Mega Man Zero 3

Three down. This time, let's talk about the story and the characters - an underrated aspect of the Mega Man franchise.

First things first. The original Mega Man series really didn't have much of a story arc to it. A scientist named Dr. Light creates a robotic lab assistant (Mega Man). An evil scientist named Dr. Wily starts acting on his plans to take over the world, and Mega Man is repurposed into a combat robot in order to defeat Dr. Wily and his robotic henchmen. The classic series establishes the framework and gameplay standards for the many sub-series that would follow, but from story standpoint it's extremely bland and basic - which is fine, since this was the case for every single other NES title.

Zero's story begins in Mega Man X. At some point between the end of the Mega Man classic series and the Mega Man X series, Dr. Light creates a highly advanced fighting robot that can think and feel and make his own decisions. This is Mega Man X. Dr. Light seals him away for several decades, figuring that the world is not yet ready for a weaponized robot with such an advanced A.I. Meanwhile, Dr. Wily is also finalizing his final creation, a ruthless and aggressive fighting robot called Zero. When Zero proves to be disobedient and violent, Dr. Wily seals him away as well.

There's plenty more backstory for anyone interested, but in order to expedite this post I'll just suffice it to say that, as Mega Man X begins, both X and Zero have been awakened, and Zero has been rehabilitated (reprogrammed?), and they're fighting on the same side against a group of robots called mavericks. Zero is a mentor to X, who the player controls for the first three games in the series, and it's easy to marvel at Zero's capabilities. Eventually, Capcom allowed players to play as Zero (briefly in Mega Man X3, and then for the entire game in X4 and X5. Eventually, it's clear that the dichotomy between X and Zero is more than just the former being the latter's weaker protégé. Zero may be more capable in battle, but he still admires X's restraint and hesitation - particularly as Zero's own recklessness and aggression allow him to make poor decisions and hurt the people (well, robots) that he cares about. Mega Man X5 - originally intended to be the final game in the Mega Man X series - even ends with Zero sacrificing himself to save humanity. It's as much a suicidal release for Zero as a genuinely good-natured deed, but, still - that's character growth!

Anyway, fast forward to Mega Man Zero. Another hundred years or so have passed. Zero's body is found by a human scientist named Ciel, and he's booted back up in order to save society from... no... how... from X himself! Look, the four games that make up the Mega Man Zero Collection are full of twists and reversals and all kinds of backstory-altering plot exposition. That's fine - so were all the Mega Man X games. But what's most interesting to me is that the Zero you control in these four games really does feel different from the Zero you came to know from Mega Man X. He seems rehabilitated here, more or less taking on X's personality entirely. And I can't tell if that's a good thing or not. On the one hand, it makes sense that he'd end up here, mentally and emotionally, after the events of the Mega Man X franchise. On the other hand, he's a robot! Can his personality really ever change? To a certain degree, it's awesome that Capcom is even flirting with exploring this kind of philosophical question. There's also at least one instance of a robot's "data" being downloaded onto a new body. Mind-body dualism, y'all! But Capcom never really goes anywhere with this, and never really focuses on Zero's redemption, either. That's all fine and good - these are Mega Man games, after all - but it leaves the player trying to extract more meaning from some of the scenes and moments in these games than is made readily available by the developers.