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Zero as he appears in Mega Man Zero, holding his signature weapon, the Z Saber

Mega Man Zero is the fifth series in Capcom's Mega Man series of video games, and debuted in 2002 on the Game Boy Advance.

Gameplay

The games are most similar to the Mega Man X series, with the classic trial and error gameplay. The names now follow a mythical/religious theme.

The games are considerably more difficult than earlier Mega Man games, and require more skill to complete. However, fans argue that it is also more fair, as impossible-to-avoid hits (so-called "cheap shots" for which the Megaman games are famous) are greatly reduced.

Story

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Mega Man Zero

After sleeping for a hundred years, Zero awakens to a world where reploids are being constantly accused of being Mavericks and systematically exterminated, apparently under the direction of X himself. Assisting a small resistance group led by a human named Ciel, Zero fights against X's utopia, Neo Arcadia, and its leaders: X and the Four Guardians, Leviathan, Harpuia, Fefnir, and Phantom.

At the end of the first game, Zero entered X's inner sanctum, to find that he was not what he seemed: he was, in fact, a copy X, created to replace the real one, who had gone missing a long time ago. Copy X was defeated, and that was the end of it. Or so it seemed.

Zero finally met up with the real X, who had now assumed the form of a Cyber Elf, and he tells Zero of how he was tired of all the fighting. He tells Zero to protect humanity for him.

Gameplaywise, not much changed from Mega Man X, except for the fact that the Z-Saber, Zero's trademark weapon, can be used in more situations (for example, while running). There are two other weapons which mosts players find useless in most situations, the shield boomerang and the triple rod. The shield boomerang prevents the player from using the dash move while it is engaged, and blocks a very limited variety of projectiles, and the triple rod does no more damage than the Z-saber and prevents the player from moving effectively while using it. (Note: The Triple Rod actually does exceptional damage when charged, hitting tougher enemies such as bosses up to four times.)

Charged attacks can be equipped with three different elemental chips, Ice, Fire, and Thunder, which change the color of the attack and cause status effects to certain enemies. Ice would stop an enemy, fire would damage an enemy slowly after the initial attack, and electricity would stop an enemy, but make them unable to harm Zero for about a second. Against bosses, the elemental chips do 1.5 times the damage of an non-elemental attack as long as you use the correct one, for example, Ice defeats Thunder types, Fire defeats Ice types, and Thunder defeats Fire types.

Mega Man Zero 2

One year has passed since Zero defeated Copy X. He has since spent his time wandering the desert defeating wave after wave of pantheons. As the game opens, Zero wearily makes his way through a sandstorm wrapped in a tattered cloak. As the sands die down he realizes he is once more being chased by pantheons. Despite being in disrepair with cracked armor and broken weapons (his rod and shield were useless), his cloak is thrown to the winds and his Z-Buster is drawn in defense.

"This isn't fun anymore." he says after dispatching the first of an endless wave of enemies.

Elsewhere, the three surviving members of the Four Guardians (Phantom blew himself up trying to stop Zero's assault on Area X) assumed command of Neo Arcadia, with Harpuia as the leader. Copy X's death was covered up, as the humans revered him as their saviour.

Some time later, the conflict between Neo Arcadia and the Resistance continued with no difference. Meanwhile, Ciel worked on a way to solve the energy crisis that lead to all of these problems in the first place. A Resistance leader, the reploid Elpizo, however, thought that Ciel's search was futile, and lead an assault on Neo Arcadia, which resulted in him being the only survivor. Driven mad by this, he sought the power of the legendary Dark Elf, which brought about the Elf Wars a hundred years ago.

Elpizo, using the powers granted by unsealing a portion of the power of the Dark Elf, invades Neo Arcadia and single-handedly breaks into the temple where the body of the real X, revered by all in the utopia, was kept. X had disappeared because he ended the Elf Wars by sealing the Dark Elf away with his body. Elpizo destroys X's body, unsealing the Dark Elf, and uses her powers. Zero manages to stop him from unleashing them on the world, and Elpizo is defeated. As he lies dying, he apologizes for everything he's done. And then, the Dark Elf glows with a warm light, and saves him, turning him into a cyber elf. He tells Zero that she isn't truly evil, and departs. X then shows up, and tells Zero about the Dark Elf, who, too, departs. She was created to be a saviour, but was cursed by a man named Weil, and used...

Meanwhile, a mysterious voice calls for someone named Omega to act.

On a side note, at the start of the game, if a player opens the start menu they will see the one as it appeared in part 1 only rusted and broken. After Zero is rescued and repaired the menu will recieve a new look.

Mega Man Zero 3

At the start of the third game, the following synopsis of the first few games is shown:

The legendary reploid Zero awoke from a long slumber...

With Ciel's resistance he defeated Copy X, the ruler of Neo Arcadia.

The terror of the Neo Arcadian regime ended,

but the energy shortage remained a constant problem.

Ciel devoted herself to researching new forms of energy.

And Elpizo became the newly appointed resistance leader.

However, overcome by his desire for power,

Elpizo awakened the Dark Elf, whose magic had once nearly destroyed the world.

Elpizo thirsting for the power of the Dark Elf, lost sight of his true duty,

and finally defeated after a fierce battle.

However, the Dark Elf fled, her destination unknown..

The third game starts not much later. A fallen spaceship emits energy similar to the Dark Elf, and Zero sets out to investigate. This leads to the climax of the story, with Weil finally revealing himself, Omega, the Dark Elf, the return of Copy X, and the revelation of who the real Zero is. X and Zero fought together to destroy Omega centuries ago (apparently at the end of the Maverick Wars) and as shown in Zero's ending in X6, he was concealed in his chamber until Ciel found him. After destroying Omega, and his original body in the process, Zero's unconscious body is brought back to the Resistance Base by the Dark Elf. With Weil's defeat, the curse placed upon the Dark Elf (now known as the Mother Elf) was removed and she flew away.

Mega Man Zero 4

Humans (including the Resistance) have been leaving Neo Arcadia since Dr. Weil had assumed power, into an place known as Area Zero, where the Eurasia colony had crashed (referring to the events in Mega Man X5) a century earlier. Weil plans to use "Operation Ragnarok" to destroy Area Zero and the rest of the environment outside of Neo Arcadia, forcing the humans to migrate back. Although the following information is speculative, it may also foreshadow events that the series supposedly collides to Megaman Legends.

File:Enemies.bmp

Copy X and several other characters from the Mega Man Zero series.

Notes

Much is left unknown as to what happened between the X and Zero series (for example, the details of the Elf Wars and who transferred Zero to his new body, why they did so, and when this took place).

Prequel to Mega Man Legends?

Many fans wonder how the Zero series possibly leads into Mega Man Legends, given many references that show up, such as a few Reaverbot-like enemies, Reaverbot eye symbols, etc. And since given to the fact that majority of the team members who worked on the Mega Man Zero series also worked on Mega Man Legends (specifically, director Yoshinori Kawano who has also directed the Legends series and of course, producer and creator Keiji Inafune), it is extremely possible that Capcom will elaborate upon the connection which the Legends series has with the main Mega Man timeline (Classic to X to Zero to Legends). But for now, only time (and more games) will explain the gap.

Cameos

Onimusha Buraiden - Blade Warriors (PlayStation 2), along with Mega Man.EXE.
SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos (PlayStation 2, Arcade) Mega Man Zero is a secret playable character.