The Story
In 22XX, one hundred years after zero's ending in Megaman X6, which is stated to take place an unknown number of years after the end of the X series, Ciel, the leader of the resistance against Neo Arcadia, manages to find and ressurect who she believes to be Zero, but at the cost of dozens of resistance lives. Zero realizes that he has amnesia, so his past is a mystery to him and he doesn't know what to do. Having just been awakend and with no other direction, Zero decides to follow Ciel's directions, perhaps because of how much she said that she believed in him, despite not knowing for sure if he was really Zero.
Ciel quickly informs Zero about the twisted politics of Neo Arcadia. As it turns out, Ciel created a copy of X, Zero's old friend, who now rules of Neo Arcadia, with the help of his four guardians: Fefnir, Harpuia, Leviathan, and Phantom. This copy of X wasn't doing anything morally questionable at first, but as Neo Arcadia began suffering from an energy crisis, Copy X started "retiring" innocent reploids throughout the city, killing them for the sake of lowering energy costs and with little justification, if any. Ciel expains that the resistance was created to provide a safe haven for those innocent reploids and that she was working on a solution to the energy crisis, which would hopefully end the pointless slaughter of innocent reploids.
The Gameplay
- Just like in the X series, Zero has his trusty Z-Saber, which he learns more techniques for by defeating bosses and getting a high enough mission ranking, which is an additional requirement unique to the Zero series.
- Zero doesn't have buster anymore, instead, he wields a pistol, which functions identically to the one he had in the first 3 Megaman X games.
- In addition to his Z-Saber and pistol, the Zero series gives Zero access to several unique weapons. These range from a staff that can extend and be aimed in all 8 directions, something that Zero can't normally do, to a shield that can block minor projectiles and be throw like Captain America's shield.
- Zero series introductioned the concept of Cyber-elves, which, until the 3rd game, were one use only, but they could serve unique purposes and were seperated into different 3 different types. They all required you to feed them E-Crystals before they could be used, but many of them had helpful benefits, such as increasing the size of your healthbar. The 3rd game introduced the idea of Satellite elves, which could be used an infinite amount of time, but you could only have two cyber-elves equiped at a time and only certain ones. The 4th game decided to combine all of the different cyber-elf abilities together and give that to a single elf, which you continuously feed, with it unlocking the abilities given to it as a matures and transforms, as picture in the next section below shows.
The Good
- Zero still feels incredibly fun to play as and while he starts off pretty weak at first, he quickly becomes far more capable later on, especially if you can get all of Zero's techniques.
- The cyber elves serve as the collectibles this time around. They can increase the size of Zero's healthbar, give him a unique trait, such as sliding down walls slower, or they can be used to effect the enemies in the surrounding area or get Zero out of a jam.
- The Zero series offers a lot of challenge to those interested in playing it, which makes it very satisfying to finish each game.
- The story plays a far more central role than in previous series, instead of being just a justification for the gameplay. The story of each game has it's twists and turns, especially the 2nd and 3rd games, which makes them very engrossing.
The Bad
- Zero doesn't feel quite as capable as he did in the X series, which could lead those who just finish playing the X series to feel a bit disappointed, but it's not a deal-breaker.
- The additional requirement of needing to get a very high ranking on every mission, in order to gain that bosses powers as a new technique, makes it very difficult for the vast majority of players to get all of Zero's techniques, especially on their first playthrough, which could potentially lead to a lot of frustration.
- The cyber-elves can be annoying to find sometimes and while they do have a lot of potential benefit, there are a lot of them and that means a lot of endlessly killing enemies in order to get more E-Crystals, which becomes very tedious very quickly.
- The games are admittedly more difficult than what they may have needed to be. Unlike the classic series, it's not a problem of archaic design, instead, the problem is that the games in the Zero series force you to face challenges outside of your skill level more often than not.
- The story of each game, while very different and unique, doesn't always pace itself correctly, which leads to large stretches of the game where the player feels disconnected from the story.
My Thoughts
The Zero series has aged pretty well, but it's arguably more difficult than necessary, which it turn makes it more difficult for those who try a Megaman Zero game to like the series. The story, while suffering from some pacing issues, is still very interesting and engrossing. Despite what I said earlier, the gameplay of the Zero series is incredibly fun, especially with the addition of all of Zero's new weaponry and the unique capabilities of the cyber-elves. With all that said, it's up to you to you decide whether or not you want play as the legendary red reploid!
This playthrough may interest you!
| Megaman Titles | Release Years |
|---|---|
| Megaman Zero |
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| Megaman Zero 2 |
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| Megaman Zero 3 |
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| Megaman Zero 4 |
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Sources Cited
- http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Mega_Man_Wiki
- http://justrpg.com/reviews/mega-man-zero-3
- http://www.capcom-unity.com/ask_capcom/go/thread/view/7371/28687403/could-we-get-zero-from-mega-man-zero-as-a-playable-character-dlc-in-ultimate-marvel-vs-capcom-3?post_id=512737517
- https://www.destructoid.com/review-mega-man-zero-collection-175956.phtml
- https://mgx0.deviantart.com/art/X-s-Reaction-293810527?offset=50
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dlxqxdr-Vc
- https://innovator123.deviantart.com/art/Dr-Weil-and-Copy-X-Mk-II-518127253
- http://www.capcom-unity.com/mega_man/go/thread/view/7461/29916759/quite-possibly-the-best-mega-man-series