Trivia / Mega Man X8

• Dummied Out:
  • X8 might have been planned to have X, Zero, and Axl to be Navigators to their female counterparts. In the PC version's second installation disc, there is a folder of the Japanese voice actors' sound data, including the main characters' voices as Navigators. The idea seemed to be scrapped because it would involve further scripting and scenarios. It's amusing to hear that Axl feels very, very bored to have his job as a Navigator.
  • There are also unused voice clips for the three Navigator girls using attacks unique to the three Hunter guys, such as Alia shouting "Hadoken!" and Pallette shouting "Transform!", implying that they were originally capable of using moves such as the Hadoken and A-Trans respectively.
  • In the PC's version character models folder, there is also an unused ninja-like enemy named Guardroid. It doesn't appear to have any unique abilities other than a normal dash, and its attack projectiles are missing in the game's files.
  • Bamboo Pandamonium has unused textures that have him open his normally-dark eyes.
• Franchise Killer: The game was seen as a return to form after the rushed X6 and wildly different X7, but low sales rendered this the last original Mega Man X game. The similar failure of the remake Maverick Hunter X only cemented the franchise's dormancy.
• Multi-Disc Work: The original PC port from 2004 was released on two discs in most regions, while some others such as China, Korea, and Taiwan only had a single-disc release with only their respective languages while some prints were also bundled with Mega Man X7.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The game never saw an international re-release until 2018, when a port of the game was announced for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch alongside the other X series games.
• No Export for You: Outside of being available for a brief period of time through GameTap, the 2004 PC version was never released physically in North America, despite being in all other regions! It wasn't until the X Legacy Collection 2 that a port of the PlayStation 2 version with the improved performance of the PC version was released in 2018.
• Short Run in Peru: Unlike the previous installments of Mega Man X, Mega Man X8 was released in North America first before Japan, Europe, and Korea were able to get their hands on the game.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Prototype art shows a Neon Tiger-like ninth Maverick alongside the usual eight, wielding claws and a hooked tail. They were evidently cut.
  • Unused voice lines for X, Zero, and Axl indicate that at some point of development, they would take the place of Alia, Layer, and Pallette as operators when the latter are chosen as playable.
  • Unused sound and animation files revealed that X was meant to be able to use the Hadouken from X1 once more, but ended up getting scrapped for whatever reason. Curiously, not only was that line dubbed in English, but Alia has her own variations of those animations and sound files as well, suggesting this was a last minute cut.

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