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Z2's boss difficulty can be inconsistent. On one side, you have fights like Poler and Elpizo's second form, and on the other, you have Phoenix Magnion and the sheer chaos that is Burble.

@@DZ-Three I made the mistake of fighting Phoenix first. It was the Legacy Collection version with Save Assist on, and I had to make, like, 30 attempts to finally beat the damn thing. After that, I just looked up locations of Sub Tanks, and beating everyone else was much easier. Needless to say, I would never attempt a no-hit run, that requires some amazing mastery of the game.

Even an easy boss will catch you off guard when fighting for the first time; it's pretty much the nature of the game. Poler's story is a bit odd. The English version's manual specifies female, so given that I write in English, I stick with that despite playing the Japanese version. Not that it really matters in the end.

This gave me the image of Leviathan watching this fight on a monitor with that subtitle, like it's a news segment, and wondering why her army is so inept.

@@DZ-Three Brought to you by Resistance News :D

The spacing to land uncharged Saber hits safely is the most difficult technical aspect of this challenge. Thankfully, I have prior experience doing the same thing against AP Fefnir, which is much harder, so this took less time to get accustomed to than it otherwise would. You're right that using any other weapon is a superior option. Uncharged Chain Rod only is much more reasonable while still constituting a minimalist challenge.

Thank you very much!

I'm happy to hear that I could inspire you to try using the Shield and Recoil Rod more in your gameplay. I did briefly consider adding two more fights by playing without elemental chips, but I decided to keep things relatively simple this time. Definitely a future possibility. I can say that not having element chips or fighting bosses without weaknesses under this condition is a pain. I did it against Burble, and it took far more effort and strict execution to pull off than any other boss so far.

I'll give Foxtar a try eventually. I haven't given it much thought, but you're certainly right that it'd likely be a lot more challenging. Can't rely on Electric Chip stun for an easy win.

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

This is definitely my new favorite way to beat Flizard. The best part is that the Shield Sweep method, which is the more disrespectful of the two, is consistent and easy enough to integrate into an actual stage run.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's either repurposed or slightly modified code from how the Recoil Rod's hit reactions work in Z3. You can also do the same thing to Inarabitta with FX. Strangely, Hellbat and Flizard exhibit no reaction to getting punched despite suffering knockback when hit with the Recoil Rod in Z3.

PX is very interesting indeed. It's far less straightforward than smacking things with a sword, but Shadow Dash, the Shuriken (especially when you loop it like the Shield Boomerang), and the energy Shield give it a lot of hidden depth. Fitting for the Biometal based off Phantom.

I'm guilty of neglecting PX myself. It's only recently that I started trying to figure out how to use it more optimally, which, to your point, is actually quite addictive.

@DZ-Three I get that px is just so fun once you're able to time shadow dashes with the barrier and shuriken loops are always cool if only he could ride his own shuriken

​@@wynnwilson7385 Being able to jump on the Shuriken and surf around on it like Phantom can would've been a very interesting movement option. It'd go well with PX's unorthodox style of play.

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the combos I thought up!

Thank you! It's the mark of a well-designed fight that it never got boring to experiment with each Biometal and figure out interesting ways to interact with Mantisk's attacks.

Thank you very much! I'm glad to hear that you enjoy my videos.

The Zero games aren't really the type where you'd think to do pacifist runs given how intense the combat is, but that's exactly why I enjoy coming up with such challenges. X Form is indeed perfect for it too, both thematically and because it cuts down the length of uncharged Buster-only fights.

Reflect Laser being suited to Ashe's personality is an interesting point that I'd never considered. It does make perfect sense. That logic can apply to Grey as well, being given a more standard charged Buster to go along with his more pensive nature.

Yeah, Gemini Laser is the progenitor of this type of weapon. It's interesting that the concept was implemented so early in the series. Crystal Eye is similar enough to where I consider it in the same class of weapon. Rebound Striker too, of course, but that one came after both iterations of Reflect Laser.

@@DZ-Three Yeah something like that. Though Crystal Eye splits when it hits a wall, Rebound Striker does more damage if it bounces a lot, tricky weapon to hit weakness of Sheep Man. There is also Bounce Ball from Mega Man 11 if you count that too.

Who knew that the key to solving the energy shortage was within the large amorphous blob known as the Rainbow Devil? Whoever made that thing is a true hero.

It's a fun trick that makes this specific challenge a lot more manageable. It's not especially necessary to do during a normal fight, and the mechanic was removed for his GV2 variant as well.

Cut to Elpizo watching a monitor and freaking out over Zero's careless behavior.

Yeah. The attack power of Old Wood increases by 20 for each grass panel present on the field, with 440 being the maximum attack value. It's a neat hidden function of the chip.

The exact size of the text depends on how much space I have to place it between the character sprites and character art, assuming there is art, which there isn't in this one. I'm still relatively new to making more detailed thumbnails, so I can't really give a definitive answer to my process right now.

@@DZ-Three Oh it's okay, just asking and clarifying.

Yup. I find it to be quite fun to experiment with.

@@DZ-Three LOL! 😂😂😂😂

It's a very fast way to get Defense Form. Throwing the Shield repeatedly is quite slow, so any place where you've got enemies spawning rapidly is a good choice to use a tactic like this. Burble's stage comes to mind as potentially being a good farming spot as well.

Doors are undefeated in the Zero series. Truly an unstoppable force.

That's what I find interesting about challenges like this. Even relatively simple things like the fight against Carnage require more consideration when under such odd restrictions.

@ i once tried doing Mino Magnus stage with Z-knuckle weapons only, and boiii little did I know the drill can do quite the damage against the boss

@@VentusMirus The drill is a great weapon. It's pretty much the same principle as the Long Snapper but significantly faster and stronger.

Yup. That's part of the reason why I picked the light green color for Zero granted by the Elf body chip.

The enemy quota is a double-edged sword to be sure. It has its place to ensure that players actually engage with enemies, but it's often misused, especially in the earlier games. ZX/A did a fine job of making the games challenging to speed through without the quota, so I think it's a case of Inti learning over time.

Excellent writeup! When going for this challenge, I did make the obvious connection of the iron pipe being a reference to X4, but I never thought about it with the depth that you present here. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense. Fenri and Zero do have rather similar origins. Good point about Cyber Elves too. They do offer more direct enhancements and stable control over Reploids when compared to the Maverick Virus. I've always been intrigued by the whole "Cyberspace as a parallel dimension" aspect of Mega Man. I like to think that it was always there, becoming more influential as technology advanced. Perhaps Thomas' plan in ZXA would've been a large-scale use of it to alter the world, far more than what Albert was doing by feeding Model W.

@@DZ-Three Speaking about Cyberspace being a parallel dimension, the wiki did bring up that the kanji used for Cyberspace (in reference to Zero 3) and the Cyber World of Battle Network/.exe are *completely* different. Zero 4's Cyberspace (more specifically, the Teleporter Circuit) stage is explicitly singled out in the liner notes to the soundtrack as being closer to the Battle Network definition than the Cyberspace seen in Zero 3. What's the distinction, you ask? My pet theory is that Cyberspace can only truly exist as an _intersection_ between reality and the Cyber World. when Zero's original body and the Maverick Virus are active together at the same time. We know from X5 that when the Sigma/Colony Virus fuses with Zero's body after he successfully crashes Eurasia, the energy readings from him end up creating a literal tear in spacetime manifesting in China known as Zero Space. This strange dimension is a cyber-space intersecting with reality, where a Virus can take physical form, and where things from the past can be manifested, such as Wily's Shadow Devil and other tech. This would *not* be the last time something like that would happen in relation to Zero's original body. When Zero 3 starts, it becomes apparent that the presence of Omega is causing rifts in reality to open, a Cyberspace similar to but not aesthetically the same as Zero Space. ...whatever Wily was doing with Zero made him one hell of a singularity.

​@@MrCat-zz5eo I checked the English script to be sure, but even in game, the Teleporter Circuit in Z4 is noted to not be the same as Cyberspace in Z3. Ciel mentions that the process involves turning Zero into program data that can move inside circuits, and Rouge adds that the visuals inside are just a simulation so that Zero can understand how to navigate. Sounds very much like the Battle Network interpretation to me. The occurrences in X5 and Z3 seem more metaphysical, with time, space, and consciousness playing a part in its existence. Having a domain that exerts influence over the physical laws of the world "beneath" it is the kind of thing I'd expect to see in the Xeno series, which is probably why I find the concept here fascinating. I don't recall if the exact origins of the Maverick Virus were ever confirmed, but if it is alien in nature, then I think the lesson here is the extraterrestrial sources of energy are not to be trifled with.

@@DZ-Three It's scary how Zero is basically a reality warper... or at least his original body was. Uniting the Maverick Virus with his body and mind would create one Unholy Trinity, a Singularity... I sometimes wonder if Wily saw his robot as a way to create the perfect OP OC (donut steel)... ...speaking of, there's a jokey layer to Omega's choice of voice actor: Jun'ichi Suwabe would later go on to play EMIYA and Ryomen Sukuna from Fate and Jujutsu Kaisen, who both fall in the same archetype as Omega: _The hero's evil "twin" who's Actually Satan, with the power to impose a personal reality upon the world._ ...it's weird how that's happened thrice as far as I know.

I would've loved to do exactly that if it were possible. Unfortunately, the Card Key only has 1 "ammo" normally, so Auto Fill does nothing. I had to use Weapon Plus to get a second unit of ammo so that the card wouldn't explode the moment it contacts Fenri, letting the full animation play out.

To be fair, that applies to pretty much any boss that tries to fight Zero. Fenri is pretty cool, though. I like his design and battle quite a bit. Aside from Craft, he's the boss I've spent the most time fighting in Z4.

That dash slash he does is easily the biggest problem when trying to combo him. There's no telling when he's going to do it, so you always have to jump away from him when finishing the 5-hit combo. Even knowing that, it's still easy to get caught by it.

@@DZ-Three Yeah...

"That thing was too big to be called a card key. Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough, it was more like a large hunk of iron."

@@VentusMirus "...that thing was a credit card with a cost too heavy to pay."

Thanks! To be fair to Carrera, you are at the mercy of chance when he pulls in the debris, so that attack is pretty tough to deal with, even if most fights go by without him using it. He definitely makes up for his lackluster showing here in GV2, however. I'm not sure that this would be possible against that version of him.

@DZ-Three Honestly, when it comes to Carrera in GV2, you're at the mercy of the rules of the mode, so you genuinely couldn't Because you'd need the Lucifer Clip first if you didn't want the fight to take a decade, and in the Runner Modes, you don't get the luxury of using equipment

@@TenshiFoxx True, it would take forever barring some way to cheat equipment in. Even if you did, I'm unsure if it's possible to dodge the spiral of debris that gets drawn in during enhanced Quasar Collapse without the Flashfield. I've never tested it myself.

This made me think of what would happen if Mario had a spear while jumping on Goombas. Probably wouldn't be a pretty sight.

@@DZ-Three Well he knows how to use a hammer as a weapon, so there's that.

@@leongyuhinleong Zero can get a hammer during Craft's first stage in Z4. There's also the T Breaker in X8. I guess he'd fare pretty well in the Mario & Luigi combat system.

@@DZ-Three Yup pretty much.

I didn't notice that until you pointed it out. Funny how it worked out that way.

Thanks! I always wanted to try a pogo speedkill on this boss, but I didn't have the time to practice it back when I did my Z1 run.

No worries; it's always good to have more details in the comments since not everyone will read the descriptions. It is a bit backwards that you have to wait for the tank to get closer to the base for a better score. The enemy scores in general are a good example of where Z1 lacks some polish.

The pogo has always been the best option, outside of damage stacking, for taking out the bomb launcher (and Gli-Eye launcher if you don't care about score). I'd still recommend landing and attacking the tail section normally, however. It's much easier.

I did have a bit of fun with this title, for sure. "Giant Mechaniloid" and "Hittite Hottaid" are kind of an eyesore for a title, so I settled on Giant Tank instead.

Thanks! I always appreciate hearing that. It means that my practice paid off.

Thanks! I'm glad that I could help you learn about Fefnir's visual cues. The ground rolling slash is quite fun to use as well, even if it's impractical in most cases. I'd still advise against its inclusion in a real run, but for combo videos like this, it's essential for entertainment.

Details like that help make the bosses even more memorable. I also like how you can see Anubis in the background while fighting Hellbat. It's a good bit of foreshadowing.