When an assault on a Force Metal mining island occurs, a Maverick Hunter team led by the veteran hero X is sent out in response.

Reviewers generally praised its battle system, comparing it to other role-playing games, but still felt its true potential was not realized.

[4][5] Besides common turn-based attacks, the playable characters have access to Hyper Mode which increases their powers for a limited amount of turns.

[10] Mega Man X: Command Mission takes place during an unspecified year in the 23rd century, where mechanical beings known as Reploids coexist with humans.

A substance known as Force Metal is extracted from the debris of a small meteorite, which revolutionizes the field of Reploid Engineering thanks to technology derived from it.

An artificial island in the middle of an ocean built for the mining and smelting of Force Metal called Giga City is assaulted by a band of Reploids.

He encounters the bounty hunter Spider whom he joins forces to gather a resistance team to find Chief R to assist in defeating the minions of the Rebellion Army.

[14][3] The three find new allies, including Steel Massimo, a Reploid who is the successor of the former Massimo who was destroyed by the Rebellion Army; Nana, a navigator who was abducted by Epsilon's forces;[15] Marino, a thief interested in targeting trade secrets;[16] and Cinnamon, a Reploid capable of producing Force Metal.

[20] As Redips battles X's forces, he is revealed to be the real Spider, having used the same powers as Axl to spy on the Maverick Hunters across the entire game.

[22] Ferham appears holding the Supra-Force Metal and apologizes to X for all the trouble she caused before leaping off the elevator, planning to self-destruct and dying in the process.

In epilogue narration, it is revealed that, due to Colonel Redips' treason being unveiled to the public, Epsilon was posthumously cleared of his Maverick status, and peace returns to Giga City.

Mega Man X: Command Mission was announced and presented by producer Koji Nakajima at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2003.

[24] It was developed by Capcom Production Studio 3 and many of the team members that worked on Mega Man X7 and Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter.

[25][26] Long-time producer and artist Keiji Inafune had always viewed the Mega Man X series in the action genre.

"[27] Kitabayashi considered Command Mission a sequel rather than a side story or the beginning of a new series because the plot is complete at the end of the game.

[27] Based on their experience with the Breath of Fire series, the team created a new battle system for the game but found it difficult.

Depleting the energy of the character's subtanks means that there is no way to restore the player's health anymore, making the game system more challenging.

Ryuji Higurashi, a veteran artist of the Mega Man X series, acted as the game's chief character designer.

[1] When he learned that the game was to take place in the same time period as the Mega Man Zero series, Higurashi added several features to his designs for Command Mission to reflect their relationship.

In regards to the antagonists, the narrative primarily explores the concept of how X and his allies face rebellious mechanical soldiers, Reploids, who become known as Maverick when they start causing crimes.

Director Yoshinori Takenaka wanted to include moe elements in the cast and have two villains with different natures: the out-of-control Epsilon and the mastermind behind all, Redips.

The villain antagonist was pointed out by the staff to have his motives play such a role, but the final boss was instead a character who loses himself in the ending.

[37][38] Official Nintendo Magazine claimed Command Mission was a decent RPG with an "interesting" universe; however, the staff found its genre too different from other entries in the Mega Man X series, which were platformers that required quick reflexes, and thus fans of the series used to the platform style would not enjoy it.

[45] RPGFan had mixed opinions in regards to the gameplay, praising the handling of the Hyper Mode and Metals as they can be appropriately used but criticizing the few healing items that are accessible, especially early in the game.

[25] Though reviewers liked the cel-shaded and colorful look of the game, Phil Theobald of GameSpy noted that "most of the environments tend to be rather bland and end up looking a lot alike.

[42] RPGFan regarded X, Zero, and Axel as some of the best-written characters in Command Mission but lamented that the supporting cast is not that engaging in comparison.