Zero Mega Man

[Elisabet Schwartzkopf]

ZeroJapanese: ゼロ) is a video game character present throughout much of Capcom's Mega Man franchise, who debuted in the Mega Man X series. He is an android and an elite member of the Maverick Hunters, an organization dedicated to defending humanity from rogue Reploids known as Mavericks. Zero also acts as a mentor and longtime friend to X, the main protagonist of the X series. He is also the titular main protagonist of the Mega Man Zero series, and has a supporting role in other series in the franchise, such as the Mega Man ZX series. He has also appeared in crossover video games as a guest character.

First developed by Keiji Inafune when he was attempting to create a new design for the X series, Zero was instead used as a secondary character. In the Zero series (developed by Inti Creates), he was the protagonist and had a change in his design that was meant to impart a more "human feel" to him. He also has a minor role in the ZX series as Model Z.

His inclusion in the Mega Man X series has generally received positive critical response from reviewers. His story within the Mega Man Zero series received similar response, partly because he became more darker and mature compared to previous Mega Man characters.

Zero debuted in Mega Man X in 1993 and as a cameo appearance in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. In the latter, he was revealed to have been originally created by Dr. Wily sometime during the Mega Man series. Zero works as a Maverick Hunter, a soldier in charge of defeating Mavericks, robots who turned against humanity. He is X's comrade and best friend in the X series, and the two, later accompanied by Axl, fight Sigma, Vile, and other enemies. In the first two titles, he assists X during gameplay, but becomes a playable character in X3, albeit limited in gameplay.[3]

Zero debuts as a fully playable character in Mega Man X4, where he fights the rebellious Repliforce and is forced to kill an old friend in the process, Iris.[4] In his scenario, Zero is haunted by nightmares of a shadowy figure awakening him and giving him orders to destroy an unknown individual, and visions of ensuing carnage. Additionally, during his scenario, Sigma reminds him of when he led the Maverick Hunters and the encounter between the two that led to a vicious battle. In this battle, Sigma punched out the crystal on Zero's helmet, which later on caused Sigma to become infected with the Maverick Virus. Depending on the story development, Zero can be fought as a boss character in Mega Man X5.[5] In Mega Man X6, he is not initially present due to being presumed dead at the end of Mega Man X5 during a fight against Sigma. However, he becomes an optional character depending on how the story develops throughout the game.[6] He is one of the two initial playable characters in Mega Man X7, along with Axl, and also appears in Mega Man X8 as a playable character along with X and Axl.[7] In the spin-off title Mega Man Xtreme, he is an assistant character but becomes playable in the sequel, Mega Man Xtreme 2. He is also playable during the prologue and the last chapters from the role-playing video game Mega Man X: Command Mission.[8] A mobile phone game, Mega Man X DiVE, also features Zero as a playable character.[9]

The Mega Man Zero series features Zero as the title character. Set around 100 years after the X series,[10] he helps a scientist named Ciel fight the human city of Neo Arcadia, during which he destroys Omega - his original body, Dr. Weil, and Copy X, leader of Neo Arcadia, twice.[11] He also makes an appearance in the ZX series as Model Z, who plays a minor supporting role in the plot in the first ZX game. As well, he appears in ZX Advent, but has an even smaller role, only having a few lines of dialogue. Zero's Mega Man Battle Network counterpart, Zero.EXE appears in Mega Man Network Transmission as the antagonist of the first half of the game. He later aids Mega Man against the true villain, The "Professor".

Zero also reprises his role from the first game in three mangas by Iwamoto Yoshihiro,[12][13][14] and the prequel Irregular Maverick Hunter X by Ikehara Shigeto.[15] This version in the former is depicted as having full hair and is constantly taking off his helmet compared to the original games.

The Mega Man Zero version of Zero appears as a sub-boss in SNK's crossover fighting game SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos[16][17] and as a hidden character in Onimusha Blade Warriors.[18] The Mega Man X version of Zero appears as a hidden character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars and as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, and Teppen.[19][20] and as a pair unit with X in Project X Zone and its sequel Project X Zone 2.[21] In the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 titles, Zero was chosen to represent the "Mega Man" franchise over Mega Man himself, as director Ryota Niitsuma thought he had more variation in his moves.[22] Zero also appears as a collectable trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.[23] Both games feature a Mii Fighter costume based on Zero as downloadable content.[24]

Zero's appearances in the two manga series based on the Mega Man X series resemble his video game portrayal.[25][26] However, in the Mega Man Zero manga, Zero is depicted as a Reploid having two personalities depending on his usage of a helmet: without his helmet he is portrayed as cowardly, whereas the other one resembles his video game counterpart.[27] Zero also makes guest appearances in the Mega Man comic series by Archie Comics, appearing in stories set shortly before the events of Mega Man X and as part of the "Worlds Unite" crossover event.[28]

Zero was created by designer Keiji Inafune when he was told to recreate Mega Man for a new series on the Super NES, Mega Man X. He wanted to design a Mega Man different from the original one.[29][30] However, Inafune realized afterwards that the character he created was too different from Mega Man's old appearance to be viewed positively by fans.[29] Deciding to let another designer work on the character that eventually became X while he developed Zero, Inafune created the character intending him to be "the 'other main character' that would "steal all the good scenes".[30] He further described Zero as representing the idea that "nothing is absolute", and circumstances can change anything. When asked if Zero had killed the cast of the original Mega Man titles, suspected due to their absence in the X series, he replied no, adding that given how he had designed the character, "Zero is not such a person--it is not in his profile."[31]

Believing they were too similar in Mega Man X3 (in which Zero could only be played as for part of each level), Capcom wanted Zero to be further distinguished from X for his first appearance as a fully playable character in Mega Man X4. This resulted in the removal of his Z-Buster (his equivalent of X's X-Buster), leaving only his lightsaber-esque Z-Saber. This close-range combat weapon stood in stark contrast to X's projectile weapons. Due to the difficulty of playing as Zero, the vast majority of the developers were against that decision at first during Mega Man X4. As a result, Zero was given special techniques (some of which hailed from the Street Fighter franchise) by defeating each boss, which resulted in the approval from the developers. In order to make Zero's story more engaging, Capcom created Iris, a female Reploid, believing it was a fresh idea not used in previous games in the series.[32] Ever since the series started, Inafune wanted to add Dr. Wily to the story leading to the twist of Mega Man X4 that reveals he created Zero to set the climax of the series.[33]

The concept of Zero starring in his own series was proposed by Inafune.[34] Inafune proposed that Zero star in his own series, and planned to go forward with the idea at the end of Mega Man X5. However, he was unable to after Capcom announced another Mega Man title without his involvement.[29] Designed by Toru Nakayama of Inti Creates, Zero was meant to have a more "human feel" rather than the complete "mechanical feel" of the X series. Nakayama wanted the public to recognize that this series was different from the X series. Since Capcom wanted Zero's general structure to be the same, Inti-Creates concentrated on how different they could make him, rather than how similar.[35] Zero's depiction in the series was intended to be morally ambiguous and depend on the perspective, appearing as a hero from one point of view and a terrorist from another.[36]

Ever since the series' beginning, Haruki Suetsugu was impressed by the handling of the relationship X and Zero had. From his point of view, X was a character who often makes mistakes in combat yet tries again in order to improve. As a result, the artist felt he could relate with X. X was written to be a "B class" Hunter in contrast to Zero being "Special A" rank. This allowed him the draw more frequently across the series.[37] Nevertheless, he regretted some of his illustrations as X lacked the cool appeal Zero originally had.[38] Based on his points of view from the original Mega Man X, Higurashi wanted fans to see X and Zero as dark archetypes of heroes rather than typical ones.[39] Nevertheless, the developers were afraid of a negative backlash if the fans found X and Zero to be too different from their original personas.[40]

Inafune drew inspiration for Zero from the arcade game, Strider, a previous Capcom game. Inafune has stated that he has always liked the "world view" of Strider and modeled the name of Zero after one of its characters (reportedly, Solo).[41]

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