Oh. Oops. I guess I haven't checked my Backlog in a while. Shame about Red Ash... strange name choice though. It's obviously Mighty No. 9 Legends. Beck and Call are the main characters... they just reversed their color schemes. Beck looks just like Mega Man Trigger, Call looks exactly like Roll Caskett, and Tyger is clearly Tiesel Bonne. I'm kinda disappointed it didn't raise enough money to fund the game.

EDIT: I just realized... RedAsh is a different way of saying reDASH. Rockman DASH Repeated. It makrs perfect sense now.

I got Smash Bros a few days ago, but due to reasons too complicated to explain, I haven't had time to really sit down and play it until today. I'm pretty happy with how Shulk turned out, although honestly, I can't tell too much of a difference when he's using arts (except for Shield). I would have preferred if B was an extra attack button instead of an art selector, but ah well. Beggars can't be choosers. Although I really wish Shulk's alternate costumes had the varying forms of the Monado (costume 2 with the Monado II, Costume 4 with the True Monado, etc). That would have been awesome.

As for Mega Man, I found him a bit disappointing. His only decent attacks are the charge shot and that spinning-top move. Everything else kinda sucks (especially the leaf shield). But hey, it's better than no Mega Man at all, I suppose.

Really, my favorite third-party character so far is probably Pac-Man. I like how several of his attacks (including his Final Smash) have him morph into his classic self. It's so much cooler than playing as plain ol' Modern Pac-Man.

I'm sure whatever the case, X's story will be brilliant. I'd just love to see it connected to Xenoblade somehow. Anyhow, hope you enjoy Birth by Sleep. I've really wanted to play the KH series, so I started with the first game... and got stuck in the Wonderland level at the beginning. If I ever get around to beating the rest of the game, I'll probably move on to the others in the series. I don't dare jump into, say, Dream Drop Distance without playing the games that preceded it. I'm sure the story would leave my head spinning if I tried that.

(continued)
Anyway, this theory might seem a bit far-fetched, but I think it works. For a further bit of evidence, go re-watch the cutscene where Klaus destroys the universe, and you'll notice he refers to his people as "mankind" as opposed to "homskind." Sure, it could have been a minor translation error or oversight in the script... or it could mean Klaus was a human survivor of the destroyed Earth, just like in X.

So there you go. If that turns out to be the story, I'll be totally happy with it. But if there's truly no connection to the first game, I'll be very disappointed.

ANYWAY... congrats on getting your PSP! Now go buy Rockman DASH 1&2 and Maverick Hunter X ASAP. You won't regret it. Except for the whole "you can't understand Japanese" thing. But hey, that's what GameFAQs is for!

Yeah, like you said, the first trailer got our hopes up for Shulk. Then the second trailer implied the main character is a "mystery man" who's been in stasis for an undetermined amount of time, which made me assume Shulk. Then the E3 footage reveals he's just a nameless "make your own" character. And to add insult to injury, the "blade" in the title seems to be referring to some sort of computer system (B.L.A.D.E.) rather than the Monado (or any physical blade, for that matter). At this point, there's only one plausible theory I can think of that could possibly allow the stories of both games to be connected:

(Spoiler'd due to... um... spoilers)
X is actually a prequel to Xenoblade. After fleeing Earth, the humans land on a new world (which, for all intents and purposes, I'll call Planet Xeno). Unfortunately, the warring alien empires then take their battle to Planet Xeno, having destroying Earth. Even with their advanced technology, the humans are still hopelessly outmatched and outgunned. So in a desperate (yet insane) attempt to end all the turmoil, Klaus (Zanza) destroys and recreates the universe using his satellite's B.L.A.D.E. computer system.

Zanza and Meyneth then go on to form two titans on the recreated Planet Xeno; since Zanza fears and hates the hi-tech weapons of the original universe, he chooses to make the purely organic Bionis. Meyneth, on the other hand, realizes that technology can be used for good, and creates the Mechonis. Meanwhile, B.L.A.D.E. develops sentience, and renames itself Alvis/Monado (thus, the "blade" in both Xenoblade titles is actually the same thing).

Obviously, there are other implications in this theory. It would have to mean that the Nopon existed in the original universe (which is entirely possible, since aliens existed), and that Zanza happened to recreate their species later on.

I can sympathize over the PSP. Out of the 6+ years I've owned a PSP, my physical game collection has never made it past 10, simply because there's nothing else out there that looks worth playing. However, a major saving grace for the PSP is its online PS1 Classics store, which allowed me to finally buy old games like Crash Bandicoot 2, Spyro 3, and Chrono Cross for much cheaper than the original versions cost nowadays (unfortunately, neither of the Legends games are available through this method).

You.... you enjoyed X4? Corphish, there is no world just for X4! It's only a fantasy!
*corphish closes his eyes*
Corphish? Corphish! [Link]
AAAAAAHHH! No this isn't happening! There's no reason for me to go on! WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOOORRRRR?!!!!

But in all seriousness, the terrible voice acting is the least of my issues with X4. First and foremost, I hate the level design. I don't know how to explain it, but every level seems much more difficult than any of the stages in X1-3, which sucks all the fun out of playing. On top of that, I'm not a fan of the annoying high-pitched sound effects and colorful, flashy graphics. Playing X4 for more than 30 minutes always gives me a headache. I'm sure if they remade the post-X3 games with SNES-era graphics and sound effects, and toned down the ridiculous difficulty level, I'd enjoy them considerably more.

Hey Corphish! It's been a while. I actually got Xtreme a couple days ago, but forgot to add it to my Backloggery (which I'll fix... right... NOW!) I've always wanted to try it, so I'm glad it finally came to the eShop. Haven't played much of it yet (I kept dying at Chill Penguin, humiliatingly), but it seems pretty fun, and the level design is accurate to the SNES version. It's just nice to finally have a 2D portable Mega Man X (Maverick Hunter X just wasn't quite the same), and I'm excited for Xtreme 2.

Good job collecting and beating so many MM games! I can't say I've done the same. The only ones I remember beating are MM 1&2, X1-3, X Command Mission, all of the Zero's, ZX, and Legends 1&2. All the others were either too difficult or too frustrating for me lol. Speaking of Legends, it's a shame that it costs so much, but if you ever come in to possession of a PSP (which are relatively inexpensive nowadays if you can find them preowned), I recommend you pick up the Rockman DASH value pack. [Link] It's $40 for both games, and it's on a handheld, which is always awesome (plus, you can always buy a cheap connector cable so you can play it on TV, if you desire). The only drawback is that it's in Japanese, so that throws "understanding the complex story and lovable characters" out the window.. but hey, that's what Wikipedia and/or Let's Play videos are for, right?

Thanks! Glad you liked it. The Sonic engine was made by Damizean. I have no idea how to make an engine like that, and I didn't want to settle for the Techno TGP engine because it wouldn't really have felt like Sonic 2 that way. And you, sir, have a keen ear. The final battle music is indeed We're the Robots from the Rockman Holic album.