Nick’s NetBlog

We return to the latter half of the platforming games and will finish them out, while also starting and completing the major examples of the RPG spinoffs.

• Omega – Mega Man Zero 3 and Mega Man ZX

This character, Omega, is the main inspiration for starting this two-part series of posts. In MMZ3, he was the final boss, and his in-story lore is that he was the original body of Zero implanted with a destructive personality to be able to harness the Mother Elf’s powers to their fullest. The story of the Mother Elf is complicated, but to keep it short, her abilities could remove all traces of a virus making all Reploids(sentient machines) go rouge, or “Maverick” if you will. On the other hand, the ultimate antagonist, Dr. Weil, wanted to use her powers to take control of every Reploid instead, which using Zero’s body as a host for the Mother Elf would have been perfect. This is why the Zero the player controls has a copy body, while still having the personality of the heroic, legendary Zero. As X, Zero’s best friend and ally, puts it, it doesn’t matter what body it is, it’s the person inside that matters. With that, Omega is destroyed and Zero 3 comes to a close, with Zero’s story as a whole coming to a close in Zero 4 not long after. Strange, then, that a weird duplicate of Omega would show up in a seemingly corrupted area in Mega Man ZX, set 200 years after the end of Zero 4. After completing the penultimate mission in Area M, a new area opens up as the endgame of the story is put into motion. This is Area N, a place that somehow fused with the digital world. Disappearing blocks(known as Yoku blocks) are a main feature here, and the end of the area features a rematch with Omega. He has some new moves compared to his kit in Z3, and he’s much faster and durable to compensate for his title of Superboss. Beating him allows the Mysterious Rock to be collected at the very beginning of the area, and after clearing the game and saving that clear to the file, this mysterious rock can be taken to the research lab in home base to form Model Ox, the most powerful transformation that 2-game subseries had to offer. It was essentially the movement and abilities of Model Zx, but with the power to add elemental effects to some attacks with the Overdrive function, of which was unlimited. Very powerful, obviously locked to after the end of the game, and very fun.

• Megaman Battle Network and Megaman Star Force – PvP

Now that the platformers’ set of doubles has been completed, it’s time to move to an entirely different format of double in the franchise- multiplayer clones. Obviously, this is not related to the main stories of any of the games, but it’s important to mention as this would be the only major mention they get. First up is Battle Network’s interpretation. The games take place in a network-connected Cyberworld with some real-world segments, so connecting with others to play doesn’t seem that far fetched, even though they have the same exact NetNavi as you. Story-wise, there are ways to make it work, but they’re complicated. For Star Force, similar things could be said; clusters of noise waves could form a double with a specific set of cards and you could fight. Honestly, the story reasons for this situation occurring are nonessential; fighting an opponent with a similar skillset as you and with the ability to adapt, play mindgames, and have just as much fun as you can.

I’m Nicholas Vance, an OU college student from Tecumseh, OK. If you haven’t already read a post, you should know that video games are my forte. I’ve got a lot of interesting topics to share, so if you want to keep up to date, keep a bookmark on the page.

In Capcom’s Mega Man franchise, the idea of having a duplicate of the player character fight the player has been around from the beginning. From the first game in the franchise to other antagonists that arrived later to the connotations of how multiplayer works in later games, there are many different choices to point out a double in the franchise.
Here I will outline those in the earlier 2D platformers, and the rest of the franchise will come later.

• Copy Robot — Mega Man (NES)

This was the first game in the series, and Capcom already started using your own acquired powers against you. This fight is very simple, and it becomes very trivial if abusing the useless Super Arm to make Copy Robot unable to attack you, but it was a very good first step. There isn’t much to talk about here.

• Holo- Mega Men — Mega Man 3 (NES)

This boss was just two games later, after skipping over Mega Man 2. It was quite the upgrade; only one foe was actually damageable while all three could hit you. His position at the start was consistent and he had no invulnerability frames, so taking care of this fight with the help of a glitch from Rush Coil makes this a piece of cake.

• Bass — Mega Man 7 (SNES)

This entry is quite a few years later, in the 1990s and the NES’s sequel, the Super NES, is out. Capcom releases only one Classic style Megaman game on the console, and it has a bit of a Megaman double–that being Wily’s attempt at making a direct counter to Mega Man. Essentially his Mega Man, if you want to be simple. Bass seems to start out as a potential ally, fighting you at the beginning seemingly not know who you are. After making peace, the two split up to deal with Wily’s first and only escape from prison. Over the course of the game, Bass only shows up before the Castle stages once, to steal upgrades for Mega Man. The castle stages show Bass fusing with his robotic dog Treble while you have help from Rush’s super adaptor. These show off the final part of doubling in the classic series thus far–Mega Man and Bass in similar armors, duking it out with similar attacks at the end of Wily Castle 7 Stage 1.

• Vile — Mega Man X series

Vile is a recurring character in the Megaman X series, first starting his antagonistic role in X1 and appearing twice after. The only other villain that reappears more than he does is Sigma, the final boss of every game, with a new body each time. In Vile’s case, the original look is used while the general design is different between each body. His first was simple and unassuming, the second was strong and intimidating, and the last was a return to his first form while still using some intimidating traits of the second. Other than the similarities with resurrecting fallen foes throughout the franchise, there isn’t much to talk about for Vile at least.

That ends off the major examples of the early 2D platformers. Next week, I’ll finish up with Omega and move into the RPG section of the franchise. Until next time-

–Nicholas Vance