So in the first Megaman Zero game the main villain is a clone of Megaman X known as Copy X:
However the original idea was to have the original X be the villain instead as and was only changed 1 month before the game was released due to not wanting to alienated the audience. So what do you think should X himself have been the villain. There is subtle foreshadowing to it in Megaman X4 where he asks Zero to kill should be turn Maverick but that's it.
Personally while an interesting twist I'm against it as it would invalidate all of X's struggles.
It's a cool idea, but they were probably concerned with how people might take his redesign. Some people would probably look at that and say "not my x."
Ultimately, they made the right choice for the time.
X snapping and going off the deep end would have been interesting in his case given his capacity for free thought and emotion relative to reploids. There's an interesting story in X being created with the best intentions and becoming a threat, and Zero being made with the absolute worst intentions and ending up a savior.
That said, I think they made the right call in the end.
they made the right choice because the X series marched on rather than ending like had been the original story idea, but i think i would have preferred if they managed to stick to the original idea of X buckling under the choice due to his capacity for free will and ultimately deciding the only way to save humanity was to doom everything else to the wastes
it's a much simpler story than the whole elf war thing, which is... still kind of weird to me
It's a cool idea, but they were probably concerned with how people might take his redesign. Some people would probably look at that and say "not my x."
Ultimately, they made the right choice for the time.
As in visual design? Zero 3 changes the look of Zero's original body, so if that was the concern I guess they didn't stick to it.
I don't know if it was the right idea for the series, but I do think it follows. X went through a hundred years of diagnostics to ensure that he he did not become a machine that harms humans, but he wasn't put under any such measures to give robots the same protection. It's sort of the flipside of villains like Braiking Boss and Skynet - the former being the basis for SIgma.
Should X have been turned into even more of a prop to make Zero look cool than he already is in his own games?
Nah fam I'll pass on that one. Copy X gets the same intent across, that X was a symbol of hope for everyone that come his passing the world couldn't live without him, but without directly sacrificing the character. Copy X represents the failure of Neo Arcadia to carry on his legacy, and that's more fitting to the character than falling from grace himself.
"X turns evil and Zero kills him" is a cool idea, but they're all cool ideas till they actually happen.
Should X have been turned into even more of a prop to make Zero look cool than he already is in his own games?
Nah fam I'll pass on that one. Copy X gets the same intent across, that X was a symbol of hope for everyone that come his passing the world couldn't live without him, but without directly sacrificing the character. Copy X represents the failure of Neo Arcadia to carry on his legacy, and that's more fitting to the character than falling from grace himself.
"X turns evil and Zero kills him" is a cool idea, but they're all cool ideas till they actually happen.
Yes, completely agreed--making X the villain would have been a complete betrayal of what his character is. A better idea would have been making Wily the villain in Z3-4, instead of some rando nobody heard about, and wrapping up that saga definitively.
While it could have been interesting to see, it probably wouldn't have made much difference. Inti themselves said that the change came very late in development, so had it been X it wouldn't have been an interesting exploration of the character, just the same dialogue without the mentions of him being a copy.
The final version of the narrative - X becoming depressed due to the endless fighting and Zero sealing himself away - is far more poignant and in line with his character from the X series.
And Copy X is really compelling, in my opinion. Because he really is a perfect copy of X - and that's the problem. He's what would've happened if X hadn't spent all those years in a capsule with his morality being tested, and then given complete political control over the world. He genuinely believes Neo Arcadia is a flawless paradise. And his inexperience ultimately costs him both when he's beaten by Zero and later when he's manipulated by Weil. So he got to be his own character while also an exploration of the lore behind X.
For one, it would entirely betray everything that was established about X's character. This was a guy whose main internal conflict within his own series was trying to find a way to peacefully resolve ever rising tensions between his own kind and humans, and honor his "father's" vision. In no shape or form would it make sense for X to just decide to give a middle finger to all of that, via sacrificing his own kind in cold blood for the sake of the humans'.
For two, what actually happened to the real X is both far more in line with his character, as well as all the more poignant. He ended up so depressed, he lost his baseline empathy for those he fought against, fighting a lonely war for countless years until he sealed himself away to keep the Dark Elf sealed.
I'll always side-eye Inafune for a lot of his decisions and his utter devotion to his red, long-haired OC, but he absolutely made the right call here.
X snapping and going off the deep end would have been interesting in his case given his capacity for free thought and emotion relative to reploids. There's an interesting story in X being created with the best intentions and becoming a threat, and Zero being made with the absolute worst intentions and ending up a savior.
That said, I think they made the right call in the end.
X snapping and going off the deep end would have been interesting in his case given his capacity for free thought and emotion relative to reploids. There's an interesting story in X being created with the best intentions and becoming a threat, and Zero being made with the absolute worst intentions and ending up a savior.
That said, I think they made the right call in the end.
I mean at the very least, Capcom could have made it a Sigma Virus corrupting X for the 4 games, or a breakdown in X's programming, or any of that, to make the battles and conflict between him and Zero more emotional. At the least. But I like some of the thoughts above that X could have been corrupted and lost it due to constant battles, wars, and fighting over the years.
I thought it was cool to have Copy X and Omega as foils to X and Zero as what they could have been without their sense of morality (with Copy X having a screwed vision of "peace" and Omega being the bloodthirsty killing machine that Dr. Wily intended Zero to be).
I also like the commanders Harpuia, Leviathan, Phantom and Fefnir as replicas of X who aren't "evil" but oppose Zero, and being eventually able to play "as them" in the ZX series.
I like my MegaMan games with the idea of a beacon of hope in an indifferent or hopeless world. You'd have to elevate Ciel to Dr Light levels if X was going to be the big bad or radically change Zero's ideology. Otherwise it'd be a little too bleak for my tastes.
I loved the early X series and never got into the Zero series. I really hate the character redesigns. Having said that no I don't think X should have become a villain.
I loved the early X series and never got into the Zero series. I really hate the character redesigns. Having said that no I don't think X should have become a villain.
Of course, what a surprise that most people here would actually vote "yes". Not at all, terrible idea, and I say this as someone who always liked Zero better.
It's a cool idea, but they were probably concerned with how people might take his redesign. Some people would probably look at that and say "not my x."
No, the reason given in the zero art collection is that another team had picked up the X series, which was meant to be over with X5. They feared keeping X as the villain in Zero would impact the success of X6.
The difference in looks is just a thing, that's why even later in Z3 when you see Zero's original body it still looks just like the Zero era body, or for that matter when you see the true X's body in Z2 it looks just like copy X.
Copy X felt like a cheap cop-out, and I wish they would have stuck with their original idea. They were building up to something with stakes and people would be invested in, but adding a boring clone character robbed it of any weight.
No, the reason given in the zero art collection is that another team had picked up the X series, which was meant to be over with X5. They feared keeping X as the villain in Zero would impact the success of X6.
Voted yes, then read the OP properly and changed it to a no. The Copy X in there? sure, that would have been fine. But why sully the original X into becoming a corrupt hero as the villain? That's some DC-level garbage we don't need.
wouldn't the existence of MegaMan Zero kind of invalidate his struggles to begin with? Time moved on, he died, the enemy evolved and it fell to a future iteration of Zero to continue the fight.
because it's a cool idea that deals with real ethical ramifications of what life is, it's what the story had been building up to in X5, it would have been a refreshing take for both characters
X being so, so tired of fighting when he never wanted to that he mentally and emotionally burns out and resigns himself to being a holographic observer like his creator, and humanity subsequently fucking up everything again of their own volition is the right trajectory for the series.
Also, hard no on the "Weil should've been Wily" idea, especially in a post MM11 world where Wily finally got a little character depth of his own that ties in super well with Zero's arc.
I think that it should have actually been X, there's at least something from before Zero 1 to build / continue an arc from.
Please ignore the 90s Capcom USA "accounting department recorded in a closet" voice acting lol
Paradise slowly eroding through the erroneous cost-benefit analyses of a weary hero who increasing can't live up to his own standards has a certain intrigue to it. What good is 30 years of morality testing against 200 years of total war, with hardly anyone to rely upon besides himself. Desperately trying to keep dwindling groups of humans and reploids alive in the face of adversity could make anyone a cynic. Neo Arcadia could have really leaned into a The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas vibe.
Either way, the Copy X design is dope, and I love how all of the Pantheons mirror it to give them legitimacy as an army.
X being so, so tired of fighting when he never wanted to that he mentally and emotionally burns out and resigns himself to being a holographic observer like his creator, and humanity subsequently fucking up everything again of their own volition is the right trajectory for the series.
Also, hard no on the "Weil should've been Wily" idea, especially in a post MM11 world where Wily finally got a little character depth of his own that ties in super well with Zero's arc.
If there was a time for Wily to come back, it was X5. Sigma all but says his name. They just didn't follow through on an actual appearance for whatever reason.
Weil's his own thing and we get some great payoff for Zero's character from them.
Weil: Are you even capable of it!? The Reploid hero... Protecting justice and humanity! I am one of those humans you were sworn to protect! Do you have it in you to defeat me!?
Zero: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. I won't hesitate... If an enemy appears in front of me, I will destroy it!
Anyway, all of Mega Man's plot is hastily duck-taped together and I love it.
wouldn't the existence of MegaMan Zero kind of invalidate his struggles to begin with? Time moved on, he died, the enemy evolved and it fell to a future iteration of Zero to continue the fight.
Not really as he in MMZ he went out as a hero which shows no matter the odds, X still fought for his ideals and still paved the way for others to continue
because it's a cool idea that deals with real ethical ramifications of what life is, it's what the story had been building up to in X5, it would have been a refreshing take for both characters
back when X was still the intended antagonist, the story was going to follow from X5's "bad" endings, that the colony ended up crashing into earth and ultimately wiped out most life and ended up leading to desertification across the planet. that's where the idea that X would have to compromise on his morals in some way to protect humanity in a world without Zero
elements of this still exist in 4, Area Zero is the crash site of the colony
I think it would have been fine but they didn't have to kill him, they could have redeemed him. I think it could have made sense that X went too far down the path of protecting humans and needed Zero to pull him back.
I think it would have been fine but they didn't have to kill him, they could have redeemed him. I think it could have made sense that X went too far down the path of protecting humans and needed Zero to pull him back.
genocidal from the reploids point of view for sure, but not maniacal. everything he would've done would be to save what remained of humanity from extinction. that's hard to overcome, but not impossible.
genocidal from the reploids point of view for sure, but not maniacal. everything he would've done would be to save what remained of humanity from extinction. that's hard to overcome, but not impossible.
