Mega Man X6

Forms boulders which X tosses. Charged, forms a large boulder like what Ground Scaravich was using. This weapon can break or move the blocks found in the Recycling Area and elsewhere: brown ones are destroyed, gray ones move one space when pushed, blue ones move as far as they can when pushed, and red ones explode when struck. Stand directly next to a block and press the special weapon fire button to merely push the block rather than firing boulders at it. Pushing uses no weapon energy but will not function if the weapon has no energy.

Reflects certain shots. Uses weapon energy for every shot that is reflected; putting it up doesn’t cost anything. You can position the shield over X’s head or under his feet by pressing the appropriate direction on the control pad before pressing the special weapon fire button. Charged, forms four shells on the corners of the screen which move with X and shoot when you press the special weapon fire button.

Forms a small ice boulder on the ground that X can stand on. When charged, X flashes for a short duration, during which time dashing creates ice spikes which go up and down.

A normal Saber swipe except it shoots a fireball from the blade. When charged, it causes a lot of fireballs to sweep in from the left of the screen, covering the screen. This attack can be interrupted as well but only while X is first pulling it off; once the fireballs are in motion X can be hit and they will still continue.

Up to two anchors bounce around on the ground. Charged, brings down a meteor shower, but the attack is interrupted if X is hit.

Creates a water bubble that goes up then down. When charged, the bubble goes off the top of the screen and then bubbles rain down at an angle like a meteor shower.

A short orange ray that moves slightly downward and then breaks off into a 90 degree angle when it strikes a wall. You can determine whether it moves up or down along the wall by pressing that direction on the control pad when you fire. Charged, it fires several vertical laser beams across the screen around X similar to Dynamo’s weapon.

Forms three little dragonflies around you. Press the special weapon fire button to have them shoot. This doesn’t use any additional energy. If the dragonflies hit enemies bodily they will damage them but they will also be damaged and eventually destroyed. You can replace missing dragonflies at any time by pressing the special weapon button again, although you’ll consume weapon energy for every fly created. The charged variation of this weapon is identical to the regular except the dragonflies will fire automatically for a short time (after which they return to normal, non-charged state) and they shoot in diagonal directions.

Zero does a circular slash. This can be done either in the air, or while ducking (because you have to press down to execute it).

Same as X’s weapon; select it off the subscreen and it will auto-activate when you return to the game. (You can even switch to another weapon and still have the shield active.)

Zero sticks to ceilings if he super-jumps into them (press up and jump while on the ground). This is actually rather amusing. While he is on the ceiling use the normal Saber attack button to shoot icicles downward. This is what consumes weapon energy (just super-jumping is free). You can also dash from your position up there. Note that Zero cannot stay on the ceiling indefinitely; he’ll fall off after a short span of time. You can also get down early by pressing the jump button.

Zero down-stabs with a metallic spear. When he hits the ground this weapon produces a small explosion and releases an anchor that is similar to X’s version of the weapon.

Giga Attack. Lots of arrows stream down from above. Hits the entire screen.

Zero slashes downward at an angle and smacks the ground hard (or, more typically, swan-dives himself straight into a pit). Do yourself a favor and don’t get this one if you plan to play as Zero for any length of time. This weapon can be used to destroy/move blocks similar to X’s Ground Dash weapon. I wouldn’t suggest breaking red ones with this, however, since Zero will most likely be caught in the explosion.

This is an upward flaming Saber jab.

Same as X’s except you have to press up and the special weapon fire button to active. Zero can fire the options by merely pressing the Saber attack button; he doesn’t need to use the weapon fire button.

The yellow spheres refill your life meter. The small ones only recover a small amount of health, but this can begin to add up. They will also fill your Sub-Tanks if your life meter is full.

These globes are the same as energy pellets except that more energy is refilled.

The colored pellets are weapon energy. They refill your current weapon when picked up. If you aren’t equipped with a weapon or your weapon is full, the energy goes to another weapon that needs it.

These are the same as weapon energy pellets except that more energy is refilled.

Extra lives. If you have one of these when you bite the dust, you’ll be given another chance at the stage.

This increases the maximum health of the character who picks it up. Effectively these make your energy meter longer.

These are permanent containers that can be used to store spare energy and carry it around until it is needed. They are reusable and can be refilled as often as necessary. To fill a Sub-Tank, acquire energy when your energy meter is full, and the energy will go to your tank instead. Tanks which are not completely full may still be used, but they won’t restore much of your energy. A full tank, on the other hand, will always completely refill your health no matter how large your energy meter is.

This tank operates exactly like a Sub-Tank except it stores weapon energy and refills weapons instead of your life energy. Quite useful particularly when you’re in fortresses or fighting boss battles.

Although it has the appearance of one, this isn’t really a tank at all; it’s an item that gives you 4 extra lives instead of 2 whenever you start or continue. You don’t have to fill it or use it; just possessing it is enough for its effects to take place.

This seems to increase the power of X’s shots.

Stands for Double Barrier—this lengthens your invincibility time after you take damage.

Damage converter. Converts damage that you suffer to weapon energy.

Special weapons use less energy.

This increases the size of your special weapon meters, which basically increases the number of times you can fire each of your weapons.

Your character dashes faster.

This item increases your defense for a brief time.

This increases the height (and thus, distance) of your jumps. Extremely useful in this game thanks to its lackluster level design.

This is basically an Energy Tank that you can use once per stage.

Like a Heart Tank, this increases your maximum health.

This seems to give Zero higher damage with his Saber.

For a brief time, every attack you make is fully-powered. But this lasts too short of a duration to be of any real use.

For a short time, your special weapons increase in power.

X charges up significantly faster with this part. X only, of course, since only X can charge.

Allows X to have five shots on the screen at once (normally it’s only three). This can allow you to shoot more rapidly since you have two additional shots to work with.

Zero’s Saber has added reach.

Essentially eliminates recoil (meaning when you get hit, your character doesn’t get pushed backward).

Zero can destroy certain shots by slashing them with his Saber.

X’s shots travel faster, which means he can fire more rapidly.

Increases your movement speed and the distance of your jumps. The latter feature is what really makes this item useful.

Energy items restore greater amounts of your energy meters.

Every shot X fires is a fully-powered shot. This means you can’t charge up and you also can’t rapid fire; however firing the fully-powered shots is naturally a lot faster than normal since there is no charge time. Note that this affects special weapons as well—if you’re wearing an armor that allows you to charge special weapons they will always come out charged.

I believe this allows you to use special weapons without consuming energy for a short time.

Special weapons seem to do more damage when you have this.

This is the same thing as the Life Recover, except it works on weapons.

Commonly called simply “X,” this robot was built by Dr. Light for reasons unknown. He fights Mavericks to aid both humans and Reploids, but an inner hatred for violence prevents him from being as good of a Hunter as he could be.

A skilled Maverick Hunter who lets nothing hold him back. After being destroyed and rebuilt, Zero fights with X and the other Hunters full time.

Sigma is one of the Reploids Dr. Cain built from information gleamed from X himself. After going Maverick, Sigma has apparently determined that the human race is inferior to Reploids and must either be enslaved or killed. Like a persistent bug, he always returns even after he is defeated, usually in a new form, since though his bodies are defeated, apparently his programming continues to live on to cause more damage.

A Reploid researcher, Alia helps the Maverick Hunters by being their spotter and giving information to them on the field.

The general of the Maverick Hunters. His personality is one of command authority.

The mechanic of the group who makes Parts for X and Zero.

This mysterious mercenary has questionable goals and seems to enjoy fighting.

This researcher has turned his sights on being the leader of the Reploids, which he plans to accomplish with a certain something he uncovered...

An investigator who creates a team to look into the Nightmare Phenomenon and put a stop to whatever Mavericks are behind it. He’s not all that he appears on the surface, however.

High Max is a warrior who works with Gate and Isoc. He supposedly is looking into Mavericks, but what is his real goal?

The creator of X who manifests only as holograms in capsules. His capsules give X upgrades for his struggles ahead.

He can raise magma from the floor or lower it from the ceiling. Make sure you’re standing at the same level he is so you won’t get burned. Put out his fire with the Ground Dash / Sentsuizan; try to stand pretty close to him before firing the Ground Dash to ensure you’ll hit.

A fast Maverick similar to Slash Beast, but easy enough to take down with the proper weapon. Use Magma Blade and try to hit him with the fireballs (as Zero just slash with the Shoenzan). X can use the Magma Blade to destroy the ice spikes Wolfang creates in one sweep of the fireballs.

One of the few Mavericks that looks like a she, although he’s still called a he. Commander Yammark shouldn’t be very difficult to take down, even without any weapons. You can shoot/slash the bullets his little dragonflies shoot. As X, duck and rapid-fire while they are shooting—you’ll hit the Commander and destroy bullets at the same time. Zero can just slash. Hit him with the Ray Arrow / Rekkoha to make it go even faster.

This guy is silly. He fights by pushing boulders; as he gets lower in health, he’ll start bringing out progressively larger boulders. You can jump over him while he’s pushing the boulder and hit him from behind, or crouch in a corner and press the fire button constantly to shoot Yammar Option bullets at him and his boulder and blow the boulder to pieces (which leaves you open to hit Scaravich himself).

He’s tiny! This is one of the wackiest battles yet. If you hit him too hard he’ll split, and the duplicate will start forming bubbles and causing all sorts of headaches. Technically speaking Mijinion’s weakness is the Guard Shell; absorb and reflect his shots (anything but the thin purple beam—no you can’t reflect the green bubbles) and he’ll make a special cry when you hit him with the rebound. However I find this doesn’t do enough damage to make it worth it, even when charged. It’s sometimes better to just focus on raw rapid-fire to eliminate bubbles and duplicates as fast as possible. I find the Yammar Option handy here since it gives you extra firepower. Note: You can shoot the glowing small green spheres to form ropes which you can then grab and climb.

A shark in a pile of junk who’s weak against water. Okay, now I’ve seen everything. At any rate, smack him with the Meteor Rain / Ensuizan to get an interesting reaction. Otherwise try to stay off the ground. Note: Metal Shark Player has been known to resurrect previous Mavericks...

This guy is huge, and totally invulnerable from the back until you get rid of his defenses. Hit the green gems on his back with the Beam Saber. After that he’ll lose his defense for a short time (until the gems regenerate) during which time you can shoot him anywhere (even while he is spinning) with anything. Frost him with the Ice Burst if you wish. Rinse, repeat.

This robot comes with two detachable half shells. Bonk him in the head with the Metal Anchor / Rakukojin for best results. You’re wise to wait until he tosses his shells away first before attacking. As Zero, aim for slightly in front of the target so that only the blade hits, rather than Zero himself. When Sheldon splits you have to hit the one that’s not flashing. When he forms shells at the four corners of the room, wait until he moves from one shell to the next, then nail him in transit.