This generation, we know what's the hot topic. Hardcore vs. Casual, aka World War III. I see people left and right, claiming to be hardcore and deserving special treatment or something, but today I come to talk about real hardcore. Real. Serious business. Real hardcore.

People have been trying to define hardcore, apparently they will sleep better at night if they manage to do it, but I have new words to suggest. You know, there are games which are just right. You can play through it with no super challenge, but no yawns either. Then, we have challenging games. A bit further we enter the unforgiving games category- so challenging, they will require all your attention and h4x skillz, but will instigate you to do your best. Next, we have frustrating games. The kind of game that makes you throw your controller around at Mach 3. And finally, we have downright bad games. This is the uttermost level of hardcoreness you will find, and Mega Man X6 fits the description wonderfully.

I have yet to fully realize the ordeal MMX6 was. Even more astonishing, is the fact I forced myself to beat that sin of a game 100% complete. I really, really don't know where to start. But let's start. The level design is an insult. It has a poor excuse to be random, and whatever you get, it's ridiculously insane. Hordes of maniacly scripted enemies, misplaced platforms (yes, you'll HAVE to kill yourself until they appear in a proper place), sadistic traps... The armors are jokes. Until you find the Shadow Armor (guess what, the last thing you can do) AND the proper add ons to make it worth it, you'll just want not to use one, because they actually DOWNGRADE Mega Man. Bosses are a bigger joke. I wish I could spend a whole paragraph for each boss, but I'll limit myself to special mentions: Blaze Heatnix, Infinity Mijinion, Shield Sheldon, High Max, Nightmare Zero, I'm going after your designers.

Seriously. There should be an eleventh commandment forbidding such games, specially Mega Man X6. Not because they're hard, not because they're bad. They destroy the gamer self esteem. It's just ridiculous. The very moment I stepped in the first stage, my jaw didn't drop, it flew away. I should have stopped playing and forgotten about it, but no. There was something evil in this game. I ignored the difficulty level. I ignored the frustration. I ignored the constant b!tchslapes and devilish laughs MMX6 meteorstomped at me. I just played the biggest joke of a game ever to insult my senses, until Capcom directed me a polite "Thank you for playing". I polished my skills until speed run and insane improvisation levels. I didn't care about challenge at all, I didn't care about fun anymore. I was just a cold, dead, indifferent gamer reacting flawlessly to everything on screen.

I was hardcore.