September 23, 2002 - After two Mega Man titles on the Game Boy Advance that weren't, admittedly, of the same design structure that Capcom's blasting hero's been accustomed to since his NES days, it's definitely a relief to finally see Capcom return to the Mega Man roots. Mega Man Zero extends the world of Mega Man X onto the handheld, offering familiar 2D side-scrolling gameplay, with clever level structure, a cool RPG-style power-up system, and beautiful 2D graphics and animation. The game suffers a bit of that old-school slowdown, especially in the more intense levels, but folks who dig the true Mega Man fun now have a great game to pick up for their GBA system.
Features
- More than a dozen different levels
- 70 different Cyber Elves
- Cartridge save (three slots)
- Only for Game Boy Advance
At the beginning of the game, all you've got is your blaster. Typical for a Mega Man game, of course. You quickly realize through this early level romp that the familiar gameplay limitations are in full-force: to make the Mega Man games as challenging as possible, Capcom only gives the essentials. Zero can only run, jump and shoot in a left/right fashion. There's no ducking (which would definitely be helpful in these level designs), and there's no upward or downward shooting (ditto). Ah, but Zero can also cling and slide down surfaces, an ability that can be enhanced by one of the many Cyber Elves in the game...a feature that we'll get to shortly. And by the time you get Zero to the end of the level, a welcome weapon flings right in your paws: a light sword. By holding the R trigger, you can slash your sword with the blaster button; this is a tricky control scheme that gets a bit clumsy in a bind, especially against the tougher bosses in the game...but it's really the only successful way to pull something like this off on the limited button layout of the Game Boy Advance. And then, of course, the L button performs a "dash" move in the direction you push on the D-pad...which can also be pulled off by simply double tapping in that direction. Waste of a button if you ask me.
The difference in this Mega Man game: Zero does not "absorb" the abilities of the enemy bosses, a tried-and-true play mechanic that goes way back to the beginning of the series. Instead, Zero can collect what are called "Cyber Elves", a new design element that borrows from the popular "gotta catch 'em all" Pokemon thing that seems to be popular in games nowadays. Zero can catch 'em in specific locations, like a boss battle, or they'll pop up after a random enemy dies. Once collected, they're stuck in your library of Cyber Elves until you complete the current level. Each Cyber Elf can assist you during battle, from giving you more energy, to giving you temporary back-up fire, to freezing enemies in place for a few seconds. Up to three can be used in any specific level, called upon whenever you want, one at a time...but if they help you defeat a level, they're out of commission for good. Some Elves aren't usable right away...they have to be fed Energy Crystals before they can enter battle. Those blue vials that you pick up along the way (the ones that were once used to power up Mega Man in previous games) will do the trick. Capcom insists that these Cyber Elves are an optional item, that you don't have to use them if you don't want to...that may be true, but man, these levels are quite challenging, and no one's going to call you "cheap" if you bring a little help in during a boss battle.
Like in past Mega Man games, the game structure is not linear...meaning, once you've defeated a level, you can take your pick from several available levels that open up. Unfortunately, the designers didn't create a nifty Mission Select interface like past Mega Man games have used...instead, players just choose the name of a mission from a list in a dialogue box. Boring! The real hook in Mega Man Zero, though...run out of continues in a specific mission, and that mission's no longer available due to the way the story's structured. You'll need to successfully run through the game to gain access to all the missions...and learn how to use all three save slots on your cartridge. Managing these saves is key...never save if you've blown all the continues. Finding the hidden Z icons will get you an additional shot through the game, so level exploration is also a major focus.
The game's normal action isn't too bad, though there are places where blind jumps have to be pulled off...and if you miss, that's it. You only get one life in Mega Man, and it's all about conserving those continues. The boss battles are the areas where the game gets incredibly challenging. The way they attack, there's always a counter even if it's not obvious right from the get-go. After a couple of deaths during these battles, a sense of, "Oh, that's how you do it..." will come over you. But then it's a matter of actually using your button mastering to pull it off. The victory doesn't come easy, but once you've put the boss out of commission, there's definitely a sense of accomplishment afterwards.
The graphics are definitely Mega Man Zero's strongpoint, with incredible pixel-art for all the animations in the game, as well as handdrawn images for the scrolling backgrounds as well as the cutscenes between missions. The GBA's sprite effects are also put to use throughout the adventure, especially during the boss battles. Sprites will scale and rotate depending on their function in the game...sliced and diced baddies will even explode and roll realistically as they're split in two. Unfortunately, with all that's going on in the game, the processor can't keep up...in the more intense levels, the game will slow down to a serious crawl...something that's never been acceptable in action games.
Closing Comments
As good as those Mega Man RPG titles are for the Game Boy Advance, nothing can beat a good, solid Mega Man action title, and Capcom certainly succeeded in its first attempt on the Game Boy Advance. The design produced for the GBA is a great, challenging one, with many different missions, non-stop action, and satisfying explosions and other effects. The slowdown is a bit of a drag, as is the way you select your missions, but these two things alone shouldn't deter you from terrific, great-looking action title for the Nintendo handheld.
| Rating | Description |  |
|---|---|---|
| out of 10 | click here for ratings guide |
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| 9.0 | Presentation The first real Mega Man game for the GBA is really good, with loads of levels, tons of challenges, and, of course, stuff to collect. |
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| 8.0 | Graphics Beautiful handdrawn backgrounds and stunning pixel animation for the character sprites. But the game can't really keep up with the action, with all that slowdown. |
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| 7.0 | Sound Great digitized sound effects of explosions and other anime-style effects, but the music is routine and forgettable. |
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| 9.0 | Gameplay Outstanding 2D sidescroller, even with the Mega Man-esque gameplay limitations. There's lots of challenge here. It's hard but not overly so. |
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| 7.0 | Lasting Appeal The game's a good 10 hours all the way through...but screw up a level and you may never see it again. The cyber-elfs are a neat inclusion, but not the driving force behind replay. |
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| 8.8 |
OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average) |
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