History VideoGame / MegaManZero

--->'''X:''' The Baby Elves will do anything to reunite with their mother. Stir the humans' minds and bring chaos...It's all to meet their mother, the Dark Elf...The Dark Elf that I sealed...

** Regardless of your remaining lives, when you die in the first game a menu comes up that, among other things, allows you to immediately reload your save without the need to reset the game. This can be very useful for players that don't want to waste their (very scarce) continues on, say, the BottomlessPit a few meters away from the starting point. The mechanic is sadly gone in later games.

** ''Zero 1'' gives you the basics on how to level up your weapons, but it doesn't at all mention certain hidden mechanics to the leveling system. While each killed enemy gives a weapon experience points, what the game never tells you, or at least only vaguely hints at, is that there are ''separate experience bars'' for different attacks with the same weapon (i.e. the Z Saber gets different experience with the normal slash, the dashing slash, the jump slash, and the charged slash). For example, while typical leveling with the Z Saber follows getting the double slash, then triple slash, the charged slash, the faster charging charged slash, and then the aerial spin and/or rolling slash, investing into killing enemies with the jump slash or dashing slash over normal slashing can unlock the aerial spin slash and the rolling slash before ''ever'' getting the double slash. The Z Buster follows a similar pattern in that it's possible to unlock the second level of the ChargedAttack before unlocking the four bullets upgrade simply by prioritizing killing enemies with the Charge Shot over regular shots.

** Surprisingly, '''Weil himself''' too. [[AllThereInTheManual The Official Complete Works]] revealed that he started the whole Elf Wars because he thinks that Reploids, [[JustAMachine being just machines]], were getting off too easy for the massive destruction caused in the Maverick Wars, especially once the plan to solve the Maverick problem was to basically install anti-virus software (the Cyber-Elves) and call things even. His stated reason for his Project Elpizo (using the Mother Elf with his "perfect Reploid", Omega, to control Reploids' minds worldwide) was to prevent any Reploid from going Maverick again. So he was more of a WellIntentionedExtremist from the start; but then he went through the MoralEventHorizon by creating the Elf Wars in the first place (and he went nuts even more during his exile). This shows how much this trope is deconstructed in this series.

[[caption-width-right:350:"I never cared about justice, and I don't recall ever calling myself a hero...I have always only fought for the people I believe in."\\
[[note]]Clockwise from the top: [[BigBad Weil]], [[RebelLeader Ciel]], [[AntiHero Zero]] and [[DragonInChief Omega]], with [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Weil's Numbers]] in the background.[[/note]]]]

** When Zero finally reaches the Ragnarok Core, Dr. Weil says "[[Film/{{Armageddon}} Welcome to your front row seat to the end of the world]]."

* VoiceGrunting: The whole series. One of the drama tracks from the ''Zero 4'' soundtrack even uses voice grunts taken from the game to depict a battle. Note that they only used Japanese actors, [[CutAndPasteTranslation even in the NTSC version]]...[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Epcar even though Richard Epcar is uncredited for Heat Genblem]].

** Another returning element from the ''Classic'' series: the enemies Shotman and Peterchy get redesigned and reappear as Shotloid and Petaria after their absence from the ''X'' series.
** In the Hibernation Chamber level of ''Zero 4'' there are various iron pipes that Zero can use with the Z-knuckle. Zero used an iron pipe against Sigma back when he first awoke from hibernation in ''VideoGame/MegaManX''.

* ALizardNamedLiz: In a variant, characters are named after corruptions of animaloid mythological creatures. E.g Mino Magnus (a minotaur), Cubit Foxtar (a {{Kitsune}}, name containing both "Kyuubi" and "Fox"), and Hyleg Ourobockle ({{Ouroboros}}).

* RobotHair: Aside from the usual Zero, there are Elpizo (blond), Omega (a pinkish/fuchsia ponytail sprouting out from the top of his helmet), and Kraft (dark spiky hair which appears to also form GoNagaiSideburns), among others. Seeing as [[spoiler:Omega's body is a shell[=/=]PowerLimiter for Zero's original body, this means that Omega also shares Zero's infamous RapunzelHair]].

* AdultFear:
** The plot revolves around ''genocide''. To be specific, imagine if your government decides that YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness and ordered you to be, at best, deactivated.
** Picture this: You were a brilliant child that many pinned their hopes for the future on. Your creation was to be a great champion, to rally the people of the world to stand together and survive the aftermath of a horrific set of wars. However, the stress of leadership and being the hope of mankind drove your creation insane, and he became the very opposite of what he was meant to be; driving you from your former life and forcing you to become a fugitive alongside other people he deemed undesirable in his pursuit of a perfect world. In your flight, you were slowly driven to a desolate place, forced to watch your new comrades die for your sake. Welcome to Ciel's life. It's a miracle that she managed to find Zero at the lowest point in her life.

* LightDarknessJuxtaposition: X becomes associated with light — he ends up becoming an EnergyBeing and has a nigh-angelic appearance. One of his Four Guardians, Phantom, has shadow powers; he's also the most loyal to X, the "shadow to his light".

* PostDefeatExplosionChain: When bosses are defeated, they give off numerous small explosions before a big one at the end. The only bosses that do not explode in this manner are the [[EnergyBeing Baby Elves]].

* RewritingReality: [[AllThereInTheManual The Remastered Tracks]] says [[EnergyBeing Cyber Elves']] powers work like this, by rewriting the "programming code" of reality via {{Cyberspace}}. Too bad they [[HeroicSacrifice die]] after that...new models and really powerful ones such as X and the Mother Elf are exempt from this, though.

* EnergyBeing: The Cyber Elves, beings of data with a body of PureEnergy. It's also possible to turn Reploid AI into a cyber-elf; it happens to X [[spoiler:and Elpizo]].

* ApocalypseHow: Class 5; there's the Elf Wars, which rendered the world uninhabitable except for one massive city named Neo Arcadia. Then [[spoiler:in the climax of ''Z4'', Craft used the KillSat Ragnarok to fire at Neo Arcadia to kill Weil; millions of casualties resulted from it]].

** Revealed in one dialogue during ''Zero 3'', stating that humans of the dystopian Neo Arcadia only indulge themselves in food and comfort, letting the authorities do the thinking for them while regarding the conflicts Zero and Ciel have been fighting as mere daily news on the televisions. The whole GovernmentConspiracy and PropagandaMachine aimed at the Resistance don't help. In ''Z4'', Zero also further condemns humans fleeing from Weil's iron fist as cowardly beings who would do nothing about their refugee leader getting kidnapped just to avoid another war. It is not until [[spoiler:Craft blows up the city]] that the humans finally wake up with terrible pain in their minds.

** In ''Z4'', Zero pointed out that Area Zero -- which was a place utterly devastated by a ColonyDrop and a painful reminder of the past -- is now capable of sustaining life and that human refugees have settled there.

* ItemCrafting: In ''Z4'', Zero makes customization chips out of "recipes" of enemy parts.

* LethalJokeItem: Ever make "Junk" out of ItemCrafting in ''Z4''? They're actually ingredients for the Junk Armor, a set of armor that makes him even more of a GlassCannon and doubles all damage he deals and receives. There are also S-crystals, which are never used as Custom Chips either, but make two of them and bring them to your friend Hirondelle for two free Sub-tanks (and a third one is required to help make one of the Junk Armor pieces).

* MonsterCompendium: The collectible secret disks in Z3 contain data of enemies, bosses and characters, which you can check at Cerveau after you acquire them in the stages (or by talking to people at the base). There's also the database in Z4 which does a similar thing without the disks; you access them in the main menu.

** Specifically, in the first game, the bosses were very hard (to the point of [[SkippableBoss putting in a skip system]]), you couldn't backtrack if you did use said skip system, you had to grind with your weapons to level them up, the cyber elves were very unforgiving in mistakes and gave huge penalties, took an absurd amount of energy crystals to fully level up, and weren't nearly as useful as the later ones. In Z2, the elves are more useful, didn't need so many crystals, there were two free e-tanks, you could get permanent power ups, and you could even learn special attacks from bosses; however, you still had to level up your weapons, and said special attacks were only available for A or S rankings. In Z3, you no longer had to level up weapons, it was easier to get upgrades, there were more opportunities to use elves, and there were useful armor chips. And Z4 was just so easy compared to the rest, it would take all day to compare it to the others.

* NoOSHACompliance: In ''Z1'', you have to restore power to your base so that the {{Red Shirt}}s can take the elevator to the shuttle bay so they can evacuate the base. Because, apparently, there are no stairs, ramps, or ladders.

* PowerTrio: Ciel (Superego), Zero (Ego), and Elpizo (Id) in ''Z2''.

* PreviouslyOn: Each game after ''Z2'' features a prologue of sorts that narrates what happened in previous games (see OpeningScroll). The narrator in ''Z4'' is actually a character introduced later in the same game: Neige.

** Weil's Numbers, the main bosses of ''Zero 3'', could probably count as well.

* RescueMission: the first game has three, with one of them also being an EscortMission. The second game has one in Hyleg Ourobockle's stage (rescuing both resistance members and one of the Baby Elves), while the fourth game has it in the "Area Zero invasion" stage (you rescue Caravan guys).

* SlipperyAsAnEel: Volteel Biblio from ''3'' is a very sneaky character, his level being particularly trap-infested and snaking through secret passages all over his BossArena to get the drop on you, being ThatOneBoss of the game.

* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: Unfortunately for the series' resident ActualPacifist, this happens in ''Z3''.

* VoiceGrunting: The whole series. One of the drama tracks from the ''Zero 4'' soundtrack even uses voice grunts taken from the game to depict a battle. Note that they only used Japanese actors, [[CutAndPasteTranslation even in the NTSC version]]...[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Epcar even though Richard Epcar is uncredited for MMZ4 as Heat Genblem]].

* SlipperyAsAnEel: Volteel Biblio from ''3'' is a very sneaky character, his level being particularly trap-infested and snaking through secret passages all over his BossFight arena to get the drop on you, being ThatOneBoss of the game.

** The final BossFight in the third game takes place where Zero was sealed in the first game's opening.

** ''Zero 3'' and ''4'' {{handwaved}} this trope, since the main field of research of the BigBad before his StartOfDarkness is "Reploid [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots DNA]] revival."

* BraggingRightsReward: Getting S ranks. A rank is sufficient to get any of the unlockable content, and S rank is damn hard to achieve in some levels, especially if you're playing on Hard Mode.
** Subverted in ''2'' and ''3'', where you got a new technique (see PowerCopying) that made the game easier if you ranked A or higher. Played straight in ''4'' where getting the power had nothing to do with rank.
** Not to mention the mini games from ''Zero 3'', including the ones you got by getting 100 points on each level, aka finishing quickly, not being hit more than once per level, destroy as many mooks as you see, not using any Fusion Cyber Elves, not falling to bottomless pits/spikes of doom, and not going to Cyberspace because doing so will harm your mission points. Simple, right?

** The ''Mega Man Zero Collection'' subverts this with Easy Scenario, which automatically starts the games in their "Ultimate Modes", but they have to be played in sequential order.

* HeartContainer: A few Nurse Elves can be used as this, with the best of them doubling your HP. In a variant, the elves that turn into Subtanks also qualify.

** Zero was made by Dr. Wily as TheAntichrist. 2 ironies come from this: 1) [[spoiler:Omega (Zero), especially after powered with Dark Elf (read: a maverick antivirus that turns into a corrupting agent) is similar to Awakened Zero in ''X5'', i.e what Wily intended Zero to become. Bonus points with Weil having similarities to Wily.]] 2) Zero ends up being the savior of the world, in the end.

* OperationBlank: In ''Zero 2'', there's Elpizo's "Operation Righteous Strike", which is essentially an invasion of Neo Arcadia. [[spoiler:It fails horribly, with many {{Red Shirt}}s dead, and Zero having to rescue Elpizo before he's killed by [[HeroAntagonist the Guardians]]]].

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Four Guardians, minus the "quirky" part.
** Fefnir and Leviathan are [[BloodKnight kinda]] [[InLoveWithYourCarnage quirky...]].

* RecurringRiff: The first game's boss theme, "Crash", is remixed for mini-bosses in subsequent installments.

* SceneryPorn: Area Zero in ''Zero 4''.

* ThemeMusicPowerUp: Whenever that particular game's Zero theme song starts sounding, rest assured -- you're about to do something very cool.

* ThrowTheMookAtThem: In the fourth game, you can pick some specific enemies with the Z-Knuckle and then throw them at other mooks.

* TimeSkip: This game skips a century after the ''X'' series. Also there's a year time skip between the first game and the second.

* TransformationSequence: Done for each of the final bosses' {{One Winged Angel}}s.
** Elpizo in particular gets an elaborate one that shows his body transforming into white and gold armor, complete with picture cuts of details, while Weil's second form transformation is the most graphic and [[PainfulTransformation painful]] of them.

* {{Tyrannicide}}: In the climax of the ''4'', [[spoiler:Craft [[TheStarscream rebels against]] the current ruler of [[TheEmpire Neo Arcadia]], [[TheCaligula Dr. Weil]], and hijacks the control system of [[KillSat Ragnarok]] in order to kill him. In a subversion, not only the Neo Arcadia gets utterly destroyed in the process, Weil survived the attack thanks to his regenerative armor. In the end Weil does get killed by Zero but by then the country is already no more]].

* UndeadCounterpart: ''VideoGame/MegamanZero'', ''VideoGame/MegamanZero3'', and ''VideoGame/MegamanZero4'' gives us a variation in the Pantheon Zombie and Pantheon Corpse, which are the wreckage of Pantheon Hunters and Pantheon Guardians reanimated by either Anubis Necromancess III/V or by the Scrap Elf enemy. The Pantheon Zombies are exclusively used by Anubis Necromancess in his boss battles, while the latter exclusively appear in Fenri Lunaedge's stage, making them a UniqueEnemy of sorts.

** {{Ungrateful Bastard}}s: During the Battle for Area Zero, most of them didn't take too kindly to being rescued by Zero...
* UnusualEars: All of the Reploids in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' and cyborgs in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' seem to have these strange white headphone-like things instead of human ears, which is strange, considering that the first ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' had proper ears, despite being much less advanced.
** The above is very much the norm in this continuity - even for the humans. The only characters in the entire ''Zero'' series who are shown to have normal, human ears are Neige (a human) and Dr. Weil ([[spoiler:''formerly'' human]]), [[InvertedTrope making ''them'' the unusual ones]].

** VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Using them also decreases Zero's game ranking.
*** ''Zero 3'' actually distinguishes with certain fusion elves. Instant A-rank for one mission? You just lose one point, meaning you can still get from a B-average to an A-rank in the same mission you use it. It also offers the use of Satellite Elves, which don't die when used.

* VoiceGrunting: The whole series. One of the drama tracks from the ''Zero 4'' soundtrack even uses voice grunts taken from the game to depict a battle.
** Note that they only used Japanese actors, [[CutAndPasteTranslation even in the NTSC version]]...[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Epcar even though Richard Epcar is uncredited for MMZ4 as Heat Genblem]].

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Zero stops short of killing the Guardians when you first fight them, with no explanation offered. Granted, you find out later that they're {{Hero Antagonist}}s, but their subordinates, who are similarly just doing their job, are all fair game for bisection.

* WhatMeasureIsANonhuman: The main conflict in the series involves the dwindling rights of the [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Reploids]], relentlessly persecuted for trivial reasons. [[spoiler:Later, the humans receive this treatment as well, ironically from the most ''inhuman'' of them all]].

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: [[http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Vile%27s_Incident:_Eden_dome,_its_sin_and_rebirth "Vile's Incident: Eden dome, its sin and rebirth"]], on top of recapping on the events of 3 and 4 (collectively dubbed "Vile's Incident"), contains an epilogue set two years after the conclusion of the series.
* WhereItAllBegan: The final BossFight in the third game takes place where Zero was sealed in the first game's opening.

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Deconstructed in the first two games. Barring the psychopaths (the bosses from ''Zero 3''-''4'', Copy X [at least in the third game], [[spoiler:Elpizo]], Omega, and Weil), no one in the war was truly a villain in the proper sense. This point is what makes the Guardians (especially encourager Fefnir and civil Harpuia) the most sympathetic antagonists in the franchise.

* YouCantThwartStageOne: Many instances:
** Halfway through ''Zero 2'', your missions are all the same: you must now intercept the runaway [[BigBad Elpizo]]. [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Guess what happens every time]]. Zero also failed to [[spoiler:save X's body in time, as Elpizo destroys it, releasing the tightly-shackled [[SealedEvilInACan Dark Elf]] in the process]].
** In ''Zero 3'', you have to stop a missile from harming a residential area. When you arrive, the missile is launched, and then [[RidingTheBomb you ride onto it]], trying to destroy the inactive Omega inside. Unfortunately, the Baby Elves hold you in the middle, long enough for the missile to reach its destination and claim thousands of lives. Ergo, Zero is prevented from saving any innocent lives [[spoiler:other than Sage Harpuia]].
*** Later, Zero tries to stop Copy X Mk. II, and then it's revealed that [[spoiler:Weil is just using them as his {{Unwitting Pawn}}s to become the ruler of Neo Arcadia]].
** In ''Zero 4'', it's said that the Einherjar Eight Warriors are just distractions for the Operation Ragnarok.
*** Later, [[spoiler:Craft pulls out a HeelFaceTurn (sort of) and tries to destroy Neo Arcadia and Weil using [[KillSat Ragnarok]]]]. You are sent to stop him, [[spoiler:but right before the final boss door, the Ragnarok is successfully fired, claiming millions of lives. And then you fight him]].

* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Practically all mooks and minibosses explode when they're defeated. So do most bosses; when they're defeated, [[ChainReactionDestruction they give off numerous small explosions before a big one at the end]]. The only bosses that do not explode are the [[EnergyBeings Baby Elves]].

** 50% more damage in the first game, though ''Zero 2'' pulls a fast one by forcing you into [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Proto]] Form, where you become a GlassCannon with double damage and half defense.

Another entry into Creator/{{Capcom}}'s popular flagship ''Franchise/MegaMan'' series, a DarkerAndEdgier direct SequelSeries to ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' that continues the story of Zero, X's partner and best friend.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: A very mild version. In order to keep an E rating, the blood sprays were edited out of the American release.

Another entry into Creator/{{Capcom}}'s popular flagship ''Franchise/MegaMan'' series, although it is a more direct sequel to ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' and is even DarkerAndEdgier than the former series. The first game was released for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance in 2002 and continues the story of Zero, X's partner and best friend.

* CyberPunk: The story is set in a post-apocalyptic setting where the world's populace is reduced to just one big highly-technological city. Said city and its government try to be as comfortable as possible to humans, at the expense of the sapient robots (Reploids), who are systematically "retired" due to 1) an energy crisis, 2) the city's leader is just that inept. This sparks a LaResistance movement which consists of Reploids who are just trying to defend themselves against the oppressive regime, and Zero ends up joining their side. Zero mostly protects the Resistance from the Neo Arcadian forces, but their attempts at decisive moves to bring peace between them - both peaceful and violent - were rocky, to say the least. Meanwhile, the humans are basically at the mercy of the techno-government - once their leader is replaced by [[TyrantTakesTheHelm the tyrant scientist known as Dr. Weil]], he turns the already shaky utopia into a full-blown hellhole, so much that they have to flee and find a refuge... in a place with lush nature, almost free of technology. While the humans are tired of the whole RobotWar, most of them are too weak and complacent to do anything about it; it takes Zero's words, and [[spoiler:his HeroicSacrifice in the end]], to kickstart the peace and new life between the two races.

** In the [[AllThereInTheManual drama tracks]], there's "Project Elpizo", an operation to create Omega, a Reploid that's a perfect ruler using the Mother Elf's program rewriting ability. TK-31 (Elpizo's former codename) accidentally found the data about this project, and because it's supposed to be a secret for Neo Arcadia, he's declared as Maverick by Harpuia. Eventually, he managed to run away from the country and changed his name into... you know... as well as starting his quest for power by stealing the Baby Elves.

** Omega's second form has different-coloured arms and white middle body. You know, there's [[Anime/DigimonAdventure some other guy named Omega]] who has the same appearance... [[note]]I mean, Omegamon. You probably won't get the catch easily, because Omegamon's name overseas is Omnimon.[[/note]]

** Interestingly, there's the miniboss [[GiantEnemyCrab Clabanger NS]], which spawns 2 kinds of mini-crabs. You may try to pick one red or blue mini crab and then throw them at the boss, which does little damage... or throw them at a differently-colored mini crab which releases an explosion that can hit the boss, dealing moderate damage.

** Downplayed with the previous ruler of Neo Arcadia, Copy X. He does try to make the empire close to an utopia... but he's so oppressive to Reploids in that he considers retiring minor, innocent Reploids is a good solution for the energy crisis. Then Zero slays him in the first game. In the second game, his second-in-command Harpuia assumes the role in secret, where the empire becomes less oppressive under him. In the third game this is fully played straight - Copy X is revived by Dr. Weil and becomes worse; he now considers human society a fair game, as seen when he demolished an entire city block with a missile just to get the Dark Elf. Zero slays him again, only for Weil to take his place.

* RealityEnsues: Killing the dictatorial leader of an oppressing regime doesn't magically make everyone's lives better. It only leaves the spot open for someone else, possibly as bad or ''even worse'', to take their place.

* EndOfAnAge: ''Zero 3'' and ''4'' serve as this for both the ''Zero'' series and ''VideoGame/MegaManX''. ''Zero 3'' features [[spoiler:the {{Final Death}}s of both X, Copy X and the Four Guardians made from his reploid DNA, making it the ultimate end of X's legacy, while Zero is forced to destroy his original body to stop Omega]]. Then by ''Zero 4'', Zero [[spoiler:pulls his final HeroicSacrifice to stop Dr. Weil and save Area Zero, finally bringing an end to the centuries-long conflict between humans and reploids.]]