Mega Man Zero 2

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).

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.

This is a grappling hook which can be used to attack, grab things, climb walls, swing across ceilings, and pull objects. Its main function is utility rather than dealing damage.

Buster skill. If you don’t have an Element chip equipped, your charged shot turns into a small laser which can go through shields of certain enemies.

When you have this and the Ice Chip equipped, your super-shots will sometimes split into three shards of ice upon hitting a target, which continue to fly outward. The shards don’t seem to be stopped by as many things as your normal shots, which makes this one rather useful.

Activates when the Thunder Chip is equipped. This causes your shot to sometimes burst into sparks which travel up and down when it hits a target.

This is the regular flaming upward strike.

Latch onto an enemy with the Chain Rod and just hold down the attack button, don’t pull the enemy or otherwise move. After a few seconds, the chain will begin draining the enemy’s HP 1 unit at a time (doing 1 AP damage each time) to you. When the enemy runs out of HP he explodes and the drain stops; otherwise, you can keep draining from him for as long as you can stand still like that. You can even refill your Sub-Tanks using this. Only works on enemies that you can stun by latching onto them.

This is the down-stab move with the saber. Performed while in the air.

Produces a small slash projectile that travels out in front of Zero a short distance.

Equip the Flame Chip to use. This is a cool one where your super-shots turn into a nifty-looking burst of spheres which, when they hit a target, continue to do damage on the place where they explode, sort of like a Flash Bomb or X’s Plasma Shot in Mega Man X4.

Performed while dashing. Zero dashes forward with an arrow-shaped attack.

This is a strange one. If you throw the shield right before you would be hit by an enemy shot that the shield can repel, the shot will turn into an Energy Crystal. Not really worth the effort.

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 the 1-Ups of this game, which allow you to retry after you die. Generally you will find them lying around stages. They are dropped by enemies, but 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. You can walk through a frozen enemy as if he’s not there. 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.

These elves give you some free extra lives (continues).

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.

If you fall onto spikes or lava with this active, you take damage instead of dying. The damage dealt is a big chunk, but still, better than an instant death. This is a permanent effect.

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 elf eliminates your horizontal recoil (as seen in the game play stats). This is a permanent effect.

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 shortens your charge time for all of your weapons. Only lasts one stage.

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!

These elves raise your rank to A instantly when used. You’ll want to use this before you fight the boss of a particular stage in which you want to get the EX Skill.

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

When you use this, energy and crystals that you pick up are worth more. It’s much easier to fill your energy meter when this is active. This is a permanent effect.

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.

Having lost his physical form in his effort to protect the Dark Elf, the original X now exists only as a Cyber-elf.

A misguided Reploid who wants to be a hero. He intends to destroy Neo Arcadia and all humans so as to make a utopia world of just Reploids.

He does swooping dives, fires slashes at you, dashes forward with a slash, and also sends homing missiles after you. You can dodge his dash by jumping over it, as long as you have enough room. You can also dodge it by standing still until he almost reaches you, then quickly moving away from him, but that assumes he doesn’t trap you in a corner. Also he will hover in midair and send red lightning bolts down on you; keep moving and they will miss (but your best bet is to just knock him out of the air). Fully-powered Saber slashes seem to do the best damage. His ultimate involves him flying back and forth across the top of the screen sending down large white slashes. You can dodge them if you keep moving back and forth between them, near the center of the screen. You can also knock him out of it, but only if you can manage to hit him way up there. He reacts to Ice, and insults you when you die.

He reacts to Lightning. Try not to get too close to him because he can grab you. Otherwise this battle is mostly a matter of positioning yourself in the gaps between his various shots. His ultimate attack, where he causes lava to shoot up from the floor, always appears in the same pattern from the initial points, so once you see where the first part is coming up, you know where to go to dodge the rest. It’s still tricky, however, since he fires multiple bursts at the same time, so coming into this battle with a Sub-Tank is recommended (usually he only starts doing his ultimate when he’s nearly dead, so, the battle should be almost over by that point).

She seems to still be weak against Fire. Really, this battle isn’t terribly intensive, just stay away from her, let her come to you. Oh, and don’t stay underneath her, because she likes to do a down-thrust with her spear. (There’s no harm in baiting her, though.) You can shoot the shards of ice that she leaves floating in the water, and dodge the ring she forms by standing still until she fires it off, then moving quickly in the opposite direction than she’s facing. The whirlpool that she creates doesn’t hurt you directly, but don’t hang around in there too long because she will come down and land on your head.

A snake-like Reploid who fights on a snake ground that is similar to Snake Man’s level in Mega Man 3. He attacks mostly at short range and can grab Zero. At certain points the snake ground will shift like steps and he throws Slinkies after you (no joke). Keep moving and don’t stay too close to him, although move in briefly to slash him to pieces with the Saber when you can. Also watch out for the snake steps to shift around—it can be very easy to fall.

Climb the wall to avoid the ice he throws. However, when he makes a block that slides and hits the wall, shoot the spikes off the top (if they are there) and then stand on it and blast him in the head as he walks toward you. When he starts to get close, climb the wall, hold down the dash button, and jump—with the dash-jump you should clear him easily. (Also shoot him in the head any other time you can, of course.)

Ice will stick to him, but I’m not sure if it does more damage or not. His purple slashes will return to him (so just stand far enough away from him to avoid them), and the green ones continue moving straight until they go off the screen (but there is a gap between them where you can easily dodge). The electrical purple spheres move forward and the green spheres travel along the sides of the train on which he is standing (so stand on the other one). He does way too much damage to Zero, so stay far from him. Note that you can hit him when he is off the screen, but only if he is only slightly off the screen. Hit him with charged shots and you can interrupt some of his slashes.

He disappears with every hit that you inflict on him, but you can use this to your advantage because you can knock him out of almost every attack he makes. He always alternates between appearing in the center of the room and some other random place to make an attack. When he appears in the center, he will remain still for several moments if you don’t attack. Use this time if necessary to dodge the fire that comes out of the floor (line yourself up with one of the metal beams). Otherwise, shoot/slash at him immediately every time he appears; once you get to know his patterns, you will know what attack he is about to do based on where he goes when he appears, and thus, when you can knock him out of it. Note that when he splits into four, you can only hit the “real” copy, so another way to dodge (besides knocking him out of the attack) is to simply dash through the apparitions before they turn solid, so that you are standing on the outside of their circle. They won’t hurt you out there. Finally, his ultimate attack (where he turns into a fiery form and grabs you) cannot be harmed; however you can dodge it by dashing back and forth across the screen (change directions every time he disappears).

He seems to be weak against Ice, but you can’t hit him when he is dashing. Jump his dash and then turn and hit him (you may have to jump before firing because he tends to jump right after he stops moving). Try to avoid being grabbed whenever possible. When he produces the horizontal whirlwinds, dash-jump over them to dodge his pinchers. If he is pushing you away from him, you need to jump over him when he dashes toward you. The easiest way to defeat this guy is to equip Ice and then charge up, hitting him with a powered-up shot or slash immediately before he tries to pull off an attack. If you time it right, you will interrupt his attack, and he will jump (often over you, so be prepared to get out of his way), and then start another attack. By this time, your shot should be charged up again, so hit him again. You can rinse/repeat this pattern for an almost flawless victory if you can pull off the timing correctly.

If he catches you with his tongue, he sucks energy from you and grows in size (pound buttons rapidly to get free). If he eats the little caterpillars he knocks down from the top of the screen, he grows in size. When he gets big enough, he rolls around and tries to land on you. Although this attack can be dodged, the easiest way to deal with this guy is to prevent him from growing in the first place. Destroy the caterpillars before he can get to them, and hop off a wall to dodge his tongue. If he does manage to snag you or a caterpillar, keep slashing/shooting at him while he grows and laughs; if you strike him just as he turns vulnerable, he will shrink back down.