Game:

Mega Man Zero (2002)

Duration: 2:34:21

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The first installment in the Mega Man Zero/Rockman Zero series, done in one sitting. I used the fast forward function in the GBA emulator to skip certain cutscenes that repeat when you die (I also messed with it a bit in one part). Additionally, that means I left out all of my deaths in the footage. I did so to give everyone an idea of just how much difficult this game is. Timestamps are here.

MMZ1 laid a foundation for the future Mega Man Zero and ZX games, but despite it's efforts, it's often ridiculed for being among one of the most hard and unfair Mega Man games to date. It's lack of checkpoints in levels, the crushing difficulty of both bosses and levels, hard to find and feed cyber-elves, underdeveloped/underused mechanics and it's questionable design choices have left it in a rather dire and hard to enjoy state. Unless you are ready to grind your weapon skills and mastering it to it's fullest, you are going to die a lot. It's hard mode also doesn't help since it locks you with no weapon skills, causing you to slowly dip enemy health bars with your weak weapons as you won't have any better means to fight them. Once you beat it, however, you are rewarded with Jackson mode, which gives you all of the cyber-elves including Jackson, who possesses the ability to give you invincibility for a short period when holding the jump button for a bit.

Essentially, Mega Man Zero 1 is a game many people skip because of how much lacking it is compared to the later games in the series and also because of just how hard and unfair it is, since there is the problem of screen crunch with the small screen the hardware provides and the problem of the overall experimental nature the game has. They attempted many different things with this title, including the metroidvania approach, something the franchise would only attempt properly with Mega Man ZX/Rockman ZX and it's sequel, MMZX Advent.

Despite it's harsh bumps and unforgiving difficulty, there is still a game to enjoy. The combat feels great... And when you get to the good stuff, it's really good. The core gameplay makes it feel far better and once you start handling it's challenges properly it becomes that much satisfying. The story is also amazing and far darker than anything in the later games.

Nevertheless, if you are up for a challenge or don't give up easily, Mega Man Zero 1 might be up your alley. A far better start would be Mega Man Zero 3, since it's far more fleshed out and complete than Zero 1.

Timestamps:
0:00:00 Mega Man Zero
0:00:17 Intro
0:03:17 Stage 0 - Abandoned Laboratory (Rescue Ciel)
0:05:20 Stage 0 Boss - Golem
0:09:22 Stage 1 - City Ruins/Disposal Center (Destroy the Disposal Center)
0:11:59 Stage 1 Boss - Aztec Falcon
0:14:36 Grinding for Weapon Skills (Buster Shot and Z-Saber)
0:28:29 Stage 2 - Desert - Searching for the crashed shuttle (Find Shuttle)
0:31:00 Stage 2 Boss - Anubis Necromancess the Third
0:32:43 Stage 2 - Desert - Leading the reploid back to base (Find Shuttle)
0:36:25 Stage 3 - Desert/Hidden Base (Find Hidden Base)
0:42:02 Stage 3 Boss - Blizzack Staggroff
0:44:11 Stage 4 - Abandoned Laboratory (Retrieve Data)
0:46:23 Stage 4 Boss - Maha Ganeshariff
0:48:31 Stage 4 - Abandoned Laboratory - Escaping the self-destruct sequence (Retrieve Data)
0:53:08 Stage 5 - Underground Railway/Train (Destroy Train)
0:58:24 Stage 6 - Resistance Base (Protect the Resistance Base)
0:58:57 Stage 6 Boss - Giant Mechaniloid (Flame Form)
1:01:42 Stage 7 - Energy Factory (Occupy Factory)
1:05:36 Stage 7 Boss - Elemental Mechaniloid
1:07:34 Stage 8 - Energy Factory (Protect Factory)
1:08:03 Stage 8 Boss - Phantom, X Guardian
1:09:06 Stage 8 - Energy Factory - Aborting the factory's detonation (Protect Factory)
1:12:58 Stage 9 - Desert (Duel in Desert)
1:15:23 Stage 9 Boss - Fefnir, X Guardian
1:18:18 Stage 10 - Ruined Railway (Rescue Colbor)
1:20:20 Stage 10 Boss - Harpuia, X Guardian
1:21:20 Stage 10 Boss - Harpuia, X Guardian [Take 2]
1:22:39 Stage 11 - Desert/Hidden Base (Stop the Hacking)
1:28:10 Stage 11 Boss - Leviathan, X Guardian
1:31:13 Stage 12 - Resistance Base (Protect the Resistance Base II)
1:33:01 Stage 12 Boss - Hanumachine
1:35:16 Stage 12 - Resistance Base (Protect the Resistance Base II) [Take 2]
1:36:17 Stage 12 Boss - Hanumachine [Take 2]
1:37:11 Grinding for Weapon Skills II (Triple Rod & Shield-Boomerang)
1:52:53​ Stage 13 - Neo Arcadia Shrine (Destroy Mega Man X, Part I)
2:00:19​ Stage 13 Boss - Herculious Anchortus
2:01:36​ Stage 14 - Neo Arcadia (Destroy Mega Man X, Part II)
2:05:59​ Stage 14 Boss - Slug Mechaniloid
2:07:47​ Stage 15 [Final Stage, Boss Rematches] - Neo Arcadia Core (Destroy Mega Man X, Part III)
2:18:48​ Meeting with the Copy of Mega Man X
2:20:18​ Final Boss - Mega Man X (Copy X, Normal + Seraph Forms)
2:25:52​ Final Boss [Successful Take]
2:27:20​ Ending
2:30:04​ Credits
2:33:35​ Final Result Screen & Hard Mode Unlocked
2:34:05 Rockman Zero


Game: Mega Man Zero/Rockman Zero (GBA)
Emulator used: mGBA 0.9.0

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