and Solo Attacks are now on 
which is why I keep mixing them up.
Parental Warning: Unlike most Mega Man related games, this one is not suitable for children.
This is just my personal opinion, but I think I actually liked the first game better. The artwork was a bit better in the first one, and the user interface was more refined. I find the character status pages to be especially cumbersome in this game, particularly the skill lists. But this game does have its high points as well, and is similar enough to the first one that I really couldn’t recommend one over the other.
As usual, I’ll be focusing on Mega Man series characters here, though I’ll list all of the other characters as well, in case you are deciding whether or not to pick it up based on its cast.
Notes on my unit data: Since damage is so heavily influenced by your level, equipment, target, and other factors, I am just giving a rough estimate of damage based on using the neutral 
attack as the “100%” rating. Also, these ratings assume a large/heavy enemy. “Block” ratings are the percentage of damage that gets through a 20-point Block; I chose 20 points here instead of the lowest (10) to better represent the fact that as Block rates increase, damage drops off exponentially and not linearly. Extra effects are marked: <D> is Down, <S> is Stun, <B> is Block-depleting. Note that this game makes the ratings a bit more explicit: S attacks are the most powerful; A ratings mean attacks that deal high damage but have no special properties; B class attacks tend to inflict Down or deal more damage to enemy guards; C attacks do low damage but tend to inflict statuses like Poison or Stun.
You only have to wait until Chapter 7 this time around for these guys...and you’re alerted well in advance that they’re coming, too. As a unit, most of their moves are fairly similar to the previous game, but just different enough to be not as useful. They’re terrible at breaking guards now, for example. Apparently Namco decided they were too overpowered in the previous game. Having said that, they do have variety in their attacks (the only thing they can’t do is poison) and one reliable guard-breaker.
Attacks
X-Buster & Z-Saber - A - 10 hits - Damage: 100% - Block: 45% - XP +7%Both X and Zero fire their busters, then X charges up for a super-shot while Zero dashes in for some close-range slashes with his saber. (It’s funny and ironic that this is their highest damage Normal Attack considering neither one is using any special weapons.)
+ Frost Tower & Hadangeki - B - 10 hits - Damage: 84% - Block: 14% - XP +7% - <D>Zero slashes with his saber while X peppers the foe with super-shots from above; then X uses a Frost Tower while Zero uses a projectile slash (which I guess is supposed to be a Hadangeki but it doesn’t look much like one). Note that like most of their attacks, this one is really poor at breaking through guards; 70% of the damage gets through a 10 point Block, but only 14% of the damage gets through a 20 point Block, and you’re not going to even break higher level guards at all.
+ Triad Thunder & Ryuenjin - C - 12 hits - Damage: 74% - Block: 29% - XP +8% - <S>Zero slashes while X fires a shower of Homing Torpedoes. Then X uses Triad Thunder and Zero does a flaming upward slash (Ryuenjin).
+ Rising Fire & Hyouretsuzan - Lv.15 - B - 12 hits - Damage: 86% - Block: 100% - XP +8% - <B>Now this attack cuts through guards like butter. Anything short of a 50-point Block is going to shatter instantly. Obviously you’ll want to always open with this attack if facing enemies with shields. X uses a Lightning Web, dashes through with a Tornado Fang, and tosses a Spin Wheel, while Zero charges up his buster and shoots downward from above. They both climb up the web on either side and X finishes with the Rising Fire from one side while Zero finishes with his Hyouretsuzan (downward ice stab) from the other. It’s actually a rather nifty use of opposites.
+ Fire Wave & Raikousen - Lv.25 - C - 13 hits - Damage: 75% - Block: 35% - XP +10% - <S>X starts off with the Fire Wave flamethrower while Zero uses Twin Dream. X transitions into a Speed Burner, while Zero circle-slashes on the left and then air-dashes back right with a blue lightning saber (Raikousen).
Ultimate Armor & Sougenmu - Special Attack - S - 23 hits - Damage 330% - Block 100% - <S>X uses a cross-over super-shot, a Hadoken, and a Storm Tornado. Meanwhile, Zero slashes diagonally downward from midair several times (trailed by a Twin Dream copy), then circle-slashes from the left. X finishes off by donning the Ultimate Armor and using a horizontal Nova Strike, then zooming around and coming in from above to slam the enemy into the ground.
Genmurei - Multi-Attack (2 targets) - Lv.17 - S - 14 hits (per target)They get this from leveling this time, rather than via the plot. It’s fairly strong but the reach is poor (range of 2, and only hits 2 targets maximum). Zero dashes in while slashing, and both he and X do flaming uppercuts (might be they are supposed to be the Shouryuken) from either side. Then X uses what looks like a charged Triad Thunder; Zero follows up with a Phoenix Crush from the same location. Zero finishes with his Beam Saber style projectile slash.
Nova Strike & Raijingeki - Support Attack - A - 20 hits - Damage 149% - Block 57% - XP +14%The Nova Strike moves to their Support Attack. X and Zero use a variety of weapons and techniques, including a charged Shotgun Ice, Ryuenjin, Gravity Well, and what looks like a Ray Splasher (not to mention the Raijingeki, of course).
Skills
Perhaps to make up for their subpar attacks (or lack of Tron), X & Zero now get a healing ability—and they can even use it on allies too.
Named after their dash ability, this lets you navigate more quickly across the map. Lack of a decent Marching Orders makes this skill even more useful than it would have been in the previous game.
Interestingly, Arm Parts and Foot Parts are Auto-Skills, and Body Parts is a normal skill that costs SP.
You can walk onto traps without fear with these on.
Said to increase the damage of charged Normal Attacks (that’s when you don’t use an attack at all in one battle and then use it in another battle after it is “charged”).
Supposedly this increases the effectiveness of your attacks when targeting a unit from its rear, but I haven’t really quantified this.
Intended to represent Zero using the Dark Hold special weapon.
He uses flaming grenades in this game instead of the purple tornado.
Every time you damage Sigma, he removes some of your XP. That’s the extra shattering effect you see after each fight against him. Given this, you may as well just Special Attack him every battle. Use it or lose it. (Obviously, don’t use Sigma as a punching bag for XP-gathering purposes. Not that you likely would anyway.)
This briefly details the rest of the cast, for those that are interested. None of this has anything to do with Mega Man in particular.
Pair Units
Apparently these guys are now the main characters. Not much has changed in regards to the spanking references (if anything, they’ve gotten worse) and their moves don’t seem quite as interesting anymore either. Xiaomu loves making obscure references to other games and pop culture (including, among many, many others, one from Tales of Symphonia that only fans of the series would even recognize as a reference).
You get them early in the main plot this time. They have a low movement rating in exchange for a longer than normal attack range. Still, this does mean they tend to fall behind a lot. They get their Multi-Attack early...if you can ever get them into range of enough enemies to make use of it. Their Support Attack is an excellent Block breaker (it’s the same as their own guard-breaking attack).
Demitri somehow always ends up being paired with someone he detests. Luckily, Morrigan is so laid back and good-natured that she has no troubles putting up with him. Still a decent unit. Morrigan’s Blown Kiss is very handy for removing status ailments. Note that Demitri has to tag the enemy in their + guard-breaking attack. It’s pretty good at breaking guards, so he’s likely to make the grab even if the enemy has a Block rating, but if the initial hit doesn’t get through the shield—or if the enemy is juggled over it—you’ll lose out on a good chunk of the attack.
Kind of an unusual pairing. Xiaoyu forgets all about looking for Jin once she joins up with Chun-Li. Chun-Li attacks using lightning kicks and fireballs, and Xiaoyu...punches and kicks. Usually you have so much other stuff going on that this isn’t really noticeable, though. The game does play up the Chinese similarity quite a bit.
What is it about this game that loves throwing mortal enemies together into Pair Units? The main mystery is why Kazuya puts up with the rest of the group. Jin and even Heihachi have reasons for sticking around with the others, but Kazuya is kind of stretching it. In fact, during their Multi-Attack, Kazuya hits Jin along with the enemies. Maybe that’s why he’s sticking around...
A gang member and a former mafia guy who now runs an orphanage (not making this up). The crazy guy is actually rather fun. Their + flamethrower is my personal favorite Normal Attack. Great coverage, decent damage, doesn’t juggle too much, easy to critical.
It’s funny how two characters can be so different yet so similar. Their Support Attack involves a whole bunch of dogs and birds crossing the screen, although often this knocks the enemy out of their own reach. Their Option B is the same as Cpt. Command: Wind (and is slightly cheaper to boot), except they get it later.
Fiora is a bit better than T-elos, but I still would recommend against using their Special Attack. One of their Normal Attacks briefly involves KOS-MOS using a pretty cool-looking bow, though. (Not sure why she has a bow when she also has guns, but...) This unit pairs a low movement speed with a skill that can be used to boost Move. Strider just gets the movement speed for free...
Since BlackRose got the boot, this unit is now more or less fully clothed. Ahem. You won’t be surprised that these two make a lot of MMORPG references. Kite still has his healing skill, and gets a status cure at a bit later of a level.
They’re quick attackers that can nullify Side and Back Attacks. They focus on Block-depleting attacks. Kage Maru plays Sonic the Hedgehog during their Multi-Attack.
At first I was disappointed that Dante was no longer paired with Demitri, but I guess sticking him with his brother makes sense. (The developers are certainly doing fewer cross-series pairings in this game.) I find it ironic that Vergil’s Crosspedia entry mentions he dislikes guns, and some of his quotes have him reiterate this...yet during their Special Attack, Dante hands Vergil one of his guns and Vergil uses it.
I don’t know why, but Vashyron’s sprites seem “off” to me somehow. This unit has a decent movement range and huge attack radius. In battle, their guns still bounce enemies all over the place, though. At least they no longer do the swinging from the rope thing during their special attacks.
(No, not that Ciel.) These are from the same series as Soma and Alisa, but you’d hardly guess it by looking at them. Ciel’s in the typical maid uniform and Nana has stuffed a teenage-sized body into child’s size clothing. (Well, okay, so that matches Alisa pretty well.) Given the series, they’re both wielding weapons as big as they are. As such, they have pretty good coverage with their attacks.
They seem surprisingly unchanged from the previous game in terms of their attacks. Like with X & Zero, things are mostly just shuffled around. Ryu now grabs the enemy with +.
In terms of effectiveness in attacking, I think I prefer this pairing, although this does mean that Evangile is no longer on this unit but instead moves to the unit that already has way too many things to spend its SP on.
Cpt. Command: Wind returns, except it now affects one unit. Yes, that’s right, a whopping 80 SP to give Move+1 to a single unit. Still, this is one of the only ways to boost the movement range of units that don’t have this skill themselves. You could try pairing Ichiro & Erica with someone who boosts maximum SP such as Phoenix or Aty.
They kind of overdo the father-daughter thing a bit. For once in this game, the female is wearing more clothing than the male. It’s rather amusing that both of them are using the same sword...from different time periods.
I won’t say that replacing Estelle makes these guys a more effective Pair Unit, but...well, okay, that was typically true in their source game too. Flynn backs Yuri up with magic, but also uses his sword skills. Flynn still has his Cure skill (properly named this time), though of course this unit does lack Estelle’s Nurse.
Yes, this is considered a Solo Unit, despite being a pair. Their introduction is quite humorous too; they just can’t catch a break. I thought the writers did a decent job explaining how and why they can fight; and, of course, their actual moves during battle are deliberately silly. Sadly, the translators didn’t replace the “Hold It!” and “Objection!” textures, even though doing so should have been easy, at least for English. As a side note, there’s not a lot of point using their “Objection!” skill on the unit they’re paired with, because the Psyche-Lock that they use to open their Solo Attack breaks pretty much any Block you’ll come across anyway.
If you don’t know who this guy is...maybe this scan from the Mega Man 1 manual will help. Yeah. He’s “CapCom.” Get it? This was Capcom USA’s first (as far as I know) attempt at a company mascot. If you were wondering why he’s thoroughly steeped in the 80s campy style, this is the reason.
Rather than Nullify ZOC this time around, he has an Auto-Skill that gives the associated Pair Unit a permanent Nullify Block.
His secret art is...a karate chop. Although his Solo Attack has a Block-depleting property, he’s really not all that great at breaking through guards. That’s okay, though; he also has a self-only Nullify Block skill you could use instead.
One of her notable features is her party-wide healing ability that is relatively cheap, and although it only heals 30%, it’s still quite useful. As a bonus, one of her Auto-Skills boosts the maximum SP of the Pair Unit you place her with.
If Natsu is from hundreds of years in the past, why does she talk like a valley girl and use Internet slang?
She no longer has the party-wide movement boost, but she does have the ability to restore SP to another unit. (No, you can’t use it on yourself à la pairing a Faerie Ring with Charge.) The amount of SP this skill recovers is based on the target’s maximum SP, so you get more bang for your buck if you use it on a target that has high maximum SP.
He finishes off his Solo Attack with a rocket launcher blast that, interestingly enough, is aimed based on the location of the enemy at the moment that he gets to that point in his attack sequence. (Most attacks in this game are simply aimed at a specific spot on the screen, whether there is anything there to hit or not.) The downside is if he aims when the enemy is being launched or during a Block Crush or something, he’ll typically miss with the actual rocket.
Both of his skills are expensive in terms of SP, so you’ll probably want to put him with someone who has lots of SP.
Street Fighter meets Sailor Moon is pretty much how I’d summarize this character. Her final magical crest move floats the enemy high into the air if he’s not stuck in the middle of a Cross Hit at the time.
Not much has changed with Valkyrie. She still does the Big Magic routine, just with different graphics. She has a weak but cheap healing skill that is quite handy for topping off characters. She can also reduce SP costs via an available Auto-Skill.
She hits the enemy over the head with a cast-iron frying pan. I kind of liked her better when she was part of a Pair Unit.
Notice her skill that increases ATK for your entire party. It requires 150 SP, so you can’t even use it at all unless you equip the associated Pair Unit with maximum SP boosting (and/or SP cost reducing) items.
She has powerful healing and curing abilities, but they can only be used on other units.
A new face who appears rather unexpectedly. In addition to a healing skill, she has a skill which restores XP. (You can always easily recognize these, because they don’t require a target.)
As should be obvious, this guy is completely, outlandishly, over-the-top silly. Still, if you want some amusement, activate his Solo Attack and then just stand back and watch. His actions change slightly when his target isn’t being bounced around or caught in a Cross Hit.
Another former Pair Unit that moves to being a Solo Unit. She has a skill that gives the unit she’s paired with Move+1.
She swaps places with Flynn, becoming a Solo Unit. She now uses Nightingale instead of Nurse, and can boost the defense of the entire party.
Among other things, if you choose to, she can pair an increased XP gain Auto-Skill with a Mirage Cancel cost-reducing Auto-Skill, making her one of the more effective Mirage Cancel units. She also has a skill that costs 100 SP to boost ATK by +75%. This is big. Don’t overlook it.
The tutorial. Introduces Reiji & Xiaomu and teaches you the basics about moving, attacking, and facing.
Ichiro & Erica and Sakura & Gemini teach you about Rescue mechanics. Yes, that’s right, the same four people have been completely shuffled around into new pairings.
Lots o’ ninja everywhere. Kage Maru and Akira and Strider and Hotsuma and Hibana and Natsu. And the robot boss named Solo. Rather appropriately, the game teaches you about Solo Units here.
You briefly meet Kite, Haseo, Vashyron, Zephyr, Leanne, and a future Alisa. Learn about breakables, treasure chests, and traps.
Yuri & Flynn encounter Valkyrie and the Fire Emblem father/daughter team. Side note: In most of the tutorials, the game grants you automatic XP boosts when teaching you how to use a move that requires XP. However, in this one, you have to manually pick up the “trap” that grants you the needed XP in order to use the Multi-Attack that the tutorial is teaching you (at least if you want to use it on your first turn).
They really need to stop with the Alice puns. Chris & Jill meet up with Reiji and Xiaomu and the Doctor. Saya shows up to be an enemy again, with her usual two minions and a ridiculous sidekick. You win the mission when you defeat either of the bosses.
Heihachi has hired himself a defense attorney, who turns out to be none other than Phoenix Wright, who ends up being targeted for assassination since offing Heihachi’s lawyer is (in theory) a whole lot easier than offing Heihachi himself. Since Phoenix & Maya can’t simply disappear off the map to avoid conflict the way Urashima and other noncombatants can, they have to hide in a manhole while you and your newest gangster recruits dust off some biological weapon enemies.
Chase after Phoenix & Maya into the manhole that leads some place that is definitely not a sewer. No Turtles to be found down here. This time we crash Morrigan’s castle instead of Demitri’s. Monsters and the arrival of the rest of your team interrupt the three-way duel between Kazuya, Jin, and Heihachi...who all decide to put aside their differences and join your crew. Meanwhile B.B. Hood shows up to collect a bounty on...guess who.
Aty arrives to investigate the summoning gate and discovers a whole lot of outlanders. Strider Hiryu & Hotsuma and Natsu join up, and you duke it out with Pyron.
Ryo Hazuki is chasing after a stolen relic and stumbles across Chun-Li, who is doing her usual day job, and Xiaoyu, who is looking for Jin. When M.Bison himself makes an appearance, Chun-Li temporarily recruits the assistance of Xiaoyu and Ryo in order to defeat Juri (who is also now an enemy again) and rabbit-girl.
KOS-MOS & Fiora join forces, and, rather unsurprisingly, T-elos shows up as an enemy. This map starts out quiet. It doesn’t stay quiet... (Note: Behind KOS-MOS’s starting position is a wall that you can break using Y. Behind the wall lies a sarcophagus that you can also break with Y and thereby acquire an equipment item. If you are so inclined.)
The “Cyberspace” entry shows up in your Crosspedia before you even get there, proving to be something of a spoiler. (The characters also mysteriously discuss traveling through cyberspace before they learn the reason why there’s a need to travel through cyberspace.) But just because there’s a spoiler doesn’t mean they don’t throw you a curve ball anyway. Were you expecting X & Zero to join at the start of the chapter? Sorry! Instead of the Maverick Hunters, you get...Captain Commando! (I wish I was joking...)
There are two kinds of environment obstacles here. The yellow spheres (called Miru Toraeru in Japanese) will damage you if you enter any of the eight tiles surrounding them. Having said that, they only damage the first unit to enter that space, and only once, disappearing permanently thereafter. So since navigating around them can be kind of a pain (given units’ propensity to accidentally wander where you didn’t want them to go), you might want to just throw some sacrificial units at them early on and get rid of them. The second obstacle involves breaking buttons on the floor to trigger big spheres to roll over the purple panels, eliminating them. If a ball rolls over one or more of your units, they take damage. You can generally guess which sphere is going to roll where, but sometimes it’s ambiguous. Easiest way to avoid lots of damage is to do this with X & Zero right after they join, while all of your other units are still back in the previous section, so that only one unit has a possibility of taking damage.
As a side note, the first two sections are cleared by moving a unit next to the warp gates. You don’t even have to end your turn there—the unit will stop automatically and his turn ends the instant he even so much as touches one of those tiles, so be sure to catch all of your straggling units up before moving your lead units. Otherwise, all of your rear guard will be out of the action the entire fight as they keep trying futility to catch up. (Actually, this will probably happen anyway, unless you deliberately waste some turns waiting on them.)
Kite & Haseo are conveniently on hand just when the heroes need them. Note that the enemies can’t break through the fence (they don’t have a button), so you could either knock a hole in it yourself and start taking them out, or wait two turns for the rest of your team to show up. One turn after that, Ulala and a bunch of additional enemies crash the party—or rather, they bring the party to you. Suggestion: Put somebody with Multi-Attack ability in the leftmost slot. This will place them in a good position to take out a bunch of the small fry. People on the right side of the map are going to be the farthest from the action, so keep this in mind when you organize your units.
Leon and Ada bump into Saya, who lies to them and claims to be part of Shinra. (Well, I suppose she was once, sort of, once upon a time, temporarily.) And then just to finish turning the tables, she goes and claims your units are Ouma. While she confuses the heck out of Leon, a bunch of monsters show up. After a couple of rounds the path to the basement opens and Saya’s minions come out, and you have to deal with those as well. Leon ends up joining as a Solo Unit. Break the flower pots for items.
The group decides to split up, but you are allowed to redo your Solo Unit settings before this mission starts, to account for Solo Units you might now be missing. There’s a pot you can break hidden in the leftmost doorway, and the crate at the end of that ledge is a treasure box; so is the little white box on the opposite side. Tong Pooh and M.Bison show up after a couple of rounds, and then finally so do Akira & Kage Maru and Ingrid. (There’s a funny joke here about ninja and rowboats.) Notice that your only unit with healing is pretty much Captain Commando, so put him with someone with lots of SP.
You have to destroy all six bombs before the time limit. Notice two of them are behind you. (The bombs are made using a special atom that releases radiation when destroyed. So naturally the way to disarm them is to destroy them.) You have enough units to send one after each bomb; however, be warned that after you destroy 3 of the bombs, B.B. Hood and more enemies will appear. Your units are going to necessarily be isolated from each other, so you will need to be careful.
Dante shows up, and Saya, and Unknown who needs to wear clothes, and Vergil—Dante’s brother from another time period. Of course, the “other time period” part is just the game’s excuse to pair the two of them together (otherwise they’d, you know, be trying to kill each other). There is one treasure chest waaay off down the path behind Saya. At least in the first play through, it’s not necessarily worth going after because you only get a consumable item, but you can get it if you deliberately delay defeating all of the enemies.
I could have done without the giant demon baby. Again. Your first goal is to break the mushroom things to find the mysterious witness. I don’t know if his position is random. I fanned out my units, though once again this means your units are going to end up fairly isolated. During the mission setup, you’ll want to put your units with the highest Move rating on the left side, because they have the farthest to go. Note that breaking the mushrooms does not end your turn, but some of them do reveal enemies. After you free the witness, he promptly rewards you by becoming an enemy unit. However, notice that the unit that found him has not finished his turn, so that gives you an opportunity to retreat if necessary and regroup.
Zephyr & Vashyron and Leanne finally reappear. You’re in cyberspace again, but not the “Cyberspace” stage. Defeat the orb enemies to lower the red barriers; the yellow crystals that look like Mystery Data are treasure chests. Solo shows up after the title display. A round or two later T-elos arrives. Then Vile shows up on his Goliath. All courtesy of Sylphie.
You’ll start to notice that you have so many units now that you can often only bring a subset of them into missions. (They all speak up during cut scenes, so the rest of them are still “there” even if they aren’t being used, unless the plot says they split up.) For some missions, during the initial customization offered at the start of the mission, you can choose which Pair Units to bring with you; press 
to remove someone first, then press to swap another unit in. Red units are required. It’s your choice whether to keep using the same units over and over, thereby boosting their levels, or if you want to aim to keep everyone the same level. Just keep in mind some units are required in some missions, and if you haven’t been leveling them up...you could just compensate with your overpowered teammates, so it really doesn’t matter either way.
At any rate, June shows up here; after she joins you can shuffle around your Solo Units, though you can’t alter your Pair Units once a mission is underway.
Note: The Treasure Mimic is a gimmick enemy that flees away from you rather than attacking. It has full Block and a minuscule amount of HP; the entire point of its gimmick is getting through its guard. When defeated, it drops a Barrier item (fully restores all units).
Side note: After this mission all of your Solo Units gain additional skill slots.
Return of the Golden Goblin tag match. (I can’t tell if this game is trying to be nostalgic or is simply recycling old ideas.) This time at least there’s a plot reason why some units are missing. Obviously, optimize your team for movement speed, along with anything that nullifies ZOC. X and KOS-MOS have Move-boosting skills that will pretty much be your staple here. Remember: skills stack in this game. So boost their SP and use those skills multiple times. Each use of a movement-boosting skill will last 2 rounds (the one in which you use it, and the round after that). Note that after about four turns Ciel & Nana appear on the finish line, so they can help intercept the goblins. The Abaddon will be heading toward the lower right, though, so send your slower units over there to stop it. Luckily the goblins have almost no health so they are simple to take care of once you catch up to them. Sparkles are treasure.
Alisa finally reenters the story, and the robot Axel wanders in leading a bewildered Ryu & Ken into a trap set by M.Bison. Both Juri and M.Bison himself join the battle here, along with Unknown (again).
The return of Sakura & Gemini and Pai Chan. This stage has two gimmicks, one being the turrets that fire every round, and the other being the extra defeat condition: you have to prevent any of the Hell Wraths from reaching the theater. Take note that the Hell Wraths have Nullify ZOC and HP Counter. They aren’t going to be stopping to attack you; they’re going to be aiming to zip right past you, so you’ll need to prioritize them. Do not overkill these guys. Use only as many attacks as needed to get the job done. In particular, be very careful with Multi-Attacks; the backlash may well reduce your unit to 1 HP. (HP Counter can’t KO a unit, though; worst case, you could just immediately use another unit to restore the health of the one that just attacked—assuming you’re not attacking with your final unit of that round.)
At the start of this match, keep your units together, because a bunch of enemies are going to appear and when they do, they all get to take their turns immediately thereafter. Also notice the suitcases hidden in alleys and behind buildings. The barrels are breakable as well. One or two rounds into this, Aty tries to un-summon some of the enemy reinforcements (you’d think she’d have learned by now that doing this is a bad idea...) and ends up summoning Felicia in a pretty funny sequence to usher in the chapter title.
So they’re going to shoot the cannon at the giant tree...again. Okay, this game is out of ideas. Don’t bother with Solo Unit settings during the intermission since you’ll have to redo them all anyway. You need to break the walls to advance, and fight through the enemies that keep appearing. Your second group is found near the portal, and about a round after that, your third group is revealed nearby. Chrom & Lucina rejoin finally.
Otherwise known as the chapter where the game officially jumps the shark. Yuri & Flynn are actually in their own world for once, minding their own affairs, when Segata throws everything into left field. And that’s before the rest of your crew even shows up.
You have to defeat Estelle using Yuri & Flynn. There are quite a few strategic steps you can take here. For example, Pai has a Move+1 skill and Segata has Move+2. Ingrid can give Nullify ZOC to another unit. That sort of thing. Equip the Pair Units that have useful skills like these with SP-boosting items. Give Yuri & Flynn some form of Nullify ZOC and move them past everything else straight to Estelle. When Estelle reaches that center circle, more enemies are going to appear. And when you rescue Estelle, Zagi and Vile join the fight. Estelle becomes a Solo Unit and pairs with Yuri & Flynn automatically, booting whichever Solo Unit you’d had with them.
The heroes get proactive and land on M.Bison’s airship. The flaw in this plan was that M.Bison got plenty of warning that they were coming, so there’s a welcoming party waiting to greet you. After slogging through them for a bit, Hibana shows up on a stealth bomber and knocks off the Dragonturtle. When the gang decides to blow up the airship, surprisingly, you don’t have to manually go around planting bombs. The story takes over for you and everyone flees to the blimp.
You’re supposed to protect three statues that move automatically every round toward the goal; thus far I haven’t seen the enemies harm them, so really the statues are immaterial and the real objective is to defeat all enemies. You can’t choose who participates in this one so you are stuck with who you get.
It’s chapter 25, get it? Anyway, you have to collect the scattered “presents”; notice one of them is hiding behind a golden chain. As usual, more enemies are going to be appearing throughout. Most of the action in this will take place in the upper center of the field, so move the bulk of your units that way.
You have to protect the Dragonturtle. Enemies are going to eventually appear on all four branches, so keep units guarding them all. You have enough units for three on two of the branches, and two units on the other two (another option is to leave two high Move units on either side of the Dragonturtle to act as a last resort). The upper left branch is going to see at least three enemies with very high HP totals, plus some fliers, and the lower right branch (near where Kite starts) is going to face two bosses. Use Multi-Attacks on clusters of the little guys where possible. Note that some of the enemies will stop to attack you, but some of them will aim to go right past you for the Dragonturtle. Make as much use of your ZOC as possible to block them off; you may also require Nullify ZOC and/or Move+ skills to catch up in emergencies.
When you defeat Skeith, Kite & Haseo learn their Multi-Attack, so prioritize him when safe to do so.
Be very careful with Tri-Edge. He has HP Counter and counterattack ability, and the counterattack comes out after HP Counter. If you go all-out on him and deal more than your maximum HP in damage, the HP Counter will bring you to 1 HP, then the counterattack will KO the unit.
You’re back in Cyberspace again. Vile cleverly puts all of the pieces together to summon Sigma. Note that this time Vile leaves when you defeat his first form (he doesn’t fall off his Ride Armor like usual).
Great Burning Rangers reference here. (I liked that game...) There is a gimmick where you have to throw your units on the fires to extinguish them. Putting out a fire deals 50% of your unit’s maximum HP in damage. But since you’re fully in control of when this happens, just keep someone in reserve to heal up afterward.
Your Pair Units and Solo Units are split into three predetermined groups. You start with one group, but a round or two later, the second group will return. A round or so after that, M.Bison shows up with Ken and Estelle under his control. Yep, Ken is now a boss unit. When you defeat him, a cut scene results in the remainder of your crew arriving. Ryu rushes over to Ken (don’t you wish you could move that far in one turn?) and frees both Ken and Estelle. Ryu & Ken learn their Multi-Attack here.
Some of the glowing treasure boxes contain parts for the Dragonturtle. If you get all of the parts before the enemies are defeated, you can pick up a treasure box by the waterfall (which, incidentally, also heals you if you step there).
This one’s hilarious. Sigma, Shadow, and Kamuz are all trapped at Ryugu Castle. When your gang shows up, they get trapped there as well. Saya crashes the party on purpose, dragging Aya-me and Juri in along with her. Princess Otohime makes a courtroom for Phoenix to prove who stole the Golden Seed. Tarosuke then summons Edgeworth to serve as prosecutor (not making this up...and I also called it well in advance). All of this is just story though; the actual battle is pretty standard, albeit with lots of boss units (and no, you don’t get Edgeworth as a unit).
(I said they need to stop with the Alice jokes.) Phoenix proves prescient with his previous remark about Marvel Land. This mission had the potential to be pretty clever about maneuvering your way to your goal; however, in practice it ends up being very simple. Breaking the target grants that unit Normal Attack Range +2 and the target regenerates. You need an attack range of at least 4 to hit the enemies on the gondola, but with the target nearby, any unit can achieve that. And the rest of the obstacles align themselves for your convenience before you even reach them. (The objectives say you have to reach the bulls-eye but technically defeating all enemies will do.)
You have to defeat all of the AIDA before turn 12. It’s a pretty generous time limit. You can use units with long attack range to avoid some of the poison lakes, but otherwise you’ll have to wade on in; the liquid doesn’t do much damage. The poison lakes are one of the few environmental hazards in this game (not counting standard traps) that impact the enemies too.
Again, you don’t have to concern yourself with the moving platforms and the spikes here. Curiously, after the group splits, you can reorganize your units again and even (if you wish) put Segata and Valkyrie on the other side of the map even though they technically jumped over. After Sigma shows up, and until you defeat Tri-Edge, you get a defeat condition if X & Zero are KO’d. At least you don’t lose Zero this time. Remember that Tri-Edge has HP Counter. Do yourself a favor: Don’t attack him using X & Zero.
You only start out with three units here (it looks like more when they’re separated from their Solo Units) but more do show up after a very short while. Along with more enemies, of course, because what challenge would there be if you weren’t outnumbered? As is pretty typical, there is some treasure in out-of-the-way locations, taking the form of sparkles and pots.
The hot springs heal enemies at the start of the enemy’s turn, and allies at the start of the player’s turn. Unlike the poison lakes in Makai, they aren’t an instant effect from just walking into them. The hard-to-see sparkles are treasure. If you want to have a little bit of fun, park someone with HP Counter in a hot spring near some enemies...and don’t defend. The enemies will suicide on your unit, who will have a good chunk of his HP restored when your next turn starts.
Once a unit steps into one of the circles, his turn immediately ends, and in subsequent turns he can use skills and attack (if something is within range) but cannot move. After you have filled four circles, more enemies appear (you didn’t think those little flames would be all you’d face, did you?). After all eight circles are occupied, your units are released and can move around freely again. (At the end of this mission you get a cameo view of the Koryuji mansion, but—psych—no Kogoro & Mii.)
You have to keep Ryu & Ken and Kiryu & Majima on their feet because they have a part to play in the plot later. After they chase after M.Bison, you are given the opportunity to rearrange the rest of your Solo Units. Note that even after those two units move to the rooftop, you can still trade skills between them and the rest of your group. This is a fairly straightforward mission, but note the gray crates are treasure, and there are some tucked away in far corners (such as right behind M.Bison’s starting position—speaking of which, once M.Bison is taken care of, Kiryu & Majima will return to the ground right near that spot, if you care to wait that long).
You know you’re nearing the end because you’re actually defeating enemies now. Surprisingly, they save Hayato rather than having to sacrifice him like Ayame, although he doesn’t become a unit.
Once again, the conditions require that certain named units cannot be KO’d. I think you can guess by now what that means: it’s just like with Chapter 38. This time, at least, the units take with them whatever Solo Units you’d given them. Keep in mind that once those three go to face Saya, you’ll be left with only three units on the ground. Try not to let the remaining three get too separated from each other in the first half of the mission.
Here we are. You have all of your units available now. This, of course, means that each of your turns is going to take a while, and the enemy’s turns even longer. At first glance, Nine Nine doesn’t appear to be overly powerful (250,000+ HP notwithstanding); however, try hitting her and you’ll discover she regenerates any damage you do to her. (This is why she doesn’t offer any rewards after battle, incidentally; otherwise you could use her as a limitless EXP battery.) The win conditions nudge you toward heading south; don’t do so before you’re ready, however, because as soon as someone steps past that center area where Nine Nine starts, more enemies will appear and the unit that triggered the story scene will lose his turn. (Note: Vile falls off his Ride Armor in this one, so keep in mind you’ll have to beat him twice.)
Move a unit to stand next to the green dome and a break prompt will appear. Shatter the dome and you can now damage Nine Nine. At this point, do yourself a favor and try to poison Nine Nine. Poison damage is based on maximum HP, which for Nine Nine means it’s about equal to having another unit on your team.
They really need to...ah, never mind.
Stepping on the red streams causes 200 instant damage per step. This, somewhat shockingly, affects enemies too. However, the damage is too minuscule to really impact anything other than Auto-Skills that require your HP to be at or above 100%. (Also, if you get an enemy low on health without finishing him off, you can laugh as he reduces himself to 1 HP fleeing from you. But it still doesn’t impact anything in a practical manner.)
More enemies keep appearing throughout the mission so do not at any time leave the platforms unguarded. Leave two or three units behind in the vicinity of each of the platforms and move out the rest to take out the small fry. You can click on Byaku Shin to see her range and thereby stay out of it until you’re ready to deal with her (Byaku Shin cannot move). Do not turn your back on Byaku Shin; she deals double damage with a Back Attack. Saya and her entourage will not move until you approach so you will have to take the fight to them.
Once Saya’s minions are down, you can damage Saya; and once Saya is down, you can damage Byaku Shin. The endless “numbers” units (Two Two, Five Five, Eight Eight) are your XP fodder. Note: You can tell when Byaku Shin’s “Awakening” skill has triggered by looking at her active skills list. Until it does, she’s vulnerable to status ailments. Her damage goes up as she gets lower on health, and like all foes she can counter with Multi-Attacks, so it’s a good idea to keep at least one unit with healing abilities outside of Byaku Shin’s range at all times (and to have that unit act last each round).
to use your Special. So unless you have skills bumping down the cost, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of point to it. (Having said that, if you enter battle at or near 150% XP and either reduce the cost enough or pile on enough XP-gain boosts, it is possible to Mirage Cancel an early attack, build back up to 100% XP again, and also use your Special...)
Quotes
X & Zero don’t have very many funny lines that I’ve encountered yet, so I’m including a bunch of others instead. (Some of these are paraphrased.)
| X: | Does that badge of yours shoot lasers or anything? |
|---|---|
| Phoenix: | I don’t think that’s how attorneys work, no... |
| Zero: | Well, why NOT? That’s the question. |
| Heihachi: | If you’re going to challenge me, do it in the next life! |
| Zero: | Good idea. Next time they should use a Sub-Tank. |
| X: | I don’t think that’s how it works for non-Reploids, Zero. |
| [Ed: Ha ha, 1-Up joke.] | |
| Leanne: | X, quick, equip my Frying Pan Arm! |
| X: | I-I think I’ll pass. |
| Xiaomu: | Here, have some nice hot coffee! Got you! It’s iced coffee! I LIED! IT’S ACTUALLY HOT! |
| Reiji: | Do you really have nothing better to do with your time? |
| Xiaomu: | A guy in blue with weird hair and a girl in purple with weird hair. |
| Morrigan: | You mean them? |
| Demitri: | You could have at least tied them up. |
| Phoenix: | Ha-hah... Uh, hi, everyone. |
| Maya: | What’s weird about my hair?! |
| Maya: | Come on, Nick! You can do it! Lay ’em out flat with a big ol’ “Objection!” |
| Phoenix: | I’m pretty sure that would be a bad idea. |
| Xiaomu: | Can’t you raise an army of habeas corpses or something? |
| Phoenix: | Just what is it you think lawyers do?! |
| Demitri: | Behold the aura of a true ruler! |
| Morrigan: | Let me guess: you’ve forgotten how to turn it off? |
| KOS-MOS: | Analyzing enemy movement pattern. |
| Fiona: | I suspect we’ll hit them and they’ll bounce around a lot. Just a hunch. |
| [Ed: They’re lamp-shading their own game!] | |
| Xiaomu: | Look, up in the sky! It’s an avian! It’s an aircraft! It’s—! |
| Reiji: | Wait, it IS an aircraft. |
| Ingrid: | Isn’t calling out the names of your attacks kind of childish, really? |
| Akira: | It gets addicting once you start doing it. |
| Urashima: | Every rose has its violation of the Geneva Protocol, as they say. |
| Phoenix: | Marvel Land? Is that really its name? It sounds like it should be an amusement park. |
| Ryu: | No... My one-hit-victory technique is not yet perfected. |
| Demitri: | Stop blathering and get ready to jump. |
| [Ed: Says the guy who can fly.] | |
| Xiaoyu: | Huh? Am I seriously the only one who thinks this is crazy? What’s going on, Jin? |
| Jin: | ...You get used to it after the first time. |
| Maya: | Yeah, but they had ninja powers, and wings, and Techimarky Seppuku! |
| Zero: | We should descend as well. We still need to find out which world’s sky we’ve been doing all this nonsense in. |
| Xiaomu: | Ugh, attacking during a transformation sequence is just RUDE! |
| Leon: | “Reason for absence: Fell through a time warp and hung out with rabbits and ninjas.” Yeah, THAT’LL go over well. |
| Xiaomu: | They don’t call me “Captain X, the Game Mistress” for nothing! |
| Stehoney: | I made it this far, gob... I have no regrets, gob... and no key, gob. |
| Xiaomu: | If a bunch of Lost Vikings show up, I quit. |
They discuss how they are all going to get back home. Some return to the city through the sewer passage. Valkyrie takes some of the others back home through Marvel Land. The folks from the future return via cyberspace. Ingrid returns the folks from the past using her crest that she recovered from M.Bison. And people from the present who hail from other countries are returned manually via the Dragonturtle.
Thus decided, and knowing that time is short since the rifts are becoming unstable, the groups split off, and everyone gets in their last two lines of voice acting before they leave. The epilogue text says that the rifts healed themselves and everyone returned to their proper times and places.
And then...
The scene shifts to Demitri’s castle where everyone is having a party. Apparently, at the request of Reiji and Xiaomu, Urashima opened a bunch of rifts and sent out invitations. The last to arrive, Reiji and Xiaomu go from section to section checking out the festivities. At one table there is a discussion underway about recruiting ninjas for various teams. At another, Segata summons Aura from The World using a Sega Saturn and a 28.8 kbit modem. At a third, Yuri offers to make a strawberry sundae for Dante, and ends up producing a fruit parfait instead using ingredients that include...just about everything except fruit and parfait. (And we thought Raine was “creative” at cooking.)
Meanwhile Kazuya and Jin and Heihachi start squabbling (why did Kazuya even show up to the party?) so the decision is made to have an impromptu three-on-three tag-team match. Akira and Ryu partner with Jin; Ken sides with Heihachi (so that he can duel Ryu) and Chris decides to join in too for melee practice; Kazuya doesn’t want a team, but Kiryu volunteers himself and then picks Phoenix as their third. (What?) Phoenix rather predictably responds with an “Objection!”
As the duel gets underway, Xiaomu and Reiji walk off and find Edgeworth standing alone by a window. He somehow got involved chaperoning (his phrasing) some of the females of the party, who are having a footrace. Valkyrie wins by using Big Magic to increase her stride. Xiaomu and Reiji leave them to it and go to the next group. Sylphie arrives with her merchant buddy and announces they’re the ones catering the event and tries to bilk the men out of their entire life savings. Meanwhile, nearby, Ulala has been recruited by Princess Otohime to train some of the other party members for an upcoming dance battle.
At the end, Reiji takes Xiaomu out onto the balcony and proposes to her. After that the credits roll.
