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00:00The Mega Man Zero series did an excellent job elevating the mechanics from the Mega
00:16Man X games, all the while crafting an experience that stood on its own. Zero 1 has its ups
00:20and downs, Zero 2 was a very solid improvement, and Zero 3 perfected that. Zero 4 stumbled
00:25a bit, but still came out a good game. So at the end of the day, Inti Creates really
00:29proved themselves as capable Mega Man side-scrolling developers. The Game Boy Advance's lifespan
00:33was up, and the Nintendo DS was released. So Inti Creates was brought back to the follow-up
00:38to Zero 4, but Zero 4 ended with all the Maverick, Elf, Human vs Machine conflicts resolved as
00:43Zero was dead, and CL promised to finally make that Utopia the Dark Delight it envisioned hundreds
00:48of years prior. So it couldn't directly be a Zero 5, but a game that evolved the gameplay
00:53for the new console. And took place 200 years after Zero 4 in the new Mega Man series, Mega
00:59Man ZX. You see, of all the Mega Man franchises in the main timeline, this is one where I have
01:05the least amount of experience. I had played all the classics, but then LP'd them all in
01:092016. The X games, which of course I've played a scary amount of times. The Zero series I've
01:14played a respectable amount of times and just reviewed them. And then there's Legends. I've
01:18played both games twice, but here with ZX and ZX Advent, I've only played both of these
01:23games once before this, as I said in Zero 1. I got my copies back in 2015 alongside the
01:28Zero collection, but the more non-linear structure of ZX had alienated me from the get-go. Because
01:33yes, Mega Man ZX and ZX Advent are both Metroidvanias mixed with Mega Man X elements. This seemed
01:39like the obvious choice to me, since X1 was trying to open up the game with all the power-ups
01:43and Zero wanted to integrate a degree of interconnectivity between areas, but ZX is taking that to the
01:47logical extreme. So let's see how Mega Man ZX started out by starting with the story.
01:52Right off the bat, it's important to note how Mega Man ZX, much like the Pokemon games,
01:55have two playthroughs. One where you play as the boy, Vent, and the girl, Ale. There is
02:00very minimal difference between the two playthroughs, since they play the exact same. Ale crawls
02:04through tight spaces faster than Vent does, and the dialogue is slightly altered to reflect
02:07Ale's softer, more inquisitive personality over Vent's, but the story arc is pretty much
02:12identical. The story of the two playthroughs takes a different turn in ZX Advent, we can discuss
02:16that then. At the start of the game work for Jiro Express, a delivery company with your
02:20boss, Jiro, a male who 100% doesn't look the part. In this painstaking 10 minute long cutscene
02:26that is indeed unskippable, we learn that Ventul's mother had died in a Maverick raid in an amusement
02:30park 10 years ago, turning them into orphans now being looked after by Jiro. In between the
02:36Zero and ZX games, energy has indeed been brought back, as the Mega Man world looks like an evolved
02:40version of the one we saw in the X series as opposed to being the hellscape we saw in the Zero
02:44series, with constant reminder of the renewable energy source provided by Slither Inc. and
02:48its CEO, Serpent, in the background of most areas. No better example than the X1 intro
02:52stage being once again playable, and usually this is done to cut costs or pander to nostalgia,
02:57but this time around, it shows how far the Mega Man world has come since then. Jiro Express
03:01is transporting a valuable package until Maverick's arrive to take it by force, to go over the cliff,
03:06and meet Prairie, who is the one you're delivering the package to. The package is Biometal X.
03:10What's a Biometal?
03:20In all seriousness, the Biometals are basically AIs that have the intelligence of specific people,
03:28and you can mega merge with these Biometals to possess all of that person's physical abilities,
03:32all the while having the AI of that person speak with you. This is backed up by Maverick soon showing
03:36up on the scene as Model X joins with Vental to stop it, but Model X is only justification after
03:41the fact being, well, you needed help to save those people, and I gave it to you. What more reason do I
03:47need? Which is very in character for Mega Man X, with all the other Biometals being in character to
03:51who they're supposed to be as well. Prairie is the leader of the Guardians, the organization formed
03:56in the wake of the resistance as they saved the world post-04. Mavericks are still an issue which
04:01the Guardians protect against. Jiro was also in possession of Model Z, which as you can imagine,
04:05bestows him the power of Zero, as Vental and Jiro help out the Guardians with a Maverick raid near
04:09Slither Inc., but then it's revealed that Serpent is the villain alongside his Guardians,
04:13Prometheus and Pandora. He's causing the Maverick raids so that he can find and unlock the power of
04:18Mega Man Model W and do whatever he wishes, which means Serpent was indirectly responsible for the
04:22death of Vental's mother. He's also amassing a wide collection of Cyber Elfs to use them as energy,
04:27which is terrible, but what's worse is that he's rounding people up to turn them into Cyber Elves,
04:31which is even worse. But anyway, Jiro dies in this encounter and gives Vental Model Z,
04:36it merges with Model X to create Model ZX, a combination of X and Zero's power. To stop Serpent
04:41and Model W, we'll need to find the other Biometals with the spirit of the Guardians from the Zero games,
04:45Harpuya, Thefnir, Leviathan, and Phantom. We also learn that Prairie's sister was once the leader of
04:50the Guardians, her sister being CL from Mega Man Zero. Prairie is Alouette, just older with a name change.
04:56CL was the one who developed the Biometal technology as you might have expected. In one of the few
05:00instances of Divergent storytelling, in Venn's playthrough, he learns about Dr. Weill on Ragnarok
05:05and how the events of Zero 4 led into this game, and in Al's playthrough, she learns about the
05:09research at Slither Inc on Model W that turns Serpent into the villain he is now, as he was the one
05:14most interested in researching the subject. Not a big deal, but good for replay value. In the climax,
05:20it seems that Prometheus and Parandora don't actually care about Serpent at all and just want Model W to
05:24wreak havoc. Not something we can talk about in this game, as these two have more to do in ZX Advent.
05:29But regardless, Vento stops Serpent in Model W, saves the day, and joins the Guardians full time.
05:34And that's about it. I do not find this story particularly interesting, since I just told you
05:39all the noteworthy things that happened in it. And while follow-ups to Mega Man Zero are interesting,
05:43the Biometals are a really neat idea since technology in the Mega Man world has come that far.
05:47Since I said in Zero 4 that the death of Zero and the destruction of Neo Arcadia was a big advancement
05:53in the relationship between humans and Reploids, and now, 200 years later, humans are merging with
05:57Reploid DNA to the point where barely anyone acknowledges the distinction between the two.
06:01It's also funny to think that again, Dr. Light created Mega Man to just fight against Wily that one
06:06time in Mega Man 1, but now Mega Man is like a lineage, with each Biometal being a Mega Man in its own
06:11right. But beyond that, this game has a lot of dialogue and I just don't find it to be interesting. I mean,
06:16during that entire plot dump, I couldn't analyze anything because it's not interesting again.
06:21Especially the boss dialogue, as they spout on about how Serpent's rule is the way to go.
06:27Vental potentially having been destined to join with Model X and how they're setting back Serpent's
06:31vision of progress by stopping him. I mean, ever since Sigma and the Mavericks in X1, we've gotten
06:37a face full of this rhetoric in every game. In fact, this is exactly what the 8 warriors in Zero 4
06:43were saying about Dr. Wild. I mean, can we talk about something new if these bosses are gonna have
06:48something to say? On the whole, the story just feels like it's going through the Mega Man motions.
06:52Nothing as laughable as the PS2X titles, but still, it just goes in one ear and out the other,
06:57leaving me pretty bored while watching the story play out, even if it's fine on paper.
07:01Each Mega Man Zero game was a step up from the last in the visual department, and Mega Man ZX is on a
07:05whole new console, and they did not disappoint. The various foregrounds and backgrounds not only have the
07:10wide selection of colors, but they also feel far more detailed, especially in the mountainous areas.
07:14They also have small details moving in the background, like flickering, lights, and other
07:18machines, and while this is extremely primitive now, I just think it's cool how Inti Creates tried
07:22their best with the hardware they were given to improve their work when a game like Zero 4
07:26would totally cut it as far as early DS standards were concerned. Another great thing with the console
07:30shift is that we have all new sprites to look at. Z Saber slashing, firing pellets of the X Buster has
07:36never felt and looked so smooth before, and it's great. The biometals for the Guardians,
07:40as well, animate very smoothly, as they function exactly how you expect them to in the Zero series.
07:45Bosses have seen an increase in movement as well, as they come in all sorts of varieties and animate
07:49very smoothly. The soundtrack in Zero 4 was soul-crushing to listen to, since it was composed
07:54incredibly well, but then on GBA, it just sounded awful. Mega Man ZX is here to rectify the mistakes
07:59made in the last game, with easily the best soundtrack this marathon has seen yet. With scenery this varied,
08:04the soundtrack follows suit fitting the different environments of, say, the Grasslands, the Guardian
08:09HQ, the city, the mountains, the lake, and so on, with a respectable length before looping.
08:13I mean, why Proud Alarm when you can listen?
08:24It's a marketer.
08:37It's a ramen, I have not yet to meet.
08:44Of course, it doesn't sound as good as it could've since it's limited by the hardware
09:11of the DS, but I think the composers did an admirable job with what they were given.
09:15I'm now curious to see how I feel about the ZX Advent soundtrack since I've only played
09:18that game once and that was two years ago.
09:20Anyway, let's talk about the gameplay.
09:22If it's not broke, don't fix it.
09:24This applies quite well to Mega Man ZX, since despite this being in a new series, the core
09:29mechanics are identical to the Zero games.
09:31The Zero games are some of the most fluid Mega Man X styled games ever made, so I'm
09:35not upset by this at all.
09:37The DS has four face buttons as opposed to the two in the GBA, so you can map commands
09:41for those buttons as well if you so feel the need.
09:43The same three control types are back when it comes to switching weapons, and I'm a Type
09:47C fan myself if you recall from the last four reviews.
09:50But yeah, Model Z is just Zero's personality and body, so it makes sense that it plays just
09:54like him.
09:55There's no star system, so the Z Saber and Buster all have their abilities at default,
09:59and also the Z Buster has returned to its original properties from 01 to 03.
10:04Before Model X and Model Z merge, you play with only Model X, and this was such a rush
10:08of nostalgia, as this is basically X from X2.
10:12We can dash, wall jump, and use the X2 arm parts for a double charge shot.
10:16You lose access to X after becoming Model ZX, but the ZX Buster comes with all the properties
10:20that the X Buster had anyway, so it's not a big deal.
10:23As Model ZX, you don't acquire any extra weapons though.
10:25Yeah, there's no shield boomerang, no rod, and no zero knuckle, it's just the bare essentials,
10:30which I don't mind because of the biometals.
10:31When it comes to increasing the variety in combat, the four extra biometals completely
10:35mop the floor with any of the extra weapons in the Zero series, and that includes the
10:39recoil rod.
10:40Instead of just giving you a different style of attack, the biometals allow you to turn
10:44into the Guardians, Model H, Model F, Model L, and Model P, and these just flat out change
10:49the gameplay style itself.
10:51They all have the same basic controls, dash, wall jump, and so on, but the extra abilities
10:56they do have is where it makes the most impact.
10:58Model H uses Harpuya's two sabers to great effect, and they may only be used one swing
11:02at a time, but switching between the two is fast, and while you use one, the other one
11:06builds up energy for the charge shot to just hit R and release the electric sphere of destruction
11:09that stuns enemies.
11:11On the bottom screen, Model H displays the health bar of the enemy you're currently fighting,
11:14which hit me quick if your enemies weak to electricity, but can still be handy nonetheless
11:18for mini bosses.
11:19But the best part, bar none, is Model H's glide and ability to dash vertically and horizontally
11:23in the air greatly extending your jump time.
11:25For that reason alone, Model H was always one of my top picks.
11:29Model F allows you to shoot an infinite amount of fireballs from either gun and use a charged
11:33fist attack to break certain obstacles, which wouldn't be anything too special if not
11:36for the customization you get in the bottom screen, as you can determine the arc of the
11:39fireballs with each arm.
11:41You can also shoot upwards while standing still, which is not something I usually think
11:44to do, but it comes in handy nonetheless.
11:45I don't use Model F too often, but it's still really good.
11:49Model L can only do a tiny slash attack on the ground, but underwater you can swim and dash
11:54freely, and do a spinning slash attack with phenomenal range that wrecks bosses.
12:01All three of these forms have the elemental chips from 01 to 03, which means the simple
12:05but effective weakness chain returns without a hassle, just how I like it.
12:08But there's also Model P, which is fine, but it's my least favorite.
12:12You can infinitely throw ninja stars and latch onto the ceilings, which are good abilities,
12:15and the bottom screen also displays power-ups in the near vicinity, but similar to X2's head
12:19parts, you have to think of that while playing the game, and I just don't, so the other
12:22four biometals offer me more for platforming, offense, and defense.
12:26E-crystals are back, and you use them at the Guardian's HQ to increase the weapon energy
12:30meter for the four Guardian's biometals, which I do like, and they're also frequently
12:34dropped by enemies too, so you'll never be starved for them like in 01 or 04.
12:38But back on subject, Model P not being great isn't a huge sin though, since all in all,
12:42these five forms just make the game so varied in what you do, which is a massive plus in
12:46any game, without coming at the cost of anything else like the Zero Knuckle did in 04.
12:51So in ZX, you're pretty well equipped for the world at large, but how is the world?
12:55Well Mega Man 01 had tried to make a more interconnected overworld between missions, but this was easily
12:59ignored and just went back to the mission menu.
13:0102 through 04 had just gone back to the normal Mega Man menu, albeit segmented for 02 and 03,
13:06and Inti Creates decided to expand upon their idea from 01 and make ZX a full Metroidvania.
13:12I was about to explain what that was, but I feel like you don't need me to say it.
13:16If you're curious though, I've dabbled in a couple of Metroid games, only having beaten
13:20Zero Mission, AM2R, and Super Metroid.
13:23For a lot of people though, Metroidvania games offer such a unique appeal with the tightly
13:26designed interconnected overworld that you gradually come to know and explore the depths
13:30of as you alone travel through this space, gaining more and more powers to tackle the
13:33unknown hordes of enemies awaiting.
13:36Games like this kind of stress me out, since with each and every diverging pathway, I feel
13:39like I'm either doing something wrong or made the right choice.
13:42Because of that, I can say comfortably that I like these kinds of games, if I know the
13:45general area of where I'm going.
13:47I don't want a diagram drawn for me as it gets explained in painstaking detail, just
13:51as long as I know what good progress is versus progress off the beaten path, if that makes
13:54any sense.
13:55Honestly, growing your strength, exploring areas, and becoming familiar with them was a core part
13:59of my love for the X series back in 2015, and just more of a bite-sized scale, which is definitely
14:04to my liking as opposed to a big map.
14:06Anyway, as a Metroidvania, Mega Man ZX falls on its face pretty hard.
14:10The map in the pause menu is pretty unhelpful, since it only expands when you go to a new
14:14location, rather than having a map room or something like that.
14:17Which by the way, why are there in-between rooms that save and transport, and then some
14:21that just save?
14:22That's so stupid.
14:23Anyway, ZX has several missions to accomplish, and the game will tell you which area it is,
14:28like area K or area M, but getting there is entirely up to you since there is little rhyme
14:32or reason for the location placement, since area M is at the very back of area A with other
14:37examples found throughout.
14:39But if the thrill of the hunt is something you care about, then that's fine, you have
14:42every right to enjoy that.
14:43I personally don't, so onto the internet I go.
14:45When you finally reach your destination, how is the level design?
14:48I'm not sure how to put this.
14:50The level design is functional with many moments I really like.
14:52Take the water area with model L.
14:54It's great to time your swimming to the rising and lowering water, with spikes underneath
14:57and above.
14:58Other times, it's standard Mega Man X fare as you slashing enemies, but at its worst,
15:02it's kind of annoying, with enemies littered all over the screen as I'm trying to time
15:05my jumps or enemies flying in from off screen, which is something IntuCreates is a really
15:09big fan of.
15:10And with the lesser screen space on the DS, this can become death by a thousand paperclips.
15:14Overall, I don't have too much to say about the level design or item placement, since
15:18it's just so, eh for me.
15:19This is how I feel about ZX in a lot of ways.
15:22There's so much going for it, but at the same time, it kind of feels, ugh.
15:26But before I continue talking about that, there are some aspects of ZX that I think were flat
15:30out terrible, as opposed to kind of there.
15:33Starting with lives.
15:34Yeah, I complained heavily about retry chips in 0.1, praised the lives being back in 0.2,
15:39and now I'm advocating for them to just be out of the series in general.
15:42With level based games, losing all your lives means starting the stage again, but I find
15:46this to be pretty archaic nowadays.
15:48But they had a simple function in the olden days of platforming.
15:52Lives have no place in a metroidvania, and even I can tell you that after having beaten
15:56three.
15:57You only get two lives at default, and these are extremely easy to lose, since they are
16:00a lot of spikes and pits in ZX.
16:03Combine with the enemies flying in from off-screen discussion from earlier, and I'm upset.
16:08Imagine this, you reach the end of a mission, and you die from some garbage you couldn't
16:11see coming.
16:12You lost all your arbitrary lives, and now you must either A, reload the save file, so here's
16:16hoping you found a save room pretty close to the mission start point, cause if not, you
16:19just start the mission again, which is like 6 areas ago.
16:22Backtrack through the entire map you just found your way through before, get another chance
16:25to do the mission again.
16:27See this is pointless padding and tedium, which turns me off completely to the whole idea of
16:31big open spaces, where I don't know where exactly I'm going, since it's possible to
16:34lose all my lives and go back, or just barely find the mission and die right away, meaning
16:39you do the entire commute all over again.
16:41I mean, practice makes perfect, but I just don't care.
16:45This sort of gameplay just does not interest me in the slightest, making me really not interested
16:48in playing it, because by the end of ZX I was really worn out.
16:52Another reason for that was the returning sub tanks.
16:54I got all the health expansions which definitely helped out, but with the two sub tanks I had,
16:58I never was not in a position where I needed to fill them up because of high damage output
17:03from enemies.
17:05Sub tanks are a subject I'm very mixed on, I feel like there are good ways and bad ways
17:08to handle them.
17:09In theory, I like them since they serve as a permanent option for obtaining health, however
17:13at their worst, this can really drag out the pace of the game.
17:16In X1 to X3, debatably 4, I always felt comfortable with sub tanks since X1 had numerous spots to
17:22quickly fill them up, X2 had given us the silkshot instant charge method, X3 had frost shield
17:27making all the enemies instantly drop health, X4 had the spot in frost while resist stage where
17:31you can grab a few health ups, but you need like 4 visits to actually fill them.
17:35X4 was the game where the final boss and boss rush were returning to the same stage,
17:38which certainly didn't help matters much.
17:39X5 didn't have a grind spot, which made the game even more tedious, and X6 dropped
17:44health like candy.
17:45I didn't mind sub tanks in the Zero series, and so on.
17:48See what I'm getting at here?
17:49The ease of access to health makes or breaks the sub tank.
17:52At its best, it's better than E tanks for the permanent availability, and at its worst,
17:57it's way worse than E tanks as we're standing here hitting enemies for several minutes.
18:01Yeah, the drop rate has really not seen an increase since Zero 4, and it just makes sub
18:06tanks a really dull part of the game.
18:08Honestly, I don't have too much to say about the bosses.
18:10They all have their numerous attacks with their sleeve which keeps you on your toes, even
18:13with their weakness.
18:14I mean, I got my ass kicked six ways to Sunday, but in hindsight, I really appreciate how
18:18the bosses don't have the classic spark mandrel BS that I've hated in so many Mega
18:22Man games.
18:23To the point where now, I think this set of bosses is really well done actually.
18:26However, the only reason they left a sour taste in my mouth was because of the damn lives,
18:30which of course, getting a game over means all the things I said a few moments ago, which
18:34really pisses me off.
18:36And since I suck at transitions, let's talk about the secret in Area N.
18:39It's a pretty easy platforming section to make it through until you reach the boss door
18:43and you find Omega from Zero 3, back and ready for action.
18:48He has absolutely no reason to be here, but as a secret boss fight, he does not disappoint.
18:53Omega was such an easy and underwhelming boss fight in Zero 3, and ZX rectified that mistake
18:57by giving Omega all the same abilities as Zero 3, but with even higher damage output and less
19:02damage input, meaning it can't completely ruin the fight with the 1000 Slash.
19:06Defeating Omega in ZX feels like an accomplishment, how it should have felt at the end of Zero 3,
19:10and you're rewarded handsomely with Model O, a fully playable Omega with unlimited attack
19:14power.
19:15And just for old time's sake, let's listen to the Cannonball Remix one more time.
19:33Have I mentioned that boss rushes suck?
19:35I have.
19:36Well, have I also mentioned that boss rushes in the same stage as the final boss suck?
19:40I have?
19:41Is this funny yet?
19:42I mean, really though, I have nothing left to say about this since I've complained
19:45about it in 11 Mega Man games now, and this brings that number up to 12.
19:50Take it away, Omega.
19:55The final boss with Serpent is pretty easy too, only made tense by the punishment of doing
19:59this crappy boss rush all over again.
20:02But what more can I say, let's wrap this up.
20:04Mega Man ZX is a game I had finished only once in 2016, and since then I barely thought about
20:09it.
20:10Despite that, Mega Man ZX didn't surprise me in the slightest.
20:13I mean, the levels are okay, if a little generic and quickly forgotten.
20:16The story is decent, but something I'm probably going to forget once I'm done with this video.
20:20I really loved the biometals, and I really hated the open world and live system.
20:24Not so much that ZX is some kind of bad game, no, I liked it, and I think if you like Mega
20:29Man X and especially Mega Man Zero, you'll probably like ZX, but for a game that did so
20:34much new in the Mega Man formula, I oddly found the game to be going through the motions
20:37at the exact same time.
20:39Games like this are the ones I have the least to say about in the conclusion, since I feel
20:42like the review pretty much speaks for itself at this point.
20:45Don't think I don't like ZX, because it does have a quality story, a charming cast
20:49of characters, an appealing visuals, good soundtrack, same great controls, and if we're looking
20:53at this game from a neutral quality standpoint, it's definitely still better than Zero-One,
20:57and probably Zero-Four even, but it's just not the kind of game that screams from the shelf
21:01to be played again, if that makes any sense.
21:02In short, it's a one and done.
21:04But before I drag out the video by saying the same thing over and over, I'll say this.
21:09Next up is the finale of the Mega Man Zero retrospective with Mega Man ZX Advent for the Nintendo DS.
21:14Beyond ending with a cliffhanger, how does Inti Create's final Mega Man game in this style
21:18fare?
21:19Well, find out next week in the conclusion as I review Mega Man ZX Advent.
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