It is a spin-off title in the Mega Man X series of video games that originated on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

This police force has been responsible for suppressing the threat of robotic, criminal activity, particularly that of a dangerous Maverick leader named Sigma.

At the opening of the normal difficulty mode of Mega Man Xtreme, a hacker named Techno from a band called the "Shadow Hunters" breaks into the world's Mother Computer, destabilizing all of the networks and allowing Mavericks to run wild everywhere.

Realizing it is merely a simulated replication, the protagonist is greeted by Zero, who informs X that the Maverick Hunters have partnered with a computer genius named Middy to halt the madness.

The computer core begins to detonate, but as X escapes, Middy chooses to stay, stating that he and his twin brother share a CPU and perishes alongside Techno.

The hard mode of Mega Man Xtreme partially extends the storyline, where Zero informs X that someone else has illegally accessed records from the Mother Computer and reproduced more Maverick data.

X has the ability to run, jump, scale walls, and fire his chargeable "X-Buster" arm cannon to overcome enemies in each stage.

[8] As the player progresses, helpful power-ups such as health, weapon energy and extra lives can be found or dropped from slain foes.

[20] Opinions on the presentation of Mega Man Xtreme have somewhat varied, though all agreed the game appears as a compact version of the SNES titles.

"While obviously some graphic cutbacks have been made, due to the limitations of the system, the levels are still colorful and vibrant," he explained, "And the enemies, while many have been scaled down from their original sizes, are still clear and visually pleasing as ever.

[6][7] Provo overall called the backgrounds "neither garish nor ugly", but complained about the frame rate, control, and collision detection in certain areas and an apparent flicker throughout the game.

[21] Thompson and Provo were each satisfied with the "catchy" background music, though the latter reviewer believed the sound instrumentals to be "laughably tinny".

[6][15] In terms of gameplay, critics saw Mega Man Xtreme as a competent entry among home console titles in the franchise.

However, though he suggested that the player can overcome the challenge of earlier bosses with practice and patience, the final few battles become "an exercise in frustration", particularly in Xtreme mode.

[23] Media Create sales information shows that Mega Man Xtreme was the 182nd best-selling game in Japan in 2000 at 64,011 copies sold.