So this video was a structural nightmare. The game is rather short and barely explains anything so it was really tough to try and work in the RIDICULOUS amount of plot and lore that the game leaves out. The final result is a video that I feel is over-edited in a desperate attempt for me to say everything I needed to say. I hope you guys enjoy this mess anyway!
I thought this video was presented really well, the small edits here and there to add some memes and whatnot definitely added a lot. I already love your analysis videos as is, so the comedy sprinkled in-between the serious lore discussion and discussion about actual flaws and everything is refreshing. I was surprised it came out to be a whole hour long, but more content is always good! See you on the streams, John! Thanks for your hard work!
I've noticed something that would help your gameplay. You might want to go into the controls settings and change the weapons controls so that you can charge your sub weapon by ONLY holding the R button meaning that you can charge both the saber and buster at the same time and when you use either of them you will still have the other one charged which increases your dps a lot against normal enemies.
Really enjoyed it, I know the video is long and probably felt to you unwieldy but it’s not like you kept reiterating the same points / info over and over, you kept it moving and interesting, summing up everything important there is to know about Z1 I’d watch 3 more of these no question, subbed already so I see them when/if you decide to do so; if not I’ll be interested to see what’s next from the channel, MMZ or not
Everytime you say "this boss only has 2 moves, it's underwhelming" I chuckle because you weren't playing on A rank, which allows bosses to have one extra desperate attacks. Harpuia creates two tornadoes, Leviathan summons 2 ice dragons, and so on. With that said, for a second playthrough you did pretty well. Good video
Yeah, there is a reason they got rid of the weapon level system in Zero 3. They realized that people didn't use it the way they intended (that is, level up gradually throughout the game) and grinded them out at the beginning so they just scrapped it in 3. Which worked out for the better becasue it made Zero 3 and 4 work much better mechanically.
@@symphomaniac Considering the games came out on a yearly basis, I think they just didn't get the player feedback data they needed to see the problem until after 2 shipped or it was too late to change it.
honestly though my favorite growth for both the weapons and elves is in Zero 2. It takes way less time to level weapons up and Elves take like 1/4th of Crystals they needed in 1
That's why Z3 is my fav to 100%. Getting all the chips is streamlined, cyber elves required fewer crystals, no need to farm for fluff. Also, tonfa jump.
The problem is that the game is designed with full upgraded weapons in mind. If you don't grind and try to level up the weapons naturally, eventually you will hit a brick wall because some boss will be waaay too difficult without maxed weapons, so you'll be forced to grind. You can delay the grind, but you can't skip it.
Gotta say, the incorporation of the Japanese audio drama with the gameplay + soundtrack was real nice. Never played the Zero/ZX series but now contemplating that legacy collection.
I say give it a shot if you want to give the series a go. The save assist feature option in Zero 1 in particular is a god send in my book cause it means you don't have to worry about retry chips.
I have it bc I've been a HUGE fan of this series specifically since I played the first one on gba when I was 15 or 16. Then I bought each successive gba entry in the series as they were released. When ZX/Advent released I wa sover the moon and loved those games as well. Then my brother got me the zero legacy collection with all the zero games on one card. It's well worth putting time into its an incredible piece of gaming history.
Do you know that Ciel was voiced by Lacus Clyne's voice actor, Rie Tanaka, who is on youtube and streams a lot. th-cam.com/users/c%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%AD%E7%90%86%E6%81%B5%E3%81%AE%E5%A7%90%E3%81%95%E3%82%93TV
What I find interesting is how battle thirsty the four Guardians and Copy X are considering how much as a pacifist X is. Then I remembered that some of the titles in the X series mention how much X longs for battle despite wanting to be a peaceful pacifist. Meaning that Dr. Light's morality regimine is what made X a good person while his copies are such assholes. Ciel assumed that X's goodness was intrinsic to his programming when it fact it was learned behavior.
Well, I take it as the Guardians are very much bored. They are watchdogs over the single remaining hint of utopian civilization without any excitement or something to really drive them in their mundane existence. They see Zero as the rival they all want to beat, as the Resistance are just cannon fodder for their mechaniloids otherwise.
It's been my headcannon that the original reason why X was asleep for 30 years was to prevent this. Wily didn't have Zero sleep for 30 years and he went bloodthirsty. Ciel probably didn't Copy X sleep for 30 years and just like how Zero was made from X's schematics it would make sense.
@@KuchiriDr. Light understood something that almost NO ONE else in the entire series caught onto: sentience takes years to properly grow and develop for any intelligent being, and is the true key for ensuring that robots and humans would live together as equals. Handing an individual significant power (in any form, such as knowledge, money, or physical) before they’re mature enough to handle the responsibility of such power will often make the individual more violent and more likely to resort to force to solve problems. Sentience is pain. Life is suffering. When X woke up, he had the emotional intelligence of a moral, empathic human adult thanks to Dr. Light’s 30 year test sequence, and thus normally hesitated on using force despite being able to otherwise overpower all of his enemies easily. Human children are physically weak and take 25 years of growing to fully develop their brains, but their lack of significant intrinsic power by default teaches them to solve problems without resorting to violence. Conversely, Reploids are often handed knowledge, industrial power, and sometimes weapons the day they’re born to fulfill a certain job. Their purpose in life is pre-defined by their hardware and uploaded knowledge but they’re supposed to have free will to choose their path in life. This means a lot of them likely suffer from acute existential crises. Is it any surprise that many of them will then become more susceptible to the Maverick Virus compared to someone like X? It’s like handing a troubled teenager a gun. Violence will happen. This is the true secret to X’s immunity to the Virus: his well-developed sentience that took decades to nurture. No one else across all of Classic, X, Zero, and ZX understood this. This is why the wars just kept persisting across centuries. The original Megaman and Roll started out as children. After Protoman ran away, who was Dr. Light’s first experiment with robotic free will (and definitely did not start out with the sentience of a young child), Dr. Light then always saw his creations as his children and raised them like humans. This includes X, who Dr. Light gave a morality training spanning decades despite knowing that it would mean he’d never live to see X awaken. Everyone else just saw intelligent robot companions. Dr. Cain literally created a reploid based on X and activated it immediately, too fascinated by its human intelligence to appreciate the full scope of Dr. Light’s warning. Reading between the lines with Dr. Wily, you get the idea that he also did indeed understand all this, and that’s why he was able to convince so many robot masters to follow him with just words alone, and why he was able to create something as potent as the Maverick Virus.
@@ziqi92something i hate about the X games is that they focus so much on the VIRUS, as if the only reason any of the people you fight are bad is because they "turned" evil because of an infection. sigma even mentions this in MHX/Day of Sigma; Vile is necessary because he doesn't need to be infected. sometimes the reploids can become "maverick" of their own will; they can simply choose to rebel. the series is obsessed with free will, but then blames every instance of wrongdoing on a virus, so it wasn't REALLY their fault they were evil, they had a mind-altering virus! so there's no free will at all.
3:25 This is just what Zero looked like during the Elf Wars. By that era, all reploids had begun to look like this. X8 seems to hint that Reploids have begun to upgrade into slender, more human-like bodies and this is the end result.
Dude, it's even better in the full context of the scene. Copy X is trying to flex, using what he foolishly believes is the full extent of the Legendary X's power and thus is trying to take pride in his first *REAL* fight ever and Zero's only reaction is basically asking "Where's the real final boss?" It isn't even *just* an insult directed at Copy X, Zero is just so damn unimpressed with Copy X's abilities that for the slightest of split seconds he doubted X's abilities. *Copy X sucks so much he almost made a convincing argument to Zero that X was as much of a weakling as well.*
@@heartnet40 And while Copy X goes full giant angel of death, Zero just battles him while deep in thought trying to figure out how strong X is then saying X was not as simple as Copy X is
@@wanolox9975 Then again the drama CD's and the Game dialogues are a bit different, and it's hard to put both of them together especially with the rough translation and pacing of these dialogues in-game. But yes. I do wish the Zero series had a Remake but meh, Capcom wants money, and they will milk anything until they kill the series, I'm actually surprised that they didn't kill Resident Evil... YET.
Flashback to X2 where X bodied Zero so hard that it turned Zero from being evil back to good again. Even if this was non canon it still shows how powerful X is.
the crystal grind is made much better with the checkpoint system. when you reload a checkpoint in the pause menu it reloads the whole stage minus cyber elves chest/drops. so all the crystals are avaiable again. so: get crystal, hit checkpoint, reload checkpoint, get crystal again, make new checkpont, reload checkpoint, repeat.
I love the fact that Phantom's suicide bomb can actually kill you if you are low enough, so you'd have to do the entire fight again. I wasn't even mad when it happened to me.
The other elves animals Specifically can make spikes not instantly kill you and do normal damage they can stop pits from killing your hacker elves will cover some areas with spikes with platforms make grinding faster and make your weapons stronger
Oof.... only did the double HP elf? Yikes, that'd explain a lot. The animal elves can be handy, assuming you pay attention to what ability works for you. For example, Buffer stops fallback when being hit and costs only 400. There's also Shelter, the big main animal elf, who costs only 2000 in total and doubles your defense, basically acting like the the main nurse elf for 1000 less. Combined, they make things more manageable. I'm saying all this because I played the original GBA version, so I had to put up with all this... ...and I didn't know about the easy level up trick... seeing that kind of destroyed me on the inside when I realized how much easier it could have been.
Except that, if you want to unlock Ultimate Mode (where all weapons start maxed out and all permanent Elf effects are applied with no score penalty), you need to collect all the Elves, grind out nearly 27000 E Crystals (you can only carry up to 9999 at a time) to fully upgrade all the Elves, then beat the game without using any. After the credits, you save your beaten game, you load it, you beat the game again in new game+ (after murdering Aztec Falcon, you can just quit the "Find The Shuttle" and "Duel In The Desert" missions to skip to the end), but now you have to use all of the Elves (you get a -100 point penalty for this), and then you save after the credits again. Finally, you can hold R when starting a new game to play Ultimate Mode.
I 100% with your take about Zero’s memory loss being a bad plot point. Having Zero think he was going up against his friend and hearing what he thinks of the new world he awoke in would have been so cool to see.
Especially since not only was he and X struggling to build a utopia during their time but Zero himself is a reformed Maverick. He broke from the intended role given to him by Wily. So to have this new X hold a zero tolerance policy towards potential mavericks must've been extremely insulting to him
@@elevate07 Well worded!! Zero could have had like a vendetta against X, until he finds out that the tyrant running neo arcadia is a copy, it could have been a deeper story i swear!
Not a bad plot point at all, memory fades over time in statis, you literally see his body in disrepair...The rest I agree with, but first game syndrome.
In megaman X6, zero goes to sleep in a debug mode because of the zero nightmare. His memory being incomplete (if this follows X6) makes sense because the elf awoke him early before debugging was finished. Also his casule being beat to shit didn't help either.
@siege_sensei The time in which Zero is awakenined in this first game, it is his second time being sealed. He is awoken in the elf wars to fight with X, then decideds to seal himself away, again. That is what the drama track is from.
It would have been hilarious if this Zero had actually been Axl the whole time and was just rolling with it because people thinking he's Zero just shows how cool he is.
It kills me so hard that theres supposed to be a bond between Ciel and Zero here but in the third one he basically tells her to stfu sometimes. Love that lmao
As someone who's been subscribed for a while, lemme say I actually really like your long videos. I know they're hard to make (I leave likes whenever I can for what it's worth) but they always turn out phenomenal. I like to listen to them while I work overnight. I used to do it at work but I don't have that job anymore, but I still pull frequent all-nighters and it's good to have something to listen to that goes for a while.
Mad respect for the sheer amount of research you put into these videos. The supplementary material for lore is already going above and beyond, and right as I was thinking about your disappointment with the shield boomerang, you add a disclaimer about already knowing of MagnusZero's videos.
13:13 god this scene though. in the legendary Zero vs Omega animation by ultimatemaverickx this was the critical moment where the music just explodes out and it was just fucking perfect
The Zero series is probably the best of the side scrollers. *Note that it's an uphill climb, things get MUCH better (although the 4th kinda slips a little I'm really glad you went over this game!
Cannot agree more. The Megaman Zero games are probably my favorite Megaman games. Zero 4 was definitely a step down after Zero 2 and 3. But it's still a great conclusion for the series and ended the games on a high note. It's definitely more enjoyable than Zero 1. As much as I appreciate the first game, it is not easy to come back to. Especially if playing on GBA.
Honestly I’m just surprised there was no mention of my is disliked facet of the zero series. That the game punishes you for using cyber elves by dropping points from your score. Iirc this isn’t major in Zero 1 but can lock you out of certain things in later games
Well yeah. Cyber-Elves are kind of broken and trivialise a ton of the challenges the game throws at your way. Considering how heavy of an emphasis the Zero series places on your performance (it's basically a 2D character action series), it only makes sense the game would penalise you for taking the easy way out instead of mastering its levels and mechanics. Plus, EX Skills are mainly useful on higher levels of play anyway, once you know the enemy patterns well enough that you can start experimenting with all of your crazy combos. A new player can get through the game just fine with only charge spam so they wouldn't be missing out on too much. And even still, the games are nice enough to give you some leeway in spite of all of this with the Hacker Elves that can alter your rank for the next stage and Satellite Elves and Croire that allow you to make limited use of the elf upgrades without penalising your rating.
I think it could have hit so much harder if Zero hadn't had Amnesia and was forced to confront the idea that he had woken up just to kill X, and didn't end up figuring out he was a fake until after beating the first form. It could even make the ending hit harder when he realizes he's come back only because X needs to go and is going to hold the fort until X can return and they can finally find some way of solving everything together again.
Throughout the whole video your theme of "this feels like the beginning of an idea" I 100% agree with, that's why I think if you decide to go further you'll love the future games, as they iterate and evolve those ideas to make what I think is an amazing series
As someone who's playing the Gba version the ds and Zero collections are the best version also the buster is useful when upgraded also dash shot still exists
@@catantcha99 Nope, if you compare Harpuia's transformation sequence in Zero 2 with it's DS version they replace the word Kill Me with I think it was finish me, something along those lines. Plus Zero 1 and 2 had some of their dialogue censored as shown in the review like replacing killing with retiring and the omission of the blood from the JP versions (Applies to Zero 1-4) but that's the most well known censor.
The fact that X was supposed to be the main antagonist reminds me: the FPS Megaman x game that Retro Studios was working on had a multi-part arc planned where X was intended to be corrupted by his accumulated power, and the player would take the role of Zero in the final chapter to take X down.
To be honest, I really enjoy the fact that all of your videos end up almost an hour / multiple hours long. You're one of my favorite creators to binge while im working, so the more content the better.
it's great that you brought up the fluidity of movements and animations in this game. i think this is the main reason why the combat in the zero/zx games feels so good, and I don't think I've ever played another megaman game that feels this fluid. thanks for the video!
So glad to see you also delve into the ocean that is the Zero series' extended lore while also talking about the game as it exists. In an era where the narrative of the series bar Legends was a hobbled together mess barely evolving or even keeping track of its own self, here comes this whole sub series that not only managed to retroactively contextualize all of the fun fuckery of the previous side scrolling series, but also set forth a genuinely intriguing and fascinating narrative that actually had me super excited to also dash and slash through hordes with Zero's mechanically perfected play style. It's genuinely almost unfair how much information and how many things are just left on the cutting room floor or banished to (lavish and lovely) 2D art books for this particular series too. I really hope you get to do videos on the other games in this series if only to expose others to some of the wild shit that gets brought up in 2 and ESPECIALLY 3. That and Zero 3 is literally best Megaman game uncontested.
Excellent as always. Thanks for the pre-surgery laughs. And as soon as you said “I won’t be reviewing the others” I scoffed and said “Sure Jan.” See you in two months.
I was aware of all the side story stuff. However I never got to hear any of the audio drama stuff. The way you used it in your review honestly elevates this review.
I forgot one elf that's useful one that decreases damage and hard mode exclusive if you beat the regular game without using elves and getting A rank Jackson he let's Zero jump and be invincible for 5 seconds
Your reviews are getting better and better with each one, holy wow. This is like the definitive Zero 1 review on TH-cam now and the editing was perfect. Absolutely loved the additional radio drama portions too (that I’ve never even heard of until now, so additional kudos), you worked them in so well!
The one thing that always bugged me about the Zero series is the art-style change being aesthetic only. In Canon, Zero looks the same as he always has and there has been no change to the character... even when you find his "Original" body in the later games, he looks like he does currently just a different color shade. When I first played, I thought he was in a brand new body configuration but that's only for the players.
I really appreciate the work you put into these videos! I love the lore of Megaman games but I'm terrible at anything that isn't the Battle Network or ZX series so seeing you put a huge focus on lore in your videos on top of a stellar review with great edits and charming humor is a godsend! You truly deserve more subs and I hope that you will continue the Zero review series if/when you see fit!
I LOVE how every single issue you had, from even DYING the SAME WAYS I DID the first playthrough of the game I did so many years ago. Megaman Zero 1 is a mess, it's hard to even defend the game, and frankly, I think it's the sole reason (apart from Zero 4) for the addition of the save states in the collection. Ironically though, MMZ/ZX collection is the best well-put-together collection so far in the past five or ten years of Megaman. Also, do more 2 hour long videos about Megaman zero! Thank you very much :D
Someone else in this comment section mentioned that it could be a reference to Mega Man Zero's character designer also moonlighting as a hentai artist online.
8:23 "Why must we Reploids slaughter one another" sounds like X7 lmao 11:38 "...with no weird delay like in Mega Man X4" thank you, i always prefered the physics on the Super Famicom games 41:44 "it's boss rush time everybody, oh yes, boss rush time, that magical time of year when all of the robots you've blown up miraculously reappear inconveniently partitioned rooms instead of bum-rushing you simletaneously" i always wondered that too
The elemental chips do affect normal enemies, so they're at least not full boss fodder. Fire does a bit of extra damage over time, Electric stuns enemies to keep them from moving for a sec, and Ice... freezes enemies to... keep them from moving... Thankfully in Z2 and Z3 elemental chips are way more useful because EX skills are awesome
Some lore comments, the Elf Wars is supposedly just the final stages of the Maverick Wars instigated the way described in the video. The discovery of Cyber Elves is tied to the study of Zero’s body/Maverick Virus which led to the Maverick Virus and all offshoots to be relabeled as Cyber Elves (behavior in X5 and X6 does have some correlation in terms of interacting with the world and Zero). The 4 guardians while not made by Ciel were made with the same techniques she employed to make Copy X. They could only change dialogue when the decision to do Copy X instead of X as the final boss so as such the sprites can tell you the original story as such the original story had a Cyber Elf X (also coming off of X5 it would be hard to reconcile the 2 stories anyway like who rebuilt Zero and put him in the lab). The 4 guardians led their own armies which a fair amount of Mutos (mistranslation of Mythos) Reploids you fight throughout the series were part of them. The 4 Guardians were meant to fix up the environment of the earth supposedly. They have some of the 10 Shining Weapons made from the tech of the Megabuster MK 17 AKA the X Buster which the Z Saber is also a part of (lending credence to an idea that Wily got access to X’s blueprints at one point in time). Neo Arcadia is not just a singular domed city but multiple (with a great many Orbital Elevators which Copy X is fought at the top of one such elevator) …hope people found these little lore tidbits interesting also, Keiji Inafune isn’t a hack, he has skills but in terms of planning and business is something he doesn’t have skills in, the Gunvolt series and Megaman series are proof of his skills as an action Coordinator among other skills (I just know that Action Coordinator is something he has done for both series, yes for all gunvolt games)
My experience with zero 1 is so wild I barely believe it myself. I played it when I was 11 and getting into the megaman series. I spent hours trying to beat aztec falcon until one day I finally did it. From then on everything is a blur, in retrospect judging on everything I can remember from the game, after I beat aztec falcon I fell into a trance and regained consciousness dazed and confused with the end credits playing in front of me. I also remember not having any problems beating it after aztec falcon, which is strange judging by how I couldn’t even beat x4 back then. So even though I beat the game I have next to nothing in terms of emotional attachment.
2:36 How DARE you have the AUDACITY to make a one-second JOKE in PASSING??? I'm expecting a full Azure Striker Gunvolt retrospective in the next 60 seconds or I will order a coordinated air strike on your exact location.
The Zero games stories works best when viewed as a continuity rather than standalone individual experiences (in fact, I think each game story retroactively make the previous ones better when played). I like how the first game, with its interconnected hub, clearly shows a sense of space absent in other main megaman games. It shows how desperate the resistance is when it's made to be such a big deal having some control over such a tiny area that you get to know like the back of your hand. It's fun to move around this pseudo-metroidvania world (you don't need the teleporter, the hub gets larger each time), preparing yourself for new missions by collecting enough continues but yeah, the number of cristals is just too much I agree with you on that one. Also, I think the amnesia was a good choice that allowed to start fresh not having to rely too much on the messy X games lore, great for a new generation of players that started Megaman with this.
I am commenting, thereby doing my part to increase the odds that this video does well enough for comparably comprehensive reviews of the rest of the Zero series. I'd love to see them!
Got introduced to your channel through this and can say it's one of the best if not the best MMZ reviews on the platform. Gonna be checking out your other stuff now cuz this is a good first impression.
Fucking loved the video thanks. I'm someone who's played 1&2 but cant remember the story and don't reaaaallllyyy wanna play them from scratch again, the fact you added things from outside sources to beefen up the story is so amazing, thank you 🙏
I appreciate that you reviewed the game from both the perspective of an experienced player and an inexperienced player, explaining that the game gets better when you get the hang of it. I was so tired of reviewers go “game hard = game bad” and call it a day, so you, sir, have my respect.
He is inafune's favorite. Zero was supposed to be the main character after megaman, but the producers forced him to come up with a new character that's more reminiscent of the original blue bomber, hence, x. Also, zero being the fan favorite doesn't help
42:43 I'm just going to leave this here because I love this comparison you made and I didn't even realize it was true yet I grew accustomed to it and adapted to it
Dude I love how you’re piecing stuff together. Good job on the audio find! I didn’t even know about those. If you were playing zero 1 I would have mentioned about that stuff I just completed my play thru on zero 1-4 and ZX currently on Advant. I prefer your reviews a lot and even tho I know all these games I do look forward to them. I love your reactions and enjoy the nostalgia. I know I keep mentioning this but I am willing to offer some help on these games especially on the Battle Network side of things.
MMZ was the first game where the amnesia made sense to me. The attack level up drove it home for me - and it all stems from what zero looked like when he revived. He was just a torso and legs, I buy that he'd degraded. Not to mention the cyber elf sacrifice might not have done a complete job. And I loved the cyber elf system - felt like they were pushing a "inner strength" thing by rating you less for relying on them and having you kill them to use them. Like "you thirst for power? sacrifice this thing for it." I never used it because of this.
Note: Zero's Buster couldn't charge up shots due to the fact he didn't have the Z-saber yet In some Concept art, you can see that the Buster shot is set up with a Segment that can have the Z-saber slotted into it This gives the Buster the ability to use charge shots
Sometimes the algorithm shows me a banger video and this was one of em! Great work adding some of the audio from novella into it to flesh out that story!
On the one hand, I love that Megaman Zero actually has consequences for failing missions (give up) and presents a shorter story and all that if you keep failing. It makes for an extremely interesting Megaman game to ironman/"nuzlocke" through. On the other hand, screw that I'm absolutely going to reload my save file until I beat the mission anyway. I'm not an ironman player lmao.
This video was up the moment I was just about to sleep for the night (busy day tomorrow). Watched the video at the cost of a good morning, but don't regret it. Great video! Love your numerous observations.
correction, weapon levelling in zero 1 is not as slow as you think you see it increases more based of the attack you use, so if you want the rolling slash you must preform air slashes. if you want the ground rolling slash you need to preform dash attacks. the only ones take forever are the quick charge skills also shield boomerang is the best weapon in zero one because it can infinite reindeer and bootleg
Zero 3 and 4 have the best elf systems, though both do it differently. Z3 has satellite elves that don't decrease your score and Z4 has an elf you raise and it gets complicated despite being really basic
It sucks that the drama tracks are in Japanese only, but the closest thing we have is definitive dub's voice over of one and an almost complete run of two
I started watching your videos with the battle network series and love the effort you put into talking about these games in depth. Megaman zero is one of my favorite franchises ever so seeing you cover at least zero 1 made my day haha. Would love to see you cover the rest but I totally get if you do not finish them all. (putting in the japanese voices in the beginning and end cutscenes AMAZING btw)
We really need a game called MegaMan Zero: The Elf Wars. It should be a prequel about when X Zero and Axis(I know it's axl, but axis fits the mathematical concept theme better) fought in the elf wars and explaining the character designs.
New to the channel but loved the long review, also go through lore and insight of the games flaws and high points is a plus. Amazing video and hopes to you making the rest of the Zero series. Thank you for the watch good sir
I love Zero 1. It's a little rough, but my primary complaint with just playing it casually is that there's no free health upgrades or Sub-Tanks to use without taking the Elf penalty. Fortunately, Zero 2-4 each have two free Sub-Tanks in the stages.
Dude, you were so thorough with the game AND you added some backstory and side content. above and beyond a+, even with your struggles with the game. If you do come back to do the rest, maybe just keep them all in one? Good work dude either way
I really liked this video, so nothing to worry about there. It's nice to have the perspective of someone with little to no bias, but still enough experience to know what they should expect from a competent game. Editing was good too; I love the drama tracks, so it's nice to give them more exposure and context in the way you did. I'm almost surprised you didn't bother to mention the grading system (since that is important for future titles), but I can understand why that would have seemed excessive for the video.
Genuinely adored the Vinesauce reference! I'm glad I stayed subbed to your channel! Whether it's the Silent Hill 3, the Life is Strange retrospective, the Battle Network videos, or even the Apocalypso videos I like your commentary style!
Dude, don't second guess yourself, this video's awesome. I'm glad you've been able to play Zero 3 and enjoyed the fact that it fixes most of your complaints with Zero 1. It's the first in the series I happened to play, and it really stuck with me. And hey, take care!
I always love hearing blind opinions on these games, so id LOVE to see you cover the other games! But take your time, and dont drive yourself into the ground. Hope you enjoy Zero 4!
The reason for phantom's suicide, and im not currently willing to do a deep dive to fact check this so dont quote me on it, but I heard it was because the dev team actually liked phantom and his design so much, that because the first MMZ wasn't meant to have a sequel, they had him try to take zero with him as an extra special sendoff unique only to him. Of course, MMZ did in fact have a sequel and phantom is humorously absent from it while his guardian friends get to retain major roles (though phantom does play a small part in 3's story and he has a secret boss fight)
This video introduced me to your channel and man what a great decision it was to click this. Hope you get to do reviews on the next MMZ games because they just get better over time and the story has such an impact full conclusion that really just makes this series special
I remember the first time I fought phantom in the boss rush re-fights. I was down to 1 or 2 slivers of health and caught him with a single slash. Right in the middle of my well-earned celebration, his suicide explosion killed me. If it wasn't for the somewhat admirable self restraint of a teenager who bought this DS by himself. With his own money he earned from his own job, that DS would have become a bloody stain on my bedroom wall. Boy I was PISSED.
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
So this video was a structural nightmare. The game is rather short and barely explains anything so it was really tough to try and work in the RIDICULOUS amount of plot and lore that the game leaves out. The final result is a video that I feel is over-edited in a desperate attempt for me to say everything I needed to say.
I hope you guys enjoy this mess anyway!
I thought this video was presented really well, the small edits here and there to add some memes and whatnot definitely added a lot. I already love your analysis videos as is, so the comedy sprinkled in-between the serious lore discussion and discussion about actual flaws and everything is refreshing. I was surprised it came out to be a whole hour long, but more content is always good!
See you on the streams, John! Thanks for your hard work!
A lot of the plot isn’t introduced until the sequels.
I've noticed something that would help your gameplay. You might want to go into the controls settings and change the weapons controls so that you can charge your sub weapon by ONLY holding the R button meaning that you can charge both the saber and buster at the same time and when you use either of them you will still have the other one charged which increases your dps a lot against normal enemies.
Really enjoyed it, I know the video is long and probably felt to you unwieldy but it’s not like you kept reiterating the same points / info over and over, you kept it moving and interesting, summing up everything important there is to know about Z1
I’d watch 3 more of these no question, subbed already so I see them when/if you decide to do so; if not I’ll be interested to see what’s next from the channel, MMZ or not
Everytime you say "this boss only has 2 moves, it's underwhelming" I chuckle because you weren't playing on A rank, which allows bosses to have one extra desperate attacks. Harpuia creates two tornadoes, Leviathan summons 2 ice dragons, and so on.
With that said, for a second playthrough you did pretty well. Good video
Yeah, there is a reason they got rid of the weapon level system in Zero 3. They realized that people didn't use it the way they intended (that is, level up gradually throughout the game) and grinded them out at the beginning so they just scrapped it in 3. Which worked out for the better becasue it made Zero 3 and 4 work much better mechanically.
No clue why they didn't scrap it in Zero 2 honestly
@@symphomaniac Considering the games came out on a yearly basis, I think they just didn't get the player feedback data they needed to see the problem until after 2 shipped or it was too late to change it.
honestly though my favorite growth for both the weapons and elves is in Zero 2. It takes way less time to level weapons up and Elves take like 1/4th of Crystals they needed in 1
That's why Z3 is my fav to 100%. Getting all the chips is streamlined, cyber elves required fewer crystals, no need to farm for fluff.
Also, tonfa jump.
The problem is that the game is designed with full upgraded weapons in mind. If you don't grind and try to level up the weapons naturally, eventually you will hit a brick wall because some boss will be waaay too difficult without maxed weapons, so you'll be forced to grind.
You can delay the grind, but you can't skip it.
Gotta say, the incorporation of the Japanese audio drama with the gameplay + soundtrack was real nice. Never played the Zero/ZX series but now contemplating that legacy collection.
I say give it a shot if you want to give the series a go. The save assist feature option in Zero 1 in particular is a god send in my book cause it means you don't have to worry about retry chips.
I have it bc I've been a HUGE fan of this series specifically since I played the first one on gba when I was 15 or 16. Then I bought each successive gba entry in the series as they were released. When ZX/Advent released I wa sover the moon and loved those games as well. Then my brother got me the zero legacy collection with all the zero games on one card. It's well worth putting time into its an incredible piece of gaming history.
Do you know that Ciel was voiced by Lacus Clyne's voice actor, Rie Tanaka, who is on youtube and streams a lot. th-cam.com/users/c%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%AD%E7%90%86%E6%81%B5%E3%81%AE%E5%A7%90%E3%81%95%E3%82%93TV
bro hasn't played the peak of the franchise damn
What I find interesting is how battle thirsty the four Guardians and Copy X are considering how much as a pacifist X is. Then I remembered that some of the titles in the X series mention how much X longs for battle despite wanting to be a peaceful pacifist. Meaning that Dr. Light's morality regimine is what made X a good person while his copies are such assholes. Ciel assumed that X's goodness was intrinsic to his programming when it fact it was learned behavior.
Well, I take it as the Guardians are very much bored. They are watchdogs over the single remaining hint of utopian civilization without any excitement or something to really drive them in their mundane existence. They see Zero as the rival they all want to beat, as the Resistance are just cannon fodder for their mechaniloids otherwise.
Which games mention his desire for battle? It's been a bit since I've played them, so the details are a bit fuzzy.
It's been my headcannon that the original reason why X was asleep for 30 years was to prevent this.
Wily didn't have Zero sleep for 30 years and he went bloodthirsty.
Ciel probably didn't Copy X sleep for 30 years and just like how Zero was made from X's schematics it would make sense.
@@KuchiriDr. Light understood something that almost NO ONE else in the entire series caught onto: sentience takes years to properly grow and develop for any intelligent being, and is the true key for ensuring that robots and humans would live together as equals. Handing an individual significant power (in any form, such as knowledge, money, or physical) before they’re mature enough to handle the responsibility of such power will often make the individual more violent and more likely to resort to force to solve problems. Sentience is pain. Life is suffering. When X woke up, he had the emotional intelligence of a moral, empathic human adult thanks to Dr. Light’s 30 year test sequence, and thus normally hesitated on using force despite being able to otherwise overpower all of his enemies easily.
Human children are physically weak and take 25 years of growing to fully develop their brains, but their lack of significant intrinsic power by default teaches them to solve problems without resorting to violence. Conversely, Reploids are often handed knowledge, industrial power, and sometimes weapons the day they’re born to fulfill a certain job. Their purpose in life is pre-defined by their hardware and uploaded knowledge but they’re supposed to have free will to choose their path in life. This means a lot of them likely suffer from acute existential crises. Is it any surprise that many of them will then become more susceptible to the Maverick Virus compared to someone like X? It’s like handing a troubled teenager a gun. Violence will happen. This is the true secret to X’s immunity to the Virus: his well-developed sentience that took decades to nurture.
No one else across all of Classic, X, Zero, and ZX understood this. This is why the wars just kept persisting across centuries. The original Megaman and Roll started out as children. After Protoman ran away, who was Dr. Light’s first experiment with robotic free will (and definitely did not start out with the sentience of a young child), Dr. Light then always saw his creations as his children and raised them like humans. This includes X, who Dr. Light gave a morality training spanning decades despite knowing that it would mean he’d never live to see X awaken. Everyone else just saw intelligent robot companions. Dr. Cain literally created a reploid based on X and activated it immediately, too fascinated by its human intelligence to appreciate the full scope of Dr. Light’s warning.
Reading between the lines with Dr. Wily, you get the idea that he also did indeed understand all this, and that’s why he was able to convince so many robot masters to follow him with just words alone, and why he was able to create something as potent as the Maverick Virus.
@@ziqi92something i hate about the X games is that they focus so much on the VIRUS, as if the only reason any of the people you fight are bad is because they "turned" evil because of an infection.
sigma even mentions this in MHX/Day of Sigma; Vile is necessary because he doesn't need to be infected. sometimes the reploids can become "maverick" of their own will; they can simply choose to rebel.
the series is obsessed with free will, but then blames every instance of wrongdoing on a virus, so it wasn't REALLY their fault they were evil, they had a mind-altering virus! so there's no free will at all.
3:25
This is just what Zero looked like during the Elf Wars. By that era, all reploids had begun to look like this. X8 seems to hint that Reploids have begun to upgrade into slender, more human-like bodies and this is the end result.
"Was the Original X really this weak?"
Omg Zero that roast, its burning
Dude, it's even better in the full context of the scene. Copy X is trying to flex, using what he foolishly believes is the full extent of the Legendary X's power and thus is trying to take pride in his first *REAL* fight ever and Zero's only reaction is basically asking "Where's the real final boss?"
It isn't even *just* an insult directed at Copy X, Zero is just so damn unimpressed with Copy X's abilities that for the slightest of split seconds he doubted X's abilities. *Copy X sucks so much he almost made a convincing argument to Zero that X was as much of a weakling as well.*
@@heartnet40 And while Copy X goes full giant angel of death, Zero just battles him while deep in thought trying to figure out how strong X is then saying X was not as simple as Copy X is
I remember zero says after the fight that his body remember that the real X was stronger than that
@@wanolox9975 Then again the drama CD's and the Game dialogues are a bit different, and it's hard to put both of them together especially with the rough translation and pacing of these dialogues in-game. But yes.
I do wish the Zero series had a Remake but meh, Capcom wants money, and they will milk anything until they kill the series, I'm actually surprised that they didn't kill Resident Evil... YET.
Flashback to X2 where X bodied Zero so hard that it turned Zero from being evil back to good again. Even if this was non canon it still shows how powerful X is.
Putting the Japan voice acting was an amazing idea and shows that you put a lot of effort into this review
Actually its from the audio dramas
the crystal grind is made much better with the checkpoint system. when you reload a checkpoint in the pause menu it reloads the whole stage minus cyber elves chest/drops. so all the crystals are avaiable again. so: get crystal, hit checkpoint, reload checkpoint, get crystal again, make new checkpont, reload checkpoint, repeat.
At this point you're going to turn into the long retro game review guy and I'm all for it.
Oh god please don't call GBA games retro I can feel myself aging into dust as I remember these games are 20 years old
@@UniGya ok grandpa take your meds
The fact that my childhood games were being called retro 2 years ago hurts my soul in a way I was not prepared for
I love the fact that Phantom's suicide bomb can actually kill you if you are low enough, so you'd have to do the entire fight again.
I wasn't even mad when it happened to me.
It doesn’t force you to do the entire fight again, you lose the life but the battle is over
Also, you can move out of the explosion before it happens.
@@Xeno-The-Wanderer if you have checkpoints on in the collection it does force you to redo the fight
I was a little mad when it happened to me.
What I'm more mad about is the cancelled phantom armed phenomenon if he lived to be in 2
The other elves animals Specifically can make spikes not instantly kill you and do normal damage they can stop pits from killing your hacker elves will cover some areas with spikes with platforms make grinding faster and make your weapons stronger
Oof.... only did the double HP elf? Yikes, that'd explain a lot. The animal elves can be handy, assuming you pay attention to what ability works for you. For example, Buffer stops fallback when being hit and costs only 400. There's also Shelter, the big main animal elf, who costs only 2000 in total and doubles your defense, basically acting like the the main nurse elf for 1000 less. Combined, they make things more manageable. I'm saying all this because I played the original GBA version, so I had to put up with all this...
...and I didn't know about the easy level up trick... seeing that kind of destroyed me on the inside when I realized how much easier it could have been.
Hey it's that guy who floods my feed with lewd stuff
@@brightonic Who?
@@FlameSoulis :/
Except that, if you want to unlock Ultimate Mode (where all weapons start maxed out and all permanent Elf effects are applied with no score penalty), you need to collect all the Elves, grind out nearly 27000 E Crystals (you can only carry up to 9999 at a time) to fully upgrade all the Elves, then beat the game without using any.
After the credits, you save your beaten game, you load it, you beat the game again in new game+ (after murdering Aztec Falcon, you can just quit the "Find The Shuttle" and "Duel In The Desert" missions to skip to the end), but now you have to use all of the Elves (you get a -100 point penalty for this), and then you save after the credits again. Finally, you can hold R when starting a new game to play Ultimate Mode.
Your use of the audio clips actually makes the zero experience much better I've seen no other TH-camr do this. You deserve so many more views.
I 100% with your take about Zero’s memory loss being a bad plot point. Having Zero think he was going up against his friend and hearing what he thinks of the new world he awoke in would have been so cool to see.
Especially since not only was he and X struggling to build a utopia during their time but Zero himself is a reformed Maverick. He broke from the intended role given to him by Wily. So to have this new X hold a zero tolerance policy towards potential mavericks must've been extremely insulting to him
@@elevate07 Well worded!! Zero could have had like a vendetta against X, until he finds out that the tyrant running neo arcadia is a copy, it could have been a deeper story i swear!
Not a bad plot point at all, memory fades over time in statis, you literally see his body in disrepair...The rest I agree with, but first game syndrome.
In megaman X6, zero goes to sleep in a debug mode because of the zero nightmare.
His memory being incomplete (if this follows X6) makes sense because the elf awoke him early before debugging was finished.
Also his casule being beat to shit didn't help either.
@siege_sensei The time in which Zero is awakenined in this first game, it is his second time being sealed. He is awoken in the elf wars to fight with X, then decideds to seal himself away, again. That is what the drama track is from.
You know, you’re right about Megaman Legends 3 and it’s never going to stop hurting.
It would have been hilarious if this Zero had actually been Axl the whole time and was just rolling with it because people thinking he's Zero just shows how cool he is.
It kills me so hard that theres supposed to be a bond between Ciel and Zero here but in the third one he basically tells her to stfu sometimes. Love that lmao
As someone who's been subscribed for a while, lemme say I actually really like your long videos. I know they're hard to make (I leave likes whenever I can for what it's worth) but they always turn out phenomenal. I like to listen to them while I work overnight. I used to do it at work but I don't have that job anymore, but I still pull frequent all-nighters and it's good to have something to listen to that goes for a while.
Oh my god imagine if the zero games were remade and had all that voice acting and external content.
the series would just print money.
The fact I haven’t heard about these audio dramas till now is ridiculous
Thanks man
Mad respect for the sheer amount of research you put into these videos. The supplementary material for lore is already going above and beyond, and right as I was thinking about your disappointment with the shield boomerang, you add a disclaimer about already knowing of MagnusZero's videos.
13:13 god this scene though. in the legendary Zero vs Omega animation by ultimatemaverickx this was the critical moment where the music just explodes out and it was just fucking perfect
The Zero series is probably the best of the side scrollers.
*Note that it's an uphill climb, things get MUCH better (although the 4th kinda slips a little
I'm really glad you went over this game!
Cannot agree more. The Megaman Zero games are probably my favorite Megaman games. Zero 4 was definitely a step down after Zero 2 and 3. But it's still a great conclusion for the series and ended the games on a high note. It's definitely more enjoyable than Zero 1. As much as I appreciate the first game, it is not easy to come back to. Especially if playing on GBA.
and thats a depressing thought when you think about it, really wanted the megaman saga to live up to his potential but it doesnt
Seriously, Z2 and Z3 are great sequels to the first one
The zero series is my favorite game series, and mmz3 Is my favorite game of all time.
Honestly I’m just surprised there was no mention of my is disliked facet of the zero series. That the game punishes you for using cyber elves by dropping points from your score. Iirc this isn’t major in Zero 1 but can lock you out of certain things in later games
To be fair, the ranking only becomes a problem in 2 and 3 where they lock new moves behind the ranks
Yeah it's not a huge pain in Zero 1 but it's still dumb. Why give the player an upgrade system and then punish them for using it
@@train4292 tbf THERE IS 1 CYBERELF behind an S CLASS LOCK in zero 1
Well yeah. Cyber-Elves are kind of broken and trivialise a ton of the challenges the game throws at your way. Considering how heavy of an emphasis the Zero series places on your performance (it's basically a 2D character action series), it only makes sense the game would penalise you for taking the easy way out instead of mastering its levels and mechanics.
Plus, EX Skills are mainly useful on higher levels of play anyway, once you know the enemy patterns well enough that you can start experimenting with all of your crazy combos. A new player can get through the game just fine with only charge spam so they wouldn't be missing out on too much.
And even still, the games are nice enough to give you some leeway in spite of all of this with the Hacker Elves that can alter your rank for the next stage and Satellite Elves and Croire that allow you to make limited use of the elf upgrades without penalising your rating.
@@caellanmurphy4751 Wait, there is?
As a kid who owned this game in the early 00s...it was impossible. I loved the aesthetic and everything but it's so hard for no reason.
lol foreal. as a 5/6 year old kid in 2005/6, this game was fucking impossible for me to beat…. but i thought it was so cool and interesting
I think it could have hit so much harder if Zero hadn't had Amnesia and was forced to confront the idea that he had woken up just to kill X, and didn't end up figuring out he was a fake until after beating the first form. It could even make the ending hit harder when he realizes he's come back only because X needs to go and is going to hold the fort until X can return and they can finally find some way of solving everything together again.
Throughout the whole video your theme of "this feels like the beginning of an idea" I 100% agree with, that's why I think if you decide to go further you'll love the future games, as they iterate and evolve those ideas to make what I think is an amazing series
Bruh not that I'm complaining but when you were hinting at the runtime for this video I thought it was gonna be the whole Zero series.
As someone who's playing the Gba version the ds and Zero collections are the best version also the buster is useful when upgraded also dash shot still exists
Shame the DS ports which the Zero/ZX Collection bases itself on further censor the Zero titles, more specifically on the dialogue.
You here, of all people.
That was unnexpected, and so is that you're also a Megaman Nerd
@@SuxMenner Capcom gba games are known for their translation errors so that probably is not censorship but a better translation
@@catantcha99 Nope, if you compare Harpuia's transformation sequence in Zero 2 with it's DS version they replace the word Kill Me with I think it was finish me, something along those lines.
Plus Zero 1 and 2 had some of their dialogue censored as shown in the review like replacing killing with retiring and the omission of the blood from the JP versions (Applies to Zero 1-4) but that's the most well known censor.
The unbridled joy I felt when hearing Joel's voice ring out when he got the z saber
The fact that X was supposed to be the main antagonist reminds me: the FPS Megaman x game that Retro Studios was working on had a multi-part arc planned where X was intended to be corrupted by his accumulated power, and the player would take the role of Zero in the final chapter to take X down.
I really appreciate you adding in the audio drama stuff. Had no idea those were a thing and they seem really well produced!
To be honest, I really enjoy the fact that all of your videos end up almost an hour / multiple hours long. You're one of my favorite creators to binge while im working, so the more content the better.
it's great that you brought up the fluidity of movements and animations in this game. i think this is the main reason why the combat in the zero/zx games feels so good, and I don't think I've ever played another megaman game that feels this fluid. thanks for the video!
So glad to see you also delve into the ocean that is the Zero series' extended lore while also talking about the game as it exists. In an era where the narrative of the series bar Legends was a hobbled together mess barely evolving or even keeping track of its own self, here comes this whole sub series that not only managed to retroactively contextualize all of the fun fuckery of the previous side scrolling series, but also set forth a genuinely intriguing and fascinating narrative that actually had me super excited to also dash and slash through hordes with Zero's mechanically perfected play style. It's genuinely almost unfair how much information and how many things are just left on the cutting room floor or banished to (lavish and lovely) 2D art books for this particular series too.
I really hope you get to do videos on the other games in this series if only to expose others to some of the wild shit that gets brought up in 2 and ESPECIALLY 3. That and Zero 3 is literally best Megaman game uncontested.
Excellent as always. Thanks for the pre-surgery laughs.
And as soon as you said “I won’t be reviewing the others” I scoffed and said “Sure Jan.”
See you in two months.
I was aware of all the side story stuff. However I never got to hear any of the audio drama stuff. The way you used it in your review honestly elevates this review.
I forgot one elf that's useful one that decreases damage and hard mode exclusive if you beat the regular game without using elves and getting A rank Jackson he let's Zero jump and be invincible for 5 seconds
Your reviews are getting better and better with each one, holy wow. This is like the definitive Zero 1 review on TH-cam now and the editing was perfect. Absolutely loved the additional radio drama portions too (that I’ve never even heard of until now, so additional kudos), you worked them in so well!
The one thing that always bugged me about the Zero series is the art-style change being aesthetic only.
In Canon, Zero looks the same as he always has and there has been no change to the character... even when you find his "Original" body in the later games, he looks like he does currently just a different color shade.
When I first played, I thought he was in a brand new body configuration but that's only for the players.
I really appreciate the work you put into these videos! I love the lore of Megaman games but I'm terrible at anything that isn't the Battle Network or ZX series so seeing you put a huge focus on lore in your videos on top of a stellar review with great edits and charming humor is a godsend!
You truly deserve more subs and I hope that you will continue the Zero review series if/when you see fit!
Such a good video! I love the way you incorporated the audio logs into the games lore. And Zero’s VA is 🥵🥵
I LOVE how every single issue you had, from even DYING the SAME WAYS I DID the first playthrough of the game I did so many years ago.
Megaman Zero 1 is a mess, it's hard to even defend the game, and frankly, I think it's the sole reason (apart from Zero 4) for the addition of the save states in the collection.
Ironically though, MMZ/ZX collection is the best well-put-together collection so far in the past five or ten years of Megaman.
Also, do more 2 hour long videos about Megaman zero! Thank you very much :D
42:33 You ain't slick John, we all see that tab.
Someone else in this comment section mentioned that it could be a reference to Mega Man Zero's character designer also moonlighting as a hentai artist online.
@@AluminumFusion22legit for real?
"You don't want to hear me talk anymore, be honest."
Me, who is rewatching this with the Zero 2 video queued up: I beg to differ
8:23 "Why must we Reploids slaughter one another"
sounds like X7 lmao
11:38 "...with no weird delay like in Mega Man X4"
thank you, i always prefered the physics on the Super Famicom games
41:44 "it's boss rush time everybody, oh yes, boss rush time, that magical time of year when all of the robots you've blown up miraculously reappear inconveniently partitioned rooms instead of bum-rushing you simletaneously"
i always wondered that too
The elemental chips do affect normal enemies, so they're at least not full boss fodder. Fire does a bit of extra damage over time, Electric stuns enemies to keep them from moving for a sec, and Ice... freezes enemies to... keep them from moving...
Thankfully in Z2 and Z3 elemental chips are way more useful because EX skills are awesome
That Legends 3 comment was uncalled for and hurtful...
And made me smile
30:55 Harpuia is so nice, he gave Zero positive health advice before leaving
Some lore comments, the Elf Wars is supposedly just the final stages of the Maverick Wars instigated the way described in the video.
The discovery of Cyber Elves is tied to the study of Zero’s body/Maverick Virus which led to the Maverick Virus and all offshoots to be relabeled as Cyber Elves (behavior in X5 and X6 does have some correlation in terms of interacting with the world and Zero).
The 4 guardians while not made by Ciel were made with the same techniques she employed to make Copy X.
They could only change dialogue when the decision to do Copy X instead of X as the final boss so as such the sprites can tell you the original story as such the original story had a Cyber Elf X (also coming off of X5 it would be hard to reconcile the 2 stories anyway like who rebuilt Zero and put him in the lab).
The 4 guardians led their own armies which a fair amount of Mutos (mistranslation of Mythos) Reploids you fight throughout the series were part of them.
The 4 Guardians were meant to fix up the environment of the earth supposedly.
They have some of the 10 Shining Weapons made from the tech of the Megabuster MK 17 AKA the X Buster which the Z Saber is also a part of (lending credence to an idea that Wily got access to X’s blueprints at one point in time).
Neo Arcadia is not just a singular domed city but multiple (with a great many Orbital Elevators which Copy X is fought at the top of one such elevator)
…hope people found these little lore tidbits interesting also, Keiji Inafune isn’t a hack, he has skills but in terms of planning and business is something he doesn’t have skills in, the Gunvolt series and Megaman series are proof of his skills as an action Coordinator among other skills (I just know that Action Coordinator is something he has done for both series, yes for all gunvolt games)
Yeah the titles about right. Zero 1 is one of the biggest examples of first game syndrome I’ve ever seen, it gets way better afterwards
My experience with zero 1 is so wild I barely believe it myself. I played it when I was 11 and getting into the megaman series. I spent hours trying to beat aztec falcon until one day I finally did it. From then on everything is a blur, in retrospect judging on everything I can remember from the game, after I beat aztec falcon I fell into a trance and regained consciousness dazed and confused with the end credits playing in front of me. I also remember not having any problems beating it after aztec falcon, which is strange judging by how I couldn’t even beat x4 back then. So even though I beat the game I have next to nothing in terms of emotional attachment.
One of my favorite new TH-camrs. Thanks for the MegaMan content!
2:36 How DARE you have the AUDACITY to make a one-second JOKE in PASSING??? I'm expecting a full Azure Striker Gunvolt retrospective in the next 60 seconds or I will order a coordinated air strike on your exact location.
The Zero games stories works best when viewed as a continuity rather than standalone individual experiences (in fact, I think each game story retroactively make the previous ones better when played). I like how the first game, with its interconnected hub, clearly shows a sense of space absent in other main megaman games. It shows how desperate the resistance is when it's made to be such a big deal having some control over such a tiny area that you get to know like the back of your hand. It's fun to move around this pseudo-metroidvania world (you don't need the teleporter, the hub gets larger each time), preparing yourself for new missions by collecting enough continues but yeah, the number of cristals is just too much I agree with you on that one. Also, I think the amnesia was a good choice that allowed to start fresh not having to rely too much on the messy X games lore, great for a new generation of players that started Megaman with this.
I am commenting, thereby doing my part to increase the odds that this video does well enough for comparably comprehensive reviews of the rest of the Zero series. I'd love to see them!
Got introduced to your channel through this and can say it's one of the best if not the best MMZ reviews on the platform.
Gonna be checking out your other stuff now cuz this is a good first impression.
Fucking loved the video thanks.
I'm someone who's played 1&2 but cant remember the story and don't reaaaallllyyy wanna play them from scratch again, the fact you added things from outside sources to beefen up the story is so amazing, thank you 🙏
I appreciate that you reviewed the game from both the perspective of an experienced player and an inexperienced player, explaining that the game gets better when you get the hang of it. I was so tired of reviewers go “game hard = game bad” and call it a day, so you, sir, have my respect.
I loved how you included clips from the audio dramas! Really helped keep it interesting on the story part.
I completely agree with the idea that later X games put a heavy emphasis on Zero's character development and story over X.
He is inafune's favorite. Zero was supposed to be the main character after megaman, but the producers forced him to come up with a new character that's more reminiscent of the original blue bomber, hence, x. Also, zero being the fan favorite doesn't help
Came for the Battle Network reviews, stayed for the John.
42:43
I'm just going to leave this here because I love this comparison you made and I didn't even realize it was true yet I grew accustomed to it and adapted to it
Ngl I would totally sit down to watch the full audio drama done in the style you made for it. It's great.
Dude I love how you’re piecing stuff together. Good job on the audio find! I didn’t even know about those. If you were playing zero 1 I would have mentioned about that stuff I just completed my play thru on zero 1-4 and ZX currently on Advant. I prefer your reviews a lot and even tho I know all these games I do look forward to them. I love your reactions and enjoy the nostalgia. I know I keep mentioning this but I am willing to offer some help on these games especially on the Battle Network side of things.
You're actually one of the few youtubers who I can bear a long video from
11:25 LMAOOOO imagine Ciel is accompany you in your missions in the whole game
MMZ was the first game where the amnesia made sense to me. The attack level up drove it home for me - and it all stems from what zero looked like when he revived. He was just a torso and legs, I buy that he'd degraded. Not to mention the cyber elf sacrifice might not have done a complete job.
And I loved the cyber elf system - felt like they were pushing a "inner strength" thing by rating you less for relying on them and having you kill them to use them. Like "you thirst for power? sacrifice this thing for it." I never used it because of this.
Note:
Zero's Buster couldn't charge up shots due to the fact he didn't have the Z-saber yet
In some Concept art, you can see that the Buster shot is set up with a Segment that can have the Z-saber slotted into it
This gives the Buster the ability to use charge shots
Sometimes the algorithm shows me a banger video and this was one of em! Great work adding some of the audio from novella into it to flesh out that story!
On the one hand, I love that Megaman Zero actually has consequences for failing missions (give up) and presents a shorter story and all that if you keep failing. It makes for an extremely interesting Megaman game to ironman/"nuzlocke" through.
On the other hand, screw that I'm absolutely going to reload my save file until I beat the mission anyway. I'm not an ironman player lmao.
That editing with the audi dramas was AMAZING.
This video was up the moment I was just about to sleep for the night (busy day tomorrow). Watched the video at the cost of a good morning, but don't regret it. Great video! Love your numerous observations.
Your efforts are greatly appreciated, I look forward to you works past Megaman, just finished finished Apocalypso
Both Megaman series are some of my favourite GBA games of all time. Thanks for covering both of them, huge rush of nostalgia!
Looking forward for the next hour... and the hours in which I rewatch the video
Thanks for the upload!
KNIJohn uploads a new video.
Its another megaman game.
Its 1hr long.
you crazy son of a you did it again.
Thanks for a another great video.
correction, weapon levelling in zero 1 is not as slow as you think you see it increases more based of the attack you use, so if you want the rolling slash you must preform air slashes. if you want the ground rolling slash you need to preform dash attacks. the only ones take forever are the quick charge skills also shield boomerang is the best weapon in zero one because it can infinite reindeer and bootleg
Zero 3 and 4 have the best elf systems, though both do it differently. Z3 has satellite elves that don't decrease your score and Z4 has an elf you raise and it gets complicated despite being really basic
It sucks that the drama tracks are in Japanese only, but the closest thing we have is definitive dub's voice over of one and an almost complete run of two
I started watching your videos with the battle network series and love the effort you put into talking about these games in depth. Megaman zero is one of my favorite franchises ever so seeing you cover at least zero 1 made my day haha. Would love to see you cover the rest but I totally get if you do not finish them all. (putting in the japanese voices in the beginning and end cutscenes AMAZING btw)
Im proud to be one in a thousand people who knows who the hurricane is
...Yes, the zero/zx collection. Of course. "Nervously remembering my Visual Boy Advance playthrough with save states"
We really need a game called MegaMan Zero: The Elf Wars. It should be a prequel about when X Zero and Axis(I know it's axl, but axis fits the mathematical concept theme better) fought in the elf wars and explaining the character designs.
God I love you for including bits of the audio drama.
New to the channel but loved the long review, also go through lore and insight of the games flaws and high points is a plus. Amazing video and hopes to you making the rest of the Zero series. Thank you for the watch good sir
Me: *looks for another video to re-watch when end slate starts*
John: You don't wanna hear me talk anymore
Me: You'd lose that bet
I love Zero 1. It's a little rough, but my primary complaint with just playing it casually is that there's no free health upgrades or Sub-Tanks to use without taking the Elf penalty. Fortunately, Zero 2-4 each have two free Sub-Tanks in the stages.
Dude, you were so thorough with the game AND you added some backstory and side content. above and beyond a+, even with your struggles with the game. If you do come back to do the rest, maybe just keep them all in one?
Good work dude either way
I really liked this video, so nothing to worry about there. It's nice to have the perspective of someone with little to no bias, but still enough experience to know what they should expect from a competent game. Editing was good too; I love the drama tracks, so it's nice to give them more exposure and context in the way you did. I'm almost surprised you didn't bother to mention the grading system (since that is important for future titles), but I can understand why that would have seemed excessive for the video.
Just found out about this channel and I loved this video! Great analysis, I'm looking forward to watching your previous and new reviews! :D
Genuinely adored the Vinesauce reference! I'm glad I stayed subbed to your channel! Whether it's the Silent Hill 3, the Life is Strange retrospective, the Battle Network videos, or even the Apocalypso videos I like your commentary style!
Dude, don't second guess yourself, this video's awesome. I'm glad you've been able to play Zero 3 and enjoyed the fact that it fixes most of your complaints with Zero 1. It's the first in the series I happened to play, and it really stuck with me.
And hey, take care!
I always love hearing blind opinions on these games, so id LOVE to see you cover the other games! But take your time, and dont drive yourself into the ground. Hope you enjoy Zero 4!
The reason for phantom's suicide, and im not currently willing to do a deep dive to fact check this so dont quote me on it, but I heard it was because the dev team actually liked phantom and his design so much, that because the first MMZ wasn't meant to have a sequel, they had him try to take zero with him as an extra special sendoff unique only to him. Of course, MMZ did in fact have a sequel and phantom is humorously absent from it while his guardian friends get to retain major roles (though phantom does play a small part in 3's story and he has a secret boss fight)
I absolutely love your longer videos. And the fact that you've been going through my absolute favorite game series makes me anticipate every video
the only reason i’d want you to review 2 is to hear what you think about Elpizo. I just love that guy
This video is like a love letter video regardless of the flaws of Megaman Zero 1. Thank you for the awesome video!
This video introduced me to your channel and man what a great decision it was to click this.
Hope you get to do reviews on the next MMZ games because they just get better over time and the story has such an impact full conclusion that really just makes this series special
By 2023, John is just gonna be the “Ridiculously Long Capcom Game Review” guy, and I’m down for it.
I remember the first time I fought phantom in the boss rush re-fights. I was down to 1 or 2 slivers of health and caught him with a single slash. Right in the middle of my well-earned celebration, his suicide explosion killed me. If it wasn't for the somewhat admirable self restraint of a teenager who bought this DS by himself. With his own money he earned from his own job, that DS would have become a bloody stain on my bedroom wall. Boy I was PISSED.