Boy I sure do love me some Megaman X! Even more so I love the bosses! Flame Mammoth happens to be one of my favorites, but if we take a deep dive, he could use a little fixing!
"Theme of environmental advantage" doesn't make much sense to me. You even mention it with Chill Penguin, but you can climb the walls to avoid all of his attacks. Doesn't the environment give a lot more advantage to you than to him? You list it as an example of why the X series' bosses are a massive improvement over the classic series, but is Launch Octopus's "environmental advantage" really such a big improvement over Bubble Man's? X's bosses are better than the classic series', but it's because they're more dynamic and have more attacks. Sometimes they interact with their environment, but it's often advantageous to you, and it's not so unique from the classic series either.
To be fair I've beaten the originals way less than the X series. There are some good examples of environmental interaction, and it may of been better to use that term than "Advantage." But to me the way they interact seems to give them a good defense since while you can climb walls, Chill Penguin can use the strong winds he can create against you, but you're right it isn't much. I do stand firm that they are a massive improvement simply based on how they use their environments. And of course this stems from advancement in hardware. I see it as a great step forward in direction. You're dealing with the area as much as the enemy, and that is present in the original, but just not as much. I'd still argue that Launch Octopus is a better improvement as it mixes his advantage into his movset, creating a suction that leads to his into one of his main attacks. I see that as an improvement to challenge. You're right though, I think "advantage" isn't the best word I could of chosen. But seriously thanks for bringing this up. I do like to hear these kind of opinions!
The OG X game I think has the most solid cast of maverick bosses, always loved the big guy here, as easy as he was. You bring up all the valid points here. Keep em coming dood!
