Mega Man Zero 4

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Mega Man Zero 4 is the fourth video game in the Mega Man Zero subseries of Mega Man video games from Capcom.

Gameplay

Zero using the Z-Saber in one of the games' many stages

Mega Man Zero 4 introduces a number of gameplay changes to the series. Zero is still equipped with his Buster Shot and Z-saber at the outset, but his Shield Boomerang and the traditional rod-type weapon are no longer available. In their place, Zero has a 3rd weapon called the Z-knuckle that lets him perform several actions. Its main benefit allows him to attack enemies bare-handed. If he destroys them with the Z-Knuckle, he will tear away their weapon and use it himself (but not every enemy has a weapon that can be taken). The Z-Knuckle can also be used to grab onto terrain objects such as hanging pipes, or clear obstacles that would be otherwise difficult or impossible with the other weapons. A stolen weapon can be thrown away by pressing Select, and this can be used to hit enemies if they are in the way when the weapon is thrown.

Finding Cyber Elves is no longer required by the player like previous installments. Shortly after the introductory levels, a single Cyber Elf will arrive from Resistance Base for Zero to equip. This elf has most of the powers from the previous games once raised with E-crystals, and Zero may select one from each category: Nurse, Animal, and Hacker to use simultaneously. The player's ranking is no longer penalized for using the Cyber Elves so long as they keep under the maximum power limit. (1 power = 1 point towards the limit.)

With the exception of 2 sub-tanks, Zero cannot rely on finding secret disks to give him enhancements as in Mega Man Zero 3. Instead he must collect enemy parts (not the ones gained via the Z-knuckle) dropped randomly from defeated enemies. These "recipes" for combining parts can be learned by talking to grateful humans the player rescues and by talking with a Cyber Elf after its stages of evolution. However, the game itself does not give the player all the recipes and many are found through random combination of parts.

Learning an EX skill is now a choice the player makes before choosing a stage, rather than rank based as before. After choosing a mission, the player has the option to change the weather. When the weather suits the main boss, such as a sunny day in Noble Mandrago's stage, the boss will have access to its EX skill, and be tougher to defeat, but Zero can obtain the EX skill after defeating the boss. If the player chooses the other weather type, the boss will not fight as fiercely as it normally would and the stage will be easier, but the EX skill cannot be earned.

Mega Man Zero 4 also includes a new Easy mode, not found in previous installations of the series. In Easy mode, Zero receives a massive life boost, and can use the Cyber Elf without restrictions. However, Easy mode prevents the changing of the weather, and consequentially the acquiring of EX skills. Also, in Easy mode, while the player is given a jump start of decently evolved Cyber Elf, it cannot be nurtured to its maximum potential (which is possible in Normal mode).

Story

The New Z-Knuckle in Mega Man Zero 4.

Humans have begun leaving Neo Arcadia since Dr. Weil assumed power. Labeled as human Mavericks for opposing his rule, a caravan led by a journalist named Neige is attacked by Variants, {Neo Arcadian Foot Soldiers section) on their way to freedom. Ciel and a small handful of resistance members happen upon them as they drive cross-country in their convoy and Zero comes to their aid. After rescuing the caravan, Neige explains that they were en route to Area Zero, one of the last natural habitats that can support human life outside of Neo Arcadia.

(Area Zero is where the Eurasia colony had crashed more than a century earlier in Mega Man X5.)

Shortly after parting ways with the caravan, Zero learns of a plot to destroy Area Zero from Kraft, Doctor Weil's second in command. This "Operation Ragnarok" was meant to destroy all environments outside of Neo Arcadia, such that life could not be sustained outside of Neo Arcadia; this was meant to force all humans to return and live under Weil's rule. Zero sets out to stop the Einherjar: Pupilla Cockapetri, Noble Mandrago, Sol Titanian, Fenri Lunaedge, Tech Kraken, Mino Magnax, Pegasolta Éclair, and Heat Genblem, to spare the planet from literal destruction.

After stopping the Einherjar, Zero learns that they were just a distraction, and an orbital satellite, Ragnarok, can wipe out the environment with its cannon. But before Weil can use it himself, Craft rebels against him and fires upon Neo Arcadia in an attempt to kill Weil, regardless of the fact that innocents might be killed. Needless to say Zero stops him. The reploids at Resistance Base are dispatched to gather the survivors of the attack and all seems well until another beam strikes the planet.

Weil had teleported directly onto the station and manually directed its flight path into a decaying orbit above Area Zero. As the station plummets toward the planet, Zero teleports back onto it and makes his way to Weil. Aware that the two of them were minutes from a fiery crash landing, Zero questions Weil as to how he survived the initial strike on Neo Arcadia. Weil is more than willing to share his secret with Zero.

Weil it is revealed, is indeed a human, but one who was augmented into a bionic/reploid hybrid by the same people who exiled him and Omega into space at the end of the Elf Wars. His new body is incapable of aging, or more importantly, dying as it constantly repairs and upgrades itself. Weil purposely set the station to crash knowing full well he could survive the impact and oversee the destruction of Area Zero personally.

Zero and Weil enter battle with Zero the victor. But, as Weil said, his body could not be destroyed and instead merged with the remainder of Ragnarok. Weil left Zero with an ultimatum; if Zero was to stop him, a human, Zero would be forced to use lethal force. Since only a Maverick Reploid would ever harm a human, this would put to question Zero's standing. Zero's reply to Weil solidifies the promise he had made to X in the first game.

"I never cared about justice, and I don't recall ever calling myself a hero... I have always only fought for the people I believe in. I won't hesitate... If an enemy appears in front of me, I will destroy it!"

Despite protests from Ciel for not teleporting back from this obvious suicide mission, Zero asks her to believe in him as he engages in a final battle with Weil. Upon destroying Weil's core, a chain reaction passes through the circuts of Ragnarok and the station is blown apart. The entire mass scatters in the atmosphere and rains down to earth as harmless, fiery fragments.

After communication with Ragnarok is abruptly cut short, Ciel runs outside distraught. She passes through Area Zero where it is confirmed Zero did not teleport back. After a short pep talk to the refugees, to mask her sadness, Ciel runs to the edge of the settlement where she drops to her knees crying. After drying her tears, she promises to build the ideal planet where reploids and humans can live together in harmony. Ciel believes that Zero is alive and will come back one day.

For the final scene of the game, the player is shown the image of Zero's helmet as it lays shattered in the desert as the morning sun crests the hillside.

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