MMZ opinion war

[LCrazy11]

I like the gameplay and art style of MMZ and have all the nostalgia

BUT they turned zero into an emo idiot who was a clone for no reason and the "real zero" was evil so my head cannon is that zero is missing or dead and both omega and zero were clones

[White Shadow]

I've never played one of the MMZ games myself. Watched a couple of speedruns though. Gameplay seems solid, but it doesn't really feel MM-ish.

[Mikero]

It always felt more Gunstar-ish than MM-ish to me, but Gunstar was absurdly more charming. Looks like Azure Striker Gunvolt is in the same vein.

Honestly the stuff I hate about MMZ are the Megaman parts. Everything related to the X series (or anything else) feels like it's been done wrong, and everything they invented from scratch is kinda cool. It's such a weird feeling that game gives off, it was trying to be too many things.

[TheRedPriest]

MMZ is bottom of the barrel DeviantArt art tier fanfiction quality.  Even the gameplay really isn't as good as people make it out to be.  Without the Mega Man connection it would be very middle tier stuff and nothing special.

[Winged Warrior]

I had a bud ask me what the deal was with Zero while I was crafting my masterful #####post for the MMZ series.

I had to stop and recall and I started with the MMtPF story of how Zero was created by Whywee and how Zero done killed everyone before eventually having the Maverick virus stolen from him by sigma.

I linked him to WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOOOR?!?!

and then I began to explain the story -as I remembered it- of the Z series.  It's been forever, and some of the games' plots and villians spilled over into other games which made it hard for me to convey the series LORE properly.

That's when said buddy decided to say "##### it" and google the wiki for the stories, pulling out buzzwords I had chosen to forget like the elf wars (which we agreed that Cyber-Elves were a terrible name for those things, and they should have been called sprites).

Even the short description of "Zero kills Copy-X, then his buddy who's corrupted by the dark cyber elf, then oops it's another Copy-X, then it was you that was a copy ALL ALONG" is just... absurd.


I still hold true that the game wasn't a nightmare to play, and even the weak story was a decent and cheap way for new fans to get into the Megaman fandom and discover what the good games actually are, MMZ acts like it was a one-shot that ran out of ideas far too quickly.

[LCrazy11]

I just replayed MMZ2 and its an ok game but a mediocre megaman game

[Mikero]

how Zero done killed everyone

CONJECTURE, YOUR HONOR!

[TheRedPriest]

how Zero done killed everyone

[Winged Warrior]

Wasn't that the cannon?  It's been fukkin forever.

I thought Zero was Wily's second Bass, only better, and then Zero went on a murder rampage killing Light, Mega, Roll, Wily... the like?

Or was it simply implied at the end of MMtPF?  

I thought it was a nice addition of character depth to Zello, Especially since he didn't dwell on or mention it in the core games.  It gave the feeling of a character with a right #####ed up past who turned to a side of "justice" without constantly and incessantly announcing that as WHY he fought evil.

That, without a bitch or a moan, without fessing up to X and the audience that "This is my punishment for being born a maverick", Zero sacrificed himself at the end of X1 for the greater good.  Instead his last lines were "I'm not through yet!" showing a dedication to a cause without any other declaration of ideals to muddy the act of blowing himself up to help X.

Which made the modern Cloud Strife level of "I'm a sad loner" of the Zero GBA games even more annoying IMO.



I mean if it's not cannon I think it's a net loss for the character, taking away what amounts to a neat little backstory and leaving Zero back in the position of "Megaman X's cool liek Protoman"

[TheRedPriest]

"Zero murders everyone^TM" was never canon or even hinted at.  It was entirely in the realm of fever dreams of the edgelords of the fanbase.  Your "Cataclysm" groupies as they were known.

Inafune even said that sort of thing never happened, and he was, for all intents and purposes, the word of God.

[NovaMan XP]

"Zero woke up, killed everyone and then conveniently went to sleep for like XX years to wake up and kill again and then be stopped by Sigma. Also Wily somehow didn't conquer the world when everyone was dead lol."

[Winged Warrior]

Inafune even said that sort of thing never happened

Fine by me, I guess. 

Like I said, I still think it weakens the plot as a whole.  It has a huge potential to be built maturely and not just be edgelord fodder,  but I can fully understand how much more easily said than done that is. 

[Mikero]

Wily did create Zero and basically say to Bass that he was being replaced, but the "cataclysm" theory thereafter (while rampant) never had a solid basis.

I don't think Zero killing everyone from the original series is particularly mature, in fact I think it reeks of juvenile "cool guy" trash. But if you like a bit of Zero being evil at the start there's always the plot point of his first meeting with Sigma, where Sigma has to go after him after he destroys all of Gamma's maverick hunter unit (re: Megaman X4). The turning point comes after Sigma defeats him. Zero wasn't necessarily created as a Maverick either, the virus (I still hate that it's a virus) is implied to be alien in origin, but it was locked in Zero's capsule with him.

[TheRedPriest]

And evidently made him insane and impossible to control, hence why he was sealed up.

[Winged Warrior]

how Zero done killed everyone

Inafune even said that sort of thing never happened

Ah, see, okay.  I understand now.
Zero was actually a robot clone of Wily who was seeking redemption.  This is a way better backstory to the character, much less edgelordy.

http://fandom.wikia.com/articles/mega-man-fan-theory-dr-wily-actually-robot-seeking-redemption

[NovaMan XP]

Wily then suspiciously contracts the very same disease. Instead of questioning his humanity, players assumed that the virus evolved to affect humans.

This is as far as I got before I had to close the tab and lose faith in humanity once again.

[LCrazy11]

soundtrack was nice, the sero vs omega theme was really good

[Xero]

Doesn't change that the Zero series is a broken mess.

[TheRedPriest]

And the designs look like someone vomited into a dirty diaper.

[LCrazy11]

no they look like someone pressed the generic anime button

[Mikero]

Generic anime has harder lines and sharper points. I don't actually think the art style is bad in general, just the actual DESIGNS they used for established characters. You can use MMZ art style with Zero's original design pretty easily and make a good looking game.

[TheRedPriest]

I never had a problem with the art or style itself, just using it for Mega Man characters.  But what they do in MMZ looks horrid all around, for Mega Man.

[NovaMan XP]

It still bugs me that they felt a need to change Zero's design at all. Then they go and reveal his body is fake... only to have the real body be a recolor of his MMZ design.

I remember when I first heard about Mega Man Zero and I was super excited and imagined it would look like X4 except on GBA and only Zero was playable... then I saw the art of MMZ Zero and was really confused. And then I never got the game and went back to playing Battle Network.

[Mikero]

It would be pretty fun to try and draw Zero's more common design with that art style.

... maybe after the holidays.

[Winged Warrior]

Hey, Y'all remember that Rockman Zero manga I linked a few years back that essentially ripped off Ruroni Kenshin's character archetype and has Zero as an effeminate airhead that turns into a "badass" whenever he gets angry or whatever?

Because I do.

[TheRedPriest]

...

[Xero]

Now that this topic has been revived from the dead, I would like to post my updated opinion on the Zero series.

The games on their own are still trash.  However with the addition of being able to map the buttons to your own preference, and the inclusion of save-assist in the Legacy Collections, the games are actually fun to play and it's a good way to hone your skills.  Eventually you may even be able to play without save-assist and do good.  I think the Zero series would have benefited more being on a controller or handheld with more buttons than the GBA. 

[TheRedPriest]

To be fair, a lot of GBA games would have benefited from not being on the GBA though.  ALL the SNES ports would have as the GBA didn't have the screen resolution, the audio quality, or the buttons needed to port.  Games like the two Metroid releases suffered from lack of buttons from a purely gameplay point, and EVERYTHING suffered from the garbage audio chip the GBA had.