/caretaker well.
69	* SoftReboot: There are definitely signs that the game is this. Even though it follows up on ''X6'', there's no indication of how long time has passed between then and the world returning to a healthy, hospitable state, some of the plot points introduced in that game like Isoc, Dynamo, and Alia's CharacterDevelopment [[AbortedArc were left behind]], Axl is introduced as the YoungerAndHipper alternative to X, the intro stage is a NostalgiaLevel, and there's a heavy abundance of {{Forced Tutorial}}s, meaning Capcom fully intended for this game to be an alternative introductory point for the series rather than having newcomers start all the way with ''X1''.
70	* SomeDexterityRequired: Handling the X-Buster is weird. Unlike literally any other ''Mega Man'' game ever, a shot isn't fired when you press the button, but instead when you let go of it. This isn't so bad, but a more significant problem is that X is not capable of firing while landing from a jump, and any attempt to do so will result in him just doing nothing, making him a bit more a headache to handle than Axl in that respect.
71	* TimedMission: Ride Boarski's level has to be completed within 3 minutes, or else the bombs he planted will detonate, forcing you to start the whole stage over.
72	* UnderratedAndOverleveled: Played with. X has never risen above a B rank hunter in canon, but his absence from the Maverick Hunters creates such a power vacuum that a rival organization has caught up to them. At the same time, the B rank had less to do with him being unskilled, and more to do with his hesitation in some situations and his wanting to resolve the Maverick problem without fighting. Interestingly, [[VideoGame/MegaManX8 the next game]] (as well as ''[[VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission Command Mission]]'') shows that [[RankUp X has risen all the way to Class S]], complete with much less hesitation on his part (though he's still [[MartialPacifist quite displeased]] about [[StatusQuoIsGod the unchanging status quo]]).
73	* VideoGame3DLeap: This is the first and only 3D ''Mega Man X'' game. It's best described as taking the 2D gameplay and adding an extra dimension, without taking time to consider how everything will work best in 3D.
74	* ViewersAreGoldfish:
75	** Alia returns and explains to the player how upgrade chips work every time for each individual chip.
76	** Almost everything has a dedicated tutorial, which can get tedious.

Context VideoGame / MegaManX7