It has been two months since the incident with Elpizo and the escape of the Dark Elf. Ciel has finished her research, but a new supply of energy has not yet brought peace. Some sort of ship has crashed from space, bringing with it a terrifying Reploid known as Omega...as well as triggering the appearance of Dr. Weil and a new X...
Some of the things that jump to mind
...
- Cyber-elves - The Cyber-elf system has seen a great overhaul. Elves are now classified into two groups: satellite and fusion. Fusion ones work almost the same as from previous games. Satellite elves are the ones that circle around you on the world map and are also from the previous games—however, the difference here is that you may use them as often as you like (someone’s been listening to me!). You can have up to two satellite elves active at a time. Additionally, some elves can be used even before they are fully “grown.” If you choose to feed those elves, they increase in their abilities, but if you don’t have the crystals, you can simply use them as-is.
- Secret Disks - These are very much like a combination of the Cyber-elf boxes from the previous games, and the CD database system from Mega Man & Bass. When you pick up a disk, you are shown which number it is with a nifty little drop of digits. Some disks you can decode yourself; others you must take to Cerveau. Disks can contain Cyber-elves, crystals, or data about the characters in the game.
- Cyberspace - This game has “cyberspace” areas which are not really well explained in the plot or the manual. They are just sort of there, and you have to experiment with them on your own. Enter and exit such areas through glowing doors. Cyberspace areas generally mirror the regular stage, except the background is entirely green.
Using the Recoil Rod
Following tradition, you get all of your old weapons back except that the Chain Rod has been replaced with the Recoil Rod (kind of a shame; I liked the Chain Rod better).
- The Recoil Rod is similar to the Triple Rod in that you can fire it in eight directions. To use it straight up or down it must be charged.
- If you hit enemies with this while it’s charged, it will knock them backward. Probably doesn’t work for all enemies.
- Certain blocks can be destroyed or pushed around with the Recoil Rod’s charged attack.
- If you charge up and fire the Rod straight down, Zero will rebound off the ground higher than his jump (kind of like a pogo-stick). You can couple this with a dash to do a dash-rebound-jump (or something like that).
- You can also bounce off enemies if you do a charged down-stab on top of them and hit them just right.
Feel free to adjust this suggested order if you have an easier time defeating different stage bosses instead. Also, whenever you manage to make an A+ rank, you may wish to select your next stage based on the EX Skill (though luckily most of them are relatively useless so it’s not a huge issue if you don’t get them).
In the teleporting hatch rooms, you have to stand in the center of a hatch and press
Up to enter it.
After each battle, equip an elf like Byse and the energy capsules you are given will go twice the distance. In fact, you can totally refill even a doubled health meter from almost empty with just those two capsules and a Super Recover elf.
Many of the bosses are covered in the
Data Base section. This covers only those who are not found there.
- Old Residential Mini-Boss:
- Just stay on the left side of the screen with your Boomerang Shield up (don’t throw it) and you won’t be hit. Hit the green gem with another weapon on your other weapon slot to damage it. The main trick here is you have to time your shots or you’ll take damage while you’re shooting/slashing because the shield won’t protect you in the middle of an attack.
- Oceanic Hwy Ruins Mini-Boss:
- He stretches out his hands toward you to grab you; if he snags you, he’ll draw you in and do multiple hits of damage—press the buttons rapidly to get out. He’ll also drop boulders from the ceiling; these are pretty easy to dodge and you can damage the guy in the process. Also he uses a laser—dodge it the same way Zero did when the battle first started. Finally, he fires arrows in about 8 directions at once; you can stand between them to dodge them.
- W.R. Factory Mini-Boss:
- Hit the pod while it’s open. The wasps flying in your way can hamper things. Also, the pod throws oil on the walls which can hinder your movements.
- Twilight Desert Mini-Boss:
- It’s a mechanical sand worm. Shoot the airborne stuff with the buster and swipe at the worm with the saber...or just slash at everything.
- Energy Facility Mini-Boss:
- The sphere in the center changes colors and when its gem opens it can be harmed. The gem also fires shots which are different elements depending on the sphere’s current color. You can dodge the shots by jumping from platform to platform.
- Snowy Plains Mini-Boss:
- Another mechanical worm, an ice one this time, and you don’t have the moving ground to worry about here. Fire sticks to it. This one uses snowballs and causes snow to fall down from above. You can destroy the snowflakes with your weapons, of course.
- Giant Elevator Mini-Boss:
- This is a repeat boss from a previous game. Hit him to cause him to tip over, then shoot him where he was vulnerable. He shoots energy boomerangs which return to him. You can dust him off without too much trouble by using the “1000 Slash” EX Skill if you managed to pick that up.
- Baby Elves:
- The two of them move up and down on either side of the room and occasionally circle or cross the room. They can also combine to form a larger, single entity to perform attacks. You can hit either elf to damage them both.
- Copy X Mark II:
- This is very much like the Falcon Copy X from the first game. He has various colors and various attacks. He can also refill some of his health which I guess is no different than Zero using a Sub-Tank, heh. It’s hard to say whether he’s weak against any particular element at any given time since none of them seem to “stick” to him or otherwise give an obvious reaction. You can trap him in a corner by hitting him with a triple-slash of the saber, if you time it correctly—the key is he has to bounce backward a little bit with each slash. You won’t be able to trap him permanently, probably, but you can keep him there for a short while.
- Omega 1st time:
- This battle is very similar to the one during the intro stage. Dodge his hand-beams by jumping over them in the correct pattern, and dashing under the half-height horizontal one. The spheres that bounce off the ground will always be fired either right to left or left to right depending on where he shoots the first one. Finally, he has a sword in this battle which is relatively easy to dodge; just dash out of the way right before it drops down.
- Omega 2nd time:
- You have to hit his head (er, I think it’s his head... It’s somewhere in the center of his sprite, above his big arm cannon). He fires beams toward the ground in various locations—dodge these by jumping. He also shoots spheres horizontally across the ground to the left, or a large laser horizontally. He has a red sun-like sphere that slowly tracks you, and if it hits you, it will lift you up and draw you toward Omega. You can escape without damage by mashing the buttons.
- Copy Zero:
- (I know he’s not technically the copy, but it’s easier for me to write it this way and anyway, he doesn’t have Zero’s mind, so...) He’s got a variety of attacks that I couldn’t begin to describe, but some things of note: he has a double jump just like yours, and he also has a triple shot very similar to early X games. If you pay attention to him, you will notice he’s always approaching you. This is because most of his weapons are relatively short range. So, stay far away from him and hit him from a distance. If he does manage to close in on you, whack him with your saber, then quickly dash away.
If you die to any of the final three bosses, you have to start over with the first one (but without the cut scenes). You have no opportunity to refill Sub-Tanks so this is something to beware.
After you beat Copy Zero, the Dark Elf starts to power him back up. Zero tries to approach but gets knocked away by a black sphere around Copy Zero. The X Guardians show up and attack the evil Zero, and even when they get repelled by the shield, they aren’t deterred.
Considering it doesn’t look a thing like his original body... No, not really.
Eventually X himself appears and announces that he worked together with Zero to defeat this Omega a century ago, and he’ll do it again. (This is why Zero recognized the Dark Elf in the
previous game, incidentally.) X then tells Zero that the defeated Omega is now using Zero’s original body. (So he’s only half a copy. Or half an original, depending on how you want to look at it.) This means Zero’s mind had, at some point, been transplanted into another body. You know, this would perfectly explain why Zero looks so different now
...except that Copy Zero looks exactly the same as Zero’s new body! Argh, Capcom! Did you really not want to take the effort to make a new sprite!? I still say that the “shock effect” would have been
so much better if Copy Zero had looked exactly like the original
X series Zero
...
Interestingly enough, after this story scene you are given control of Zero...but your button configurations are set such that the Saber is on your main weapon and your sub weapon button doesn’t function. At any rate, go whack Copy Zero to complete the ending.
Zero collapses, and X comes to him and tells him that he can’t stay in this world much longer. Bleh. (Come on, Capcom, it’d be cool if X was Zero’s Navi!) Zero wakes up in what is apparently the Resistance Base because Ciel and some Resistance members are there. Zero wonders how he got there, and the Dark Elf shows up.
Zero calls her Mother Elf and asks if Weil’s curse has been broken. The Elf flies off without saying anything beyond Zero’s name. Zero wants to follow her, but Ciel says to let her go free for now.
Ciel also mentions that X told her about how Zero’s body is a copy, but she says that as long as Zero has his original heart, that’s all that matters.
Without answering at first, Zero steps past her as if he’s going to just walk off, but then he stops finally and says, “Ciel. Thank you.”
And Ciel grins.
(hard)
to access the terminal. For each match, the computer will show you which door has the data you want. The doors mostly all look alike, but you can use the patterns of colors to pinpoint which door is which.
