Monday, June 6, 2011

MMX Mobile Features Advice From Beyond The Grave

The original Mega Man X saw a mobile phone release in Asia recently, and despite being touted as a direct port, the game actually houses a few new bells and whistles; from tweaked graphics and sound, to time attack and beginner difficulty modes. The game's latest firmware update hit a few weeks back, which offered the most significant addition to the game yet: Navigation Mode.


Taking a cue from the mid-to-late X series titles,  MMX mobile now features a new heads-up assistance system, in which Dr. Light offers tips and hints about how to progress through the game.  According to tipster G-Star, Dr. Light's dialog, in these instances, are said to be very "life-like." In other words, he's seemingly aware of X's current surroundings, despite the fact that he's been dead for quite some time.

Those fluent in the Mega Man X lore will note that Dr. Light passed on years ago, however, he manages to communicate with X via pre-recorded messages attached to Armor Capsules dispersed throughout the globe. However, what's curious about Light's depiction in Navi Mode is that he's self-aware.

Dr. Light has actively conversed with characters from beyond the grave since Mega Man X6, no, Mega Man X5 even. In X5, he's shown speaking to an ailing X, going so far as to even "repair him." When playing as Zero in X6, finding a certain Capsule warrants an active discussion with Light concerning Zero's identity.  These instances of a sentient posthumous Dr. Light have even led to some circles to believe that, perhaps, Light isn't limited to a mere hologram but something along the lines of Cyber-Elf X. Or a force ghost thingamajig.

Admittedly, we might be looking too much into this, but hey, it's fun to geek out on these sort of things.

Thanks for the tip and video, G-Star!

9 comments:

  1. Light mapped his brain, uploading this information into a super computer, running on an algorithm along the lines of X's free will?

    Pretty plausible.

    I've always believed Light achieved an A.I. technology advanced enough to allow a human's memories and personality to be stored into an electronic brain, which explains his self-awareness in the "pre-recorded" messages.

    Just throwing my two cents.

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  2. I pretty much agree with Musashi's idea about the A.I. I'm not sure if Light had the technology to be able to map his brain to a program. However, if he was able to build X's A.I. then he is definitely capable of creating an A.I. that can learn and react to outside stimulus which is also programmed to act like him.

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  3. A actual Navigator like the one in Maverick Hunter X would make more sense, but lol, this is amusing. Other strange navigators are Proto Man and Kalinka in MM3-4. In MM3 Mega Man doesn't even know if Proto Man is a ally or enemy, and how Kalinka got "Mega Man's phone" (or whatever ya wanna "call" it) if she was captured by Wily?

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  4. Dr. Light's capsules, at a minimum, respond to X's thoughts and conditions. See X4 when Light comments on the Repliforce war.

    And in X5, they're definitely sentient to an algorithmic degree. Don't forget that Sigma appears to have found some form of assistance from Dr. Wily. X1 Armored X's buster and Zero's original buster matching, on top of Sigma getting X's Plasma Shot from Wily really leads me to believe Wily stole a lot of Light's work near the end of MM Classic.

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  5. You know, I've always kind of thought that perhaps while some capsules may have had pre-recorded messages, other instances seem to suggest that there is an AI in the capsule that is aware of what is going on. It seemed that way in X8, for example, and even in a couple of the other games he seems to be well-aware of what is going on in the world.

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  6. @Hypershell
    Or Capcom just likes re-using graphics to save space/time.

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  7. Come on, Protodude, you're slipping. Light acknowledges current events in X4 (war), X5 (Alia, increased security), and X8 ("something like this"), and acknowledges Zero in Xtreme2. His capsule hologram holds active conversations in BOTH X5 and X6. He is also in X5 clearly working towards new power-ups that were not planted back in 20XX (both Black Zero and the Gaia Armor allude to this).

    That's about 7 to 8 counts against Light working exclusively with pre-recorded messages.

    So, while I agree that a Hunter navigator (SNES-styled Nanayer?) would have made more sense, Light being intelligent in the X-series is not news.

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  8. No intro stage theme? That kinda feels lonely...

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