Mega Man ZX

Mega Man ZX, known in Japan as Rockman ZX (ロックマンゼクス), is a video game developed by Inti Creates and published by Capcom for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is the first game in the sixth series of the Mega Man video game franchise. For the first time in the Mega Man series, the game features both a male and a female protagonist. A sequel, and most recent game entitled Mega Man ZX Advent, was released in 2007.

Plot
Two centuries after the events of Mega Man Zero series, in the year 25XX, humans and Reploids now coexist peacefully.

After some time of peace and prosperity, humans, reploids, and the humanoids (cyborgs in the Mega Man ZX universe) of Earth manage to revive some of the former Nations. After which, several incidents of reploids becoming Mavericks are reported. The Mavericks made several areas dangerous. Trading between nations became obstructed, which caused the nations to become divided into utopian cities such as "Innerpeace." These cities became safe havens for peaceful reploids, humans and humanoids. The dangerous Mavericks known as Mechaniloids began to appear in the outlands and threatened the peace. The utopian cities and the outlands were divided into separate Areas and remarkable developments were made due to the efforts of the corporation Slither Inc.

Slither Inc. possessed technology unearthed from ruins in the Outlands. Peaceful life in Innerpeace is maintained by using the technology offered by Slither Inc.

Still, Maverick attacks occur in the frontier regions, which are more exposed to the enemy. To repel the attacks of Antonio Baldi, the humanoid in these areas developed an organization devoted to the defending their region. This organization is known as the Guardians. The Guardians defend the Outlands and investigate the cause of the Maverick attacks. The original leader of the Guardians disappears during the investigation of an Outlands area.

A decade prior to the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Vent (ヴァン) or Aile (エール)(depending on what gender the player states they are) loses his/her mother to a Maverick raid on an amusement park and becomes an orphan. He/She is taken in by Girouette (ジルウェ) Giro, the owner of Giro Express, which is a delivery service delivering all kinds of items. Giro is contacted by an unknown person to deliver an important package to a rendezvous point in the Area A forest.

At a cliff overlooking the area and the rendezvous point, Vent/Aile reminisces about the Maverick raid that took the life of his/her mother. Just as Giro and Vent/Aile are ready to pull out, a group of Mavericks attack them and Vent/Aile falls to the forest below. After waking up, Vent/Aile is told to deliver the package while Giro deals with the Mavericks. Here, he/she meets face-to-face with Prairie (プレリー), the leader of the Guardians. This meeting is cut short when a large Mechaniloid snake attacks the group. The package, a piece of floating metal known as Biometal Model X, lends its strength to Vent/Aile, allowing him/her to "Megamerge" and transform into Mega Man Model X. With the help of Model X, the snake is destroyed. He/she is then allowed by Prairie to keep Model X and look for Giro. After finding Giro, in the form of Mega Man Model Z, they board an airship deemed the Guardian's base. Later, a Maverick attack is spotted at the Slither Inc. main office. The duo meet the president of Slither Inc., Serpent (セルパン), and his reploid guardians, Prometheus (プロメテ) and Pandora (パンドラ). Serpent reveals his knowledge of the Biometal and says that he's also a Mega Man, possessing Model W. He expresses his intent to find the Model W Core, and leaves, but not before possessing a weakened Giro with the power of Model W. A fight ensues, resulting in the death of Giro. In his dying breaths, Giro hands Model Z over to Vent/Aile and then transforms into a Cyber Elf. By "Double Megamerging" with both Model X and Model Z, he/she uses the form Model ZX to escape. Now the Guardians, including Vent/Aile, must recover eight Biometal fragments and stop Serpent.

After finding four of eight biometal pieces, the Guardian base comes under attack from Mavericks, led by Prometheus. Prairie requests that Vent/Aile return immediately and help defend the base. He/she later finds Prometheus inside the system core room and they fight. Prometheus is eventually defeated, and the attack stops. Vent/Aile proceeds to find the remaining four Biometal pieces.

After retrieving all eight biometal pieces and their passwords, Vent/Aile is able to enter the ruins and locate model W. Before doing so, he/she returns to the ship and analyzes a chip containing data on the biometals left by Prairie's sister, who also explains the origin of Model W.

After analyzing it, they enter the ruins. After finding Model W, Vent/Aile is stalled by Pandora and the biometal is moved elsewhere. He/she later receives information that a huge Maverick raid led by Prometheus and Pandora is happening on the highway, and he/she proceeds to stop the ongoing chaos there. He/she is confronted by the duo for the last time, and they fight. Prometheus and Pandora are defeated but manage to escape. Vent/Aile then receives a signal from Model W, located at the Slither Inc. Head Office. Vent/Aile receives his/her mission to destroy Model W.

After defeating many enemies in the tower and arriving at the top, Vent/Aile face off against Serpent, who feeds the Model W core with a lot of innocent Cyber Elfs, and then fuses with it. Vent/Aile suddenly reverts to human due to the realization that the hatred of the Mavericks that he/she has kept inside his/her heart is the last thing needed to unleash Model W's full power, thus resulting in his/her temporary defeat. However, after gaining courage from the biometals, he/she Megamerges into Mega Man ZX and challenges Serpent to a final battle. Serpent is eventually defeated. The tower collapses, destroying Model W and killing Serpent. The game ends with Vent/Aile reunited with his/her Guardian friends.

Gameplay
This game contains elements from both the Mega Man X series and the Mega Man Zero series. The players are on a 2-dimensional overlay map with sprites where they engage enemies to finish their mission. Missions are selected from a list, displayed on a computer. The player can freely explore the game world during and between missions, and they must find the specified area themselves.

Development
News of a Mega Man game for the Nintendo DS first appeared on GameSpot, January 2006 on the same day that Capcom created an official teaser site. Capcom promised that this game would be a 2D side-scrolling action game with the ability to choose between a male character, Vent, or a female character, Aile.

A demo first appeared in Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2006 at an unlabelled kiosk at the Capcom booth. Much of the main introductory plot was revealed and two in-game levels, Area H and Area E were playable. The controls were said to be "simple enough… yet challenging", but reviewers did see some slowdown.

Audio
Rockman ZX Soundtrack -ZX Tunes- is the first remastered soundtrack album to be released for the Mega Man ZX series on October 27, 2006 by Inti Creates. The album consists of 2 Discs called Aile and Vent, named after the hero and the heroine of the game, and it is 131:37 minutes long. It also features one vocal track, Innocence, and five remix tracks.

Reception
Mega Man ZX garnered positive reviews from most sources, garnering a Metacritic score of 76 out of 100. Similar to Mega Man Zero, Mega Man ZX was compared to the original Mega Man series. Its high level of difficulty was enjoyed by some, but criticized by others. Its gameplay presentation and level designs were praised. Low points in reviews were the confusing world map and frustrating difficulty level.

Mega Man ZX was the sixth-best-selling game in Japan during its release week at 33,652 units sold. 94,341 units of the game were sold in the region by the end of 2006. A direct sequel, Mega Man ZX Advent, was announced for release the following year.