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tumbling-odyssey · 3 years

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Games I played in 2020

Just felt like getting my thoughts out on all the games I played this year. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for years but I always let it pass me by. Well not this year! Fuck you laziness!

I played the first half in 2019 but finished it in 2020 so I guess I'll count it. DQ11 was my intro to Dragon Quest and what a good starting point. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the best traditional JRPGs on the market. Characters, story, combat, it all clicks in just the right way to make a flawless game... until the end credits roll that is.

I have no idea what happened with the post game but by god does it dive off a cliff. It undermines everything you worked to do in the main plot. The characters act brain dead and it shamelessly reuses events from the main game. Please pick up and play DQ11 but for the love of god just stop when the credits roll.

Doom is a game I knew I'd like. The heavy metal ascetic and soundtrack were right up my alley, but I just never found the time. With Eternal on the way though and having found it on the cheap at a pawn shop I figured there was no time like the present. Needless to say but I was right. I loved everything about this game. The thrill of combat, the screech of the guitars, and the silent take no shit attitude of Doomguy. Make no mistake though, I SUCK at this game. I played on easy but still got my ass handed to me on the regular. But I don't care, I was having way to much fun.

I flipped my shit when this game got leaked at the tail end of 2019. Zero 3 is my all time favourite game. To celebrate this getting announced I went and 100% Zero 3 as I hadn't done it on my current cart, and Zero 3 was still the first thing I played when I got this collection! I love that game to death and I’m glad to have it on modern consoles again. As I was under a bit of time crunch with other games releasing soon I only played 2 other games in the collection Zero 4 and ZX Advent. Until the DS collection those and 3 were the only Zero/ZX games I had so I have a lot of nostalgia for them.

Zero 4 hold ups better then I remember. Not as good as 3 but a damn solid game with tweaks I honestly wish hit the series before its end. I remember having issues with the stage design and ya it’s not perfect, but it’s far from as bad as I thought. For ZXA this was the first time I beat the game on normal difficulty. For some reason the ZX games have always given me more trouble than the Zero games, so finally beating one on normal was very exciting. Maybe I can now finally go and beat ZX for the first time...

The Mystery Dungeon series rising from the depth to punch all those unexpecting in the face was a very welcome surprise. I had a lot of hype going into this one as I have very fond memories of my time with Red Rescue Team and even more with Explorers of Darkness. And the game lived up to it! The remastered music is great and crazy nostalgic, the 3D models are well used and don't feel as stiff as they do in the core series, and the QOL changes are near perfect... So why did I drop this game like a rock once I finished the main quest?

Anyone familiar with Mystery Dungeon will know that the post game is the real meat of it. The story is short and all the really cool shit comes in after it's done. But I just couldn't bring myself to put more time in after I finished said story mode. I'm definitely chocking that up to me just not being in the mood then an issue with the game. Here's hoping we get an Explorers DX sometime soon. That will fucking hook me for all it's got.

Second verse same as the first. I loved this game and sucked at it horribly. Out of all the games I've played this year Doom Eternal is the one I want to go back to the most. I was not the hugest fan of some of the changes made and retained a stance that I liked 2016 better. First person platforming has never been a fun experience in my opinion and Eternal did little to change that. And I know this a lukewarm take at best but fuck Marauders!. They are so unfun to fight and ruin the pace. The Marauder in the last mook wave took me so long I was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish the game. But the more I've seen of Eternal after my playthrough makes me think I was being far to harsh. I haven't played the DLC yet either. Mostly cuss I haven't heard great things about it. Gonna wait for the rest of it to come out to see if it's worth getting. Might just replay to whole game at that point to see if it clicks with me better.

This was my second favourite game of the year, and was going to take the top slot until a certain other game came out. Addressing the elephant in room right away, I hated the ending. But I was expecting something like that, I think we all were. I won't let the ending ruin the rest of the game though. Not gonna let 1 segment colour everything that came before it. We have to see how the later parts play out to truly see if this ending was trash or not anyway.

It took Square over a decade but they finally got an action RPG battle system that works and feels good to play. This may be my favourite battle system in an RPG period honestly. All four characters are a blast and it only gets better the more time you spend with it. Figuring out the nuances of each character’s skills and how to combine them not only with the skills of the others but how to enhance them with the right Materia set. This makes fights thrilling and satisfying when you finally best whatever was giving you trouble. Tis was the best way to bring 7′s mechanics into the modern landscape while also fixing the BIGGEST issue the OG had. The fact every character feels the same aside from Limit Breaks.

All this on top of graphics that just look fucking stunning, a few glitched out doors aside. Fuck I still feel blown away looking at the characters models (mostly Tifa) and see how god damn pretty everyone is. Also Tifa’s Chinese dress is gift from the Gods and I still haven’t picked my jaw up from the floor after I first saw it.

In my circle of the internet there was a lot of hype for this game. So much so that I ended up buying it to see what all the hubbub was about. I had never played a Streets of Rage game before and my only experience with beat'em ups was playing a LOT of Scott Pilgrim and last year's River City Girls. Turns out Streets of Rage plays quite a bit different and it kicked my ass! So sadly I had to switch to easy to make it through but I still had a fun time with it.

I started playing mostly as Blaze but once Adam hit the scene oooooh fucking boy. I didn’t play anyone else. There's a deceptive amount of content in this game. You can unlock almost every character from the previous games and all of them rocking their original sprites and moves. If I had more of a connection with this series I'm sure I would have gone nuts on unlocking everything. I stopped after my one playthrough and I was happy with that. Always glad to support a long overdue franchise revival.

To properly talk about P5R I think I need to air a lot of my feelings on the original game and the importance it has to me. You see, prior to 2017 I barely played games, only sticking to specific franchises. AKA Pokemon and Mega Man/Mega Man like games. Until 2016 though I still bought a lot of games. Eating up Steam sales and deals I found at pawn shops. This lead to a Steam library and shelf filled with games I've never touched outside of maybe an hour or 2. So in 2016 when I took interest in the newly released Kirby Planet Robobot I made a deal with myself. I could get the game but I HAD to beat it. And I did just that, gaining not just a new fav Kirby game but a new rule for game purchases. If I knew I wouldn't beat a game I was not aloud to buy it. Now what does ANY of this have to do with P5 you may ask? Well... almost everything.

I was immediately interested in P5 when it hit the west in 2017. I loved the 20 or so hours I but into P3 years ago and really liked the P4 anime I had watched around the same time. So of course with all the hype around it I wanted to dive into the series full force with P5. But I knew myself. Putting over 100 hours into a game was beyond me and I had a weird relationship with home console games as I was predominately a handheld gamer. Add in the fact I didn't even have a PS4 and I was convinced P5 would be something I always wanted to play, but never would. So when I went to the mall with a few friends and they showed me that P5 had a PS3 version, I had a dilemma on my hands. I knew I wanted to play it and I now had a way to do so. But doing that would require me to change 2 HUGE hang ups I had with games. Would I being willing to waste 60 bucks with so much working against me? Apparently I was. I immediately started going to town on this game. Making sure I spent no less then 2 hours a day playing NO MATTER WHAT. Which may not seem like a lot but it was to me... at the time.. I also had just moved to my current house, so coming home from my still relatively new job and going straight into P5 was the first real routine I formed during this heavily transitional part of my life.

I of course ended up loving P5 and put 200 hours into it. As such my outlook on gaming was forever changed. Console games were no longer out of reach and I knew I could handle playing monster length game. I started playing way more games then I ever did before and trying out generas I never thought I would play. P5 is the main reason for this and why I'm able to make a post like this. To actually touch on Royal though? It's unarguably the better version of the game and Atlus learned all the right lessons from P4G. The new characters are great and the added section at the end is possibly the best shit Atlus has ever written. I only wish Yoshizawa joined the party sooner so I could play as her more.

The release of this really came out of nowhere huh? Wayforward announced it was being made mid way through 2019, then there was its weird half release on the Apple store... and then suddenly it was out! Very little fanfare for this one. Is that indicative of the games quality? Luckily no. Seven Sirens is a solid addition to the series and follows up Half Genies Hero nicely. The game goes back to Shantae's Metroidvania roots and makes a TON of improvements.

Transformations are now instant instead of having to dance for them (don't worry dancing is still in the game) making the game feel more like Pirates Curse in its fast flow. They also added the Monster Cards which take heavy inspiration from Aria of Sorrow's Soul system. A feature I'm happy to see in any Metroidvania since Aria is one of my all time favourite games. Sadly though the game does not take the best advantage of these improvements.

Over all the game feels kinda empty. The dungeons aren't super exciting to explore nor are they challenging in any way. And the plot is very repetitive, with each dungeon repeating the same beats. Really this game feels more like set up for a better game down the line. The mechanics are all here and Wayforward has a solid art style with the sprites from Half Genie Hero. Hopefully they capitalizes on this for Shantae 6 and we get the best game in the series.

While it may not have been the most thrilling game, Seven Sirens really put me into a Shantae mood. So much so that I went back to play the 2 games in the series I had never touched. This being the first game and Risky's Revenge. Shantae 1 really is a hidden gem in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it's the definition of jank, but there's a lot of heart to this game. The sprites are great, the soundtrack is good, and the characters are funny... but it's still on the OG Gameboy and that's a massive hindrance for any game. I'm hard pressed to recommend this with how poorly its aged but I think it's better then it looks.

Risky's Revenge on the other hand was a game that shocked me by how little it had to offer. I know this game went through a hellish development and what we got was far from what Wayforward planned to make, but it's hard to imagine a world where this was the technical BEST Shantae game. It's not a bad game by any stretch... just a boring one.

For the record my ranking of the games goes Pirates Curse>Half Genie Hero>Seven Sirens>Original>Risky’s Revenge

Sword and Shield are mediocre games at best. I know, real steaming hot take there. I managed to make my Sword playthrough a lot more fun by not spoiling myself on the new Pokemon designs for the first time since Gen 3. Either way, I enjoyed myself enough that I didn't mind playing more of it with these DLC campaigns. Plus I love the idea of Game Freak switching over to this method as apposed to making a third version, so I wanted to support it.

Klara is a fucking top tier Poke Girl both in design and personality and is probably the highlight of Isle of Armour. GF actually went out of their way to give her multiple expressions to sell her toxic bitch personality and I love every minute of it. She sadly drifts into the background for the second half of the DLC’s story which hurts an already rough section even more. Not more then having to grind Kubfuu all the way to fucking level 70 though! That put a serious hamper on my motivation to finish the story but I pushed through anyway. Having to solo the tower with Kubfuu was at least a fun challenge though, as was the final fight with Mustard. Fuck the Diglett hunt though. Ain’t no one got time for that.

Crown Tundra may be my fav of the 2 though even if there isn't a character as good as Klara in it. The hunt for the legendaries was just pure adventure and I had a fucking blast doing it. The joy I felt when I figured out Registeel’s puzzle put a smile on my face unlike any Pokemon game since I was a kid. The whole Regi stuff was honestly a nice Nostalgia trip to my times with Emerald. The story around Calyrex was enjoyable, even if I still hate its design. Not revealing the horses before release was a good call to as it gave an honest surprise. Having to chase down the Galar forme Birds in the overworld is a great way to evolve the roaming legendaries idea and I hope GF sticks to this. Plus the Galar forme birds are some of the best legendary designs since Gen 5 and I love Chocodos way to fucking much.

Here we are folks, my GotY. I love Panzer Paladin so fucking much. A combination of mechanics from Mega Man, Castlevania, and Blaster Master? Sign me the fuck up! This game is tailored made for me and I knew I had to play it once it started making the rounds on social media. I'll admit though, I was a bit worried when the the first full trailer dropped and showed the weapon mechanics. Breakable weapons that you have to sacrifice for checkpoints and power ups? I'm not sure about that.... Luckily I was being a complete moron and those mechanics are near perfect.

I love the set up of each boss being a mythological creature from different cultures. They didn’t just pull the easy ones either. A lot of these things I learned of for the first time here. I love how Grit controls. Using the upward stab as a double jump and being able to pogo off enemies Shovel Knight style just felt great and satisfying. Flame was limited but it made her sections feel tense. She does more damage then you think she could at first glance. Also the only way to heal Grit being to use pods that only Flame could access was a cool idea.

I am begging you Tribute Games, you have to make more Panzer Paladin games. Slap some new upgrades on Grit and expand what Flame can do and you have an even better sequel on your hands. Also maybe not have so many 'gotcha' moments with enemy placement. That's really my only complaint about the game. Great music, great sprites, giant robots, unique premise, and a reference to Canadian legends. The ultimate self indulgent game for me.

It felt super out of left field for Curse of the Moon to be getting a sequel. The games fucking amazing but it was really just a tie in for the main Bloodstained product. Not something I expect to get a continuation. Either way I was pumped. If this was even half as good as the original then I was in for a great time. Which held true... cuss this legitimately is only half as good as Curse of the Moon. I still like the game, quite a lot actually. I mean how could I not with a fucking Corgi piloting a Death Train Mech.

Something was just missing here that never made this click like the first game. Maybe it was the stage design, maybe the bosses, maybe the fact that it's a bit to long. I'm not sure. All I know is I couldn't bring myself to play all the modes like I did in the original. . Stopping part way in to the one where you can get the first games characters. I want to go back some day... I just don’t know when someday is.

This was an announcement I never saw coming. A Gundam Verses game coming to the west? That hasn't happened in the entire time I've been a Gundam fan. I had played a bit of Full Boost on my old roommates PS3 thanks to him having a Japanese account and I played Force on the Vita a few years ago. But to have the latest version fully translated with open servers? Holy hell that's a dream come true.

Having the open betas every weekend leading up to launch was some much needed fun during this shit hole year. I had a lot of fun just fucking around with different suits and seeing what I could do with 'em. Absolutely trashing two Bael players as the Kapool is a memory I'll keep with me for a long time. Fucking danced on their graves. This gave me some new appreciation for suits like the Baund Doc and Hambrabi, the later becoming a lowkey fav as it was my main.

I've fallen off with the game in the last few months but I definitely want to go back. I hope to start learning the game and take parts in tourneys when cons aren’t death sentences anymore.

It felt like everything in my life was SCREAMING at me to start the Yakuza series. From 2 of my friends playing 0 recently, a youtuber I following live tweeting as he played through the WHOLE series back-to-back, and Yakuza 2 having a run at AGDQ 2020. Plus the constant pleas to play this series you get from following Little Kuriboh on Twitter. I finally broke and picked up 0 in the middle of August. Boooooooooy howdy did I not know what I was getting in to. And no I don't mean the content. I knew Yakuza was a series of wildly conflicting tones between the main story and side quests. What I mean is the length. I legit thought this was gonna be a 20-30 hour game. When i reached hour 30 of my playthrough and realized I wasn't even close to a conclusion, I think I knew I had bitten off more then I was planning. That misstep aside I ended up loving this game and want to play the rest of the series.... I just need to rest up first before I dive into Kiwami 1.

Let's actually talk about the game for a moment here. Kiryu and Majima quickly clicked as likeable characters to me and I cared about their stories. Combat is fun and the multiple styles are all great.... though both the default styles take a while to get there. The mad rush I felt at the end was fantastic and the last bosses are a joy to fight. Only real complaint is the pacing of the side stories. I loved being able to just stumble into various different events while on route to the next plot objective. But this became less common as the game went on and side stories started getting more tucked away. Also hot take here, the host club mingame is more tedious then fun and I like Kiryu’s business stuff as I could do that in the background. I’m excited to dive into Kiwami and probably Kiwami 2 this year... Though I’m not sure when just yet.

Just gonna say it flat out, I think this is better the the 2018 game. The smaller scale helps in this style of game and Miles just naturally has a better move set then Peter. I'm not sure if they actually tightened up the combat system or if they just threw less bullshit enemies at you but fighting feels so much better in this one. Traversal is better too, simply because they changed the button for tricks. In the original you have to hold down 2 face buttons to enter trick mode??? In hindsight that was such a bad call.

Having both the heal and venom powers run off the same meter was a good idea. Making the choice between keeping yourself alive guaranteed or potentially ending a fight quicker/disposing of a problem enemy is super fun. The player having to make small choices like this during combat is what helps it not be brainless. I love all the different venom skills you get. While they all achieve the same thing in stunning opponents, how you achieve that goal is up to you. Do you want to just slug the bastard, throw 'em up in the air, tackle the shit out of them? The choice is yours.

Only real big complaint is certain upgrades being NG+ locked. I know you want to encourage replays, but this is a shitty way to do it I feel. Also can we retire Rhino for the next game. Man has had 2 shitty boss fights now and I need a break. Between this and Spider-Verse, I'm honestly starting to like Miles as Spider-Man more then Peter.

I got this game more on a whim then anything. I was definitely interested when it was first announced for the west. Vanillaware's beautiful art style in a story about giant robots beating the shit out of Kaijus? Sign me the fuck uuuuuu-oh wait it's an RTS? I had never played an RTS's before, mainly due to the sheer concept stressing me out. So I let it fall to the wayside. The game started coming up again though towards the end of the year with GotY on everyone's minds. This revived my interest, especially as what I HAD planned to be playing around that time was... well. Cyberpunk. Don't think I need to say much more. Also I had worried for nothing as the Real Time Strategy was not that Real Time.

This game really lays on the analysis paralysis once you're out of the tutorial. Do you want to fight, do you want to do story, who's story do you want to do, what branch should you follow, how much should you play with this one character? It's very overwhelming at first. I decided to not go ham on just one character and swap around all the time. The twists in this game are equal parts exciting and infuriating. Learning something new always came with the caveat of more questions, or something you knew 'for sure' being disproven. Like when I learned 1 characters was actually 4 separate ones! Anyone that's played knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Natsuno ended up being my fav and not just because of.... obvious reasons. BJ was cute if unfortunately named and her relationship with Mirua was my favourite in the game. Not that there was much competition except for maybe Ogata and Tomi. I ended up really liking the combat but I can see why RTS fans say it's the weakest part. It's far from complex and I had a winning strat by the third or so real fight. Aka spam turrets and have the Gen 1′s gank all the bosses.

One quick thing I want to share was how I beat the boss at the end of Area 2. The one where Inaba is singing. I had Hijiyama use the limit break skill to bum rush the boss right off the hop. I took out half its health in one hit but Hijiyama’s Sentinel was on death’s door. Only thing that saved him was sending in Amaguchi to blow up a bunch of missiles. Hijiyama took it out on his next attack but lost his Sentinel at the same time. It was a real clutch victory and crazy fucking anime.

The best way to really describe Carrion is that it's a fantastic proof of concept. Can you make a game where you play as The Thing? Why yes, yes you can. Carrion just needed a bit more tweaking to really bring this concept home and be the A+ game I know it can be. As it is now the game is a bit empty. The level design is super samey and the lack of a map is fucking brutal at points. I know it would make no sense for a blob monster to have a map but somethings you just have to gameify for convenience. The level design must have done something right as even though I was completely lost I still moved from area to area properly. Hell by the time I actually looked up a map I had 1 more item to get and I learned I was one door away from beating the game.

I love the idea of losing mass as you take damage and gaining more by eating people, but having abilities tied to size was a terrible idea. It just leads to tedium as I have to go and shed myself to the right size, do the puzzle, then of course I'm going to go back and rebuild myself to see if I can do the next segment at full power. Just make it so you can swap between abilities using the d-pad or something. I hope this game gets a sequel just so this sick ass concept can be fully realized.

#games #goty #Final Fantasy #pokemon #spiderman #yakuza #gundam #bloodstained #panzer paladin #shantae #persona #streets of rage #doom #mega man #dragon quest #13 sentinels: aegis rim #carrion

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inlightsimage · 4 years

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//-ALRIGHT WHO’S READY FOR “VIO GETS WORKED UP OVER DUMB STUPID MEGA MAN NERD SHIT”

//-Alright, so at this point in my life, I’ve at least taste-tested every mainline entry in the Classic timeline of Mega Man games except the Legends series. Played Classic across the span of a few years, binged the X series when the Legacy Collections dropped, and did the same when the Zero/ZX Collections dropped as well. Each series has its own merit, except for the Zero series, which is Poopy Butt and I hate it but that’s a rant for another time.

//-Needless to say, I’ve also seen how the story plays out. From Light and Wily’s feud, to the Maverick Wars, the Elf Wars, and finally whatever the fuck Model W was doing in the ZX series. There’s a lot of story, and a lot of it is really good! I fell in love with the ZX series, for example, and I’d love to take up a character from it.

//-I have one huge, massive, INSANELY ANNOYING problem with it, though, and that’s that the Classic series is rarely EVER directly acknowledged in the timeline. What little there is is focused in the X series entirely, with Light appearing for X’s armor capsules + a flashback in Day of Sigma, and Wily showing up in a flashback in X4, an implied ghost in X5, and possibly as a robot in X2 (that one’s weird). Every reference to the Classic series after that is more so a cameo or a callback— the Masters in ZX Advent, for example, being named after Light, Wily, and Cossack, or Konro Man showing up on a comic cover also in ZX Advent. Even when Zero’s past is brought up in the Zero series, Wily isn’t directly acknowledged to my memory. Classic doesn’t matter. Hell, the X series barely mattered by then.

//-But you wanna know how many times Rock himself is acknowledged in the timeline after his presumed death? Across 10 X games, 4 Zero games, and 2 ZX games?

//-ZERO. NONE. NOT A SINGLE REFERENCE.

//-Even LIGHT doesn’t ever talk about him in the armor capsules. No “You’ve been forced to carry the torch that Rock left for you. I’m so sorry, X.” No “Previous hero Mega Man.” As far as the extended Classic timeline is concerned, Rock never even existed. The timeline effectively started when Light made X, and Wily Zero, not with the creation of Rock, or Blues before him, or the Double Gear before either of them.

//-It BUGS ME. I know I’m biased, since I love the Classic series means so much to me, but COME ON, MAN. MEGA MAN SAVED THE WORLD ON AT LEAST 11 DIFFERENT OCCASIONS, MANY MORE IF YOU COUNT SPIN-OFFS LIKE MEGA MAN & BASS AND THE GAMEBOY GAMES, AND HE DOESN’T EXIST? He fought aliens! Gamma! Himself! That’s gotta count for SOMETHING even in the future, doesn’t it?

//-This always bugged me so much. I know Reploids are the future and they extend from the X series to the ZX series while Robot Masters are isolated in the Classic series, but I wish their impact on robots with independent thought would be acknowledged. And I wish Rock saving everyone’s ass like 15 different times counted for something.

//-Maybe he should have left everyone’s ungrateful asses to die.

#► Vio Rambles (ooc)#//-I have a lot of Mega Man thoughts KABJSCKASXA

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phantasmeels · 6 years

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Mega Man Headcanons/Fanon, Game Ideas, and Inter-Series Connection Hypotheses (MAJOR SPOILERS)

Just some of my own ideas on details of how various series conclude and connect with others, since some have yet to wrap up. (Again, warning for MAJOR SPOILERS for those who haven’t yet played the Mega Man games.)

Mega Man Classic:

Dr. Light has, in secret, began working on the his X project. Dr. Wily’s spying robots find out about this, and in competitive retaliation, Dr. Wily begins working on his own project to suprass Light and destroy Mega Man once and for all. With a plan prepared and satisfaction with his work on his project thus far, he starts another situation, and Rock resumes his role as Mega Man to stop Dr. Wily once more. Seeing this as an opportunity to defeat and destroy Rock, Bass intervenes to challenge Rock. Rock loses and is nearly destroyed, but before Bass takes a final shot, Wily intervenes, capturing them both. Contact with Rock from Dr. Light and Roll is lost, and Wily unleashes extra robot masters to wreak havoc again. With Rock still lost, Roll becomes determined to, this time, take the helm as the new Mega Man. Going by the title Mega Woman, Roll sets off to stop Wily and save her brother. Taking on a red and light red armor complementing the blue and light blue color pattern of her brother’s armor, and using a copy ability in the same manner, she sets off to first stop the new robot masters. Proto Man/Blues joins forces with Roll, and the two of them go forth on the mission.

In Wily’s fortress, the two are met with two fearsome foes: Mega Man and Bass, hijacked by Wily to fight against the intruders. Roll and Proto Man have no choice but to engage them in battle. However, thanks to the foresight of Dr. Light, they have a way to stop them without destroying them; Light had considered if Wily would surely attempt to reprogram Rock and Bass as he had done with the original robot masters, and so sent with Roll a way to counter Wily’s intervention and restore them to their original personalities and programming. With the heroes successfully doing this, Wily retreats, ready to test a brand-new robot against the now four enemies in his fortress, a new creation which he is certain can take all four of them out for good. Bass, angered at Wily once more and satisfied that, finally, he was able to best Mega Man, was easy to convince to help the group take Wily down. The four press on to the heart of Wily’s fortress. When they finally corner the mad scientist, however, they are met not with a fight against Wily himself, but with a mysterious, bare but menacing robot waiting for their arrival. Zero, Wily’s successor to Bass as an overhaul and enhancement of the original (with adjustments from referencing Proto Man’s design and data) stands before them, ready to take on the four of them at once. Despite their best efforts, the four are defeated by this monstrous new robot. Before Zero finishes them off, Wily enters the chamber in vehicle, praising his new creation and ordering it to finish the job. However, Zero, being erratically programmed and very ill-behaved, instead turns his focus on his creator, chasing him off in a pursuit of attack. Bass, in his rage, follows Wily and Zero in his own pursuit, vowing to take revenge on them both. In the end, he is destroyed by Zero, and Wily takes advantage of the clash to re-capture Zero, to shut him down and attempt to fix him properly.

Meanwhile, before the remaining three heroes can pursue, they are met with a relentless flood of enemies, the strongest of Wily’s defenses they’ve ever seen. Weakened as they are from the near-death experience with Zero, they begin to retreat, though it looks unlikely that they will make it. Hence, Proto Man, knowing he is at the end of his limited lifespan as is, sacrifices himself, allowing Rock and Roll to escape while he holds off Wily’s countermeasures with everything he can muster. This is where Proto Man meets his end.

By the time Rock and Roll are able to make it back, it is apparent Rock isn’t going to make it much longer without fast intervention and good luck. Dr. Light does everything he can, but in the end is only able to retrieve the damaged I.C. (Integrated CIrcuit) chip of Rock, containing his fracturing personality, memories and data collections of weaponry, other people and other robots. Not only does Rock require a new body, but the only hopeful way to restore him to functionality involves a formatting, in which Rock would lose his memories and personality. Dr. Light, though distressed by the turn of events, takes the opportunity to finish his most grand creation, and seeks not only to repair and format Rock’s I.C. chip, but to further integrate it into a new cybernetic “DNA soul” which would embody the personality of his new creation. He designates the DNA soul with name of “X” and programs it into the new, more advanced body. With this, Mega Man X is created, a reborn Mega Man Rock with a pure and clean beginning and, with the enhanced and notably more advanced programming provided by Dr. Light, an unknown number of possibilities for the future. However, he must be sealed away in a capsule for at least 30 years for his behavioral reliability and perception of justice to be tested. Dr. Light lives out the rest of his life with Roll as his daughter, though in time, she is either labelled as expired, eventually malfunctions, or simply shuts down for good once her creator passes away.

Concerning Dr. Wily and Zero: Eventually, seeing only one option to make Zero properly function for the purpose of destroying Light’s creations, Wily seals Zero in a capsule, only to re-open when a patch program, based on the Roboenza virus and its cure, is in its final stages of repairing Zero’s erratic and irregular programming. Before the end of his life, Wily would adjust this patch to become a virus based on himself, which would begin to spread when Zero finally awakens, and would cause robots to behave erratically and violently. In this way, Wily’s legacy would be preserved as his personality would spread into certain Mavericks a century later (such as Serges and the X-hunters whose personalities are constructed for the purpose of ensuring X’s destruction). The near-full cast of the Classic series is eventually passed, though the deceased Rock is reborn as an entirely new robot, X, whom the eventual Reploids of a century later would be based on.

Between the X and Zero series:

Little bit of fan speculation: Reploid bodies develop to become even more human-like. When the original Zero’s body was stolen by Dr. Weil to create Omega, his new copy body was created by this new standard. Similarly, when X disappeared to keep society safe from the corrupted mother elf and Ciel constructed Copy X, this Copy was made with this new lifelike design standard. The Four Guardians also took on this design standard. Hence why the reploids in general look vastly more sleek and humanlike in the Zero series than in the X series.

Mega Man ZX 3 idea:

Master Thomas has begun his operations to “reset the world”, and desite the successful stopping of Master Albert, Maverick attacks continue. Vent/Aile go searching through the remains of Ouroborus for Model Z, accompanied by a few guardians. Finding its signal suddenly appearing, they pursue the signal. They find that Master Thomas has already sent two other Mega Men after Model Z, who was currently in a state of stasis from having used so much power at the end of ZX Advent. It turns out that the surviving Prometheus (and Pandora?) had laid a trap for the Mega Men and sought to have them battle to a weakened state before striking to finish them. The Mega Men manage to retreat and escape with the taken Model Z, but Vent/Aile survive, and convince the attackers to stop, claiming that they can help them defeat the other Mega Men and end the Biometal struggles for good. Prometheus scoffs, but he does stop his attack, claiming that they could be useful to him and leaves. Vent/Aile manage to track the movements of the other Mega Men through the remains of a maverick destroyed in the earlier struggle. With Model Z in his grasp, Master Thomas operates to create more biometals from Model Z to serve his purposes. By the time Vent/Aile find him in his current lab, he had finished his purposes and vanishes, leaving Model Z behind for the portagoists’ taking.

In time, the protagonists (including Ashe/Grey who appear later) encounter not just the other four Mega Men from ZX Advent, but two enemies chosen by master Thomas to be new Mega Men/Mega Women in this final conflict of the trilogy. They wield Model V (extracted from Model Z) and Model O (stolen from the Guardian base by the other two Mega Men while Vent/Aile were away), taking a form more resembling the larger form of Omega in MMZ3. Some way through the game, information on the past reploid Colonel (and some combat-ready form of Iris?) is extracted from Model Z by the Guardians, and Model C (and maybe I) is created either for the player to use or is given to a different Mega Man. In time, Prometheus and Pandora might even fully side with the protagonists against Master Thomas, and Master Mikhail might be rescued to help in the fight. More pseudoroids are created to be hunted down by the Hunters and Guardians, and Master Thomas’s Mega Men are defeated before he is finally taken down. However, all the enemies were intended to simply slow the protagonists down, while he worked on his program intended to “reset the world”. Master Thomas is defeated, but not before his program is complete, unknown to the protagonists.

Speculation: Transitioning to the beginning of the Legends series:

Some time passes in universe, and plans to create a superior Utopia, Elysium, begin to be brought to fruition. This would be protected by the Old System mentioned in Legends lore. Master Thomas’s program eventually (somehow) brings about a cleansing ‘reset’ of the world in form of a major, permanent flood, resulting in massive population losses. Some of Earth’s inhabitants manage to flee to Elysium in order to survive, while other survivors are stranded and forced to rebuild on the islands. The Old System is soon shut down to be replaced by the more effective Master System, which eventually, for an unknown reason, brings about the next evolution for the humanoids and reploids living on Earth (now called ‘Terra’): The Carbons, a near-perfect unison of human and reploid into a cyborg type of life form seen in the Legends games.

(Disclaimer: I’ve yet to play the Legends games and we still don’t have a conclusion to the Classic, X, ZX or Legends series to confirm any of this, so this group of headcanons and ideas are simply my ideas and subject to argumentation and subsequent releases of new games. And again, these are just my ideas that are probably far from canon, so fellow fans stay chill and don’t attack me pls. I’m personally very hopeful that, with the release of Mega Man 11, Capcom might just fill in those gaps in time with more games. A fanboy can hope. Meanwhile, I may well update these headcanons as more games are hopefully released and I play through the Legends games.

Also side speculation: Master Albert in ZX Advent based Model A’s physical design and combat style on the Reploid Axl, having either accessed a database of some kind or accessed Axl’s DNA soul floating around somewhere in cyberspace. The similarities are just too similar to just be a creator’s homage to an earlier character, IMHO.)

#mega man #theories #speculation #mega man x #megaman #mega man zero #mega man zx #mega man legends #capcom #fan theory #fan theories #over-analyzing #more mega man please #fanboy #mega man fanboy #mega man headcanon #headcanon

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shreedle · 6 years

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Mega Man Model He - Blossom

The character is an NPC from Mega Man ZX Advent, but I made all the sprites (including the standing one, as her only sprite is of her dad holding her) and came up with the concept of her being a Biomatch.

Model He, or “Heartwoman” (my headcanon name for fighting robot Roll like how Rock became Megaman), with the armor design based off of Roll’s OVA armor from Wish Upon a Star, and the attacks based off of Classic Roll. But she’s a cute and everyone wants to hug her and not have her fight, of course.

#pandy sprites #megaman zx #rockman zx #blossom #megaman #rockman

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barbosaasouza · 4 years

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Review: Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection (Nintendo Switch)

Drop the Zero and get with the hero?

There’s no question of value here, as Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection bundles six games. So, fans of the various series in the MM franchise might’ve already scooped this one up. But what about those who are unacquainted with these former GBA/DS exclusives?

I’ve never actually played any of the six games in this compilation prior, although I was aware of them as a Mega Man fan. My enthusiasm is mainly for the original series 11 console games. Of course, I knew the Zero character from his introduction in Mega Man X, too. So I approach these more or less fresh, having left the DS compilation stranded on my wish list.

It’s on record that “The aim of the Zero series was to make it the most challenging out of all the Mega Man series of games.”. A misguided goal in my mind, but one that seems to have been (eventually) recognized. The later games responded to criticisms about the cheap difficulty by offering a less punishing, though still substantial, challenge. This collection takes it one step further with improved checkpoints, which are a huge plus, especially for story-driven games. Causal scenarios are also selectable, but it’s a misstep that you’re locked into them and can’t flip between normal.

Space won’t allow me to talk about each Zero game individually, but I will say that, without any nostalgia, I find the series generally less entertaining than those that preceded it. Though solid for what they are, they didn’t hook me as much as I hoped. This acknowledgment might put me in the minority, but I don’t feel it’s necessary to dwell on all of my reasons at length in this review. Perhaps I’ll discuss them more in a future Purely Opinions piece. I will say that Zero 3 is a good game – it feels the most balanced – and one that I was driven to play through to the finale. Come to find out, the consensus seems to be that it’s the best in the series.

One of the best compliments I can extend towards the Zero games concerns their graphics. After playing entries on the black and white Game Boy, I can imagine how nice it was to see the power that the Advance models offered! While the screens still feel cramped on average, the presentation is very well-done. Options for screen sizes are included (with borders) for each game in Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection. Gallery lets you zoom in on hundreds of pieces of art as well.

I’m going to spend more time talking about the ZX games. Not just because I prefer these to the Zero entries, but because I feel these have been more easily overlooked. I was also curious how the dual-screen releases would adapt to the Nintendo Switch hardware. Concerning that last point, I’ve found I have no real issues, though admittedly these games made very little vital touch screen use when first released. With seven layouts to pick from, you’ll find one that suits you.

One of the first things to grab me about the ZX games were their stories. The Zero entries had surprisingly dark (in a Teen rated way) plots about Dark Elf warfare and so forth, with lots of death and an overall feeling of gloom. The ZX games, while of course still having conflict, carry a much more optimistic tone, which makes them more stimulating. I feel the stories are better developed in several ways, flowing in a superior way as a result. Animated cutscenes and lots of voice acting (in Advent) further strengthen things.

This state of things is reflected in the music as well. It succeeds in offering a mix that’s much closer to classic Mega Man synth-pop than to later Capcom metal rock. It’s a choice that leads to these tracks sounding very distinct, while also fitting the action quite well. ZX especially has the sort of tunes that have you bobbing your head while listening to them. Tracks like “Green Grass Gradation”, and “Sky High” are a couple of my favorites, catchy in the best tradition of Mega Man. You can listen to the full soundtracks for every game in Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection via the in-game Music Player.

Of course, the biggest change is probably how these two entries play like a blend of Mega Man and Metroid. It works better than I expected, though this change doesn’t come without some issues. ZX is badly in need of a working map. It does have something map-ish, but it doesn’t seem to correspond to anything. For example, you might move left on the screen, but the “map” will show you went right. It’s poorly done, beyond doubt. Thus, this will be a game I’ll end up beating with a walkthrough nearby. Yep, it’s that promising that I’ll resign myself to playing Mega Man with a guide.

ZX Advent retains the vivid colors of its predecessor while improving on its shortcomings, namely the map. Thus, it is my favorite of the six games in this collection. The transformations remind me of Mega Man 6 to some degree but greatly expanded to influence the gameplay in fresh ways. It also manifests an Inti Creates development team that is no longer going overboard in difficulty. Dashing and wall jumping is as fun as ever, and the exploration elements give a great sense of accomplishment as you progress!

While I can’t give Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection a broad recommendation above the Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 and 2, I can still put in a favorable mention. Zero 3, and the two ZX games – Advent especially – are the top picks in this compilation, all with optional adjustments to better reflect modern gaming sensibilities.

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