History Headscratchers / MegaManX

* Robots like Slash Beast who is missing an eye and Axl who has facial scars really makes you wonder why ''machines'' would be in such a state. Are their parts so unique they're irrepairable? Do the robots intentionally keep themselves that way for whatever reason? Were they ''designed that way to begin with''?

* In ''Command Mission'', Marino is allegedly a potential former fashion model Reploid, who turned to becoming something of a JustLikeRobinHood thief stealing from "suits" that apparently wronged her in the past. X and crew welcome her perfectly fine because she's an immediate ally in the current battle, despite the fact that by all definitions of the series she'd be a Maverick for essentially going against the law in any form or fashion. While obviously everyone is sentient and able to make their own judgment calls, is X just able to hold back on potential Maverick calls for the sake of getting the job done?

*** Mega Man's ending in the arcade title "VideoGame/MegaMan: The Power Battles", which is after MM7, has Dr. Light state he needs to research more into AI to prevent the uprisings Wily causes, as a robot that can ''choose'' right or wrong is better than a simple robot that can be reprogrammed. This is when Cossack, who was in an [[http://www.themmnetwork.com/community/index.php?showtopic=2055 official prequel manga for MM9]], could've been brought on board. Even if Dr. Light insisted on the testing period before X could be activated, that would still give Dr. Cossack 30 years to study X's design.

* In X5, in the final battle with Sigma as X, Sigma says that he got help from an "old comrade" of X's. For some reason, people believe Sigma got help from Dr. Wily in both Zero's story (which is pretty obvious) and X's, but that can't be, because Wily was never any kind of comrade, or really anything to X. Is this a mis-translation? Do people simply not care that Sigma said such a thing and just paste Zero's story's explanation for Sigma's body onto X as well? It...well...just bugs me!
** A. New questions go at the '''''bottom'''''. B. As I understand it, it is some mistranslation involved. C. Why do you expect Sigma, the bad guy, to be telling the absolute truth? He's not omniscient. He could be wrong, or trying to screw with X. Or Wily told him a lie.
*** Sorry about putting it at the top; I'm new to editing on here. I figured it was most likely a translation error, but at least you know what I'm referring to. Any idea where I might be able to find a more literal translation of the Japanese X5 script? Do you know of anyone who might have gone through the trouble to do that?
** Dr Wily did work with X's creator, so when Sigma said he got help from "an old comrade" of X he could've been metaphorical(Wily was a comrade in what led to X's invention).
** Looking at [[https://hondoori.wordpress.com/scripts-and-localizations/rockman-series/rockman-x5-boss-dialogue/ this translation]] page, it seems that Sigma indeed got help from Dr. Wily. He doesn't refer to him as an old comrade of X's in the Japanese version, though.

* The leadership of the X-Hunters in ''X2'' is confusing. It seems to shift between Agile and Serges; while Agile is arguably the most Sigma-like and is the last X-Hunter faced in the final stages, Serges seems to be coming up with all their plans such as the Unification and has those sinister ties to Dr. Wily. So who's really in charge?
** Adding to this is the ambiguity of Sigma's resurrection. Is he already revived by the beginning of the game, leading the X-Hunters himself from behind the scenes? Or is he awoken during the final stages to avenge the X-Hunters, like he was in ''X3'' or ''X6''? Sigma is mentioned recruiting Overdrive Ostrich in his profile, but this could have happened back in ''X1'' too.
** Then there's the CanonForeigner χ -kai- from the [=TruForce=] Collectibles series of models, who was retroactively introduced as the leader of the X-Hunters. Is this a {{Retcon}}? Or simply a WhatIf that we're thinking too hard about?
* I was replaying X2 and a few things just occured to me: ''Why'' did the X-Hunters feel it was necessary to remove Zero's control chip from his body in the first place? How did they even lose it? And ''why'' in the name of all things sane did the X-Hunters turn over Zero's actual parts? They had a duplicate, why not break it up into three sections, rig them with explosives, and give that over?
** Once you kill Serges, the second flunky that looks like Doctor Wily, he mentioned something about a "Prophecy that must be fulfilled", so that explains why they didn't rig it with explosives, they needed Zero working properly. Why there's a prophecy sorrounding robots is beyond me, but it's important to note that the only thing they needed was the control chip to make Zero go all evil-like.
** If you fail to retrieve all of the body parts by the time you kill all eight mavericks, the "X-Hunters" find Dr. Cain's lab, and take everything you might have earned plus get the chip working. My guess is, they knew where Dr. Cain was, they just needed time to work or have someone else work on the chip.
** Okay, I found something that clears some of this up; it's translations of Japanese trading cards with character bios: [[http://kobun20.interordi.com/2010/11/15/zero-nuff-said/#more-1395 Zero's]] control chip was found by the Maverick Hunters and recovered. A comment further down, time stamp 2010/11/23 - 7:31 am, from the person who translated the article says that Zero's body was recovered by the X-Hunters. It doesn't explain how or why the chip was seperated, or the other questions, but at least we know the X-Hunters weren't that stupid.
** Alright, here's a possible explaination; X took Zero's chip with him. He obviously couldn't take Zero's body with him, and he couldn't leave him intact for the Mavericks to reuse. You could even guess that the whole chip thing was a security measure installed into Maverick Hunters so their comrades could prevent their friends from being turned into Mavericks.

* Just what exactly what Sigma trying to accomplish with trying to convince General to turn on the Hunters in the opening scene of X4? Sigma claims that the Hunters are too eager to please the humans and hunt down reploids. Except Repliforce was created to ''help'' the Hunters, meaning that Repliforce are doing ''the exact same thing''. It's such a ridiculous argument that Sigma really has no right to be surprised when General tells him to leave.
** Sigma was trying to get the Repliforce and Hunters going at each others' throats so they'd destroy each other. Repliforce was the largest, most powerful and most successful Maverick-hunting group after the Hunters themselves, and Sigma knew he could kill two birds with one stone. As to his shocked reaction when told to leave by General, I chalk that up to the awful dubbing, but you can also tell his plan still worked by planting the seeds of doubt in General's mind.
** Repliforce is, by that point, ''already'' under scrutiny for not being effective enough to justify maintaining such a large force. And General probably knows this. Thus, Sigma was expecting General to be a little more paranoid about being disposed of as a failed venture.

* Whose route in X4 was canon? X or Zero's? And if both are canon, then who did what (who beat Sigma for one example)?
** Zero's route is considered canon, for the most part. His flashback in X5 shows Iris, and he says something to the effect of seeing her again after he passes away. There's a popular theory that X1, X2, and X3 are about X, and X4 and X5 are about Zero. Then X6, X7, and X8 are just strange.
*** It's easy - X6 is still about Zero, in a roundabout way. Then X7 and X8 are about Axl.
*** But X had the Force Armor in X5. That implies X had taken part in the events of X4.
*** Dialogue in X5 suggests that Zero killed Colonel and Iris, while X faced Double and the General. The main problem is the final battle, since based on X's ending, Zero was already on Earth after X defeated Sigma, but on the other hand Zero had his past as a Maverick revealed, and thus should also have faced Sigma.
*** Zero faced Sigma's first and second forms, allowing him to have his plot-important conversation with Sigma, while X faces Sigma's final forms deep in the core of Final Weapon, which allows him to witness General's Heroic Sacrifice.
** Both happened; it's the same way that, canonically, Chris, Jill, Barry, ''and'' Rebecca all made it out of the mansion in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', even though in-game you could only get three of the four out.
** Here's how the manga handled the story: X went to space to deal with Double and General, his spaceport fight with Colonel never happening. On earth, Iris was helping Zero deal with Cyber Peacock before collapsing. While she was recovering, Colonel attacked to rescue her. In the process, Zero killed Colonel, waking Iris up and leading to her boss fight, which was Zero's final fight of the story.

* Every single thing about Zero coming back to life in X6 is just insane. First off, him even being there at all opens up enough [[PlotHole plot holes]] to rip the space-time continuum in half. The epilogue of X5 shows that he's still dead three years later, while X6 takes place three ''weeks'' later. You ''might'' be able to HandWave this by saying he sealed himself before then (which would lead into VideoGame/MegaManZero). Of course, for that to work, it would mean that X6, X7, and X8 all took place within those three years. I haven't played X7 or X8 yet, so I'm not sure if that could be true. But then there's the issue of ''how'' he survived. He says that he... repaired himself? Okay Zero, that's cool, except for the fact that ''you got ripped in half three weeks ago'' (and it's even shown in the freakin' intro of X6 itself). Yes, X was ripped in half too, but Dr. Light had to save him. There is no way Zero could have repaired himself. Even he isn't ''that'' badass... is he? I don't think X6 is really that bad of a game, but after starting it [[MindScrew I just don't know what the hell is going on anymore.]]
** Actually, the 3 years later ending of X5 is non-canon, I think.
*** You're right. X5 had three endings; One for Zero and two for X (good or bad depending on whether or not Zero temporarily turns Maverick). The bad ending has X's memories of Zero erased and finishes off three years later. The good ending has X keeping his memories of Zero (and using Zero's saber) and finishes a mere three weeks after Zero dies. X6 follows the good ending. Given how nothing in the timeline has a definite date, an indefinite number of X games can take place before the Elf Wars. Zero's ending in X6 can be seen as taking place somewhere near the end of the X series. If I'm not mistaken, he was awoken for the Elf Wars and then resealed in a different body at the end of that war. As for him coming back... I'm almost sure that there was a better reason than "I hid myself so I could repair myself", although I don't think that was mentioned in the game. If X6 were never made and the Zero series followed X5's bad ending like Inafune originally planned, I doubt his reasons for being repaired would sound like any less of an ass pull.
*** Nope. [[http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/psx/c/mmx5_b_4.htm The good ending in MMX5 is also three years later]]. Three weeks is only first brought up in X6. X5's good ending, with Zero gone, X having the saber, and jumping three years later, was meant to be the canon one -- the ''end'' of the X series.
*** Thanks for correcting me. Huh. So then we should just consider the three weeks thing a retcon because it makes no sense in the grand scheme of things. As for which ending was meant to be canon, I'm not gonna pretend that I know for certain which was supposed to be the true ending to the series. I keep hearing that it was supposed to be the bad one, which makes sense considering how X loses some important memories that affect his personality and how he makes a reference to a locale from the Mega Man Legends games. This is just speculation, but I wonder if Neo Arcadia was originally meant to be called Elysium.
*** I'm pretty sure it's got to be the good ending, based on two things: One, X ends up with the Z saber, which he has until MMZ and gives to Zero. Two, in the bad ending, not only does X lose his memories of Zero, but Dr. Light makes it so he's incapable of retaining any new information pertaining to Zero. X, in MMZ, clearly remembers who Zero is.
** How about Zero's own ending? In which X isn't shown, only his wrecked body and his last message for Iris?
*** I think that Zero's ending ''is'' X's good ending, only you just see Zero's perspective of it. You don't see what happens afterward because, well, Zero's ''dead''.
** Maybe the "Three Weeks Later" is just a typo.
*** More likely a retcon or lack of communication.
** "I hid myself while trying to repair myself" is the result of BlindIdiotTranslation. In the original Japanese he basically says he has no idea who fixed him, and in context of the storyline hints toward the possibility that either Light or Isoc did it.

* So, what the hell was up with Sigma in Maverick Hunter X? Throughout the whole game, he's constantly talking about how X is the future of Reploids and how much potential he has, yet he constantly tries to kill him either directly or by sending out the Mechaniloids/Mavericks. If he thinks X is the salvation of the Reploid Race, why is he so intent on destroying him and making sure he's gone for good? Even if it's to test his strength, when X dies, he ''explodes and gets incinerated!'' Not much to analyze then, huh?
** If X fails, it simply means that Sigma's theories about X are wrong. And thus he can go back to forcing his definition of evolution on the rest of the reploids.
** It is also possible that Sigma sees himself as a {{Trickster Mentor}} to X, if his potential is as [[InformedAttribute good as everyone says]] then Sigma [[INeedYouStronger would definitely want him to develop it at his fullest]] as both a proof of Reploid superiority towards humans and as something all other reploids should have, and so [[TrainingFromHell he pushes X to his absolute limit]] [[TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential so he can constantly surpass said limit]] and eventually turn him into his Dragon, if X succeeds then his potential is true and worth developing, if he fails and dies, then his potential wasn't so limitless and it was better to get rid of that fake messiah who was getting in his way, [[XanatosGambit either way Sigma wins]], as how he was planing to convert X to his side or transfer his potential to other reploids, [[DidntThinkThisThrough well...]]
** Sigma might be trying to force this "evolution" that X is supposed to go though. The way evolution works in nature is that creatures change, adapt, and become stronger as they fight to survive. Getting X involved in the conflict will force him to either adapt, or die.

* Okay I'll bite: how does Sigma keep coming back so consistently? Why doesn't this happen to every other Reploid who's died, like Iris or Gate? They even still had both of their bodies intact. Can't they just rebuild bodies for their friends, like the Mavericks keep doing for Sigma? Or Vile or Zero, for that matter?

* Why did Capcom think it was okay to give Signas such a similar name to Sigma? As a kid who played X1 and then jumped straight into X5, I was utterly baffled that the main antagonist was now a commander - until I realized he wasn't. Maybe they sound more different in Japanese, idk.
** It's possible that the Japanese team meant for it to be "Cygnus", as in the swan-shaped constellation, and the English localization as "Signas" is what made their names look so similar?
*** His Japanese name is "Shigunasu", as opposed to the ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' character actually called Cygnus being "Kigunasu" in Japanese. Would be an odd discrepancy to localize the same name differently, but still possible.

* What's the deal with the second, broken teleporter just before the boss rush in X-Hunter Stage 4 in ''X2''? Does it hold any significance?
** It's supposed to be a sudden tip off that there's someone else to fight, since at this point the X-Hunters are destroyed. How sudden depends on the version, Agile begs his master to avenge him in the English version while he asks the supposedly dead Sigma how they could've failed in the Japanese version.

*** That's what I thought. I couldn't find the exact term, but there is a 'shock and awe' tactic that you just described, where the unit only needs to be unseen long enough to get into position before they charge in through the windows in a massive wave of dynamic force. And since it's Zero, whose reputation would preceed him by a ''lot'', the Mavericks inside would only be able to go "Oh holy shit it's Zero --" before he shreds them into pieces. It'd basically be a small-scale Blitzkrieg on the poor bastards.

*** His Japanese name is "Shigunasu", as opposed to the ''VideoGwme/MegaManStarForce'' character actually called Cygnus being "Kigunasu" in Japanese. Would be an odd discrepancy to localize the same name differently, but still possible.

*** Possible. Though in Japan that constellation is called "haku chō-za", not Cygnus.

*** Another possibility is that each of those examples was still acting within a predefined set of parameters, within which they had somewhat free will. For example, Blues was acting within the constraints of "Preserve your own existence", but he also came to the independent decision on HOW. Whereas Reploids have truly free will, and no preset parameters (for example, whereas a Robot might feel despair, self-preservation protocols would prevent them from trying to die. Whereas a Reploid has no such protocol.

** This has more to do with obeying the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]] than having free will to live as you please. In the ''Classic'' series, robots are totally incapable of harming humans because their programming outright forbids it. Wily's MO is to remove that limitation and make them evil on purpose (e.g. Tundra Man was free to change jobs, it's a low risk decision, but he couldn't attack humans until Wily got to him). Conversely, Reploids are not technologically bound by the Three Laws at all - without this moral restriction hard-wired into them, the Three Laws are just guidelines that Reploids are expected to follow. This makes them more human, but also ''much'' more dangerous.

** This has more to do with obeying the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]] than having free will to live as you please. In the ''Classic'' series, robots are totally incapable of harming humans because their programming outright forbids it (unless illegally reprogrammed, as Wily does). Conversely, Reploids are not technologically bound by the Three Laws in any way - without this moral restriction hard-wired into them, the Three Laws are mere guidelines that Reploids are expected to follow. This makes them more human, but also potentially ''much'' more dangerous.

** This has more to do with the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]]. In the ''Classic'' series, robots are totally incapable of harming humans because their programming outright forbids it (unless illegally reprogrammed, as Wily does). Conversely, Reploids are not technologically bound by the Three Laws in any way - without this moral restriction hard-wired into them, the Three Laws are mere guidelines that Reploids are expected to follow. This makes them more human, but also potentially ''much'' more dangerous.

** This has more to do with the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]]. In the ''Classic'' series, robots are totally incapable of harming humans. They literally ''can't'' because their programming forbids it (unless illegally reprogrammed, as Wily does). Conversely, Reploids are not technologically bound by the Three Laws in any way - without this moral restriction hard-wired into them, the Three Laws are mere guidelines that Reploids are expected to follow. This makes them more human, but also potentially ''much'' more dangerous.

** This has more to do with the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]]. In the ''Classic'' series, legal robots are totally incapable of harming humans. They literally ''can't'' because their programming forbids it (unless illegally reprogrammed, as Wily does). Conversely, Reploids are not technologically bound by the Three Laws in any way - without this moral restriction hard-wired into them, the Three Laws are mere guidelines that Reploids are expected to follow. This makes them more human, but also potentially ''much'' more dangerous.

** This has more to do with the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]]. In the ''Classic'' series, only robots influenced by an outside source (e.g. reprogrammed by Wily) are capable of harming humans. They literally ''can't'' because their programming forbids it. Conversely, Reploids are not technologically bound by the Three Laws in any way - without this moral restriction hard-wired into them, the Three Laws are mere guidelines that Reploids are expected to follow. This makes them more human, but also potentially ''much'' more dangerous.

** This has more to do with the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]]. In the ''Classic'' series, only robots influenced by an outside source (i.e. reprogrammed by Wily) are capable of harming humans. They literally ''can't'' because their programming forbids it. Conversely, Reploids are not technologically bound by the Three Laws in any way - without this moral restriction hard-wired into them, the Three Laws are mere guidelines that Reploids are expected to follow. This makes them more human, but also potentially ''much'' more dangerous.

** Maybe it's not ''literally'' placebo, but rather very easily reversible? Doppler likely knew how to deactivate it, thus rendering it useless ''as if'' it were placebo.

** The nature of the anti-virus is also confusing; "anti-virus" implies it's a program that deletes the Maverick Virus from a Reploid's system. But it's also sometimes called a "vaccine", which implies it offers outright immunity to the Maverick Virus. But the manual it claims that all it does is "suppress Maverick behavior", implying it doesn't get rid of the virus and merely keeps Reploids from getting rowdy.

* The efficacy of Dr. Doppler's anti-virus seems inconsistent. It appeared effective on the reformed Mavericks of Dopple Town. However, manuals and promotional material refer to the anti-virus as a "placebo", implying that it wasn't actually effective at all, or possibly that its effects were easily reversible. Then at the end of the game, Doppler/Zero uses an anti-virus to save X from the Sigma Virus. How much of a placebo can it be if it can (at least momentarily) defeat ''Sigma''?