The Megaman X series is often considered the darkest and most brutal of the Mega Man franchise. Any details and readings would confirm that Classic Mega Man isn't the same person as Mega Man X. However, certain plots get referenced betweeen Classic Mega Man and Mega Man X. Vile would be one of them. In fact, it's confirmed that Vile is a flawed prototype like Protoman. Protoman had a defective core that Dr. Light volunteered to fix. In Vile's case, it was a defect in his brain circuitry as stated by the Japanese instruction manual.
I remember playing Megaman X on the Megaman X Collection on the PlayStation 2. I thought about diving into the lore and thought of the bizarre similarities. Dr. Wily in the first game managed to get Dr. Light's robots (the first six Robot Masters) to become his allies. Sigma, on the other hand, started a rebellion with Reploids who were supposed to help humanity. Dr. Wily recruited Protman. On the other hand, Sigma recruited Vile, who was a defective prototype Maverick Hunter. Vile, like Protoman, went rogue, but he was more evil.
Vile was among the people Sigma recruited into the rebellion. In fact, Vile also had some animosity towards X for most of his run. Vile was a sub-boss in the first game. What became amazing was that Vile actually returned in Megaman X3 — just as Protoman donned the "Break Man" identity in Megaman 3! Is the coincidence really there? Vile disappeared for some time until Megaman X8. Unlike Protoman, Vile never gets redeemed and continues to antagonize the titular hero.
Megaman X8 did a modified version of Protoman's attacks in Megaman 3. The PS2's much-higher processing processing power made these attacks "more random" than Protoman's attacks. Protoman showed up in Shadowman's stage, Magnetman's stage, and Hardman's stage. Vile here seldom took over a mini-boss or a mini-game (which seldom helped Gravity Antonion's stage with that infamous block puzzle). The higher processor of the PS2 allowed the gimmick from Megaman 3 (with Protoman) to be randomized and often, it could catch people by surprise. I often said, "This is like Protman from Megaman 3." Except Vile remains antagonistic — even in a game where Axl was technically like Bass from Classic Megaman.
Basically, it was cool to see Capcom take the idea of Protoman and made a separate character, of what if Protoman remained evil!
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