“Zero must fight an evil copy of himself and understand his true self”
Bro you’re jealous of Persona’s success we get it already
Bro you’re jealous of Persona’s success we get it already
This franchise may already have a Sigma, but Zero is the real Sigma Male
It's actually insane to see how far this subseries has come. Starting off from what was an interesting but deeply flawed first title, and continuing with a fairly improved but still off 2nd title, I couldn't even imagine that it would evolve into what I, and many people consider, the peak of the entire franchise.
It might be odd to start of talking about the story, but Zero 3 places far more emphasis on it than the previous entries. It has a genuinely engaging story with a really enticing amount of twists and turns that kept me wanting to experience more of the game beyond just trying its mechanics. It's one of the best strengths of the side series of Mega Man and it makes me wish that the classic series adopted it with its newer titles.
This game refines or takes apart every single element I didn't like about the previous games. The level design is rock-solid and didn't have nearly as many cheap pitfalls if any at all, and the weapon level up system is completely gone. The bosses are mostly stellar, with the only downside being that some of them feel a bit too easy. All of those and more make learning and mastering its mechanics so much more rewarding than the other two entries, and I can easily see myself replaying this one quite a bit.
This game embodies what I love about platformers as a genre, it does everything in its power to encourage skill mastery and is more and more rewarding as you fight on for everlasting peace.
Also cannonball is one of the best final boss themes of all time holy SHIT
It might be odd to start of talking about the story, but Zero 3 places far more emphasis on it than the previous entries. It has a genuinely engaging story with a really enticing amount of twists and turns that kept me wanting to experience more of the game beyond just trying its mechanics. It's one of the best strengths of the side series of Mega Man and it makes me wish that the classic series adopted it with its newer titles.
This game refines or takes apart every single element I didn't like about the previous games. The level design is rock-solid and didn't have nearly as many cheap pitfalls if any at all, and the weapon level up system is completely gone. The bosses are mostly stellar, with the only downside being that some of them feel a bit too easy. All of those and more make learning and mastering its mechanics so much more rewarding than the other two entries, and I can easily see myself replaying this one quite a bit.
This game embodies what I love about platformers as a genre, it does everything in its power to encourage skill mastery and is more and more rewarding as you fight on for everlasting peace.
Also cannonball is one of the best final boss themes of all time holy SHIT
Perhaps a quintessential Mega Man game if there was one. A lot of fine tuning is done on just about every gameplay aspect here, both from the previous two games and the formula of the franchise as a whole. The plot starts out pretty unconvincing, but has a handful of interesting turns especially towards the end. Weil's escape aside, it very much feels like a satisfying conclusion for the series. I kinda wonder where they'll go from here with 4, so maybe I should get around to that one soon.
On a note unrelated to Zero 3 but related to the series, a lot of my time spent playing these three games has been ruminating on the plot of the first one. There's some groundwork lying around for some very stark contrast with the Mega Man X storyline, but as it goes along it becomes a bit clear changes had to be made due to the unfortunate existence of X6 onwards. It's pretty obvious the X featured in Zero 1 wasn't originally intended to be a copy, and I think it would have turned out twice as interesting if it had stayed that way. His true self doesn't seem to contribute a lot to the Zero series anyway. Mega Man X6 has slightly soured other video games in its rampage of Sucking Ass. Like it gave radiation poisoning or something.
On a note unrelated to Zero 3 but related to the series, a lot of my time spent playing these three games has been ruminating on the plot of the first one. There's some groundwork lying around for some very stark contrast with the Mega Man X storyline, but as it goes along it becomes a bit clear changes had to be made due to the unfortunate existence of X6 onwards. It's pretty obvious the X featured in Zero 1 wasn't originally intended to be a copy, and I think it would have turned out twice as interesting if it had stayed that way. His true self doesn't seem to contribute a lot to the Zero series anyway. Mega Man X6 has slightly soured other video games in its rampage of Sucking Ass. Like it gave radiation poisoning or something.
For someone who loves their Castlevania and Resident Evil, I’m weirdly skeptical of franchises. I’m attracted to games which have a unique flair or an idea that hasn’t been explored elsewhere, so when I see people asking for a third or fourth iteration on something, my reflex is to roll my eyes a bit. The first thought that pops into my head is how they should be hoping for the sort of originality that got them excited in the first place, but that really is an unfair perspective for a variety of reasons. While I can praise Resident Evil’s boldness in reinventing itself, my favorite entry is a remake, and the best classic-vania is the eighth one. Castlevania is a particularly good counterpoint to my insufferable attitude, since I perfectly enjoy the first game and would hardly change anything about it, but it was the years of iteration on the series that made Rondo of Blood such an artistic triumph. It proves that something that’s good could always be refined a little more, and refinement is a quality that’s impossible to fake. A similar, unfakeable quality that you get with a franchise is that of history, which is harder to describe, but it’s one that Yakuza fans deeply understand. The first time you play Yakuza, you run around Kamurocho without thinking too much about it, but a few games later it’s hard to turn down an alleyway and not remember a pivotal moment that happened nearby. A developer can throw a novel’s worth of backstory at you, but personal attachment won’t exist without actual time and investment. It’s both of these qualities that I think make Mega Man Zero 3 such a unique experience, being the result of refinement across roughly twenty games. The platforming and combat are as good as a platformer could ever have, and I can’t even think of any critiques. Analytically, I find the mechanics to be a perfectly smooth wall, so rock solid that I have nothing to grip on and have hardly anything to say. The history aspect has been more on my mind, with its bleakness contrasting so much from where the story began. Mega Man was a series about an innocent robot boy fighting a cartoon Albert Einstein, and by Zero 3, you have a devastated planet, torn apart by global warfare and factions desperately trying to survive with limited resources. Doctor Light used to seem like jolly old Saint Nick, but by the time of this game, you could make an argument that going back in time and killing him before he could make any robots would be the best conclusion to the franchise. If the Zero series had been its own original thing, I don’t think my imagination would have been sparked in the same way, if at all. Without the slow development across the main games and the X series, it would probably feel like a fairly standard post-apocalyptic sci-fi experience, but by being a natural growth of almost 20 years of development, it held weight with me in a way most other games don’t. So, a game like Zero 3 simply couldn’t exist without a Zero 2, a Zero 1, an X5, an X4, an X3, and so on. Through repetition, something totally unique emerged, the same way it did for Resident Evil 4 or Symphony of the Night. While I wouldn’t say Zero 3 quite lives up to those monumental games… it actually comes pretty close.
Most of the flaws with the former entries have been ironed out, weapon grinding is gone, the cyber elves are streamlined, now there’s a ton more customization options that let you go crazy with the combos later into the game, level design is top notch, harkening back to the X games, and the story I think is pretty compelling for Mega Man standards. My biggest complaint is how sporadic the bosses are. Especially with how long the levels are, without the Zero Collection’s save-assist feature, it’d probably be frustrating to make it all that way just for the boss to eat up your lives and force you to have to do it all again for another chance to even just see it’s patterns again.
genuinely the best megaman game ever to me. i can see why inti wanted to stop here. someday josh will go 5 minutes without playing it
Yeah, this blows the previous 2 games out of the water in almost every aspect.
To begin with, the gameplay is better than ever. The weapon level system is completely gone so you can just jump right in and have fun without feeling needlessly restricted. Which is helped by the game having level design that is leagues above the previous games. Almost every stage has something memorable from the fast-paced platforming of Flizard’s stage to the snowboarding sections of Cactank’s stage. Every stage stands out in some way without having random difficulty spikes or bullshit spike placement that plagued Zero 1 and 2. The game as a whole is a lot easier so I can totally see someone who didn’t enjoy the previous games liking this one. Another important gameplay change is the disk system. They’re scattered across the stage just like cyber-elves were in the previous two games but aside from cyber-elves, the disks also can hold bits on info on the characters and enemies as well as Chips. Chips serve as the replacement for Forms and they’re handled way better since you acquire them naturally through beating bosses or exploring stages instead of having to fulfil random requirements. Cyber-elves are also much more varied in what abilities they hold since here they can hold special moves like the Rolling Slash and other elves can give you an automatic S Rank which allowed me to play around with some of the EX Skills. Plus, you don’t have to go back to the base to equip them so you get way more use out of them here since all you have to do is go to the cyber elf menu at any point and you can use them immediately.
The story is also the best one yet. Weil’s a good villain purely because he’s so irredeemable completely unlike Elpizo. But aside from him, every character gets some attention from Ciel rejecting Copy X’s offer or Harpuia speaking out against Weil’s actions. Also, the entire third act is just a rollercoaster of emotions and is probably the most fun I had in any Megaman game I played this year.
Then there’s the music that, again, trumps the previous 2 titles. None of it sounds like it’s held back by being on the GBA with highlights for me being Reborn Mechanics, Final Countdown, Trail on Powdery Snow and everything that plays during the final boss.
My only gripes with the game would be that if you get a gameover, you must collect all the Disks you found in the stage all over again. It didn’t work like that in the previous titles, if you got a cyber-elf you kept it regardless if you had to restart the level so I felt this was a needless change. Granted, the easier difficulty means I didn’t die often anyway, so this is really just a nitpick. My main issue is the bossfights. They’re much easier here, almost too easy once you use cyber-elves and so, they don’t feel nearly as satisfying to learn and defeat. Plus, some are just completely forgettable like Volteel Bilbio or Glacier le Cactank. The final boss was so easy it made the ending feel slightly less impactful because I beat him so quickly which was a shame.
Minor flaws aside, this game is still incredible. It removes every issue I had with the previous games while improving on what those games already did well.
To begin with, the gameplay is better than ever. The weapon level system is completely gone so you can just jump right in and have fun without feeling needlessly restricted. Which is helped by the game having level design that is leagues above the previous games. Almost every stage has something memorable from the fast-paced platforming of Flizard’s stage to the snowboarding sections of Cactank’s stage. Every stage stands out in some way without having random difficulty spikes or bullshit spike placement that plagued Zero 1 and 2. The game as a whole is a lot easier so I can totally see someone who didn’t enjoy the previous games liking this one. Another important gameplay change is the disk system. They’re scattered across the stage just like cyber-elves were in the previous two games but aside from cyber-elves, the disks also can hold bits on info on the characters and enemies as well as Chips. Chips serve as the replacement for Forms and they’re handled way better since you acquire them naturally through beating bosses or exploring stages instead of having to fulfil random requirements. Cyber-elves are also much more varied in what abilities they hold since here they can hold special moves like the Rolling Slash and other elves can give you an automatic S Rank which allowed me to play around with some of the EX Skills. Plus, you don’t have to go back to the base to equip them so you get way more use out of them here since all you have to do is go to the cyber elf menu at any point and you can use them immediately.
The story is also the best one yet. Weil’s a good villain purely because he’s so irredeemable completely unlike Elpizo. But aside from him, every character gets some attention from Ciel rejecting Copy X’s offer or Harpuia speaking out against Weil’s actions. Also, the entire third act is just a rollercoaster of emotions and is probably the most fun I had in any Megaman game I played this year.
Then there’s the music that, again, trumps the previous 2 titles. None of it sounds like it’s held back by being on the GBA with highlights for me being Reborn Mechanics, Final Countdown, Trail on Powdery Snow and everything that plays during the final boss.
My only gripes with the game would be that if you get a gameover, you must collect all the Disks you found in the stage all over again. It didn’t work like that in the previous titles, if you got a cyber-elf you kept it regardless if you had to restart the level so I felt this was a needless change. Granted, the easier difficulty means I didn’t die often anyway, so this is really just a nitpick. My main issue is the bossfights. They’re much easier here, almost too easy once you use cyber-elves and so, they don’t feel nearly as satisfying to learn and defeat. Plus, some are just completely forgettable like Volteel Bilbio or Glacier le Cactank. The final boss was so easy it made the ending feel slightly less impactful because I beat him so quickly which was a shame.
Minor flaws aside, this game is still incredible. It removes every issue I had with the previous games while improving on what those games already did well.
2D platformer version of DMC5.
Mega Man Zero 3 is an unexpected masterpiece and undoubtedly the best game in the entire Mega Man series. It fixes all the glaring issues from the previous Zero games, making for a fun and awesome experience. Mega Man Zero 3 is easily a game I could pick up and play any day.
Gameplay:
Mega Man Zero 3 operates the same as the other Zero games, giving the player 4 missions to choose from at a time. Three of the first set of bosses each drop a chip that is another boss's weakness. Later bosses can drop new armor pieces. Scoring a high rank on a level can net a modification for one of the four weapons, giving the player incentive to play skillfully. Support items called elves can also be found in the levels. They no longer have to be given copious amounts e-crystals to be used and are relatively cheap to upgrade. This is probably the biggest improvement from the previous games. Elves can now be swapped, upgraded, and used quickly without hassle making it a much more fun and useful game mechanic. The weapons are now fully upgraded from the start, getting rid of the annoying grinding. Players can now jump in and enjoy the great combat from the start.
Zero 3's level design is very good. Every level offers a challenge and is a joy to play through. There's a nice balance of combat and platforming. The only level I don't like is the water stage early on. It struggled a lot with having many instant-kill spikes the player could very easily not see coming and run into. The bosses are awesome as well. The attacks are usually well telegraphed, even if the patterns can feel very random. The only boss I disliked was Cubit Foxtar with an attack that's practically unavoidable. Seriously, I had fought her dozens upon dozens of times and haven't been able to avoid it once. Otherwise, Zero 3 has some great level and boss design to offer.
Story:
Zero 3 continues the Zero series' heavy involvement of story. The story is very interesting and easy to understand even if you haven't played the previous games. I can't quite explain it in this review, but it is basically about an evil scientist reviving an old war robot called "Omega" and Zero must put a stop to it. There's a lot more to it of course and it's a pretty cool story.
Music and visuals:
Zero 3 features a lot of great and memorable tracks. The song in the factory level early on is forever stuck in my head. The graphics are also really good. The visuals are colorful, the UI is solid, the animations are great, and the art style works perfect for the GBA. That's pretty much all there is to say.
Conclusion:
Mega Man Zero 3 is a fantastic game and a vast improvement to a series with so much potential hidden away behind mountains of unnecessary grinding. It does just about everything right and is loads of fun to play. I can absolutely recommend this game if you're looking for a great 2D action platformer that flawlessly combines both hack-and-slash and shoot-em-up gameplay.
Gameplay:
Mega Man Zero 3 operates the same as the other Zero games, giving the player 4 missions to choose from at a time. Three of the first set of bosses each drop a chip that is another boss's weakness. Later bosses can drop new armor pieces. Scoring a high rank on a level can net a modification for one of the four weapons, giving the player incentive to play skillfully. Support items called elves can also be found in the levels. They no longer have to be given copious amounts e-crystals to be used and are relatively cheap to upgrade. This is probably the biggest improvement from the previous games. Elves can now be swapped, upgraded, and used quickly without hassle making it a much more fun and useful game mechanic. The weapons are now fully upgraded from the start, getting rid of the annoying grinding. Players can now jump in and enjoy the great combat from the start.
Zero 3's level design is very good. Every level offers a challenge and is a joy to play through. There's a nice balance of combat and platforming. The only level I don't like is the water stage early on. It struggled a lot with having many instant-kill spikes the player could very easily not see coming and run into. The bosses are awesome as well. The attacks are usually well telegraphed, even if the patterns can feel very random. The only boss I disliked was Cubit Foxtar with an attack that's practically unavoidable. Seriously, I had fought her dozens upon dozens of times and haven't been able to avoid it once. Otherwise, Zero 3 has some great level and boss design to offer.
Story:
Zero 3 continues the Zero series' heavy involvement of story. The story is very interesting and easy to understand even if you haven't played the previous games. I can't quite explain it in this review, but it is basically about an evil scientist reviving an old war robot called "Omega" and Zero must put a stop to it. There's a lot more to it of course and it's a pretty cool story.
Music and visuals:
Zero 3 features a lot of great and memorable tracks. The song in the factory level early on is forever stuck in my head. The graphics are also really good. The visuals are colorful, the UI is solid, the animations are great, and the art style works perfect for the GBA. That's pretty much all there is to say.
Conclusion:
Mega Man Zero 3 is a fantastic game and a vast improvement to a series with so much potential hidden away behind mountains of unnecessary grinding. It does just about everything right and is loads of fun to play. I can absolutely recommend this game if you're looking for a great 2D action platformer that flawlessly combines both hack-and-slash and shoot-em-up gameplay.
I can barely approach Mega Man Zero 3 as a "game".
I received Mega Man Zero 3 as a Christmas gift from my grandmother, it was the last Christmas gift I would receive from her. Her and her coworkers had pooled their money together to afford gifts for me and her other grandkids, she likely had put most of her own money into cancer treatment. My parents have a digital video camcorder tape of me tearing open the wrapping paper and chanting the game's name. I played the game in the living room at my uncle's house, where we typically had our Christmas dinner, and my parents watched over my shoulder. When they saw that Zero held a gun which fired bullets, they decided that after we left my uncle's house, we would go to the local game store and trade it in for something else (that "something else" would be Pokemon Ruby).
Since then I have played Mega Man Zero 3 many times, with many different devices. I have at various points owned at least four different Game Boy Advance cartridges of the game, two different DS cartridges of the collection, I have digitally purchased the game on Wii U, I have digitally purchased the collection on Switch. None of the versions of the game that I have now are the cartridge that she gave me.
When my grandmother died, my father inherited her car, and when I became old enough to drive it became my first car. After four years, I took the car to a mechanic to get the brakes checked out; the car was old enough that the rusted insides were falling out of the bottom and crushing the brake line. Cars of the same make and model surely exist, but they will not be hers. When I moved out of my parents' house, I moved into her old apartment building, but not into the same room. I have two music boxes, one is an Eda Mann Songbirds of America porcelain sculpture which plays "Somewhere My Love" from the film Dr. Zhivago, the other is a San Francisco Music Box Company sculpture of an iris flower that plays "Wind Beneath My Wings". My great grandmother, who also lived in the same building until she passed away, had these same music boxes; rather, she had identical music boxes, I have these objects which look and function the same way, but they are not the exact literal objects that I once held in my hands as a child.
But maybe it doesn't matter.
"Don't you feel any attachment? Are you really prepared to spend the rest of your life in that cheap fake?"
"As long as your heart is your own, you are Zero. The one and only..."
I've seen people on forums express the sentiment that caring about the story in Mega Man is pointless, that any focus on the games' story only makes them worse, but the setting and characters still seem to hold a particular importance. The Mega Man franchise is stuck in such a terrible stagnant limbo that the classic series has reached an eleventh installment (after a decade long hiatus) without any meaningful event transpiring. Any brand alternative to Mega Man, whether conceptualized by former Mega Man creatives or by fans and imitators, has failed to reach the same cultural significance despite delivering the trademark jumping and shooting.
Multiple objects can carry the same heart across time and space, hundreds of thousands of computer chips can all carry the same intellectual property. Some parts of the Mega Man series I can genuinely appreciate as interesting and well designed video games, and others I could critique for their flaws. Some parts of the Mega Man series have their more technical qualities so obscured by sentimentality that trying to talk about them feels like applying a rubric to a comfort blanket, or ranking your childhood stuffed animals in a numbered list.
I received Mega Man Zero 3 as a Christmas gift from my grandmother, it was the last Christmas gift I would receive from her. Her and her coworkers had pooled their money together to afford gifts for me and her other grandkids, she likely had put most of her own money into cancer treatment. My parents have a digital video camcorder tape of me tearing open the wrapping paper and chanting the game's name. I played the game in the living room at my uncle's house, where we typically had our Christmas dinner, and my parents watched over my shoulder. When they saw that Zero held a gun which fired bullets, they decided that after we left my uncle's house, we would go to the local game store and trade it in for something else (that "something else" would be Pokemon Ruby).
Since then I have played Mega Man Zero 3 many times, with many different devices. I have at various points owned at least four different Game Boy Advance cartridges of the game, two different DS cartridges of the collection, I have digitally purchased the game on Wii U, I have digitally purchased the collection on Switch. None of the versions of the game that I have now are the cartridge that she gave me.
When my grandmother died, my father inherited her car, and when I became old enough to drive it became my first car. After four years, I took the car to a mechanic to get the brakes checked out; the car was old enough that the rusted insides were falling out of the bottom and crushing the brake line. Cars of the same make and model surely exist, but they will not be hers. When I moved out of my parents' house, I moved into her old apartment building, but not into the same room. I have two music boxes, one is an Eda Mann Songbirds of America porcelain sculpture which plays "Somewhere My Love" from the film Dr. Zhivago, the other is a San Francisco Music Box Company sculpture of an iris flower that plays "Wind Beneath My Wings". My great grandmother, who also lived in the same building until she passed away, had these same music boxes; rather, she had identical music boxes, I have these objects which look and function the same way, but they are not the exact literal objects that I once held in my hands as a child.
But maybe it doesn't matter.
"Don't you feel any attachment? Are you really prepared to spend the rest of your life in that cheap fake?"
"As long as your heart is your own, you are Zero. The one and only..."
I've seen people on forums express the sentiment that caring about the story in Mega Man is pointless, that any focus on the games' story only makes them worse, but the setting and characters still seem to hold a particular importance. The Mega Man franchise is stuck in such a terrible stagnant limbo that the classic series has reached an eleventh installment (after a decade long hiatus) without any meaningful event transpiring. Any brand alternative to Mega Man, whether conceptualized by former Mega Man creatives or by fans and imitators, has failed to reach the same cultural significance despite delivering the trademark jumping and shooting.
Multiple objects can carry the same heart across time and space, hundreds of thousands of computer chips can all carry the same intellectual property. Some parts of the Mega Man series I can genuinely appreciate as interesting and well designed video games, and others I could critique for their flaws. Some parts of the Mega Man series have their more technical qualities so obscured by sentimentality that trying to talk about them feels like applying a rubric to a comfort blanket, or ranking your childhood stuffed animals in a numbered list.
would recommend for the final boss theme alone
Mega Man at its very core has always been about options. Selecting stages in any order you want, using whichever special weapon you prefer, etc. Mega Man Zero 3 encapsulates and achieves that tenfold. You're offered so much variety from your weapons skills, enhancement chips, cyber-elves, combo system, and how you approach stages and bosses that the replay value is practically endless. There are some serious balancing issues sadly, and the game is noticeably easier than the other Zero games. But top the unlimited variety with mostly fun levels, an amazing story, and great spritework and music for the GBA and you have what amounts to what I'd easily call the best Mega Man game. ...And what plenty others agree with nowadays.
This feels like the game Inti Creates was trying to make the whole time. From the massive improvement of the upgrade system, tying upgrades to exploration instead of rank, and the fact that bosses are actually limited to the screen size of the GBA, this makes the best of the Inti Creates Mega Man games so far.
Unlike in the previous two titles (or i’m just stupid) you can now skip dialogue during bossfights, which makes for a massive quality-of-life improvement as the bosses are all more playable. While the story is still far too big for its britches, it is far more enjoyable now that I don’t have to sit through endless and unskippable cutscenes every time I need to try a bossfight again. The upgrade system now having far more customization is also a welcome change.
I don’t know if I will ever replay Zero 3, but I would actually consider it unlike its less-than-average predecessors.
Unlike in the previous two titles (or i’m just stupid) you can now skip dialogue during bossfights, which makes for a massive quality-of-life improvement as the bosses are all more playable. While the story is still far too big for its britches, it is far more enjoyable now that I don’t have to sit through endless and unskippable cutscenes every time I need to try a bossfight again. The upgrade system now having far more customization is also a welcome change.
I don’t know if I will ever replay Zero 3, but I would actually consider it unlike its less-than-average predecessors.
GAMEPLAY = PEAK
MUSIQUE = PEAK
LEVIATHAN = 🛐🛐🛐🛐🛐
MUSIQUE = PEAK
LEVIATHAN = 🛐🛐🛐🛐🛐
”The heart is what counts. Not the body…”
one year later and it’s plainly clear that i still love this game as much as when i first played it, if not more. almost 20 playthroughs to my name at this point across many platforms and it’s safe to say that this is my favorite game ever. i have such an immense attachment to this entire series and after dozens of playthroughs between the games, this is the one that stayed with me, which might sound cliche considering it’s everyone else’s series favorite too but it’s all for good reason.
the design philosophy of these games is expressed here in a much more defiant way than the what some may call “enigmatic” execution in the previous entries. at its core every game has the same concepts based around how to play the game but zero 3 makes these concepts much more fun to grasp and play around with yourself. the level design keeps you coming back rather than discouraging the player on a first playthrough due to sheer difficulty. everything the previous games brought to the table is expertly streamlined and just, blatantly more fun. one of the major additions here that, bar none, is my favorite mechanic in a platformer, is the combo system. ex skills in zero 2 were an interesting little reward for playing well but i never really found myself using them too much since a charge slash was always a better option against bosses. z3 changes this by adding an almost dmc-like system that turns fighting bosses into an exhilaratingly strategic spectacle. each ex skill and attack has a priority value in the game, where the lower priority moves can be chained into higher priority moves during bosses to ignore invincibility frames to deal maximum damage. putting all of your ex skills to the test with this knowledge breaks the somewhat formulaic attack strategy the previous games wanted you to hone in on. experimentation is now the key to effectively transforming this game into an action game of sorts, and not just with the combo system. lots of customization options via the newly introduced head, body, and foot attachments encourage you to create a Zero suited for specific, or many situations. cyber elves can now be equipped two at a time and don’t hinder your rank, as well as the brand new recoil rod being a unique tool to weave into your playstyle. all of this provides an extra layer of depth that enhances gameplay in an interestingly diverse and encouraging way that the previous games didn’t exactly need, but it’s obvious that what’s here is a lot cooler.
the dramatic climax of zero’s ongoing character arc is here. in a way zero’s mental battle with omega is kinda symbolic of overcoming a self-deprecating emotional struggle, which a common person can relate to much better than physically fighting your alter-ego lol. coming to terms with yourself to accept who you are no matter what can be stressful for some. the point i’m just trying to make is that zero is sometimes like us. these strangely three dimensional themes being present in a game such as this one helps us enjoy the characters more, and that’s what i feel is done here, whether intentional or not. zero is probably one of my favorite video game protagonists partly because of this.
in the end, i wanna thank Reddish and GodOfMediocity for effectively getting me into this series. back then i had no clue how much impact these games would have on me in the future. inti creates, you have my gratitude.
“It's just me... I am... ... Zero.”
one year later and it’s plainly clear that i still love this game as much as when i first played it, if not more. almost 20 playthroughs to my name at this point across many platforms and it’s safe to say that this is my favorite game ever. i have such an immense attachment to this entire series and after dozens of playthroughs between the games, this is the one that stayed with me, which might sound cliche considering it’s everyone else’s series favorite too but it’s all for good reason.
the design philosophy of these games is expressed here in a much more defiant way than the what some may call “enigmatic” execution in the previous entries. at its core every game has the same concepts based around how to play the game but zero 3 makes these concepts much more fun to grasp and play around with yourself. the level design keeps you coming back rather than discouraging the player on a first playthrough due to sheer difficulty. everything the previous games brought to the table is expertly streamlined and just, blatantly more fun. one of the major additions here that, bar none, is my favorite mechanic in a platformer, is the combo system. ex skills in zero 2 were an interesting little reward for playing well but i never really found myself using them too much since a charge slash was always a better option against bosses. z3 changes this by adding an almost dmc-like system that turns fighting bosses into an exhilaratingly strategic spectacle. each ex skill and attack has a priority value in the game, where the lower priority moves can be chained into higher priority moves during bosses to ignore invincibility frames to deal maximum damage. putting all of your ex skills to the test with this knowledge breaks the somewhat formulaic attack strategy the previous games wanted you to hone in on. experimentation is now the key to effectively transforming this game into an action game of sorts, and not just with the combo system. lots of customization options via the newly introduced head, body, and foot attachments encourage you to create a Zero suited for specific, or many situations. cyber elves can now be equipped two at a time and don’t hinder your rank, as well as the brand new recoil rod being a unique tool to weave into your playstyle. all of this provides an extra layer of depth that enhances gameplay in an interestingly diverse and encouraging way that the previous games didn’t exactly need, but it’s obvious that what’s here is a lot cooler.
the dramatic climax of zero’s ongoing character arc is here. in a way zero’s mental battle with omega is kinda symbolic of overcoming a self-deprecating emotional struggle, which a common person can relate to much better than physically fighting your alter-ego lol. coming to terms with yourself to accept who you are no matter what can be stressful for some. the point i’m just trying to make is that zero is sometimes like us. these strangely three dimensional themes being present in a game such as this one helps us enjoy the characters more, and that’s what i feel is done here, whether intentional or not. zero is probably one of my favorite video game protagonists partly because of this.
in the end, i wanna thank Reddish and GodOfMediocity for effectively getting me into this series. back then i had no clue how much impact these games would have on me in the future. inti creates, you have my gratitude.
“It's just me... I am... ... Zero.”
WHAT TOP 5 YOU SMOKIN ON KENDRICK BECAUSE MY TOP 5 IS
CANNONBALL
CANNONBALL
CANNONBALL
CANNONBALL
CANNONBALL
CANNONBALL
CANNONBALL
CANNONBALL
CANNONBALL
CANNONBALL
Every time I boot this up again for a playthrough I think to myself "I probably just imagined that it was extremely good the last time." And then I play it and remember no, it really is just that fucking good.
When I picked up the X games, met Zero, and eventually played as him, I thought "man, he's cool af". Then, I picked up the Zero games and thought "yep, he is still cool af". But it is only when I played this game that I truly realized: he's simply #Him.
It was one thing for the story and stages to be the best these games had to offer so far, but it even went the extra step of basically making the combat 2D Devil May Cry. It is entirely possible to play this game however you want, either casually or testing your skills with all the crazy stuff you can do with the combo system.
I guess some of the bosses weren't that interesting to tackle, but otherwise, this is a truly phenomenal game.
It was one thing for the story and stages to be the best these games had to offer so far, but it even went the extra step of basically making the combat 2D Devil May Cry. It is entirely possible to play this game however you want, either casually or testing your skills with all the crazy stuff you can do with the combo system.
I guess some of the bosses weren't that interesting to tackle, but otherwise, this is a truly phenomenal game.
Music had me quivering in pleasure, they upped the spritework, so beautiful. Gameplay was so smooth, speedrunning this game must be better than sex. Bosses were fun to fight, lovely designs. Marvelous.
This review contains spoilers
Finished playing Mega Man Zero 3
Zero 1 is a good but it had a decent amount of flaws
Zero 2 is a great sequel that fixed some flaws that zero 1 had and it a bunch of things were improved like the story and missions and while it is a great game i don't consider to be an S tier game. My expectations for Zero 3 were pretty damn high because it gets a good amount of praise and i am happy to say that it met those high expectations. Zero 3 keeps the same weapons as Zero 2 but the weapon level ups are gone and the Chain rod is replaced with the new Recoil rod and so far it is probably my favourite rod weapon but it comes down to preference. It can be aimed in all directions and the charge attack can be used to knockback enemies and to launch Zero up in the air when aimed down. The weapon is very useful and fun to use but Z saber will always be on top for me. Zero 3 introduces a bunch of new chips which are some pretty damn good additions to the game.
Obviously you still have the ice, flame and thunder chips. When you equip the light chip crumbling terrain won't fall and when you equip the absorber you get no recoil when hit.
For the foot chips you have the double jump, a shadow dash, quick which gives you faster running speed, spike makes you walk on slippery terrain normally, splash jump which allows you to jump on water surface and the ultima which is basically every foot chip ability.
For the head chips you got a quick charge, auto charge and an auto recover.
Zero 3 has new types of cyber elves called satellite cyber elves and fusion cyber elves. Satellite cyber elves don't die and can be equipped and unequipped but you can only equip 2 of them and they are leveled up using e crystals. Fusion cyber elves die once used
Zero 3's story is a lot better than zero 2's story and that's sayin a lot because i rlly liked zero 2's story. It is a lot more engaging and Zero's character is much more interesting. The game ends with X leaving the world in Zero's care and with Ciel saying that it does not matter that his body is a copy and that as long as his heart is his own he is the one and only Zero and this ending god it is just so flipping good i needed to mention it.
I found zero 3 to be the easiest mmz game so far which isn't necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. Zero 1 was bs yea lets not talk about that but overcoming challenges in Zero 2 felt satisfying but the toned down difficulty of Zero 3 can make it a more enjoyable experience for some ppl but i personally don't have a preference.Zero 1 soundtrack is alright, Zero 2's soundtrack kicked ass but Zero 3's soundtrack?It makes me ascend into heaven. Zero 3's boss lineup for me is either tied or slightly above Zero 2's which means that its great. Ranking them would be hard so i'll do a tier list
S tier: Omega Zero, Fusion omega, Copy X
A tier: Omega 1st and 2nd fight, Tretista kelverian, Cubit foxtar, Deathanz Mantisk, Hellbat schilt,Volteel biblio, Blizzack staggroff
B tier:Blazin frizard, Crea and prea, Glacier la cacatank, Anubis necromancess V, Childre inarabita, Hanumachine r. The graphics are pretty much the same and i ain't complaining cause all 3 games look good but yk what else stayed the same? THERE'S A BOSS RUSH NEAR AT THE END OF THE GAME it is just unnecessary and a waste of time and i still think that the boomerang shield is meh but other than that i have little to no complaints about this game. Zero 3 also had better missions than the previous games Zero 1 had some meh missions here and there, Zero 2 missions were very good but all of Zero 3's missions were great and more fun imo. Overall Mega Man Zero 3 is an amazing game that improves on the previous game in terms of pretty much everything. 10/10
Zero 1 is a good but it had a decent amount of flaws
Zero 2 is a great sequel that fixed some flaws that zero 1 had and it a bunch of things were improved like the story and missions and while it is a great game i don't consider to be an S tier game. My expectations for Zero 3 were pretty damn high because it gets a good amount of praise and i am happy to say that it met those high expectations. Zero 3 keeps the same weapons as Zero 2 but the weapon level ups are gone and the Chain rod is replaced with the new Recoil rod and so far it is probably my favourite rod weapon but it comes down to preference. It can be aimed in all directions and the charge attack can be used to knockback enemies and to launch Zero up in the air when aimed down. The weapon is very useful and fun to use but Z saber will always be on top for me. Zero 3 introduces a bunch of new chips which are some pretty damn good additions to the game.
Obviously you still have the ice, flame and thunder chips. When you equip the light chip crumbling terrain won't fall and when you equip the absorber you get no recoil when hit.
For the foot chips you have the double jump, a shadow dash, quick which gives you faster running speed, spike makes you walk on slippery terrain normally, splash jump which allows you to jump on water surface and the ultima which is basically every foot chip ability.
For the head chips you got a quick charge, auto charge and an auto recover.
Zero 3 has new types of cyber elves called satellite cyber elves and fusion cyber elves. Satellite cyber elves don't die and can be equipped and unequipped but you can only equip 2 of them and they are leveled up using e crystals. Fusion cyber elves die once used
Zero 3's story is a lot better than zero 2's story and that's sayin a lot because i rlly liked zero 2's story. It is a lot more engaging and Zero's character is much more interesting. The game ends with X leaving the world in Zero's care and with Ciel saying that it does not matter that his body is a copy and that as long as his heart is his own he is the one and only Zero and this ending god it is just so flipping good i needed to mention it.
I found zero 3 to be the easiest mmz game so far which isn't necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. Zero 1 was bs yea lets not talk about that but overcoming challenges in Zero 2 felt satisfying but the toned down difficulty of Zero 3 can make it a more enjoyable experience for some ppl but i personally don't have a preference.Zero 1 soundtrack is alright, Zero 2's soundtrack kicked ass but Zero 3's soundtrack?It makes me ascend into heaven. Zero 3's boss lineup for me is either tied or slightly above Zero 2's which means that its great. Ranking them would be hard so i'll do a tier list
S tier: Omega Zero, Fusion omega, Copy X
A tier: Omega 1st and 2nd fight, Tretista kelverian, Cubit foxtar, Deathanz Mantisk, Hellbat schilt,Volteel biblio, Blizzack staggroff
B tier:Blazin frizard, Crea and prea, Glacier la cacatank, Anubis necromancess V, Childre inarabita, Hanumachine r. The graphics are pretty much the same and i ain't complaining cause all 3 games look good but yk what else stayed the same? THERE'S A BOSS RUSH NEAR AT THE END OF THE GAME it is just unnecessary and a waste of time and i still think that the boomerang shield is meh but other than that i have little to no complaints about this game. Zero 3 also had better missions than the previous games Zero 1 had some meh missions here and there, Zero 2 missions were very good but all of Zero 3's missions were great and more fun imo. Overall Mega Man Zero 3 is an amazing game that improves on the previous game in terms of pretty much everything. 10/10
The peak of action platforming. Never before have I been so proud of being a "Godspeed Edgeman."
They fix what the first 2 games did wrong, let you skip cutscenes, have a bunch of modifications and skills, one of the coolest weapons. The OST is better too. Cyber elves can be permanently used as well
My only complaint is that you have to have an A or S rank while defeating a boss to get its EX Skill which really sucks, but otherwise this game is just goated
My top 3 Mega Man games are 100% X, X4, and this game.
My only complaint is that you have to have an A or S rank while defeating a boss to get its EX Skill which really sucks, but otherwise this game is just goated
My top 3 Mega Man games are 100% X, X4, and this game.
What can i say about this game, in my honest opinion, this is the greatest 2d platformer of all time, no 2d platformer will ever have as much story worldbuilding and intricate gameplay as this.
I love the combat and hit priority system, I love how many tools the game gives you to play with, I love the graphics and the soundtrack, this is just an amazing game and In my opinion, the greatest 2d megaman game of all time
I love the combat and hit priority system, I love how many tools the game gives you to play with, I love the graphics and the soundtrack, this is just an amazing game and In my opinion, the greatest 2d megaman game of all time
"What value is there in the justice that complacent humans seek?"
It's very clear that with every new Megaman Zero game, Inti Creates does their damndest to take a look at what didn't work right in the prior game and fix it, or even expand upon certain concepts. And while the previous entry certainly did a good job, Megaman Zero 3 would only further improve on an already great series.
Zero 3's level design isn't quiiiite near the highest highs of Zero 2 in my opinion, I found it very satisfying to nail down the challenging levels in that game when they're done right. However, Zero 3 is almost completely void of the more annoying level design quirks of the prior two games; it never gets as bad as Zero 2's airship stage or the factory level from the first game. In addition, Zero 3 also has a good amount of customization; you can unlock different body parts for Zero that grant him different perks, upgrade Cyber Elves to Satellite Elves, which give you permanent abilities that don't bring down your rank, as well as the returning element chips and EX Skills. All of this allows you to tweak your Zero into something befitting of your playstyle, and I really like it.
I also want to talk about the story of Zero 3. While the prior two games had good, engaging plots, Zero 3 is above even those two. It does a great job advancing Zero's character further, building up the lore of everything post-MMX, and considering this was supposed to be the final game in the series, it serves as an awesome potential climax for the story of Megaman Zero in general.
Unfortunately I do have some complaints with this game. The middle-game where you fight the returning Zero 1 bosses was unfortunately the weakest section of the game; Anubis feels like a downgrade and has uninteresting level design, Hanumachine also sees a downgrade imo, and Blizzack still doesn't put up that good of a fight. Actually, this one isn't really a complaint, but these bosses have some goofy ass names. What the hell is a Volteel Biblio?
Regardless, you oughta not just play Megaman Zero 3, but the whole series too; it's great playing through the games and seeing Inti improve more and more on their craft. I have a tough time deciding whether or not it surpasses X4 as my personal favorite Megaman game so far, but even if it doesn't, it's still easily among my favorites.
It's just a shame I'll be saying farewell to Zero soon.
It's very clear that with every new Megaman Zero game, Inti Creates does their damndest to take a look at what didn't work right in the prior game and fix it, or even expand upon certain concepts. And while the previous entry certainly did a good job, Megaman Zero 3 would only further improve on an already great series.
Zero 3's level design isn't quiiiite near the highest highs of Zero 2 in my opinion, I found it very satisfying to nail down the challenging levels in that game when they're done right. However, Zero 3 is almost completely void of the more annoying level design quirks of the prior two games; it never gets as bad as Zero 2's airship stage or the factory level from the first game. In addition, Zero 3 also has a good amount of customization; you can unlock different body parts for Zero that grant him different perks, upgrade Cyber Elves to Satellite Elves, which give you permanent abilities that don't bring down your rank, as well as the returning element chips and EX Skills. All of this allows you to tweak your Zero into something befitting of your playstyle, and I really like it.
I also want to talk about the story of Zero 3. While the prior two games had good, engaging plots, Zero 3 is above even those two. It does a great job advancing Zero's character further, building up the lore of everything post-MMX, and considering this was supposed to be the final game in the series, it serves as an awesome potential climax for the story of Megaman Zero in general.
Unfortunately I do have some complaints with this game. The middle-game where you fight the returning Zero 1 bosses was unfortunately the weakest section of the game; Anubis feels like a downgrade and has uninteresting level design, Hanumachine also sees a downgrade imo, and Blizzack still doesn't put up that good of a fight. Actually, this one isn't really a complaint, but these bosses have some goofy ass names. What the hell is a Volteel Biblio?
Regardless, you oughta not just play Megaman Zero 3, but the whole series too; it's great playing through the games and seeing Inti improve more and more on their craft. I have a tough time deciding whether or not it surpasses X4 as my personal favorite Megaman game so far, but even if it doesn't, it's still easily among my favorites.
It's just a shame I'll be saying farewell to Zero soon.
MEGA MAN ZERO
O corpo pode não ser Zero, mas a alma é Mega Man. Ele é um herói, sempre foi, e sempre será.
O corpo pode não ser Zero, mas a alma é Mega Man. Ele é um herói, sempre foi, e sempre será.
Devil May Cry 3
This was the first game I beat that I remember being hard as balls when I was a kid.
Its been over a decade since I first finished it and its been far too long. God, the movement in this game is sexy. It feels so freeing and like I can constantly improve my timing, I think the Zero series is only rivaled by Super Metroid in how Godlike it feels to jump off of walls in a platformer. Ilove the variety of attacks too. While it seems unimportant, being able to completely stop momentum by using the Recoil Rod during dashing was actually super useful while sometimes dash attacking with the Z-Saber was great as well. Thats just one example of how the combat works well; its simple yet complex enough to be interesting. This game feels so good to improve from beginning to end.
I also love the characters, Zero is the OG badass anti-hero to me. You can brag all you want about your Shadows and Vegetas but Zero is a real one.
10/10
Its been over a decade since I first finished it and its been far too long. God, the movement in this game is sexy. It feels so freeing and like I can constantly improve my timing, I think the Zero series is only rivaled by Super Metroid in how Godlike it feels to jump off of walls in a platformer. Ilove the variety of attacks too. While it seems unimportant, being able to completely stop momentum by using the Recoil Rod during dashing was actually super useful while sometimes dash attacking with the Z-Saber was great as well. Thats just one example of how the combat works well; its simple yet complex enough to be interesting. This game feels so good to improve from beginning to end.
I also love the characters, Zero is the OG badass anti-hero to me. You can brag all you want about your Shadows and Vegetas but Zero is a real one.
10/10
Simplesmente o melhor da saga até aqui.
Mega Man Zero é um bom jogo.
Mega Man Zero 2 é um jogo um pouco falho, mas ainda se salva.
Mas Mega Man Zero 3 é fantástico.
Gostaria de ressaltar que esse jogo é uma evolução de seus antecessores feito da melhor forma, melhorando muitas coisas e corrigindo diversos de seus problemas, além de adicionar muito á série.
Vamos lá, os principais erros que atrapalham o ritmo e a diversão não existem mais aqui, as armas já estão no nível máximo, as fases não são injustas e arrastadas como no segundo jogo. Sobre as melhorias, os gráficos tiveram uma leve melhora, a jogabilidade como dito antes e como irei dizer mais para frente melhorou absurdamente, deixando bem mais divertido de jogar, além do dinamismo, as fases também muito mais vivas e únicas, além de serem muito mais divertidas de se explorar, algumas até são possíveis de interagir.
Agora vamos falar sobre o que á de novo aqui... o sistema de peças deixa tudo mais legal e mais dinâmico, além dos chips de fogo, gelo e eletricidade, temos outros que causam efeitos diferentes na jogabilidade, além de capacetes e botas diferentes, permitindo DIVERSAS combinações, diversas opções de efeitos e muitas melhorias. Funciona dessa forma, é possível equipar partes no menu que mudam algo sútil na jogabilidade, como por exemplo, pulo duplo, recarregar as armas automaticamente, atravessar os inimigos quando usar o dash, aumentar a velocidade do personagem e muitos outros.
Além disso, esse jogo recompensa demais se jogar bem, buscando ranking altos ganhamos as EX-Skills (algo que tinham nos anteriores, mas nesse foi melhor executado), sendo assim, o jogo obviamente é difícil, mas sempre ganhando coisas novas e personalizáveis, o game te recompensa sempre por jogar o melhor que pode. Pode parecer coisa boba, mas essas simples adições somando com o level design melhorado deixa tudo melhor, tudo se torna mais divertido, mais frenético, mais dinâmico, aqui você se sente como o Zero. Ah, claro, você pode facilmente ir o melhor possível na primeira metade, resetando para conseguir rankings melhores e acumular vidas pra na reta final jogar normalmente com o Zero buffado e 9 vidas.
Como eu disse, Mega Man Zero 3 corrige os maiores erros de seus antecessores, melhora diversas coisas e suas adições são o que o deixam especial, eu não falei da história para não dar spoilers, mas aqui ela também vai para outro patamar.
OBS: Esqueci de dizer, os cyber elfs também fazem muita diferença, aqui eu senti bem mais utilidade e não tem a necessidade de ficar farmando para melhora-los. aqui você consegue o suficiente enquanto joga.
A dificuldade está na medida certa, o jogo é difícil porém justo, o level desing é bom, existem diversos artifícios que deixam mais divertidos e mais "fáceis", deixando extremamente recompensador de explorar e buscar bons rankings, simplesmente sempre incentivando o jogador á ir bem dando motivos para isso, além de deixar o jogo com um ritmo que não enjoa.
Mega Man Zero é um bom jogo.
Mega Man Zero 2 é um jogo um pouco falho, mas ainda se salva.
Mas Mega Man Zero 3 é fantástico.
Gostaria de ressaltar que esse jogo é uma evolução de seus antecessores feito da melhor forma, melhorando muitas coisas e corrigindo diversos de seus problemas, além de adicionar muito á série.
Vamos lá, os principais erros que atrapalham o ritmo e a diversão não existem mais aqui, as armas já estão no nível máximo, as fases não são injustas e arrastadas como no segundo jogo. Sobre as melhorias, os gráficos tiveram uma leve melhora, a jogabilidade como dito antes e como irei dizer mais para frente melhorou absurdamente, deixando bem mais divertido de jogar, além do dinamismo, as fases também muito mais vivas e únicas, além de serem muito mais divertidas de se explorar, algumas até são possíveis de interagir.
Agora vamos falar sobre o que á de novo aqui... o sistema de peças deixa tudo mais legal e mais dinâmico, além dos chips de fogo, gelo e eletricidade, temos outros que causam efeitos diferentes na jogabilidade, além de capacetes e botas diferentes, permitindo DIVERSAS combinações, diversas opções de efeitos e muitas melhorias. Funciona dessa forma, é possível equipar partes no menu que mudam algo sútil na jogabilidade, como por exemplo, pulo duplo, recarregar as armas automaticamente, atravessar os inimigos quando usar o dash, aumentar a velocidade do personagem e muitos outros.
Além disso, esse jogo recompensa demais se jogar bem, buscando ranking altos ganhamos as EX-Skills (algo que tinham nos anteriores, mas nesse foi melhor executado), sendo assim, o jogo obviamente é difícil, mas sempre ganhando coisas novas e personalizáveis, o game te recompensa sempre por jogar o melhor que pode. Pode parecer coisa boba, mas essas simples adições somando com o level design melhorado deixa tudo melhor, tudo se torna mais divertido, mais frenético, mais dinâmico, aqui você se sente como o Zero. Ah, claro, você pode facilmente ir o melhor possível na primeira metade, resetando para conseguir rankings melhores e acumular vidas pra na reta final jogar normalmente com o Zero buffado e 9 vidas.
Como eu disse, Mega Man Zero 3 corrige os maiores erros de seus antecessores, melhora diversas coisas e suas adições são o que o deixam especial, eu não falei da história para não dar spoilers, mas aqui ela também vai para outro patamar.
OBS: Esqueci de dizer, os cyber elfs também fazem muita diferença, aqui eu senti bem mais utilidade e não tem a necessidade de ficar farmando para melhora-los. aqui você consegue o suficiente enquanto joga.
A dificuldade está na medida certa, o jogo é difícil porém justo, o level desing é bom, existem diversos artifícios que deixam mais divertidos e mais "fáceis", deixando extremamente recompensador de explorar e buscar bons rankings, simplesmente sempre incentivando o jogador á ir bem dando motivos para isso, além de deixar o jogo com um ritmo que não enjoa.
YESSSSSSSSSIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR THAT'S THE GOAT RIGHT THERE OFFICER YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH