First of all, longtime Mega Man X player and fan here. I've been playing Mega Man X since Mega Man X existed. Yep, I'm 41. I used to be extremely good at these games but you've definitely tested my declining skills with this one.
Note: For some of the older gamers here, the "rookie" mode from what I've observed is the original SNES version difficulty. I would recommend that first.
I mean, I honestly thought I was gonna play it like any X game ever, including fan made ones like 21xx (yes, I have fond memories of Arne Strout's DOS based classic, ported to Windows just a few years back.) By that I mean, there was gonna be heart tanks and sub tanks in obscure areas. I've checked a lot of obscure areas. I have been known to climb every wall ceiling and pit to find anything hidden. My skills DID pay off, but only for about 70 of these discs which I have no idea what they do. They are fun to collect, but help me out here, I'm dying! The whole time I'm saying, "where the hell did this guy put the hearts or the sub tanks?" This may as well be a regular Mega Man game with how much I've got to go on. I get that Sigma won ten years ago, but X himself is awful fragile in retrospect.
EDIT: Okay, so you need these things in order to use the capsules. That makes sense.
There's also several moves I can't possibly dodge. Normally there's a way to dodge at least some Maverick attacks, but Stellar Primate (who reminds me an awful lot of Dr. Doppler in his mannerisms) has a forward facing electric attack that I can't find any way to dodge. I felt accomplished in getting him down at least half a bar completely underpowered on Hunter difficulty. Maybe this old man still has it after all. Then you have the one I'm supposed to actually go after (Bog Snapper) and of course although he's easy to maneuver around, he makes you force follow him because he'll do that damn mouth of god beam and you're destroyed, not to mention how fragile X is to start with. it wasn't until I switched to rookie mode that I was able to take him out.
Also severe lack of health and weapon refill drops. Most enemies don't give me crap from defeating them. In a line of 5-10 enemies, at least two should have items. I can take out eight and get nothing for my troubles. And believe me, with the enemies alone hitting as hard as they do, you need those health refills every now and again.
I was able to get the buster arm, but what does it do? And when I do get it, why doesn't it show on my standing sprite and in most running animations? This is the most bizarre upgrade I've ever seen. It only shows when X is firing his buster. If it does anything at all. Heck, I think it's a joke from Dr. Cain at this point. Seriously, I'm trying to find out what makes this buster upgrade better than the one he had before. Where's my pretty pink shot that wipes the floor with these enemies? Honestly, it would've been just as useful if the buster upgrade added a little flag that came out of the end that said "Bang!"
But let me be fair. I like your level designs, the atmosphere of the game and the Maverick designs themselves. A lot of people gave you guys crap about these Maverick designs in YouTube comments section, but I don't see any real problem with them. Mavericks aren't easy to design and come up with ideas for. These suffice. Although combining Crush Crawfish with a squirrel got a bit of a chuckle out of me, I'll admit.
There might be a little bit of input lag on my end, but I am NOT a shoulder button dasher (and I didn't know how many were) so I'm glad I could set it to the right circle button on the joypad. (A on the SNES pad)
Ultimately, I've gotten rusty over the years, but you did bring me back to the old days of classic Mega Man X gameplay. I haven't even scratched the surface of it, but it's a pretty fun game so far. I'm just gonna have to play it rookie even though I've played through all these games many times over the years. Yep, including X6 which I was pretty good at (aside from fighting Gate).
This also comes from an old vet who would always take out Wheel Gator first. Unfortunately, the patterns here seem to be a bit more complex for me to try that sort of thing today.
Suffice all this to say, "thanks, but I'm gonna stick with the rookie mode." I think I've earned it after twenty-five years.