Meta Man M: Passcode of Horror



It all started not to long ago... It was storming outside, and very dark, which is my favorite type of weather. I was enjoying a good game of Mega Man X for my SNES emulator and finally managed to beat it. It was a moment I would never forget. As the dialogue and cutscenes rolled by, lightning struck, and the power cut out right then it said, "Is the war with humans close to the end? Only the X-Buster on his arm knows for sure.."

It made me realize that I had to fight Sigma and his dog all over again. Luckily I had the pass-code for getting back to where I was. (Because my saves states were corrupted from the power outage, and I don't save state during boss battles.)

Upon putting all the numbers in I heard a beep sound, the sound you hear when it is a invalid code, yet it went on as if it was a valid one. Why did it beep like that? I disregarded that and continued on, but instead of loading up the Stage Selection Screen, the intro stage started up. At that point I realized that I lost ALL of my data. (I tried the code again several other times, but the intro stage kept coming up.)

While starting it up I noticed that it was a little different from the usual. Instead of X being blue and cyan, he was more of a dark green and grass green color. The red light on his head wasn't red but a gold - yellow color. I started playing and everything seemed normal, the spike rollers rolled at you, and the flying dudes destroyed parts of the road, but the sky was a bit different.

It was dark and cloudy with a thunder effect, much like the weather outside. I continued playing but when I shot my weapon, he didn't fire the usual 3 X-busters. Instead 2 normal flying rockets were shot which apparently did 2x more damage than the X-buster.

It was kinda cool to have a weapon like that. I continued through the level and nothing was changed, until I got to the end. At the end I saw X, Zero, and Vile along with Storm Eagle's ship. So if I wasn't playing as X then who was I?

The dialogue box came up and all of them spoke. X said, "There he is!"

Zero said, "We have you now!" and Vile said, "GeahHAHAHA! There's no escape! With Sigma gone we aren't going to let Mavericks like you start another war."

Vile made me wonder something. He said Sigma was gone and why is Xero and Vile there? If Sigma is defeated then Zero should be broken and Vile should be dead too.

But they were right there. I realized that earlier I had defeated Sigma. I thought the lightning could of corrupt my data, which is a high possibility, but I find it strange that the game was changed in such strange ways. Anyway after they said their stuff the battle song started, but it sounded deeper, slower, and full of static. It gave me a eerie feeling, but what was even weirder is all of their attacks bounced off me like they do to shields.

After a few seconds I fired a missile, but strangely it exploded in mid-flight and split into 3 other missiles that homed in and hit all three of the guys. The screen flashed like when you destroy vile's ride armor, but soon it faded away, and something strange happened.

Zero was blown in half, X was froze in a dead pose, and Vile was exploding causing a red fluid to splatter everywhere. It was transmission fluid.

Then a dialogue box appeared and said, "You fools! The war has just started and I'll show you by slaughtering thousands of Humans and Reploids! Hear me now, my name is Meta. Remember that name! GAHAHAHAHA!"

After that his eyes were glowing red and he beamed up into the sky which normally means that you beat the level. Then I was at the Stage Selection Screen, but it made me not wanna pick any stage. All the eyes of the Bosses were missing, and the music sounded broken and full of static. The map look different too, the sky was red and so was the ocean. Though most of the Boss stats were the same, except for the weapon analysis. Under the weapons section it said "deceased", which was very strange.

I chose chill penguin first, because its what your supposed to do. The intro fanfare come in, and chill penguin did too with his pose, but it really disturbed me to see that he had no eyes. It stayed on that frame for 20 seconds and I was unable to skip it. Luckily the level started up, but it was snowing and the sky was cloudy and dark red.

As I proceeded through the level some of the enemies weren't there, instead there was snow covered piles of scrap metal with red oil leaking from them, while it was froze in some others. I continued through the level and the bat bots were still there, so that didn't change. I got up to the part with the capsule. It appeared to be used already, probably left over from when X got it.

When I stepped in it, loud static sounds starts blazing from my headphones while getting the leg parts. I ended up getting the dash boots, at least I think I did. Instead of dashing, I just moved faster, which was still pretty convenient. I then went on and decided to take the shortcut involving the ride armor, which turned out to be a bad idea. I got up to the top and found a disturbing sight.

There was Reploids littered all over the place, all covered in red oil. Most of then were too damaged to identify what enemy it was. While walking through the horror, Meta walked slower, and his eyes glowed red again as if he is pleased by seeing all that. As I went higher up the mountain, the sky got darker and it snowed a lot harder. Eventually I made it to Chill Penguin's door step. I proceeded into his room.

It was a dark red room, and the battle music was creepy. I fought him for about a minute, and after every hit Chill took he would look more and more heavily damaged until he started dripping red oil everywhere. I could tell that he was suffering greatly yet I just had to kill him. Eventually the final shot killed him causing him to explode releasing the red oil everywhere and the victory song played but it was in a demonic tone. He laughed maniacally and beamed up. Soon I obtained Shotgun Ice but it was dark blue and the weapon didn't change Meta's color, he remained green. Then it was back to the title screen, but Chill Penguin's picture had changed. His face was all red stained with lots of dents and scorch marks. So I guess that means hes dead. Next I chose Storm Eagle.

After picking him I landed in his stage and the sky was it's common dark red but thunder was roaring. There was no music and no enemies to be seen. The platforms didn't even work, but I was still able to get around by wall jumping from platform to platform. While moving through the level I found the enemies but they were all dead. I eventually came across the capsule and it too looked like it was used already. I went inside and ignored the static sound while getting the helmet. Finally I got it and it did the same thing as the original, destroy blocks. Though it also did something else interesting. Any normal enemy I would come across would avoid me as much as possible, some even jumped down to their death.Why were they doing this? Was it cause of the helmet? I don't know.

Later I got to Storm Eagle's ship bit it was half-way destroyed but still functional. Storm Eagle came down and the thunder got louder and lightning even struck.

After looking at Storm Eagle, he wasn't the nice caring leader anymore. Some of his feathers were missing and he had red oil dripping from his wings. The battle began and we went at it, but strangely his attacks were barely doing any damage.

After he got to low damage his wings fell off and after a moment...he died. I actually shed a tear from witnessing that. Poor Storm Eagle. After he died the victory theme played at its usual demonic tone, he did his maniac laugh, and them beamed up. I had obtained Storm Tornado but when ever it was shot thunder can be heard. This weapon didn't change Meta's color either.

Back to the dreaded Stage Selection Screen for me. After returning to it Storm Eagle's face changed too. But his face was dripping with red oil and his beak was missing. Next I chose to go up against Flame Mammoth because I had his weakness. I had arrived onto his stage and as expected it was froze over from defeating Chill penguin first.

Also the conveyer belts were working and this place too looked lifeless but to my surprise the tunnels were still dropping junk but it was oily red Reploids.I proceeded through the stage but to me it looked like it had a accident cause some bits of the stage was missing. Eventually I came across the Arm part capsule and went inside it to get the arm cannon but when I did nothing happened.

Upon close inspection it seemed that Meta already had the arm cannon. Where and even when did I get it? I probably got it from zero or X when I defeated them. While going through the stage things got very glitchy and buggy, especially the pipe part. Lava was everywhere and even dripping from random places. I quickly got past that and made it to Flame Mammoth but a dialogue box appeared.

It said "The Apocalypse has begun" After that his trunk fell off and the place where it was was oozing red oil. No music was playing and 1 storm tornado was enough to kill him. The tornado ripped him apart and all there was left was a big pile of metal and red oil. The sound of the tornado was very loud and it made me jump. After killing him the Background started exploding like after you defeat Sigma. Meta laughed maniacally and then beamed up.

After defeating him I got Fire Wave and to my surprise it turned me red. why this power-up did it and not the others? Anyway I returned to the Stage Selection Screen. Flame Mammoth's pic had changed. His trunk was missing and red oil was coming out of that spot. Also I couldn't reenter his stage. Like it wouldn't let me.

My next target was Spark Mandrill. When I arrived on his stage I seen the crashed ship that's supposed to be there along with lots of glass and scrap metal. When I walked away from the ship the lighting went out. Even tho I ventured deeper into the stage the darkness didn't go away.It was so dark that I had to get really close to the screen just to see the ground. The music was weird too.

This level was really starting to creep me out. I could barely see what lies ahead. Something could pop out and kill me easily. I continued very slowly and all of a sudden the sounds of enemies could be heard. That's where I lost it, I started to fire my weapon everywhere but strangely I wasn't taking any damage. Only the sounds were playing but there weren't any enemies around.

Eventually I got to the Mini boss room but there was no sign of him.The lights had suddenly came on and I seen him and stuff that I didn't want to see. The ground was drenched in red oil and littered with dead Reploids. On the ceiling was the Mini boss, Instead of him having the usual gooey blue water, he had red oil with Reploid arms and legs floating in it. That crossed the line, there's no way corrupted data could read like this but I found a legit reason for it.

Maybe my computer was reading 2 ROMs. The corrupt one AND another on the internet because the original is too messed up to read so it decided to try to find a different one to read. But then the question popped up, Who would make something like this? It kinda explains the glitching and background horrors.

Anyway the battle had started and I easily defeated him by using the storm tornado. After I killed him the lights went out again. Ugh, I hated the darkness. But suddenly I started taking damage! The heck is going on here? That's when I remembered that the ground was covered in dead Reploids. DEAD ones, not ALIVE ones. The though of them coming to life and attacking me was too creepy so I quickly got out that room.

FINALLY, I made it too the boss. I entered the 2 doors and confronted Spark Mandrill. The lights came back on and I seen him, but the battle music didn't play nor did he move. That made me a little curious, but eventually it came to my mind that he was dead. But how could he be dead? I never attacked him. He just stood there lifeless. But I got a thought.

All the stages I been too looked as if someone had already been there.Meta is at war with the humans and Reploids right? Well maybe hes not the only one, maybe he has comrades that are helping him. Or maybe hes here to finish what someone has started? Staying there didn't give me any answers so I shot my Shotgun ice at him and he exploded cause he was already dead. The evil victory theme played, meta did his laugh, and then beamed up. The weapon I got was of course electric spark and it was as normal as can be. But Meta's color still didn't change. After that I was back at the Stage Selection Screen, but I was surprised. Spark Mandrill's face wasn't even there, it was just a blank screen. Next up is Armored ArmorDillo.

He was one of my favorite bosses and his stage had awesome music but I know that he will be corrupted in some way. I arrived to his stage but it was a little dark and his music was no longer fun, it was creepy and dark. The mine cart wasn't there either but strangely the bats were still there and went on to attack me. This underground tunnel just gave me the creeps, even the spikes had red oil on them. The deeper I got, the darker it became. The rock busting bots were just old rusted up metal with red oil on the spikes.

I kept going even though I didn't want to and I made it up to the part where you are supposed to ride the mine cart to get over the cliff to get to the boss but it wasn't there. I was thinking "Now how am I supposed to finish the level?" I wasn't getting anywhere just standing there so I went on. But as I was holding the right button, Meta started running.

He was running so fast that it was the same speed of a mine cart, but the track was different. For once there was a cool moment in this dark tunnel...but it changed quick. His eyes glowed red again and by now I know what that means. There were enemies on the track and one by one they got ramed into and splattered their red oil everywhere. There was deep static and the screen was getting a darker red. I was like "NONONONONONONONONO" but I held down the right button and I hit the ramp fly skyward.

The waterfalls and water were a blood red which didn't surprise me. Finally I went through the doors and confronted Armor. This shields were cracked and nearly broken while his armor was full of dent marks and blast holes. The battle music started up and actually it was the original theme, no corrupted version.

The battle started and everything went out normally but when his life got low all hell broke loose. Each hit would knock off a piece of him until he only had a head and torso. He didn't explode, no no he stayed looking like that. His red oil pooled upon the ground.

All Meta did was laugh at the sight of him which actually made me very angry then he beamed up. I got the awesome Rolling Shield and it did exactly what I usually does. But it didn't change eta's color which didn't surprise me at this point. His face changed too like the others. It showed a robotic skull with bolts of lightning charging from it. That leaves just 3 Mavericks to defeat.

I chose to go up against Launch Octopus because I had his weakness which was the Rolling Shield. Upon arriving to the stage, it looked just as I expected. The water was a blood red color and the sky was very dark. It was also raining and the rain even damaged me so I quickly ran towards the water and jumped in. It was strange because I moved sorta slow and his jump was even slow but that proved to be quite useful. It was kinda hard to see through the waters, luckily there wasn't any enemies to be seen. While going through the level those submarine mini boss guys were still there and acted normal.

Soon enough, I made it to the ship which your supposed to destroy to get the turbo heart but it wasn't there and neither was the hatch. I jumped down to get the turbo heart but it was too thick form me to see so I abandoned that idea. Nearing the boss, I encountered that worm fish dude but he had spikes all over his body so I couldn't ride it while shooting it.

Almost all of my weapons had no effect on him so I decided to stop playing around with him and charge up my primary missile weapon. Then I fired it but there was a very loud static boom which cause me to flinch. When I looked back at the screen only bits of him remained. I had no idea that I was able to do that.

Finally I made it up to the boss door but all around me was dead reploids sunk to the bottom around his entrance. Ugh, I knew something awful was lurking being that door so I went through it and confronted Launch Octopus but he was feeding off of something. I looked like one of those robotic fish.

Then the battle started. The only attack he did was the Wirlpool Suction thing. I looked closely and seen that he didn't have missile racks, only 2 extra tentacles. The battle wasn't hard but it took alto of my time. Eventually I defeated him. Instead of laughing a Text Box appeared and Meta said "I wonder how brother is doing." After that he beamed up.

I was disappointed by the fact that I didn't obtain a new weapon from him. It was back to the Stage Select Screen and unsurprisingly Launch Octopus' face changed. His face was all dented up and half of it was missing. Next I was going to go up against Boomer Kuwanger but his picture stunned me.

His eyes were glowing red, just as Meta's would. I selected him but instead of going through his intro and starting at the start of the stage, I started in the boss room and a conversation started.

Boomer said, "The sky has gotten dark, was this your doing?"

Meta said, "Yes brother, everything is going as planned."

Boomer said, "Did you manage to finish off the remaining enemies?" Meta said "Indeed, they are all destroyed."

When I heard that my mind was like blown.

So all the corpses, all the destruction, and all the half beaten bosses were his doing? No way.. The conversation continued. Boomer said "Good work. Now only 1 enemy remains and that is Sting Charmelion! I'll come along and assist you in this final attack."

Meta said, "Very well. With him out the way, we can ensure the total annihilation of Reploids and Humans!"

After all that Meta beamed up. Finally, it was time to defeat the last boss. I picked him and watched his intro, but he looked scared and terrified as if he knew I was coming for him. It made me feel sad at first. I then started on his stage, but it was a horrible sight.

The trees were on fire and had numerous claw marks on them.I seen the enemies but they were being attacks by guys that apparently were my comrades. Everywhere I went the enemy was being destroyed. I made it to the part with that big robot that guards the Armor but he wasn't there and neither was the capsule.

Anyway, I continued through the firefight and made it to the part where your supposed to use a ride armor to get to the boss but the ride armor wasn't there. That didn't stop me so I went on and every ride armor guy I encountered, one of my comrades in a ride armor would appear to protect me. It was cool yet creepy.

Finally, I made it to the end and went through the boss doors and there Sting was. The battle had started and none of my attacks were damaging him.Then I realized that I might have his weakness so I went to the pause menu to select the Boomerang Cutter, but it wasn't there. Instead it said Boomer Kuwanger. I selected that and unpaused. When I did, the Meta sprite was replaced by Boomer Kuwanger and a Text Box appeared then said "Your end is at hand." Sting said "Nyeh nyeh hah! I don't think so, I ain't scared of you!" After that Boomer Kuwanger engaged Sting, but I wasn't able to control him so I just watched.

Boomer would throw his Boomerang Cutter to know Sting down then throw him into the ceiling. Red oil would spatter everywhere every time he would do that. Eventually, Sting gave up and died. Afterwards the victory theme played but it was backwards and very demonic. Meta's sprite came back and he beamed up. I didn't get a new weapon and I wasn't loaded back to the Stage Selection Screen. I appeared in that scene that would usually be Zero and X but instead it was Meta and Boomer Kuwanger. The conversation started and Boomer said "Finally, now no one stands in our way."

Meta said, "Now we can proceed with our plans. Humanity and Reploids will finally come to a end."

Boomer said, "The time has come, lets get to it!"

After that they both turned and looked at the screen. They stared at me for 5 seconds when a error message popped up and said, "SNES9X has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

Seconds later the emulator closed itself out. I sat there wondering what just happened? I tried loading the ROM back up but it wouldn't work cause it was corrupt. After many other tries I closed out the emulator entirely. Then I looked at my desktop background and it wasn't what it used to be.

It was the Stage Selection Screen of the game before I defeated all the bosses. Ever sense then I never thought of Mega Man X the same way again and realized that for every good side, there is a dark and evil side.

Someday you will come to know fear, just as I have. Face me, and you shall surely perish! -Meta, the Cosmic Destroyer