Armored Armadillo

I haven't done any Megaman related fanart in quite a long time now. And I seriously need to get back into it. Anyway, I've been saving this sketch for quite some time now. But I seemed to have completely forgotten about it until now. So here it is. This is a sketch I made of Armored Armadillo, one of the bosses from the first Megaman X game which was released in Japan for the SNES. It was released in Japan in 1993, and then in North America in 1994. As I mentioned in my review of that game, Megaman X is a game I remember quite fondly. One of the reasons why is because it was the first Megaman game to be released for the SNES when it was still relatively new. And that was a big deal at the time. And as I remember, 1994 was two years before the N64 came along back in 1996. But anyway, back to the subject at hand. Armored Armadillo was a Maverick Hunter from the Eighth Armored Division under Sigma's command, and a very loyal soldier. But as Sigma turned against humanity, Armored Armadillo quickly agreed to take Sigma's side. When I first played Megaman X, it was a pretty tough game for me. Of course, in my first try, Chill Penguin was a pretty easy boss to beat. He's not really all too challenging. And while Spark Mandrill is a tough boss to beat, he's pretty easy once you have Chill Penguin's weapon. Because all you have to do is shoot him with the ice weapon repeatedly until he's dead.

However, the rest of the bosses in the game were pretty tough, and it took me a while to figure out how to beat them. And since I have a sketch of Armored Armadillo here, I might as well explain why he was such a tough opponent to beat. As his name suggests, he wears armored plating to protect his body from physical harm. And he wears shields on both arms. When you try to attack him with your X-Buster, he'll block the attack, charge up for a few seconds, and deflect it right back at you. Well, it's not really a direct deflect in which he sends the blast right back at you. What he does is he spreads his arms out in a dramatic sort of pose, and sends multiple blasts scattering around him. Another thing that made this guy a real pain in the ass to beat is that he can curl himself up into a ball, and rolls around the room, smashing everything in his way. And back when I first played this game, I couldn't figure out the pattern because he bounces all over the place, making it virtually impossible to dodge him. However, Armored Armadillo is a piece of cake if you have Spark Mandrill's weapon. When you are equip with this weapon, wait for Armored Armadillo to be in a stand still position. When he least expects it, hit him with the electrical spark, and he'll lose his armor. Once his protection is gone, he'll be unable to block any of your attacks and he'll be completely vulnerable. So beating him should be no problem at all.

Armored Armadillo's most recent appearance was in the game Irregular Hunter X, which was released for the PSP in 2005, 11 years after the original MMX game came to America. The game is essentially a more updated version of the classic SNES game where you play as Megaman X. In this game, all the characters (including the bosses) where given voices. Armored Armadillo is one of my favorite bosses in the Megaman X series. Mainly because of his design, and because he was one of the toughest bosses I ever faced in a Megaman game.

Armored Armadillo belongs to Capcom.