Name(s): Mega Man X: The Day of Sigma / Irregular Hunter X: The Day of Sigma / Megaman X – The Day of Sigma / Irregular Hunter X / MegaMan Maverick Hunter X: The Day of Sigma
Format: Original video animation [OVA] (1 episode)
Studio(s): Xebec

This one-off Mega Man X anime was included as unlockable content in the PlayStation Portable‘s Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, a remake of the first game in the series. I beat the game, which was the prerequisite to gaining the video, but for some reason I never watched it. It was a little unfortunate, as this bears the distinction of being the best Mega Man anime ever made.

That’s not saying much considering their generally average quality and the fact the games themselves were never strong on story, but if you’ve gained an attraction to the world and characters simply through constant exposure among the huge franchise, then possibly nothing is better than scratching that curiosity for world expansion than this OVA.

It’s a prequel to the first game and details Sigma’s turn from Maverick Hunter to Maverick, and X’s evolution as a new Hunter. The writing is surprisingly okay, avoiding the contradictions of lore within its own storyline like many X plots do. The plot itself is as uncomplicated as you’d expect. X, Zero, and Sigma investigate the attacks of several unmanned robots, with some nice cameo appearances by Chill Penguin, Storm Eagle, and Vile while they’re still allies. Music is complete background noise, but the animation is very solid with some subtle use of CG to give the machines some curvature depth and actual weight when combined with the mechanical sound design straight from the games.

All in all, it’s a solid OVA that brings a niche attribute of Mega Man (the story) to a level it hasn’t been at before, and while that’s not a high-water mark relative to general anime or video games, it means it carves a particular use and interest for Mega Man fans.