This game was my bisexual awakening. And what better way to celebrate Pride Month than reviewing Mega Man Zero?!?!?!

Mega Man Zero is a misunderstood classic that ranks among one of the best Mega Man games, and also as one my favorite games of all time. But honestly, yeah, it’s not surprising why it has such a mixed reception among the Mega Man community. The game is very good in my eyes, but leans pretty hard into the difficulty, which absolutely turned off some people, especially with the original GBA release (more on that at 11). However, Mega Man Zero was rereleased on most modern platforms with the release of the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection. God, what a mouthful. I don't like abbreviating titles, but I just have to, at this point. MMZ/ZXLC (LMFAOOOOOO) added the Save Assist feature, which was essentially designated Save States with free healing. It's an optional feature, which is good, as I think it makes the games too easy in the scoring department, but most players have opted to leave it enabled. I personally leave it off, but hey, player accessibility should take priority above all else in my eyes. Having it as an option is great, for sure. And for the record, I left them on for my most recent playthrough. I've beaten all but Mega Man Zero 4 without them (and I have some major reservations about that game), and scoring really wasn't a priority for this playthrough. Even then, I still beat the game without many deaths. I've beaten Mega Man Zero several times beforehand, about… 6 or 7 times at this point? I should really start a Hard Mode playthrough at some point… But, without further ado, let's look at Mega Man Zero!

The game kicks off with a mysterious young girl, fairy, and a band of soldiers fighting off a mass of reploids, who look oddly like X. As the men continue to fall, the robots only continue to fire back. Eventually, this only leaves Ciel, and two other soldiers. As the reploids gain distance on the three, they come to a dead end, with a disfigured reploid in the same room, unconscious. Before they can take a look at the young robot, the X reploids arrive at the same room, and promptly kill the two soldiers, leaving only the girl and the fairy. Without any other options, the girl casts the fairy, named Passy, subsequently killing Passy, but revives the reploid, without memory of the past, kickstarting the first stage of the game.

Mega Man Zero takes the best elements of Mega Man X and simply adds to its already great gameplay, but with the tradeoff of having an incredibly high skill ceiling for newer players. It’s an incredibly difficult game to learn, but equally as satisfying to master. Your primary weapon of choice is the Z Saber, a close ranged combat tool, which slices enemies in two, while also doing great damage on its own, being a quintessential tool for combat. Your longer ranged option, the buster shot, is a long ranged tool, but is heavily nerfed from the X days. It does decent damage compared to the Z Saber, but can be charged up, making it a great room clearer. This balance between a great short ranged and long ranged attack plays well into Mega Man Zero’s high skill ceiling. Better players will typically wield the Z Saber a majority of the time, with efficiency and damage on it's side at the cost of putting the own player at risk, while newer players will typically stick with the Buster Shot, due to its solid damage and longer ranged potential, but not being as strong as the Z Saber. Only when you truly get great at the game will you use both in perfect conjunction, as well as the other two, optional weapons; the Shield Boomerang and Triple Rod. Both of these share similar design philosophies to the main two weapons. The Shield Boomerang deflects incoming fire, but lacks a good attack game, and the Triple Rod having a superb ground game, with a neutered air game. Additionally adding to the balance, is the Element Chips. After defeating certain bosses, the player can gain one of three Element Chips. For the love of god, DON'T skip these. They are crucial to succeeding in Mega Man Zero’s relentless combat. On top of being a part of the weakness chain of bosses, they also provide bonuses against enemies. From stunning to burn effects, one should almost always be equipped. I think these were amongst my favorite weapons in Mega Man history. I do like the weapons of traditional Mega Man, but Zero is much better in this regard. Not only do the weapons consume no ammo, encouraging experimentation, they're seamless in the combat. No potentially finicky weapons in the way of your weakness chain, charge and use your weapons like normal. It's certainly less varied, but it's so practical. Charge it up, and bam. Plus, even without elements, the Saber and Buster are needed for optimal times, rather than just spamming the same shot over and over again (hint hint, classic and x series). There's actually a strategy! The amount of depth that Mega Man Zero has is commendable for a GBA game. While the combo game would only keep improving in future games, Zero 1 is still remarkable in this regard. Look up Mega Man Zero: The Ultimate Disrespect, and you'll see what I mean. If Zero gets in Smash 6, he'd become among the most hated platform fighters in a WHILE. Combos are an entirely optional element of the Zero series, but I'm not saying that Zero lacks any tech at all. I'm not going to explain it all, but if you're curious, do look it up for yourself.

Mega Man Zero's high skill ceiling always brings me back for more and more runs. Starting out, Zero is a glass cannon. He can take some hits, but he's a pretty fragile character. This is a pretty big turn off for newcomers, but hear me out. While it's possible to turn Zero into a practically unkillable god, this would take multiple natural playthroughs to do, or takes hours of grinding, which is obviously pretty boring, and even when you do so, your rank suffers from it. Why? The Cyber Elves. These are one time use fairies that either install a permanent upgrade onto Zero, or provide a one-stage effect. Pro tip; avoid relying on these. A majority of them just aren't worth it for the hit to your rank alone. Maybe use the Health up ones, but other than that, they are almost entirely disposable. I usually never use any, except for a Health up or two, which are undoubtedly the ones that anyone should instantly feed and upgrade. But you're definitely tempted to use them, with how dishearteningly oppressive this game's world and difficulty are. Mega Man Zero is among the hardest games in my eyes, especially for casuals. You will get your shit promptly wrecked if you aren't careful. Enemies deal massive damage, instant kills are prominent, and the bosses can be pretty brutal. But MAN, crushing that A Rank always feels great. I always feel like my Rank parallels my own skill level with Mega Man Zero. And keeping that A Rank ain't easy. My 7th Grade English Teacher always told me, “You get a Free A when you enter this classroom, but you have to be able to uphold it.” Compare that to Mega Man Zero. If I'm eating shit one too many times, it always feels like my fault that I got a D Rank. The bosses and enemy design is almost perfectly fair. The stages allow you to speed through with grace, so long as you take the time to learn them. The game responds accordingly to your skill level, by adding some new boss attacks at A Rank or higher. And when you nail that A Rank, it's an immaculate feeling. Oh yeah, can I talk about the BOSSES?

First off, this gangster-ass song. Secondly, good. LORD. These bosses are goddamn awesome. The most perfectly challenging (but screw you Phantom), thrilling boss fights in gaming history. When you hear those loud-ass sirens, you know it's about to be a good beat down. The bosses truly feel intimidating, potentially even stronger than Zero himself. They can easily kill you off in seconds. They're quick, but all of their attacks are dodgeable. It's just a matter of actually getting skilled at the video game. You no longer feel like the lone Reploid. You ARE the lone Reploid, fighting for dear life, as he knows that only he Zero, can save the day. X and Axl may be gone, but Zero's still kicking ass. Anyways, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah. Anyways, the bosses are awesome. Yeah, not much more to say. All of them were bangers for the most part.

Of course, no game is perfect. I don’t have many major qualms with Mega Man Zero overall. It’s a foundationally solid game, but one with a few too many flaws, keeping it from a perfect 10/10 in my eyes. For one, fuck the Retry Chips system. Okay... “fuck” is a strong word. I just had to get my “fuck” quota out of the way. Anyways, on paper, the Retry System is similar to Devil May Cry’s Yellow Orbs. But the issue is that Retry Chips are scarce as hell in Mega Man Zero. In Devil May Cry, not only is Devil May Cry more forgiving in general, it's always super easy to find more. And if you can't find more, you always have the option of buying them. I'm not saying Mega Man Zero needs a shop, but upping the drop rate of them would be well appreciated. Now, as someone who's beaten Mega Man Zero several times, I could care less about not having the Retry Chips. I can very easily clear the game without any. But for newer players, this is a very punishing system. Because when you run out of Retry Chips, you're straight up out of Retry Chips. You don't get 2 extras upon finishing a mission; honestly the best way to fix this issue in this eyes. Also, note that when you Game Over, that's it. You can either give up on the mission and skip it (NEVER do this), or reload your save. And that can be a killer for some stages. Like PROTECT THE FACTORY!!! Easily the WORST stage in the game, in part to the GBA’s awful screen crunch. If I had like, 5 or 6 more pixels, this stage would be SO much better. You have these safe zones above moving platforms suspended in midair, but they're just BARELY low enough to see on the screen, so you have to awkwardly wall jump in order to see the platforms. This ruined an otherwise solid mission. I just straight up skip this mission whenever playing casually. It's too annoying to put up with. D Rank my ass for all that I care. Also, this is more of a nitpick, but I gotta say, Mega Man Zero would greatly benefit from some kind of tutorial. You're thrown into all these different systems and missions at once, and it's pretty difficult to get into the groove of things. Almost everything that I praised about Mega Man Zero is poorly explained, in my eyes. So 1 or 2 tutorials here or there would be well appreciated. And finally, a very small nitpick, Weapon Level Ups are weirdly irritating to me. I'm fine with unlocking the combos, but Charging should be a default IMO.

I usually never cover stories in my reviews, but for the Mega Man Zero series, I have to make an exception, because Mega Man Zero has a pretty cool story. It doesn’t go as hard as the following entries, but I still think it’s enjoyable from start to finish. As I previously stated, after a deep sleep, Zero awakens from his 100-year slumber, after Sigma was defeated in the X Series. But a lot can happen in a 100-year time span. Disregarding Zero, there’s seemingly no survivors from the X Series. X, Ailia, Axl? Nope. They’re all gone. After the final confrontation with Sigma, a new government, dubbed Neo Arcadia, would be formed out of what was left in the X Series. However, the Neo Arcadians are highly unjust, slaying any Reploids that come their way. Ciel, a young girl, would flee Neo Arcadia and form a Resistance, believing that the Reploids were wrongly executed. This is where Zero, in a coma at this point, comes in and saves Ciel. Zero is truly the last hope for the Resistance. As we saw in the intro, the Neo Arcadians aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty for their own sake. So, Zero agrees to help fight back, to save the Reploid race. While I did state that X was technically deceased, he lives on in two different forms. X, the X we see in Mega Man X, and Copy X, a false X, and the leader of Neo Arcadia, created by Ciel, having a crucial flaw of lacking any sense of moral judgment. X assists Zero, by giving him his saber, while Copy X only wants to see Zero’s ashes. And stopping Copy X ain’t easy either. Because, at his disposal are the Four Guardians, Sage Harpuia, the hot one, Fairy Leviathan, the one that wants the D:/ drive and fast, Fighting Fefnir, the token hothead of the bunch, and Hidden Phantom, the cool ninja one. I really like these four. They’re pretty intimidating, having a unique battle intro theme, that sounds… holy??? IDK, but it’s still cool, but who cares. Oh yeah, can I talk about Zero 1’s stellar world building? Zero 1 is a semi-open world game. Sure, you can always stick down in the Resistance, but do a few dozen wall jumps, and you’re on the surface! Almost everything is connected in Mega Man Zero, and missions also affect the world as well. After the “Retrieve Data” mission, the Underground Laboratory is permanently locked off, as the area begins to collapse when Maha Ganeshariff is defeated. It’s a nice attention to detail, and it actually made me care about what happened to the world. Speaking of the world, once all missions are fully completed, Zero can finally head straight for Neo Arcadia, with the help of Spirit X. After Ciel says her goodbyes, it’s time to get Copy X’s head on a wall! The final missions are also pretty solid, but that leaves us with the final battle. Copy X vs Zero! This is, in my opinion, the hardest of the fights in the game. Copy X, specifically his second phase, does pretty crazy damage. It’s not impossible by any means, but I did almost Game Over on my first try. But, after Copy X is defeated, Neo Arcadia begins to fall, leaving Zero alone in the Desert, with Spirit X passing over the torch to Zero. Shortly after this happens, Zero notices a horde of Reploids coming towards him. With no other option, the war on Neo Arcadia begins, as Zero tears straight through the robot, concluding Mega Man Zero

Casting aside my gripes with Mega Man Zero, Mega Man Zero is a one of a kind masterpiece. It's up there with the best GBA games in my eyes. It's one of the most challenging, but also most replayable games that I've played thus far. Its low points are definitely pretty low, though, which is why I hesitate to give it a perfect 5 star. I still do love it though, and it’s been a constant replay of mine over the years. I recommend giving it a shot if you can. If you didn’t like it at first, I may suggest turning on the checkpoints in the Switch release, which seems to be a popular option among fans. But, that’s all I have to say right now. Zero 1 is a pretty good game!






okay imma go back to bayonetta origins now i swear….