--------------------------------------------------------------- ------MEGA MAN X5 FAQ------------------------------------------- ------Written by NickWhiz1 (NickWhiz1@buckeye-express.com)------ ------Version FINAL--------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Last Updated: April 15, 2002 Happy Tax Day Everyone! ***WARNING: VERY HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK*** _____________________________________________________________________ |NOTES:_______________________________________________________________| |-I will use the Guns N Roses names so I won't confuse those of you | | that are used to them. The rest of you will just have to live with | | them =P | |-This document is ASCII-art filled, so live with it =P | |-This walkthrough is based off the Normal difficulty setting. Any | | notes regarding the Easy/Xtreme difficulties will be placed in the | | appropriate locations. Normally, the only differences are the | | number and locations of enemies (less in Easy, more and in annoying | | places in Xtreme). | |_____________________________________________________________________| Table of Contents: 1. Introduction/History 2. Credits 3. Story 4. Controls 5. Items 6. Sigma Virus 7. Hunter Ranks 8. Parts/Levels 9. Weapons 10. Armors 11. General Notes 12. Walkthrough 13. Codes/Secrets 14. Copyright --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. INTRODUCTION/HISTORY---------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4/15/02: Fixed up section dividers. Version FINAL(4/4/02): Meep. I was bored, so I decided to write this up. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd have this done a month ago. =P --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. CREDITS----------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- GameFAQs for hosting this. Capcom for making another winner of a game! You for reading this guide! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. STORY------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is the year 21XX... The Reploid Wars have ceased... Numerous space colonies now orbit the Earth. One of these, the Eurasia colony, is striving to be the largest and most technologically-advanced of these colonies. One day, a mysterious Reploid attacks the colony. The interior of the colony is completely destroyed, and it is barely remaining in orbit. X and Zero come to investigate, but they find out that Sigma is behind the mysterious Reploid's attack. After destroying Sigma, X and Zero discover that the Sigma Virus has spread all over the Earth, and the Eurasia colony is quickly falling out of its orbit. If it is not stopped in 16 hours, the Earth will face destruction. So, like, stop it, or, umm, everyone dies =/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. CONTROLS---------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Start Button: Start game, access Weapon Select/Status screen during game play Select Button: When used on the Weapon Select/Status screen, gives you a prompt to quit the game /\ Button: Use X-Buster/Z-Buster/special weapon () Button: Dash, cancel on menus [] Button: Use X-Buster/Z-Saber >< Button: Jump, accept on menus L1: Scroll left through weapons R1: Scroll right through weapons R2: Use Giga Attack Control Pad: Take a wild guess =P These are the default controls, but you can change them in the Options menu. More Advanced Controls: Up Button: Grab onto ropes/vines Down Button: Crouch >< + () Buttons: Dash jump >< Button on wall: Wall jump () in air: Air dash (only works with certain armors) >< Button in air: Double Jump (Zero only) Flight (X Falcon Armor only) Ride Armor: >< Button: Jump [] or /\ Button: Attack () Button: Dash Up Button: Jump out Land Chaser: >< Button: Jump [] or /\ Button: Attack () Button: Dash (can be done in air) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. ITEMS------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Life Energy: These are yellow/white capsules. Small: Recovers 4 life energy and adds some energy to an E-Tank. Medium: Recovers 16 life energy and adds some energy to an E-Tank. Large: Recovers all life energy and adds some energy to an E-Tank. Weapon Energy: These are blue spheres. They will restore energy to either your current weapon, or (if you have no current weapon or is it at full) restore energy to the weapon with lowest energy. Small: Recovers 4 weapon energy to one weapon and adds some energy to the W-Tank. Medium: Recovers 16 weapon energy to one weapon and adds some energy to the W-Tank. Large: Recovers all weapon energy to all weapons and adds some energy to the W-Tank. X/Zero Helmet: Worth 1 extra life (can have up to 9). Injured Reploids: Touch one to regain some life energy and get an extra life. E-Tanks/W-Tank: You can acquire up to 2 E-Tanks or 1 W-Tank to store life and weapon energy, respectively. Best used when they are full, otherwise they will not recover much energy. The W-Tank will recover energy to all your weapons. Heart Tank: Permanently adds 2 bars to your life energy EX Tank: Increases the number of extra lives you start with from 2 to 4. Life Up/Energy Up: When you defeat one of the Maverick bosses when they are at least Level 4 (read down further for level explanation), you have your choice of either a Life Up or Energy Up. In one "hour", the current character will have either two bars added to their life energy or two bars added to all of their weapon energies. Parts: When you defeat one of the Maverick bosses when they are at least Level 8, you have your choice of either Life Up + or Energy Up +. In two hours, depending on your choice and the boss you defeated, you will get one of 16 parts that you can use to make your characters stronger. Armor Parts: When you find a large green capsule, you can get one of 8 parts to make one of 2 new armors. You must gain all 4 parts of an armor to make the new armor. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. SIGMA VIRUS------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Throughout your travels, you will run into numerous purple Sigma heads. These little buggers will attempt to infect you with the Sigma Virus. They will follow you around until you can scroll them far off screen or (possibly) destroy them. The meter in the lower-left hand corner tells you how far you are from being completely infected. The default is Normal. If you are touched by 2 Sigma heads, you will go to Caution. If you are touched by 3 Sigma heads, you will go to Danger. If you are touched by 4 Sigma heads, you will go to Virus and become infected for about 5 seconds. What happens when you become infected? If you are X, you will slowly lose health (not that much) and your controls may slow down or reverse on you. If you are Zero, you will go up to full health and gain temporary invinciblity (this will be explained later on in the game). After becoming infected, you will go back down to Normal. When you go into the Virus stages, you will meet a brand-new virus, the Zero Virus (again, this will be explained later on, because there is a connection). This little guy will infect you even quicker. If you are touched by 1 of these guys, you will go to Caution. If you are touched by 2 of these guys, you will go to Danger. If you are touched by 3 of these guys, you will go to Virus. The Zero Virii will attack differently. They will appear, attempt to level out with your chracter, then dash a fair distance forward. They will do this twice, then disappear. If you are in a tight position, these dashes can be very difficult to avoid. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. HUNTER RANK------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you start out the game, X will have a hunter rank of B and Zero will have a hunter rank of SA. You can improve or decrease these ranks as the game goes on. Whenever you defeat/exit a stage, you will see a screen that tells you the time it took to beat the stage, the number of enemies you destroyed, and the damage you took. If you defeated a Maverick stage for the first time, Dynamo, or a Virus stage, you will also see your hunter rank. This rank can be E, D, C, B, A, SA, GA, PA, or MMH. The rank seems to improve when you get through a stage quickly, take little damage, and destroy very few enemies. I personally have never seen E, D, C, or MMH, but people have confirmed they do exist. The hunter rank will influence the levels of the bosses you will face in the game. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. PARTS/LEVELS------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I said above, you can only get a part if you defeat a boss which is at least Level 8. But how is the boss level determined? Well, it's really simple. (As far as I know, this system only works for the 8 Mavericks.) 1. First, check how many hours you have left before you make your stage selection. Use this chart to find a starting number: ____________________ | Hours Left | Value | | 17-16 | 1 | | 15-14 | 3 | | 13-12 | 5 | | 11-10 | 7 | | 9-8 | 9 | | 7-6 | 11 | | 5-4 | 13 | | 3-2 | 15 | | 1-0 | 17 | 2. Next, check your hunter rank. Use this chart to figure out how much to add: _____________________ | Hunter Rank | Value | | E-A | +0 | | SA | +2 | | GA | +4 | | PA | +8 | 3. Add the number of the 8 Mavericks you have already defeated. For example, if you have defeated Grizzly Slash and Duff McWhalen, add 2 to this value. That will give you the level of the boss. All the level really does is decide how much life they have. If the boss is at least Level 4, you will be able to get a Life Up or Weapon Up. If the boss is at least Level 8, you will be able to get a Life Up and part or Weapon Up and part. _____________________________________________________________________ |Easy Mode____________________________________________________________| |-All bosses are Level 1, so no parts for you =P | |_____________________________________________________________________| Now, what parts can you get? The following chart shows the location of each part in the Parts chart: ___ ___ ___ ___ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |___|___|___|___| | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |___|___|___|___| | 9 | 10| 11| 12| |___|___|___|___| | 13| 14| 15| 16| |___|___|___|___| 1. Shock Buffer Choice: Grizzly Slash, Life Up Effects: Reduces damage recieved by half, removes recoil from damage Works For: X/Zero Notes: -If it is already included on an armor, it won't double the effect. It will, in effect, waste a spot, as it will do nothing to help you. -It doesn't work against getting knocked a far distance by The Skiver's attacks. -It may also be known as "Shock Absorber" 2. Virus Buster Choice: Dark Dizzy, Energy Up Effects: Can shoot at and eventually destroy the Sigma Virii that appear Works For: X/Zero Notes: -This is totally worthless for Zero, as the Virii make you stronger. -As for X, you are best off just avoiding the Virii altogether. -You are better off taking the Anti-Virus Guard and the two extra life bars. 3. Speedster Choice: The Skiver, Energy Up Effects: Makes your walking speed faster Works For: X/Zero Notes: -Doesn't work on dashes 4. Jumper Choice: The Skiver, Life Up Effects: Allows you to jump higher Works For: X/Zero Notes: -Doesn't work on Zero's second jump of his double jump 5. Hyper Dash Choice: Grizzly Slash, Energy Up Effects: Makes your dashes faster Works For: X/Zero Notes: -May make your dashes shorter -Works especially well on dash jumps -Increases distance of air dashes -There may be some glitches 6. W-Energy Saver Choice: Duff McWhalen, Energy Up Effects: Reduces the energy requirements of special weapons by half Works For: X/Zero Notes: -Will not double the effects of armors on energy requirements, instead will replace them 7. Super Recover Choice: Duff McWhalen, Life Up Effects: Increases life energy recovery from capsules Works For: X/Zero Notes: -150% increase 8. Anti-Virus Guard Choice: Dark Dizzy, Life Up Effects: Doubles the number of Virus contacts required to become infected Works For: X/Zero Notes: -Better of DD's parts, because of the Life Up -Totally worthless for Zero -Just dodge the virii as X 9. Buster Plus Choice: Mattrex, Energy Up Effects: Increases damage done by buster shots Works For: X/Zero Notes: -Doesn't increase the damage that much -Take the Speed Shot and the Life Up instead =P 10. Speed Shot Choice: Mattrex, Life Up Effects: Makes buster shots faster Works For: X/Zero Notes: -Don't bother using this, just take the Life Up and get on with your life 11. Burst Shot Choice: Izzy Glow, Life Up Effects: Lets you have 5 buster shots on the screen instead of 3 Works For: X Notes: -o_O Might not help a lot, but the Life Up helps 12. Ultimate Buster Choice: Axle the Red, Life Up Effects: Only shoot charged shots Works For: X Notes: -Delay between shots -If using certain armors, will only use charged special attacks 13. Quick Charge Choice: Squid Adler, Life Up Effects: Halves the charging time required for the X-Buster and special weapons Works For: X Notes: -Definitely worth it, better than Ultimate Buster 14. Z-Saber Plus Choice: Axle the Red, Energy Up Effects: Increases damage done by Zero's Z-Saber Works For: Zero Notes: -Errrr, whatever. -Doesn't work on special techniques 15. Z-Saber Extend Choice: Squid Adler, Energy Up Effects: Increases range of Zero's Z-Saber Works For: Zero Notes: -Doesn't work on special techniques -Not much of an increase 16. Shot Eraser Choice: Izzy Glow, Energy Up Effects: Zero's Z-Saber can destroy most enemy energy shots Works For: Zero Notes: -Works on special techniques, I believe -Doesn't work on all energy shots --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. WEAPONS----------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Base number of weapon shots are in (). ======================================================================= X ======================================================================= _Grizzly Slash_ Weapon: C-Shot Normal (48): Shoots a small crescent shot either straight ahead, slightly up, or slightly down. The direction of the shot is random. Charged (8): Creates a crescent shield around X, and destroys most enemies it hits. Very useful. _Squid Adler_ Weapon: Tri-Thunder Normal (48): Shoots an electric bolt up, down, and straight ahead. If any of the bolts come in contact with the ground or a wall, it will turn into an electric spark and travel the ground/wall. Charged (24): Shoots random electric bolts that stretch from top to bottom of the screen. _Izzy Glow_ Weapon: F-Laser Normal (8): Shoots a firefly missile that can be controlled by the D-Pad. X is unable to move until the missile is destroyed. If X is hit, the laser will be cancelled. Charged (6): Shoots a very powerful laser that lasts for about 5 seconds. Can cause major havoc. _Duff McWhalen_ Weapon: Goo Shaver (should be Ice Wave; they bungled this one up well) Normal (48): Shoots an ice wave that travels the ground. Charged (8): Shoots large blocks of ice in both directions. _The Skiver_ Weapon: Wing Spiral Normal (24): Shoots a whirlwind straight up. If you are in the middle of a dash, it will shoot diagonally. Charged (8): Shoots a large whirlwind in the direction you are facing. _Axle the Red_ Weapon: Spike Ball Normal (24): Shoots a green spiked ball forward a small distance, then comes back. Charged (8): Shoots a purple spiked ball that bounces across the entire screen. _Dark Dizzy_ Weapon: Dark Hold Normal/Charged (48): Freezes the screen and all minor enemies. This attack uses up about 2-4 weapon energy a second until it runs out or you cancel it with a Giga Crush or pick a different weapon on the Weapons screen. Pretty much all bosses are immune to this attack. _Mattrex_ Weapon: Ground Fire Normal (48): Shoots a fireball forward, which shoots out a couple small fireballs when it hits the ground. Charged (8): Shoots a flamethrower left and a flamethrower right. ======================================================================= ZERO ======================================================================= _Grizzly Slash_ Move: C-Sword Controls: >< in air (double jump), [] in air (spinning slash) Notes: -Double Jump only works after a normal jump (no dash jump or air jump) _Squid Adler_ Move: E-Blade Controls: Up + [] on the ground Notes: -Electric uppercut slash. Use carefully, as Zero may hit the enemy. _Izzy Glow_ Move: C-Flasher Controls: R2 on the ground Notes: -Giga Crush, has 4 base shots, restores energy with damage or weapon energy -Same as Cyber Peacock's attack from X4 _Duff McWhalen_ Move: F-Splasher Controls: () in air Notes: -Replaces Zero's normal Air Dash -Makes Zero temporarily invincible (makes a great combo with Hyper Dash) -Press Up or Down while performing to slightly angle your dash _The Skiver_ Move: W-Shredder Controls: () + [] on the ground Notes: -Makes a hologram of Zero that goes forward and slashes the enemy -Somewhat hard to pull off correctly _Axle the Red_ Move: Twin Dream Controls: /\ when selected as the weapon Notes: -Uses weapon energy, 8 base shots -Creates a longer-lasting hologram of Zero that uses all of Zero's attacks when Zero uses them, lasts about 10 seconds -Cancelled out if Zero gets hit _Dark Dizzy_ Move: Dark Hold Controls: /\ when selected as the weapon Notes: -Same as X's version _Mattrex_ Move: Quake Blazer Controls: Down + [] in air Notes: -Downward fire slash. Use carefully, as Zero may hit the enemy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. ARMORS----------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================= X ======================================================================= _Unarmored X_ This is basic X, without any special armor. If you started with Zero, you're stuck with regular X (should you choose to play as him) until you get the Falcon/Gaea/Ultimate Armor. Air Dash?: No Giga Crush?: No Charge special weapons?: No Open Part Spots: 4 Special Effects: -Can get Ultimate Armor in the 3rd Virus stage (that's about it) _Force/Fourth Armor_ If you started with X, you get the armor enhancements from X4, with the Plasma Shot (Stock Shot might have been useful, however ._.). Air Dash?: Yes Giga Crush?: No Charge special weapons?: Yes Open Part Spots: 2 Special Effects: -Press >< in the air after a normal jump to hover. Moving while hovering will decrease the amount of time you remain in the air. -The Plasma Shot leaves small balls of plasma that continue to do damage to enemies and minor bosses. -Increased defense -Less energy required for weapon usage _Falcon Armor_ You can gain the 4 parts for this from the 4 levels with the Enigma parts. Air Dash?: No Giga Crush?: Energy shots coming from the top and bottom of the screen Charged special weapons?: No Open Part Spots: 2 Special Effects: -Press >< in the air after a normal jump to fly. You can fly any direction for a good distance and you are virtually invincible during this flight. This will replace your air dash as well. -Increased defense -Less energy required for weapon usage _Gaea Armor_ You can gain the 4 parts for this from the 4 levels with the Shuttle parts. Air Dash?: No Giga Crush?: Charged punch that lasts for about 5 seconds Charged special weapons?: No Open Part Spots: 0 Special Effects: -No special weapons, period. -Slows you down -Changes the regular shots to green buster shots. The regular shots are more powerful than the regular X-Buster pellets, the charged shot is weaker than the charged X-Buster. -The charged buster can destroy the black V boxes. -Given room, the dash (which is shorter) can push the black V boxes. -Immune to spikes (except the drills in Grizzly Slash's stage, near the end) -Stick to walls -Increased defense _Ultimate Armor_ You can gain this with either a code or it can be found in the 3rd Virus Stage. Air Dash?: Yes Giga Crush?: Nova Strike (invincible air dash, same as X4) Charged special weapons?: Yes Open Part Spots: 2 Special Effects: -Infinite Nova Strike -Same Plasma Shot as Force Armor -Same hovering ability as Force Armor -Increased defense -Less energy required for weapon usage ======================================================================= ZERO ======================================================================= _Zero_ This is basic Zero. Air Dash?: Yes Giga Crush?: No, unless you have C-Flasher Open Part Spots: 4 Special Effects: -Can get Black Zero in 3rd Virus Stage, that's about it _Black Zero_ You can get this via a code or in the 3rd Virus Stage. Air Dash?: Yes Giga Crush?: No, unless you have C-Flasher Open Part Spots: 4 Special Effects: -Built-in Shock Buffer, Shot Eraser, and Virus Buster. -Less energy required for weapon usage --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. GENERAL NOTES---------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -You can start the game as either X or Zero. You will not be limited to using that character for the entire game, unlike X4. -You can set the difficulty to either Easy, Normal, or Xtreme. The default is Normal. -You can set the game speed to either Slow or Normal. The default is Normal. -When you begin a stage, you have the choice of either Zero, unarmored X, or X with one of his completed armors. Black Zero is not a seperate armor, but rather replaces the normal Zero. -Crouching is a major asset in this game and may be required in some places. -Only use Giga Attacks to escape tough situations, as they take a while to recharge after you use them. -Be careful about the combination of parts you equip. The parts may conflict with the armor you are wearing or other parts you have equipped. -You must equip parts seperately to each of X's armors. -Only use the Gaea Armor to get specific items in stages, unless you want a real challenge. -Boss patterns do not change based on the difficulty. -Enemy endurance, attacks, and damage do not change based on the difficulty. They only differ in number. -Only use charged weapons in the specified places, as they drain energy quickly. -The Tri-Thunder is the preferred weapon to travel through stages, as it can destroy the majority of enemies in one hit, can hit up to 3 enemies with one attack, and has very low energy requirements. -Don't be afraid to use the Dark Hold to get out of a difficult situation. I find myself using it quite frequently to get through more annoying areas. -The C-Sword is probably your best choice as a second weapon for Zero. -Against most bosses, the C-Flasher does as much damage as the weapon that boss is weak to. This can come in handy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. WALKTHROUGH------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the level maps, each block represents roughly one screen. This, however, doesn't mean they are exactly to scale. Key: S-Start A-Armor Piece H-Heart (Life-Up) Piece E-E-Tank W-W-Tank X-EX-Tank M-Mid-Boss B-Boss ======================================================================= TRAINING STAGE ======================================================================= _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |S|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ _ _ _ |_|_|_|_|_|_|B| If you have never played a Mega Man X game before, it is suggested that you complete this training area as both characters before you begin the game. Overall, this stage is really a piece of cake. Alia will walk you through the level, and show you how to destroy enemies, wall jump, and use the brand-new ropes. Take note of said ropes and Zero's new Z-Buster. At the end, you will face an old foe from X4. _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: MAGMA DRAGOONmk2_______________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: X-Buster (X), Z-Saber (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| After his impressive showing in X4, he returns as a simulation, and completely sucks. I mean, he only starts with one attack! His only attack at the beginning is firing three Hadokens (fireballs) at you. He will shoot them in patterns of either high/high/low, high/low/high or high/low/low. You can crouch under the high ones, but you're better off staying on the walls =D At 1/2 health, he will gain 2 more attacks. The first one is two Hadokens (high, then low), then his large flamethrower. Just stay on the walls to dodge this. His other attack will be a jump kick. Dash under him to avoid it. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| Stay on the walls, charge up the X-Buster, and blast away! It shouldn't take too much to beat him. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Stay on the walls, and wait for an opening. When you see one, use an aerial slash and his 3-hit combo (if possible). It shouldn't take too much to beat him. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= STARTING THE GAME FOR REAL ======================================================================= Done with your training? Did you defeat Magma Dragoon really easily? Now it's time for the real game to begin. When you go to Game Start, you will have a choice of either X or Zero to start out with. You may play as either character after the opening stage, but there are drawbacks to each choice: Start with X: Zero's Z-Buster is unavailable (what a shame!) Start with Zero: X's Force Armor is unavailable (x_x that could be a problem) ======================================================================= OPENING STAGE - EURASIA ATTACK! ======================================================================= _ _ |_|B| |_| |_| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _|_| |S|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| Uh, yeah, ultra-fun opening level. This level will not give you many problems. The only parts that may trip you up are the collapsing ceilings about halfway through the stage and the crushing walls going up to the statue head. Crouch in one of the two indentations in the floor to avoid being crushed by the large ceiling segment (it WILL hurt if you don't) and quickly wall jump up the crushing walls. When you reach the statue head, the other character will come in, injured, and tell you that Sigma is close. Wouldn't ya know it, he's the statue head! _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Sigma Head_____________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: X-Buster (X), Z-Saber (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| SIGGY! You get to face him right off the bat! Meh, another simple opening battle. He will begin with either two yellow orbs or a storm of blue shots. When he shoots the two yellow orbs, jump up the wall and over the two orbs. When he shoots the blue shots, crouch, crouch, crouch! At 1/2 health, he gains a new attack that would normally make you cry. He will open his mouth, charge for a second or two, and shoot off a large beam. Normally, you would have to jump up a wall to dodge it, but you can just crouch and it will barely miss you. Sigma is only vulnerable when his mouth is open. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| Dodge his attacks, charge up, and blast him in the mouth when he opens it. You should escape this battle without taking damage. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Wait for Sigma to come up close to the left wall, then slash his opened mouth for all you're worth. You should escape this battle without taking damage. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= STAGE SELECT ======================================================================= Now that you're past the opening stage, you can choose your path to destroy the 8 Mavericks. Your choices on the Stage Select screen: ___________ L1 Parts* R1 Weapon** ___________ | | | | |Grizzly | |The | |Slash | |Skiver | |___________| ___________ |___________| | | | | | | |Squid | |Special | |Axle the | |Adler | |Level*** | |Red | |___________| |___________| |___________| | | | | |Izzy | _______________________________________ |Dark | |Glow | | | |Dizzy | |___________| | | |___________| | | |Level Data**** | | | |Duff | | | |Mattrex | |McWhalen | | | | | |___________| |_______________________________________| |___________| *Check what parts you have and attach them to X/Zero/armors. **Check the status of the Enigma and shuttle or shoot them prematurely ***Sends you to battles with Dynamo and the Virus stages ****Tells you how many hours are left, shows a picture of the selected stage, and tells what level it is. When you pick a level, you will choose your character here. The recommended (and most logical) pattern is: Grizzly Slash, Duff McWhalen, Squid Adler, Izzy Glow, Dark Dizzy, The Skiver, Mattrex, Axle the Red By taking this order, the first four Mavericks you defeat give you the Enigma parts, and the last four give you the shuttle parts. It is also the perfect circle for the weapon weaknesses each boss has. Not to mention Grizzly Slash is probably the easiest Maverick ;) After defeating two and six Mavericks, you must fight Dynamo before you can proceed any further. After getting the four parts for the Enigma, you will automatically shoot it unless you already have. After getting the four parts for the shuttle, you will automatically launch it unless you have not shot the Enigma, destroyed the colony, or launched already. When either the colony is destroyed or crashes to Earth, you will have access to the Virus stages. At this point, if any Mavericks remain, you will not be required to defeat them. It is recommended, however, to defeat at least Dark Dizzy. Otherwise, the first Virus stage will give you nightmares until X6. Then you get to have more nightmares :) The walkthrough will describe the path taken above, as it is the most logical path to take, and will be easiest to me, as I take the above path the majority of the time. In the items list, the () tell what is required to get said item. ======================================================================= GRIZZLY SLASH - CHASE THE TRUCK! ======================================================================= Items: Heart (Gaea Armor) E-Tank Leg Parts F _ _ _ _ |_|_|_|H| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _|_|_|_|_|_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |A|_|_|_| |S|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|E|_|_|->CRASH->|_|_| |B| This should be your first mission, and it is probably the easiest one in the game. The premise here is simple. Jump from truck to truck, avoiding the numerous enemies, and destroy the blue power core at the front of each truck. The core will shoot powerful lasers, so make sure to crouch while attacking. (Zero doesn't even need to go down to attack them. He can stand right on top of them and slash them to pieces.) Once you destroy the core, you will have 5 seconds to jump to the next one before the current truck explodes. Should you just stand there, you will fall and die when the truck explodes. When you get inside the large truck (which is littered with enemies), about halfway through, you can climb up to the rooftop, which is littered with spikes. You can come back later with the Gaea Armor, go right, and get the Heart. After destroying the large truck, you will jump onto a truck that is already exploding. You need to quickly jump to the front and to the next truck. In Normal and Xtreme modes, you will be impeded by a tank. You do have time to destroy it, but you're best off taking a hit and running through it. The next truck is already exploding as well, and is much longer. Dash jumping from the top of each column is the best way to get through here quickly. Those drills are instant death, so be careful. Grab the E-Tank at the front of the truck. The final truck is not exploding, so you're safe :). Jump up to the front, and you will crash into a parked truck, throwing you into the base. When you enter, you will see an alcove in the ceiling. Notice how the top part of the right wall is sticking out a little more than the bottom part. Use a dash wall jump from the bottom part to get to the top part. This capsule will give you the Leg Parts for the Falcon Armor. Destroy a few more enemies and work your way up and to the right to reach the first boss, Grizzly Slash. _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Grizzly Slash__________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Spike Ball (X), Twin Dream (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| Since you have not defeated Axle the Red, you will not have these weapons to use. You can use them when you battle Slash again in the final stage. You don't need them, though, as this guy is a piece of cake. He will attack by slashing, shooting off three small crescent shots, then jump. You can crouch in the indentations in the floor to dodge this attack easily. At 2/3 health, he will go into his second attack pattern. He will drill down from the ceiling at the point you are at. Depending on where you stand, he will perform a different attack. If you're standing at floor level, he will pop through the wall and slash you. If you're standing in one of the indentations, he will pop up and try to drill you. After 3 of these attacks, he will drill down again. Frequent jumping will help you dodge this pattern easily. At 1/3 health, Slash will enter his final attack pattern. He will shoot off two giant crescent shots, one high, one low. You can jump over the low ones and crouch in an indentation to dodge the high one, or you can stay on the wall and dodge both of them. He will then jump around a couple of times, then shoot off the crescents again. Hitting Grizzly Slash with Spike Ball/Twin Dream will cancel his attack unless he is in his disappearing/reappearing part of his second pattern. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| Easiest Maverick in the game. Just charge up and fire away! Dodging his attacks are very easy. Once you have the Spike Ball, just keep hitting him with it and he'll go away. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Zero doesn't really have the long-range option, so you will need to remain close to Slash to slash (heh) him into pieces. That may backfire on you during his final attack, so watch out. Once you have Twin Dream, you can activate that, then belt him with it. You can normally get up to 2 hits in per Twin Dream. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= DUFF MCWHALEN - OBLITERATE THE BATTLESHIP! ======================================================================= Items: Heart (Gaea/Falcon Armor) Body Parts F (Goo Shaver) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |M|_|B| |S|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|M|_| |_| |_| _ _ _ _|_| |_|_|H|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |M|_| |A|_| Notice that music? It's a remix of Bubble Crab's tune from Mega Man X2 (hey, that's the first game I wrote a guide for! =D). This level has a similar premise, in which you must fight against a submarine. This trek, however, takes it to a whole new level. Note that the U-555 segments of this level are auto-scrolling, so be careful not to get scrolled off the screen or crushed. Throughout this level, you will fight numerous suckerfish robots, very similar to the ones from Launch Octopus's stage in the first X game. They will attempt to suck you in and thus hinder your progress. If you do get sucked in, button mash, and you will escape quickly. The first segment involves you traveling to the right while fighting the front end of the U-555. The laser cannons above and below the mouth can be destroyed, but will regenerate. If you land enough hits on the exposed parts of the submarine, you will destroy them and the laser cannons will not regenerate. The mouth will shoot off three enemies, which will go forward, then come back towards you. Midway through the section, the mouth will shoot a very powerful laser out from time to time. Use the alcoves and indentations to dodge this shot. You can see it coming if you pay attention. Note that when you hit the U-555 at this point, it will be knocked backwords a little bit. Use this to allow sufficient room so you won't be crushed while dodging the laser. At the end of the trek, you will have to actually fight the U-555 (see that damage meter?). Just blast away at the mouth. If you have permanently destroyed the laser cannons, the mouth will shoot either the laser or the three enemies. If the laser cannons are still there, the mouth will only shoot the three enemies, and the laser cannons will fire at you. Try to time your shots so the enemies are destroyed as soon as they leave. If playing as Zero, the C-Sword OWNS this thing. After destroying the front end, walk right a little ways, and now you get to fight the tail end! This section goes down, so navigate through. The cannons on the tail can't be permanently destroyed at this point, but you can destroy them for a few seconds at a time. This time, they shoot torpedoes that will travel to the left, then go either up or down, trying to hit you. Zero has it super-easy here, as he can just C-Sword those pesky torpedoes away. X will have to dodge them. Again, watch for those suckerfish enemies. Once at the bottom, you will need to destroy the tail end. Destroying the cannons will allow you to hit the exposed areas of the tail, thus dealing damage. These cannons regenerate very quickly, so be wary of that. If using X, destroy the bottom part first, then jump on the rope and pound away at the top. Using the Fourth/Ultimate Armors really helps, as the Plasma Shot will destroy the cannons quickly and deal good damage to the U-555. Zero can just C-Sword like there's no tomorrow. Now that the tail end is destroyed, go right. The water will recede, and you can freely travel through the sunken ship. This section isn't very difficult. Destroy the stingrays while avoiding the numerous spike pits. At the far right, you will see a shaft above you with spikes on both walls. Come back with the Falcon/Gaea Armors or Zero with C-Sword (so you can double jump) and the Jumper part to go up there. Traversing the spike-filled area up there will yield you a Heart. Going down, you'll see the capsule behind a wall. Come back with the Goo Shaver after you've defeated Duff McWhalen so you can destroy the small bomb to break the wall down. This capsule will give you the Body Parts for the Falcon Armor. Going right from there leads to the third and final battle with the U-555, the top part. You will actually be on the ship, heading upwards. The four cannons below you will shoot off lasers periodically. X can temporarily destroy these cannons with a crouching Plasma Shot. Zero can just C-Sword them to death. Be wary of your location, as you could become crushed if you don't pay attention. At the top, you will fight for the final time. You must destroy the small panel next to the core to put down the shield so you can damage the core. While doing this, you must deal with the laser cannons and some suckerfish. X can eat this thing up with his Plasma Shot. Zero can, umm, take a wild guess. (Hint: C-Sword). Now that the U-555 is out of commission, you can go through the door to the real boss! _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Duff McWhalen__________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: C-Shot (X), C-Sword (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| The first thing you will see when you enter this room is the spiked wall on the right. That will come into play very shortly. Duff McWhalen's first attack involves creating a maze of ice blocks going towards the left. He will do this for a little while, then stop. He will then shoot off a couple of ice waves, then bring the ice blocks back towards the left. You will have to navigate a small maze to get to the left before the blocks reach the spikes. The mazes are somewhat random, but follow similar patterns. While pushing the blocks right, he will shoot off small torpedoes that will travel left, while staying level with you. After all the blocks have crashed into the wall of spikes, the attack will begin anew. Try to stay near the top of the ice mazes as much as possible to get through them. The icicle spikes in these mazes ARE fatal, so avoid them accordingly. When he is down to 1/3 of his health, he calls upon a much more evil attack. He will swim to the left, then start shooting ice ledges at you, trying to push you into the wall of spikes. This attack can be very difficult to avoid, so try to stay to the left as much as you can and jump over or crouch under the ledges. He will not let up at this point, so do your best not to end up as a skewer. Using the C-Shot/C-Sword on Duff McWhalen will freeze him and destroy his ice maze. The ice ledges won't be destroyed, though =( _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| If you came with the C-Shot, just go up to him and shoot him with it. Jump over the first couple of ice blocks, then shoot him again. Repeat this pattern until he swims to the left, and just continue it. The charged C-Shot will do more damage and requires less effort. You can hit him up to 4 times using the same charged C-Shot. If you didn't come with the C-Shot, you have an edge over Zero, as you can attack reliably from long distance, but it's still stacked in Duff McWhalen's favor. Shoot him while he is creating the ice maze, then head towards the left when he starts sucking it in. The X-Buster can quickly destroy the small torpedoes he shoots forth. For the second attack, you want to remain as close to him as possible while shooting. This is one instance where long-distance shooting will harm you more than help you! _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Noticed a trend yet? The C-Sword owns everything in this level, and the boss is no exception. Just jump and C-Sword. Before he completely unfreezes, jump, then C-Sword when he is vulnerable. Same thing on the second attack. If you didn't come with the C-Sword, you will have to use cautious close combat to win. You can get a few hits in while he's creating the ice maze, but once he begins sucking it in, you want to get to the left ASAP. The Z-Saber effortlessly gets rid of the torpedoes. For the second attack, just try to avoid the ice ledges as you hack away. Just keep relentlessly attacking and you should survive the day. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE (finally!)_________________________________________________| ======================================================================= DYNAMO - HUNTER HQ ATTACK #1! ======================================================================= After defeating 2 Mavericks, you will be required to face Dynamo before you go any further. _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Dynamo_________________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Wing Spiral (X), W-Shredder (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| Since you will most likely not have the Wing Spiral/W-Shredder at this point, you will have to use the X-Buster or the C-Sword on Dynamo. This guy is a piece of cake. Dynamo only has two attacks. He will throw his spinning sword at you like a boomerang, because it will come back towards him. You can get his multiple times by this attack, so be careful. The second attack varies depending on who you are using to battle him. If you are using X, he will jump to your position and use a spinning slash on you. Wall jump off the top of the closest wall to avoid this. If you are using Zero, he will jump up and shoot a small energy shot downward, which will split into two, one going left, one going right. Jump over it. Hitting Dynamo with the Wing Spiral/W-Shredder will knock him towards the wall and stun him, cancelling any attacks in effect. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| You want to stay at a distance from Dynamo if you are using X and don't have the Wing Spiral. Charge up and hit him with charged X-Buster shots. Jump over his spinning sword and make sure to stay high when he does his spinning slash. This won't be a hard battle. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Zero owns this guy. Just get up in his face and C-Sword him like there's no tomorrow. Simply jump over the spinning sword and dodge his energy shot. This won't be a hard battle. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= SQUID ADLER - ELECTRIC TRAP! ======================================================================= Items: Heart (Gaea Armor) Head Parts F _ _ LANDCHASER->|S|A| _ _ _ _|_| |_|_|_|_|_| |_|_ _ _ |_|_|_ _ _|_|H|_ _ |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|B| |_|_| This stage is very appropriately named "Electric Trap". You will have to ride a Landchaser through a dangerous track, then fight through numerous lock puzzles to reach Squid Adler. First things first. Let's tackle the Landchaser. You will notice small blue orbs scattered through this area. If you manage to collect all 8 of these, something good will happen. If you don't get them all, no sweat. Getting through this area alive is the hard part. I lost a countless amount of lives the first time I attempted this level, but I have found a nifty way to get through here. This method takes practice, as it involves a few fairly precise jumps and air dashes. As soon as the "Ready" appears, you will have to jump over a pit. This is, by the way, the easiest and fastest way to kill yourself off in the game if you're bored. You don't have to press a single key until the Game Over screen appears. After another pit, you'll be on a small ledge with the first blue orb. Jump quickly to the next ledge, and then over another pit. Shoot the two small walls, then jump to get the second orb over the next ledge. Go under the upper ledge, then jump up to get the third orb and to avoid dying. Jump from the next ledge to the main land. Jump up to the suspended ledge, jump, and use an air dash to snatch the fourth and fifth orbs and destroy the walls in between. In the tunnel, shoot the first set of walls you come across, making sure to jump to get the sixth orb. At the next set of walls, jump, then use an air dash to blast through and grab the seventh orb. Once over the pit, dash, and jump in the middle of the dash to blast through the next set of walls and snatch the final orb. Dash quickly through the final set of walls and you're home free! If you collected all 8 orbs, you will be able to shoot the wall down and get the capsule containing the Head Parts for the Falcon Armor. Either way, jump down the shaft. You will see a large purple enemy. These guys take a large amount of hits to destroy and can only be damaged when they shoot off a spark either up or down. Just jump over this one and rescue the Reploid for an extra life! Going down, you will meet an old foe - the lock puzzle. You must shoot the circuit together to open the door. The door will only remain open for a few seconds, and the circuit will split again. Also, if you shoot a circuit only partway, eventually it will go back to its default position. This one is easy. Just belt it to the left and go through the door. Make your way left, and you will run into the second door. This one isn't all that hard either. Just avoid the spark enemy and get through the door. Working your way through a small tunnel, you'll meet up with the first two-lock puzzle. The color of the circuit corresponds with the color of the door. To get through these, you must hit them so both doors are open long enough to get through both of them. You must hit them evenly and quickly to make it. This one is simple. Going down, you'll reach the next puzzle. This one has the circuits on different levels and a spark guarding the middle. Just keep hitting them as evenly and quickly as possible. Don't be afraid to take a hit or two if it means advancing. Next up is a small maze of sparks and reploids. Don't be afraid to take a hit or two, as you can just recover the damage back. At the end, you reach yet another puzzle. This one is suspended over a bed of spikes, so you need to be extra careful. If you're stuck in a position of risking death to complete the puzzle, don't. As long as you're alive, you can solve the puzzle. Moving forward, you'll find a reploid to be rescued and a shield enemy. Continuing on, you'll meet another shield enemy and a couple more spark enemies. Going up a ladder, you can go one of two ways. Once you have the Gaea Armor, you can go left and solve a small puzzle to get a Heart. For now, go right to your final puzzle. Once you solve it, you can go on to Squid Adler! _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Squid Adler____________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Goo Shaver (X), F-Splasher (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| As a disciple of the late Launch Octopus (Octopardo), Squid Adler has a similar battle style, as he doesn't let up one bit once the battle starts. He starts off by flying either up and down (if you are playing as X) or left and right (if you are playing as Zero) and shoots his Tri-Thunder at you. When the bolts come in contact with the floor, ceiling, or walls, they will turn into sparks that will travel along the perimeter of the room towards you. He may also create a block in the middle of the room. The Tri-Thunders may travel the perimeter of this block as well if they come in contact with it, but otherwise, it's there just to be in the way. It will disappear after a while. After you take off around 1/4 of his energy, this block may be electrified when he creates it, in which case, don't touch. After you take off around 1/3 of his energy, his flight will become less restricted, and he gains a lovely new attack, where he goes down to the floor and electrifies it for a moderate period of time, in which case, don't touch. When he gets down to 1/3 health, he will pull one final attack out of his sleeve. He will go to the middle of either the floor or one of the walls, spread his "arms", and shoot off a line of electric bolts at you. They do not cover the entire length of the screen, so they are dodgeable. As is the drill, when these electric bolts touch the walls/ceiling, they will become sparks and, well, you know. When you hit Squid Adler with the Goo Shaver/F-Splasher, he will be temporarily frozen and any attack he is in the process of performing (like going down to electrify the floor) will be cancelled. Any attack that is already in effect will still be in effect. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| Since the Goo Shaver doesn't fire straight, you'll probably have to get either close or really high above Squid Adler to hit him with it. The charged version works fairly well, as it is almost a guaranteed hit as long as he is not right on or under you. If you don't have the Goo Shaver, just stay at a distance and fire charged X-Buster shots at him. You will be in for a very rough time dodging the relentless Tri-Thunder attacks, though. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Squid Adler flying left and right is probably good for you Zero players, as it lets Zero hit him with the F-Splasher easier without getting hit. You want to make sure to initiate the F-Splasher just before you hit Squid Adler, otherwise it might not last long enough for you to get through him without getting hit. Be careful later on when he starts electrifying the floor and some of the blocks he creates. If you don't have the F-Splasher, you will have to find openings in his attacks to pelt him with a jumping slash or the C-Sword. You probably won't be able to use the 3-hit combo on him, as the only times he goes to the ground are to electrify the floor and do his charged Tri-Thunder (final) attack. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= IZZY GLOW - FORTRESS LAB INFILTRATION! ======================================================================= Items: Heart (Gaea/Falcon Armor) EX-Tank (Ground Fire) Arm Parts F (C-Shot/C-Sword) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _|X|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|->DOOR->|_|_|_|_|_|_|M|_|->TELEPORT |S|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_| |_|H| _ _ _ |_|_|B| |_| |_| |_|_ _ _ _|_|_|_ |A|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_| |_|_| TELEPORT->|_|_| After the wacky stage we went through last time, this one is more, umm, sane. This time we're attacking a castle. First things first. Heading right, you'll see a drawbridge. Shoot it down. You can go either straight ahead or down. Going down will lead you to a long pit of spikes with a Reploid in an alcove on the left (no Spikes below it) and the Heart in an alcove on the right (Spikes below it). Gaea Armor can get this guy no problem. The Falcon Armor can possibly escape this without dying. Fourth Armor and Zero can use a sacrificial air dash. Unarmored X is out of luck. Heading right, you'll go through a vertically winding passage with Mets and shielded enemies, nothing too hard. You'll eventually see the main obstacle of this first part of the level, the spiked platforms. You can stand on these guys, as the tops don't have spikes. You must, however, wait for them to move before you can move on. These guys will drop, steadily move up, stop for a few seconds, then swiftly drop on you, chopping off a significant amount of health. Learn the timing of these and you won't have a problem. You will eventually see a room above you blocked off by a wooden ledge. The Ground Fire will burn this down, allowing you to get the EX-Tank and the Reploid above. Watch out for the two spiked platforms. When you reach the spiked pit, you must use the platforms to cross. Wait until the first platform drops down completely, then jump across as fast as you can. The Sigma Virus will appear between the two platforms. There aren't enough Viruses in this area to completely infect you, so don't worry about it. This next section is another long, winding passage, this time with annoyingly placed spiked platforms. Get used to the timing of these platforms and take your time. You will find a Reploid near the end. Eventually, you will reach two spiked platforms right next to each other, and a door to the right. You must be careful here, as the platforms will have different timings. In some cases, they may be so seperated from each other you may have a serious problem. If you can make it, blast down the door, and continue to the next part. This next part is similar to Split Mushroom's stage from X4, as we have a staircase. You will face some laser enemies, spiked enemies, and the Sigma Virus. You may have to wait for the laser enemies to drop down before you can hit them. Don't worry about the Sigma Virus. After a passage with appearing firefly enemies (just run through as fast as you can), you'll face a mid-boss. Four ropes will drop from the top of the screen, then three large laser cannons will drop down. The black one is your target. Blast away at the firing side of the black cannon. Do this quickly, as after a few seconds, the lasers will fire. The cannons will go back up, then come back down in a different arrangement. Just keep destroying the black one and you will eventually win. Proceed right to the teleporter. You have one final area of the castle to get through. Going right, you'll meet your final foe of the stage, the plasma cannon. Every few seconds, these cannons will fire a plasma orb which will travel the floor, ceiling, and walls. Mostly anything can destroy the orbs. Use the C-Shot/C-Sword to destroy the cannons themselves. Working upwards, you'll see an alcove in the ceiling (above a laser enemy). Destroy the plasma cannon up there to get the arm parts for the Falcon Armor. The home stretch is plenty full of plasma cannons, as well as the Sigma Virus. Eventually, you'll reach the final shaft, with cannons on both walls. Climb up quickly before the cannons can fire, and you'll make it unscratched. Go through the double doors to fight! _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Izzy Glow______________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Tri-Thunder (X), E-Blade (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| Izzy Glow will remain in the air basically the whole battle. The majority of the time, he will just fly across the screen, then teleport to another part of the screen, then fly, teleport, fly, etc. This can make it hard to get in a good shot. He may stop and fire off the F-Laser. While he is firing the F-Laser, he is completely vulnerable. You can destroy the F-Laser, but he will immediately go back to flying or another attack. At 2/3 health, he will begin to use one of his charged F-Lasers. He will go into one of the upper corners, and fire a horizontal beam while flying down. You can either duck this attack or stand against the wall next to him. At 1/2 health, his flying/teleporting routine will speed up x_x At 1/3 health, his F-Laser will speed up, and he may use one of two more attacks. Both of these attacks originate from one of the upper corners. The first one is a vertical charged F-Laser. This time, unless you are standing along the wall at his starting position, you won't be able to dodge the attack unless you use one of Squid Adler's weapons to stun him or a Giga Attack. For the other one, he will fire some small energy orbs that will all gather in a row right below floor level. He will then fly to the opposite corner, and regather those orbs. This attack can be somewhat difficult to avoid. Your best bet is to jump through the gap between two of his orbs coming back to him. Hitting Izzy Glow with the Tri-Thunder or the E-Blade will electrocute and stun him, and he will fall to the ground. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| X has a very definite advantage over Zero because the Tri-Thunder can hit Izzy Glow from a distance and, if the first shot misses becuase he teleports, one of the others might hit him when he reappears. If you don't have the Tri-Thunder, you will have to use the X-Buster, and this may be a long battle. You want to only shoot when you are sure you can hit him, because he can teleport very quickly. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Using the E-Blade is not recommended here, as most of the time, you will run right into him while performing the attack. The quicker, less painful solution is (take a wild guess) the C-Sword. Not only does it do good damage, but his invulnerability time is very short, allowing you to hit him quicker. If you don't have either weapon, jumping slashes will do. The three-hit combo is useless here. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= EURASIA ATTACK - LAUNCH THE ENIGMA! ======================================================================= You may fire the Enigma at any time before time runs out, but it is required after you defeat the 4 Mavericks on the left before time runs out. When the Enigma fires, there are two possible outcomes: -The Enigma laser slices right through the colony, destroying it. This is the least likely of the two outcomes, and normally only occurs if you collect all 4 parts. -The Enigma laser does not destroy the colony. This will happen more often than the first one, even if you have all 4 parts. If the Enigma destroys the colony, you may proceed to the Virus Stages without defeating any more of the Mavericks. Like I said before, you probably want to get the Dark Hold from Dark Dizzy before proceeding, as you will most likely need it for the first Virus Stage. If the Enigma doesn't destroy the colony, you will go on to Operation Space Shuttle, where you must defeat the 4 Mavericks on the right to gather parts to complete the shuttle. You will have one more hour added to your current count. ======================================================================= DARK DIZZY - ESCAPE THE SPACE TRAP! ======================================================================= Items: Heart E-Tank Head Parts G (F-Laser) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |S|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|E|->TELEPORT _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ TELEPORT->|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|H|_|_|_|_|_|B| |A| You need to pay attention to the background on this stage. Every so often, a spinning galaxy will appear, slowing down time (sort of like Crystal Snail in X2). When the galaxy disappears, constellations will appear. Once the galaxy reappears, the constellations will form bat enemies and spikes. These spikes are instant kills, so don't touch. When the constellations reappear, any spikes formed will disappear. In other words, have fun. Proceed past the spark enemies (just jump over them). While jumping across the next set of ledges, the Sigma Virus will pursue you. Don't worry about it. You have bigger problems to deal with. On the second small ledge, if the galaxy is about to stop spinning, stop. A constellation will form spikes on the next ledge. Wait until the spikes dissipate, then continue. Stop again on the right side of this ledge. The next part has you going up a "staircase". The "stairs" alternate between spark enemies and places where spikes will appear. Work up to the second "stair" (it will be two before the first spark enemy). This is a safe spot. Once the spikes in front of you dissipate, make a mad dash upwards. You'll find another safe spot after the third spark enemy. After the fourth spark enemy, you will have a very small space to avoid the next set of spikes, so get through here before the spikes are laid. Only stop for the life energy if you have time, as spikes will fall on you and your escape route. Get hit by a bat if you need to. Now that we are through there, you reach a floating platform. This is the most entertaining part of the level. Hop on. The first ledge you encounter will have a spark enemy. Wait for it to shoot a spark, then jump on the very edge, then over. Jump on the second ledge, and STAY THERE. The next ledge will have spikes formed on it. The platform will go under the second and third ledges, then go back under the third ledge and between the ledges. If you are lucky, the constellation will not drop spikes onto the platform. If so, you will have to be careful where you jump onto the platform. For the next three ledges, spikes will form on the 2 outer ones. You can either quickly jump across the first one to the second one, or just jump over the first one back onto the moving platform (depending on the status of the galaxy/constellations). When you get back on the moving platform after the third ledge, immediately duck, as you will pass under some spikes. After a long empty stretch, you'll see an E-Tank on a high ledge. Dash or double jump up to it. Go right and you shall be teleported away. (No, the stage still isn't over yet ;.;). The second half of the level is very similar to Cyber Peacock's level from X4. The double arrows will flip the level. The first room has a couple of enemies, nothing to worry about. The second room has a couple bat enemies and some spikes, but they are on the ceiling (provided you did not jump into the arrows twice). Third room has a couple cannon enemies and more ceiling spikes. Fourth room has spikes on both the floor and ceiling, a couple enemies, and the Sigma Virus. The purple block will fall onto the floor either way this level is flipped. Fifth room has tons of spikes, purple blocks, enemies, and the Sigma Virus. I suggest you jump into the arrows again (so the first bed of spikes are on the floor). Cross the blocks while avoiding the Sigma Virus. You'll see the Heart on a high ledge, between two purple blocks (they will fall). (The reason you flipped the level again is because if you didn't, the Heart would be inaccessible as the purple blocks would be blocking it.) Get hit by a bat so you don't get killed if you jump too high. Sixth and seventh rooms has some of those rolling balls, along with some enemies and the Sigma Virus. If you have handled the stage up to here, you will have no problems. Before going through the double doors, go down the pit right next to it. You'll see the capsule behind a wall. If you are using X, you can shoot an F-Laser and navigate it through the small red maze. If you can get it through, you can destroy this wall from behind. Use the weapon capsule if you run out of F-Laser energy. This capsule gives you the Head Parts for the Gaea Armor. Now you can proceed through the double doors. _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Dark Dizzy_____________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: F-Laser (X), C-Flasher (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| DD will stay in the air for basically the whole battle, so your Z-Buster won't work :) This guy is seriously too easy. Most of the time, he will just fly from corner to corner (never diagonally). Occasionally, he will try to pull a Shade Man on you and dive bomb you. If he grabs you, he'll absorb energy from you and recover! This attack is normally telegraphed. If he is in one of the upper corners, he will stay there for about a split second longer than usual. If he is in one of the lower corners, he will fly upwards quicker than normal, then dive bomb. This attack is so ridiculously easy to dodge I won't even mention it. OK, all you have to do is stand in one of the lower corners. Oops, I mentioned it =/ From time to time, he may summon forth a barrage of bat enemies. They each die in one uncharged X-Buster shot, so just blast through them. When he gets down to 1/3 health, he will pull a Shade/Flash Man combo on you. He will fire off three large, slow-moving Noise Crushes (MM7). These will go either high or low. If they go high, you can duck. If they go low, you have to wall jump and jump over it (Zero's Double Jump may not give you enough height unless you have the Jumper). He will then go up, and charge up his Dark Hold. If you somehow manage to hit him while he is charging up, he will be blinded/stunned, and fall to the ground, cancelling the attack. If he is successful in executing the Dark Hold, you will be frozen for about 3 seconds. He will quickly fly over, then either fire off a Noise Crush or a couple bats. You normally have enough time and room to avoid these attacks. Again, this attack is somewhat telegraphed. If he is in a lower corner, it's hard to tell if he's going to use it. If he is in an upper corner, he will fly down quicker than usual, then start firing Noise Crushes. Hitting Dark Dizzy with the F-Laser/C-Flasher will blind/stun him, and he will fall to the ground. Save them for the end of the battle, as they use high amounts of weapon energy. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| This guy is too easy. Pelt him with either the charged X-Buster or the F-Laser. The F-Laser is a controlled weapon, so if you miss him, you can direct it towards him to hit it. If the F-Laser hits a bat, it is used up, so don't let it happen. The absolute best time to hit him with the F-Laser is right before he uses Noise Crush. If you see the attack coming, dash towards him ASAP and fire. Not only will he be stunned, but he won't use the Noise Crush :) _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| This guy is even easier as Zero. The C-Sword will do excellent damage to DD and barrel through his bats with extreme ease. The C-Flasher does more damage to DD than any other attack to any other boss in the game, but you only have a couple shots with it, so save it towards the end for when he uses the Noise Crush. Once you hit him with the C-Flasher, when he flies up, immediately fire again. You will hit him before he can launch a possible counter-attack. If you don't have either weapon, just keep using jumping slashes. The three-hit combo is nearly worthless here. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= THE SKIVER - DESTROY THE TIME BOMBS! ======================================================================= Items: Heart W-Tank Body Parts G (Falcon Armor) _ _ _ |_|_|_| |_|_|B| |_|H| |_|_ _ _ _ _|_|_| |_|_|_| _|_|_| |_| |_|_ _ _|_|_| _ _ _ _|_| |_|A|_|_|_| |S|_|_|_|_| |W|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_| As the name implies, to get out of this level, you will have to destroy a number of time bombs planted throughout the base. The bombs count down from 5, giving you about 3 seconds to destroy them before they explode. The explosion will cover the entire screen, and believe me, it hurts if they go boom. If you have to take a hit from an enemy to destroy a bomb or avoid an explosion, by all means. It will hurt plenty less than if the bomb blows up. The Tri-Thunder C-Sword, and C-Flasher. will utterly decimate all enemies in this stage I don't think the first bomb will give you many troubles. It's just sitting there, waiting to be destroyed or blown up. The second bomb is in a room with two enemies and a Reploid, with the bomb in the upper right corner. Destroy the two enemies quickly, destroy the bomb, and rescue the Reploid. If you are Zero, I would just stand in the middle of room and use the C-Flasher. This will destroy the enemies and the bomb in one fell swoop. The third bomb is in the next room, with three enemies and a Reploid, with the bomb in the lower right corner. My suggestion would be to not worry about the enemies and just take care of the bomb. Again, Zero's C-Flasher works well here. The fourth bomb is by far the toughest to get to in this level. It's in the upper-left hand corner with two enemies and a long passage guarding it. The C-Flasher, charged Tri-Thunder, Falcon X's Giga Attack, and C-Sword can all easily take care of this one. Otherwise, dash to the right, and get damaged by an enemy to dodge the explosion. Now you must go up a shaft where you deal with some more minor enemies and the large missile enemies from X4. You have a new advantage here, as you can duck under the lower missile they fire. Tri-Thunder will destroy any of these enemies in one hit. At the top, you'll see another bomb above a large missile enemy. Take care of the bomb first. The C-Flasher and Tri-Thunder can take care of this one. Now head up, and right, and take the elevator down. You will head down four "floors" on this elevator. You must wait for the elevator to come down so it will destroy the cracked floor so you can continue down. Getting stuck between the cracked floor and the elevator will not make you a very happy player. On the third "floor" down, you'll see the W-Tank, situated on the cracked floor between two large missile enemies. Grab it quickly. Once at the bottom, go through the door. You are now outside. If you have the Falcon Armor, fly straight up to a capsule. This capsule contains the body parts for the Gaea Armor. If you don't, then jump on the platform ahead of you. It will start moving up. The Sigma Virus will soon appear behind you, but it will stay to the left. You will need to be on the right part of the platform to dodge some low-lying spikes. You will see a ledge coming up at the end of the platform's track. Jump to this ledge as soon as possible to ditch the Sigma Virus so it won't trouble you for the next part. Head inside, and jump on the elevator. After going up to the next floor, you'll have another bomb to destroy. Jump off the elevator, run right, past a minor enemy and two Reploids, and destroy it. Quickly get out of here, as the Sigma Virus will attempt to chase you back onto the elevator. Stay on one of the sides of the elevator as a platform with a spiky bottom will be in the middle of the shaft. Destroy the large missile enemy, then head right, past a Reploid and the Sigma Virus, to the final bomb, along with this level's Heart. Stay in the middle for the final elevator ascent, then head through the double doors to fight! _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: The Skiver_____________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Dark Hold (both) | |_____________________________________________________________________| Notice the edges. These will come into play very soon. The Skiver has three attacks to start out with. First, he will dash forward in an attempt to knock you backwards, and possibly off the side. You don't need to do any more than jump over him. He may also fly straight up, pause, then do an aerial dash towards you, with the same result. Dash under him as he dashes. The final attack is to use the Wing Shredder, where he stands still, then creates a hologram of himself that dashes towards you. This hologram will not knock you backwards. Just jump over it, as it disappears very quickly. Then be prepared to jump again, as he will immediately dash towards you. Once you get him down to 1/2 health, the fun begins. He will fly off screen, then fly towards you from one of 5 directions (from the left, from the right, from up-left, from up-right, from the bottom of the screen). This attack wouldn't normally be so bad, except he will knock you a fair distance if you hit him, especially if he does an uppercut from the bottom of the screen. Keep moving. Once he appears back on screen, he will float in the air, and proceed to use his Wing Spiral attack. Once he fires a Wing Spiral, it will proceed to get larger and larger as it proceeds in its desired direction. Just stand under him. If you do get stuck between a Wing Spiral and one of the sides, jump over it as soon as he fires it, otherwise you're guaranteed to get hit. Using the Dark Hold will freeze The Skiver in place, allowing you to freely hit him without fear of being attacked. The time is limited, so it may be a wise idea to not freeze him until he is just before 1/2 health. This way, you can get off as much health as possible (or finish him) before he starts his second routine. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| I highly recommend to hold off using the Dark Hold under the appropriate time. It can be hard to hit The Skiver with the X-Buster when he is flying in 5 different directions, trying to knock you off one of the edges. The easiest weapon to use while waiting for the appropriate time is the Tri-Thunder, as it requires very little weapon energy, and is easy to hit The Skiver with. Once you use the Dark Hold, just blast him with charged X-Buster shots. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| If you have the C-Sword, you will OWN this guy so badly. Not only does it do very good damage to him, but you can almost rapid-fire hit him with it while the Dark Hold is in effect. If you have the minimum 48 energy for the Dark Hold, you can inflict up to around 60 life bars of damage to The Skiver (which will probably destroy him in his stage, and take off about half of his health in the rematch). Zero just like, owns all the bosses in this game =/ _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= DYNAMO - HUNTER HQ ATTACK #2! ======================================================================= After defeating 6 Mavericks, you will once again be required to defeat Dynamo. _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Dynamo_________________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Wing Spiral (X), W-Shredder (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| Same Dynamo, tougher pattern. He will throw his spinning sword at you like a boomerang, because it will come back towards him. You can get his multiple times by this attack, so be careful. This is the same as before. The second attack varies depending on who you are using to battle him. If you are using X, he will jump to your position and use a spinning slash on you. Wall jump off the top of the closest wall to avoid this. If you are using Zero, he will jump up and shoot a small energy shot downward, which will split into two, one going left, one going right. Jump over it. He will normally attack Zero twice here. His final attack is the most annoying. He will create a spark in his hand, then pound down 3 times, each causing a different number of lightning beams to come from the floor. The first time, they will be alternating. The second time, they will fill the opposite half of the screen from Dynamo. The third time, they will fill Dynamo's half of the screen. Stand directly next to Dynamo to avoid the first two (provided he's right up against one of the walls), then quickly run to the other side to avoid the third. Hitting Dynamo with the Wing Spiral/W-Shredder will knock him towards the wall and stun him, cancelling any attacks in effect. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| If you want to use the Wing Spiral, you need to stand right next to him to hit him with the Wing Spiral. The charged version works exceptionally well here, as you can attack from a distance. You want to stay at a distance from Dynamo if you don't have the Wing Spiral. Charge up and hit him with charged X-Buster shots. Jump over his spinning sword and make sure to stay high when he does his spinning slash. This won't be a hard battle. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Use the W-Shredder whenever he is about to use the spark attack. He is most vulnerable here and the attack will be cancelled. If you don't have the W-Shredder, you can just get up in his face and C-Sword him like there's no tomorrow. Simply jump over the spinning sword and dodge his energy shots. This won't be a hard battle. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= MATTREX - RED-HOT WORLD! ======================================================================= Items: Heart Arm Parts G _ |S| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|_ _ |_|_|_|_ _ |_|_|_|_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|->DOOR |H| _ _ _ _ |_|_|_|B| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _|_|_| DOOR->|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|M|_|_|A| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| Now we're to the traditional Volcano stage. Remember that lava here is fatal. The first part of this stage is simply a shaft full of small cannon enemies and dragon heads. Periodically, these heads will shoot a flamethrower, either as one continuous flame, or four spurts of flame. These things hurt, so be patient, wait for an opening, and proceed through. Don't try to rush too much. Once you hit the bottom, you'll have three more dragon heads to get by. Just take your time and don't make any stupid moves getting through here. Continuing on, you'll eventually see a dragonfly enemy with a hole in the ground next to it. You want to wait to drop down that hole, because a large lava flow is about to pass through the section below. You can see the flow at the bottom of the screen. Once the flow is gone, jump through this first hole you see. Head quickly left, and you'll reach an area where you can pick up an extra life and a Heart, which is guarded by a dragon head. You need to be careful here. If you stay too long on the platform with the extra life, the lava flow will come, and you won't be able to dodge it. Stay on the level of the heart so the lava flow won't come. Now you must jump out. Once you get out, dash to the right AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. Jump up the column, then QUICKLY jump into the black space. These black spaces are the only safe spots from the lava flow. Wait until the lava has passed by, then quickly head right. You'll eventually run into a hardened lava wall. This wall can only be destroyed by the lava flow. Jump in one of the two black spaces while keeping the wall on-screen. The lava flow will pass through, then destroy the wall. Now you can go on. The second wall is fairly easy. Just jump up it, jump into the black space, then repeatedly wall jump to stay in the space as the lava flow passes through. The third wall is slightly more difficult. You will need to make a long dash jump from the wall to the black space. Zero's double jump (C-Sword) and the Ultimate/Falcon Armors help here. If you are using the Gaea Armor, you stand NO chance of getting past this part. Proceeding on, you'll see a dragonfly enemy, then a large black space along the wall above you. If you are quick enough, you can climb up the right wall past here, past the next dragonfly enemy, and hide out in the black space there. Don't attempt it if you can't make it, however. The final section here has you going through a tunnel with black spaces above you and small ones below you. Should you choose to use the ones below you, you must duck so you are fully protected. At the end, blast down the door to proceed to the next area. In this next area, you have two choices. You can either go up, or go down. If you go up, you will have to face a mid boss. If you go down, you can get a capsule, but you must keep the ride armor or you'll die. Let's tackle the top path first. Just keep in mind that coming into direct contact with the lava AT ANY TIME means death, unless you are in the ride armor. Jump in the ride armor, dash jump across the hole in the ground, head right, and jump out of the ride armor when you can't proceed any further. A flying dragon will appear. As you head right, this dragon will destroy the platforms it flys into and will occasionally shoot a fireball towards you. Make your way right, and you'll reach a dead end. Destroy the brown portion of the wall blocking the way to go on. The second part isn't all that much more difficult, just a couple of longer jumps. The third part you must jump on the rope. When you reach the next platform, you need to jump onto the portion of the ceiling sticking out, then slide down and air dash to the next platform. An alternate, but risky way, is to jump onto the edge of this platform, then jump to the next one. Destroy the next wall. This final section is fairly simple. Jump up the platform, then hop onto the moving platforms. Now you must battle the dragon. All it will do is shoot an occasional fireball at you, then dive straight ahead at you. The Goo Shaver works fairly well on this boss. Otherwise, just blast away with the X-Buster/Z-Saber/C-Sword. This won't take much effort. Jump through the door once you are done here. Should you take on the lower path, you must work your way through a tunnel full of bats and ride armor enemies. You need to be careful here, because if you take too many hits, the ride armor will be destroyed. Take a wild guess what happens then. Take advantage of the jumping slash to get through here without too much trouble. You will soon reach a split in the road. Head down through the small tunnel. If you can make your way up the steps at the end, you will be rewarded with the arm parts for the Gaea Armor. You will then need to jump into the second ride armor to head left. Once all the paths converge, all you will need to do is jump up four ropes, avoiding some annoying bat enemies, then you can go through the double doors and battle! _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Mattrex________________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Wing Spiral (X), W-Shredder (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| This guy is similar to Magma Dragoon in which he doesn't really have that much of a preset pattern. He normally spends most of the time jumping around. You can just dash under him with relative ease. Sometimes he will stop and fire two Ground Fires towards your current position. Jump up a wall and you won't be hit :) Sometimes he will ram right into you. You can normally see this coming, as he will normally jump twice in a row before ramming. Predict this, and run for the wall to try to wall jump over him. At the end of the dash, he will jump again. At 2/3 damage, he learns a new trick: wall jumping. He will jump onto one of the walls, then perform one of two attacks. The first one is to shoot fireballs at you. He will shoot either 3 or four. Jump over the first one, the second one will go over your head, jump over the third one, the fourth one will go over your head. The second one is ramming into you, similar to before. At 1/3 damage, he learns a couple more tricks. The first one is to use the charged Ground Fire, spewing fire across the length of the ground. He will then perform one of two attacks. He will either jump onto the wall and attempt to ram into you, or he will stay on the ground and do a flaming charge. This flaming charge will leave behind small flames which will spark up after the charge is complete. While jumping over the charge, try to land between two flames so you won't be hurt. If he does the ram from the wall, he will normally go to the flaming charge next. Hitting Mattrex with the Wing Spiral/W-Shredder will put his flames out and send him upwards, stunning him. This is my 2nd favorite stunned expression, after Rainy Turtloid from X6. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| You have to get close to him to use the Wing Spiral, as it attacks either straight upwards or at a slight angle. If you can use the charged version, by all means use it. This way, you can attack reliably from a distance. If you don't have the Wing Spiral, it's an uphill battle. Pound him with X-Buster shots and do your best to dodge his relentless assault. Good thing you can attack from a distance :) _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| This is one of the few bosses where I'll actually suggest using one of Zero's special techniques to finish a boss. You can use the W-Shredder from a distance, as it will extend a pretty good distance forward. You must time it correctly, though, as he may jump right over your attack. If you don't have the W-Shredder, you'll have to get in close and slash him to itty bitty pieces while dodging his attacks. Good luck. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= AXLE THE RED - INTO THE JUNGLE! ======================================================================= Items: Heart (Gaea Armor) Leg Parts G (Falcon Armor) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_| |_| _ _ _ _ _ _ _|_|_ _ _ _ _ _ _|_|_ _ _|A|_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |S|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|H|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|B| This stage seems innocent enough, but it can be difficult. You'll start off going straight ahead. Wow, what difficulty =/ You will have to fight a couple of enemies and the Sigma Virus, nothing too hard. You will soon reach a fork in the road. You can go either up the vines, or, if you have the Gaea Armor, can blast through the black V boxes and solve a small puzzle to recieve the Heart. We will head up, since you will not have the Gaea Armor the first time through this level. When you do take the route to the Heart, you will need to push one of the blocks into a hole on the ground in order to push another one over towards the large pit that you find the Heart over. You want to stay on the vines AT ALL TIMES here. You see those thorns? What do they look like? Spikes, maybe? You get the picture. The Sigma Virus will be near the top, waiting for you. Lure it over, then jump over it, make your way up the last couple vines, and jump over it again. In the next stretch, you will meet two new foes. The purple roses will either attempt to wrap you with a vine (if you see them shaking, run), or open up and release those small spider enemies from X4. You can only hit them when they are open. The vine enemies will pop up from the floor or down from the ceiling, then fire three spikes (not fatal) at you. You can often see the very tops of them on the floor or ceiling before they pop up. After working your way down through a shaft of the rose enemies, the two paths will reunite at probably the most annoying area of the stage. You must cross a series of vines over a bottomless pit while dealing with annoying invulnerable enemies hanging on them. The most efficient way to get through here is to activate the Dark Hold, then run for your life. You can normally make it out of harm's way by the time the Dark Hold dissipates. If not, take your time, and be careful of the vine enemy on the 4th vine. Near the end of this section, you'll see a large gap in the ceiling leading upwards. You can only get up here using the Falcon Armor, as there are a lot of spikes to contend with. If you can navigate the spikes, you can reach the capsule. This capsule gives you the leg parts for the Gaea Armor. The final section is more purple roses and some vine enemies over spiked pits. Get through here before they can cause too much harm. Proceed through the single (!) door to the boss. (I realize this walkthrough is a little short. This is a very straightforward stage =/) _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Axle the Red___________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Ground Fire (X), Quake Blazer (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| This guy is sort of like Split Mushroom from X4 in that he can clone himself. In fact, his first attack is to clone himself for a short period of time. He is invincible during this attack. The clone will instantly disappear, and you'll never see this attack again :) His first pattern has him using his special move, the Spike Ball. He will fire off one of two colored Spike Balls. The purple ones will bounce across the screen for a little while (and are easily destroyable), and the green ones will just shoot forwards (and are not as easily destroyable). He will normally lead with one purple ball, then 1-2 green balls, and so on. At 2/3 damage, he learns two new techniques. The first one is to use a vine whip, attempting to grab you with it, similar to the purple roses from earlier in the stage. If you do get caught in one of these, button jam as quickly as you can. The second is to clone himself, then both will start jumping across the screen. You must keep track of the real boss, or you won't deal any damage. Eventually the clone will disappear. At 1/3 damage, he gains another two techniques. The first is to fire off rose petals, which will slowly fall from the screen like (what else?) petals of a flower. Meaning, nowhere is safe from these guys. They are easily destroyable, however. The second is to go to one side of the room, and form a clone on the other side. They will then simultaneously use the vine whip on you. The walls are the only safe spots from this attack, but you have those nasty petals to deal with. Isn't this battle just lovely? Hitting Axle the Red with the Ground Fire/Quake Blazer will stun him and destroy his clone, if he has one in play. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| Use the Ground Fire, dodge his jump, use it again. Keep following this pattern, and he'll fall in no time at all. If you don't have the Ground Fire, you will have to avoid his numerous attacks while using charged X-Buster shots (or the Wing Spiral, which surprisingly does the same damage as Ground Fire, without the stunning effect). Don't bother trying to destroy the green Spike Balls, it's not worth the effort. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Follow the same strategy as X, except using the Quake Blazer. You will need to be careful, as you may hit Axle the Red while using this technique. If you don't have it, you know the drill. Dodge his attacks and slash him to pieces. How original *yawn* _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= EURASIA ATTACK - LAUNCH THE SPACE SHUTTLE! ======================================================================= If you have already unsuccessfully shot the Enigma, you may launch the shuttle at any time if you have time left, but you will be required to launch it once you defeat all 8 Mavericks. Zero will pilot the shuttle, which will attempt to crash into and destroy the colony. There are two possible outcomes: -The shuttle succeeds in crashing into and destroying the colony, and Zero escapes safely. The Earth will not be destroyed. The Sigma and Colony Viruses combine to form the Zero Virus. Zero remains as a playable character. -The shuttle crashes into the colony, but it is not destroyed and Zero does not escape. The remnants of the colony enter the atmosphere and crash into the Earth, causing mass destruction with few survivors. The Sigma and Colony Viruses combine to form the Zero Virus. Zero becomes infected with the virus and go Maverick. He is gone from the game. If you run out of time, the colony will crash into Earth, the Zero Virus will be formed, and Zero will go Maverick. He is gone from the game here as well. No matter what happens, the Virus Stages will now be opened up. At this point, you can safely go back and collect any items you missed without worrying about the clock. ======================================================================= VIRUS STAGE 1 - BLUE ======================================================================= _ |S| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|_ _ _ |_|_|_|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|_ _ _ _ _ |_|_|_|_|_|B| Make sure you have the Dark Hold for this level. Otherwise, you are not likely to make it to the boss. Bring your stronger character for the boss. Before you drop down into the level, jump up the extra wall for an extra life. You may need it. When you drop down the shaft, you'll meet a couple weak spiked enemies. Going down further, you'll fall through a wide shaft with, yes, the force beams from Quick Man's stage in Mega Man 2. (For those of you keeping track, this is the third time Capcom has inserted these. The other time was Turbo Man's stage in Mega Man 7, and that was the only time you didn't have a time stopping weapon.) Falling down into the next part, a laser will go right over your head as you stand on a large ledge. You can go down left, past 3 very close lasers, or go down right and get an extra life. On Xtreme mode, however, do NOT go right. When you go down for the extra life, a laser will cut off your escape route. Falling down further, you'll finally stop falling. Go right a little ways, and you'll meet two new adversaries. The large shielded armor enemies will fall to the Spike Ball or C-Flasher, but you can only hit them when their shield is down. (You can also Nova Strike or F-Splasher through them.) The second one is the Zero Virus. Avoid. You'll reach another shaft. Fall straight down, and you'll land on a ledge. This is as good a time as ever to activate the Dark Hold. From this point, you want to jump down quickly. The path will zig-zag for a little while, then go through a fall of alternating blocks. Grab the weapon energy about halfway down, or you might not make it. Use your W-Tank if necessary. If you choose to go through without the Dark Hold, don't stop moving. You will probably need to memorize the location of the lasers so you can make it to the bottom, especially through the alternating block section. It's not that hard once you get used to it. In fact, people have reported making it through with the Gaea Armor o_o. To be honest, I've been able to do this section with the Gaea Armor as well. I highly suggest against it, unless you're a perfectionist that must do everything possible in the game. Once you reach the bottom, you can head right again. The lasers have learned a new trick, and now fire vertically. For the ones on the ceiling, dash past quickly. For the ones on the floor, air dash or dash jump through quickly. You won't need the Dark Hold for this section. Pass these final few lasers and you can finally battle the boss, another ancient relic from the MM series, a boss that many MM players have grown to hate... _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Shadow Devil mk5_______________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Tri-Thunder (X), E-Blade (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| You definitely want to bring your strongest character, as this battle is gonna take a while. His first attack right off the bat is to come at you as 16 bubbles, in sequences of four. These follow certain patterns. These patterns are as follows: (The column on the right of each block is the first set of bubbles. The numbers designate the order in which those bubbles go across the screen. There are three seperate patterns) 4 2 4 4 | 4 1 3 3 | 3 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 | 2 4 1 2 | 2 3 3 2 2 4 2 2 | 3 3 4 4 | 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 | 1 2 2 1 | 4 1 2 3 After the bubbles cross the screen, they will come together, forming the Shadow Devil. An eye will appear randomly on the body, and shoot 2 fireballs at you. It will then break back up into 16 bubbles, and repeat the first attack. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT hit the green outline left over. You will take MASSIVE damage. At 1/2 health, he throws in two new attacks. The first one is an addition to the 16 bubbles attack. Sometimes, he will send 8 bubbles across the screen, stop, then bubbles will come from BOTH sides of the screen. Sometimes these bubbles will be on the same level, sometimes not. I tried to map out the patterns for these, but it was too much of a pain ;.; The second one is instead of reforming into the Shadow Devil, it will form into a skull tank. It will charge across the room, then start jumping around with spikes below it. These spikes are not fatal, but hitting them or the tank hurts. When the tank is between jumps, the eye will be showing. You can only hit the Shadow Devil with an attack when the eye is showing. Hitting it with the Tri-Thunder/E-Blade will electrify it and increase its invulnerability time. This battle will take a while. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| Your best bet here is to go with the Tri-Thunder. It causes decent damage and you can attack from a distance. You should be able to get 2 hits each time the eye appears. Just take your time and don't make stupid moves to get hit. Use an E-Tank if necessary. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| The E-Blade is strongly NOT recommended here, as you stand a great chance of running right into the Shadow Devil or an incoming fireball while using it, causing massive damage. Your best bet is to slash away with the C-Sword. It does good damage and you can hit him multiple times per sequence. You may need an E-Tank here if you don't have Black Zero or the Shock Buffer. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= VIRUS STAGE 2 - PURPLE ======================================================================= _ _ _ |_|_|B| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_| _ _ _|_|_|_|_| |S|_|_|_|_|_|_| This stage is much longer than the first Virus stage, but it's not as hard (no force beams!). You'll start off by facing a few large shielded armor enemies and the Zero Virus. Use the same techniques from the first stage to ward them off. Now comes the fun part. You must cross a long series of platforms. You will cross two moving platforms, then three smoking platforms. Those smoking platforms will fall about 2 seconds after you touch them, so get across quickly. Three more moving platforms will lead you to the end. Zero can double jump through these quickly (he doesn't need to hit all the platforms). Going on, you'll face a corridor of large shielded armor enemies, some minor enemies, spike-and-ball machines, the Zero Virus, and, yes, even spikes. Destroy any and all enemies in your way. Time your dashes past the spike-and-ball machines. Avoid the Zero Virus and spikes. You'll eventually make your way to the right, then you will have to go up a long shaft full of large shielded armor enemies, numerous minor enemies, spikes, and long jumps. You will have to get pretty high up the walls to make a long enough jump to make it to the other side. Don't go too high, as the bottom of the ledges have spikes. After 3 shielded armor enemies, you'll reach a point where you must jump to a rope, as the left wall is covered with spikes. This is a difficult jump to make. Not only do you have the spikes to worry about, but a shielded armor enemy is waiting there to shoot you off the rope and down the shaft. This may take a few tries. Go up the rope, past a couple minor enemies and some more shielded armor enemies. Jump off either side to the ladders, then climb up. Before going through the double doors, go up to the upper-left corner, and head left. You'll reach a secret alcove with a full life energy capsule and an extra life. Now head through the double doors. _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Rangda Bangda mk2______________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Numerous (X/Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| You remember this guy from Mega Man X, right? Well, he's learned some new tricks. For those of who that have not played Mega Man X, this face-like enemy will pop out one of his eyes, which will attack you, depending on the color of the eye. Occasionally, the walls will come in and the nose will attack you. When all three eyes or the nose are destroyed, the walls will stay permanently closed. -The red eye will go to one side of the screen, and create two energy beams, one above it, and one below it. It will then attempt to spin, trying to hit you with one of the beams. You have to use a dashing wall jump or something similar to avoid getting hit. Its weakness is Tri-Thunder/E-Blade. -The blue eye will attempt to home in on you. Its weakness is Ground Fire/Quake Blazer. -The green eye will shoot projectiles at you. Its weakness is C-Shot/C-Sword. -The nose will dash from one wall to the other, straight towards your current position. Its weakness is Goo Shaver/F-Splasher. At 1/2 health, spikes will form when the walls become closed. This is only temporary. If the spikes appear on the bottom of the wall, just jump high. If the spikes appear on the top of the wall, your best bet is to take a hit by the nose until they go away. If the spikes appear on the top on one side and the bottom on one side, go to the side where they are on the bottom. You will have about a 1 second warning before the spikes kill you. Hitting any of the parts with their weaknesses will not stun them, rather, their invincibility time will be increased, particularly with the green and blue eyes. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| If you're having major problems with the spikes, I suggest the Gaea Armor. It's difficult to get through the stage using the Gaea Armor, but it actually makes this boss easier o_o. Otherwise, you will want to use the weakness of each boss to hit them with, as the X-Buster will take forever to destroy this oddity. You may want to have Rapid Fire on to rid yourself of the projectiles the green eye shoots off. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Zero owns this guy. Just C-Sword the three eyes and F-Splasher the nose. I find the best strategy for this is to destroy the eyes first. When the nose comes up, make sure to only hit it with 2 F-Splashers. This way, the eyes can be destroyed without destroying the nose, then you can simply finish the nose off with another F-Splasher. The C-Sword helps immensely against the green eye's projectiles. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= VIRUS STAGE 3 - RED ======================================================================= Items: Ultimate Armor (unarmored X) Black Zero (unarmored Zero) _ _ _ |S|_|_|_ _ |_|_|_|_ _ |_|_|_|_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|B| |_|A| This can be an easy or very difficult stage, depending on your jumping abilities. The first section is just a gradual downward descent with a few minor enemies. The main danger, however, is the very low ceiling. In most places, jumping = death. There are a couple instances where you may have to squeeze through a small area with spikes on both the floor and ceiling. Use an air dash or a very low jump to go through. You will eventually come to a rope. I suggest that you activate the Dark Hold now, like you did in Axle the Red's stage at this point. It makes the next rope segment, with the indestructible rope hangers, super-easy to pass through. Your energy is limited, so dash through here quickly. Afterwards, you will cross a few platforms across some spikes, then a highly difficult jump where you must jump from one platform to another through a narrow corridor of spikes. Use a long dash jump from the bottom of the moving platform's track, being careful not to jump too high (if you have Jumper, I highly discourage this method). You can also use an air dash right through, as long as you make it long enough to get through. Ultimate Armor X's Giga Attack may also be useful here. After this, you'll come to a platform above a pit. If you jump down the pit, you'll find a hidden passage on the right wall, near the bottom. If you have unarmored X or Zero, you can recieve the Ultimate Armor or the Black Zero upgrade, respectively. You can not equip the Ultimate Armor while in the middle of the stage, and Zero is quite hard to beat without an armor, so kill yourself off, then come back with the Ultimate Armor. One more segment awaits. You must cross a series of platforms over a long pit, most of them smoking and ready to fall as soon as you jump on them. The spikes above some of the platforms won't help. When you reach the second-to-last smoking platform, don't risk jumping onto the moving platform. Instead, air dash or dash jump from the smoking platform to the last platform. Jump from the last platform to the door, and proceed on to the boss! The boss depends on who you currently playing as and whether Zero went Maverick or not. _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Zero___________________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: X-Buster | |_____________________________________________________________________| Whee fun. We get to have a rematch of X2! (Well, sort of. This one is required.) Zero is only affected by the X-Buster (unless you count the Nova Strike). Zero only stands still to perform an attack. He may use a variation of his Giga Crush. He will stop, pound the ground, then multiple energy blasts (similar to X-Buster shots) will go straight up. This attack is difficult to dodge, as the positioning of the energy blasts differs from attack to attack. Stay as far away from Zero, and try to anticipate where the blasts will come from. If you are far enough away, you can quickly guestimate where you might be able to safely stand. Odds are, you'll get hit. The other attack is to shoot two Z-Buster shots, then slash, causing a slash projectile to travel towards your current position. Stay on the wall to dodge the Z-Buster shots, then jump down to avoid the slash. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| Overall, Zero isn't really that difficult. Just pelt him with the X-Buster while dodging his attacks. This won't take very long. _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Maverick Zero__________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: X-Buster | |_____________________________________________________________________| Whee fun. Not only do you get to battle Zero, but he is more powerful and has twice the endurance. Are you ready? He may use a variation of his Giga Crush. He will stop, pound the ground, then multiple energy blasts (similar to X-Buster shots) will go straight up. This attack is difficult to dodge, as the positioning of the energy blasts differs from attack to attack. Stay as far away from Zero, and try to anticipate where the blasts will come from. If you are far enough away, you can quickly guestimate where you might be able to safely stand. Odds are, you'll get hit. This is exactly the same attack as normal Zero, except Maverick Zero uses it in excess. The other attack is to fire two spinning energy rings, wait a couple of seconds, then slash, sending a slash projectile your way. The rings will then shoot your way, one at a time, attempting to hit you. You will need to move quickly to dodge this attack. If you leave him at low health for a couple of minutes, he unleashes his most powerful attack. He will slash his sword straight up, creating a double crescent slash that covers the entire screen. The good news is, you can prevent him from doing this by defeating him as quickly as you normally should. The bad news is, he uses this attack continuously once he starts. The ugly news is, it instantly kills you. You can use the Ultimate Armor's Nova Strike to attempt to dodge this attack to your heart's content, but it's easier to just kill him =P _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| This is basically the same battle as against normal Zero, except Maverick Zero has twice the energy, overuses his Giga Crush, and replaces the Z-Buster with those annoying rings. Just hit him with the X-Buster and attempt to outlast him. Bring a full E-Tank or two if necessary. _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: X______________________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Quake Blazer | |_____________________________________________________________________| X isn't quite the pushover that you would imagine. All of his attacks are telegraphed, however, because they all require charging. His basic attack is to charge up, then fire the Plasma Shot at you. It leaves behind little plasma balls if it hits you, so you may get hit twice. He normally couples this attack with either a dash during or after the attack. He can also combo it with a dash and wall jump combo. He may also charge up, change to an orange color, then fire off Soul Bodies at you. He will fire 5 at you, one at a time, toward your current position. When you see this attack, get to the wall furthest away. When he fires the first one, jump over the second one, quickly double jump/wall jump to avoid the third one, you should fall right below the fourth one, then jump the 5th one. If you get stuck in a different situation, just move really fast and pray. When X gets down to 1/2 health, he adds two new attacks to his arsenal. The first one is the charged Frost Tower from X4. He will charge up, change to a light blue color, jump in the air, and activate the attack. One icicle will fall, then two, then three. The gaps between the rows of icicles are just big enough to fit through without getting hit. This is a difficult attack to avoid. Just try your best. The second one is the charged Double Cyclone from X4. He will charge up, change to a green color, then shoot off the Double Cyclone forward and backword at his current level. This is probably the easiest attack to avoid, as it does not attack upward and is very short. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| I'm guessing that Quake Blazer is X's weakness, as it does the most damage to him, tied with the C-Flasher. I think the C-Flasher is easier to use, as you can attack from a distance and possibly destroy/dodge an attack with it. You may run out of energy, though, so when you do, use the Quake Blazer or just slash away with the C-Sword. The 3-hit combo is not recommended, as X can move quickly and without warning. _____________________________________________________________________ |END STAGE____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= VIRUS STAGE 4 - SIGGY! ======================================================================= T-Teleporters _ |S| |_| |_| _ _ _ |_|_ _ _ _ _ _ _|_|_|_|_ _ |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ |T|T|T|->TELEPORT _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|B| TELEPORT->|_|_|_|_|_|_| |_|_| Just one more stage. This stage happens to have the freakiest background in the history of the entire Mega Man series. Was Capcom in the 70's disco mood when they made this final stage? The music matches the theme very well, ironically. And the Maverick boss music also fits it pretty well =/ You'll start on a high platform. Jump down, and you'll freefall for about 4 screens until you hit the ground. Apparently, Capcom decided there weren't enough spikes in the previous stage, so they threw in another spiked ceiling segment. This area is populated by the rolling sphere enemies and the little stingray enemies. Dispose of them with the Tri-Thunder or the C-Sword. Simply jump over the spark generator enemy when you reach him. The next segment is a series of platforms over a wide pit of spikes where you must fend off those nasty shielded armor enemies and the continuously generating firefly enemies from Izzy Glow's stage. Use the same strategy as always to deal with the armor enemies, and just hit the fireflies with the C-Sword or the X-Buster. Eventually, you will go back to the ground, then fall into a shaft. Jump to the right of the shaft to find an extra life and a life energy capsule, then jump in. Gee, what have we here? Take a wild guess =/ Layout: ----------------------------- --------------------------------- Life Energy Life Energy Mattrex To Final Area The Skiver Dark Dizzy Axle the Red Izzy Glow Grizzly Slash Squid Adler Duff McWhalen --- = rope NOTE: All these bosses are at Level 96 (unless you are in Easy mode), and thus have maxed out energy bars. They will take longer to defeat and you might end up short on weapon energy. After defeating the reincarnations of the 8 Mavericks, jump in the golden teleporter. This next section is reminiscent of Cyber Peacock's stage from X4 (more nostalgia), where you must fend off large rolling balls and those annoying triangle enemies. The easiest way to get through here is to just jump over the balls and blast the triangles to smithereens. The balls take a lot of hits to destroy. Continuing forward, you'll go up a shaft with those triangles. Use the Tri-Thunder/C-Sword to dispose of these guys. Once at the top, head right. You'll see a large pit that seems too long to jump over. Guess what? They brought back one more piece of nostalgia before reaching Sigma. Teleporting blocks. Fortunately, here, they are super-easy. The pairs of blocks where one is above the other show up at the same time now instead of seperately, which makes your life easier. At the third pair of blocks like that, take a leap of faith to the right, where you will reach solid ground. Snatch the two full life energy capsules and the full weapon energy capsule, and take on Sigma! _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Sigma__________________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Tri-Thunder (X), E-Blade (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| What a surprise. Sigma is (once again) the final boss. =/ Sigma starts off with only two attacks, and both are very easy to dodge. The first one is a variation of his wall-jumping attack from MMX1, but he goes much higher with his jumps. He often combines this with dashing from wall to wall on the floor and perhaps another wall jumping sequence. The other attack is nothing more than Sigma shooting off some bouncing blue orbs. If you stay high on the wall, you can dodge this and the other attack. Enjoy this easy battle while it lasts, as it's about to get much tougher... At 1/2 health, Sigma gains two new attacks. One is an annoyance, the other is a killer. He may form a rotating shield of 3 Sigma Virii around himself. These guys will not infect you, rather, they will hit you like a normal enemy hit. These guys let Sigma cover a larger portion of the screen, so you'll have less room to manuever. Odds are, you will have to destroy at least 1-2 of them to hit Sigma. If you leave one of the Sigma Virii alive, he won't redo the shield until all of them are gone. He may also teleport to the right side of the screen, where he unleashes his most powerful attack. He will shoot off a series of large energy waves. They may go high, leaving enough room to duck to avoid them. They may go low, in which case you need to wall jump or double jump over it. They may go high and low, leaving you a small gap in the middle to jump or air dash through. He normally follows one of the following patterns: high low low high high low both low high both high low both low high both After this, he will teleport to one of the two lower corners, then continue his dashing and wall jumping. Hitting Sigma with the Tri-Thunder/E-Blade will temporarily electrify him. More importantly, his invincibility period is greatly increased, which means you must wait longer to hit him again. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| X doesn't really have much of a choice here. Unless you have the Ultimate Buster and feel like dodging energy waves for an extended period of time, attack with the Tri-Thunder. It will do the most damage to Sigma and is fairly easy to hit him with. Be wary of the increased invincibility time, however. X, unfortunately, has to wall jump up a wall to avoid the low energy wave (or you can Nova Strike through it, for you cheapies). If you decide to use the X-Buster, you've got a long battle ahead of you. Sigma will not easily let up in his assault. Do the best you can and get in a shot or two whenever you can. If you don't want to have to worry about hitting him while dodging his attacks, you might want to consider the charged Tri-Thunder, as he is normally hit with it 1-2 times. However, the only armors that allow charged shots are the Fourth Armor and the Ultimate Armor. The Ultimate Armor has the Nova Strike, so you won't need it there. The Fourth Armor, well, =/ _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Using the E-Blade here is risky, as you are likely to jump right into him, especially if he is doing a dashing/wall jumping routine. There is a near-guaranteed way to hit him without getting hit yourself, though. When he does his wall jumping, on his fourth (and final) jump, you can time it so when you use the E-Blade, he dashes right under you, and hits the tail of the E-Blade, dealing decent damage. I'm not suggesting it, but that's for those of who that want to use the E-Blade. For everyone else, the C-Sword will do excellent damage to Sigma, and his invincibility time is far shorter than if you were using the E-Blade. The three-hit combo is highly NOT recommended for this battle, as Sigma spends most of his time in motion, especially in the air. Zero has an advantage over X in which he can simply double jump over the low energy waves. This is a very useful advantage that you should take advantage of. Your timing, however, has to be pretty good, otherwise you'll jump right into the wave and kill yourself =/ _____________________________________________________________________ |BOSS: Gamma Sigma____________________________________________________| |Suggested Weapons: Spike Ball (X), Twin Dream (Zero) | |_____________________________________________________________________| I lied. THIS is the final piece of nostalgia in the game. Mega Man 3 fans/players should recognize a boss similar to this. In fact, it also showed up in a similar form in Mega Man X (as Sigma's final form =/). Keep in mind that you can only hit Sigma in the small sphere on his forehead, when he is solid (he alternates between solid and wireframe). The spikes on the fists will not kill you, but will damage you a good deal. Most of the time, the hands will be attacking you. In fact, right from the start, one or both of the hands will come crashing towards you, in which case you must quickly jump. They can attack you either horizonally or diagonally, normally as a criss-crossing pair. Use every technique in the book to dodge these things. Getting crushed against the wall/floor/ceiling does hurt, mind you. One or both of them may also open up, and fire a purple blast at you, similar to an X-Buster shot. Stand on the floor or high up a wall to avoid this. When the hands disappear from the screen, Sigma will flash wireframe very quickly, then fire 4 orbs towards the ground. Once all of them are on the ground, he will fire them at your current location, one at a time, in quick succession. This attack is not hard to dodge. You just need to memorize the pattern these orbs will take in relation to your movements. You think this is all, right? Once you get Sigma down to 1/2 health, the real fun begins. When the hands disappear from the screen, Sigma may call upon one of the hands to appear at the top of the screen, which will then proceed to fire a steady electrical current from its fingertips. Unless you are Ultimate Armor X using the Nova Strike, you will most likely take at least one hit from this attack. The hand will go across the screen a couple times, then retract. For all it's worth, you can destroy the hand, but it takes the equivalent of about 11 C-Swords to destroy it. My best suggestion is to not try to destroy the hand, but try hitting Sigma, as he is still vulnerable at this point (however, he is still switching between solid and wireframe at this point). (Actually, it is quite possible to avoid taking a hit from this attack. When the hand fires the electrical current, you will be in a safe spot between two of the lightning streams. If you walk in the same speed and direction as the hand and current goes across the screen, you won't be hit. Have fun.) When the hands disappear from the screen, Sigma may also call upon his most powerful attack. He will attempt to form a large purple energy field on top of you about 5-7 times, then have it move quickly across the screen. This attack is highly difficult to avoid. While Sigma is forming the energy field, you have to move around and do some wall jumping to dodge it. The problem is, you may run into a field still in play. When the field is totally created, Sigma will attempt to crash it into you. Take advantage of the fact that it will not move diagonally. Whatever you do, make ABSOLUTELY sure that the field is not formed off of the floor or the ceiling (i.e. halfway between them). In that case, this attack will be basically impossible to avoid. This attack HURTS. Sigma stays solid throughout the entire attack. Hitting Sigma with the Spike Ball/Twin Dream will only temporarily "stun" him. It does not cancel any attacks =(. However, from the right wall, both attacks have perfect range to hit him. Try Spike Balling him as you jump by during dodging an attack. You may hit him twice with one Spike Ball. _____________________________________________________________________ |_X Strategy:_________________________________________________________| You cheesy people have it so easy here. It only takes 16 Nova Strikes to obliterate Sigma. If you're not playing with the Ultimate Armor, this won't be easy. I find the Spike Ball relatively easy to hit him with and it causes fairly good damage. If you are attacking from the left wall, you'll have to jump off of it to hit him. From the right wall, you have perfect range to hit him without jumping off. It's extremely easy to hit him while dodging the orb attack, as you normally jump right past him. As for the final 2 attacks, use your own discretion. I recommend the charged version of the Spike Ball for this battle, because it does excellent damage and may damage one/both of the hands. _____________________________________________________________________ |_Zero Strategy:______________________________________________________| Don't bother with Twin Dream. I've found better success with the C-Sword against this guy. Use the double jump from the ground to hit him with the C-Sword and to dodge the hands' attacks. You can also easily hit him while dodging the orb attack. Zero's double jump doesn't really help him against the purple box attack, because the fields form so quickly. For both characters, you want to carry at least one full E-Tank (although by now, you should have them both full). _____________________________________________________________________ |END GAME_____________________________________________________________| ======================================================================= THE ENDING: CAN ZERO REALLY BE GONE? ======================================================================= There are three different endings, depending on who you finished the game as and whether Zero went Maverick or not. -If you're playing as X, and Zero didn't go Maverick: After Gamma Sigma's explosion, Zero lays a wreck on the floor, with his bottom half completely destroyed. X comes towards him, picks him up, and attempts to get him to respond, which he doesn't. Sigma isn't done yet, as he launches one more desperation attack. His laser manages to shoot a hole through both X and Zero. Zero awakens, and destroys Sigma with one final Z-Buster shot. The scene shifts outside. X lies near death. A mysterious figure in a hologram (probably Dr. Light) comes, and urges X to try not to die. The scene then goes to 3 years later, as X stands with 3 Maverick Hunters, probably his own squadron. Alia reports that a large Maverick has broken out, and X and crew are sent to take care of the problem. He goes off into battle, holding Zero's Z-Saber... -If you're playing as X, and Zero went Maverick: The scene is outside. X lies near death. A mysterious figure in a hologram (probably Dr. Light) comes, and urges X to try not to die. One week later, X is with two members of his squadron. One of them asks X if he remembers any of what happened. He says no. The other makes a comment about how X and Zero helped keep the world safe from Sigma. He remembers Sigma, but he has no memory of Zero. He thinks whoever repaired him deleted that data by accident. Hunter B asks if that person really deleted his memory. The other urges him to stop, and tells him that X's safe return was a miracle. The scene shifts. Signas agrees with the comment that it was a miracle he came back without a scratch. Douglas says it's hard to repair X and Zero's bodies due to their mysterious nature. Alia says it's not a miracle. Signas says she never believes in miracles. Alia says she's not interested in miracles, and Reploids don't dream of miracles. Douglas asks why only Zero's memory data from X was deleted. Signas thinks it disappeared by itself or was deleted on purpose. Alia mentions there is now a protection, that X won't accept data replated to Zero, and she couldn't program such a protection. That is a new mystery about X. The scene goes back to X and the two hunters. Hunter A tells X that this battle will lead to peace, no matter how long it takes. X says it will, and they will need to work harder for that peace. Hunter B asks what X's dream is. X mentions he's never thought of it, then comes up with an idea. He wants to create "Elysium". Elysium? A paradise where humans and Reploids coexist peacefully, X says. Hunter B wishes Zero was here. X asks him if he is talking about Zero again. He says no. (Phew, that was a long one.) -If you're playing as Zero: After Gamma Sigma's explosion, Zero lays a wreck on the floor, with his bottom half completely destroyed. X comes towards him, picks him up, and attempts to get him to respond, which he doesn't. Sigma isn't done yet, as he launches one more desperation attack. His laser manages to shoot a hole through both X and Zero. Zero awakens, and destroys Sigma with one final Z-Buster shot. He then goes through a series of flashbacks. He remembers his numerous fights with Sigma, and can't believe he's finally eliminated the Sigma Virus. He mentions that his energy is running out and his memory device is fading, and he will finally die. He next sees Dr. Wily in a dream, although he is not able to figure out who it is. He then sees himself being built, realizing he is "the one that destroys Reploids". His final vision is of Iris. He says one more time that he must die to restore the peace, and that the ongoing struggle is finally over. Enjoy the credits! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. CODES/SECRETS---------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- _____________________________________________________________________ |Obtain Ultimate Armor X/Black Zero | |_____________________________________________________________________| On the character select screen, input one of the following codes: Ultimate Armor X: Place the cursor on X, then press Up twice and Down nine times. Starting the game as X, you will start with the Ultimate Armor, and will not have access to the Fourth Armor. Black Zero: Place the cursor on Zero, then press Down twice and Up nine times. Starting the game as Zero, you will start with the Black Zero upgrade, and will not have access to the unarmored Zero. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14. COPYRIGHT-------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This document is protected under U.S. and international copyright laws. This document is ©2002 NickWhiz1. This document is for personal use only. Any commercial publishing, reproducing, or selling for profit is prohibited. You may not use it on your site without expressed written permission from the author. As of now, the following sites can legally post this FAQ: *GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) *NickWhiz1's Small Page (nickwhiz1.cjb.net) _____________________________________________________________________ |END GUIDE____________________________________________________________|