Mega Man X series post MMX3- Are they worth playing?

[Gamerforlife]

Speaking as a very casual fan of the series, all I really want to know is just what happened to the original Megaman. Not that we'll ever find out.

I know the popular fan theory is that Zero killed him, but I hope that isn't the case.

I had always assumed that was the case because the cut scenes in Mega Man X 4 indicated that Zero was originally a psychotic killing machine and damn near invincible. He kills a bunch of reploids when he is first discovered, nearly kills Sigma and apparently kills more reploids after Sigma has him taken in. Check out this cut scene and make note of the bloody scene towards the end



I was always fascinated by the idea that Zero killed Mega Man, surpassing all of Wily's previous creations and finally accomplishing what Wily was trying to do from day one. However, Keiji Inafune denied it

I'm aware of this. I just don't see it being the case. While there is tangible in-game evidence for Megaman X and up to be connected (Megaman Legends is practically dripping with Megaman X and Megaman Zero references) the events, characters, and setting of Megaman is never referenced so much as even hinted at in any of the sequel series. Aside from Dr. Light and the allusion to Dr. Wily, Megaman, Roll, Auto, Rush, Eddie, Protoman, Bass, etc are never discussed - and you think someone would stop and go 'holy shit a blue robot fighting 8 other robots for the sake of mankind! Not again!'

The only time the two series have ever seen any cross over has been in the Ruby Spears cartoon (definitely not canon) and Rockman the Power Fighters in Bass' ending where a prototype Zero is shown - but the Power Fighters is about as canon as the Megaman Soccer, which is to say not very much so.

So once a mainline Megaman game comes out where people are like 'hey dude, do you remember Monsteropolis and that Blue robot who did all that shit and then a hundred years it happened again?' then I'll believe the Classic Series and X series are two separate entities - but for now it makes more sense looking at the plot that the X series is just a retelling of the classic series with a much darker tone.

I'm pretty sure Rockman the Power Battles IS canon, which makes it the only game to DIRECTLY connect Mega Man and Mega Man X. Here's proof:

http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Mega_Man_ ... r_Fighters

For anyone who hasn't played it(which actually includes me LOL), here's the scene



I find that ending absolutely fascinating. Clearly, Wily intended to have Zero kill Mega Man and maybe even Bass. What's the other project he mentions? Is it the virus that Zero passed to Sigma, which forever changed Sigma's fate? Here's what's really interesting. Wily created Bass with data from Mega Man, then created Zero. So Zero is kind of like Bass version 2.0 and ultimately, Zero's origins can be traced back to the original Mega Man. Now what I want to know is when did Light create X and why? Was X in response to Wily creating Zero? What happened that apparently both of them were sealed away for years? That's a big mystery that's never been answered. On a side note, Wily has a much better design sense than Light. Seriously, Zero and Bass look so much cooler than Mega Man and X. I guess evil always looks cooler

[Sideroller]

haha! I haven't played a megaman game for a LONG time but I remember that Cutscene from X4 with the bloody hands! Makes me wanna find it again.

[flamepanther]

It's a very subtle allusion, but Dr. Light's reason for creating X is given at the end of Power Battles. Dr. Light says that robots need to be given the ability to decide for themselves what is right or wrong, and that he needs to do more AI research to accomplish this. If you recall, complete free will and moral decision-making capacity is what supposedly distinguishes X and other Reploids from plain old robots.

[Gamerforlife]

It's a very subtle allusion, but Dr. Light's reason for creating X is given at the end of Power Battles. Dr. Light says that robots need to be given the ability to decide for themselves what is right or wrong, and that he needs to do more AI research to accomplish this. If you recall, complete free will and moral decision-making capacity is what supposedly distinguishes X and other Reploids from plain old robots.

Interesting, you're right. I actually found that on the Mega Man wikia too. Here's what's weird though. Zero has free will and he is not based on X's design like every other reploid in the Mega Man X universe. He design seems to be based on Wily's research on Mega Man and Bass. This means that somehow, completely by accident it would seem, Wily created something just as brilliant as Light's final invention, X

[flamepanther]

It's a very subtle allusion, but Dr. Light's reason for creating X is given at the end of Power Battles. Dr. Light says that robots need to be given the ability to decide for themselves what is right or wrong, and that he needs to do more AI research to accomplish this. If you recall, complete free will and moral decision-making capacity is what supposedly distinguishes X and other Reploids from plain old robots.

Interesting, you're right. I actually found that on the Mega Man wikia too. Here's what's weird though. Zero has free will and he is not based on X's design like every other reploid in the Mega Man X universe. He design seems to be based on Wily's research on Mega Man and Bass. This means that somehow, completely by accident it would seem, Wily created something just as brilliant as Light's final invention, X

Maybe. It's possible, but we don't really know whether Zero has the same level of free will as the X-derived Reploids. He was created to fight, and he fights. He fights for goals other than Wily would have him do, sure, but so does Bass. Not only is it implied that Zero is Bass 2.0, but his actions, his attitude, and his personality are almost identical to those of Bass. In Power Fighters, Duo says that he senses the same "justice energy" within Bass as what he senses from Rock. This makes sense, since we know from Wily's dialog that Bass was derived from Rock's design. If Rock's inherent sense of justice made it into Bass without Wily noticing, it stands to reason that Zero would inherit it as well. Bass and Zero both appear to experience moral conflict, but it may well be a conflict between opposing innate directives rather than independent philosophical consideration.

[Gamerforlife]

It's a very subtle allusion, but Dr. Light's reason for creating X is given at the end of Power Battles. Dr. Light says that robots need to be given the ability to decide for themselves what is right or wrong, and that he needs to do more AI research to accomplish this. If you recall, complete free will and moral decision-making capacity is what supposedly distinguishes X and other Reploids from plain old robots.

Interesting, you're right. I actually found that on the Mega Man wikia too. Here's what's weird though. Zero has free will and he is not based on X's design like every other reploid in the Mega Man X universe. He design seems to be based on Wily's research on Mega Man and Bass. This means that somehow, completely by accident it would seem, Wily created something just as brilliant as Light's final invention, X

Maybe. It's possible, but we don't really know whether Zero has the same level of free will as the X-derived Reploids. He was created to fight, and he fights. He fights for goals other than Wily would have him do, sure, but so does Bass. Not only is it implied that Zero is Bass 2.0, but his actions, his attitude, and his personality are almost identical to those of Bass. In Power Fighters, Duo says that he senses the same "justice energy" within Bass as what he senses from Rock. This makes sense, since we know from Wily's dialog that Bass was derived from Rock's design. If Rock's inherent sense of justice made it into Bass without Wily noticing, it stands to reason that Zero would inherit it as well. Bass and Zero both appear to experience moral conflict, but it may well be a conflict between opposing innate directives rather than independent philosophical consideration.

Good points, it is interesting that with the virus removed all Zero really knew was fighting mavericks because that what he was told to do. So he fights bad guys because he is told too by his superiors rather than choosing it. Plus, he rarely ever shows the conflict over fighting that X regularly shows. Zero is very black and white. An enemy is an enemy and when he does have moral conflict, he seems to always think of X. You could argue that X is like a model he follows rather than making choices himself.

At no point does Zero ever really question if fighting is wrong except when it involves people he is close too. Interestingly, even in those situations he ALWAYS chooses to fight, even if he seems conflicted over it. We see this in his story mode in Mega Man X 4. He doesn't hestitate to fight X in MM X 5 either, although he clearly doesn't want too. He's a fighter. It's what he was built for. Fortunately, X and the Maverick Hunters put him on the right side. Actually, ironically it was Sigma who made Zero a maverick hunter, before the virus corrupted him and made him the tool that Wily intended Zero to be

Xeogred is right, we do take the story too seriously Not a good idea with Capcom games

[CFFJR]

Serious or not, its interesting to hear you die hard fans discuss it.

[flamepanther]

Hehe. I don't take it as seriously as it probably sounds right now. However, the classic Mega Man series is very much a pastiche of several 1970s robot shows from Japan, some of which dealt with similar topics concerning ethics, artificial intelligence, and free will. It's only natural that some of this would be present in the games' stories too, to some extent.

[Gamerforlife]

You know it kind of annoys me watching that cutscene again from MMX 4 that I linked to in a previous post(

Wily clearly is telling Zero to destroy either the original Mega Man or Dr. Light. If Keiji says that didn't happen, it begs the question why? Did Zero disobey Wily? There is no way Mega Man actually fought Zero and lived. X and Zero are in a completely different league than the original Mega Man. It's also impossible that X was activated to stop Zero because the Mega Man X storyline clearly states that X is activated in that time line

I know Keiji doesn't want to address those questions, but it's annoying. Maybe it's better way. Anything I could imagine might be more interesting than anything he'd actually come up with

Still, I can't help wondering what we might have discovered if Maverick Hunter X had been successful and he had gone ahead and remade MM X 2 and MM X 3 with the rebooted storyline

[Xeogred]

Now crazy theories aside, I'm going to be honest and say I've never really liked Zero too much as a character. ... I never got the impression that he looked at X as a model influence, rather he was kind of X's mentor but in kind of an annoying way. Just always shoving it in his face that he was the S Rank Hunter, above X, "be careful X!" despite being one of those characters behind the scenes in the first three X games while you do all the dirty work (aside from some obvious scenes, like the stuff with Vile in X1, and I guess it's obvious why he was gone for X2 for most of it).

So yeah.

But to just be blunt about it, my avatar might say enough. Protoman is the real red boss in my book and he was more like the anti-hero or just did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Flute plays and uh oh, is he going to help you ... or not? Haha.

I never really got the impression that Bass and Zero were all that similar either to be honest, other than the whole moral conflict I guess. Bass was never one to completely obey Wily, but it always seemed like he was hell bent on taking down Mega Man and proving who was superior.

I just love how confusing it gets with who created who as well, Protoman coming from Dr. Light, Zero's from Wily, and Sigma comes from Dr. Cain (good guy). Funny how that all worked out.