Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

Perhaps 21 is not an age to feel old, but in the gaming world, that covers a lot of ground. Not to get all James Murphy on you, but when the Super NES came out, I was there. And when the Mega Man series got a much-needed facelift in the form of Mega Man X, I was there too. Gently placing the Mega Man X Collection (GC, PS2/Capcom) disc into my Game Cube may not be the same as slamming a big gray cartridge in your SNES, but I grabbed a box of orange flavoured Hi-C, busted out my cassette deck with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie OST tape and told my mom I was too sick to go to school. Aww, to be 10 years old again.

Mega Man X Collection has six Mega Man X titles, spanning the original on the Super Nintendo from 1993, up until the sixth one that was released on the PS One in 2001 (the PS2 MMX was not included—thank you Capcom). For you young whippersnappers, Mega Man X was more of the same 2-D side-scrolling shooting action with the cheap one-hit kills we loved, but added to the mix were new weapons, moves and cooler armour suits.

Lately I’ve noticed that many of my favourite games of the 8-bit and 16-bit eras simply are not as good as I remember them (I’m looking in your direction, Super Empire Strikes Back), but Mega Man X2 is as action-packed and infuriatingly difficult as ever before. Better tell Mom I have pneumonia so I can get the week off.

Mega Man X2 is specifically the reason to get this game. It’s been nearly 12 years since Mega Man X2 first graced my “sooper,” and I still think about it the way someone yearns for a lost lover. The game was the creative apex of the Mega Man series because of its utterly insane boss levels; often you’ll find too many moving objects on the screen, and success is less about actual reflexes and more entering the Mega Man “zen” stage. This is where you figure out the flow of the bullets movements, and you avoid them without thinking. Granted, it takes about a dozen game-overs to truly harness this sixth sense, but 12 years ago I really had nothing better to do.

Even the Mona Lisa gets a minor touch-up every now and then, so why shouldn’t the Super Nintendo Mega Man receive the same treatment? The only difference I noticed was the slowdown that at times plagued X2 is completely gone. Everything else is firmly entrenched in 1994; the colours are very neon-centric, the controls are simple and tight, and the typical assortments of level types (i.e. sand stage, water stage, lava stage) are present.

The bosses are also fantastic, sporting great names such as “overdrive ostrich” and “flame stag.”

Tubular. Mega Man may very well have some personal meaning to you too, and this game reminds you of why. Attempts to update Mega Man into the third dimension have failed miserably, and it’s looking as though Capcom will relegate the blue bomber to starring in kiddie games. At least this collection exists.

EMERGENCY EXECUTION

State of Emergency 2 (PS2/ Southpeak Interactive, DC Studios) was looking like vapourware when its original developer VIS Entertainment went bankrupt, but Montreal developer DC Studios bought the rights to the game last May and have finished the product.

State of Emergency 2 brings the same riot-dispersing mayhem as the first. This version starts with a live execution, so don’t think they’ve gone soft. It’s in stores now.