Mega Man Zero

Zero begins the game with this. Operates very much like traditional arm cannons. It fires rapid shots and can also be charged.

This works very much like Zero’s sabers from the X series, except he can actually charge this one (once it is leveled up enough).

This weapon is a telescopic staff with a blade on the end, essentially. It has extremely limited range, but can be used in any of the eight directions (including straight up and straight down, although for straight down you must be in the air when using it).

When this is equipped, hold down the appropriate button to put up a shield in front of Zero. This will reflect certain shots from enemies. Zero can move around while the shield is up, but he cannot dash while using it. When fully charged, Zero will throw the shield like a boomerang. However, Zero cannot use the weapon again until it returns to him.

Energy pellets refill your life meter. The small ones refill 2 units—not a whole lot, but it can really 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.

These are like currency, except they’re used to raise Cyber-elves instead of purchasing things. (Which is the same thing, basically.) They come in large and small sizes, just like energy pellets and capsules. Large ones are worth 16, small ones are worth 4.

These are basically the 1-Ups of this game, which allow you to retry a stage after you die. They come in a very limited quantity. Generally you will find them lying around stages. They are dropped by enemies, but extremely rarely. Zero can carry up to 9 of them at a time.

These contain Cyber-elves. Shoot or slash them to break the box and set the elf free.

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 are used off the subscreen and refill your life meter. You can use a Tank that isn’t yet full, but it might not restore all of your energy.

This gives your weapons the property of electricity when equipped, which will stun most enemies for a brief moment. You must charge to the second level to get this effect.

This gives your weapons the property of fire when equipped, which causes things to burn. You must charge to the second level to get this effect.

This gives your weapons the property of ice when equipped, which can freeze some enemies in their tracks. Like all Elements, you must charge the second level to get this effect.

While it is active, this elf circles around you, and most energy-based shots which strike the elf will restore your energy. Doesn’t work for everything, though. This elf will disappear after a short time.

The vast majority of the Nurse elves restore some lost health when used. These are similar to a Sub-Tank except they don’t need to be filled first and can each only be used once.

When you use this one, the elf will turn into a Sub-Tank and appear on your subscreen. You can then fill and use this Tank as usual. Tanks never disappear.

There are a few elves which will increase your maximum health, including one which doubles it (it gives you an overlapping meter like what some bosses have).

This one circles you madly, and any enemy bullets that strike it directly (it won’t shield you completely) will be absorbed into the elf instead of hurting you. When the elf sustains enough damage, it explodes, damaging any nearby enemies.

This increases your speed in climbing walls a tad.

This one seems to double your defense, so that damage enemies do to you is halved. Note that this won’t have an effect on enemies which only do 1 point of damage to begin with, since all hits will do at least that much.

This one follows you around, and when it sees an enemy that it can affect, it fires round blue bullets at it. Lasts until you start or clear a mission.

You have to activate this one, after which it will catch you the next time you fall into a pit. This works like Beat in Mega Man 7.

This increases your running speed slightly.

When activated, these elves follow you around, and when they spot an enemy they can affect, they fly over and latch onto it, stunning the enemy for as long as the elf holds. You can attack the enemy without harming the elf, and should you choose not to destroy the enemy, you don’t have to worry about leaving the elf behind because it will let go and catch up to you if you move far enough away. Not all enemies can be grabbed. This elf type has an interesting side effect, in that it warns you of enemies that are slightly off the screen, since it can see them before you scroll them entirely onto the screen. You can switch areas with this elf active, but it will go away if you start or clear a mission.

Use this on a boss to cut its energy meter in half.

This is to give you more time in missions where you have a time limit.

This puts a platform on the top of all spikes in the area. This allows you to walk on the spikes as if they were simple ground.

When you use one of these powerful elves, the area in which you currently stand will become completely empty of most minor enemies. This is an excellent one to use in places with lots of pits or floating platforms where enemies keep knocking you out of the air. Like all of the area-effect elves, this seems to last until you start or complete a mission.

This ensures that enemies which can drop items when defeated (such as energy, crystals, and such) will always do so. What items are dropped is still random. This is a useful one for gathering crystals.

Turns all minor enemies in the area into Mets. This one’s for real!

When used, these elves will attempt to stun all enemies in the area for a short duration. Can only affect certain enemies.

Zero was awakened by Ciel after 100 years of stasis. With his memory gone, most of his past is unknown. He joins up with Ciel’s resistance force to battle Neo Arcadia, which for some reason is trying to eliminate Reploids.

This human scientist was involved in Reploid research before Reploids were banned. Now she runs a resistance group which strives to save Reploids who are being hunted down and destroyed.

This is a Reploid scientist who helps out the outcast Reploids and makes weapons for Zero.

A perfect copy of X? Or just a wanna-be? Whichever he is, he thinks of himself as a hero, yet has a heart of cold steel.

The original X seems to be floating around in Cyber-elf form, but his true situation is unknown.

As usual, jump over the low slashes and stand under the high ones (I wonder when it was that Zero forgot how to duck?). Harpuia can be knocked out of attacks, particularly when he (she?) is in the air, although he’ll counter-attack with a pattern of four slashes every time you do whack him out of the air. This can be to your advantage actually, if you can get into a pattern of whacking him into a corner, dodging his first two slashes, and whacking him again with a super-shot before he can get back off the ground. Failing that, just slash him like mad with the Saber—you’ll get hit, but he’ll suffer more than you will. At any rate, don’t get too close when he dives, or Harpuia will snatch you up and do a body slam on you. Needless to say this hurts. Harpuia reacts to Ice.

There aren’t any walls, so you’ll have to do a lot of dashing and jumping to dodge. Just don’t get too close to Fefnir or he’ll grab you and fling you into the air—then grab you again in midair and body-slam you if you don’t get out of the way. Most of his other attacks are pretty obvious to dodge—you can even just stand underneath the small fireballs, and as long as you are at an even level or lower than Fefnir, they won’t hit you. Keep your distance and don’t get trapped against the edge of the screen. Let Fefnir jump toward you, then dash a safe distance away and fire from a distance. Repeat. He’ll react to the Thunder Chip, although it doesn’t seem to do a huge amount of damage, but give it a try anyway.

(When you have to walk out of a mission manually, you know there’s a boss coming.) Okay, this one is definitely a “woman” (by her own admission). To be honest, all of X’s Guardians look like women...but I won’t go there. Now, you’re underwater. What’s the most illogical thing to use underwater? Fire! Bingo! Apply your Flame chip, charge up your weapon, and whack her whenever she stays still. One way to dodge her spiked spheres of ice, other than to weave in-between them, is to head away from them to one side of the battle field or the other. Be careful of the pits in the floor though.

This battle is mostly just a job of being faster than he is, because he’ll bound all over the screen. Luckily, you can knock him out of most of his attacks by hitting him, which may give you some breather space. When he begins duplicating himself, find the real one and begin attacking it; if the others turn into a common enemy, quickly dash out of the way because Phantom will usually drop down on you from above. When he tosses his throwing star straight forward, the inclination is to jump over it, but this is a bad idea since it boomerangs and will whack you in the back of the head. Either stand on the far side of the room and jump straight up to dodge it, or jump over it and immediately run toward Phantom.

First, shoot him as he dashes toward you, then jump over him. If he’s on a wall, climb the opposite wall and fire super-shots from there. If Falcon stands on the ground and throws blue spikes, stand under the high ones and jump the low ones (don’t stand too close to the wall behind you). Falcon’s wings block shots so you’ll have to aim around them. You can knock him out of his magnetic draw using the Z-Saber, but he charges at you immediately after, so you may end up trading hits. When he dives to the center of the room, you can dodge the dive by climbing the wall, but jump off afterward to avoid the sparks that travel up the wall.

Shoot his head (I sense a pattern here). You can jump him when he is doing his spinning ball thing, but there isn’t much clearance so it takes timing. Try not to stay too close to the edges of the battle field since he’ll bounce off the edges and his trajectory may be hard to dodge. When he swings from the ceiling keep dashing back and forth underneath him and he should miss you. He reacts to Lightning.

(AKA Buster Rod.G) He’ll respond to the Thunder Chip, but I don’t know if this helps your damage any. Rapid-fire his little monkeys and try to stay away from them so they don’t grab you. You’ll have to stay on your toes to dodge this guy. Whack him with a saber weapon for the final hit to see a nice satisfying animation.

(Sheesh, Copy X has more guardians than Wily has Mets!) He reacts to Ice. Make good use of the walls and remember you can dash-jump off them to get the extra space you need to clear him. Keep hitting him with charged shots and he shouldn’t be much of a threat.

(No idea if this is “male” or “female.” “Necromancess” indicates female, but s/he calls him/herself a “king” later in the speech so...). Jump and shoot/slash her. When she throws the lance, dodge and move to the other side of the screen (so that you’re standing underneath where Anubis reappears) and it won’t hit you. The spike-topped walls that come out of the ground have to be dodged; climb up one if necessary and jump over to safety. She reacts to Fire. Note: When bringing the damaged Reploid back to the base, remember that you can destroy the bullets the snakes fire. Also the Z-Saber can be useful here since it will not harm the Reploid, so you can literally stand on top of him and slash like mad to destroy things before they hit him.

First, dash under his jumps and don’t get too close to him when he lands, yet don’t stay too far from him or his icicles will get you. The wide snowflake beam won’t hurt you directly, though it will slow you down if the snowflakes hit you. You can avoid it by hanging out in the upper corner of a wall, but don’t stay there. Avoid the ice that Blizzack leaves around the arena and equip yourself with the Flame Chip and blast him with fully-charged shots.

This set of turtles will lob shots and also fire missiles from one of their mouths. You can destroy the cannon on top separately. To do damage to the main body, the head must be out.

A new take on appearing/disappearing blocks. This variation has a cannon on the bottom. Naturally, you can’t climb the sides of the blocks, so you have to make sure to place your jumps just perfectly.

Stands still shooting a jet of flame diagonally downward. Whack this thing in the head to make it pause, then you can move in and slash its body to pieces. Alternately just attack its body with long-ranged shots.

Not really an enemy; this variation of the Carry Arms serve as floating platforms for you to use as stepping stones.

These fly by dropping Spykings. Aside from this, they have no attack beyond the damage you’ll take from direct contact.

This jumps from floor to ceiling, and fires a spread shot.

These move back and forth and have no direct attack, but when you hit them, they explode. The explosion will harm enemies too, so strategic use of these bombs can really make your day.

These annoying things swoop down on you at the most inconvenient times.

Shoot the green gem to change the direction of the wind. You can destroy the machine entirely to neutralize the wind, although it might actually be useful...

This stationary machine will attempt to slam you with its spike arm. You’ll have to aim around the arm, and best stay out of its reach.

These look a lot like Tango. They leap in an arc and if they grab you, they will latch on and continue to bite repeatedly at you. Shake them off by pressing the buttons repeatedly.

This flying robot swoops down on you and can really get in the way.

This hangs out on ceilings and floors and walls and aims at you with its cannon.

Shoots twin shots and drops small bombs underneath it. Falls on the ground if you zap it or freeze it. If you’re really good, you can even shoot off its propeller and strand it on the ground. This won’t keep it from attacking you, though...

These small critters hop around and generally aren’t much of a threat, although they can gang up on you.

A relatively fast little critter that will move back and forth trying to get to you.

This hive has no direct attack, but it will spit out Hoppiders at regular intervals.

When you use a Mettall elf, all enemies in the area will turn into these. This game’s variation hides under its hat, moves around, and fires a single shot forward. Flying enemies will turn into flying Mets with two cannons.

This variation is much like the saber one, except it will set off alarms if the glow from its eye reaches you.

A mobile suit Pantheon (I didn’t just say that). They tend to move straight horizontal and often are scrolled off the screen before they can be much of a threat.

This slower and more decrepit model has a sword arm instead of a gun. Depending on the angle of the floor, it may or may not be able to hit you.

It’s a humanoid robot that looks a little bit like X. Fires three shots rapidly in spurts. They reel when you strike them, so blast away.

This guy has a super-arm which can be used as a shield to block your shots. It will also charge you. Whack it with a saber or wait until it is vulnerable.

Stationary globes that rotate bars of electrical energy. You can freeze them with the Thunder Chip.

Not sure how to describe this one. It almost looks out of place with its sleek futuristic look. It flies around and fires missiles.

Watch for these in the desert. If they snag you they will latch on and continue to do damage until you break free. Sometimes they can be hard to destroy because of the angle of the slope. Try the Z-Saber or Triple Rod.

These things pop up out of the ground and lob bullets at you in an arc. The bullets can be destroyed, but the best way to deal with snakes is to hit them as they appear.

Aquatic creatures which move sideways and can also hover upright.

Similar to their Hoppider relatives, these dangle downward on threads. They also toss webbing at you.

This thing wants you for breakfast. It has no ranged attack, but will rush you.

Shoots charged shots. Hit it with a saber weapon to knock off its shell and make it vulnerable; otherwise you must strike while it is firing.

A classic enemy from the original series with a new look. This moves back and forth and will deflect shots from the front. Hit it from behind for best results.

Monitor cannons which fire beams of electricity in periodic bursts.

This isn’t really an enemy, but rather a sparking wire which dangles from the ceiling. You can slash it with a saber-type weapon to cut it short.

These often drop from flying carriers. They have no ranged attack, but move quickly enough that it can sometimes be difficult to destroy them.

These machines form tornados which blow you around. Attack the source of the problem directly.

Another classic enemy with a new look. These move back and forth on their surface, speeding up when you are standing on that same surface. Attacking them will cause them to pause for a brief moment.

This starts out as just the purple top against the base, but rises up as you approach. Once the three cannons unfold they’ll start firing staggered shots at you at the various heights. Each of the three sections is destroyed separately, but they will regenerate after a short time, so destroy them then hop over and continue on your way. Totems don’t drop items.