Mega Man Zero featured a new storyline, and the main character was Zero from the Mega Man X series. The game also featured new allies, new villains, new gameplay and also a new concept, though continuing it's traditional sidescrolling platform gameplay. And also, at times the more you progress, the more challenging it is to play this great game.
Plot. A century has passed since the complete defeat of Sigma and the Mavericks, a new government named Neo Arcadia is formed to maintain peace and order. But then, Neo Arcadia begins to hunt down Reploids that are unjustly labeled as Mavericks. A human scientist named Ciel, gathers some of the fleeing reploids and forms a guerrilla force known as the Resistance. They are becoming overwhelmed, but then Ciel enters the resting place of the legendary reploid, Zero. With Zero awakened, the Resistance has a chance of winning the war against Neo Arcadia, and defeating Master X, a copy of the original Mega Man X created by Ciel.
Concept. Mega Man Zero has players take the role of Zero, and in the beginning they must protect Ciel as they escort her back to the Resistance Base in the process, and in their first boss fight, they recover the Z-Saber from a mysterious reploid. After that, players can choose the missions they want to go to, and they recover elemental chips such as: Thunder, Ice, and Fire. After several missions, there will be moments in which Zero has to defend the base from imminent Neo Arcadia attacks, and also battle the Four Guardians before confronting Master X himself.
Design. Like the old games of the Mega Man series, this is a two-dimensional rendered sidescrolling video game. Characters are rendered in sprites, and there are some motion-comic anime-like sequences in the game. In Japan, the game has some violent content with blood violence, that was edited in the U.S.A, since it is known for having a knack at censorship. Some words such as "die" and "death" were replaced with "perish", "destroy", and "retire".
History. Mega Man Zero series began in 2002, and the first game became a great success that it sold millions of copies in Japan and in America as well. This began a new story for Zero, Mega Man Zero appeared in the E3 show in 2002 and it was then that the name, Neo Arcadia, was first introduced. Mega Man Zero was very popular that it spawned three sequels, manga, and toys. In the early summer of 2010, Mega Man Zero Collection was released with all four games into one cartridge on the Nintendo DS.
Rantings. For one thing, this game gets very hard the more you progress. The Rainbow Devil is the boss that I hated, as it was similar to the Shadow Devil from Mega Man X5 and the Cyclops from Mega Man 1 and 3, the worst nightmare of every Mega Man fan. The Carryarms and Spikings are the enemies that I hated the most, as they unexpectedly appeared. The stage that I hated was the Neo Arcadia tower as you leaped onto elevating platform, and also full of spikes.
Good Aspect. I was really impressed to see Zero as the main character the first time I played this game, since he was originally going to be the main character of Mega Man X instead of X himself. Zero being able to equip four weapons that can be chosen was also a great addition, and the Shield Boomerang and Triple Rod were given to him by the scientist Cerveau. The voice acting was also great, but dialogues cannot be heard, only grunt battles.
Overall. Mega Man Zero is one of the best games ever made in the series, and it has high replay value. If you really want to play this game, for those who have a Nintendo DS, take a chance and by the Mega Man Zero Collection at your local GameStop or Best Buy. This game gets a 9 out of 10