Customer Reviews

Mega Man X: Official Complete Works

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Mega Man X: Official Complete Works is actually a half of the 336-page Japanese art book "R20" which was published in March 2008 to celebrate Mega Man's 20th anniversary. It's nice to have Capcom translate the book into English. The other half is Mega Man: Official Complete Works

This book retains the paperback format, low gloss pages and layout. The cover has a glossy embossed Mega Man X printed against a matte cover. It's very beautiful and X pops out nicely. This book has 144 pages compared to the Mega Man volume which has 200 pages.

There are both good and bad in releasing the original book as two volumes in English. The bad, of course, is the higher price. The good is the it's thinner and more friendly to the book spine. By comparison, my 320-page "SF20: The Art of Street Fighter", also from Capcom, has slight creases when I open the book wide.

The art inside is arranged by chronological order. The book is filled with colourful character designs, sketches and illustrations from game covers, manga and other merchandise. The variety is amazing. The pages are packed with so many versions of powered up Mega Man X, the bosses and enemies.

The designs are beautiful and detailed. I've never actually played Mega Man X before so this book isn't as nostalgic as the other volume, but whatever you can think of is probably found in this book.

Accompanying the designs are lots of quotes from the Japanese artists. They talk about the characters, ideas, and you can gain some interesting insight into their working environment. There are 8 artists doing the designs and they are Ryuji Higurashi, Hayato Kaji, Keisuke Mizuno, Tatsuya Yoshikawa, Shinsuke Komaki, Haruki Suetsugu, Sho Tsuge and Yoshihisa Tsuda.

This book is a great tribute to the Mega Man X franchise, highly recommended to all fans.

If you like this book, check out Mega Man: Official Complete Works also.

The full list of game titles included are:

* Mega Man X to X8
* Mega Man Xtreme
* Mega Man Xtreme 2
* Mega Man X: Command Mission
* Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

I cannot remember the last time I caved so hard. This book is very well layed out and has a lot of interesting little tidbits for long time fans of the game. It was pleasing to see just how much thought went into the design of the characters and the games that I am so fond of. All of this being said, I would only recommend it for true fans of the game, as both the price and the actual content are only going to be worth it for those people. Most of the book consists of drawings of the characters and bosses and little else. As such, anyone making a leap of faith because they "kind of" want it is sure to be disappointed.

Overall though, it was a wonderful little trip into nostalgia and an artbook that I will enjoy for years to come.