Here’s another Mega Man-inspired indie game. Metagal is low-budget but enjoyable with a mostly-female cast, and some nice pixel art. I especially liked playing as the extra unlockable characters.
Subjective game reviews, comic translations, pixel art, and other video game bits & bobs.
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Projects About+Links Ask me anything
August 20, 2019
[Review] Metagal (PSVita)
August 15, 2019
[Review] Rockman & Forte (SNES)
My pick for Game Club was this instalment in the Classic Mega Man series. It feels oddly split in its design and is of course quite difficult, but has redeeming qualities that made it the most appealing of any Classic series game, and this was borne out in my experience.
June 23, 2019
Roll-chan vs the female Robot Masters, low-res pixel style! (3 images)
This is kind of a thought experiment or very loose idea for an all-female Mega Man/Rockman game. It occurred to me that there were barely enough woman Robot Masters in the Classic era franchise to make a full boss set of 8, and naturally Roll would be the one to take them on with her Roll Buster (as seen in Rockman 1 mobile and the Marvel vs Capcom games), her trusty broom (from Powered Up and Tatsunoko vs Capcom), and her ability to turn her arm into household appliances to be used as weapons (in the Ruby-Spears cartoon). The latter would be her version of the Copy Ability, with each boss giving her a themed appliance/weapon like a souped-up whirlpool blender or rocket stove. Pretty cool, eh?
Shoutouts to Capricorn’s two Rockmen R fangames that star Roll, as well as Zynk Oxhyde’s romhacks that replace Rock with her in all the 8-bit games! More details on the characters chosen below.
January 10, 2016
Novas Aventuras de Megaman, low-res pixel style!
This infamously bad Brazilian comic is possibly my favourite Megaman-related work after the Zero games. Besides being an interesting take on that series, its sheer craziness and wild inconsistency in art, tone, and pacing make it a fascinating train wreck. The attempts to shoehorn in Brazilian pandering, the first editor’s plans (stated in the comic itself) to derail the plot and have his own character take over, the fact that characters’ outfits will change from issue to issue… well, mainly Roll, hence my bonus picture of almost every costume she wears in chronological order. Not only does the comic get basic facts about the series plain wrong, but it amusingly takes inspiration from the Ruby Spears cartoon, before introducing both dark themes and goofy undermining of characters like X.
The whole comic revolves around Roll, which gives us a couple of atmospheric issues that focus on her past and her thoughts. This is my favourite Roll; smart, brave, taking initiative, overcoming hardship. It’s too bad this is undone by the editors and artists sexually objectifying her constantly. It’s also got complex motivations for the villains but unfortunately they’re never explained and I lost count of the number of plot threads or issues that are completely unaddressed by the time of the spectacular ruin of a non-ending, which introduces both aliens and voodoo magic. Basically, it’s “so bad it’s good” and I love it.
Roll, Megaman/Rocky, Karinka (the overtly communism-espousing Kalinka mysteriously non-aged after 30 years), Nástenka (Karinka’s robot bodyguard), Megaman X/Xizinho/Xis (this comic and nicknames), Slasher (it’s actually Bass, they just call him that), Protoman (I thought the bare skeletal arm he has in the early issues looked cool), Zero, Édouard/Maurice, Celina, Alan, and Otto (the human faction… one of them has the wrong name and hair for one issue), Princess (the would-be story hijacker), Dr. Willy/Willie/Wily (just inconsistency), one of “the Six” “Neo-Mavericks” (one of the villainous factions), Holzenbein (the plutocrat/voodoo practitioner, heads yet another faction)
More information: go here or here. These folks have translated the whole run into English.
April 29, 2013
Some gaming papercrafts me and Everbloom made the other day. It was heaps of fun, but some were more fiddly than others. I made Zero, Samus, and Mr Saturn, she made Toon Link, Chibiterasu and this super complicated Japanese-style bridge that she took to work. They come from various sources, nothing beyond simple google searches.
I just noticed now that we ended up with two competing franchise styles from Nintendo and Capcom, as Metroid and Megaman are often compared and Okami took more than a few cues from Zelda. Mr Saturn’s a bonus. ;)
February 26, 2013
Rockman Xover (iOS)
A note first about the name here. I can’t be arsed with the pretentious use and pronunciation of the “cross” symbol. It has no place outside vector maths, and I am generqally annoyed by its widespread use recently. However, I find amusement by pronouncing it as “X”, ie. “ex”. Namco ex Capcom, Street Fighter ex Tekken, Project ex Zone. I refuse to say this the way those marketing suits want me to. So now we have Rockman ex-over, supposedly a great celebration of 25 years of Rockman history. Pffffttplhplhplhphhhhffffrttthhtttthhhhhhhhh. Not to give away my feelings too early or anything.
Similarly to Animal Crossing, I’ve been playing this game daily for the last month. It’s somewhat addictive and I like to fire it up for a little bit, use up my energy points or whatever then quit. Progress has really slowed recently though and I missed the 8-bit event it seems, so I’m nearing my limit I think. Can’t beat the World 5 Shooting Star bosses either, there was a huge “difficulty” jump there.
I say that in scare quotes because there is nothing whatsoever related to skill, reactions, etc. in this game. There’s barely even what could be called gameplay. Stages are extremely basic flat autorunning affairs with random baddies at two levels: ground, and a flat plane above you, for you to jump n’ shoot at. You pick up cards and auto collect money. The only strategy really is sometimes if you’re not careful you have to choose between picking up a card or jumping to shoot a flying enemy.
Boss fights are a completely different gameplay style, violently shifting to a turn-based RPG battle system, and using the stat points that you’ve been collecting all those cards to enhance. I found all the bosses of the first four worlds’s stages very easy, except maybe the final world bosses, and then as I said the curve shoots up to impossible, as if the game is saying “go grind for a few weeks, loser”. Except it doesn’t say that, or maybe it does because I haven’t bothered to translate all the Japanese it comes out with.
Did I mention this game is not available anywhere except the Japanese App Store? I found it was quite easy to make an account there and get the game, although having that account with an app installed from a different region store causes some minor App Store problems every now and then. The game itself is very unforgiving to non-Japanophones, although (as with my long-ago playthrough of Zoids Saga 1) I figured most of the functions out fairly easily.
There’s also social features, with friending, chat, and team battles. People just friend you automatically, as you are often shown random players and given an option to send a request. So getting partners to team battles is never a problem, but I’ve never had a chat request (not that I would understand them anyway—my formal written Japanese is vestigial but present, but colloquialisms would defeat me).
This game was advertised as a “social RPG”, a genre that is much bigger in Japan than in the West. I think this fulfills the promise of that kind of game, as far as I understand them. It has all the hallmarks I would expect, along with copious in-app purchasing, limited play, premium items, and “community” features. Not as cynical as some, but not as well executed as others.
The game is kind of a mess to play. It feels like it was thrown together in a few days. So many buttons, menus, dialogs, loading screens. Things aren’t explained that well and viewing your cards is janky as heck. The two play modes have no pause button. There is lag, especially between menu screens. It asks you to optimise your cards (a process that leaves them most assuredly non-optimal) every time you view the equip screen, and before every boss fight—ie. way, way too often. (Although I may be missing an elemental bonus effect that it accounts for, but I doubt it.) It’s playable despite the horrible interface stuff, but I don’t know how much longer I can stand it for the very little content I get for that.
And so we come to that. As a “social RPG”, it’s passable. As a tribute to 25 years of Rockman, it fails horribly. It, uh. I can’t even. There’s just. Ack. Ok, I read an interview, and the guys who made it sounded so passionate and authentic. How is there such a big disconnect between their attitude and this pathetic scrap? What characters are used have new, fairly nice sprites, but they are used so badly. There are 7 sub-series to Rockman, and some are woefully underutilised in the cards. Others (X) are overused in the worlds and bosses. I don’t think I’ve even seen a Zero series character yet. The new armours are cool, but literally the only characters that appear aside from the bosses are Over-1 and Kalinka (at least she has a new portrait!).
I dunno, this game is just a massive wasted opportunity to me. The mechanics are just executed so badly, and Rockman series representation is so, so limited. A brief cutscene of that Legends airship is not really good enough! Stages only have two bad guys and a Met, for the whole world! And did I mention the loading screens! This is not an adequate Rockman celebration game. It’s not an adequate Rockman game. There’s been a lot of weird Rockman spinoffs, but a lot seem to have more effort involved than this.
Rockman Online looked way more exciting than this, although had it been released I probably wouldn’t have been able to play it. That game looked like a crossover done better. It didn’t claim to represent all 7 series, but it did 2 (Classic and X) very well, with new character designs, nice environments, loads of characters appearances, and proper gameplay.
Anyway, as I said, the game is mildly addictive and it is somewhat gratifying to see something of a wide range of minor characters in the cards, and the occasional more important one showing up. It also familiarised me with some characters and enemies from the Battle Network series (or at least their name and picture, which is all you get with the cards), so it has that. And I must say, the gameplay is unique among Rockman titles. There are small consolations and additions to Rockman canon here, but on the whole it’s pretty disappointing. The customisable equipment/card system surprised me at first with its depth, but ultimately there’s not much point to it.
So I’d say my reaction to this game has been mixed. I’ll keep it around and maybe try to beat those hard bosses, but it’ll take a while. They seem to update with content every now and then too, but some of it is time-limited, very frustrating. I must say, Capcom better have some tricks up its sleeve for Rockman’s “anniversary year” because the fanbase is pretty angry already, and Xover hasn’t done anything to help matters in the West. In fact, fan reaction was so negative that Capcom America promised not to localise it for now. (Insert they’re happy [i]not[/i] to make a game when the fans demand it comment here.) Me, I don’t mind so much, I’m not so short-sighted about these kinds of things, but I’d hate to see this get worse. Although if anything, the way the suits upstairs in Japan are treating the franchise, if anything it’s making the fanbase stronger in its support. Unfortunately they are allied in hostility towards Capcom, so that could get ugly.
Personally, anniversaries don’t mean too much to me (love you honey), but if it means the game companies take the excuse to make more games, then I’m all for it. And any game game in a beloved franchise is important to me in its own way. So in a way, I’m glad Xover exists. I just wish it was better, and I hope it doesn’t preclude further crossovers. Anyway time to end. For those who mind, sorry about writing another Rockman post. To my fellow Rockfans, Rock On! (so lame, I am so lame.) Ok, let me try again: pray for a true peace in space! No wait, wait that’s Metroid. WHAT AM I WRITING FOR!?!?!? Heh, much better.
February 13, 2013
The Four Guardians and some other Rockman Zero stuff
I just read an interesting post on the Reploid Research Lavatory about the Four Guardians of the Megaman Zero series. Kobun #20 translated three different interviews with the game’s creators about the fates of the four and why they didn’t appear in Zero 4. Red it here: http://kobun20.interordi.com/2013/02/10/fate-of-the-four-guardians
Now I knew about the first two already. The first, from 2005, says that it’s up in the air and although they were great characters and loved by the dev team, it wouldn’t make sense to fight them in the fourth game with such a big threat looming and they couldn’t fit them in in any other capacity. They speculated (without confirming) that the Guardians (sans Phantom of course, although he could have done Elfy things with them) were elsewhere fighting for the sake of humans against other enemies or Weil’s schemes. They do desire justice and to honour the memory of X, so that makes sense. They also mentioned the possibility of exploring their adventures in some other form. That never happened.
The second dashed those hopes by stating plainly that they had all died in the final battle with Omega in Zero 3. Shielding Zero from the explosion when Omega was defeated (shown) apparently caused them fatal injuries (not shown). The game’s ending suggests nothing of the sort, and the way it was expressed seemed like a cop-out. They mention then the piece of art in the Rockman Zero 4 Physis Soundtrack, depicting all 4 in robes, watching the game’s ending with X. Whether this is non-canon or their Cyber-Elf forms made perfect by X is up to you, I suppose.
So we have three sources here: two developer statements, and the artwork (which I am taking as canon because it’s too cool not to). I believe they can all be reconciled, and the third interview, coming from the recently released R20+5 art book, retcons both statements into one in a different way than I thought of. It states that the Guardians were considered dead according to Neo Arcadia’s records because they dropped off the map and went missing. They were presumed dead, and it is further stated that their continued fighting to help humans is not impossible.
Now, my theory: the Guardians (Harpuia, Leviathan, and Fefnir) did shield Zero from X’s explosion. In the Zero 3 soundtrack (Telos) there is an an audio drama track with Cyber-X and Cyber-Phantom visiting an injured Fefnir and Leviathan during the events of the game. I envisage a similar scene occurring to all three in hospital again after the final battle, but with X and Phantom telling them of other problems that need their attention elsewhere. This accounts for their absence in Zero 4, as previously speculated.
However, I also believe they died fighting Omega, as stated in the second interview, but not in the same battle at the end of Zero 3. Slightly different to the explanation offered there, but it is also partially fulfilled by the third interview, so I feel more comfortable with it now. You see, it makes more sense to the subsequent ZX series if all the heroes who were made into Biometals are at the same place. So I propose that Cyber-X alerted them to the fact that Omega had lived on in the dimensionally warped region of his defeat (Weil’s old laboratory, where Zero was originally found by Ciel). Of course, at this point they have had the opportunity to have some other adventures in the meantime. The Four Guardians go there and battle Omega again, trying to keep him down and out. They previously stated that they still feel the need to fight Zero, and this gives them that chance too. Presumably Omega has manifested some new physical presence.
During this new battle, the Four Guardians and X succeed in stopping Omega rising again, but at the cost of their lives. They all lived on as Cyber-Elves, even Omega, and similar to how X’s body remained to seal the Dark Elf, the Guardians and X remained to seal Omega. Later, Weil attempts to crash his satellite Ragnarok into Area Zero. Zero manages to crash it somewhere else—we see in ZX that the Ragnarok Core (the basis for Model W, and thus all Biometal) is right near where Omega’s corrupted data form can be fought. This is because Zero crashed Ragnarok right onto the same lab. The influence of the Ragnarok core affected the Cyber-Elves in the area, and when Ciel explored the crash site (with Serpent and others), they were able to recover the Elves of the Guardians, X, and Zero by converting them into pure Biometals. Taking them away, they were able to do good in the world again. However, this left the Ragnarok Core (what would later become Biometal Model W) alone with the Omega Elf, who was then able to partially recover and form a Biometal of its own, spontaneously and with the help of the Core.
The Ragnarok Core being near Omega is canon, but my theory of the Guardians being there explains how Ciel was able to make the Biometals as a result of that trip. In ZX, Vent or Aile (or both) find Omega mostly recreated, and take the Biometal for themselves when they defeat him. And during the game the Core is removed, so that accounts for everyone. The death of the Guardians at that time, well after the end of Zero 3 but before the end of Zero 4, explains why their Elves were watching the fall of Ragnarok, but allows them to fight for the humans in the meantime. It also explains them dying in a fight against Omega, and ties into ZX.
I hope I explained that the way my mind understands it. Now the only thing left unexplained is why Model A in ZX Advent is so much like Axl, and who actually created it (I don’t believe Master Albert did). Until further X games say otherwise, let’s say Weil was able to get ahold of Axl’s body and stored it in his lab (presuming he died in the Elf Wars, and his own Elf stayed with his body). It was then subjected to the same processes that led to the creation of the other Biometals, so with Zero and X’s help Ciel must have made Model A as well (since they both knew Axl in life). It’s fine for Albert then to take that Biometal and corrupt it, but the similarity is too close to be ignored. Unless he means that Model W, speaking as Albert, indirectly caused the creation of all Biometals because they were made by studying the Ragnarok Core and through its influence on the Cyber-Elves, including Model A.
Oh, speaking of which, I have to say another thing about Weil. I found out since my other Rockman posts that according to Inafune, Wily was alive in X5 and helping Sigma. Huh-what?!? So now I’m thinking that Weil really is just Wily with an altered appearance and his own custom cybernetic enhancements to allow long life. He stayed secret for ages, and makes his comeback in the Elf Wars. It explains why there are two guys so evil and with a similar name. Ah, Wily. Stay classy.
January 29, 2013
Megaman ZX (DS)
There’s been a lot of stuff about comics recently, but don’t worry! I’ve been playing games too. Specifically Paper Mario Sticker Star, a Christmas present, and I also picked Metroid Prime 2 back up after a long break. Almost finished both of those now, but first I have to talk about some games I got through earlier.
I played the Zero series games in a weird order. I think my first was Zero 2, then Zero 1. Those were in Japanese, then I got Zero 4 in English. When shopping for DS games I chose ZX Advent (the sequel) over ZX because of the purported improvements, especially to the map system and voice acting. Then I eventually got a copy of ZX, along with Zero Collection, and had my first play of Zero 3. And now finally I’ve got around to playing ZX.
Overall, before I go any further, my impression of this game is better than its sequel, Advent (ZXA). There are a number of reasons for this. Its characters were more memorable, playing as Model ZX (who plays just like the Zero I’m used to) from the third mission instead of the third last was great, and it had a more manageable number of transformations. On the other hand, the mission handling was clumsier here, they improved the rewards and economy in the sequel, and the Model transformations seemed better utilised there. But enough comparisons.
The ZX series seems a bit maligned, at least from traditional Megaman fans. I don’t see any good reason for this, as it retains the smooth but challenging gameplay of Zero, and seems a natural extension of it as well (although the new characters I see may put some people off, with many of them being whiny kids). There’s also tons of fanservice if you’re looking. Plus I think it maintains a high standard of quality, unlike certain installments of the Classic and X series. I guess if you didn’t like Zero as much, ZX and ZXA are even more out there. But me, I love Zero.
So it’s only natural that I loved this game, too. I played through it twice in a row, and I wouldn’t normally do that. You choose between playing Vent and Aile, so I did both. There are very few differences between them: minor story points and dialogue changes, and slightly different attributes, but so slight hardly anyone even notices. They even have the same backstory and relationship to the major NPC, Giro. One might think they are interchangeable. The animated trailer however shows both of them double Megamerging and using ZX’s powers, so it’s possible that alternate playthroughs are in a way half the story, with the “true” events involving both, which is hard to portray in a game with a single player I guess. (The dual protagonists is something the sequel executed much better, also).
So I can’t really escape comparisons, I don’t think I have a way of judging this game outside my frame of reference. I also think it’s worth judging games compared to similar ones, after all I didn’t play it in a vacuum. Ah, this is getting too meta.
I think I’m a bit out of practice with these reviews. Ok, well, the storytelling is fine, but the animated cutscenes are a little jarring with their heavy compression artifacts and Japanese-only audio. That’s not too much of an issue, as the whole Zero series had Japanese boss barks, but keep in mind I played ZXA first which had a whole English speech track over most cutscenes, animated and otherwise. The characters in the game were quite memorable, most of the major ones had ties to the Zero series, which I appreciated, and the NPCs all had unique appearances and personalities (a problem with ZXA was too generic appearances in NPCs).
The levels were well designed, I think- I’m not an expert on that kind of thing. Enemies often required a bit of strategy to beat, although some parts were just annoying, like the radars that reversed the controls. A commonly cited criticism of this game is that once you get Model H, there’s little reason to use any other form. True to an extent, although I like Model ZX enough to switch between the two often. Model OX (Omega Zero) was awesome too, but you only get it after you beat the game unfortunately.
There were lots of collectibles and so on, but there wasn’t much to spend the E-Crystal currency on. I liked how all the areas were connected, it felt like a cohesive whole (although the environments were quite different, it was just nice to be able to move through it all smoothly). The map is quite useless, though. I had a walkthrough’s map open on my iPhone the whole time I was playing.
The plot is interestingly linked to the Zero series, and now I see where all the plot threads of ZXA came from too, so it ties together well to the other games in the “greater Zero series”, which includes ZX and ZXA. (They’re totally the same. Art style, gameplay, developer, pickups, font, everything).
The bosses were all interesting and different. They unlock extra attacks for the forms, but I didn’t use the special abilities of any Model form hardly at all. I only used them to get around levels, and faced bosses almost exclusively as ZX. This may be due to my own familiarity with the strictly Zero fighting style.
I mentioned the world map, but it would have been a lot easier to get around if there were more tranceivers. Anyone who’s played the game will know what I mean, but I guess it makes you more familiar with the layouts and all. The tranceivers also dispensed missions, which brings up that you can only bloody do one at a time! This means that cutting grass or stopping a rogue robot from killing civilians have the same priority, and if you go somewhere to do something but forget to activate the mission, you’ve wasted the trip there and the return. And you can’t do multiple things on one trip out, plus if you are asked for something, the request is in the tranceiver, but it can only hold two optional requests at a time as well! The whole mission thing is a mess and they thankfully fixed it up in the sequel.
I think I’m running out of things though, so in all I had lots of fun here. That old feeling of hining your skills against specific bosses by replaying them a few times, and doing two runs in a row- it was good. I should say that the Zero and ZX games are quite hard, they’re not for everybody. But when you’re a gamer like me, you relish the feeling of mastering this art. I don’t feel that way about a lot of genres but 2D platformers and jumpy shooties have enough precision, as long as the game is well constructed and quick.
So this game is absolutely essential- for me, who loved the Zero games. You might like it too, who knows. I don’t really know which to recommend more, this or its sequel, though. But I’m glad I was able to play them both, with their strengths and weaknesses and their linked plots. It’s sad to see this series fall out of favour recently as Capcom is bringing Megaman back to basics or whatever it is they’re planning, I’d love another installment. It’s just, so nostalgic for me but also new, with fresh twists. And it advances the overall robot continuity so far, but the roots are still there. Ah. Good stuff. So I guess for me this game is signifcant as it fits into the greater whole of the Zero/ZX series, but it probably stands just fine on its own. (I wouldn’t know, like I said, I’m so ingrained in my little world :p). Anyway that’ll do. Tata for now.
December 30, 2012
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.Just gonna note here that it’s not canon that X split in pieces and it’s mentioned nowhere at all officially. It’s purely fan conjecture and has been going around again and again on the megaman wikia.
The Guardians were all built, and their original purpose was world restoration (except Phantom, who was charged with guarding X).
Oops. Well, that’s what I get for trusting the wiki. I think the Copy Ability synthesis theory is cool though. Hmm well if that’s the case, my original theory of Robot Masters surviving through to become the Guardians is still technically plausible, although their loyalty to X would have to be explained some other way. Thanks for correcting me there, I assumed it was mentioned in an art book or Complete Works or a soundtrack or something.
Well if nothing else the design similarities from series to series have been noted in my posts, which was my original intention. I stitched the fanon on as well to hold it together better.
(via deductionfreak)
December 30, 2012
I suppose another post is warranted for the primary fragment, Cyber-X. The first three images are different official representations of X’s Cyber-elf form, which lives on throughout the Zero series, helping and advising Zero and Ciel against the ambitious Dr Weil and his Neo Arcadian regime. I outlined some of his later history in another post, but suffice to say he also has a Biometal form.
He eventually manages to convince the Guardians to turn against their false master, Copy X (fourth image), as he is the real deal. Copy X mostly looks just like X, but has this alternate form for battle that is reminiscent of some of X’s plain Armors, such as the Armor from X1 (fifth image).
Cyber-X is obviously just like vanilla X, but since the Guardians do not manage to cover all the various Copy Ability types between them, we must attribute some of them to being retained by this primary fragment. There are some Nature/Plant weapons that do not fit on any other Guardian, but are not specifically exhibited by Cyber-X. He does have a concern for protecting Nature though, and all life really, so let’s call it that. The only other major category, and one that fits very well (and is later used to describe him in Biometal form), is Light. How appropriate, the name of his creator! He is also probably the most pure and good character, especially out of the Guardians.
Well that wrapped up pretty well I think, it seems like a very sound theory if I do say so myself. And I think that’s it for my plans for 25th coverage, so I’ll see you next time for something else!
December 30, 2012
Hidden Phantom, stealth expert and commander of the Cutting Shadow Squadron. Later as Model P, he was biomatched to Siarnaq (second image). Third image is his Biometal form. He is characterised by his calm but ruthless demeanour.
Phantom is also unfortunate to be killed in the first Zero game, thus sitting out the second. He returns in Cyber-elf form in the third for an optional battle, though, and joins X in support of Zero by the end.
Phantom, unlike the other Guardians, does not have a Robot Master predecessor in MM9. He does, however, greatly resemble Shadow Man from MM3. This is unusual. Unlike these later RMs, Shadow Man has an ambiguous otherworldly origin, unknown as he was reprogrammed by Dr Wily. It is plausible though that he could have been reactivated by Light later and studied, thus informing some of his later designs. Phantom always seemed mysterious to me as well, possibly as a result of his powers. Regardless, the two definitely share design characteristics, based on Japanese ninja archetypes.
The fifth image shows the Shadow Armor from X6, perhaps the most direct Armor relation with its ninja motif and stealthy powers.
As for the Copy Abilities Phantom embodies, the most fitting are Dark, Cutter (shurikens and whatnot), and Time/Space (what with his teleporting and illusions).
December 30, 2012
Fighting Fefnir, ground combat expert and commander of Neo Arcadia’s Scorched Earth Squadron. Later Model F (combined with Atlas in second image and Biometal in third).
Being the big tough guy, Fefnir is more aggressive than the others. He represents the Copy power categories of Fire, Explosives, and Physical/Earth.
He is less obviously represented in MM9 by Magma Man, a fire-element Robot Master with a volcano on his head. His twin cannons and elemental alignment convinced me that he corresponds to this Guardian, although as indicated other Copy Weapon types also aligned to create Fefnir (a trait common to the other Guardians, as amalgamations).
X’s Armors are not typically elementally aligned, so it is the physical attributes that seem to be contributed to the Guardians, while their elemental powers come from the Copy Abilities of X. In this vein, the closest Armor I identified with Fefnir is the Gaea Armor of X5, as it has the biggest gun.
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.
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.
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.
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