If you've seen my classic Mega Man review post, you'd know that I got the Mega Man Zero/ZX Collection and have been absolutely loving them. Out of all the Mega Man games, these ones stuck to me the most for their story and combat-oriented gameplay, and they definitely lived up to my expectations. I adored every single one of these games and can't wait to talk about them:
Mega Man Zero: While probably the weakest entry in the collection, Mega Man Zero is a solid start to the series, introducing a lot of the consistently strong hallmarks of the Zero and ZX games. The gameplay is ridiculously fluid, it feels amazing dashing around and slashing enemies in half with your saber, and both the platforming and combat sides of the game felt fantastic. The story is pretty solid, if a bit more simple than the later games. It does a good job of introducing the Resistance and the Guardians as well as establishing our two major characters in Zero and Ciel, both of which rank as two of my favorite Mega Man characters. Zero is such a noble and no-nonsense badass here, and Ciel already gets a ton of depth with the reveal of her backstory. I also have to give praise to the art direction, which is fantastic throughout the series. Obviously, every MMZ game looks fantastic for a GBA game with incredibly detailed and colorful spritework, but I also just generally love Toru Nakayama's style for the series. The character designs are sleek yet detailed, and they all toe the line between cute and badass, with those big eyes especially giving me Klonoa 1 vibes in the best way possible. I'm a big fan of dark stories with cute-looking characters (I am a fan of Kirby and Madoka, after all), so this style is right up my alley. And then there's the soundtrack, which isn't one of the series' best, but does have a lot of memorable songs and a unique style that helps give Mega Man Zero its own vibe.
Mega Man Zero's progression system has Ciel give you a list of objectives that you can beat at any time, with certain objectives giving you new weapons or elemental types that you can use to exploit boss weaknesses. It's a bit less intuitive than your standard Mega Man level select since there's no real way to tell which missions unlock which or whether you'll be getting a worthwhile upgrade after the mission, but I do still like the sheer amount of freedom you get here. One thing I do love about the missions in this game is that they are directly tied to the game's hub, and that you go to every area multiple times in completely different circumstances. It really creates the feeling that you're in a big cohesive world that can be dramatically changed, and I found it to be pretty sick. The level design is a bit hit or miss, though. There are some great missions here, like both of the subway stages, the stage that self-destructs after the final boss, the stage with the giant boats, and the last few levels. However, we also have an escort mission, the screen crunch hell that is the factory, and the very repetitive hidden base mission where you have to free prisoners. I wouldn't say that any level is actively horrible, just... unpolished at worst, and the tight platforming you'll have to do at times isn't always catered to the GBA's small screen.
Then there are the boss fights, which is going to be a pretty common point of praise for me in these games. I love the boss fights in Zero, they feel like an evolution of the bosses I've fought in the Classic and X series. These fights are fast and furious, with multiple hard-hitting attacks and even multiple healthbars, but there are also a lot of ways to take them down quickly whether it's using their weakness or figuring out a pattern. Either way, learning every single boss has been incredibly rewarding and satisfying. The highlights for me was the brutally hard first boss Azure Falcon, the fast-paced Phantom fight, and the ridiculously fun Fairy Leviathan fight. Although, I will admit the final fight with Copy X is pretty bad. I know this game has a pretty godawful retry chip system that could make the game borderline impossible or lock you out of important content, but with the Legacy Collection, I was able to use a checkpoint system called the Save Assist mode that removed that issue all together. I've always felt like brutally hard games like Mega Man Zero need infinite lives to encourage the player to keep going at it. If players lose large chunks of progress and have to do a lot over again, they can feel discouraged, I know I do. The Save Assist checkpoints don't ruin the game's difficulty, they just cut back on the tedium and make my victories feel more satisfying. However, since the Save Assist is basically a savestate built into the game, there are still some side effects, like all of your progress being erased if you die, having to re-do unskippable cutscenes, and being able to activate earlier checkpoints which can be hell in vertical stages.
However, there are a few things in Zero that I'm not a massive fan of, particularly the main collectible of the Cyber Elfs. In theory, these collectibles are cool, essentially boosts that you give to Zero in exchange for health or some sort of assist in battle. However, in implementation, they're heavily flawed. First, there's the fact that using them causes your ranking to drop like a rock. Then, there's the fact that you can't equip them outside of a specific spot on the hub. But worst of all, there's the fact that you have to pay crystals to use the abilities of some of the Cyber Elfs, which is perfectly understandable until you realize just how many crystals you need to feed them. It's way more than you'd be able to get playing the game normally. In addition, all of the weapons Zero uses have upgrades as well based on how many hits you land, meaning that in more ways than one, Mega Man Zero can be a bit of a grindfest (of course the sequel fixes that, and the threequel removes or streamlines these mechanics entirely). And finally, I just don't really think this game explains all of its mechanics to you the best. I had no idea how weapons upgraded without looking it up, I had no idea that Cyber Elfs impact your ranking until looking it up, hell I didn't even know how to use the elements since I had no idea they only affect your charged moves. Mega Man Zero has a lot of interesting mechanics at play, but you need to do your research to learn about all of them because the game just doesn't explain it to you.
But overall, I still really liked Mega Man Zero. It's definitely the weakest of the series and has some pretty crippling flaws, but when the gameplay, boss fights, story, art direction, world-building, music, and at least 50% of the level design is great, those flaws just aren't enough to stop me from liking this one regardless. And to think it all gets better from here...
3/5 Stars
Mega Man Zero 2: Mega Man Zero 2 is exactly how one should go about making a sequel, it keeps the things that the original Mega Man Zero got right and fixes the things it didn't. The fluid gameplay and beautiful spritework is there pretty much intact, but we now have a much more complex and fleshed-out story this time around. I'll be honest and say all the lore about the Cyber Elves went a bit over my head, but overall, I thought the storyline here was great. Elpizo is a way better villain than Copy X since you get to know him throughout the game (not to mention that shocking scene where he kills X's original body), the three Guardians get a bit more development throughout the game, and seeing the resistance expand from the small rundown base of the first game to a large militarized base with way more resources was super cool. I also found the soundtrack to be leagues better. While I enjoyed Zero 1's score, the music in Zero 2 has a sense of confidence and ambition to it, completely blowing away my expectations of what the GBA's sound chip could accomplish. Tracks like Ice Brain, Gravity, and Departure just felt so far beyond the heights of the first soundtrack, and left me very pleasantly surprised.
In addition, the level design and boss fights are also generally an improvement on the first game as well. The levels are longer and more complex in Zero 2, with many more creative gimmicks and setpieces that use your entire arsenal of weapons at times (I actually used the Shield Boomerang at points). There are even points where your elemental chips can affect the environment, it really does feel like these stages are getting the most out of your abilities way more than the first one, which shows in stages like the train level which takes a concept from the original game and fleshes it out a lot more. I will say that there are some levels I found a bit too gimmicky, particularly the ice physics heavy Entrance Of CF, the invisible-platform-ridden Crystal Cave, and that godforsaken airship level, but for the most part, the levels are great here. The bosses are also an improvement, with so many more standout fights like Mega Scorpia, Panter Flauclaws, Hyleg Ourobockle, the Anchus brothers, and Elpizo, of course. The only dud here is Phoenix Magnion, who's somehow simultaneously really easy and really hard at the same time, basically the Copy X of this game. Interestingly enough, I feel like Zero 2 was a much more difficult game than the first, which also being a lot less unfair. I didn't have as many frustrating screen-crunch issues and the final boss was more fair, but the more complex level design and bosses meant this entry was just more demanding.
I also want to touch upon the things that Zero 2 did to improve on the original game beyond just the level design and presentation. For starters, your weapons don't take as many hits to upgrade, and you get all of them at the start. I still felt like I had to do some grinding, but it didn't take as long as in Zero 1. Speaking of the weapons, the fairly clunky Triple Rod from the first game felt pretty useless since I had the much more powerful Z-Saber, but in this game, we get a grappling hook spear called the Chain Rod instead, which was way more versatile and fun to use. In addition, the retry chips have been replaced by a standard life system, which is a great change even if it doesn't matter much for me since I still used the Save Assist feature. The way Cyber Elves work has been improved the most, though. Now you look at the Cyber Elves in the pause menu, you can easily equip them just by talking to Ciel, they don't take as many crystals to feed, and while they still negatively impact your rank, Zero can unlock forms and special EX Skills that he can use to boost his attack power in exchange. However, let's talk about those EX Skills because I do still have one big problem with Zero 2, which is the ranking system itself. This system encourages you to beat levels quickly, avoid taking damage, and not using any Cyber Elves. I've always been more of an exploratory type so I didn't really care to engage with the system, until I realized that the aforementioned EX Skills as well as exclusive boss attacks are locked behind an A or S rank, basically meaning you have to play the game in this specific way if you want to see all the content. I'm fine with having people who do want to try getting an S rank get rewards, but it feels like I'm missing out on the full experience and it kind of sucks. The other Zero games have a ranking system too, and Zero 1's is especially strict, but Zero 2 is where this issue is most egregious for me, as Zero 1 and Zero 4 don't lock major bits of content behind the rank, and Zero 3 simply has the most generous system.
Overall, Mega Man Zero 2 is generally a big improvement over the first game. While its ranking system is flawed and the level design can be a bit gimmicky, the more fleshed-out story, generally more complex level designs and bosses, much-improved Cyber Elves system, and better soundtracks means Zero 2 easily outclasses the original game.
4/5 Stars
Mega Man Zero 3: This game is phenomenal. Like, I knew everyone thought Zero 3 was the best one but I did not expect just how good things were actually going to get. Zero 3 fixes almost every single one of my issues with the previous two games and polishes the formula to near perfection, while also upping the ante in terms of story and presentation once again. The story is so dramatic and large in scale, mostly thanks to the introduction of overarching antagonist Dr Weil. While Elpizo's still probably my favorite villain in the Zero games due to how well we get to know him, Dr Weil is a truly cruel and intimidating villain, and the way he manipulates the cast into starting a war is truly devilish. The game does a great job at selling you on Weil's intelligence, which really helps to sell his threat. But aside from the antagonist, the way the story plays out in Zero 3 is incredibly well-executed and I love what it does with a lot of the characters. Despite not getting too much growth in Zero 2, Ciel gets a ton of moments to shine her as she has to deal with Dr Weil starting another war over her energy system. Harpuia, one of the aforementioned Guardians, gets a great redemption arc. And Zero faces an amazing moral dilemma during the final boss that brings his development to a truly phenomenal head. The visuals and music are also pretty great, though I still think that Zero 2 got most of my favorite tunes in the series. Unlike that game, though, the music gets better as it goes on rather than worse.
But what really elevates Zero 3 so far above the first two games for me is the phenomenal level design. Zero 3's levels are all fantastic, there isn't a single bad stage in the entire game. Each stage is lengthy and filled with unique mechanics and gimmicks, but unlike in Zero 2, none of those gimmicks are overly intrusive or frustrating to deal with. There aren't any pixel-perfect yet inconsistent hops across ice nor irritating floating bombs, and even the token intermission stage doesn't suffer from the same screen crunch that Zero 2's did. The game even brings back levels from previous games and improves on them, from adding entirely new puzzles to Zero 2's forest level to giving Zero 1's desert stage way more texture and way less enemies overwhelming you. As far as the bosses go, while I think the lineup is still really good, I still think I prefer Zero 2's lineup a bit better. Outside of the final bosses, none of the fights in Zero 3 really reach the heights of something like the Anchus Brothers or Mega Scorpia. On the other hand, though, none of the fights in this game reach the same lows as something like Phoenix Magnion, and you do get a few cool rematches with characters like Copy X (minus the awful second phase), Anubis Necromancess, and best of all, Hidden Phantom. Also, I just need to say, the final boss is phenomenal. It's a toss-up whether this or Zero 4's finale is better, but that doesn't change the fact that Zero 3 ended on the best note possible. As a whole, I think the best way to describe Zero 3 is lacking in any bullshit whatsoever. The game is still hard, but it never ever feels unfair.
Zero 3 made a lot of changes to polish up the rough edges from the first two games, and I think they all paid off really well. Upgrading weapons is gone completely, you can get right to the action with every single one of Zero's weapons with zero hassle, which is the way it should have always been. The Chain Rod was replaced with a Recoil Rod, which can mostly be used to push objects rather than pull them. As fun as it is to grapple around stages, the Chain Rod is pretty clunky to use especially with a d-pad, so I like that the Recoil Rod is a bit more manageable. I love the decision to replace the hidden Cyber Elves with these secret disk collectibles, which contain upgrades for Zero, info on enemies and characters, crystal rewards, and Elves. There's so many of them hidden around and exploring the stages to find them was a ton of fun. And while I liked the ability-augmenting forms in Zero 2, their replacements in the form of those aforementioned upgrades felt more intuitive. But once again, the biggest and best change came in the form of the Cyber Elves, since you can now do pretty much anything from the pause menu now. Even more, you can now use crystals to turn your Elves into "Satellite Elves", which won't affect your ranking, actually allowing you to use the game's main collectible if you still want a good ranking! However, even with that added generosity, I still don't quite love the ranking system in Zero 3, since it still locks you out of EX Skills for taking the time to explore. It's especially weird in this game because of how the secret disks mechanic incentives you to explore, yet at the same time the ranking system wants you to go fast. I assume the game wants you to race through the levels first and then take the time to look for disks, but that just feels so counterintuitive to me. Still, the ranking system is mostly side content, and it doesn't impact the fact that Zero 3 is a fantastic game regardless.
Overall, Mega Man Zero 3 is the formula perfected. It's a perfectly paced thrill ride with a perfect level of difficulty, a slew of fun levels, a gripping story, and many great fixes to the issues of earlier entries. While I still prefer the bosses and music in the previous game, they're still great in Zero 3, and aside from the ranking system, I really don't have any gripes with this one. It may easily be the peak of the series...
5/5 Stars
Mega Man Zero 4: Or so I thought! I'm genuinely split as to which Zero games is my favorite because Mega Man Zero 4 is also really good, but for entirely different reasons than Zero 3 was. This game makes a lot of radical changes and while not everything pays off, a decent chunk of it does in some pretty spectacular ways. But let's start with the presentation, which is bar none the best in the series. The spritework is absolutely stunning here, and the environments and character portraits have never looked better, you can tell this game is pushing the GBA to its limits. The soundtrack is also my favorite in the series. While the original GBA version may sound a bit strained, I think the melodies here combined with the great remastering done in the DS/Collection ports really demonstrates how consistently strong the music is here. Hell, Esperanto and Falling Down alone are two of my favorite songs in the series, and that's not even adding in Cyber Space, Mad Heat, Straight Ahead, Holy Land, and Craft's theme. The story is also really good, also rivaling its predecessor's in a lot of ways. While I really like Zero 3's edge of your seat tension, I love how Zero 4 explores the dynamics between humans and reploids, as well as its melancholy "end-of-an-era" tone. Neige is a fantastic and well-developed new character, and Dr Weil continues to be the most despicable villain ever. And the ending just has to be seen to be believed, it's so good!
Zero 4 makes a lot of changes in the gameplay, and they can be a bit of a mixed bag, so let's start with the good changes. For starters, the way you get EX Skills is way better in this version. See, this game has a weather system that you can use to select between two different variants of each stage, with one of the variants being in the boss's favor. So instead of being locked behind the ranking system, you get them by beating each boss in the harder versions of each of their stages, which I absolutely love. Instead of locking them behind speedrunning, Zero 4 makes it so that anyone can get and use the EX Skills while still not handing them out all willy-nilly. As for the ranking system, it's still there, but the only content getting an S Rank unlocks now is a bonus minigame, so it's not entirely useless like in the first game, but it also doesn't completely lock away parts of the game. I also mostly like the way Cyber Elves are used here. Instead of collecting Cyber Elves like in the first three games, you have a single Cyber Elf that you can level up to unlock those abilities, and you can only use a certain number of those abilities before your rank starts to decrease. While I do miss being able to search for them (and did love the Secret Disks system in Zero 3), the single Cyber Elf system is way easier to get to grips with, requires way less of your crystals, and helps the game focus more on speed to encourage players to use the ranking system (even if it's not as important here, oops). I also think the boss lineup rivals Zero 2's lineup, for the most part, with plenty of truly spectacular fights like Craft, Fenri Lunaedge, the several great giant robot fights, and of course, Dr Weil himself. Frankly, the whole final act is easily the best in the series, and Dr Weil may just have my favorite final boss fight too (Omega was amazing but a bit easy). And this may be a small thing, but Zero 4 has the best hub world since the first game. I wasn't a huge fan of the base in Zero 2 & 3 since it felt sterile and had a lot of useless space, but Zero 4 brings back that homely feel and hides collectibles to encourage exploring the whole place while still keeping all of the important rooms close together so you don't have to waste time running around if you want to, say, upgrade your elf.
However, Zero 4 does also have some changes that I'm a bit more split on. The biggest one for me is the Chips system, where you collect parts from enemies to create the Parts that you previously earned in Zero 3 by beating bosses. There's a lot of potential here, with certain Chips being hidden away as collectibles and the sheer amount of Parts you can create allowing for a decent amount of customization. However, the problem here is that enemies don't drop Chips super frequently, so you may have to end up grinding to be able to get the parts you want. And while there is a Cyber Elf that would make this easier, by the time you get it, you likely would have already beaten a large chunk of the game and would have to backtrack. Either way, this system is going to have you grinding, which I praised Zero 3 for completely eliminating. In addition, I'm also a bit split on the lack of elemental chips this time around, instead your EX Skills are what allow you to use elements. Add in the fact that you can play all eight main stages from the start and Zero 4's structure ends up resembling your standard Mega Man game a lot more, albeit with a slightly more complex and open-ended "weakness order". Once again, it's not a massive issue but some of the EX Skills have slightly limited capabilities, and I liked being able to embue elements into all of my weapons. As far as the smaller gripes go, I think the Recoil Rod's replacement, the Hard Knuckle, is way weaker due to being much more context sensitive. In addition, while Zero 4 does have some great stages and is probably better than the first two games in terms of level design, it doesn't come close to the consistent strengths of its predecessor in that front.
As a whole, Zero 4's many changes led a bit of a "one step forward, one step back" feel to the game. It improved on Zero 3 in as many ways as it had regressed. However, keep in mind that I still loved Zero 3 and gave it five stars, and I love Zero 4 about just as much. With the best story, music, presentation, and boss fights in the series, as well as the cool weather and Cyber Elf systems, Zero 4 is another fantastic entry and a nearly perfect ending to the quadrology.
5/5 Stars
Mega Man ZX: I think it's fair to say the Mega Man ZX games form the black sheep series of the franchise. With only two entirely different games, no defined ending like the Zero games, and the fact that no one really seems to talk about them, I went into these having no idea what to expect. I left the game with a lot of thoughts, much of them were great, and a bunch of them were a bit more mixed. Let's start with the good stuff, Mega Man ZX is basically a Mega Man Zero game but it looks, sounds, and plays so much better. Aile/Vent (you get to choose your gender!) may be different characters but their core Model ZX suit is basically just Zero, though without having to deal with Cyber Elf upgrades, EX skills, and all the other crazy mechanics from the Zero games. Instead, ZX's big gimmick is that by beating bosses, you get parts to suits based on the Four Guardians (called Biometals), each with their own movesets. I absolute adore the Biometal mechanic, each suit has its own advantages and uses for both combat and navigation that encourages swapping between them, and being able to basically play as the Guardians is just the coolest thing. Since Mega Man ZX is a DS game, the visuals have also improved a lot, with the character sprites and environment being more detailed and the attacks having much more impact, all the while maintaining the same art direction from those original games. And don't even get me started on the soundtrack, the music in ZX is absolutely phenomenal. It's already great that we have the better quality DS speakers, but the whole soundtrack is filled with banger and banger, even if they don't hit the same emotional heights as Zero 4's soundtrack. ZX also has an alright story that I think is at its best when it's tying up the loose ends from the Zero games. However, I'm not a fan of how certain pieces of lore are locked behind which character you choose, and the main Serpent plotline was pretty average.
However, it's when we get into the actual meat of ZX's gameplay where things start to become a bit more shaky. Mega Man ZX is essentially an open-world Mega Man game where instead of having levels, you have missions that you have to complete in different parts of the overworld to progress the game. It's a really cool concept in theory, it's like an extension of the connected world system from the first Zero game. And at its best, it feels awesome to get to explore a vast Mega Man world with unique biomes and NPCs aplenty. However, in practice, there's a pretty crippling flaw: The map is horrible. Not only is it super vague and does a bad job of showing how to traverse the world, but in the early missions, the game doesn't guide you to where the mission is supposed to take place. Please, if you play ZX, find a map on Google, it will only help you in the long run. In addition, something else I found a bit odd about Mega Man ZX is that this game is hard, especially in its first half. Maybe the relatively easier Zero 3 and Zero 4 lured me into a false sense of security, but I died so much in this game, in both the levels and the bosses. Since the platforming can't get too complex for the sake of easy world traversal, ZX's level design leans on the hack-and-slash combat, meaning that you will be bombarded with enemies a lot in the stages. As for the bosses, ZX's boss lineup tends to boast a wide array of attacks that can take up large portions of the screen. There are a lot of ways to cheese these guys, such as weak points, elements, and Overdrive, but the game mostly just leaves you to figure this all out yourself. As a whole, I think ZX just has a really steep learning curve, even for those who played the whole series. Between the multiple Biometal movesets, new combat mechanics, and more complex boss fights, it's hard not to feel like this game is very overwhelming at first. Thankfully, I did start to get the hang of the ZX style as the game went on, and some of the later moves you get are pretty game-breaking, but it took me a while to really get into ZX's rhythm. And not to mention, the late-game fights with Prometheus and Pandora are hands down some of the best in both series, so I can't say things don't start getting really fun at a certain point.
Coming off the heels of a four-game-long epic like the Zero games was always going to be a tough task, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that I just don't have as much to say about ZX. Don't get me wrong, though, it's still a great game that has plenty of that Mega Man Zero spirit, just in a different way. The gameplay is as fluid and punchy as always, the biometal mechanic is incredibly fun and leads to a lot of mechanical depth in combat, the open world is vibrant and large in scale, the new characters are likable, the post-Zero lore is compelling, and the soundtrack is top-freaking-notch. However, with a surprisingly overwhelming difficulty curve, uneven main plot, and confusing map screen, ZX just couldn't quite reach the heights of the best of the Zero series.
4/5 Stars
Mega Man ZX Advent: Mega Man ZX Advent is a bit of a strange game for me. I've always felt that one of the Zero series' greatest strengths was its story, world, and characters. Over the course of four games, I grew to care about Zero, Ciel, the Guardians, and the rest of the resistance, so when I had to adjust to entirely new cast and story in ZX, I had a bit of a tougher time. I liked Aile, Prarie, and Prometheus well enough, but I mostly just cared about the lore about the Zero games the most. And now we have ZX Advent, which is not only further separated from the Zero games but features an entirely new main cast, meaning I couldn't even have the time to get attached to the ZX characters. It also didn't help that the voice acting was really bad, and I mean nearly unbearable to listen to, which only just made ZX Advent's story feel even more disposable for me, a far cry from the gripping tales of Zero 2-4. In addition, ZX Advent's world felt less natural than the rest of the series. Unlike the small scale world of Zero, the great world-building of Zero 2, the apocalyptic vibe of Zero 4, or the large-scale connected Mega Man universe of ZX, ZX Advent's world mostly felt like a means to get to the action. The soundtrack was pretty fantastic though. A bit of a step down from Zero 4 and ZX thanks to some pretty noticeable compression, but that same techno style I adored in the previous game is just as great here. But aside from that, in terms of getting me invested emotionally, ZX Advent probably failed the most out of any Zero or ZX games.
However, here's the thing. On a gameplay level, ZX Advent is a ridiculously fun game, that pretty much fixes every issue I had with ZX and then some. The levels are way more intricate and fun to navigate, the bosses are more creative while also being less overwhelming, the pacing is a bit brisker, the map system and UI is way more polished and intuitive, and the game actually has more of a metroidvania feel thanks to the introduction of its new core mechanic: Transforming into the bosses you fight. At first I thought this would feel a bit gimmicky, but between each boss once again having its own moveset, the ridiculous levels of power tripping you get by using them, and the way they basically function like powerups in any other metroidvania made me really warm up to them. There are so many places to use these bosses throughout the game, and it feels like the world map opens up whenever you beat a boss, which is a great feeling. But even more, if you're not a fan of using the bosses for combat (which I totally get, some are a bit clunky), the biometals have also returned, albeit a bit less game-breaking thanks to the removal of overdrive (YMMV on whether or not that's a good thing). This gives Ashe/Gray a ridiculous amount of possible movesets they can use at any given time, and unlike in ZX where I never felt the need to play as anyone but Harpuia, the game utilized all of the boss's different abilities a lot better. However, one incredibly irritating element about ZX Advent is that you're forced to switch back to your base Model A whenever a cutscene plays, which got on my nerves incredibly fast.
Despite being a metroidvania though, ZX Advent still manages to be incredibly action-packed, and I found the level design to be way more fun, creative, and engaging compared to its predecessor. There are levels that have you hopping across ships, fighting through a train, scaling a tree that grows as you climb it, dealing with exploding chain blocks, using Phantom to get through a maze, and dodging projectiles being shot out by an underwater volcano. I enjoyed pretty much every area here, at least outside of that annoying block segment in Ouroborus. Despite the crazy levels, I found myself more willing to explore and backtrack in ZX Advent since there are a lot of warp points that can take you to where you want to go. However, it's still not a perfect system since you can't warp between warp points, so if you want to go back to a stage, you have to pretty much play through it again to make it to the Trans-Server at the end. The boss fights are also pretty great and varied, with some of them destroying or changing the environment as you fight them, others fighting you from the background, and plenty of great one-on-one fights against the Four Guardians, Prometheus & Pandora, and Aile/Vent. While there still are some duds here or there, I generally thought the boss lineup was a vast improvement over the previous game. However, one thing I found that I didn't love about both ZX and ZX Advent is their lengths. Most Mega Man games for me have been around 2-3 hours, but ZX and ZX Advent have lasted five hours at minimum, which still might not seem like a lot but for such briskly-paced and brutally hard games, they really start to feel their length near the end. At least you can say ZX Advent isn't lacking for content with its many collectibles and fun minigames (that Mega Man A one is especially sick).
Overall, I'm sure you can probably see where I'm a bit split on this one. For a series where the storytelling is its greatest strength, it's a shame that ZX Advent ends up falling a bit short on that front. However, what's really important in a good video game is the gameplay, and ZX Advent absolutely nails that part, with fun levels, thrilling boss fights, much stronger navigation than its predecessor, and the cool boss transformation gimmick. ZX Advent may not be a great Mega Man Zero game, but it sure is a fantastic action-platformer that I still enjoyed immensely.
4/5 Stars
My ranking of the games would probably be:
- Mega Man Zero 4
- Mega Man Zero 3
- Mega Man ZX Advent
- Mega Man Zero 2
- Mega Man ZX
- Mega Man Zero
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