I wanted more handheld Zero so here’s the equivalent to the Classic GB games. X had his own handheld spinoffs, with mainly reused content from the first three X games. There’s some oddities to the structure but they were adapted well to the lower-fidelity format.

It’s disappointing that so much was simply transferred wholesale from the console games, but on the other hand I haven’t played X2 or 3 so that at least was new to me. Xtreme 2 makes a bit more of an effort at original content, as well as a fully equally playable Zero (appreciated) with on-the-fly character switching and a shop system where the currency of “DNA Souls” (given along with any health or energy pickup) can be exchanged for permanent boosts.

Xtreme 1 (original title Cyber Mission) has a basic story that attempts to justify its recycled content as it’s all a computer simulation. There’s some boring new plot characters and of course Sigma is the true baddy. Xtreme 2 (AKA Soul Eraser) has a bit more depth, silly as it is, with the baddies manipulating robot souls or something to revive content enemies from X1, 2, and 3, and Iris helps you. And of course Sigma is the true baddy, but this time his boss fight is actually new.

I enjoyed seeing the X world and characters transferred into more limited colour palettes and sprite definition. This looks good for GBC game, but inviting direct comparisons with more powerful systems is not always flattering. The 8-bit locales and tunes have their charm, though. Of course a Game Boy has no shoulder buttons for dashing, an important mechanic in the X games. You can double-tap a direction or press down+A, but the first game also adds an auto-dash-wall-jump function to the boots enhancement, and the second one adds air dashing with a second press of the jump button. This simple air dash really gives the game that feel of enhanced mobility and feels great to use since it’s so easily activated. This alone would make Xtreme 2 a much stronger game, on top of all its other enhancements.

The weirdest thing about these games is their overall structure. In both games you can only play half the game initially, and end up doing the other four boss stages in a separate mode after seeing the credits. This means you are obliged to do the fortress stages and bosses multiple times, which becomes tedious. Xtreme 2 once again slightly improves on it by splitting the game up between the characters X and Zero, instead of just locking half of it behind “Hard Mode” as the first one does (Hard Mode is actually easier since you can begin it with all the enhancements gained in Normal Mode).

Playing as Zero was great fun, even if his range is sorely limited with only a sword. Half his unlocks expand his moveset in nice ways, while the other half are less fun menu-based special attacks. However again the game’s odd structure is a handicap as you can only get half of the unlocks in a given mode, until you get Extreme mode, but then you have to get all of his moves and ignore X’s, or you can also start a Zero mode after finishing X mode… it’s unnecessarily complicated.

I applaud Xtreme 2 for improving in many ways from the first instalment, but it also has a higher ratio of gimmicks like hoverbike and ride armour sections. These just aren’t as fun to play. Still, I think in all other ways it’s more fleshed out and essential than Xtreme 1, especially for Zero fans like me!