Let's put it this way. If Mega Man was the only game series you could ever play again. And you had to choose between playing the mainline Mega Man games or the mainline Mega Man X games, which would you choose?

Personally, I love the original X more than all the original games, and I haven't played much of the other X games, so it would be an interesting romp to go through them all. I just hope there's enough good ones to play repeatedly.

There is a lot that goes into a decision like this. I enjoy the X games with the different collectables like armor, heart tanks, and sub-tanks, but unfortunately, X only has 11 games in his series, X1-X8, Xtreme 1 and 2, and Command Mission. Commmand Mission is the only one I deem as non-mainline since it takes place in an alternate timeline, so make that 10 games. Classic Mega Man on the other hand, is has quite a few more than that. He's got Mega Man 1-11, which already is a additional game than the X series, but he's also got the Game Boy handheld titles Mega Man: Dr Wily's Revenge, all the way to Mega Man V (these are canon and therefore mainline, taking place between the NES games). He's also got Mega Man & Bass on SFC and GBA, which is also a mainline title despite the fact that it didn't have a number. So in total, classic Mega Man has 17 games as opposed to X's measly 10. I don't think that the number is as important as the quality though, and unfortunately, around a quarter of the X series isn't worth your time. Mega Man X6 and X7 have their problems that have been voiced by thousands of people around the internet, but Mega Man Xtreme 1 and 2 are basically rendered useless due to having the same stages as the SNES ones, just in 8 bit. Yeah, I guess you can play as Zero in Xtreme 2, and Xtreme 2 also has some unique stage elements, but not enough to keep it fresh and interesting. And yes, you could make that argument for Mega Man I-IV on Game Boy, but at least you have completely new bosses in the form of the Mega Man Killers, and you have the ability to go through all 8 robot masters as once, rather than having to go through castle stages halfway through since you only kill 4 Mavericks in the Xtreme games before heading to the castle. SO, overall, I've gotta choose classic Mega Man here. It's got a relatively great standard of quality, and are endlessly replayable for great times and score in the case of Mega Man 1, but no one actually likes the score counter...

tyranit : There is an X1 remake on the PSP. It's basically a redesign of the original. The stages have the same structure, but they moved the power ups, and completely changed Sigma's stages. Which is good, because I found them annoying.

Then we could always count Mega Man Powered Up on the PSP. But considering that you can play as Robot Masters in that, it's probably just a "what if" game. Of course, the physics in that are too wonky for it to be very fun anyway.

Ahh yes I did forget to mention those. Well, I guess I also didn't mention the Japanese-Only enhanced versions of all 6 NES classic series games, the Rockman Complete Works series, complete with Pocketstation support and revised soundtracks, borrowing heavily from the arcade games that were later ported to the Anniversary Collection: Mega Man: The Power Battle & Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. They may not be mainline games but because the music was placed in a mainline game, it makes them even better. Not to mention that all of these versions had a difficulty select and the PocketStation could be used to change Mega Man's stats in a way to make the game easier or harder on yourself, which was insanely cool for the time, and a damn shame we didn't get those over here in America. Instead, we got watered-down versions of Complete Works through the Anniversary Collection, but that collection has input lag and a few other things that make it unappealing.

i have to agree with tyranit on this, of the megaman games ive played (all but 9 and 10) theres only really 1 that i wouldnt want to play again. megaman x is technically more impressive and its fast pace is very fun but almost half the games are garbage. the enjoyable simplicity and consistency of the classic megamans just cant be beat.

that being said when the x games are good theyre really good. id say x4 is better than any of the og titles, if the whole x series had that level of quality itd be in the top 3 game series of all time for me.

the choice to me is the original series. I honestly enjoy all the games there and have a blast going through them. my favorites are either 9 or 4.

the x games though are fun in their own right.

x1 and x4 have to be the standout good games unlike x7 which ill be sure to do a review on in the near future.

both are great overall

X for the sheer reason that you can do a Hadouken and spin kick in those games after you unlock them! Man those games rock!

I would choose the mainline games over X I've had a lot more fun trying to beat the main games then the X games, I say try cause I'm awful at both of the series.

I think that from what I have seen from both of them, I definitely prefer the mainline games over X. XD

i do not know the mega man franchise much, but i did play a bit of its games (only X games, to be completely honest). I'll say MMX. even if i were to play the classic mega man games someday, i feel like i will still prefer the X series, since I'm more used to its gameplay and vibes.

I haven't played all of the games from either... but I think generally between the ones I DID play I preferred the regular series a lot more over X. It's been a long time so I can't really go too in-depth as to why besides "I remember enjoying it more".

I love the original series for it's replayability factor. I grew up with those games and keep coming back to them (maybe it's just for the music... wish they'd release a soundtrack album or something).
But I also love the X series for it's graphics and smooth controls and for the fact that I haven't played those dozens of times over (yet). I don't think I've even played all the games in the series yet. And there's still the Mega Man Legends series.
I just think it's an allround great franchise that you can keep coming back to years later. I don;t think I'll ever get tired of playing any of them.

I prefer the X series cause while I love the original series, my tolerance for Nintendo hard games needs some work.

Original series will always be good but I think X had the deeper story overall. I also feel like the X games took some of the ideas from the original series and took them to their logical conclusions. Zero is also one of my favorite Mega Man Characters.

I've never been a Mega Man guy, but I preferred the X series because they had better storylines and they weren't as difficult as the OG Mega Man series.