December 30, 2012

Fairy Leviathan, commander of Neo Arcadia’s Deep Sea Squadron and underwater specialist. Later as Model L, biomatched with Thetis (second picture) and in Biometal form (third). She has something of a playful attitude, but can be vicious, especially towards Zero.

Leviathan is tricky to match up to any of X’s physical Armor attributes, because as far as I know (and I may be wrong) there are no particular Armors with specialty aquatic characteristics. There is, however, a manga-only character from the X series who is a mermaid Reploid, which is the closest thing to Leviathan (Marty, in the fifth image). This doesn’t work with the overall Guardian origin though, so we have to assume that there is an aquatic Armor that Light built and X used, but not in any game we’ve played.

There is, however, a close parallel in MM9 in Splash Woman (fourth image), one of the very few female Robot Masters (there’s actually 3 or 4… kinda). She’s a mermaid with a weapon very similar to Leviathan, and her deisgn has some similarites too. So if Tornado Man is Harpuia’s counterpart, Splash Woman is obviously Leviathan’s (being the only female Guardian, and water-aligned). So Light, having built her, must have gone on to create Armors for X with her strengths. He must have found and used them at some point, which has not yet been represented in a game. There. That works.

More importantly, there is a very strong tradition of Copy Abilities with an Ice or Water theme. It is these weapons which went towards the formation of Leviathan when X fragmented.

3:08pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaVgxAw
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 30, 2012

Sage Harpuia, aerial fighter, de facto leader of the Guardians and commander Neo Arcadia’s Strong Air Battalion. Later as Model H (seen in the second picture merged with Aeolus, and in Biometal form in picture 3). He is a strong, very cool customer with a noble air.

I originally had the theory that the Guardians were surviving Robot Masters from the Classic era after Inti Creates made some RMs that were obvious references to them in MM9, which was made after the Zero series. I found out though that they were created from fragments of X’s soul, so my current theory is that Light at least built certain armours for X to use based on the designs of those Robot Masters and possibly containing some of their programming to aid X in using them.

For example, Tornado Man from MM9 bears a striking resemblance to Harpuia, and was built by Light himself. Using the principles of the Rush Adaptors, Light made augmentations for X to find and use. In this case, the Falcon Armor (fifth picture) has the most similarities with Harpuia himself. The Armor theory is not very strong, but combined with the Copy Ability synthesis I mentioned in my previous post, I think it could be made to work.

So part of Tornado Man’s programming (and possibly other wind-based RMs) was installed in the Falcon Armor parts, and possibly other parts as well (like other air-dashing parts). It seems like a stretch, but this is the only way I can explain Harpuia looking so much like Tornado Man!

So this whole Rockman series is mainly about the principles of characters’ designs echoing backward and forward in the timeline, so even if the lore doesn’t quite hold the other similarities are evident.

Part of this is the notion of the Copy Ability crystallisation process at X’s death. Throughout the Classic and X series, Rock and X gain many different abilities, but they can all be categorised into several broad groups. These then reflect on the Robot Masters and Mavericks that held them, but that would take way too long. Suffice it to say that the categories of copied weapons that find their ultimate expression in Sage Harpuia are Electric and Air/Wind. He also corresponds to the Falcon Armor, more or less.

2:51pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaVbjyr
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 30, 2012

Continuing Rockman’s 25th celebration, this post was the one I originally had in mind before being sidetracked by the “main” characters of the series.

The Four Guardians, or Four Heavenly Kings in Japan (one of the many mythology references in the Zero series) are a team of very high-ranking enforcers for the Neo Arcadian army (the major civilisation in this era). They share a common bond; they were all born from the body of X.

Apparently when X sealed the Dark Elf (the main Cyber-elf, who had been corrupted by Dr Weil) with his own body, his soul left and split into 5 parts. 4 of them subsequently had new bodies made for them by unknown parties, perhaps Ciel’s mother. For some reason, they didn’t perform this operation on the “main”, X-part. I think he probably asked them not to, as he was tired of fighting and just wanted to be dead for a while.

These 4 have separate elemental alignments: Sage Harpuia is the wind/electric type, Fairy Leviathan the ice/water type, Fighting Fefnir the fire/explosive type, and Hidden Phantom the dark/cutting type. Their original intention was to help repopulate and rejuvenate the world, but they were recalled to fight the Rebellion when Neo Arcadia began becoming more oppressive and militarised. They then led armies of Reploids and Mechaniloids, who were loosely aligned to their elements or style.

But why did X’s DNA soul split into 5 elves? Here’s my theory. The many years of using Light’s Copy Chip to take on enemy powers also had an effect on X in some way. Especially since the Copy Abilities often conformed to one or two of a number of elements/types, X developed permanent inclinations along these types, but at cross-purposes. This resulted in internal conflict, which finally expressed itself when he sacrificed himself at the end of the Elf Wars. The many disparate powers stored within his robot soul crystallised along complementary categories, resulting in four distinct personages, in addition to the original X fragment.

The X elf, or Cyber-X, retained all of X’s personality and memories. I believe the Guardians did not, and developed their own personalities without remembering their past. Nevertheless they feel a tremendous loyalty to each other and to X. This is why they work for the Copy-X, who was built by Ciel using a similar technique to their own creation, but without incorporating the X elf. The result was an imperfect replica who was easily manipulated by Weil.

The Guardians aren’t stupid though and come to realise they’re working for the bad guy. They still hate Zero though, but agree to help him at the urging of Cyber-X. Sources differ on whether they die at the end of Zero 3 or later on, but a piece of art in one of the soundtracks is too cool to not be true, depicting the four and X in elf forms watching the climax of Zero 4. These may be their dead elf selves or the true manifestations for which their previous bodies were but replicas in the manner of Copy X. I believe the former.

Either through their proximity to the crashed Ragnarok-Weil hybrid (the original Biometal, model W) or through Ciel’s science, the four (along with X and Zero) were made into Biometals later. These forms are able to combine with human or Reploid hosts to share their abilities, but also are sentient and seem to retain their personalities (when not being controlled by model W).

This ties into another aspect of their existence. The four also have some affinity to certain armours that Light made for X. After inventing a combination technique for Rock and Rush, Light decided to incorporate a similar functionality in X’s design. He therefore has various armours with different abilities, which I think may have informed the formation of the distinctive Guardian shapes. More on that in individual posts, I think.

2:32pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuaVV_g2
(Notes: 14)
  
Filed under: rockman 25th fandom megaman 
December 18, 2012

The bad doctor, Albert W. Wily. According to some sources, he was a close collaborator with Light until a lab accident damaged his mind. Possibly he always harboured ill feelings and one day gave in to them. Either way, once his ambitions had flared up there was no stopping them. He had to be recognised as the world’s greatest roboticist at any cost, his madness increasing as he went on. But always he had to contend with Light’s creations, especially Rock, and he always came up short.

Among Wily’s creations are the Robot Masters from Mega Man 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8. He is also responsible for reprogramming most of the Masters from other Mega Man games for evil. Other robots not of the particular “Robot Master” variety include the Mega Man Killers Punk, Enker, and Ballade; Reggae the Crow, King, the Doc Robots, various imperfect copies of Mega Man, and Bass (who serves as an antihero) and his partner Treble.

However, he considers his greatest creation to be Zero, who contained the double whammy of unstoppable killing machine and insidious computer virus to corrupt any robot. He must really resent that Zero turned against his destructive programming and began fighting the Mavericks he helped create.

While Light managed to live on in a limited fashion, Wily had his own means to survive through the following era. It is implied that the robots Serges from X2 (second image) and Isoc from X6 (third image) are partially Wily himself or at least closely linked. It’s not unheard of in fiction for someone’s personality to be converted into digital form and housed in a robotic body, and if anyone could figure out the means, Wily could. He would also have the inclination, being irredeemably sociopathic. Having said that, there have been moments of sympathetic portrayal for Wily, especially in the Classic days.

Undeniably a genius, Wily is nevertheless crippled by his jealousy of Dr Light and delusions of grandeur. He is arrogant and a natural manipulator, having mastered the art of deception. His narcissism extends to his creations, leading to a desire to prove his robots are better than Light’s, specifically hoping for Bass to outclass Rock and later Zero to X.

Dr Weil (fourth image) continues in the vein of Wily’s machinations in the Zero series, taking command of copy X and Zero’s original body as his tools. He has similar megalomaniacal tendencies and skills of deceit, managing to take command of the largest civilised settlement in the new world after the destruction he had wrought. His goals are to use Reploids as slaves and rule the world, not wholly unlike Wily, although Wily was shown to have some respect for his creations. Weil shares this respect only with Omega Zero, continuing the thread of Wily and Zero. There is no concrete link between the two aside from name and personality, especially as both are human.

Wily reappears in a way, as part of the Sage Trinity in the Biometal era. As Master Albert (fifth image) he rules the country of Legion with the other Masters, although it is unclear how directly this version is based on Wily. He has very strong links to Model W though, which implies more connection between Weil and Wily through the Biometal Weil is the progenitor of. Master Albert takes Wily’s ambitions to the extreme, wishing destruction and recreation of all the world with himself as its god. Meanwhile, he maintains a facade of cool calmness. He claims to be the master of the Model W Weil created, but it is unknown whether it is actually using him.

There is a minor character named Wily in Legends who shares a resemblance, but he is merely a friendly boatman.

Wily’s Network counterpart is Lord Wily (sixth image), a schemer in a similar vein with a jealousy of Dr Hikari’s work. In this case however, Wily is also a robotics expert, changing the dynamic as he is resentful over his technology being superseded by Hikari’s Network technology. He is not the primary villain in all the games, and even is redeemed in the end and resolves to help improve the world.

9:57pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuZc3Xw1
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 18, 2012

The good doctor, Thomas Light (or Right). Idealistic yet brilliant, he is the father of modern robotics. His greatest creation, arguably, is X, although he would be nothing without the years spent with Rock, which were beneficial for both of them. Between games, Dr Light was responsible for upgrading Rock’s capabilities and building new helpers for him, including Rush the dog, Eddy the walking container, Tango the cat, and Auto the robot guy. He also previously built Blues as part of a military contract that resulted in the mass-produced Sniper Joe model. Also Roll.

Wily and Light used to be friends, even partners, before things took a deadly turn. Light has dedicated years of his life to combatting the schemes of Wily through his surrogate son, Rock. Years that could have been better spent improving the world. Still, all that fighting has simply increased his determination to help create a world where humans and robots can peacefully coexist.

Light’s other creations include the 6 (or 8) Robot Masters from the first Rockman game, and the 8 from Rockman 9.

Light’s next step, of course, was the creation of X, the first robot to have sophisticated feelings and free will. He sealed him in a special stasis capsule for over 30 years to test these complex systems, so as to bring X to maturity before releasing him into the world. He knew he would pass away before X could change the way the world views robots, so he hid capsules in many locations containing upgrades for him, knowing that one day X would find him. He also left hologram messages (second image) in these capsules to instruct X, his final messages to his creation. His influence was felt throughout this era, long after his death.

Light isn’t seen for a very long time after X (presumably) finds all the capsules. Unless you want to go with the endlessly recurring archetype theory, in which Weil is an incarnation or descendant of Wily and Ciel (and her mother) of Light.

The next concrete appearance of Light is hundreds of years later, in the Biometal era, when a council known as the Sage Trinity of Legion arises to rule a portion of the known world. They contain recreations or analogues of the three major roboticists from the Classic series, Light, Wily, and Dr Cossack, another good guy. Master Thomas (third image) is a strong, imposing figure, with a rigid moral code. It was he, along with Master Albert (the Wily analogue), who instituted a policy to bring humans and Reploids closer together in capabilities. Humans received cybernetic implants and Reploids had lifespans imposed, among other enforced alterations.

His hope was that this would create further cooperation and fellowship between the races, although it is revealed that this was but the first part of a more extreme plan that would involve more radical changes to society and its lifeforms. The exact nature of these plans is as yet unknown, but hints that there is a dark side to letting Light’s idealism reach to extremes.

There is a Network universe parallel to Light, known as Tadashi Hikari (being the Jaqpanese words for Right and Light, fourth image). He created the technology for projecting the NetNavis, although it was his son who actually created Mega Man and his grandson who would partner with him. He isn’t seen much, having passed away before the events of the first game. This version also wished for peace through the technology he helped create, although unlike Dr Light he left much work unfinished, to be continued by the next generation.

8:07pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuZbwTWY
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 18, 2012

Roll is Rock’s little sister, who remained a helper robot (as they both were originally) after Rock was transformed into a fighting robot. She assists Dr Light with his inventions and with housework, and on rare occasions has fought alongside Mega Man. (First and second image)

If Roll does continue into the X generation, her role would most likely be as a Navigator (a form of help which she has provided Rock before). She doesn’t have a clear parallel with any one character, but female supporting characters have appeared in several incarnations. Alia (third image) is probably her closest equivalent (second image), so with some memory-wiping and remodelling it’s possible they are the same…

Roll.EXE (fourth image) is also a support character in the Network universe, and love interest of the main character. This is another recurring aspect of this archetype, and has been slightly hinted at in the Rock-Roll relationship, and the X-Alia relationship.

Roll Caskett (fifth image) in Legends is a mechanic, helper of Mega Man and love interest. Her design and name seem to be based purely on artificially creating the parallel to the Classic Roll.

This archetype is carried through to the Zero series with the human scientist Ciel (sixth image), who later invents the Biometals but serves several support functions to Zero, and is a love interest (despite the fact that they are robot and human). Her mother invented the Cyber-elves, incidentally. She also has an adoptive younger sister who is a Reploid, Alouette, who grows up into Prairie (seventh image), the leader of the Guardians in ZX (not the same as the Four Guardians, more on that later). Prairie doesn’t have as many supportive functions but she is a possible love interest and important character. These two have no link to Roll but fulfill similar character types, with some key differences. Ciel is a brilliant and compassionate human scientist, and Prairie is a childish but competent commander.

4:54pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuZbW_d9
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 18, 2012

Blues, or Proto Man, is Rock’s older brother who ran away from home. The original robot. Mysterious and rebellious, he is way cool. Sometimes he fights you, but he is often on your side. He is assuredly not the same person as Zero, as Zero was being built while Blues was still around, but they share many parallels. Just look at that flowing yellow scarf, and Zero’s beautiful hair!

Their attitude is very similar too. Unlike other robots, they don’t follow orders. They act by their own choice, and stand aloof while actually being very loyal to their friends. They both have dark pasts. Actually, now that I think of it, why not make them the same guy? It requires some serious canon massaging, but it fits quite well thematically.

Blues has been aligned with Dr Wily in various sources after being repaired by him, and Zero was built by Wily. Who’s to say he didn’t take some cues from Blues with the design, if nothing else?

Anyway, Blues is first encountered with no knowledge of his history, but Rock finds out that he’s his brother eventually. He will often help out Rock, but largely keeps himself separate. He has some trust issues.

Zero is a very competent Maverick Hunter, a superior to X. X looks up to him but over time the two become comrades in arms. Zero later finds out that he was built by Dr Wily, and was the cause of the original Maverick outbreak. He has a very cool personality but has formed some relationships, some of which have caused him pain (Iris).

Zero eventually deactivates himself, but is awoken a century later to find himself in a new body (third image). The new world he finds himself in is ruled by a copy of X, his old friend. This copy is nothing like X however and rules as a tyrant. Zero fights the copy X and his shadowy master, Dr Weil, with the help of the real X, now a Cyber-elf ghost. He eventually dies to protect the remaining humans.

Zero lives on in Biometal form, giving his power to a Reploid host (fourth image) so as to continue fighting Mavericks. He later combines with X’s Biometal, passing on the best powers of both to new heroes (fifth image).

Both Proto Man and Zero have counterparts in the parallel Network world. Proto.EXE wields a sword weapon, which in my mind strengthens the link between them. His role in those games is somewhat similar to Blues, although the connection to Rock is lost. Zero.EXE’s role is like Wily’s original intention for Zero, to be a virus carrier and agent of carnage.

4:28pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuZbRKkj
(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 18, 2012

This is the first in a series of posts about the character archetypes that run throughout the Mega Man franchise. Or, you could say different iterations of the same character.

Rockman is the posterboy, obviously. He’s like Mario, his face sells games. I don’t like him as much for this reason, because Zero is my favourite series and this guy gets plastered everywhere. You gotta love the guy though. (His brothers are cooler.)

This of course brings up, is X his brother? Or a remodelled Rock? I’m going to put forward a possible theory, that many of the Classic robots survived into the X series and in some cases beyond. Within this theory, we try to match up as many robots as possible to be the same person.

So Rock, having accumulated much life experience, was prepared by Dr Light to become the next stage in the evolution of robots. Light’s genius alone couldn’t advance robots, it was Rock fighting, learning and loving that helped him become something more. All subsequent intelligent robots in the X era were based on the design of X, who is basically an upgrade to Rock. Or, if you prefer, then X is simply a new robot made with Rock’s cooperation so that Light and Rock together made the next generation. Either way, X is heavily identified as “Mega Man” regardless.

X later becomes a Cyber-elf (third image) after his body dies. Both Reploids and, later, humans can become a Cyber-elf, depending on the conditions of their death. This was made possible by advanced technology. He takes on an advisory role in this capacity. Later, his elf is converted into Biometal, and bonds to an ordinary person, giving them his strength (fourth image).

The other three are not the same person as this original Rock. The fifth is Mega Man Volnutt, from Legends. A human (more or less) with some nifty armour, named after an ancient hero. The sixth is, similar to the Biometal version, bonded to a kid. He is a digital avatar for navigating the Internet invented by the parallel universe Dr Light. The seventh is an alien bonded to a different kid who happens to take the form of previous hero.

And that’s Rock.

3:53pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuZbJ2pV
(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
December 18, 2012
Rockman’s 25th

To celebrate Rockman’s 25th birthday, I’m going to make a few posts about the mythology of the various Mega Man franchises and how they tie together. First, an overview.

Broadly speaking, there are two major continuities within which there are sub-series of Rockman. They are the Robots continuity and the Network continuity (for want of a better term). Robots includes, in chronological order, the Classic series (starting in 200X), X series (30-100 years later), Zero series (100 years after that), ZX series (200 years after that), and the Legends, or DASH, series (an indeterminate period later). Network is the Battle Network series (an alternate 200X), which is followed by the Star Force series (200 years later).

The major difference is the Robots games tend to be action sidescrollers (or 3D action in Legends) featuring androids or machines, and the Network games are RPGs with cyberspace and virtual AIs, and then aliens and radio waves or something (I don’t know that much about Network to be honest). Having said that, there are sidescrollers in Network and RPGs in Robots, as well as a few racing games, sports games, board games etc.

What ties it all together though is the concept of human interactions with artifical life forms, and the behaviours of those artifical life forms. Those life forms often become antagonistic towards their creator species, starting with reprogamming by malicious individuals, to a behaviour-modifying virus, towards more dealing with the ideals of various people and groups. The creations rebelling against their creator is a strong theme, starting with the Bible of course, and it runs throughout the Mega Man franchise.

SPOILERS AHEAD. So how do these games fit together? Let’s start at the beginning, the Classic series. Rockman 1 starts with rival robotic geniuses, Dr Light (the good guy) and Dr Wily (the bad guy). Dr Wily steals Light’s robots and reprograms them to cause havoc. Rock, previously a helper robot for Light, is remodelled into a fighting machine with a unique ability to copy enemy weapons. Dr Wily consistently returns with new robots, of his own creation most of the time, and Rock shuts them down many times. This struggle never ends, and leads into the X series.

X series: Light’s last creation, X, is the successor to Rock’s legacy and has free will. Zero, Wily’s last creation, caused a ton of robots to go bad then became a good guy. So the struggle between the rival doctors continues to be played out between robot Mavericks (the ones that went bad and want to harm humans) and the Maverick Hunters (who fight them), including X, Zero, and others, many based on X’s design (Reploids).

Zero series: This conflict escalates into to a cataclysmic period known as the Elf Wars, in which some of the newly invented life form/energy source called Cyber-elves are corrupted by some guy called Dr Weil (who may or may not be related to Wily, ask your nearest fan fiction author) and lots of stuff gets killed. X is now a Cyber-elf, Zero has a new body, and a replica of X rules the remaining population with an iron fist. Now anyone who opposes Copy X and Weil is labelled a Maverick, repurposing the term. Zero has to bring down the brutal regime, and succeeds with the help of the human scientist Ciel, the Resistance, the four turncoat Guardians, the true X, and the Cyber-elves. But he dies in the process.

ZX series: Weil had merged with his robotic suit, his space station, and probably some malevolent Cyber-elves for this to make sense (they’re like magic, very convenient for plot) to form a material known as Biometal. Ciel creates some Biometals of her own from the Cyber-elves of dead heroes X, Zero, and the Guardians. They appear to have the personality and memories of their templates, and can merge with a human or Reploid host to bestow their powers. The new heroes have to fight the corrupting influence of the Biometal Model W formed by Weil’s horrific synthesis. Model W manifests itself in different ways, steals Biometals and makes regenerating robot baddies, finally revealing itself to be partly in control of certain governments and corporations. It is seemingly defeated at some point, but who knows.

Dr Light always dreamed of a world where humans and robots could live together in harmony. This theme is brought up many times throughout these series, and is sometimes twisted by crazies who want to force such a state through violence or subjugation. The last word from ZX is that a robotic recreation of Dr Light wishes to create this world through extreme means. This seemingly, with some interpretation, leads into the setting of Legends some millennia later. The humans are dead, replaced by artificially created organic humanoids— I guess there’s not much difference there. Yet another energy crisis, world flooded, ancient ruins. An ancient automated system controls the organic population… it’s pretty complicated actually. The games are mostly concerned with the Barrells (Diggers) and their enemies/rivals, the Bonnes (pirates). It’s more about interaction and characters, and summarising the real backstory is hard. Suffice to say Mega Man ends up on the moon and there are less authoritarian or violent robots at the end. It’s hard to tell exactly how it fits with the other games, but ooh look Servbots! What were we saying? Yeah.

As for the Network timeline, being RPGs there is a lot more talking and a lot more complexity. Generally though the setting of the Battle Network series is similar to the Classic Robots setting, except instead of robots becoming dominant, Internet technology was supreme. What this means is that many robots from the Classic series, and even some from the X series, have NetNavi counterparts— these are like avatars that help humans navigate the treacherous Internet or something. I’ve covered the salient points I think, I haven’t played any Network games so I think I can say that the main reason for a Mega Man fan to play these games is the buttload of shout outs and callbacks. Otherwise other people might enjoy it for the gameplay, which is a tactical turn-based RPG on a small grid or something. It also tries to cash into the whole collect and battle thing. As for the actual plot, who knows? Like I said, lots of RPGs and more complex.

Star Force I know even less about. Sorry. There’s an alien and all this stuff about radio waves. I already mentioned that… It actually consciously steered clear of the callbacks so much and was more self-contained, so in my mind even less reason to be interested. Um. It also shares the gameplay style of Battle Network. Er. So, that’s that one.

Well, kind of a flat note to end on but that’s the Mega Man continuity so far. But wait, what’s this? Rockman Xover!? Oh no! What does it mean? So there’s a new iOS game, Japan-exclusive for now. It’s a “social RPG”, seems to be based on the Mega Man X iOS port engine but with really basic gameplay, and an emphasis on again collecting battle cards or something. But the setting is supposed to be this confusing mishmash of many different series. There’s time travel, sure, and Dr Light building a new Reploid(?) called Over-1. But how does the parallel universe of Network come into it? Sure, have cards based on it and everything else, but story-wise how do you justify that? Wily and Sigma teamed up somehow and time travel and bleh! Hey! Collect them all! Crossovers are exciting, but this one’s pretty lazy. I’m still really looking forward to it though, especially if there’s Zero elements!

tl;dr How can humans coexist with artificial life? Let’s find a way, together… By blowing up some robots. Da-da-da da-da-dum da-da-da da-da-da da-dum-dum…

3:24pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuZbBnab
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: rockman megaman 25th fandom 
August 14, 2012
Megaman and the Three Laws

So apparently Asimov’s Laws of Robotics were mentioned in Megaman 7 and X1. I don’t rmember it at the time, but now that I have been reminded, I do seem to recall that they were mentioned at some point. It’s not that important to the series, especially the X series, because basically everyone that appears is a Reploid, but I guess you never fight humans. X and the Maverick Hunters are supposed to be fighting for the humans, after all. Of course, you confront Wily at the end of every Classic game, but never kill him. They explicitly call it out in 7, and apparently in different localisations there are different outcomes.

The reason I mention it though, is I just realised the significance of a major plot point of Zero 4. Weil “reveals” at one point, very dramatically, that he is in fact a human! Aha! So there! He brings it up more than once, as I recall. However, I was very underwhelmed by this supposed revelation. Firstly, I already figured that out, but also so what? What does it matter if he’s a human—apparently Zero was led to believe he was a Reploid? So now I get that Zero must have at some point been bound by the Three Laws, and so could not harm humans.

The guy has a mostly cybernetic body anyway, but I guess that’s beside the point. And by the time of ZX the lines have been blurred so all that goes out the window. But at this time, he is banking on the fact that he can rule all Reploids because they’re not allowed to hurt him. This really could have been explained better by the game, I feel.

Zero’s response, incidentally, is along the lines of: “I don’t care if you’re human or Reploid, you are a Maverick, and so it is my duty to destroy you either way.” Like Classic Megaman in English MM7, he is now “more than a robot” and able to make his own judgements, no longer bound by the Laws. X attained this state through 30 years of rigorous morality testing, but presumably Classic MM and Zero have also achieved this level of human-like decision-making due to their life experiences (these are my own speculations). I may be misremembering some details in this post, but sometimes it’s just fun to be a fan.

9:44pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuROcVDi
Filed under: curiosities fandom megaman 
August 6, 2012
Did you know that in the entire robots continuity of Mega Man, there is more than one robot based on Sun Wukong from Journey to the West? Also known as Son Goku (yes, THAT Son Goku was also based on this character). Two of the distinguishing traits...

Did you know that in the entire robots continuity of Mega Man, there is more than one robot based on Sun Wukong from Journey to the West? Also known as Son Goku (yes, THAT Son Goku was also based on this character). Two of the distinguishing traits of this character are the distinctive crown, and the magical extending rod. And he’s a monkey.

On the left we have Buster Rod G, from the Sega Mega Drive port of the first three Classic games. Wily Wars (or Rockman Mega World) was the Mario All-Stars of Mega Man, if you will. This game had an extra mode after the three main games that was a new Wily fortress, into which you could take any weapon or item from the three games. The bosses of these stages were based on characters from the ancient Chinese story, including this guy, who you fought twice.

The monkey on the right is named Hanumachine, referencing the Hindu god Hanuman, although he’s not fooling anyone. The elongating staff and crown give him away as another Sun Wukong look-alike (his nickname is the Super Monkey of Knowledge). He appears in Mega Man Zero 1, attacking the Resistance base, wielding fire powers but actually in the stealthy Hidden Phantom’s personal army. He is revived by Dr. Weil in Zero 3 as Hanumachine R, and leads one of his armies.

The Wily Wars is self-contained, so the three new Robot Masters are at least internally consistent. However, most Robot Master in the Classic series are simple human-shaped affairs, with only a few that stand out as based on mythology (Tengu Man, Centaur Man and Splash Woman). On the other hand, the Mutos Reploids that are the bosses throughout the Zero games often reference mythological beings and creatures, so Hanumachine fits in very well.

10:03pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuQsXvcp
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: curiosities megaman 
July 20, 2012
Megaman Zero Collection (DS)

Well I just finished the easy scenario mode of the Zero Collection. This won’t be a full review, there is too much game and too much love to go over it all.

When I found this game, I was ecstatic. I have mentioned that the Zero series is my favourite Megaman iteration, because of its depth, pacing, plot treatment, and smooth-ass gameplay (when you get good), but most importantly, because I played loads of it during my developmental years. In this case, during high school me and a friend had Japanese copies of the first two and pretty much knew them back to front. We had our own names for the characters that turned out to be different to the localised ones, names I think are superior (we called Harpuia and Elpizo: Hyperia and Elpis, for example). Later, I bought the 4th installment in English, which was a very different experience. But now I’ve played them all in a row and got the complete overview.

Well, I say complete. Easy Scenario mode drops you in Ultimate mode automatically, which normally requires you to totally clock the game and rewards you with ultimate power-ups, after you’ve struggled through the hard way. This means you can breeze through it, and I did. The game ranks you at the end of missions, and I usually scored very high, except in damage. I got damaged a lot. I had loads of health, I could take it. Need to work on that in normal mode. It’s not really the Zero experience to breeze through like that. People shouldn’t buy this game and just play that mode. The games are about dying a lot, learning patterns, honing your reflexes. When you play it as much as I did, you get good at that.

So which games emphasise this feeling? I think maybe 2 is the hardest, 4 is the easiest. But all are rewarding in this way. To really judge that, I probably need to play again in normal mode. But I can say other things comparing them all.

The games form a cohesive, complete story. Not all of them are strictly necessary, though. Each game could be the end of the series, some more open-ended than others. They do build on each other, though, so playing any of them requires the ones before in terms of plot (and sometimes gameplay). The way they are connected is really gratifying, as we see characters return and in some cases grow. The threats reveal larger threats behind them, which develops over the course of several games.

This developing threat comes to a head in 3, where early on you confront a terrifying robot from the games’ backstory, Omega. (Later you find its true identity, which makes it more significant.) It is then joined by the Dark Elf, the antagonist of 2; Copy X, the antagonist of 1; and Dr. Weil, who becomes the antagonist of 4. This combination of strong enemies makes me think of Zelda 4 Swords Adventures, wherein you fight Vaati, Ganon AND Dark Link. Imagine if Mario fought Bowser, then Donkey Kong comes out, Wart jumps up behind you and Wario starts laughing at you. It’s awesome.

Which brings me to 4. When you defeat three of these threats during Zero 3, the 4th installment only has Weil, which makes its scale seem a little smaller. Its design aesthetic is also very different, as it had a different lead designer than the other three. All in all it feels different, a little tacked on. It makes sense when you find out that a bit like the X series which was supposed to finish with X5 (and thus continue to the Zero series), the original plan was for a trilogy. I’m not complaining that they added another, and it certainly rounds out the story in a conclusive way, but it is somewhat different.

The Four Guardians are major characters in the first three, but are conspicuous in their absence in 4. Official word was they were elsewhere during these events, but later statements retconned this, saying they died during the climax of 3. This ties to the artwork featured in one of the soundtracks (although labelled “fanart” officially, it was produced by the developers of the game) which depicts *SPOILER the Guardians as Cyber-Elves with X, watching the fall of Ragnarok.* Anyway, whatever happened, they are great characters and lend some continuity to the series as they return for revenge, and eventually sort of join your side. They are also very important to the two ZX games.

The other characters are also unique, especially unique in the fact that this game HAS characters, unlike some other Megaman series games (although I haven’t played the later ones with cutscenes). A cast of varied Resistance members, even some humans in 4. The important ones though are X, Ciel, and to a lesser extent Cerveau the engineer. They don’t interact all that much, but they have personality, especially when you read into it.

This brings me to the issue of supplemental materials. I love the style of the official artwork of these games, it’s very beautiful and in addition to the manual and many examples on MMKB wiki, there are unlockable galleries in the game. A cool feature, and it even includes the gameplay-modifying e-Reader cards for 3 that never made it to Australia. The Japanese advertisements for this game were wonderfully animated in anime style, even if it’s only 15 second spots. And developer Inti Creates very lovingly constructed multiple soundtracks for the series, with great art, remastered and arranged tracks, and even spoken drama audio tracks that flesh out the story. However, the manga produced for this series is utter tripe. A dull, watered-down story, ugly art, butchered and maimed characters, dumb Mary-Sue little boy protagonist (an unfortunate trend in shonen manga). It’s pretty bad. Granted, I haven’t read the 3rd volume, which seems like it takes itself less seriously.

Anyway, the best part about these games is the games, and I loved playing them again, and 3 for the first time. I look forward to playing them in normal mode (Ultimate mode already has the collectibles, so you literally just rush through). Before that, I might play ZX first as I acquired it at the same time. Haven’t decided yet.

I might finish up here, this wasn’t a complete review or anything, as I didn’t exactly have a full game experience in easy mode. But it reminded me why I love Megaman, and it’s because of Zero. It actually made me want to play more X series, at least the ones with playable Zero. Anyway I recommend the Zero collection for those who like the X series if you haven’t given it a go, it’s available for those in the US on Capcom’s online store (if you’re inlcined to give Capcom money, which many people aren’t at the moment for good reason). It’s a hard series though so keep in mind that you need the skillz that pay the billz. (The z is for Zero.)

10:02am  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuPiSYPe
Filed under: megaman zero ds review capcom 
July 3, 2012
Megaman X (SNES VC)

The first game I’d like to talk about here in detail is Megaman X. Ugh, OK, before that I’d like to get 2 things out of the way. First, the internet and I can never decide whether he has a space in his name. Rockman is always Rockman, but if want to search for Megaman games on an online shop or something I always have to try both spellings. It’s nobody’s fault really, but it’s annoying. At least you can say that all the games in the uberfranchise have that word in them (except Misadventures of Tron Bonne, but I’m not gonna play that. And Rockboard doesn’t contain Rockman but never mind that one) Anyway during this I am going to omit the space because it’s easier that way.
The other is that I have really grown to hate the name “Blue Bomber”. It just sounds stupid. It’s a real lame nickname that only barely describes the guy, and I just wince every time I read it. Maybe I’ll get over this eventually. Anyway, this point is kinda irrelevant to the subject at hand, which is X1.

So for the first time, I got some Wii points recently. I had gone through the store and checked it all out, and decided the first thing to try would be X1. In my Super Nintendo days, I liked games like Yoshi’s Island and DKC2. Megaman was not really on my radar. I definitely remember playing some X game on a friend’s console at some point, because I remember the multiple levels of charging. But my first real introduction to a love for the series was with Zero for the Gameboy Advance. Me and my friend bought the first two on a trip to Japan and played them to death. It didn’t matter that we didn’t understand the story, the characters and cutscenes were enough for us to piece something together and the replayability is very high. My first and greatest love in Megaman canon is the Zero series. And really, I haven’t actually played many other games in the series—so what kind of MM fan am I?

A few years ago I got back into gaming in a big way, after having a dry patch through part of high school and uni. Part of this involved researching series I used to be interested in, and getting back into them. Unfortunately, some of the games that are essential playing to some series are hard to come by. But there is plenty for fans to see, especially if they’re catching up. I read many wikis, found tie-in comics, watched some YouTube videos. I also scouted some fansites, and picked up a bunch of RSS feeds. The most dedicated sites are a joy to read, because they are passionate about their series. Two great examples of this, in their own ways, are the DKVine and the Metroid Database. The best fansites also have a podcast, and I found the TMMN Megacast an enjoyable listen on my commutes. Adam, Jesse, Tabby and Andy are highly entertaining hosts with a deep knowledge of Megaman and even I, with no actual game experience, had a great time listening. I think someone can be a fan with no game experience, but I also happen to love gaming. I am slowly working through many games, and as I think Megaman is a very strong series, I picked up a few of his games. I breezed through Megaman 2 (iOS port) on easy mode, and loved the extension of the Zero series that was ZX Advent (DS). The first ZX is next on my list. Which brings me to X (finally).

The Megacast reviewed X1 at one point, saying it was the best X series game, that it was all downhill from there. I also had at this point basically mastered the Zero series, so my expectations for this game were high. Too high, as it turns out. What I experienced was a strange beast, so obviously an extension of the Classic series, but not extending far enough. I could also see the bones of what it could further evolve into (Zero). Apparently somewhere along the way the series got bogged down and bloated, but this game was a little barebones. I had fun with it, but it didn’t come close to matching Zero in my eyes (or my fingers’ muscle memory.)

The first thing I noticed was how different the controls were to GBA Zero. I don’t know why, but I expected it to be closer to that. In fact it’s essentially a Classic game with the Classic formula, with some changes and additions. Even the Maverick intro theme is the exact Robot Master intro theme! Anyway, as I played through the game that same idea kept coming back: This is a halfway point. Too firmly rooted in the Classic series framework, but with interesting advancements. More complex controls and powers. More interesting characters and dialogue scenes. I didn’t enjoy it as much as those who grew up with it seemed to though, because I had seen where this direction was heading: the Zero series, which just seemed better in every way.

Still, I very much appreciated the complexity of the game as compared to what I had experienced of Classic, Megaman 2 (also regarded as the best entry in its series). From what I understand, some elements of this complexity were backported in a way into 7, M&B, and 8, but here I only have the “best games” of the series to compare. And there is no comparison. Perhaps it was the fiddliness of the iPhone controls or the inherent dislike I have for NES fidelity, having grown up a generation later, but X surpasses Classic by miles. If only because it is closer to my Zero ideal. Let me go into a bit of detail.

X1 doesn’t do a great job telling a story. The opening cinematic is very evocative but not expository. Not necessarily a bad thing, but after going from the title screen directly to the intro stage, I was a little lost. At the end of the intro stage, suddenly things start happening. Vile shows up, he demolishes you, Zero comes out of nowhere like a badass and says some stuff. But all the dialogues are a bit out of context. At this point I realise that games from this generation, I should probably read the manual. This helps, but it’s a little threadbare. I’m not sure if this is a localisation thing, but the whole premise was not well established. Par for the course for Megaman in general I think, though so whatever. It’s about gameplay, right?

The gameplay is pretty good, especially after you get the dash boots. It felt so wrong after Zero, not having dashing. I don’t expect the little peeny Classic guy to dash, but X should dash! Luckily I knew to do Chill Penguin’s stage first, and after I got that first capsule things really picked up. Of course, the physics are a little weird, and I really miss the Z-Saber, but hey most of ZX Advent you don’t have a sword so I told myself it was fine. And after a few Mavericks down, I enjoyed the weapon changing mechanic. It took way too long to get charging for them, though, and you end up with a lot you don’t use. I feel like most Classic and X games are probably like this.

The Mavericks were cool, but as a Megaman fan, I feel they are extremely under-characterised. I know a lot of devs only care about gameplay, but c'mon, give them a line before I fight them! I guess I can always read the manga or something. And for that matter, what is Sigma really about? How does he present himself to his henchbots? Are they just infected by an incurable virus or is there an attractive ideology to this guy? I expect this to be developed in later games, but apparently the gameplay starts to suffer down the track as well. Maybe I’ll get to them one day, but this game didn’t exactly convince me playing the whole series was essential, except that I would one day get to control Zero. :D

The different power-ups hidden in the stages was a great idea, well implemented, and I felt good for finding these rewards. I feel like they helped too (well, except for the block breaking helmet). I was frustrated that use of a sub-tank completely drains it, no matter how much energy it restores, though. Ah well. Oh and the hadouken was awesome.

The final boss? Climbing that shaft each time you die was annoying, but at least it let you farm those worm guys for health. The dog was interesting, fun to dodge and shoot. Sigma’s first form was OK, not enough moves and when you learn how to game him fairly easy (just like Harpuia in Zero 1&2). His second form was just plain bad. Only like 2 attacks even damage him, and it’s hard to hit. His attacks aren’t very interesting either, they just do loads of damage. It doesn’t feel dangerous, not within the game. The strength of his attacks made it feel exciting to fight him, but I feel like that’s a little artificial. He just sits there and moves his hands. And any boss where you stand on his hands always seems a little silly. “Hey, I’m just gonna stand on here. Hold still while I shoot your face”.

OK this is getting very long, I do apologise. Congratulations if you read down to here, I’m still learning how to write well really so thanks for reading. Wrap up time.

All in all I think X1 is a good game, I don’t regret the purchase. But I really just view it as backstory to my favourite Megaman series, Zero. As far as that goes, it’s good to see the origins of something you love and I enjoyed it while I played. But I got the hadouken, I saw the 2 or 3 stage variations, I saw the Bubble Bat in Armored Armadillo’s stage. Now that it’s done, I don’t feel I ever need to revisit it again. But I do recommend it for those who are willing to do a bit of outside research to flesh out the world a little more than the game did.

Oh and my wife’s comment: “Looks hard and not fun. Too much of the same! And dying.” Maybe that says something about my skills, eh? Until next time.

6:14pm  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZpvIwuOc8IWE
Filed under: new games journalism review megaman x VC snes capcom 
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