Mega Man Zero is a hack and slash platform game series in Capcom's Mega Man video game series. It was created by Inti Creates, with Keiji Inafune as a co-producer and Yoshinori Kawano as the director. The series includes four games that were first released on the Game Boy Advance and later on the Nintendo DS and the Virtual Console (Wii U).
The story happens more than 100 years after the Mega Man X storyline. It follows Zero, who comes back to life, fighting in a war between humans and Reploids. Reploids are robots that think and act like humans but are treated unfairly and chased by people because of a worldwide energy shortage. With the help of the human scientist Ciel, Zero supports the Reploid resistance group and fights other Reploids sent by humans to destroy them. However, this is just the beginning, and the story changes a lot as the series continues.
Gameplay
The Mega Man Zero series is a two-dimensional action platform game, similar to the Mega Man X series. It includes run-and-gun gameplay and focuses on learning boss attack patterns and choosing the right weapons to defeat enemies.
Unlike earlier games, the levels in Mega Man Zero are part of a larger map. Players can explore these areas freely after completing the missions in each section. However, starting with Mega Man Zero 2, this feature was removed, and the series returned to a traditional format where players choose missions from a stage select screen.
Gameplay changes slightly in each entry. Zero can use a variety of weapons and improve them to unlock new abilities. This feature was removed in Mega Man Zero 3 and later games, where abilities are available from the start.
A new system called the Score and Level System was introduced. It gives players a score out of 100 and a level based on how well they complete each mission. The series also includes the Cyber-Elf system, which lets Zero use small helper beings called "Cyber Elves" in battle. These helpers need E-Crystals, collected from enemies, to gain permanent upgrades—like increasing Zero's health—or temporary effects—like briefly blocking bullets. However, using Cyber Elves lowers the mission score.
In every game except Mega Man Zero 4, Zero’s weapons can be enhanced with elemental effects. These include Fire, Ice, and Thunder chips, which can be attached to any weapon and changed freely. These chips add elemental effects to charge attacks and deal more damage to bosses weak to the chosen element. If a boss is immune to the element, no damage is done.
Plot
Many years after disappearing at the end of the Mega Man X series, Zero is discovered and awakened by Ciel, a 12-year-old human scientist. Zero, confused about who he is because of temporary memory loss, protects Ciel and her group of Reploids from a group sent to destroy them. During the game, as Zero fights to save the remaining Reploids, it is revealed what happened during his 100-year absence: After the Maverick War, in which humans were being killed by evil Reploids called Mavericks, the war ended with the Mavericks defeated. Humans and Reploids then lived together in peace in a perfect place called Neo Arcadia. However, this peace ended because of an energy shortage crisis, which caused many innocent Reploids to be killed to save energy. Ciel then joined the Reploids to form the Resistance. It is also revealed that a copy of X, Zero’s former ally and best friend, is the leader of Neo Arcadia and the one who ordered the killing of Reploids. After defeating the Four Guardians, who were Copy X’s top generals, Zero confronts and defeats Copy X. As Copy X dies, he self-destructs, and Zero barely escapes. He finds himself in an endless desert surrounded by Neo Arcadian soldiers. Knowing that Neo Arcadia will attack him, Zero chooses to stay in the desert to fight so that Ciel and the Resistance can escape.
One year after the first game, it is shown that Zero has been hunting Neo Arcadian forces in the desert. After defeating another group of soldiers, Zero collapses from exhaustion. For unknown reasons, he is rescued by Harpuia, one of the Four Guardians and now the leader of Neo Arcadia. Though they are enemies, Harpuia takes Zero to a place near the Resistance Base, where he is found by the Resistance and repaired by Cerveau.
While Ciel works to create a new energy source to end the war, the new leader of the Resistance, Elpizo, plans to attack Neo Arcadia directly. The attack fails, and Elpizo is the only survivor. Frustrated by his inability to help, he leaves the Resistance to search for the Dark Elf, a powerful and evil Cyber-Elf that caused great destruction during the Elf Wars, an event that happened during Zero’s 100-year absence.
Elpizo revives the Dark Elf by destroying the physical body of the original Mega Man X, which had kept the Dark Elf trapped. Elpizo gains immense power by absorbing the Dark Elf but is narrowly defeated by Zero. The game ends with the Dark Elf escaping and the original X, now a Cyber-Elf, telling Zero that the Dark Elf was once called the Mother Elf. Its original purpose was to cure the Maverick Virus, which turned Reploids into Mavericks, to end the Maverick War.
Two months after Elpizo’s defeat, the Dark Elf’s location is still unknown. During this time, Ciel completes research on a new energy source called the “Ciel System,” which can generate nearly unlimited energy. While traveling to Neo Arcadia to propose the Ciel System in hopes of ending the war, a large spaceship with the Dark Elf’s energy signature crashes to Earth. Zero is sent to investigate and instead finds the remaining Four Guardians fighting a giant Reploid named Omega. He also meets Dr. Weil, a scientist who was banished to space for causing the Elf Wars by corrupting the Mother Elf into the Dark Elf. Dr. Weil reveals that he resurrected Copy X, who has returned to power in Neo Arcadia and forces the Four Guardians to obey him. The Four Guardians, suspecting Copy X is being controlled by Weil, leave the Neo Arcadian army.
The Dark Elf reappears in a human residential area of Neo Arcadia. Dr. Weil and Copy X launch a missile to capture the Dark Elf, but the attack kills thousands of innocent humans. After this, Ciel cancels her plan to propose the Ciel System, and Dr. Weil and Copy X label the Resistance as Mavericks, starting a full-scale invasion. The Resistance delays the invasion until Zero reaches Copy X and kills him again, weakening the attack. However, Dr. Weil becomes the new ruler of Neo Arcadia and announces his plan to fuse the Dark Elf with Omega and connect them to a giant frequency transmitter that would let Omega control all Reploids on Earth. Dr. Weil justifies this as revenge against humans and Reploids for his exile. Zero defeats Omega in two forms, but Omega reveals he looks exactly like Zero. Dr. Weil explains that while Zero was inactive, his consciousness and memories were copied into a new body, and his original body was stolen by Weil to be used by Omega. Despite this, Zero, with help from the Four Guardians, destroys his original body and kills Omega. Omega’s death causes a large explosion that frees the Dark Elf from Weil’s control. X tells the Resistance the truth about Zero and his body before disappearing. The Dark Elf, now called the Mother Elf again, returns Zero to the Resistance Base before both disappear, ending the game.
Even after Omega’s death, Weil continues his revenge by becoming a dictator in Neo Arcadia and taking away citizens’ rights, forcing many humans to flee and start their own settlements. Weil labels these escapees as Mavericks and begins killing them like Reploids.
The game begins with Zero, Ciel, and the Resistance meeting a group of humans fleeing from Weil’s forces. Zero protects the humans, who tell the Resistance they are heading to a large, natural settlement called Area Zero, where the Eurasia colony crashed during the events of Mega Man X5 over 100 years ago.
The large number of people in places like Area Zero draws Weil’s attention. He plans to use a massive space cannon called Ragnarok to destroy all nature and make Neo Arcadia the only livable place on Earth, forcing people to stay under his rule. Zero reaches Ragnarok and defeats Weil, but not before Weil programs Ragnarok to crash into Area Zero to destroy Earth.
Knowing there was only one way to save Earth, Zero refuses Ciel’s request to leave Ragnarok and returns to the Resistance Base. Instead, he sacrifices his life to destroy Ragnarok’s core before it crashes to Earth. Ciel watches as Ragnarok’s pieces fall to Earth and promises to rebuild Earth as a peaceful place for humans and Reploids. The series ends with an image of Zero’s broken helmet on the ground next to Ragnarok’s debris.
Content editing
In the Japanese versions of all four games, characters who were hurt often showed blood or a substance that looked like blood. Many of these details were removed in the international versions to keep a rating suitable for children. These changes were not made to the Japanese versions of the games included in the Zero/ZX Legacy Collection.
The English version of the Mega Man Zero series also changed some words, such as "die" or "death," to other words like "perish," "destroy," or "retire."
Reception
When the first game in the series was released, reviewers praised it for bringing back what they called "the Mega Man roots." However, some fans said the game changed in a way they did not like, because players could not predict which boss they would face next. They believed this change made the game less unique compared to earlier versions.
The Mega Man Zero games generally received positive reviews. Some critics and praise-givers noted that the games were similar to earlier Mega Man titles and had a high difficulty level. Positive reviews highlighted the variety of abilities, customization options, and a more engaging story than the previous series. Negative reviews pointed out that the games repeated the same ideas and lacked originality. The last two games in the series received lower scores, as critics said they used the same gameplay without adding new features.
Re-releases
Capcom combined all four Mega Man Zero games into one release for the Nintendo DS, called Mega Man Zero Collection (Rockman Zero Collection in Japan). The game was released in North America on June 8, 2010, in Japan and Australia two days later, and was planned for release in Europe on June 11, 2010. However, the game was not released in all European countries. No changes were made to the original games, but the collection included new features, such as an artwork gallery, the ability to reassign actions to different buttons, and an "Easy Scenario" mode. This mode lets players complete the four games as if they were one, with some changes to make the games easier, such as blocks covering spikes, no need to feed Elves, and all Cyber Elf powers automatically activated.
A new collection, called Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection (Rockman Zero & ZX Double Hero Collection in Japan), was released in February 2020 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC (Steam), and Nintendo Switch. This collection includes all four Zero games, along with Mega Man ZX and Mega Man ZX Advent. Like the previous Mega Man Zero Collection, this version includes bonus content and a new gameplay mode called Z Chaser, which is a time-trial mini-game. The release was originally planned for January 21, 2020 (worldwide) and January 23, 2020 (Japan), but was delayed until February 25, 2020 (worldwide) and February 27, 2020 (Japan). Similar to the Mega Man X Legacy Collection releases, this game has a T rating for Teen, which is different from the original versions, which were rated E for Everyone or E10+ for Mega Man ZX Advent due to the inclusion of uncensored Japanese versions.
Manga and graphic novel
A comedy manga based on the games was written by Hideto Kajima and published in CoroCoro Comic from June 2003 to February 2006.
In 2025, Udon Entertainment released Mega Man Zero Timelines, which features Reploid Zero in a post-apocalyptic setting. The release explores a new era through a one-shot format.