This post is an analysis of the storyline in Mega Man Zero. Here are links to the rest of the deep dives:

• Weapons Systems
• Misc Systems
• Environmental Storytelling
• Everything Else

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Spoiler Preface!!!

This post contains content that some may deem as spoilers. You have been warned

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Mega Man Zero does not have a whole lot of story to it. At least I don’t think it does. Honestly, it is hard to tell.

Here’s the thing - in addition to introducing an XP-based level up system, Mega Man Zero borrows another unfortunate concept from jRPGs. Making progress through the story will occasionally trigger changes in the Resistance Base. Maybe an NPC has something new to say, or maybe a totally new NPC shows up. In most jRPGs, these state changes often provide crucial exposition or context that enriches the story and clarifies certain plot threads.

Of course, games that use this tactic rarely clue you in on the fact that these NPCs have anything new to say. In some cases an NPC will get multiple new lines of dialogue, meaning you can potentially miss out on one of them if you don’t return to speak with them frequently enough.

For example, perhaps at the start of a game, NPC1 says “A”. At 25% progress she says “B”, and at 60% progress she says “C”. If you forget to return until you’re 61% of the way through, you will have missed your chance to hear whatever conversation “B” was. If it was something important or interesting, then it’s tough luck I guess.

This brings us to the big question - how does one know to go back? How does one know when to go back? If you don’t want to miss out on this content, you may find yourself returning to base so frequently that it slows your actual progress through the game. Or you just use an FAQ through the entire game. OR you play through the game multiple times try to take a different approach.

The fact that these are our best options is why I believe this practice is a bunch of crap. I understand the desire to make it look as if the state of things change over time, but if people are enjoying your game, it stands to reason that they want to experience as much of its content as possible. At the same time, not every good game is necessarily one that we enjoy playing again and again, time after time. Making it difficult to experience non-secret, non-easter egg content by essentially hiding it away is not doing anyone any favors. Games like this would be better off finding an excuse to force the player to go back to the safe zone where the NPCs are. Or maybe they could put some sort of icon above an NPC’s head if they have something new to share.

In any case, because Mega Man Zero embraces this tactic, I have no idea if I missed out on any story content. That drives me nuts, mainly because what story I did see was far too paltry.

One “problem” is due to the game’s age. People may not remember this, but the fact is that back when this game came out in 2002, developers often put extremely important story details within instruction manuals. MMZ is no exception - here is a snippet that I found in the manual:

These are important details that set up the game’s main conflict, and while the in-game story covers some of it, it does not do so quite as plainly as the text above. I’m not going to necessarily knock the original game for failing to include this in the game software itself, but I do think it would have been nice if the Legacy Collection compilation included something like this for each game¹

Thankfully I was already aware of these details before beginning, but that still didn’t stop the story from feeling thin. Zero barely talks in his own game. He wakes up from a 100 year sleep, with no memories, yet never asks where he is or is even much concerned with who he is. He doesn’t attack the person who wakes him, but does attack the people chasing her. How does he know who is friend or foe?

After the game’s opening scene, Zero does have a few lines that hint at some potential themes:

This suggests that maybe Zero is going to struggle with his loss of memory and identity.

This suggests that maybe he will try and poke around to learn more about his past.

Sadly, nothing of the sort actually happens. For the rest of the game, most of Zero’s dialogue amounts to taunting his foes:

Or making vague statements that only hint at his state of mind:

He is basically a murder machine who fights because … I dunno … reasons? And he chooses to fight for one side over the other because …. I dunno … other reasons? Things happen because they’re supposed to happen, and the game assumes you are okay with that.

Other Thoughts

There was a great opportunity to give some of the NPCs at the Resistance Base some real personality, or personal histories. Imagine listening to them tell stories of all the hardships and dangers they had to face, either fighting against their oppressors, or running away from them. It would serve as motivation for both the player and Zero. I have seen some very longform analyses of the storylines of both MMZ 2 and MMZ 3. This implies that their stories are more involved than what we get here, and I am extremely curious to see whether or not that is the case.