Mega Man X hits iOS with new challenges

Capcom has released an iOS version of the classic SNES platformer, Mega Man X, for Japanese players. The game, based on the mobile port rather than the SNES original, features tweaked graphics, an 80-level “Challenge Mode,” Game Center leaderboards and touch-controls. Well, it's on an iPhone, of course it'll have touch-controls... but that necessity doesn't make the prospect any more welcoming.

Mega Man OGs were probably looking for a new challenge anyway, right? Mastering the game with zero percent tactile feedback ought to fit the bill. Anyone who's tried to make headway in, say, the Capcom Arcade version of Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts will have some idea what we're talking about. But hey, everyone on the leaderboards will be on the same playing field – and by the time you take down Sigma, you'll be such a touchscreen master that you could get a job just pressing virtual buttons all day, really fast. Probably.

And anyway, yesterday we were all sad because Mega Man was MIA, whereas today he's in a thing that can be played – touch-controls, redrawn sprites and all – on a telephone, at the click of a button. (In our day, of course, you had to walk ten miles to the video store over broken glass, then fight wild dogs just to reserve a copy for next week.) No word on a Western release yet, but with Capcom having just reaffirmed its love for the character, expect your turn soon.