Mega Man X/Headscratchers

• In X5, in the final battle with Sigma as X, Sigma says that he got help from an "old comrade" of X's. For some reason, people believe Sigma got help from Dr. Wily in both Zero's story (which is pretty obvious) and X's, but that can't be, because Wily was never any kind of comrade, or really anything to X. Is this a mis-translation? Do people simply not care that Sigma said such a thing and just paste Zero's story's explanation for Sigma's body onto X as well? It...well...just bugs me!
  • A. New questions go at the bottom. B. As I understand it, it is some mistranslation involved. C. Why do you expect Sigma, the bad guy, to be telling the absolute truth? He's not omniscient. He could be wrong, or trying to screw with X. Or Wily told him a lie.
    • Sorry about putting it at the top; I'm new to editing on here. I figured it was most likely a translation error, but at least you know what I'm referring to. Any idea where I might be able to find a more literal translation of the Japanese X5 script? Do you know of anyone who might have gone through the trouble to do that?
• Why couldn't Dr. Light have asked Dr. Cossack to help him build X? He's obviously a skilled robotics expert with a good working relationship with Dr. Light, and he would've lived long enough to activate X after the 30 year testing phase. Also, the opening of the first X game, which is a century after the Classics series, shows the year 2114 on Dr. Cain's equipment, meaning X, at the very least, is sealed on September 18, 2014. There's no reason to assume Dr. Cossack is unable to care for X.
  • My guess is that Dr. Light wanted to keep X a secret from everyone else. Why? Because like he said himself, making a robot with the ability to act and think completely for itself can be a very dangerous thing. If any information of X leaked out, it would have possibly become a disaster, or so he thinks. With his years going through, it may be justified that the good ol' doctor wants to give humanity its last hope, and doesn't want to mess that up.
• I was replaying X2 and a few things just occured to me: Why did the X-Hunters feel it was necessary to remove Zero's control chip from his body in the first place? How did they even lose it? And why in the name of all things sane did the X-Hunters turn over Zero's actual parts? They had a duplicate, why not break it up into three sections, rig them with explosives, and give that over?
  • Once you kill Serges, the second flunky that looks like Doctor Wily, he mentioned something about a "Prophecy that must be fulfilled", so that explains why they didn't rig it with explosives, they needed Zero working properly. Why there's a prophecy sorrounding robots is beyond me, but it's important to note that the only thing they needed was the control chip to make Zero go all evil-like.
  • If you fail to retrieve all of the body parts by the time you kill all eight mavericks, the "X-Hunters" find Dr. Cain's lab, and take everything you might have earned plus get the chip working. My guess is, they knew where Dr. Cain was, they just needed time to work or have someone else work on the chip.
  • Okay, I found something that clears some of this up; it's translations of Japanese trading cards with character bios: Zero's control chip was found by the Maverick Hunters and recovered. A comment further down, time stamp 2010/11/23 - 7:31 am, from the person who translated the article says that Zero's body was recovered by the X-Hunters. It doesn't explain how or why the chip was seperated, or the other questions, but at least we know the X-Hunters weren't that stupid.
  • Alright, here's a possible explaination; X took Zero's chip with him. He obviously couldn't take Zero's body with him, and he couldn't leave him intact for the Mavericks to reuse. You could even guess that the whole chip thing was a security measure installed into Maverick Hunters so their comrades could prevent their friends from being turned into Mavericks.
• So what's the deal with Redips and Spider? Was posing as Redips Spider the whole time you've seen him (including the boss fight)?
  • I honestly believe so, just nudging the heroes along with his plan.
  • I believe that the original Spider was indeed in your party early in the game. At one point, Redips would have killed him and assumed his identity, then faked his death so that he could shuck the disguise.
  • There's three theories - 1. Redips killed Spider and assumed his identity before the game even started; 2. Spider was real with his first encounter with X and then Redips took his form so he could get close to X; 3. It was the real Spider until mid-way through the game.
  • According to the Mega Man Database, Capcom confirmed that number 3 is the case (specifically, the cutscene before the start of chapter 6 where X sees Spider come out of a blue light is when Redips began to impersonate Spider).

1. 1. 1. Except in the cutscene during chapter 3 upon arrival at Tianna Camp, a mission implied to be an immediate order following chapter 2, Spider is clearly uncomfortable taking orders from Chief R (despite having no beef with him plus any all indication being the R is specifically a strategy Reploid), and even blurts out that he has "his own goals". X catches this, and part of his excuse is "no more small time work".
      2. Except the cutscene before chapter 5 has Redips suddenly "losing communication" after informing X that he was able to reach Zero for a moment at point A6 (the Preon factory with Mach Jentra), then Spider showing up, being questioned by X on where he's been, and saying vaguely that he's been around.
      3. Except during the onset to chapter 10, if X talks to Marino, she says she once learned that Spider was at a place where they researched copy chips.
      4. Except that after attacking Zero as Spider in chapter 10, while switching back to Redips he says it was "exhausting playing buddy-buddy with you twerps". (This particularly defeats theory 3, as it would make no sense for one mission as Spider concluding with fake death would be particularly exhausting for a Hidden Chessmaster.)
      5. Except right after the previous example, Zero asks himself how badly his team's been duped, with the apparent light bulb going off in his head being that Spider as they've known him has always been Redips.
      6. Except that Spider/Redips is a clear case of Sdrawkcab Name, and that is never just a coincidence.

• • • In the face of all this evidence toward theory 1, no wiki can just say Capcom confirmed one of the others and not actively show where this was said for it to be accepted as Word of God.
  • So about that blue light that marks Spider's transformation... doesn't it ever occur to X that he's seen that light before?

• Just what exactly what Sigma trying to accomplish with trying to convince General to turn on the Hunters in the opening scene of X4? Sigma claims that the Hunters are too eager to please the humans and hunt down reploids. Except Repliforce was created to help the Hunters, meaning that Repliforce are doing the exact same thing. It's such a ridiculous argument that Sigma really has no right to be surprised when General tells him to leave.
  • Sigma was trying to get the Repliforce and Hunters going at each others' throats so they'd destroy each other. Repliforce was the largest, most powerful and most successful Maverick-hunting group after the Hunters themselves, and Sigma knew he could kill two birds with one stone. As to his shocked reaction when told to leave by General, I chalk that up to the awful dubbing, but you can also tell his plan still worked by planting the seeds of doubt in General's mind.
  • Repliforce is, by that point, already under scrutiny for not being effective enough to justify maintaining such a large force. And General probably knows this. Thus, Sigma was expecting General to be a little more paranoid about being disposed of as a failed venture.
• Speaking of Repliforce -- why in god's name did they put their pride above being reasonable? They could have been programmed to be prideful, but since reploids still have free will, they voluntarily chose to take a course of action that would mark them as Mavericks. And... why exactly?
  • Honor Before Reason.
  • Too Dumb to Live.
  • And maybe Sigma's subtle influence could have had something to do with it. Perhaps he convinced them at, in a time of crisis where trust in them was put in doubt the humans wouldn't be very fond of Repliforce so they'd be better off on their own.
• Why doesn't Command Mission acknowledge something as minor as, oh, Zero being immune/empowered to/by viruses since at least X5? The fact he loses LE while in virus state doesn't make sense! He eats the Sigma Virus for breakfast! He's the Typhoid Mary of Reploids! And then a measly generic virus gets through his defenses!?
  • He isn't immune to viruses. He's immune to viruses that derive from his own body/programming. The Sigma virus is a product of Sigma being infected by and fusing with pre-amnesia Zero; it only makes sense that he's immune to that virus. Viruses not so derived affect him the same way any other 'bot would.
  • Not to mention that he's a very, very old reploid at this point -- eventually an advanced virus would come along that would screw up his body despite any immunity he may have. Like if you made a computer today that was immune to all viruses, but then subjected it to the mercy of virus made a century in the future.
  • Also, maybe his body would have chowed down on those viruses -- given enough time. In the meantime, his ability to fight has been compromised and that means he doesn't have the luxury to wait until the virus quits screwing with his systems.
• Is Sigma really dead after X8?
  • Until Capcom needs him to be alive again, yeah.
    • They'll bring him back via Copy Chip Reploids. The personality of Sigma is dead, but a lot of guys pretendng to be him will be running around.
    • Except that those New Generation Reploids are eradicated between X8 and Command Mission. And there's a secret factory in the latter game that secretly (and, most likely, illegally) builds them. Then again, they could only transform into Sigma without actually becoming Sigma. Just see the Elite Mooks in X8's final level, which are all Copy Chip Reploids emulating Sigma. They're just Elite Mooks, nothing more.
• Lumine's statement in X8 that the new-type Reploids can go Maverick at will thanks to having Sigma's DNA in them seems nonsensical. Let me explain; only two or three games specifically confirm that the Maverick Virus was the cause of the Reploid bosses going Maverick (X3 and X5, and maybe X1); the rest were either non-infected criminals (X7), rebels (X1 and X2), or labeled Maverick by the humans on a whim (X4 and X6). It's also been shown many times that quite a few of the Mavericks the Hunters kill off are acting Maverick on their own free will (as criminals, dissidents, or simply exhibiting independent tendencies that the humans feel threatened by). So, if Reploids were going "Maverick" on their own for long before the new-type ones were even conceived of, then why does Lumine claim that they are the first ones that can do so willingly?
  • In defense of the "Humans labeled them Mavericks" during X6, they were actually right.
  • "Whim"? Repliforce equipment and troops were seen trashing Sky Lagoon before it dropped and killed several million people. As far as anyone could tell, Repliforce was guilty, and their refusal to come in for questioning screamed red flag. Sure they were framed, but Repliforce did nothing to alleviate that perception and plenty to enforce it.
  • This is easy to explain if you actually don't think about it too hard: The "mavericks" that were not maverick-virus created were forced to defend themselves, but still didn't go out of their way to destroy large swaths of humanity. The true mavericks, the ones that could circumvent their supposedly hard-coded anti human-killing programming, were virus-created. The new-generation reploids, with Sigma's DNA, could do whatever they wanted, including killing humans, essentially going maverick at will.
    • I don't think it's ever mentioned that reploids have 'anti human-killing programming' - reploids are supposed to have complete free will and not hamstrung by any programming (after all, Doctor Light fears that X will break the First Law). Not to mention that while no free-willed Mavericks went on killing sprees in the games, they were either pretty nasty or would have caused harm to humans as a result of their plans. Magma Dragoon, for example, was not infected but still dropped Sky Lagoon on a city and killed millions, thus proving a reploid can choose to kill humans if they really want to.
  • It might be more of a philosophical declaration than anything to do with viruses; lots of free-willed Mavericks claim that they were 'forced' to act (Repliforce, Magma Dragoon, the Cadre, etc). Lumine, though, is saying that he and the new-gens are waging war on the 'Old World' and therefore are making the unrepentant choice to become Mavericks.
  • I think it's that they can turn off their Conscience at will. Most people would have issues about killing someone because they cut them off in traffic. A New Generation Reploid might say "No, this is wrong...", turn off their conscience, then proceed to murder the guy that cut them off without a second thought. Humanity basically created a powerful race of sociopaths.
  • The Mavericks in X7 were captured and released by Red Alert, the members of which were shown in a cutscene to have been infected with Sigma's version of the Maverick virus. Flame Hyenard was actually dying from it.
• Whose route in X4 was canon? X or Zero's? And if both are canon, then who did what (who beat Sigma for one example)?
  • Zero's route is considered canon, for the most part. His flashback in X5 shows Iris, and he says something to the effect of seeing her again after he passes away. There's a popular theory that X1, X2, and X3 are about X, and X4 and X5 are about Zero. Then X6, X7, and X8 are just strange.
    • It's easy - X6 is still about Zero, in a roundabout way. Then X7 and X8 are about Axl.
    • But X had the Force Armor in X5. That implies X had taken part in the events of X4.
    • Dialogue in X5 suggests that Zero killed Colonel and Iris, while X faced Double and the General. The main problem is the final battle, since based on X's ending, Zero was already on Earth after X defeated Sigma, but on the other hand Zero had his past as a Maverick revealed, and thus should also have faced Sigma.
      • Zero faced Sigma's first and second forms, allowing him to have his plot-important conversation with Sigma, while X faces Sigma's final forms deep in the core of Final Weapon, which allows him to witness General's Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Both happened; it's the same way that, canonically, Chris, Jill, Barry, and Rebecca all made it out of the mansion in Resident Evil, even though in-game you could only get three of the four out.
• Just what the heck were those tentacles that shot out of Lumine's body? Nanites? Some sort of alien organism? A last-shot attack? What was it supposed to do? It did something to Axl, but we're not sure what.
• What caused X's hand to glow with a blue energy strong enough to scar Sigma during the Day of Sigma movie? Was it something X did consciously? Was it a part of X's ability to 'evolve'? And if you want to be really nerdy, is it like his Hadoken upgrade somehow?
  • It's the "limitless potential" Sigma (Or was it Light?) was talking about moments before. Also doubles as a nice reference to G Gundam, intentional or otherwise; especially considering X was voiced by Domon in that movie.

• What exactly is the Light hologram? Is it just a smart AI designed by Light? Is a direct copy of his mind? Is it actually him in a 'ghost in the shell' existence? And why the hell does Capcom go from Light having a conversation with Zero and saving X and then back to being a mere recording?
  • The hologram is obviously either an uploaded Dr Light or an A.I. that emulates him, otherwise he could never have repaired X after X5. The times when the hologram appears to be a recording? Clearly Holo-Light has gone computer senile.
    • Or, Light has decided that his guidance is unnecessary, and that X and Zero are on their own.
• Did Light actually create all of these armours before he died, or is the hologram capable of creating more over time? If so, where and how is he making them?
  • One thing to note is the location of the capsules. They appear on places that simply didn't exist in 20XX, the most blatant exemple being the capsule in the Dinosaur Tank in X2, which is a mobile, modern airship! They probably teleport near to X's location, but it was never explicitly stated.
• Okay Zero. You're harbouring a serious suspicion that your commander might be involved in the latest crisis consuming the city. You admit to having a really bad feeling when HQ tells you that you can't contact said suspicious commander. You're so sure he's up to something you saw his attack coming when he tried to stab you in the back. And it never once occurred to you that maybe you should have told X about these suspicions? God knows how the incident in the missile silo would have gone if X had also been ready for Sigma to pull something.
  • Zero already knew that X was a bit of a worrier. Perhaps he didn't want to give him something else to worry about before confirming his suspicions.
• What is Sky Lagoon? We know that it's a floating ... thing of some sorts, but what the hell is it?
  • It looks like a floating city to me.

• Why was the Cadre's Maverick status deferred at the end of Command Mission? While it is true that Redips manipulated everybody and the Cadre might have been falsely accused Maverick at the start, the Cadre did more than enough to earn the label. They took over Giga City, ruthlessly oppressed its citizens (including the torture of the original Massimo), acted like general psychopaths, and then planned to launch a missile that would spread SFM over the area to make normal reploids 'evolve' whether they wanted to or not (but would most likely send most of them insane). Redips didn't manipulate them to do any of those things; they chose to do it. Just because it turns out Redips was behind it all and the Cadre thought that they were Well Intentioned Extremists doesn't excuse any of their actions. (Even Scarface, noble as he was, didn't think twice of shooting that missile and dooming thousands to insanity.) They're Mavericks, plain and simple.
  • I've pondered this as well, and I wonder if it is partially to do with "Choice vs. Programming". Redips chose to turn Maverick so he could rule over everyone else as a God. In so doing, any information he gave the others would likely have a very strong bias towards defeating Epsilon and the Cadre to further his ends. Epsilon, on the other hand, appears to have been subject to some sort of programming issue, if I read the error message back in Lagrano correctly. (If I did read it correctly, he was probably programmed by a distant cousin of the technician who programmed G0-T0 in Knights of the Old Republic 2.) It almost seems like he was programmed with some kind of order that caused him to go off the deep end (and likely take any connected Reploids with him), something that his programming would find impossible to achieve without causing a rebellion. If it was something as innate as programming, then the higher-ups could likely annotate the records associated with him in such a manner. As for the Supra-Force Missile, remember that the Rebellion knew quite a bit about the movements of the Resistance (as the trap in Giamala Mine can show). I wouldn't be surprised if Epsilon had plants/spies/sympathizers in relatively good positions in the government who could feed him useful information. Couple that with the damage the Hunters have been doing to the Rebellion Army's operations, and I wouldn't be surprised if Epsilon and Co. were getting a wee bit desperate. Not to excuse them, but you know what they say about desperate times...
    • You mean that perhaps in the future, the Federation would distinguish between reploids that chose to be Mavericks and reploids that were simply buggy, and only gave true 'Maverick' status to the former? That's a pretty neat idea. I don't remember that report on Epsilon's programming errors, but it makes sense if he was crazy -- SFM kinda tends to do that.
    • It was something very easy to gloss over, as it wasn't anything terribly specific, but I recall the output saying that an "error" had occurred. Also, going back to the original question about Epsilon's Maverick status being deferred, I've been thinking on it more as I've been replaying the game. I noticed that, up until the SFM-missile comes into play, the core Cadre members (Epsilon, Scarface, Ferham, Botos to a degree) don't commict acts of the same nature as those committed by the earlier bosses (Wild Jango up through Incentas). It makes me wonder if Epsilon had given them specific orders that they at least partially disregarded, whether in the hopes of currying Epsilon's favor or because they felt it was necessary. As examples, seeing as how Chief R. and the original Steel Massimo were seen as symbols for the Resistance's cause, it wouldn't make sense (at least, not to me) to target them, asides from maybe imprisoning them in an attempt to get them to see the Rebellion's side. They would be seen as martyrs if they were killed, and that would likely strengthen the support for the Resistance. However, the fact that they were targeted, whether by imprisonment/bomb threat (R.) or by torture (Massimo), it makes me wonder how privy Epsilon was to the minutae of his underlings' missions, or how dense he was if he ordered them to be targeted.
  • Was the entire Cadre's Maverick status revoked, or just Epsilon's core group? Because most of the evil that's done is due to Jerkass underlings like Silver Horn, whom the Cadre leaders probably just didn't have time to deal with.
• As I've played through Command Mission, this has kind of nagged at me. Are all of the bosses you face throughout the game the Cadre, or is that title reserved for Epsilon and his "Inner Circle" (Scarface, Ferham, Botos)? The prior bosses refer to themselves as being part of the "Rebellion Army", but Botos clearly states he is "a Cadre of the Rebellion Army". I know the Cadre is a subsect of the Rebellion Army, but what's the difference?
  • Botos, Scarface, and Ferham are the Cadre, the special elite inner circle working closely with Epsilon. Wild Jango, Silver Horn, Dr. Psyche, Mach Jentra, Incentas, and Duckbill Mole are the top soldiers/scientists/commanders of the Rebellion, with all of the other Reploids and Mechaniloids as their minions. Note that Raffelsian, the Beladonnas, and Ninetails are not part of the Rebellion, and Depth Dragoon is one of Redips' underlings.
• According to the backstory, Zero is the commander of the #00 unit, also known as the Shinobi or 'ninja' unit. Now, obviously, shinobi need to blend into their surroundings, not attract attention, be stealthy, and so forth, right? Now correct me if I'm wrong, but Zero is fire-engine red. He's got nearly six feet of golden hair, a glowing beam sabre, and a set of incredibly flashy martial arts moves. How in the christ is he supposed to be a shinobi? He's obviously designed to draw attention by being a loud, intimidating, awe-inspiring death machine. Not exactly the kind of guy you'd send in to sneak into a Maverick base. If anyone is best for the Shinobi unit, it'd be X -- he's small, has subdued colors, a wide range of specialist weapons, and lots of restraint. This is even demonstrated in the early games; Zero rushes in first to blow shit up/attract attention, X sneaks in behind him to go after Sigma. If anything, Zero would be the leader of the Berserker Unit or -- as I would call it -- Rush In Guns Blazing And Scaring The Shit Out Of Everyone Unit.
  • So the Shinobi unit is really the Highly-Visible Ninja unit.
    • Basically yeah. Except, like I should have mentioned, Zero hardly acts like a ninja either. Marino was a ninja at least, despite being bright pink.
    • It could just have been a nickname.
  • It's also referred to as "Special Operations Unit 0".
  • It could be theorized that more subtle colors don't work as well on Reploids as they do on human eyes. They also come from a time with more advanced technology available to them. Remember, they most likely have sensors built into their systems and bases that can see past less noticeable colors. Zero may be highly visible, but he's been shown to be very quick and may be very good at evading certain systems meant to detect intruders. His systems may also contain components that make him less detectable.
  • It could be possible that Zero is more the exception than the rule, and the rest of the shinobi unit does fit the expected profile better, that being said, it also implies they have the expected strengths and weaknesess of a warrior designed to be light and agile. Also note that even in the PS1 games and Zero series, Zero can deal big amounts of damage, but he doesn't react very well when receiving it himself; this troper would expect the ninja unit to be even more fragile. It's probable that their battle strategy involves Zero acting as a bait, calling the attention of most enemies to one point, calling the strongest members of the enemy forces to try to retire him while the rest of the unit goes to do whatever business they are doing there (infiltrating, retreiving data, retiring their objetive) taking advantage of the fact that most threats to the mission are busy fighting with their unit leader, who has a reputation of taking entire armies by himself.
  • I wikisurfed the other day, and might have found an explanation for it: they infiltrate, in the same way SWAT teams infiltrate. They break in and overcome the enemy before anyone can react, and that way the typical "ninja" stealth isn't really required as long as you can overwhelm. And Zero is, honestly, built around being visually overwhelming, between fire-engine red and that giant yellow puff that his hair is in most games.
    • That's what I thought. I couldn't find the exact term, but there is a 'shock and awe' tactic that you just described, where the unit only needs to be unseen long enough to get into position before they charge in through the windows in a massive wave of dynamic force. And since it's Zero, whose reputation would preceed him by a lot, the Mavericks inside would only be able to go "Oh holy shit it's Zero --" before he shreds them into pieces. It'd basically be a small-scale Blitzkrieg on the poor bastards.
• Zero and X become the leaders of the Maverick Hunters in X1/MHX and X2 respectively, according to the manual. But how can they be the leaders when they're on the field fighting during those two games? You may argue that Sigma was the leader of the Hunters and he still went off to fight (against Maverick Zero, for example), but that was back when the Hunters were still essentially reploid cops. But the games are about full-blown wars, which necessitates someone staying behind to coordinate battle plans and such -- someone like Signas, basically. Even if there was no one else to take the job except for them, it's really not plausible.
  • They were commanders of their units, not of the Hunters as a whole. The real question is, where the eff are the rest of the 17th and 00th units.
    • The entire 17th Unit besides X and Zero defected with Sigma in X1. And the 00th Unit ARE ninjas...
      • The only known members of the 00th unit either defected or were corrupted by the Maverick Virus. Kinda a bad track record for both teams...
    • Well, various well-known wikis, like Network and the Wikia, have mentioned X leading the Hunters in X2 in numerous places. Not to mention that Sigma was the commander of the 17th and the leader of the Hunters at the same time. Since I've never gotten my hands on the earlier games myself, I've kinda had to rely on wikis to get the full story.
    • Considering in-story X was never more than a B-class Hunter (until X8 or so), who was known for his hesitation in battle, if he was the Hunters' leader in those games, it was probably a de facto thing because there just weren't many of them around in the first place.
      • I suppose so, yeah. Although I wonder who was leading the Hunters during X3 and X4. I don't think it was ever stated anywhere ...
      • Dr. Cain led the Maverick Hunters after Sigma went Maverick for X1 through X3. By X4, he had retired/passed away and someone else, most likely a Reploid, had taken over. After the Repliforce debacle, that person resigned and Signas stepped in and has led the Hunters ever since.
  • The titles were probably de facto/honorary. While they were only Commanders in rank, (Captains post X5), they still commanded a great deal of respect, and likely had clout to go with it.
• The naming for secondary characters. Was "Alia" supposed to be "Aria" to go with the music theme? And it sounds really out of place to have a guy with a name as normal as Douglas (though I'm guessing that one was supposed to be funny).
  • • • It could be a reference for something. Capcom never really was too good with names concerning the X series.
  • Besides, the music theme naming seems restricted to the classic series, so Alia fitting in would be more than a bit odd.
    • Yep. As far as name themes go, X, Zero, and Sigma could be thought of as being based on math. Then there's the X5 Mavericks, who were named for Guns N' Rose members. Alia was introduced in X5, but she would've been the only non-Maverick with a music related name, though her musical name would've been completely unrelated to the others, which would probably be symbolic... Anywho, that's it for theme names, as far as I know.
  • In Japanese, and in X8 at least, the A in Alia is pronounced like the the letter "A" rather than a soft vowel, so misromanization of "Aria" is right out.
    • I like to think sometimes that Alia's name and pronounciation on both sides is a reference to "Area", though that's just me. The way Japanese people say it would sound similar.
• Can someone explain how theses robots (is that really what they are?) have DNA? Are they suppose to be semi-organic? Biotech? Or some form of super nanite machines? Seriously... I can understand the ZX series stating boldly that humans and reploids have merged over time to become so similar that there are no differences anymore... they both live, die, have metallic, organic, and similar functional systems. But that's not until the 26th century and well noted that this didn't take place until after Zero saves the day as one of the Big Damn Heroes in the 24t century according to the time line, which doesn't happen until some long time after the X series.
  • It's possible that Reploids have a special type of programming that's referred to as "DNA Data" because it acts in a similar manner to organic DNA (storing all of the information of the Reploid: height, weight, abilities, personality, etc).
  • That makes sense I suppose, thanks!
  • Another reason is, it's easier and faster to type that than "Blueprint".
    • Yes, because "deoxyribonucleic acid" just rolls off the tongue like a greased marble off an icy precipice.
    • Xtreme 2 explains it, actually! Iris coins the term DNA Soul and explains that it's because what the Erasure erased is very similar to human DNA. Which makes the "blueprint" explanation valid!
• How the smeg was Cain able to replicate X as well as he did? We know the reploid creation process only produced inferior-to-X products until Ciel managed a perfect Copy X and guardians, but how did Cain manage to create anything robotic and self-aware at all with degrees in botany and archaeology?
  • Perhaps there are robotic plants? In MMX 5 (heck, even in X1), we've seen forest where the trees have cybernetic implants, so it's possible that part of the curriculum of a botanist of the year 21XX includes some knowledge on robotics. As for the archaeology, it may be similar to the "Diggers" on the Legends series, explorers who look for/accidentally find ancient technology and bring it back to the surface to be analyzed and used.
• Why couldn't Dr. Light entrust X to Dr. Cossack? Dr. Cossack has built at least nine high-end robots (the MM4 bosses and Beat), has good moral character (loving father), and is considerably younger than Dr. Light (seems to be in his 30's). Also, the opening of the first X game, which is a century after the Classics series, shows the year 2114 on Dr. Cain's equipment, meaning X, at the very least, is sealed on September 18, 2014. There's no reason to assume Dr. Cossack is unable to care for X.
  • We don't know if Cossack is still alive when Light made X, or when he is sealed. Or perhaps Light just kept it a secret. And of course, the reason he sealed X is because he (X) has full human emotions and freedom, as well as limitless potentials, and Light feared the potential that his magnum opus will instead be a grave threat to the world, so he gave X the 30-year morality testing inside the seal. Giving X to Cossack would result in a different X.
    • Mega Man's ending in the arcade title "Mega Man: The Power Battles", which is after MM 7, has Dr. Light state he needs to research more into AI to prevent the uprisings Wily causes, as a robot that can choose right or wrong is better than a simple robot that can be reprogrammed. This is when Cossack, who was in an official prequel manga for MM9, could've been brought on board. Even if Dr. Light insisted on the testing period before X could be activated, that would still give Dr. Cossack 30 years to study X's design.

• Every single thing about Zero coming back to life in X6 is just insane. First off, him even being there at all opens up enough plot holes to rip the space-time continuum in half. The epilogue of X5 shows that he's still dead three years later, while X6 takes place three weeks later. You might be able to Hand Wave this by saying he sealed himself before then (which would lead into Mega Man Zero). Of course, for that to work, it would mean that X6, X7, and X8 all took place within those three years. I haven't played X7 or X8 yet, so I'm not sure if that could be true. But then there's the issue of how he survived. He says that he... repaired himself? Okay Zero, that's cool, except for the fact that you got ripped in half three weeks ago (and it's even shown in the freakin' intro of X6 itself). Yes, X was ripped in half too, but Dr. Light had to save him. There is no way Zero could have repaired himself. Even he isn't that Badass... is he? I don't think X6 is really that bad of a game, but after starting it I just don't know what the hell is going on anymore.
  • Actually, the 3 years later ending of X5 is non-canon, I think.
    • You're right. X5 had three endings; One for Zero and two for X (good or bad depending on whether or not Zero temporarily turns Maverick). The bad ending has X's memories of Zero erased and finishes off three years later. The good ending has X keeping his memories of Zero (and using Zero's saber) and finishes a mere three weeks after Zero dies. X6 follows the good ending. Given how nothing in the timeline has a definite date, an indefinite number of X games can take place before the Elf Wars. Zero's ending in X6 can be seen as taking place somewhere near the end of the X series. If I'm not mistaken, he was awoken for the Elf Wars and then resealed in a different body at the end of that war. As for him coming back... I'm almost sure that there was a better reason than "I hid myself so I could repair myself", although I don't think that was mentioned in the game. If X6 were never made and the Zero series followed X5's bad ending like Inafune originally planned, I doubt his reasons for being repaired would sound like any less of an ass pull.
    • Nope. The good ending in MMX5 is also three years later. Three weeks is only first brought up in X6. X5's good ending, with Zero gone, X having the saber, and jumping three years later, was meant to be the canon one -- the end of the X series.
    • Thanks for correcting me. Huh. So then we should just consider the three weeks thing a retcon because it makes no sense in the grand scheme of things. As for which ending was meant to be canon, I'm not gonna pretend that I know for certain which was supposed to be the true ending to the series. I keep hearing that it was supposed to be the bad one, which makes sense considering how X loses some important memories that affect his personality and how he makes a reference to a locale from the Mega Man Legends games. This is just speculation, but I wonder if Neo Arcadia was originally meant to be called Elysium.
    • I'm pretty sure it's got to be the good ending, based on two things: One, X ends up with the Z saber, which he has until MMZ and gives to Zero. Two, in the bad ending, not only does X lose his memories of Zero, but Dr. Light makes it so he's incapable of retaining any new information pertaining to Zero. X, in MMZ, clearly remembers who Zero is.
  • How about Zero's own ending? In which X isn't shown, only his wrecked body and his last message for Iris?
    • I think that Zero's ending is X's good ending, only you just see Zero's perspective of it. You don't see what happens afterward because, well, Zero's dead.
  • Maybe the "Three Weeks Later" is just a typo.
    • More likely a retcon or lack of communication.
• I wonder if X is an upgrade of the original Mega Man or a totally different robot. If the latter, then what happened to the original Mega Man?
  • Word of God josses the possibility that Mega Man X is the same as the original Mega Man. As for what happened to the original? We simply don't know at this point.
    • It's like a hundred years later, and machinery does not last indefinitely, especially complex ones. I tend to think Rock, Roll, and the others simply succumbed to robot old age.
• Something that I was always curious about is how organic are the human look-alike robots like X, Zero, or Axl? We never see them without their armor, and when they get blown up we end up seeing robotic innards. Is the skin like the Terminator in that it is genuine organic flesh over a robotic skeleton, or is there a degree of bio-mechanical parts where it's hard to tell where the flesh begins and the machinery begins?
  • You're completely wrong; Reploids' body are 100% mechanical. Their minds are humanlike.
    • I understand that their minds are like that of a human, X and all machines based off of him have free will. I was asking about the skin because it looks real to me and not something fake like rubber.
    • I believe it's some sort of artificial skin; as in, it is composed of the materials of the natural skin itself, except that it's artificially made. BTW, somewhat related: reploids can "bleed", too. (The discussion is up above.)
    • Has to be some sort of crimson oil. They're androids.
• Wily was shown working on Zero during Bass' ending in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, so he'd apparently developed the Maverick Virus by that time, but but there's no exact chronology for the original games. Does this indicate that the Maverick virus an upgraded version of Wily's Roboenza virus, possibly by combining it with the Evil Energy? Word of God states he intended to use Zero to kill both the original Mega Man and Bass, but that Zero proved to be too Ax Crazy for Wily to control and was sealed away until Sigma found him,
• From some sources I've read, Wily was inspired by Dr. Light's X and built Zero based on him. Some other sources however stated that Wily started to make Zero first and Light tried to counter it with his own creation, X. Which one is right?
  • Neither, as far as I can tell. Both seem to have been made independent of inspiration from the other.