Game Review Megaman X4

Megaman is notorious for its difficulty and I'm here to say THIS GAME IS FUCKING HARD.  Megaman X4 to be specific.  While it lacks some of what made Megaman X great, it is still a good game.  I had this on the Playstation when I was a wee little lad and I have no clue how little me got his head around this game because it can be hard as BALLS sometimes.  It took me many tries to beat all the bosses (except Frost Walrus cause he's a friggin pushover).  I didn't look up any guides before playing this game because I wanted the same feeling of discovery little me had and for that reason I was punched in the face by most of the stages I chose to take on first, like Magma Dragoon stage.  Lemme just say FUCK MAGMA DRAGOON.  He was nearly impossible to beat without the hover boots you get in the forest stage (I don't remember bug man's name) as well as the x-buster upgrade from Storm Eagle stage.  The first boss I ended up beating was Slash Beast which took quite a while.  I then went back to bug man and got the boots and did a lot of jumping around stages.  I kind of like how this is how the game wants you to play.  It kind of forces you to jump around which makes you learn about how to kill all the different enemies.  You would sometimes find upgrades and things while jumping around and the out-of-reach ones gave you a sort of guideline on what to go after next.  At the same time, it was not fun ramming my head against impossible bosses until I gave up and moved on at the end of each stage.  I also didn't find myself using almost any of the weapons I picked up from the other bosses aside from one which I used exclusively to get to upgrades.  This game really makes you work for most of X's upgrades and it feels very good when you finally get one.  One constant throughout the Megaman franchise is the awesome platforming and this game is no exception.  Many of the jumps I had to make required much jiggling of the joystick and precise use of the dash jump to land as well as using the wall slide to traverse many obstacles.  One thing I absolutely hated was Jet Stingray stage.  It was a clusterfuck.  It took me forever to beat because much of it is very unfair, what with floating platforms coming out of nowhere and slamming you into the side of the screen.  You almost have to memorize the entire stage before you can safely navigate it which made it more of a chore than a challenge.  The stage also makes you go at a set speed and doesn't let the player move at his/her own pace.  I am on the very last stage currently but I don't think I'll be finishing it because, you know, it's hard as shit.  All in all it's a good game.  Tight controls and platforming are something I always appreciate, open stage select made unassisted progression a little difficult but fun, upgrades almost required to beat some bosses, and very rewarding and useful upgrades.  I liked it.  Solid 7.