Belated Zero Collections Review

There isn't a hell of a lot to add about this game that I haven't already said in my Zero 1, Zero 2, Zero 3, and Zero 4 reviews. The games for the most part are exactly the same, so I'm going to approach this review from a different angle. The question is, if you already own the entire Zero series, should you pick up Zero collections anyway?

If you look at the few things that are exclusive to Zero Collection, you won't really find much. The gameplay is exactly the same, the story is exactly the same (barring a few script alterations), and the games are for the most part the same. So what Zero collections has in its corner is Easy Mode, slightly customizable controls, and a gallery of new and old art. Inti Creates has also built in the E-Cards that were associated with Zero 3, but more on that in a moment.

Easy mode allows the player to venture through the series, one title after the other, playing with full upgrades for Zero. You get all the cyber elves, all the forms, and you take no penalties to your score for using them. This mode takes the challenge down from the Zero games to a very casual level, and it's not a bad way to spend an afternoon if you're not looking for too much of a challenge. Annoyingly, you can only have a single saved game of easy mode going on at a time, and you can't choose which title to start with. If you want to play Zero 3 on easy mode, but you haven't finished Zero 1 and 2, you're out of luck.

Aside from easy mode, the main games are all selectable from the start with very minor, if at all noticeable tweaks. The developers went out of their way to take any instance of the word "death" out of the script, and a few parts of the game have arranged music. I think there was a mini game or two removed (one of the multiplayer minigames unlocked after finishing one of the titles) and of course, you don't get the Z-Saber card for Battle Network 4.

In addition, the extra X and Y buttons are mappable to whatever other button on the controller you want them to emulate. This makes the game a bit more widely, compared to playing it on a Gameboy Advance, or through the GBA slot on a DS.

Lastly are the mod cards. In Japan for Rockman Zero 3, Capcom released cards for the e-reader peripheral. These cards add mostly aesthetic changes to Zero 3, with the occasional power up and new character, but they don't change anything too important. In Zero Collections, you can unlock a deck of these cards after you finish one of the four titles. You can apply these cards straight from the main menu.

There is also a gallery showing off various artwork on the bottom screen. You unlock these pictures through normal gameplay. A majority of them are old concept pictures that have been floating around forever, but it's still a nice touch.

With all the new features out of the way, I'll return to my original question. Should you buy this game if you already own the GBA series. It really depends on if any of the above additions appeal to you, or if you just want quick access to the whole series through your DS. However, if you don't own any single game of the series, collections is a must have for the Mega Man fan, and you should give it a shot if you thought the series was too hard to get into as well.

There really isn't any reason to hunt down the GBA copies over the collection either. Aside from maybe some idiotic puritanical devotion to seeing Harpuia say "kill me" instead of "finish me." But remember that what you see with Zero collections is what you get. Don't expect to unlock Misadventures of Tron Bonne or something if you finish all the games. Luckily in this collection's case, that's certainly more than enough.

On the chopping block

There's been a fair amount of Mega Man news lately and I think it's worth sharing my thoughts on some things.

First, Capcom community leader, Seth Killian leaks that there are some cool ideas heading our way in the Mega Man department. Speculation doesn't go on for very long before a patent hits the US Patent Office for Mega Man Universe.

The fans reactions vary all over the place with even more speculation, ranging from "I'll never buy this crap again," to, "I'm so excited I can't breathe anymore!" Without anything to go on, everyone begins digging hard to find out what's up with Mega Man Universe. Is it a new series? Is it a new type of game? Does it take place somewhere else? How does it tie into the rest of the franchise?

While this is going on, a Korean game surfaces, Mega Man Online. The details aren't very laid out just yet, but it appears to be a 2D Side Scrolling MMO, starring X and Zero. This game so far is only slated for Asian markets, excluding Japan. Is this Mega Man Universe? The words "Universe" and "MMO" certainly go together, but would Capcom file a US Patent for a game that currently has no plans to be released states side?

Capcom is asking about potential US interest in the title right now, but there aren't any plans yet. It has me wondering... could Mega Man Universe be something else? I guess they could be going with an early plan B and it could be, but you'd think if that was the case, they'd put "X" in the title at least. Interesting note, a few weeks before Mega Man Online surfaced, Inafune said X9 would not be the next X game. Was this cause he already knew this game was on the way.

While this rolls around, the Mega Man fan movie is finally completed, to mixed, but generally positive reviews among the fans. I haven't seen it yet, but it's on my todo list.

Udon meanwhile announces they'll be translating a Battle Network art book, similar to the Mega Man Complete Works, slated for November, which has me pretty excited!
And finally, released Tuesday was the Zero Collection for DS, which I have always considered the strongest series in the franchise.
What a hell of a lot of news huh?

We should get a lot of answers in a few days at the Japanese Summer World Hobby Fair, which has been a decent send off for new Mega Man games the past few years. My initial thoughts were that Mega Man Universe might be the name of the US release for Operation Shooting Star, but this idea isn't a new "rad concept" but more of the same, if anything. I'm also skeptical that Mega Man Online is Universe, for the reasons listed above, plus the fact that the game is being done by a team outside of Capcom, meaning that the Star Force/Battle Network team should be free to be working on something. But of course, that means if Mega Man Universe isn't Mega Man Online, then just what the hell is it? I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but I suspect we'll know in a week or two.
As for me, I've been doing a few things here and there. First off, I've been watching a Fan Sub of Rockman.exe, and have seen some notable difference of which I have a small post planned for in the future. In addition to this, I'm thinking about reviewing Battle Network 5 Double Team, as I recently played it a bit more extensively, and think it is different enough from the initial release of the game to cover more than I originally thought. Zero Collections is on my list of things to buy this week as well, so expect a review on that in the future, and possibly a review on the Mega Man fan movie.

Possibly Good News for a US Operation Shooting Star Release?

Kotaku has a story about soaring profits at Capcom, thanks in part to Operation Shooting Star among other high profile Capcom franchises. The stories I had read about Operation Shooting Star had the game in the bargain bins after a month, but it looks like Capcom has managed to turn a nice profit with the price drop after all.

As you might be aware, there are currently no plans to bring Operation Shooting Star to America or Europe, but I think these new sales numbers are a good sign for English speaking Mega Man fans. Being how the game is relatively inexpensive to make, it stands to reason Capcom could turn a profit in the US as well, but I think Capcom is going to wait until after Mega Man 10 comes out in March before making any new moves with the RPG section of the series.

Mega Man 10 is practically a foregone conclusion to be a block buster, and there is no doubt that the release is going to generate some buzz among all gamers, long time fans, lost nostalgic gamers, and new comers alike. A good time for OSS to hit would be right in the wake of when Mega Man 10's sales start to decline, a good month or two after release. This would be right at the height of Mega Man's popularity again, and a close follow up with Zero Collections would have the blue bomber churning out cash all year long. After that, Capcom will likely pursue Star Force 4 or Battle Network 7, or possibly OSS 2 (god help us if it's the last one).

I was right about Zero collections, and probably half right about Mega Man 10, so I'm going to make a prediction about Operation Shooting Star. Operation Shooting Star will receive a US release after Mega Man 10, and possibly after Zero Collections. In the wake of its release, we'll know what direction the RPG section of Mega Man will be going afterwords. While I'm at it, I think Zero Collections will be good news for ZX 3 as well, and I personally think this is what Inafune was talking about when he said he wanted to go a new direction with Mega Man in the live broadcast. We'll see though.

Read more at Protodude's blog.

Nerd Reads Mega Man 2 and Zero Collections

I've been sick as all hell the past week, and am now just starting to feel a little better. I'm still not quite in the mood to get back the Axess reviews just yet, but for now here's a couple of interesting things.

First off, the Angry Video Game Nerd has recorded himself reading aloud Worlds of Power: Mega Man 2. As if Capcom didn't already milk the hell out of the Mega Man franchise, having a novel on the blue robot that pretty much goes off on its own tangent is really banking on Blue Bomber fandom. If you've never read this book, have it read to you by James Rolfe.

Also, something I've neglected to mention, but have been aware of the past couple of weeks or so is Mega Man Zero Collection, coming soon to the DS. I predicted this exact thing would happen a few months ago in my Zero series wrap up, and I think it's very cool to see I was right. I hope this drums up a bit more momentum for a possible new ZX game, or at least a Mega Man Game Boy Collection like Capcom was promising a long time ago!

Whatever you do though Capcom, please don't get another company that's too incompetent enough to port the damn games over for you, please!

The Future of Mega Man Zero

The future of the Zero series lies with the ZX series which is the furthest along in the Mega Man time-line of the current running series. With Zero's presumed death and ZX running right now, it doesn't seem very likely we'll see another game in this series.

Zero and ZX have the distinctions of only having games related directly to the time-line. There's no cell phone mini games, no misadventures of Fighting Fenrir, no ZX History Quiz Adventure. It's been 4 years since we had a new Zero game, and not a single Zero game made a transition to a new platform so I really doubt we'll ever see this series continue.

That said, years down the line we could see remakes, re-release package deals for new systems, maybe a Mega Man Zero Anniversary collection some time down the line? It should be noted that no where has it been officially stated that Zero had died from the Ragnarok crash, not even in the ZX series. I think the reason for this is to give the developers an out if they do decide to make another Zero game. You never know, the game could get re-released, do really well, and Capcom could flat out demand another one. Battle Network has been out of commission just as long as Zero and it could be on the verge of a come back in a series of DS games, so it's really hard to just write off this series for good. I wouldn't get my hopes up though, and frankly I think the ending of Zero 4 is just a bit more heroic if Zero sacrificed himself in it. If you do want one last memento of the series, pick up the Mega Man Zero Complete Works book, an excellent look into the artwork of the series.

Mega Man Zero 4

If you ask me the weakness Zero game in the series is Zero 4. It's not bad has some neat ideas, but in the end they scrapped a lot of things that you wouldn't know you would miss until they are gone. Zero 4 is very down to the basics, don't expect to do a lot of exploring, don't expect to use a lot of different Cyber Elves and don't expect a lot in the way of armor chips. You can expect a lot of tough boss fights and interesting levels and a nice grand finale to the Zero series. What holds this game back are the new systems in implements and the rather obscure and obtuse design around some of them.

New Features

• You get one Cyber Elf this time named Croire who has many features but you can only make use of 3 at a time.
• Collecting Secret disks are gone, introduced with this game is the parts system.
• New weather system introduced, don't ask me how they control the weather...
• New Weapon the Crotch Grab... er Zero Knuckle!

Story
Boy, you thought the last game was a bit of a downer...

Several Months after Mega Man Zero 3 a group of Humans are fleeing Dr. Weil's forces from Neo Arcadia. Zero and the resistance come to their aid as they are heading for a site known as area Zero, the crash site of the Eurasia space colony from Mega Man X5... damn, there's a throw back. Due to the environmental controls on the downed colony, Area Zero is showing signs of natural wildlife, something that could revive the rest of the world if humanity takes care of it, and the refugees of Neo Arcadia plan to colonize it. They aren't too friendly of reploids seeing as how many of them view all the wars that have been started recently have been over reploid affairs (Maverick Wars, Elf Wars, the resistance themselves, and now Dr. Weil).

Ciel and Zero meet a human reporter named Neige who is helping the refugees escape Neo Arcadia. She appreciates their help, but they want the resistance to leave them alone. Well unfortunately for the refugees, Dr. Weil is taking notice of the Area Zero colony and wants to destroy it. He sends out 8 reploids lead by Craft, commander reploid of the group to investigate Area Zero and help construct Ragnarok, a giant space cannon that they'll use to blow the shit up out of Area Zero, leaving Neo Arcadia the only place left in the world humans can settle and force them under Weil's rule.

Craft isn't exactly a sympathizer with Weil's causes but is worried that his friend Neige, and other humans, will just be slaughtered in a struggle that he sees as ultimately futile. Eventually Ragnarok is completed and Craft is in charge of it's operation. Weil tells Craft to fire on Area Zero but in a surprise twist he fires on Neo Arcadia! This blows the fuck up out of the last human settlement in the world and Ceil sends resistance members to evacuate the city and look for survivors. Weil is presumed dead and Zero goes to stop Craft before he can fire again on Neo Arcadia. Craft goes down and Zero teleports back to base... and then... the cannon fires again! Something else is in control of Ragnarok and is sending it hurling towards Area Zero. Since Neo Arcadia is destroyed, if Area Zero goes to, that could mean the end of humanity!

Zero is a bit delayed getting back to Ragnarok but finally makes it there to encounter Dr. Weil who survived the attack on Neo Arcadia. Dr. Weil explains that after the elf wars, the humans in order to punish him built an armor that would continually regenerate him so he would live out in exile for all eternity... harsh... Crashing Ragnarok into Area Zero to wipe out humanity will be his ultimate revenge.

Zero fights him and takes him down and the space station is still coming down. Ciel tells him to teleport out now, but Weil is still alive and in his super powered up ultimate death form. Zero says if he can take down Weil the resulting explosion will take out Ragnarok saving Area Zero.

Weil notes that since Zero has fought Dr. Weil, technically a human, Zero has gone Maverick. Zero then says this...

"I never cared about justice, and I don't recall ever calling myself a hero... I have always only fought for the people I believe in. I won't hesitate... If an enemy appears in front of me, I will destroy it!"

Zero defeats Weil and Ragnarok explodes saving humanity. Ciel and the resistance try to get in contact with Zero, but there's no response, just static. The humans watch pieces of Ragnarok exploding in a meteor shower in the sky. Ciel runs off to be alone to cry while the credits roll. You literally watch Ciel crying while the credits are going on. As if that wasn't a kick in the balls, Ciel promises to build the human/reploid utopia that Zero and X believed in. She looks into the sky and tells Zero to "Just come back someday...I...I believe in you!"

Then we get a shot of Zero's cracked helmet among the debris of Ragnarok. Nice! Actually if you look closely at the picture you can see a silhouette that could be a person... then again, it could just be debris from Ragnarok.

Considering the continuation of this game is Mega Man ZX, it is probable to assume Zero did not survive the crash. The Mega Man Zero Complete Works book has his status listed as "whereabouts unknown". I think that means if Capcom decides to make a Zero 5, which seems unlikely to me, they won't have the character officially dead. A youtube video has dubbed this Zero's Finest Hour, which I think would be a great subtitle to this game actually. If you want to watch the video, I recommend you turn off annotations unless you want to read the video uploader's horrible love of 4chan memes.

This section here is a stupid tangent no one except obsessive fans could care about. You have been warned.

I should point out that a lot of fans have problems with this game because of a rumor that Capcom executives pushed for a Zero 4, and this game was made with the sole purpose of killing Zero. The only source of this rumor I can find is from TV Tropes, a site where anyone can upload whatever asinine opinion they have about anything. Although there might exist something that I haven't found, I have yet to see a quote or article from a reputable source that Capcom got pushed for a bunch of retcons for Zero 4 to happen.

The Capcom prevented X from being the main villain theory is contradicted by the Mega Man Zero Complete Works books in the interviews with the designers. I don't know where that rumor started, but I think it's bogus and I think the same thing about this about Mega Man Zero 4. I've seen rumors that Mega Man Zero 4 was supposed to take place between Mega Man Zero and Mega Man Zero 2, rumors that say the guardians were supposed to have lived through Mega Man Zero 3 and rumors that say Dr. Weil was not supposed to be the leader of Neo Arcadia for Zero 4.

The first rumor comes from the fact that Mega Man Zero 3 ties up a lot of loose ends. Except that Dr. Weil is specifically said to still be a threat at the end of it. He had just lost his ability to control reploids through the Dark Elf and Omega, but had still assumed leadership of Neo Arcadia because he was in charge of the Neo Arcadian armies because Copy-X gave him that position after he broke up the Guardians. This is how Weil assumed power uncontested.

Fans also point out that there is no mention of Craft's unit until this game and that Harpuia points out that Weil is powerless without Omega. To this I say, Wiel quickly resurrected several enemies for Zero 3, and as commander of the army, had plenty of resources to assemble the new unit between Zero 3 and 4 if the unit did not exist before it. Likely it did though. As far as Harpuia's statement is concerned he could be just referring to the power of the Dark Elf as well.

As far as the fate of the guardians, the Mega Man Zero Complete Works book says they died shielding Zero from the explosion. Yes, I realise in Zero 3 this really isn't showed... or implied, and it is likely the designers considered having them died off after they started development on Zero 4. The contradiction that the Guardians were still alive during Zero 4 comes from artwork one of the Dev members did showing the Guardians and X seeing Ragnarok go down. This is dismissed in the book as non canonical.

I'm not saying Capcom would not interfere with the works of their artists or that they would not keep a series going after the creators didn't want it to, we have seen that with X6 and there is a quote attributed to Inafune stating as much. What I'm saying is there is a very good chance that some of the calls of retcons and executive interference in the Zero series are bullshit as they lack sources. TVTropes and Wikipedia are not credible sources unless they have sources linked to them from interviews or articles from people that would actually know for sure what happened. I'm calling bullshit on some of this stuff for now, but if you are reading this and can prove to me with some sources that these rumors are in fact true, by all means contact me and I'll amend this review.

Regardless of whether or not this story has controversy surrounding it, it is a decent way to end the series and set up Mega Man Zx.

Aesthetics
There's a lot of great artwork here and a lot of good color used considering it's a Game Boy Advanced game. Nearly all the screenshots I used were from cutscenes because that's when the game is at it's best visual wise.

Character design wise the bosses are a lot less on the mythical side and more on the animalistic side. I particularly love Cocapetri who I suppose is supposed to be a cockatrice like that of dungeons and dragons as he turns you to stone, but he looks like a big chicken! I get on this franchise for having stupid bosses all the times and this isn't the first chicken in the series, but it is pretty hilarious to even hear Zero taunt him for looking completely useless. Even better the chicken dude is a bit cocky (ha!) and really hates how Zero insults him.

I'm not to big a fan of Neige's design myself because I think she looks and acts a bit on the cliched side of the dangerous action girls attitude, but that's more a personal preference I suppose.

Ciel's got a new mugshot herself when she speaks to you and it looks like she's been on the receiving end of some domestic abuse. Seriously, she has these really dark circles on her eyes that I think are supposed to be makeup, but look like someone punched her.

The animation is alright, but Zero's Z-Knuckle animation reminds me of Colonel Volgin's crotch grab from Metal Gear Solid 3. If you're as immature and juvenile as I am, then you will find this to be the best animation in the series.

Sound
My favorite in the series myself but not anything I'll hum to myself. There's quite a few sound clips of the bosses saying various things and even Dr. Weil laughing and saying some stuff... but it's in Japanese. The music to this series is distinct to it, but not much between each title and to tell the truth, I am just so out of things to say about the sound of this series.

Design
Overall Zero's levels follow a formula like this. A gimmick exist in the stage depending on the weather (I'm not kidding) and you can change the weather depending on if you want to deal with this gimmick and the bosses ability which will be aided through the gimmick. Each stage has a mini-boss about half way through and then you'll fight the main boss. If the weather is suited to the boss, you'll win their EX skill after beating them (it's no longer based on rank), but if the weather is not suited to them, they'll be an easier fight but you won't get the skill.

Most of the levels feature decent gimmicks such as the Magnet level in which you need to choose between two polarities to affect jump height and certain enemies. Some levels have giant death rays firing at you, wind blowing over treacherous platforming, one annoying level where the sun is too hot and you need to find shade to live. One level is just horrible though where you need to navigate a timed under water maze. Note to developers, mazes are never fun.

You'll likely be getting the EX skills this go round, but most of them aren't that great. The best effect from them is whatever elemental ability is attached to them because this time around you won't be getting any elemental chips. This means the bosses weaknesses won't be so easy to take advantage of, and unfortunately the strongest attack in this game against just about all enemies is a triple slash combo and I don't like having some utility taken away from me.

Your cyber elf can be programed up to fire elemental shots, but this isn't too useful as it's like having a gun floating around your shoulder, firing at random intervals that you aim by jumping. Really unreliable. More on Cyber Elves, this time you only get one. You feed it E-Crystals and it can handle more effects, most of which are the same from the previous games, and it allows you to use them without penalty the more bosses you defeat. I suppose this is more balanced than the Satellite elves of the last game, but you can only use 3 effects at a time, one from each row (Nurse, Animal, Hacker). If you don't give a shit about rank (and why should you), you can max out your elf's abilities in any or all of the rows.

Among other new features is Zero's weapon the Z-Knuckle in which Zero can grab an enemy and use them in some form as a weapon. Most weapons aren't anywhere near as good as your Z-Saber or Buster though, and the ones that are quickly run out of ammo. The Z-Knuckle itself can be used to instant kill some enemies however and it is pretty fun to use, so I wouldn't chalk it up in the useless category.

Parts on the other hand are a bit of a mixed bag in the design area. On the surface they are an interesting idea. Each enemy drops a part named after the enemy, you combine the parts from recipes that various people in the game and your elf give you to get new parts. The problem is the game doesn't give you a hell of a lot of recipes and the ones it does give you aren't that helpful. On top of that the enemy names are really odd in a lot of ways and unless you keep inventory of every single enemy you kill, you aren't likely to remember just what the hell a Gangagun or Mechanmoid is when the game tells you to combine them. It's one of those ideas that works on paper but doesn't seem feasible without some sort of guide. Experimentation leads to just tons of failure combinations as well and I can't really see a rhyme or reason how most of the recipes create some objects. The only way experimentation could work would be just hours and hours of combining just about everything over and over giving you hundreds of thousands of failed combinations. I really don't like the parts system in this game, and Zero 4 as a whole has a lot more obscurity in design compared to the other games which is why I rate it lower in my mind than all the others. It still is an enjoyable experience though.

Playability
One new mechanic is Zero's ability to hold on to wires like in X4-6. It's not difficult but you will be required to master your maneuverability with this to finish this game. This game is more difficult than two and three and about on par with one, see my extras section about Sub Tanks if you want some help.

Extras

• Boss Order: Start with the Underground forest to get the only easy SubTank in the game. After that I'd say it's up to you but try to leave Mino Magnas and Sol Titanyan for last when you can have more health from your elf to beat them.
• To get two of the subtanks you'll need to trade an S-Crystal to one of the resistance members. Get a Faital(Beam Cannon Stage), Mechameson (Living City), V.Fire (various, Beam Cannon works) and a Ceratanium (just about each stage has one hidden out of the way). The last Subtank you'll have trouble with is in the Hibernation chamber. Go during sunny weather and use the Z-Knuckle to grab a card key out of the hands of one of those crab bots. Take the Card Key and use it to attack the door with electricity running through it, there is a Sub Tank in that room.
• For your ease in obtaining parts, here is a list of the enemies with pictures.

Zero 4 is a good send off, but Zero 3 was better. This Z-Knuckle is fun but hunting for parts is particularly annoying, especially since you can miss some parts in some stages that you can't revisit. Plus the Guardians are dead and that leaves the game lacking a decent supporting cast. Still the ending is what should sell this game to you and it is a bit of a masterpiece as far as Mega Man games go.

Playthroughs
Tool Assisted Speed Run by K.H. (aka. klmz)

Mega Man Zero 3

The Zero series has been pretty enjoyable up to this point and this game continues a positive trend. Zero 3 is widely regarded as the best in the series and with a series as good as this one, that's high praise. Zero 3 is to the Zero series what Mega Man 2 is to Mega Man. Everything has been refined down to the finest points of the series. We've got fantastic gameplay, great visuals, an awesome sound track and for once a decent story this time. All the elements for a good game are in Mega Man Zero 3, and this one is a must play.

New Features

• Forms are removed, weapon leveling is also gone. Cyber elves make up for everything that was replaced.
• Cyber elves now come in Secret Data Disks which also house E-crystals and interesting information about the characters, settings and enemies.
• You can now use certain cyber elves without killing them. Using them this way does not affect your ranking either!
• Newly introduced is the cyber world, more on this later.
• New bodychips, head chips and foot chips.

Story
Two months after Zero 2, Ciel has completed her new source of energy known as the CIEL system... well that's a bit egotistical to name it after yourself now isn't it Ciel? Anyway she sends notes about the system to Neo Arcadia hoping that peace can finally be achieved. One day a space craft crashes near the base with the same readings as the Dark Elf. Zero, Ciel and a couple of scrubs head out to investigate. There Zero runs into Harpuia and the guardians who are fighting a giant monster reploid named Omega who they seem to recognize from the Elf wars 100 years ago. Zero fights Omega but is interrupted a man named Dr. Weil. Harpuia recognizes him as the man who started the Elf wars and Omega's keeper who they banished years ago. Just then, Copy-X shows up, rebuilt albeit with a bit of a stutter and is apparently working with Weil and Omega. He sends Harpuia and the Guardians back to Neo Arcadia and challenges Zero to finding the Dark Elf before Neo Arcadia does.

Zero goes on a hunt looking for clues and comes across the Baby Elves but Weil takes them away before Zero can capture them. Back at Neo Arcadia, Harpuia asks Copy-X if they can trust Weil. Copy-X says Weil was banished without proper procedures and has atoned for his past deeds. Copy-X throws a bit of a tantrum and tells Harpuia that the four guardians are going to step down and Dr. Weil will assume leadership of Neo Arcadia's armies. They track down the location of the Dark elf and launch a missile the size of a rocket ship at it into a densely populated area with Omega on board!

Zero jumps on board the missile to stop it and Omega but the Baby Elves hold him up and the missile explodes onto the human settlement. Omega finds the Dark Elf and absorbs it. Just before they can attack Zero, Harpuia teleports in.

"... We, the Reploids of Neo Arcadia... We are defenders of humanity. The only justice here. Is this wasteland what you people call justice?! Weil!!!"

Harpuia attacks Omega but is quickly struck down. Zero grabs him and teleports back out to the Resistance base. Harpuia is damaged but he'll survive, and they put him in maintenance. Just then Copy-X contacts the resistance. He says he'll end the war in exchange for the CEIL system and will guarantee their safety if they surrender. Ciel says she can't trust him being as he just blew the fuck up out of some human city... pretty reasonable argument. Copy-X, insulted says that Ciel will face the same consequences as her Maverick friends and signs off. He then sends several battalions towards the resistance. Ceil is upset that her technology could not bring peace, but Zero tells her she did her best and what comes next is his job. Zero has a lot of cool one liners this game.

Zero stops the advancing forces and then goes to face Copy-X.

After they fight the real X shows up and tells Copy-X that Weil has deceived him. Copy-X gets pissed off and goes to transform into his powered up mode but explodes from a trap Weil placed on his body. Just then a broadcast plays across Neo Arcadia. Weil announces that X has fallen in battle (remember his first death was covered up) and states that as commander of the armies he will take the leadership of Neo Arcadia.

X tells Zero he has to stop Weil and is about to say something about Omega but stops himself. He leaves Zero with this, "The heart is what counts. Not the body..."

Zero teleports to the base and they begin to track down Weil. Once they figure out his location Weil activates the Dark Elf to control all the reploids in the world, starting with the resistance base which begin to turn their guns on Zero and Ceil. Cyber Elf X quickly shows up and disables all the resistance members rendering them unconscious.

Zero heads off after Weil but ends up in the Cyber Space region of Sub Arcadia where he runs into Phantom, the fourth guardian Zero slew in the first game. Phantom has learned everything and tests Zero one last time before retiring back into Cyber Space.

Zero finally confronts Weil who reveals to Zero that despite his robotic appearance Weil is a human, but Zero hardly hesitates before saying that Weil is just another Maverick to him. Nice Zero. Nice.

Omega teleports in fused with the Dark Elf and the fight begins. Zero breaks his outside armor and in the ensuing fight causes the floor to collapse. Zero fights a powered up Omega as they head deeper underground before finally crashing into the area that Zero was discovered by Ceil in.

Weil compliments Zero, saying his power is "extraordinary, for a mere fake." Suddenly bursting from Omega's wreckage is... Zero... buwhaaaa? So apparently Omega is Zero's original body, and the Zero we've been playing as is the original Zero's heart and personality but in a new body. They do battle in a fight that can only be described as fucking awesome since Omega fights similar to Zero in X5, and Zero barely musters up the strength to beat him... but...

Weil begins to use the Dark Elfs power to begin to revive Omega. Zero too damaged to stand(despite how well you fought against Omega...) struggles to regain his composure. Just then Harpuia and the Guardians show up with X to help Zero. X tells Zero to finish what he started a century ago and Zero strikes down Omega and the resulting explosion rocks Zero to the ground. The Guardians shield Zero's body and sacrifice themselves for him. X communicates with Zero that his energy has been spent and that he can no longer remain in this world and that Zero needs to remain to stop the threat that remains from Weil. X leaves the world in Zero's hands and then... uh... dies... Yeah... they killed off X and his guardians... shit that's kind of a downer...

Zero wakes up at the resistance base as they see the Dark Elf, now cured from Weil's curse... some how... flies off to be free. Ciel tells Zero that "Even if your body is a copy... As long as your heart is your own, you are zero. The one and only, Zero..." Zero thanks Ciel and seems to have found some comfort. The credits roll.

Yes folks, for one of the very few times in the franchise, this game has a pretty good story. Sure, it kinda throws a lot at you about what happened before Zero 1, but the characters have really come into their own in this game and good characters can really make a good story sometimes. For a game about robot wars this one was definitely one worth telling.

Aesthetics
I could almost just write this section off entirely as living up to the standards that the Zero series sets and be done with it, but I think it's worth noting that this is some of the best stuff in the series. You've got buildings covered in wild life, your snowy plains, your post apocalyptic stuff, and lets not forget one mission takes place on top of and inside a fucking missile.

I don't particularly think to much of the standard bosses in this game and they reuse a few old ones but the main characters are done very well. Weil is extremely striking in a lot of hand drawn shots of him in the game and he's a decent vilian overall. There are few better games on the GBA. The DS wasn't out yet and neither was the PSP. Sure... you could have gotten a Nokia N-Gage which I suppose would of had better graphics... then again you could also have just burned your money if you wanted some real special effects...

Sound
Just about every song has an ominous foreboding feeling to it. Even the ones that are a little more rock and roll to them. Not that they don't fit, that's the mood of this game hands down. I think Zero 2 had better music actually, but this game has much more going for it than Zero 2 does and the sound here isn't bad by any means.

Design
Changing from Zero 1 and 2 is the ability to make use of Cyber Elves without fucking up your rank. Feed an elf enough E-crystals and you can convert it to a Satellite elf. This elf hovers around you giving you the effects of it without killing it. If you couldn't give two shits less about the elf however, you are still free to fuze them to you.

Another aspect are the Cyber Worlds. If you're having trouble with a stage you can enter the Cyber World version of it where every cyber elf you have with a little "a" next to them will activate on you, but not kill or use up the elf. Entering the Cyber World will deduct 5 points from your score but it'll still help in keeping your rank up if you aren't going for a perfect 100 run, which is much more reasonable of obtaining this time.

Mission objectives are really intense this game as one has you racing a submarine, another has you taking out security cameras, and well, need I say more about the missile level?

Also making its way into the game are the new body chips. Much like collecting armor in the X series, these chips will give you special abilities when equipped like charging your buster faster, keeping you from getting knocked back when hit, or allowing you to jump across water. You'll get them from bosses and from finding them in the levels so keep an eye out. The Double Jump foot chip works wonders navigating those tricky spike sections.

The fight with Omega is really one of the best fights of the franchise. He has a total of 9 health bars and 3 forms, and his third form is quite a throwback for the series. Although his first and second forms are pretty damn easy, the third form is quite a bitch. It works well as the games climax because it really is the highlight of the game.

You'll also get a new weapon called the Recoil rod which is a bit like the triple rod except you don't need an enemy to launch yourself into the air. Just charge shot the ground below you.

Playability
The Zero series is renowned for being hard but this is the easiest game of them although the first Lava Stage always gives me trouble from those fucking cannon things. Honestly even without using the cyber elves this one isn't that bad. The game controls as smoothly as any Mega Man game.

Extras

• You're unlikely to get it from a used cart unless you have a game shark, but you can trade a special battle chip to Battle Network 4 from this game. Doing this also gives you new enemies in the Cyber World. You can only do this once per Zero cart however.
• As far as boss order goes, you're pretty safe to just go left to right.
• The recoil rod can move and break certain blocks and launch you in the air, use it to find hidden items.
• I recommend you make a satellite out of the elf that doubles your energy and another satellite out of the elf that drops energy capsules for you. Work towards making several satellite elves out of situational setups such as the elf that reduces damage from spikes as you can switch between elves at any time.
• If you want to collect EX skills, don't forget about the elves that boost your rank to A. Remember, you don't need to keep the A rank after the fight, just go into the boss fight with it.

Mega Man Zero 3 is the best of a good series. Zero 4 isn't quite as good but has a nice climax to the series. If you've never played any of the Zero games, Zero 3 is a nice one to start with, even though it isn't the first story wise it'll cover a lot of the points you'll need to know to get going. Definitely a must play for any Mega Man fan.

Playthroughs
Best I could find was a TAS, sorry.

Mega Man Zero 2

I've mentioned a few times that Mega Man Zero 2 is considered by many to be the worst of the series, but that really could give you the wrong impression that this game is bad. Really, it's just not as good as the other games, but still in its own right fantastic. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Zero series is probably the title for title best series in the franchise. I kinda want to lump ZX and ZXA into this series as well in the quality department, but I can't for the fact that they take place in two distinct time periods, not to mention that while ZX plays similar, it doesn't match Zero in style.

And style is what this series has, and this game is no exception. There is improvement here from the previous game in new features and levels, but it has a sort of "just passing through" feel to it as it doesn't throw us into the premise like the first game, nor does it have the huge climax of the third or forth games. The final boss isn't all that memorable and while there are some cool changes game play wise, it doesn't match the innovation of the first nor does it have the cool features of the other games. On it's own though this game is still pretty damn good.

New Features

• The Triple Rod is gone, say hello to the Spike Chain.
• Zero gains new forms based on how you play him. These forms enhance your play style.
• Remember how getting an A or S rank on a boss would allow you to see them perform extra attacks? Well now you get more than bragging rights as beating a boss with an A or S rank gets you an EX skill. Think of them as the bosses weapons.
• Not a new feature, but worth mentioning, Cyber Elves energy crystal consumptions are much more reasonable this time.
• The world isn't free roaming and connected like the last game and plays a bit more like the traditional Mega Man formula.
• Multiplayer... yeah I don't know why either...

Story
A year has passed since Mega Man Zero 1 and Zero has been wandering the desert the entire time evading Neo Arcadia forces who are pretty pissed about him killing Copy X who still hasn't been revived yet. Zero is trying to get in contact with the rebellion again and the battles over the year have taken their toll on him. He fights off one last force at the start of the game before collapsing from exhaustion... or something, I dunno can robots get exhausted? Harpuia finds him and apparently drops him off at the new resistance base.

Um... huh? I mean... maybe I understand they want to show Harpuia as an honorable soldier, and I do think he's a pretty awesome character... but more of concern than not taking Zero prisoner at the least is the fact that HE KNOWS WHERE THE RESISTANCE BASE IS! If Neo Arcadia knows where it is... why did they let them build it? Well they do attack it later and all but why even let it get finished... eh? This franchise and its stupid shit I swear...

Anyway Ciel has given command of the Resistance to a new Reploid leader named Elpizo, a bit of a brash and arrogant leader who believes the resistance needs to be more offensive in order to return to peace between Reploids and Humans. Ciel in the meantime has devoted all of her time to developing a new energy source as a way to end the energy crisis which she believes will end the termination of innocent reploids and hopefully stop the war.

Once Zero is rested up it's time to go run the resistances stupid errands. Stopping supply lines, rescue their missing buddies, attack their super computers that sort of thing. While out on a mission X 1.0 shows up and talks to Zero. Sup X? Apparently "both Baby elves have awakened" and they'll "do anything to reunite with their mother... the dark elf."

Alright? Before X can elaborate on any of this crap he decides to leave. Nice, thanks a lot, suddenly X has become the useless one. Back to the base, Elpizo had developed a strategy for a full frontal assault on Neo Arcadia... so apparently he's a moron. Ceil begs him not to do it because the risk of casualties and just wants more time. Elpizo doesn't listen and leads his troops into a very predictable slaughter. Zero heads after him and reaches a scene full of many dead resistance soldiers... or should I say retired resistant soldiers?

Zero finds Elpizo passed out in front of the three remaining Guardians (remember them?) and Zero makes a vow to not let anymore resistant soldiers die. Before the guardians even have time to laugh off a claim, the base calls Zero to teleport back because a giant fucking aircraft is about ready to bomb them back to 200X. Zero and Ciel (yeah she goes too!) go and stop it.

When they get back to base, Elpizo has taken off and vowed to destroy all the humans to create a utopia for all Reploids! Well, looks like those guardians were on to something with that Maverick talk after all. Elpizo steals the baby elves and runs around a bit getting stuff he needs to break into Neo Arcadia to steal the Dark Elf and Zero chases after him just arriving seconds to late each time.

It turns out the Original X's body is being used to seal the Dark Elf and Elpizo ends up teleporting to the base with the plan to destroy X's body! Cyber Elf X tries to stall while Zero makes his way through the guardians and their minions who are now under the Dark Elves control and spouting typical Maverick nonsense you would have gotten out of the original X series. Not incredibly important to the narrative, but we do get an awesome scene with Harpuia trying to fight the control and flat out begging Zero to kill him so he can stop Elpizo. Harpuia is the best thing to come out of this series, seriously.

Anyway, Zero finally gets to Elpizo just in front of X's body. Zero tries to stop Elpizo from destroying it, but he's to late. Elpizo destroys X, and merges with the Dark Elf and enters final boss form. Zero kicks his ass and Elpizo snaps out of his Maverick frenzy and regrets what he was about to do as he lays there dying. The Dark Elf saves Elpizo by turning him into a Cyber Elf and Elpizo thanks Zero and heads off into obscurity. Cyber Elf X, now homeless, remarks that the Dark Elf wasn't always evil, but actually stopped the Maverick Wars by curing the Reploids of the Maverick Virus. Well one day a human jack ass named Dr. Wiel (no relation to Dr. Wily) corrupted her and used her to start to Elf wars by having the reploids start killing each other. X and Zero stopped him and his creation Omega before Zero sealed himself away. Yes... all of this is explained just now at the end of the game.

After the credits roll a vault is shown and a mysterious voice says that it is time for Omega to awaken. DUN DUN DUN!

Aesthetics
As stated in Mega Man Zero, this series continues a unique and visually appealing art style that really suits the drama of this game. There's been a few more animation improvements, a little more frames for Zero, some new character portraits here and there, but overall the game retains most what Mega Man Zero started.

The stages greatly resemble the post apocalyptic feel from Mega Man Zero 1 and while they look great, unfortunately they reuse half the levels in this game. They do reuse Neo Arcadia's basic tile set from the first game but it does seem appropriate considering Zero has to revisit it. Another level resembles one from the first game in the train level, although there's a boss fight on top of it two that is pretty cool.

The bosses themselves range from the Guardians new abilities to turn into death vehicles, to a dancing snake, to a teleporting phoenix, to a hungry frog. Being a new series, Zero hasn't succumbed to a creative lapse that the X series has with... ugh... Tornado Tonion.

There isn't much to add. If you like the art style from the first game, you'll love this one just as much.

Sound
The soundtrack has greatly improved since the first game even though a few tracks are reused or slightly tweaked. There's some great stuff here though and the tracks seem much more varied than before. A couple of songs sound like something you would hear in the original Doom soundtrack, and that's a compliment believe it or not! The song Gravity, in particular sounds extremely Doomish.

As far as the regular sound effects go it's pretty impressive to see that Inti Creates has managed to get a few voice clips in without them sounding terrible, although they aren't much. A chuckle from the villain here, some grunts from Zero and the bosses there, the operators in the game saying "Transfer" although it sounds more like "Transfort".

Design
Even with the new features in the game not a hell of a lot has changed. The forms are there to enhance your play style more than provide you real advantages and enhancements, although the smart player will switch between them for when the situation calls for it.

The EX abilities give incentive for the player to perform better in order to unlock them, but the game is pretty difficult to the point where many players won't ever get them. A lot of them augment the players arsenal and a few give new moves, but these abilities are not like the boss weapons and weaknesses in a typical Mega Man game, but are more like little bonuses. They are powerful for clearing the stages though, but you won't absolutely need them.

The stages are well done, and although the environments are revisited the design is changed up amongst them to keep it from being repetitive play wise at least. The bosses have some interesting patterns and make use of interesting arena, such as atop two moving trains. Interesting though is that the final boss doesn't change his arena at all, something every final boss, except this one, does in this series.

The guardian fights are broken up into two phases. The first phase is reminiscent of the original fights with some slight variation, but the second phase they all power up and take the form of a giant vehicle of death thing which I think is pretty cool.

A few changes have been made to make this game a little less tedious and easier. If you're a Cyber Elf collector you'll be happy to know that they cost a fuck ton less E-Crystals, and E-Crystals themselves are more abundant, making farming them take much less time. In addition, the old system of having a set number of lives before having to reload a save is over. Now the game plays more traditional refilling your lives after a game over and the like.

One last addition to this game is the spike chain. It's kind of a gimmick weapon that is both fun and frustrating. Pulling blocks around to get to subtanks and the like has some interesting mechanics not explored to often in the Mega Man franchise in the area of puzzle solving, and you can use the chain to grapple walls and ceilings for exploration. Occasionally the game asks you to swing from one grapple to another though which is a pain in the ass as the precision required is pretty tight, and it's hard to get enough of a swinging motion to get enough height. The chain makes up for this though by allowing you to yank enemies shields away from them which is just as awesome as it is hilarious!

Oh yeah, there's a multiplayer mode as well, but I've never played it. From what I've read it's just a collection of minigames

Playability
Aside from the aforementioned problems with the Spike Chain the game plays as well as any other Mega Man game. The Zero series is still the toughest series of the franchise of course, but this one is a wee bit easier, learning from the last game and removing some of the more annoying features.

Extras

• Boss Order: I'd start with the Hyleg Ourobockle (Forest Level) to grab the sub tank. He doesn't have an elemental chip, so after him I'd head for Panther Flauclaws (train level) to grab the Elec Chip because Phoenix Magnion is kind of a pain in the ass without it. From there, take out Phoenix, then Poler Kamrous.
• There are 10 EX skills in the game, but you only need to maintain an A or S rank for at least 6 of them. There are 4 cyber elves that will raise your rank to an A until the end of the mission which guarantees you an EX skill. Use this if you have trouble maintaining that rank through out the whole game or just want to abuse Cyber Elves.
• One of the forms, Ultimate Form, requires you to use every Cyber Elf. This absolutely kills your rank and it won't ever come back up, so if you're planning on getting all the forms and all the EX skills on a single save file, do this after you get the EX skills.

Zero 2 is a great game and you'll enjoy it, but it's not the best of the series. Don't take this as a put down to this game however, and look at it as a testament to the quality of the series.

Playthroughs
Speed Run by Mike Uyama

Mega Man Zero

One thing that is undeniable about Mega Man games is that they are difficult. Even the easy games in the series can still be tough to the inexperienced Mega Man player. These challenges are as much of a draw to the games as they are a deterrent, but the average Mega Man fan craves that challenge. When it's done wrong, such as X6, players feel cheated, frustrated and annoyed. When it's done right, players have fun tackling the challenges and feel accomplished in achieving their goals. There is a threshold for many players though, a certain level of difficulty where they will give up no matter how well made the game is. For many players, the Mega Man Zero series crosses that threshold. It is an extremely well crafted, well designed, and nearly overwhelmingly difficult.

The difficulty can be mitigated, but this series isn't for first time players. This is a veteran's series, and not for you if you haven't ever played a Mega Man game. Even though it is difficult, the majority of that difficulty comes from enemy placement and interesting boss patterns. This game requires you to focus more than any other before it, without resorting to being stupid cheap like Mega Man X6, or fundamentally broken like Mega Man X7. Zero arrived at a time when the old school Mega Man formula was being was being experimented with in all directions.

It poses the question, how do you keep a series fresh and innovative after 15 years? For most of those years, Capcom didn't bother trying. From here on out though, Capcom is going to get really experimental with the franchise as a whole. Sometimes it won't work like X7, other times it will have a really nice pay off but overall this experimental phase is to our benefit as players. The Zero series brings in a new play style of really working well with the tools you start with more than the tools you'll gain on the adventure. The boss fights are the most difficult in the franchise and will test every bit of your skill and reflexes, and that's why they are among the best in the franchise.

Story

Some time after the X series, Zero had sealed himself away for fear of the spread of the Maverick virus, and a general feeling that his prescience was a danger to both reploids and mankind. Because the Earth still lie mostly in ruins from the Eurasia incident in X5, X would build a new center for humanity in Neo Arcadia hoping to bring peace to humans and reploids once and for all. Of course if that lasted we wouldn't have much of a game would we?

An energy crisis developed and the reploids were blamed for it. X and his guardians, essentially the new generation of Maverick Hunters, begin labeling innocent reploids Mavericks, and brutally lay assault to them.

A young human scientist named Ciel sees the injustices created by X and forms a resistance force to evacuate wrongly accused Reploids from his tyrannical grasp. X labels the group Maverick and sends his forces to retire Ciel and her followers. Retire is the reploid word for kill basically.

Desperate, Ciel and her group track down the last resting place of the legendary hero Maverick Hunter, Zero. Ciel is literally surrounded by hostile X-Drone mechlanoids, with all her companions KIA when she reactivates Zero. She begs him for his help, and before he really has time to think about it, Zero rescues Ciel and sets himself off on a mission to over throw his former partner and friend X.

During the course of the game, Ciel sends Zero on missions to aid the resistance while she tries to work on a new energy source to solve the energy crisis which she hopes will end the war. Zero is aided by Cyber Elves, which are small sentient programs that resemble balls of light. When their primary functions are carried out however, they expire. One mysterious particular cyber elf assist Zero in giving him his Z-Saber and unlocking teleportation directly into Neo Arcadia.

Zero himself is put to the test as he fights X's Guardians, who, while not exactly evil, are vigorously loyal to him, seeing him as the hero of mankind. They are even so loyal that one of them, Phantom, self-destructs in a last ditch desperate attempt to take out Zero before he reaches X.

About halfway through the game, Ciel reveals that the X in charge is a copy of the original X who had been missing for quite a while and that she is the one who built him. (One wonders if Ciel's last name is Light? Hmmm?) Zero, suffering from hibernation sickness barely remembers X as it is. Eventually the mysterious Cyber Elf opens the way to Neo Arcadia and tells Zero to "Exterminate that copy of me with extreme prejudice!"

Zero faces the forces of Neo Arcadia and faces the guardians again. They attempt to form a final line between Zero and Copy-X, but Copy-X dismisses them. Copy-X dons his Ultimate Armor from X5 (quite a throw back huh?) and they battle. Zero comments that Copy-X is much weaker than the original and eventually destroys him. Copy-X begins to self-destruct the Area X part of Neo Arcadia in an attempt to take out Zero.

Lying on the outskirts of Neo Arcadia, the mysterious Cyber Elf reveals himself as the original X and tells Zero of how he has been fighting by himself for so long. He says he needs to rest, just for a little while and leaves Earth in Zero's hands. Zero, finally regaining his memory, agrees to protect humanity and reploid kind. He finds himself surrounded by hundreds of X-droids. Zero picks up his Z-saber and keeps fighting.

Aesthetics

Mega Man Zero is a beautiful game and features its own unique art style to go with it. Every cutscene is fantastically detailed and each character has a new look to match the style.

The environments are run down, busted old buildings well suiting the post apocalyptic setting of the game. Neo Arcadia of course looks much more vibrant and lush in the small amount of time you spend there showing the contrast between it and civilization outside the city.

The bosses look great, in particular the Guardians who quickly became fan favorites of the series and would make reappearances in both this and ZX.

The animations are great too and Zero has hundreds of sprites for the various different actions he does. The same goes for the bosses who even have attacks that you might never even see ready to hit you with. This game is full of eye candy and even if you can't find, buy or playthrough the entire game, I highly recommend the Complete Works book just to see some of the effort put into the art of this game.

Sound

Inti Creates would go on to make some of the best sound tracks ever made in a Mega Man game, and has released a host of sound tracks to just about all of their Mega Man games, including this one. In fact they just came out with a new one in Japan called Rockman Chip Tunes which is a collection of remixes of the original games themes. Not enough can be said about how good Inti Create's music is. Except that trend doesn't start here.

Don't get me wrong, the sound track is alright. Zero's theme is represented in full force, and the music suits the mood of each scene well. Its just that the tracks are incredibly short and loop a bunch, and a lot of tracks are reused over and over. It's not like they are annoying or bad or anything, just a bit repetitious. The game sounds like it has less music than it really does because of it. Compared to the rest of the franchise, and Inti's own amazing creation in the coming ZX, it just isn't very memorable.

The other sound effects though are pretty good. Zero's sword makes a lot of satisfying sounds and he and all the bosses have some nice grunts when they attack. Ciel also screams when captured and it sound better than you would think a GBA was capable of. Sure, there's no real voice acted dialog or anything, but what did you expect for a Game Boy Advanced game? What is there is impressive though.

Design

Did I mention this game was ball bustingly hard? It is, but a lot of care has been taken into just how the challenges would present themselves. This is one of those games that will kick your ass as you play it, but eventually train you to be an unstoppable killing machine... in a very literal sense I suppose. Your training may consist of multiple playthroughs to reach that level though.

This game sticks to the basics. You have a buster and the Z-Saber and you need to make the best use of them you can. You can level up your weapons through continuous use and learn new moves to improve your arsenal, but for the most part you'll have to make use of your dodging skills the whole game, unlike other Mega Man games where once you get an enemies weakness, you can throw any need for skill out the window.

That isn't to say the bosses don't have weaknesses, although some don't. During the game Zero will get elemental chips which you attach to your weapons for extra effects. I wish these chips had more utility in the stages as they more or less are for dealing with bosses more than anything. There's only three of them though, but the real trick to using them is to know how to goad an enemy into an attack pattern that is easily predictable. For instance, Fenfir, one of the four guardians, is actually more dangerous and harder to dodge at long range. If you get close to him, you'll goad him into using his melee attacks which are really simple to dodge, making him eat your Z-Saber without problem. Harpuia on the other hand can be massacred with properly timed charged buster shots.

There are a couple of other weapons you'll get later, but unfortunately one of them is a bit of a gimmick weapon with little combat use, and the other is a shield that blocks enemy shots, but I hate to put my Z-Saber or Buster on reserve for it. If you're the type who skips a lot of dialog in action games, chances are you'll never see them anyway.

The stages are pretty tough, but only a hand full of them have some instant spike trap or pit setups. Most of the danger comes from placing those enemies in just the right spot to hit you. Especially those flying cocks that drop the spike balls on you. I hate those damn things. The game wears you the fuck down by the time you reach the boss you're almost dead anyway.

The lives system in this game can be really annoying. The number of lives you have stay with you the entire game, and if you find yourself saving with only 1 life left, that's how many you'll start each mission with until you find more. If this game wasn't brutal enough as it is, expecting the player to beat the stage and boss in a single life puts quite a bit of confidence in first time players. That said, each stage does have an extra life or two hidden out of the way a little bit if you look.

The stages themselves are all interconnected, and you can revisit them after you've completed them in order to collect items, extra lives or just grind out some more levels for your weapons. This adds a new layer to the immersion of the game world that other Mega Man games just don't have. It wouldn't last the Zero series as they eventually went back to the old format, but they brought it back for ZX later.

Even though this game is balls hard, you can mitigate it greatly by using Cyber Elves who give you special abilities ranging from turning into a subtank to removing all the enemies in a level to taking all of the spikes out of the entire game. Powerful little bastards, but the game literally tries to guilt you out of using them because they'll die if you do. And if that wasn't bad enough, the game grades you as well, stopping just short of calling you a gigantic pussy for daring not to beat it with the pitiful amount of health and armor you have. You're not a gigantic pussy are you?

It's not like you aren't rewarded for doing well... if you want to call it that. Players who reach a boss at an A or S rank will face a harder version of that boss who will have extra attacks. If you're like me, you'll never see them though. After you beat the game, it almost jokingly asks if you would like to try hard mode. Yeah... fuck that. Still if you're masochistic to go for an S run or hard mode, those options are there. The game is extremely well made, but it's difficulty is definitely going to turn off casual gamers.

Playability

By default the game sets control of your sub weapon to something stupid like L and B at the same time or something like that. Swap the control over to the R button though and you're in business. I don't have many complaints about the controls in this game as they are really fluid, and barring a few completely asinine challenges to get some optional Cyber Elves, control won't ever be a problem.

There is one thing that bothers me though. The rolling dash is completely fucking useless. If it did more damage and actually killed anything it came into contact with it might be worth using, but instead you'll take a hit of damage practically every time you use it. In a game like this, you just can't spare those hits for a cool animation.

Extras

• Mission Order: There's nothing really wrong with completing the game in the order the missions are presented. For some help in choosing what mission to take though, here are some of the rewards. Destroy the Train: Totten (removes all spikes from the game), Retrieve the Data: Triple Rod, and later the Shield, Find the Hidden Base: Ice Chip, Occupy Factory: Fire Chip.
• Level up your weapons in the Underground Laboratory before doing the Retrieve the Data mission. The spider egg sacks generate a bunch of enemies at once giving you plenty of fodder for your weapons. This is a good place to farm E-Crystals as well, but it disappears after you finish that mission.
• Speaking of leveling up weapons, the weapons will level up faster depending on how you level them up. For instance, using a charged shot more often will level those upgrades up faster. If you use rapid fire instead, that bit will level up first.
• Don't ever forget about your buster. It's easy to get head long into the game sticking with the Z-Saber on bosses, but let me tell you, half the battles are made easier sticking to a distance and using charged shots. Harpuia is pathetically easy with the ice chip and charged buster shots.
• If a mission is too hard for you, you can just give up at it. Your rank will go down and you might miss a few elves and upgrades, but you won't have to finish the mission.
• If you complete hard mode with an S or A rank or complete normal mode collecting all the Cyber Elves and leveling them up, you'll unlock Jackson, a more powerful hidden Cyber Elf. Beat the game with him and use all the Cyber Elves and then you'll unlock Ultimate mode which won't penalize you for using any of the elves and you'll start with the permanent effects in place. Useful if you're dying to see those extra S or A rank attacks the bosses give off.
• One awesome little touch, if you destroy a boss with your buster, they explode. If you destroy them with the Saber, you slice them in half.

Zero is a fantastic game, but it's every bit harder than the X series. I wouldn't recommend this game to new comers, but veterans will probably love this series.

Playthroughs
Speed runs by Youri 'Elpis TK31' Landweer and Mike Uyama