Upgrade wise, Zero is way faster than his original body, refight omega, your triple slash is nearly double the speed of his. Gameplay wise, this tightens up control
Exactly, Because by the time of the elf War most reploids for being built with synthetic muscles that could lift more and react faster than hydraulic and pneumatic Pistons while maintaining a smaller body frame making them harder to hit.
or maybe it's not even the same Zero. It could be a reimagining like MmX, and mm legends. I remember someone trying to make sense of the timeline for every mario game and every zelda game.
Fun fact, if you get the X Capsules as Zero, he clarifies that that was just an excuse he made, and he doesn't actually know how he survived, saying that his systems either repaired him automatically, or someone else repaired him in secret. It isn't revealed what was responsible for his return, but we can all take a guess (Dr. Wily, a la Isoc).
Simply not true. Omega is using Zeros original body from X1, and he looks identical to MMZ Zero except for color. Its just a style change and hes meant to look exactly the same as the X series.
From what I understand with the lore and the series itself, it isn't just a design choice, because by ZX it was stated that since "Reploids" had upgraded so much, that the only easy way to tell them apart from a human was the crystal on their foreheads, and by that era humanity was also getting used to getting upgrades too, as some humans had been getting cybernetic upgrades so they could compete with reploids, and by the Legends era the "Carbons" couldn't be told apart from humans and reploids, so thats why it makes sense that it was just the technology getting better.
But Zero never had an upgrade, he was locked during X series and wake up already different, nobody touched him, it's not explained why he's wearing a different armor when he wakes up, and now we know it was simply a re-design, they threw away old Zero's form, this is how Zero has always been now... So stupid, old design was way better. And changing it without a lore is just lazy.
@@alexrodrigues4775 Lol. Zero has never had an upgrade? Did you forget his prototype body was destroyed in X1, and then he was rebuilt as he was intended to be by Serges in X2? Then the guy was basically just a torso in X5, and somehow his auto repair system, which is like nanobot technology or something, fixed him up by X6. I would call those times as upgrades, since he was stronger than he was before when they happened, but then X8 came around and he was made to be more humanoid, and its unknown if it was that his body just adapted, or if like what happened to X in Command Mission, he was upgraded somehow so he could also be compatible with force metals, as X also had very complicated internal systems, but he was confirmed to have upgraded, so it makes sense for Zero to have been as well. Some changes could be just design choices, since even in the first X game, Zero did not have the green gems on his body, it was only after X2 and onward that they designed him with them, so I will stick to the lore wise explanation that it was just the technology changing.
@@Chrisezo lol you misunderstood, of course Zero has had upgrades throughout the series. What i said is that, after he was sealed away during the events of Megaman X series, he was then woken up at the start of Megaman Zero series and was already with his different appearance. Everyone wanted to know what happened between games for him to have a new armor. Turns out it was just a redesign without ingame explanation, which is terribly lazy and disrespectful to Megaman legacy imo.
This is one of those things that would be easy to sort out definitively if there weren't so much conflicting information. Capcom staff, Inti's staff, and Inafune all have conflicting points. The only part of it that has been consistent is that Capcom technically considers every Mega Man series a "possible future" deal, so there's no _strict_ canon that isn't specific to a series.
The answer is quite simple Because by the time of the elf war in universe reploids were becoming more human like including using synthetic muscles that were better than hydraulic and pneumatic Pistons which allowed them to have a thinner body frames. Zero's original body had been upgraded with those same synthetic muscles and systems, the thing that people have to remember is the things that made zero so strong were his strong spirit, Fierce determination, and one of the only two Hardware pieces that actually mattered is power supply which was damn near infinite energy with a very high output of said power. The synthetic muscles just made it easier for him to Output this power.
@@zachbahamutson5477 The problem with that is that its a recurring theme in the X games that No one other than Wily in a robot body can repair Zero as no one even understands how he works. So there is quite the jump to them figuring out how the original Zero works and how to further improve him which are things never state and highly unlikely given that no one even figured out how to make a perfect copy of X until just recent in the MMZ era. What I want to say is things would have been much easier if they just recycled a old X era sprites for Omega rather than palet swap the player sprite.
How about a halfway design. Omega has the Zero 3 final design but elf wars Zero is based on the Elf wars panel on the Archie Comics Mega man issue 55. It would be interesting that his copy body originally used a lot of Zero's older armor as an ad hoc repair.
Not to mention the Phoenix Magnion phantoms having the X-series proportions since they were all from the time before the technology upgrade! Thanks for the visual cameo
I have my own explanation, both x and zero's x series body was badly damaged after the elf wars. Because their bodies were a mystery to many scientists, they couldn't be rebuilt. So they gave them new sleeker bodies to keep up with the current technology.
@@ulquiorraemobrstatus6536 I mean... no because they function at a superior rate to what we see in the X-series (when they have proper energy resources anyway). And it does feed into the overall lore of Robots and Humans becoming so integrated in both form and function that they become indistinguishable except to the most discerning of eyes.
I feel like that could only work for Zero, considering original X body has his original design with the shoulder and torso pieces on the chamber holding Mother elf
Force Metal was explicitly stated to be from outer space. I don't think Dr. Light or Wily planned for reploids to find kryptonite and use it as steroids.
To me, people are overcomplicating Zero's redesign. It's just an art style change. No matter what the lore implies, it has to look different. Even in childhood, by the time even I saw the game's box art, I understood that. Can't blame people for digging every nook and cranny that's left of the Mega Man content that we got, though, but there's not much else of importance, either.
There is always a meta level reason if you wanna explain it simply. Yeah it's an art style change, but how does it work in the canon? It's because later games went for more sleek and humanlike designs to show how tech advances overtime reploids are now look more human. You can easily oversimplify and say the devs did it just because they had to just because. Why turn Leon into an action hero in RE4? To appeal to a wider audience. Why cut off Nero's arm? To give him a new mechanic and give an excuse to bring Vergil back.
@@MH_Zard Well, yes, there's always some reason on the meta level. I'm not sure that your examples work quite as intended, though; Leon's action hero status and Nero's arm are already imbedded into Leon's character and DMC's plot respectively, but the MMZ art shift isn't relevant from a plot perspective. The art is a depiction of the story, but it's not a part of the storyline in the same way.
@@RouroniRockman It doesn't have to all that super plot relevant. They have handwaved things like it in the series already. Like the jump from Classic to X and then X to Zero. It's simply time passage and things change, like technology. You can chalk it up to they wanted a different take of the games for their respective sequels. But to hit home the fact that these are sequels, the robots all start to look more complicated and more sleek with complicated designs and complex names. The design choices and world they want to build can go hand in hand. They can intend it initially or fill the blanks later and make up a reason for the change.
Honestly I think people want another explanation, or a in-universe explanation, because the design is so drastic and just going 'they just drew him different, but is the same design in universe' is not very satisfying for a lot of people (me included). But if that is, then it is what it is.
@@MH_Zard You're not wrong that they can justify changes retroactively, but that's not always what ends up happening, especially in these types of situations. I can think of at least a handful of media where there were design changes for characters that went unaddressed in-universe. Just off the top of my head, the Joker in the DCAU went through 3 different designs from Batman the Animated Series through Justice League Unlimited, his final one effectively becoming a retcon for the previous two. "There can be an explanation" does not always mean that "there is an explanation", especially in fiction. Is it less enticing for the reason to be purely meta? Of course. But sometimes the boring answer is the one you're going to get.
I've always followed Reploid Revo's reasoning for the in-universe change. Even accounting for the century of war, energy crisis and rebellion, technological advancements still occurred, reploids being direct beneficiaries of that. Gears and rods replaced with artificial muscles, body proportions slimmed out to appear more humanoid while not losing strength, etc. As for the whole body shenanigans, while Weil himself making the modifications to both of Zero's bodies is possible, I'd just as easily assume enough time passed since the X series that Zero upgraded to that form over time. The only historical specifications we have are which century each series took place in. No exact years.
@@Just_a_teddy_bear He is very rude, he bans people from his discord (and lie) when they dissagree with him. That's all opinions that he dissagrees with are enough to get you kicked out with no manners. Later on I learned I wasn't the only one, on the Megaman Reddit I learned plenty of people got kiccked out too for sharing their opinions, I don't think that's way to treat fans of his content. If he has told me, I would have left without making problem.
Honestly, Omega’s appearance in the final battle has always seemed rather straightforward to me. We see him altering his own body (Zero’s original body) multiple times with the Dark Elf’s power. He keeps going bigger and bulkier, but Zero manages to keep up with and defeat him every time. So, Omega just says “screw it” and changes his body again to mimic Zero’s current one: sleeker, more agile, yet still retaining some of Zero’s abilities from the X games.
@@JoaoPaulo-jy2sb Really? I thought the "mech" was just the old Zero body but heavily modified. I mean, it even bears a strong resemblance to the original if you look closely.
@@GoldLight73 Iirc, the Armor on the outside is a kind of conduit that is supposed to channel his power for project Elpizo. Its not just so he's big and bulky, its a machine to control the minds of reploids first, a battle armor second. Which would explain why its so easy to defeat 😂 The second form is Dark Elf shenanigans (similar to that of Elpizo or that random pantheon mini boss)
Zero looks that way because he just evolved with the times, remember the games are leading into Legends series so naturally robots will look more human like. Shit in ZX series you would only be able to tell if it’s a reploid from looking at the Triangle tattoo on their forehead if not for that tattoo they would appear as a regular human!
But Zero never had an upgrade, he was locked during X series with his previous appearance, and woke up in Z series already looking different. There's no in game explanation. You have your own head cannon to fix reality, but truth is, they were lazy and did Zero dirty, gave him an ugly armor and deleted the previous one from the lore of their games.
@@dansmith16 Okay but he was unsealed, so it's easily explained. Problem is that he changed armor while sealed. Someone else must've done it, who was it? There's no explanation.
I also like the new design of Zero he looks cool and I dig it I like the original one too don't get me wrong but I started with the Zero/ZX series so that's also probably why.
Phoenix magnion uses an attack that shows repliods from the X series as they appear in that series, and since they look accurate, then it would make sense that X and Zero would as well, I subscribe to the theory that during the elf wars X and Zero were modified possibly to use cyber elves.
a persona theory in lore for the design change it could be that ceratanium (the in-universe mineral) that is used in the construction of reploids it's going scarce due to the constant and massive production of reploids, making the use of other technologies and limiting the use of the mineral allowing the design of more compact bodies, that explanation could also serve for why ceratanium is rare element for making parts in mmz4
personaly i preffer the redesign,not only is less comical without them wierd legs and arms but its also something that carried over to EVERYTHING IntiCreates,from BlasterMaster character's design to the ultimate homage to the Zero franchise Gunvolt AND LuminousAvanger IX,its sheer proof of how much Inti cared about megaman as a franchise just as much as Inafune did
We may forget that in the beginning we only see Zero's upper half missing the torso and Passy (Ciel's companion Elf) basically merge with it giving Passy's design to Zero. Of course that is just a theory but even X's design in Elf form is new so the Elf design might be one of the driving force for this redesign. Also, X looking like that is because he fought in the Elf War, meaning; just like how he can copy their attacks, he can copy their style of armor.
Upgrade wise, Zero is way faster than his original body, refight omega, your triple slash is nearly double the speed of his. Gameplay wise, this tightens up control
I find this interesting that after so many years people are still debating about this! Just goes to show how passionate the fans are. Did you all do the Capcom survey?
It is mostly said by Reploid REVO that, prior to the Elf Wars where Zero originally have the megaman Zero design, his original body has gone missing and in doing so led to him using a spare body similar to his original body during that time period to join X once the Elf Wars arrived. Meaning that somewhere after megaman X 8 and before the beginning of the elf wars is where the technology has evolved
My head cannon lore about the design choice is that ReploidForce/MaverickHunters kept improvising personnel alloy for further environmental adaption. Zeroes case was more to make him easy to integrate him in society as he was much more feared than other Mavericks.
I personally like to think that the body zero inhabits in this series is just a standard reploid body made for non combative reasons because this version of zero does not have a buster or any weapon attached to his body (until the z knuckle), which is why he uses a buster shot rather than a buster.
I admittedly preferred it to not just be a artstyle thing. Yeah, it would be thematically understandable that, though the years continue, he's the same as he was then, now, and would be in the years to come, but it also just felt like such an afterthought with the explanation. It also would make what was meant to just be an Easter Egg Attack with Bit, Vile, Agile and Colonel, feel less like just a Easter Egg that spits in the idea of consistency with the rule, and makes it feel like Zero is literally being struck by the ghosts of a past so long ago to show the jump in body types that have become what they are. Of course, at the end of the day, it was a case of trying to dissociate with what came before to a degree, but it's sometimes nice to just have connective tissue. I don't really have any theories on the notion myself, I just found it nice to have there be some explanations rather than just handwaving it (Though with it being inherently ancillary media, it will have that handwave feel)
My impression was that as Zero was held in captivity and studied, his body was altered and upgraded in line with the technological advancements of the time. So while it's Zero's original body which Weil stole, it is a modern Zero body. And if researchers had been working on Zero's body, it makes sense to me that they would be familiar enough with Zero's body to create an exact clone.
Good video. Inafune was FOS tho. When Powered Up came out, he'd said that the new SD style was how he always intended for Mega Man to look. It didn't work out because Powered Up didn't matter after the fact, so Mega Man looks how he looks now, which leans toward the MM11 style.
@ReploidREVO I'm gonna' do my best to find it man but it was from an interview that happened prior to the release of Powered Up... that was long ago. Will link you if/when I find it.
@ReploidREVO This was GameSpy from the 2005 Tokyo Gameshow, you'll see the quote below I copied and pasted. I got it from page 3 of the article. Copy and paste this without the quotations in google and it should be the first link: "Mega Man on PSP -- Keiji Inafune and Tatsuya Kitabayashi Interview" Gamespy : "The new art style for the game is really, really cute. What prompted the new style?" Inafune: "Believe it or not, what you're seeing on the PSP is what I originally intended Mega Man to look like. But as I was making the game for the NES, there were limitations on the hardware and the graphics, so he ended up looking how he looked in those games. Now that I have hardware that has far fewer limitations as far as the graphics, I can finally show the true Mega Man that I wanted to show."
i remember when i saw the cover art of Mega Man zero , i honestly thougt this was a game set before the X series and you was playing as a young zero. surprised is set after x series.
@@Shamazya I remember I imagined the game, having zero going against willy and other creations he made, but somehow Megaman,bass and the others were absent.
There was a.... boss from Zero 2, the phoenix guy. One of his moves was to summon ghosts/illusions of reploids from the past like Bit and Colonel. And the sprites used for them was the old bulky X-series sprites. i think this adds more to how the design upgrades are indeed canon.
didnt they say that somewhere that was the case and they took the pure good soul of zero and put him in another body as the virus was too much for him or something???
@@supersonicjc It's in MMZ4, I believe. They was cocky because they had Zero's original body and power. However, it's not just the body that made Zero and why he was able to beat Omega. I remember a rumor back in the day that they actually wanted to use the Zero body sprite from the X games but couldn't due to sprite limitations or something. I forgot why, but something did happen why he went into a hibernation, similarly to X going into a hibernation, only to become a cyber elf essentially.
It’s been stated somewhere that Omega was an original personality created by Weil however they teased that the original programming in the body may be influencing Omega so the bloodthirst may in part be from the Maverick part of Zero in the body
Aside from the answer being CAPCOM. Wasn't this explained in the third game? Didn't Weil use Zero's OG body armor for Omega (before the final omega zero battle) and upgrade it which is why Omega's white and Gold forms look more like Zero. And then the final Omega Zero is his base body without the outside armor. (The the zero you play is a clone body based off that) Also notice how Omega's gold battle form looks like Gate as well (who used Zero's DNA in x6) Then his second form is both X and Zero. He also looks kinda like Lumine in the center as well.
Right? Like, he's practically a "knight" style version of X series Zero. Sword holstered on his back, the half pipe/horned helmet, the pauldrons to an extent, yet no one said anything. A little thing and maybe a little off subject, but he shares the same coloration and similarities to Megaman Juno from Legends, like the arms and purple hair.
Mega Man, Zero and Bass aren't "reploids". They are ROBOT MASTERS. Technically, while the Reploids evolved to be more like Humans, Mega Man and Zero shouldn't have unless they'd been rebuilt. I'm also shocked that they never actually show us the Reploid creation process or how they gain individuality. They show Gray in a tube in ZX Advent, but not much more.
Yeah that was something I was disappointed by, the creation process I mean. At least in X4 and X5 you at least see Zero's creation process and Maverick Hunter X expands on the creation process with X. I felt like given that X and Zero were advanced robots or "Robot Masters" they should retain their og look, plus shows that they are robots from a bygone time period. But Inti stated they had a hard time trying draw X series Zero and weren't satisfied with how they turned out, so they threw it in Nakayama's court and gave him free reign.
I always followed my Headcanon personally. I think the aesthetic change happened during the Elf Wars. I tend to think that Omega used Zero's original body as a base all along. I remember reading somewhere in the complete works that an "ancester of Ciel" designed the "Copy Zero" so I tend to look at it as Zero vs Omega (X-series Zero) happened during the Elf wars. Changing Zero's appearence would eliminate confusion on the battlefield (evil twin scenario) and after Omega's eventual defeat? Weil might think that the Copy (cheap as it was) might have been more optomized with modern tech, so would reconstruct Omega with this in mind.
My personal headcannon is that the zero we play as in the new reploid look being made a while ago but not too long ago But omega still is the original body so he still looks the same So in my mind if zero 3 gets remade with no limitations our redesigned zero will fight an x8 or command mission zero look omega
at first i didn't like the new zero style, but as i played and got immersed in the amazing MMZ story, i end up liking the new styles even more than the original
My theory was because of the ending of X6 as Zero, he meets with the mysterious scientist where Zero is put in a sleep state while he attempts to remove the Zero virus from his body to keep him from turning maverick. The scientist even said to him that he looks like he has it under control. Yet Zero still wanted it removed just in case. If you look at the scientist reploid he looks somewhat slimmer as well. The scientist then Tells Zero he will wake up around 100 years later if successful. Now perhaps during the time of his slumber, the scientist had probably upgraded his body to a slimmer version. Eventually the scientist either died or was killed probably by Weil or was discovered by Weil, a copy body was created for Zero, and his soul was transferred to the copy body which in the first game, zero was missing his arms maybe it was incomplete and omega was transferred to zero's old body. Weil wanted Zero's body probably because it still had the virus to awaken omega. Once weil had the body he had no use for the original zero soul in the copy body. During a war possibly zero was in his slumber or during enough explosions and stuff the body was damaged until it was found by ciel.
While I prefer X series designs, I think the Rockman Zero designs may be more anatomically accurate, cause whenever they interact with characters in crossovers, even when they’re using the X-series designs they’re described as appearing doll like, or as children like in Project X Zone.
From what I have seen on UA-cam zeros body was used in the elf wars as an anti-elf weapon. His head was the only thing that remained, and then 100 years later they just put his head on a new body with all the new designs and technology.
I had always reasoned that it was technological advancement until I saw Omega in MMZ3, so this definitely helped. And from the artistic perspective, if I'm being completely honest, I do personally believe that the MMZ series designs are just superior to the original X series ones. The MMX series design style was outdated and needed to be replaced. It was cool at the time, but such oversized hands, arms, legs, and feet was just ridiculous. The style of the MMZ series is my favorite from any Mega Man game series.
Beautiful video, the histoty of Zero desing is So amazing and incredible. 🛐💜 Thanks You Rockman HQ, i'm SO proud of You. Your videos are full Masterpieces. I want to know more about the Megaman Saga. Take care, my friend. See You Next time. Rock On! 🧐🥂
I remember playing this series and it mentions that Zero and X left their chips behind and I thought the redesign was a mix of both of them. Wow didn’t realize it was just Zero
I'm the "I don't care, let me play and peace!" guy in 10:26. There's also anniversary art that has Zero in old an new designs in front of a set of runners containing his accessories.
Speaking of Gundam redesign Zero vs Omega and Zero vs Weil do have similarities to Wing Gundam Zero vs Epyon and Crossbone Gundam X3 vs Divinidad respectively.
I love the reploid designs for the characters including Zero's look in the MMZ/MMZX series. One of my favorites has to be Harpuia's. Also to me the redesigns make sense because being that the Zero series is WAAAY later after X, the technology being more advanced and compact-looking would fit the more slimmed bodies of the reploids than the bulkier looking ones in the X-series.
I would love a Mega Man X9 where X uses his Command mission design, Axl is slightly modified and Zero has the design seen in Archie Mega man issue 55 during the Elf wars. Zero's design there is basically his Zero design but color wise in his X series with the chest, Helmet and the Shoulder Guards of X2 onwsrds. It would be interesting as while the copy body is perfect it was left purposely incomplete meaning old spare parts had to be used and X upgrade parts as well.
I always thought Megaman Zero was a branched off the Megaman X6's Zero ending. Since they speak of Zero going into a 102 year sleep. Which, if you remember from Megaman Zero, Zero was woken up early (100 years vs 102 years). It would explain the disoriented state, lost memories and such... and they speak of how zero "disappeared" which is how zero appears to disappear to this deep sleep in Megaman X6. It was the perfect "what if" ending to branch off of.
In the Mega Man Zero Complete Artbook the concept art of Omega that shows the outershell-body looking more like a sarcophagus had the inner body looking more blocky in the shadows it's stepping out of so it feels like they were at least considering to have Omega look like Zero's original look at some point during production.
It's kinda cool to think of it as an upgrade to the advancement in technology. Which is why you can possibly explain why their bodies are more human looking, with muscles and all.
I think it's worth mentioning that a MMZ era design for reploids are more human looking, which fits with the series trend/theme of robots and humans becoming more indistinguishable as the timeline progresses. So it's always made sense to me that Zero's new design is meant to be an upgrade in-universe. When I first saw Omega, I did think it would have made more sense for him to look like MMX era Zero, but I figured that the developers probably just didn't want to create a new version of that sprite, so I just sort of pretended that he did have the old design in-universe.
I like both artstyle. I can accept the theory of the advance armor layer thingy. Big chunky OG armor Zero is cool. Slick run N gun/slash slim Zero is cool. ZeroExE is cool. All Zeros are cool :D
Its Nakayamas Zero MMZ Zero Its a retcon as far as I see it If X and Classic were made in the Zero style they'd look completely reimagined, not just Zero was redesigned but everything in the world is completely different Thats the only thing that makes sense to me I don't need MMZ to connect to MMX perfectly, it functions perfectly fine as its own secluded series
Samus' Fusion Suit. If Zero had to enter the stasis for scientists to rebuild him, then armor plating must go off. Assuming the copy body deemed successful, plating fits back snuggly. Unfortunately, Zero armor nowhere to be found or rendered no longer salvageable by events of MMZ.
To be honest my favorite zero is the one that has a much brighter red to him. He is just more good looking in the red and white rather than a black and red. It just looks so much better.
I find a small flaw in the "lore" expressed in the Omega character profile: If Weil did modify the body, wouldn't it made it look different than Copy Zero? Just to avoid a long text block, let's point out the not of a story: 1. Zero locks down it's body for purging the Maverick Virus. Gets a new copy body to use. 2. Weil steals original Zero body and implants Omega into it. 3. Elf-Wars catastrophe with Omega at it's core, got nuked by Zero and X. 4. Zero's new body is most-likely infected with M.Virus. Into lockdown for purge. 5. X uses it's body to contain mother Elf and it's consciousness is turned into a cyber-elf. So, copy was done before Weil steals the original, which is subsequently modified to create Omega... and they look exactly the same despite being the original body? The modification Weil made are only the big white and purple giant body and the original is untouched? This is as mudded as the Maverick Virus influence on the designation of Maverick to a rogue robot. In my opinion, the art change is just that: interpretation of a different artist because it is just that: an interpretation. Personally, I find Inafune's commentary a way to expand the perception of his influence on the project (something he has done previously).
The timeline of post X series pre elf wars is an enigma. But to do some corrections, Zero was sealed to study him as his body’s unique reaction to the Virus (shown most prominently I n X5). Weil was a part of the government if I recall being part of a faction (I forget if speculation or was stated) so he was working on his solution in parallel to the one Ciel’s ancestor would create (this is likely when the Weil creating the new body came from in the timeline). The Elf Wars has some details and one of which was that while Weil was making baby elves was unable to combine Omega and Dark Elf with the final battle (X’s faction at the very least at this point having the dark elf and possibly using it) being depicted in a CD Drama where X and Zero commit a Final Strike from command mission to disable Omega. The Maverick virus by this point has been wiped from existence, Zero voluntarily sealed himself once more believing the devastation from X series to Elf Wars was his fault like he was cursed to cause destruction and disaster. You got the sealing of Dark Elf right other than the action causing some form of trauma that split his cyber elf into 5 pieces. Now considering Weil’s revival of Copy X I think it’s a good chance that Zero already looked like his Zero series body which was then copied by Weil if one is to believe the timeline I mentioned up there (it may be based on the XDive profile or the speculation discussions that came from knowing Weil made the copy body )
Exactly, it's an interpretation Inti even stated it as much. Just throwing this in to back you up on that. Inticreates had stated that the Zero series body was not meant to be seen as an upgrade. It is meant for the series to be told apart from the X series, since Capcom blatanly made X6, which threw everything off course. Inti out of desperation had to change X from being a villain and make it where it's copy X instead because of Capcom. The Zero series style is basicially similar to how anime would get a makeover for a movie debut or when it comes to introducing a new season. In the Complete Works of the Z series, Nakayama even said in the interview, "I don't know if you would call them changes... We wanted to impart a sense of evolution. By virtue of the opinion that everything leads to Legends, we felt that we need to move away from the mechanical feel of the X series. That is probably what has been perceived as "changes" with the series. It's not that we were changing it enough to connect it directly to Legends, but we are certainly shifting towards a more human direction." Also, they had a hard time drawing classic Zero and were unsatisfied with the results, so they gave Nakayama creative freedom. Both Zero and Omega would have classic Zero's full complete squared pauldrons armor.
We need the X series to continue into the Elf Wars... I wanna play as a redesigned X or Axl in canon... That Archie picture was so sick... This must mean that Axl dies in the Elf Wars... Hard to tell...
2:39 Just a slight nitpick because Gundam is also my thing: the "ver Ka." isnt the designer's (Hajime Katoki) initials. This also means it is read as "Ka" and not "K.A."
Fair enough. Apparently people got really upset on this one, I'm just a casual Gundam fan and not a single Ver.Ka has come out that I've wanted. Getting threatened over the pronunciation of a style has been a crazy unforeseen experience though. I went with what I've picked up on over the years. I'll do better next time.
Honestly it's kinda my head canon that the zero zero is zero's bidy after x4 and the zero we get from x5-8 is a backup body wily had prepared for zero in the event of catastrophic failure. Hence at some point within the 100 years Zero's only backup ceased to function and he went back to the original, which wasn't done with repairs until ciel went and fixed him with a cyber elf
From a design perspective I do agree that the mega man zero games having its own art style to separate itself from the mega man X games is a great way for people to recognize it. After all this is Zero’s chapter, hence the title mega man zero. Series lore wise, we can only really speculate. My theory is that when zero voluntarily encapsulates himself in the ending to X6 (or was it X4?) maverick hunter scientists and researchers starts picking away at zero’s body to both study and eradicate the Wily virus. Why his whole body? well it seems like if anyone gets way too close of contact with zero they contract the wily virus, hence why sigma went maverick. Another piece of evidence is when gate explains that after he found a piece of zero’s parts, he felt immense knowledge and power that felt too much to contain. At least that’s what I think as the reason behind that bit of lore.
I'm a "the simplest explanation is usually the best" kinda guy. And that explanation is simply an art-style change. The reason an in-universe re-design doesn't work for me is that Zero 3 has so much talk about Zero's original body, but if Zero has changed bodies multiple times since the start of the series then there's no reason for anyone to expect him to give a shit about whichever body Omega is. I've seen people try to explain this away, but no one has given an explanation as concise as "it's an art change". So, let's rewind and look at it from that perspective: the devs get a green light to make Mega Man Zero. They're making it for the GBA, a system with a VERY tiny screen. So, they need to make sprites that take up as little screen real estate as possible. Bam: you have a clear and concise explanation for the re-design. From there, interviews are with people who need to give answers to interest and/or satisfy a canon-obsessed fan base. Thus, you have comments like Inafune's vague allusion to 100 years of technological development. I think that if they were REALLY thinking of it as an in-universe redesign, then they would have drawn Omega to look like X-series Zero to hammer home that "original body" comment from Weil. And while I think the sprites were designed the way they were for screen real-estate purposes, that wouldn't matter as much for a single boss fight. The X-series Zero design is too bulky to be on-screen for the entire game, but it would be fine for one final boss fight.
Cial was the one who built the copy body for Zero. She, and the rest of her organization, were wanting to study the Zero Virus Antibodies which lead to the creation of the Mother Elf. During their study, they had swapped Zero's body so he could still function, then Weil stole and modified Zero into Omega. So, if anything, Weil possibly based Omega's upgrades on Cial's design. Given that she was able to replicate Zero, albeit an "inferior" version, he possibly wanted to prove he could do it better. But, eh, I haven't thought about this for years, so I might have gotten things wrong.
To me the lore reason is that some (or the rest) of zero’s armor just fell or rusted off. Considering he kept dying in x, it’s bound to happen. The irl reason is just art style change, but I still like his z series design more
Because it's BETTER! Seriously, I have always hated zero's vacuum tube nipples from the day I first saw him. The redesign was a godsend. In all seriousness though, I just like those type of proportions (skinny body, big boots and gloves, overall teenage-child look). The mmx designs weren't really my thing. classic Mega man, zero and zx for me!
That's a question I think the lore of X to Zero might have already answered. Aside from an art change, the ELF wars devastated the population of both reploids and humans, at that point there eventually was an energy crisis and that probably advanced reploid design to be a bit more efficient. Idk, that's just my take.
From what I remember from the story. Weil made a copy of Zero’s body and transferred his cyber elf/soul into the copy. All so he can put Omega in Zero’s OG body. I assumed this was an explanation as to why he looked different. However they looked the same. So I honestly just think it was a different artistic direction. Probably had a lot to do with fact that they had to jam all that into a GBA game.
The character redesigns are pretty much the only thing I didn't like about the Zero games. I liked the zero series and it was great having new megaman x style games but i really couldn't stand how they made Zero's buster into a handgun and I never really liked the art style of the games in general. Learning that it was just because of some silly anime trope is kind of a bummer.
i was always under the impression that the games took place 100 years after zero seals himself away in x6 in order to stop the spread of the virus. then lead to him getting his redesign for easier testing and studying, afterwards the copy body was made (the Zero you play as in MMZ) where hes uploaded into it but still contained out of fear of him being taken over. then i guess was forgotten about sealed away until Ciel finds him. i figured that would explain both the redesign and why Omega looks like him despite being the original body. I believe this is all form the audio novel through fan translation. if I'm wrong then fee lfree to correct me, its been a while since i watched a video on zeros design in Z
as much as I do like the Zero series design I still feel like it could use shoulder pads to stand out among other reploids (like especially 4 Guardians kinda makes this design lose uniqueness in the "recognize just by silhouette" test) maybe not the square boxes from X, but something sleeker, like his EXE version from BN just no so oversized, or maybe something like White Ranger from original MMPR, which could make the impact of Omega fight even better if he had sprite altered to show that his shoulder pad still has Zeros original iconic printing, while Zero we play as don't have it
The funny thing is, I think it's entirely possible that the Megaman Zero version of Zero and Megaman were always -under- the body armor from the Megaman X series games. Now hear me out. In the Original Megaman games, Rock/Mega had a civilian mode body, and had an armor including separately attachable helmet. Why would Dr. Light, who wanted Megaman X to be a robot of peace deny this obviously low tech ability to his masterpiece? It even makes sense, when you consider in the Megaman X series, X is capable of gaining new armors, and in some of the games even having multiple Armors that he can choose between. But they progressively got thinner until it looks like just a vest and hotpants over tights, what's that about? Well, Simple. The Advancement of Weapons -Far- outstripped that of Armor. We've seen it in the Real World. Armor got better and better along with weapons, until Hand held Firearms were invented. Then a Man in plate mail which could shrug off knives and swords from trained knights was instantly downed by a farmer with a blunderbuss. Weapons eclipsed armor, and continued to eclipse armor until Flak Jackets and later on Kevlar were made. But even now firearms are developing such that even those are becoming obsolete (Armor Piercing rounds do exist). And that's not even getting to the point of heavy Ordinance. But during the time between fire arms becoming a potent weapon in the army until bulletproof materials were made, soldiers wore cloth, because moving faster and without tiring the soldier was a far better option, than useless armor. So, let's apply that to The Megaman X series into the Cyber Fairy Wars into the Megaman Zero and ZX ages. In X1-5 even, we see the enemy weapons develop to such a point at which Zero and X are blown into bits by the end of X5, and when they continue on the armor gets even less bulky. Why? Because Dodging the attack is better than trying to take it head on. X5 is the Turning point. In it, X has the Fourth Armor (from X4) and gains the Falcon, Gaea and Ultimate Armor, but in X6, he only keeps the Falcon armor (and later reobtains the Ultimate). Why is that? He can fly. Maneuverability trumps defense because the weapons are outstripping the armor again. Heck even in the same game, the Ultimate Armor has features from the Fourth Armor and Falcon Armor, completely refusing to take anything from the Gaea armor. Flash forward to Zero, And Copy X uses a version of X5's Ultimate Armor that is coloured as the Fourth Armor (Again only taking Fourth and Falcon Armor abilities). Gameplay wise, I don't know about you, but even in my rather poor gameplay Zero is absolutely zippy. He flies across the screen without any upgrades to his abilities. His upgrades and powerups are all internal upgrades. He never feels this fast in the X games. In fact, it even feels like he's an outright upgrade to X8's Black Zero, which doubled his strength and speed at the cost of doubling the damage he took (effectively shed armor for more speed and power). Then, there's the ZX Series, where the Bio-Metal/Live Metals are literally Super-Sentai/Magical-Girl Transformations that put parts on top of the user's body. And even further into the *VERY* far flung future, in Megaman Legends, we had the super advanced world ended, and the reboot that was the Carbons didn't advance weapons or armor tech, even to the point that this generation's Megaman is shoddily refurbished and his weapons are analog and have to be removed and attached in a workshop. Why didn't this Megaman, Who is a holdover from the Super Advanced time, have the super advanced tech inside him to do any of the prior stuff? Well, endgame weapons like the crystal drill and the super laser from Legends 2 show you just how overpowered the lost technology had. Literally everything with any amount of armor is melted by the weapons. What would be the point in actually armoring him, when those endgame weapons can absolutely melt the final boss in seconds? This even makes sense as to why the Zero series' Z-Buster, and Copy Busters all are external guns. They always were. Rock/Mega put on the armor, which includes the Megabuster built into the Arm parts. Same for X And the X-Busters, Zero and the Z-Buster (Which is also why he can give it to you in Megaman X1 if you don't have the Arm Parts by the time he self-destructs on Vile, he's not giving you his entire arm, he's giving you the armor's arm parts). The Zero Series even takes this to the logical Extreme in Z3, where you get the Z-Knuckle, which RIPS THE WEAPON OFF OF ENEMIES. Weil's Weapons are advancing faster than the Resistance's weapons can, so it's faster to just take the enemy's and use them. In the Real world this happened A LOT in WW1 and WW2. Sure, the Redesigns were absolutely real world decisions, but you can absolutely easily retcon that the design was always there, just under a lot of armor, and it's just the shape of the armor that ever got redesigned.
Wait, the question Keiji was asked was about Reploids of the Zero series in particular, not specifically Zero himself who maybe could be considered a Robot Master of a different era, so isn't it possible he was just referring to Reploids of that time period rather than Zero? I feel like we don't have enough conclusive information to definitively claim that Zero looks different due to upgrades, although we do know explicitly that it was claimed to be an art change for Zero specifically, since in the interview with that they specifically mentioned him. The rest of the evidence you proposed kind of feels like a stretch to me, but I appreciate the fact that you didn't waste time, got to the point, and stated your sources, even if I personally feel there isn't enough explicit information like there is with the art style change quote to support the idea of Zero looking different due to upgrades.
The mechanical reason is because sprites had to be compact and functional.
The lore reason is upgrades.
Upgrade wise, Zero is way faster than his original body, refight omega, your triple slash is nearly double the speed of his. Gameplay wise, this tightens up control
Exactly, Because by the time of the elf War most reploids for being built with synthetic muscles that could lift more and react faster than hydraulic and pneumatic Pistons while maintaining a smaller body frame making them harder to hit.
or maybe it's not even the same Zero. It could be a reimagining like MmX, and mm legends. I remember someone trying to make sense of the timeline for every mario game and every zelda game.
you just saved me 13mins. Thank you.
@@CheeseshredderWhat do you mean reimagining?
The X series is a sequel to the Classic series and Zero is a sequel to the X series.
Its because he hid himself while he rebuilt himself.
This guys onto something...
This killed me
Fun fact, if you get the X Capsules as Zero, he clarifies that that was just an excuse he made, and he doesn't actually know how he survived, saying that his systems either repaired him automatically, or someone else repaired him in secret.
It isn't revealed what was responsible for his return, but we can all take a guess (Dr. Wily, a la Isoc).
Simply not true. Omega is using Zeros original body from X1, and he looks identical to MMZ Zero except for color. Its just a style change and hes meant to look exactly the same as the X series.
Which game? @@whichcache2517
"Defeats his evil X and their four kids" took me a sec 😅
I am glad someone finally caught it. I was kinda proud of that little zinger.
From what I understand with the lore and the series itself, it isn't just a design choice, because by ZX it was stated that since "Reploids" had upgraded so much, that the only easy way to tell them apart from a human was the crystal on their foreheads, and by that era humanity was also getting used to getting upgrades too, as some humans had been getting cybernetic upgrades so they could compete with reploids, and by the Legends era the "Carbons" couldn't be told apart from humans and reploids, so thats why it makes sense that it was just the technology getting better.
But to look child like, um...
But Zero never had an upgrade, he was locked during X series and wake up already different, nobody touched him, it's not explained why he's wearing a different armor when he wakes up, and now we know it was simply a re-design, they threw away old Zero's form, this is how Zero has always been now... So stupid, old design was way better. And changing it without a lore is just lazy.
@@alexrodrigues4775 Lol. Zero has never had an upgrade? Did you forget his prototype body was destroyed in X1, and then he was rebuilt as he was intended to be by Serges in X2? Then the guy was basically just a torso in X5, and somehow his auto repair system, which is like nanobot technology or something, fixed him up by X6. I would call those times as upgrades, since he was stronger than he was before when they happened, but then X8 came around and he was made to be more humanoid, and its unknown if it was that his body just adapted, or if like what happened to X in Command Mission, he was upgraded somehow so he could also be compatible with force metals, as X also had very complicated internal systems, but he was confirmed to have upgraded, so it makes sense for Zero to have been as well. Some changes could be just design choices, since even in the first X game, Zero did not have the green gems on his body, it was only after X2 and onward that they designed him with them, so I will stick to the lore wise explanation that it was just the technology changing.
@@Chrisezo lol you misunderstood, of course Zero has had upgrades throughout the series.
What i said is that, after he was sealed away during the events of Megaman X series, he was then woken up at the start of Megaman Zero series and was already with his different appearance.
Everyone wanted to know what happened between games for him to have a new armor.
Turns out it was just a redesign without ingame explanation, which is terribly lazy and disrespectful to Megaman legacy imo.
@@shadowopsairman1583 That isn't the design, it's the artstyle. Everyone has those facial proportions in Nakamura's art.
This is one of those things that would be easy to sort out definitively if there weren't so much conflicting information. Capcom staff, Inti's staff, and Inafune all have conflicting points.
The only part of it that has been consistent is that Capcom technically considers every Mega Man series a "possible future" deal, so there's no _strict_ canon that isn't specific to a series.
Which is why XCM is also canon
The answer is quite simple Because by the time of the elf war in universe reploids were becoming more human like including using synthetic muscles that were better than hydraulic and pneumatic Pistons which allowed them to have a thinner body frames. Zero's original body had been upgraded with those same synthetic muscles and systems, the thing that people have to remember is the things that made zero so strong were his strong spirit, Fierce determination, and one of the only two Hardware pieces that actually mattered is power supply which was damn near infinite energy with a very high output of said power. The synthetic muscles just made it easier for him to Output this power.
@@zachbahamutson5477 The problem with that is that its a recurring theme in the X games that No one other than Wily in a robot body can repair Zero as no one even understands how he works.
So there is quite the jump to them figuring out how the original Zero works and how to further improve him which are things never state and highly unlikely given that no one even figured out how to make a perfect copy of X until just recent in the MMZ era.
What I want to say is things would have been much easier if they just recycled a old X era sprites for Omega rather than palet swap the player sprite.
I'd still like an Elf Wars game in this style.
Same
YES
@@RockmanHQ X9-X10-X11-X12 Could Be Elf Wars!One Year Per Game!MAKE IT CRAPCOM!NOOOOWWWWW!
would be my forever goat
How about a halfway design. Omega has the Zero 3 final design but elf wars Zero is based on the Elf wars panel on the Archie Comics Mega man issue 55. It would be interesting that his copy body originally used a lot of Zero's older armor as an ad hoc repair.
Not to mention the Phoenix Magnion phantoms having the X-series proportions since they were all from the time before the technology upgrade!
Thanks for the visual cameo
I can't believe I forgot to work that in. I was even looking at them when researching.
@@RockmanHQ RockmanLQ reporting!
Dang. You got me.
I have my own explanation, both x and zero's x series body was badly damaged after the elf wars. Because their bodies were a mystery to many scientists, they couldn't be rebuilt. So they gave them new sleeker bodies to keep up with the current technology.
That or energy reduction costs. Maybe even to adapt to elvish technology, as you hinted at.
Hey friends, is it just me who thinks new bodies make it seem like technology has regressed?
@@ulquiorraemobrstatus6536 I mean... no because they function at a superior rate to what we see in the X-series (when they have proper energy resources anyway).
And it does feed into the overall lore of Robots and Humans becoming so integrated in both form and function that they become indistinguishable except to the most discerning of eyes.
I feel like that could only work for Zero, considering original X body has his original design with the shoulder and torso pieces on the chamber holding Mother elf
Force Metal was explicitly stated to be from outer space. I don't think Dr. Light or Wily planned for reploids to find kryptonite and use it as steroids.
Where in the video was force metal mentioned?
@@lordmonarch2995 Are you stupid? Oh yes you are. Go google up the term critical thinking and then come back.
Force metal is from Megaman X Command Mission, which happens in an alternate 22XX ≠ Megaman Zero timeline
You are all idiots.
wily used evil energy from space in megaman 8 so he may have planned for it again
To me, people are overcomplicating Zero's redesign. It's just an art style change. No matter what the lore implies, it has to look different. Even in childhood, by the time even I saw the game's box art, I understood that. Can't blame people for digging every nook and cranny that's left of the Mega Man content that we got, though, but there's not much else of importance, either.
There is always a meta level reason if you wanna explain it simply. Yeah it's an art style change, but how does it work in the canon? It's because later games went for more sleek and humanlike designs to show how tech advances overtime reploids are now look more human.
You can easily oversimplify and say the devs did it just because they had to just because. Why turn Leon into an action hero in RE4? To appeal to a wider audience. Why cut off Nero's arm? To give him a new mechanic and give an excuse to bring Vergil back.
@@MH_Zard Well, yes, there's always some reason on the meta level. I'm not sure that your examples work quite as intended, though; Leon's action hero status and Nero's arm are already imbedded into Leon's character and DMC's plot respectively, but the MMZ art shift isn't relevant from a plot perspective. The art is a depiction of the story, but it's not a part of the storyline in the same way.
@@RouroniRockman It doesn't have to all that super plot relevant. They have handwaved things like it in the series already. Like the jump from Classic to X and then X to Zero. It's simply time passage and things change, like technology. You can chalk it up to they wanted a different take of the games for their respective sequels. But to hit home the fact that these are sequels, the robots all start to look more complicated and more sleek with complicated designs and complex names. The design choices and world they want to build can go hand in hand. They can intend it initially or fill the blanks later and make up a reason for the change.
Honestly I think people want another explanation, or a in-universe explanation, because the design is so drastic and just going 'they just drew him different, but is the same design in universe' is not very satisfying for a lot of people (me included).
But if that is, then it is what it is.
@@MH_Zard You're not wrong that they can justify changes retroactively, but that's not always what ends up happening, especially in these types of situations. I can think of at least a handful of media where there were design changes for characters that went unaddressed in-universe. Just off the top of my head, the Joker in the DCAU went through 3 different designs from Batman the Animated Series through Justice League Unlimited, his final one effectively becoming a retcon for the previous two. "There can be an explanation" does not always mean that "there is an explanation", especially in fiction. Is it less enticing for the reason to be purely meta? Of course. But sometimes the boring answer is the one you're going to get.
I've always followed Reploid Revo's reasoning for the in-universe change.
Even accounting for the century of war, energy crisis and rebellion, technological advancements still occurred, reploids being direct beneficiaries of that. Gears and rods replaced with artificial muscles, body proportions slimmed out to appear more humanoid while not losing strength, etc.
As for the whole body shenanigans, while Weil himself making the modifications to both of Zero's bodies is possible, I'd just as easily assume enough time passed since the X series that Zero upgraded to that form over time. The only historical specifications we have are which century each series took place in. No exact years.
Not a bad theory too bad that Reploid Revo is a jerk, the guy can do some good videos but as a person he is very terrible.
Why??? @@Mike-xh2vm
@@Mike-xh2vm What did he do to recive your negative view on him?
@@Just_a_teddy_bear He is very rude, he bans people from his discord (and lie) when they dissagree with him. That's all opinions that he dissagrees with are enough to get you kicked out with no manners. Later on I learned I wasn't the only one, on the Megaman Reddit I learned plenty of people got kiccked out too for sharing their opinions, I don't think that's way to treat fans of his content. If he has told me, I would have left without making problem.
@@Mike-xh2vm He blocks people for not agreeing with him on certain topics? Wow, that petty as hell
Honestly, Omega’s appearance in the final battle has always seemed rather straightforward to me. We see him altering his own body (Zero’s original body) multiple times with the Dark Elf’s power. He keeps going bigger and bulkier, but Zero manages to keep up with and defeat him every time. So, Omega just says “screw it” and changes his body again to mimic Zero’s current one: sleeker, more agile, yet still retaining some of Zero’s abilities from the X games.
that is his true body though. In MMZ Official Complete Works you can see that his "Zero" body is inside the bigger mech made by Weil
@@JoaoPaulo-jy2sb Really? I thought the "mech" was just the old Zero body but heavily modified. I mean, it even bears a strong resemblance to the original if you look closely.
@@GoldLight73it’s an armor containing the body not the body itself
@@GoldLight73 Iirc, the Armor on the outside is a kind of conduit that is supposed to channel his power for project Elpizo. Its not just so he's big and bulky, its a machine to control the minds of reploids first, a battle armor second. Which would explain why its so easy to defeat 😂 The second form is Dark Elf shenanigans (similar to that of Elpizo or that random pantheon mini boss)
It’s zero original body, the redesign was actually happening during the elf war, i forgot if it was post or during the elf war itself.
Zero looks that way because he just evolved with the times, remember the games are leading into Legends series so naturally robots will look more human like. Shit in ZX series you would only be able to tell if it’s a reploid from looking at the Triangle tattoo on their forehead if not for that tattoo they would appear as a regular human!
But Zero never had an upgrade, he was locked during X series with his previous appearance, and woke up in Z series already looking different.
There's no in game explanation.
You have your own head cannon to fix reality, but truth is, they were lazy and did Zero dirty, gave him an ugly armor and deleted the previous one from the lore of their games.
@@alexrodrigues4775Look at the Zero designs in X1-X8. He changed over time.
@@dansmith16 Okay but he was unsealed, so it's easily explained.
Problem is that he changed armor while sealed.
Someone else must've done it, who was it? There's no explanation.
@@alexrodrigues4775Nanomachines
@@alexrodrigues4775 he wasn't locked during the x series. Zero was part of the elf wars and then locked himself. Presumably upgraded then
Thanks for making this video! I was pretty curious about this myself.
The reploid's style in megaman zero is so cool to see, they look swifter and more flexible.
I respectfully disagree. In my opinion, they look weak and feminine.
@@johnboats9075 funny you say that, because i know people who also mistook X series Zero as a woman. The green nipples dont help, either
I also like the new design of Zero he looks cool and I dig it I like the original one too don't get me wrong but I started with the Zero/ZX series so that's also probably why.
Phoenix magnion uses an attack that shows repliods from the X series as they appear in that series, and since they look accurate, then it would make sense that X and Zero would as well, I subscribe to the theory that during the elf wars X and Zero were modified possibly to use cyber elves.
I assumed that another reason was to save space on the GBA Cartridge, hence why Omega became a palette swap of Zero.
a persona theory in lore for the design change it could be that ceratanium (the in-universe mineral) that is used in the construction of reploids it's going scarce due to the constant and massive production of reploids, making the use of other technologies and limiting the use of the mineral allowing the design of more compact bodies, that explanation could also serve for why ceratanium is rare element for making parts in mmz4
It was artistic redesign, no lore explanation. Ask Toru Nakayama, he designed zero for the series.
personaly i preffer the redesign,not only is less comical without them wierd legs and arms but its also something that carried over to EVERYTHING IntiCreates,from BlasterMaster character's design to the ultimate homage to the Zero franchise Gunvolt AND LuminousAvanger IX,its sheer proof of how much Inti cared about megaman as a franchise just as much as Inafune did
I like the redesign of Zero he looks cool in his newer version of himself I appreciate the old look but his new look is impressively good and I dig it
We may forget that in the beginning we only see Zero's upper half missing the torso and Passy (Ciel's companion Elf) basically merge with it giving Passy's design to Zero. Of course that is just a theory but even X's design in Elf form is new so the Elf design might be one of the driving force for this redesign. Also, X looking like that is because he fought in the Elf War, meaning; just like how he can copy their attacks, he can copy their style of armor.
Weirdest thing in megaman: Reploids having a cannon in each leg and still running fine, without tripping
Funny this vid came out, just as I finished Zero 4 last night.
hahaha
Upgrade wise, Zero is way faster than his original body, refight omega, your triple slash is nearly double the speed of his. Gameplay wise, this tightens up control
megaman zero's design is my favorite design in all of megaman just love it
I find this interesting that after so many years people are still debating about this! Just goes to show how passionate the fans are. Did you all do the Capcom survey?
It is mostly said by Reploid REVO that, prior to the Elf Wars where Zero originally have the megaman Zero design, his original body has gone missing and in doing so led to him using a spare body similar to his original body during that time period to join X once the Elf Wars arrived. Meaning that somewhere after megaman X 8 and before the beginning of the elf wars is where the technology has evolved
My head cannon lore about the design choice is that ReploidForce/MaverickHunters kept improvising personnel alloy for further environmental adaption.
Zeroes case was more to make him easy to integrate him in society as he was much more feared than other Mavericks.
I personally like to think that the body zero inhabits in this series is just a standard reploid body made for non combative reasons because this version of zero does not have a buster or any weapon attached to his body (until the z knuckle), which is why he uses a buster shot rather than a buster.
I admittedly preferred it to not just be a artstyle thing.
Yeah, it would be thematically understandable that, though the years continue, he's the same as he was then, now, and would be in the years to come, but it also just felt like such an afterthought with the explanation.
It also would make what was meant to just be an Easter Egg Attack with Bit, Vile, Agile and Colonel, feel less like just a Easter Egg that spits in the idea of consistency with the rule, and makes it feel like Zero is literally being struck by the ghosts of a past so long ago to show the jump in body types that have become what they are.
Of course, at the end of the day, it was a case of trying to dissociate with what came before to a degree, but it's sometimes nice to just have connective tissue.
I don't really have any theories on the notion myself, I just found it nice to have there be some explanations rather than just handwaving it (Though with it being inherently ancillary media, it will have that handwave feel)
My impression was that as Zero was held in captivity and studied, his body was altered and upgraded in line with the technological advancements of the time. So while it's Zero's original body which Weil stole, it is a modern Zero body. And if researchers had been working on Zero's body, it makes sense to me that they would be familiar enough with Zero's body to create an exact clone.
Good video. Inafune was FOS tho. When Powered Up came out, he'd said that the new SD style was how he always intended for Mega Man to look. It didn't work out because Powered Up didn't matter after the fact, so Mega Man looks how he looks now, which leans toward the MM11 style.
@ReploidREVO I'm gonna' do my best to find it man but it was from an interview that happened prior to the release of Powered Up... that was long ago. Will link you if/when I find it.
@ReploidREVO This was GameSpy from the 2005 Tokyo Gameshow, you'll see the quote below I copied and pasted. I got it from page 3 of the article. Copy and paste this without the quotations in google and it should be the first link: "Mega Man on PSP -- Keiji Inafune and Tatsuya Kitabayashi Interview"
Gamespy : "The new art style for the game is really, really cute. What prompted the new style?"
Inafune: "Believe it or not, what you're seeing on the PSP is what I originally intended Mega Man to look like. But as I was making the game for the NES, there were limitations on the hardware and the graphics, so he ended up looking how he looked in those games. Now that I have hardware that has far fewer limitations as far as the graphics, I can finally show the true Mega Man that I wanted to show."
i remember when i saw the cover art of Mega Man zero , i honestly thougt this was a game set before the X series and you was playing as a young zero. surprised is set after x series.
That could've been a really cool direction for them to have gone!
@@Shamazya I remember I imagined the game, having zero going against willy and other creations he made, but somehow Megaman,bass and the others were absent.
There was a.... boss from Zero 2, the phoenix guy. One of his moves was to summon ghosts/illusions of reploids from the past like Bit and Colonel. And the sprites used for them was the old bulky X-series sprites. i think this adds more to how the design upgrades are indeed canon.
Personally, I much prefer the X series version design of Zero.
Well his channel is no longer available! 12:47
Bro this video was made before the drama started
@@noww446 I know lol and I couldn’t believe the channel was gone forever because he’s becomes irregular (Maverick) for being a minor
It's such a shame. REVO's videos were so good, but he turned out to be such an awful person.
I like a theory from some time ago. basically saying the ZX body is the result of the years of testing on the OG body to cure the sigma virus.
I had theory that omega was Og Zero but with the controll chip reactivated and that omega is the embodiment of the Z virus
didnt they say that somewhere that was the case and they took the pure good soul of zero and put him in another body as the virus was too much for him or something???
@@supersonicjc It's in MMZ4, I believe. They was cocky because they had Zero's original body and power. However, it's not just the body that made Zero and why he was able to beat Omega. I remember a rumor back in the day that they actually wanted to use the Zero body sprite from the X games but couldn't due to sprite limitations or something.
I forgot why, but something did happen why he went into a hibernation, similarly to X going into a hibernation, only to become a cyber elf essentially.
It’s been stated somewhere that Omega was an original personality created by Weil however they teased that the original programming in the body may be influencing Omega so the bloodthirst may in part be from the Maverick part of Zero in the body
Yea something like that
If I remember correctly, one initial plan for Omega was for him to be the literal personification of the Maverick Virus. Key word being initial.
Aside from the answer being CAPCOM.
Wasn't this explained in the third game? Didn't Weil use Zero's OG body armor for Omega (before the final omega zero battle) and upgrade it which is why Omega's white and Gold forms look more like Zero. And then the final Omega Zero is his base body without the outside armor. (The the zero you play is a clone body based off that)
Also notice how Omega's gold battle form looks like Gate as well (who used Zero's DNA in x6)
Then his second form is both X and Zero. He also looks kinda like Lumine in the center as well.
I wonder why no one mentioned that Omega”s helmet almost have zero’s original design.
Right? Like, he's practically a "knight" style version of X series Zero. Sword holstered on his back, the half pipe/horned helmet, the pauldrons to an extent, yet no one said anything. A little thing and maybe a little off subject, but he shares the same coloration and similarities to Megaman Juno from Legends, like the arms and purple hair.
I'm glad the art style changed because i love toru nakayama's style and it's been a huge influence in my life.
I agree with you
I swear i would have already played all of the Zero games if the art design was more similar to the X games.
Mega Man, Zero and Bass aren't "reploids". They are ROBOT MASTERS.
Technically, while the Reploids evolved to be more like Humans, Mega Man and Zero shouldn't have unless they'd been rebuilt.
I'm also shocked that they never actually show us the Reploid creation process or how they gain individuality. They show Gray in a tube in ZX Advent, but not much more.
Yeah that was something I was disappointed by, the creation process I mean. At least in X4 and X5 you at least see Zero's creation process and Maverick Hunter X expands on the creation process with X. I felt like given that X and Zero were advanced robots or "Robot Masters" they should retain their og look, plus shows that they are robots from a bygone time period. But Inti stated they had a hard time trying draw X series Zero and weren't satisfied with how they turned out, so they threw it in Nakayama's court and gave him free reign.
Ship of Theseus time...can Advanced Robot Masters undergo Reploid evolution, and if so, do they become Reploids in the process?
11:04: That's MegaMan ZX Prequel Light and Dark, which I'm pretty sure took some inspiration from Metroid Prime 2 Echoes.
I always followed my Headcanon personally. I think the aesthetic change happened during the Elf Wars. I tend to think that Omega used Zero's original body as a base all along. I remember reading somewhere in the complete works that an "ancester of Ciel" designed the "Copy Zero" so I tend to look at it as Zero vs Omega (X-series Zero) happened during the Elf wars. Changing Zero's appearence would eliminate confusion on the battlefield (evil twin scenario) and after Omega's eventual defeat? Weil might think that the Copy (cheap as it was) might have been more optomized with modern tech, so would reconstruct Omega with this in mind.
My personal headcannon is that the zero we play as in the new reploid look being made a while ago but not too long ago
But omega still is the original body so he still looks the same
So in my mind if zero 3 gets remade with no limitations our redesigned zero will fight an x8 or command mission zero look omega
I like zero's new look more personally
11:41 WHAT THE HELL DID HE MEAN BY THAT BRO.
Legends had a karma system similar to EXE's dark system. The more bad deeds you did, the darker your armor turned. Doing good made it lighter.
youtube has exposed me to a sudden surge of content about my favorite megaman series, and i'm all for it
at first i didn't like the new zero style, but as i played and got immersed in the amazing MMZ story, i end up liking the new styles even more than the original
My theory was because of the ending of X6 as Zero, he meets with the mysterious scientist where Zero is put in a sleep state while he attempts to remove the Zero virus from his body to keep him from turning maverick. The scientist even said to him that he looks like he has it under control. Yet Zero still wanted it removed just in case. If you look at the scientist reploid he looks somewhat slimmer as well. The scientist then Tells Zero he will wake up around 100 years later if successful. Now perhaps during the time of his slumber, the scientist had probably upgraded his body to a slimmer version. Eventually the scientist either died or was killed probably by Weil or was discovered by Weil, a copy body was created for Zero, and his soul was transferred to the copy body which in the first game, zero was missing his arms maybe it was incomplete and omega was transferred to zero's old body. Weil wanted Zero's body probably because it still had the virus to awaken omega. Once weil had the body he had no use for the original zero soul in the copy body. During a war possibly zero was in his slumber or during enough explosions and stuff the body was damaged until it was found by ciel.
While I prefer X series designs, I think the Rockman Zero designs may be more anatomically accurate, cause whenever they interact with characters in crossovers, even when they’re using the X-series designs they’re described as appearing doll like, or as children like in Project X Zone.
From what I have seen on UA-cam zeros body was used in the elf wars as an anti-elf weapon. His head was the only thing that remained, and then 100 years later they just put his head on a new body with all the new designs and technology.
I had always reasoned that it was technological advancement until I saw Omega in MMZ3, so this definitely helped. And from the artistic perspective, if I'm being completely honest, I do personally believe that the MMZ series designs are just superior to the original X series ones. The MMX series design style was outdated and needed to be replaced. It was cool at the time, but such oversized hands, arms, legs, and feet was just ridiculous. The style of the MMZ series is my favorite from any Mega Man game series.
Beautiful video, the histoty of Zero desing is So amazing and incredible. 🛐💜
Thanks You Rockman HQ, i'm SO proud of You. Your videos are full Masterpieces. I want to know more about the Megaman Saga. Take care, my friend. See You Next time.
Rock On! 🧐🥂
The only reason i can think of is they want to change the badass looking zero to a cute little zero.
I remember playing this series and it mentions that Zero and X left their chips behind and I thought the redesign was a mix of both of them. Wow didn’t realize it was just Zero
I thought the redesign was to make Zero look more human to fit in with the characters of the Zero universe.
I'm the "I don't care, let me play and peace!" guy in 10:26. There's also anniversary art that has Zero in old an new designs in front of a set of runners containing his accessories.
Speaking of Gundam redesign Zero vs Omega and Zero vs Weil do have similarities to Wing Gundam Zero vs Epyon and Crossbone Gundam X3 vs Divinidad respectively.
I love the reploid designs for the characters including Zero's look in the MMZ/MMZX series. One of my favorites has to be Harpuia's.
Also to me the redesigns make sense because being that the Zero series is WAAAY later after X, the technology being more advanced and compact-looking would fit the more slimmed bodies of the reploids than the bulkier looking ones in the X-series.
I subscribe to the idea that as tech got better. Zeros body got smaller, sleeker.
I would love a Mega Man X9 where X uses his Command mission design, Axl is slightly modified and Zero has the design seen in Archie Mega man issue 55 during the Elf wars. Zero's design there is basically his Zero design but color wise in his X series with the chest, Helmet and the Shoulder Guards of X2 onwsrds. It would be interesting as while the copy body is perfect it was left purposely incomplete meaning old spare parts had to be used and X upgrade parts as well.
Cool video! Cool to learn some things I didn't know especially related to zero:3 even as a kid I love both designs.
We all know Zero's design from Mega Man Zero games is what he should have looked like as Zero.EXE
I always thought Megaman Zero was a branched off the Megaman X6's Zero ending. Since they speak of Zero going into a 102 year sleep. Which, if you remember from Megaman Zero, Zero was woken up early (100 years vs 102 years). It would explain the disoriented state, lost memories and such... and they speak of how zero "disappeared" which is how zero appears to disappear to this deep sleep in Megaman X6. It was the perfect "what if" ending to branch off of.
i always thought there was never any actual change it was just a different art style and it looks like i was right
Zeros body represents his red armor making him look like a robotic samurai.making it so much better.
In the Mega Man Zero Complete Artbook the concept art of Omega that shows the outershell-body looking more like a sarcophagus had the inner body looking more blocky in the shadows it's stepping out of so it feels like they were at least considering to have Omega look like Zero's original look at some point during production.
It's kinda cool to think of it as an upgrade to the advancement in technology. Which is why you can possibly explain why their bodies are more human looking, with muscles and all.
I think it's worth mentioning that a MMZ era design for reploids are more human looking, which fits with the series trend/theme of robots and humans becoming more indistinguishable as the timeline progresses. So it's always made sense to me that Zero's new design is meant to be an upgrade in-universe. When I first saw Omega, I did think it would have made more sense for him to look like MMX era Zero, but I figured that the developers probably just didn't want to create a new version of that sprite, so I just sort of pretended that he did have the old design in-universe.
I know someone who didn't played Megaman Zero because of Zero design.
Yeah, i didn't like zero's redesign either. In my opinion megaman zx did a zero design better than megaman zero
I think _The great Clement_ was in that category untill he did his lets play iirc
I'm one of them. Couldn't care less about ZX fans opinion.
@@aleisterowley2800 I went into Advent pretty much blind, it was a blast
What's so wrong with the new Zero he looks fine I ain't complaining change is just the way of life my dudes.
I like both artstyle. I can accept the theory of the advance armor layer thingy.
Big chunky OG armor Zero is cool. Slick run N gun/slash slim Zero is cool. ZeroExE is cool. All Zeros are cool :D
10:22 The chad in the center has great fashion sense!
Its Nakayamas Zero
MMZ Zero
Its a retcon as far as I see it
If X and Classic were made in the Zero style they'd look completely reimagined, not just Zero was redesigned but everything in the world is completely different
Thats the only thing that makes sense to me
I don't need MMZ to connect to MMX perfectly, it functions perfectly fine as its own secluded series
That's what Inticreates intended all along, for the Z series to be it's own thing and not scene as an "upgrade."
I think capcom really dropped the ball when zero fought his original body. It should have been the design we seen since Mega Man X
The art style is a design choice, to understand they are a “different saga”, merch also will sell. Lore wise can be any what the dev choose to.
Samus' Fusion Suit. If Zero had to enter the stasis for scientists to rebuild him, then armor plating must go off.
Assuming the copy body deemed successful, plating fits back snuggly.
Unfortunately, Zero armor nowhere to be found or rendered no longer salvageable by events of MMZ.
To be honest my favorite zero is the one that has a much brighter red to him. He is just more good looking in the red and white rather than a black and red. It just looks so much better.
I love all the Zero designs but MMZ series Zero is my personal favorite
I took that the technology was so advanced after the x series that zero and x was upgraded, which was why they looked so much more human.
Great video
Very cool to see more megaman zero
I find a small flaw in the "lore" expressed in the Omega character profile:
If Weil did modify the body, wouldn't it made it look different than Copy Zero? Just to avoid a long text block, let's point out the not of a story:
1. Zero locks down it's body for purging the Maverick Virus. Gets a new copy body to use.
2. Weil steals original Zero body and implants Omega into it.
3. Elf-Wars catastrophe with Omega at it's core, got nuked by Zero and X.
4. Zero's new body is most-likely infected with M.Virus. Into lockdown for purge.
5. X uses it's body to contain mother Elf and it's consciousness is turned into a cyber-elf.
So, copy was done before Weil steals the original, which is subsequently modified to create Omega... and they look exactly the same despite being the original body? The modification Weil made are only the big white and purple giant body and the original is untouched? This is as mudded as the Maverick Virus influence on the designation of Maverick to a rogue robot.
In my opinion, the art change is just that: interpretation of a different artist because it is just that: an interpretation. Personally, I find Inafune's commentary a way to expand the perception of his influence on the project (something he has done previously).
The timeline of post X series pre elf wars is an enigma. But to do some corrections, Zero was sealed to study him as his body’s unique reaction to the Virus (shown most prominently I n X5). Weil was a part of the government if I recall being part of a faction (I forget if speculation or was stated) so he was working on his solution in parallel to the one Ciel’s ancestor would create (this is likely when the Weil creating the new body came from in the timeline). The Elf Wars has some details and one of which was that while Weil was making baby elves was unable to combine Omega and Dark Elf with the final battle (X’s faction at the very least at this point having the dark elf and possibly using it) being depicted in a CD Drama where X and Zero commit a Final Strike from command mission to disable Omega. The Maverick virus by this point has been wiped from existence, Zero voluntarily sealed himself once more believing the devastation from X series to Elf Wars was his fault like he was cursed to cause destruction and disaster. You got the sealing of Dark Elf right other than the action causing some form of trauma that split his cyber elf into 5 pieces.
Now considering Weil’s revival of Copy X I think it’s a good chance that Zero already looked like his Zero series body which was then copied by Weil if one is to believe the timeline I mentioned up there (it may be based on the XDive profile or the speculation discussions that came from knowing Weil made the copy body )
Exactly, it's an interpretation Inti even stated it as much. Just throwing this in to back you up on that.
Inticreates had stated that the Zero series body was not meant to be seen as an upgrade. It is meant for the series to be told apart from the X series, since Capcom blatanly made X6, which threw everything off course. Inti out of desperation had to change X from being a villain and make it where it's copy X instead because of Capcom. The Zero series style is basicially similar to how anime would get a makeover for a movie debut or when it comes to introducing a new season.
In the Complete Works of the Z series, Nakayama even said in the interview, "I don't know if you would call them changes... We wanted to impart a sense of evolution. By virtue of the opinion that everything leads to Legends, we felt that we need to move away from the mechanical feel of the X series. That is probably what has been perceived as "changes" with the series. It's not that we were changing it enough to connect it directly to Legends, but we are certainly shifting towards a more human direction." Also, they had a hard time drawing classic Zero and were unsatisfied with the results, so they gave Nakayama creative freedom.
Both Zero and Omega would have classic Zero's full complete squared pauldrons armor.
We need the X series to continue into the Elf Wars... I wanna play as a redesigned X or Axl in canon... That Archie picture was so sick... This must mean that Axl dies in the Elf Wars... Hard to tell...
Alia has the greatest tweak.
2:39 Just a slight nitpick because Gundam is also my thing:
the "ver Ka." isnt the designer's (Hajime Katoki) initials. This also means it is read as "Ka" and not "K.A."
Fair enough. Apparently people got really upset on this one, I'm just a casual Gundam fan and not a single Ver.Ka has come out that I've wanted. Getting threatened over the pronunciation of a style has been a crazy unforeseen experience though. I went with what I've picked up on over the years. I'll do better next time.
Honestly it's kinda my head canon that the zero zero is zero's bidy after x4 and the zero we get from x5-8 is a backup body wily had prepared for zero in the event of catastrophic failure. Hence at some point within the 100 years Zero's only backup ceased to function and he went back to the original, which wasn't done with repairs until ciel went and fixed him with a cyber elf
From a design perspective I do agree that the mega man zero games having its own art style to separate itself from the mega man X games is a great way for people to recognize it. After all this is Zero’s chapter, hence the title mega man zero.
Series lore wise, we can only really speculate. My theory is that when zero voluntarily encapsulates himself in the ending to X6 (or was it X4?) maverick hunter scientists and researchers starts picking away at zero’s body to both study and eradicate the Wily virus. Why his whole body? well it seems like if anyone gets way too close of contact with zero they contract the wily virus, hence why sigma went maverick. Another piece of evidence is when gate explains that after he found a piece of zero’s parts, he felt immense knowledge and power that felt too much to contain.
At least that’s what I think as the reason behind that bit of lore.
Professor Perry the Platypus 😂
I'm a "the simplest explanation is usually the best" kinda guy.
And that explanation is simply an art-style change.
The reason an in-universe re-design doesn't work for me is that Zero 3 has so much talk about Zero's original body, but if Zero has changed bodies multiple times since the start of the series then there's no reason for anyone to expect him to give a shit about whichever body Omega is.
I've seen people try to explain this away, but no one has given an explanation as concise as "it's an art change".
So, let's rewind and look at it from that perspective: the devs get a green light to make Mega Man Zero. They're making it for the GBA, a system with a VERY tiny screen. So, they need to make sprites that take up as little screen real estate as possible.
Bam: you have a clear and concise explanation for the re-design.
From there, interviews are with people who need to give answers to interest and/or satisfy a canon-obsessed fan base. Thus, you have comments like Inafune's vague allusion to 100 years of technological development.
I think that if they were REALLY thinking of it as an in-universe redesign, then they would have drawn Omega to look like X-series Zero to hammer home that "original body" comment from Weil.
And while I think the sprites were designed the way they were for screen real-estate purposes, that wouldn't matter as much for a single boss fight. The X-series Zero design is too bulky to be on-screen for the entire game, but it would be fine for one final boss fight.
Cial was the one who built the copy body for Zero. She, and the rest of her organization, were wanting to study the Zero Virus Antibodies which lead to the creation of the Mother Elf. During their study, they had swapped Zero's body so he could still function, then Weil stole and modified Zero into Omega.
So, if anything, Weil possibly based Omega's upgrades on Cial's design. Given that she was able to replicate Zero, albeit an "inferior" version, he possibly wanted to prove he could do it better.
But, eh, I haven't thought about this for years, so I might have gotten things wrong.
To me the lore reason is that some (or the rest) of zero’s armor just fell or rusted off. Considering he kept dying in x, it’s bound to happen. The irl reason is just art style change, but I still like his z series design more
I knew that, I just wanted to hear someone talk about megaman zero :)
Because it's BETTER! Seriously, I have always hated zero's vacuum tube nipples from the day I first saw him. The redesign was a godsend.
In all seriousness though, I just like those type of proportions (skinny body, big boots and gloves, overall teenage-child look). The mmx designs weren't really my thing. classic Mega man, zero and zx for me!
Happy to see the Zero love.
Happy to see people haven't forgotten the OG.
That's a question I think the lore of X to Zero might have already answered. Aside from an art change, the ELF wars devastated the population of both reploids and humans, at that point there eventually was an energy crisis and that probably advanced reploid design to be a bit more efficient. Idk, that's just my take.
From what I remember from the story. Weil made a copy of Zero’s body and transferred his cyber elf/soul into the copy. All so he can put Omega in Zero’s OG body. I assumed this was an explanation as to why he looked different. However they looked the same. So I honestly just think it was a different artistic direction. Probably had a lot to do with fact that they had to jam all that into a GBA game.
The character redesigns are pretty much the only thing I didn't like about the Zero games. I liked the zero series and it was great having new megaman x style games but i really couldn't stand how they made Zero's buster into a handgun and I never really liked the art style of the games in general. Learning that it was just because of some silly anime trope is kind of a bummer.
i was always under the impression that the games took place 100 years after zero seals himself away in x6 in order to stop the spread of the virus. then lead to him getting his redesign for easier testing and studying, afterwards the copy body was made (the Zero you play as in MMZ) where hes uploaded into it but still contained out of fear of him being taken over. then i guess was forgotten about sealed away until Ciel finds him.
i figured that would explain both the redesign and why Omega looks like him despite being the original body. I believe this is all form the audio novel through fan translation. if I'm wrong then fee lfree to correct me, its been a while since i watched a video on zeros design in Z
as much as I do like the Zero series design I still feel like it could use shoulder pads to stand out among other reploids (like especially 4 Guardians kinda makes this design lose uniqueness in the "recognize just by silhouette" test) maybe not the square boxes from X, but something sleeker, like his EXE version from BN just no so oversized, or maybe something like White Ranger from original MMPR, which could make the impact of Omega fight even better if he had sprite altered to show that his shoulder pad still has Zeros original iconic printing, while Zero we play as don't have it
The funny thing is, I think it's entirely possible that the Megaman Zero version of Zero and Megaman were always -under- the body armor from the Megaman X series games. Now hear me out. In the Original Megaman games, Rock/Mega had a civilian mode body, and had an armor including separately attachable helmet. Why would Dr. Light, who wanted Megaman X to be a robot of peace deny this obviously low tech ability to his masterpiece? It even makes sense, when you consider in the Megaman X series, X is capable of gaining new armors, and in some of the games even having multiple Armors that he can choose between. But they progressively got thinner until it looks like just a vest and hotpants over tights, what's that about? Well, Simple. The Advancement of Weapons -Far- outstripped that of Armor.
We've seen it in the Real World. Armor got better and better along with weapons, until Hand held Firearms were invented. Then a Man in plate mail which could shrug off knives and swords from trained knights was instantly downed by a farmer with a blunderbuss. Weapons eclipsed armor, and continued to eclipse armor until Flak Jackets and later on Kevlar were made. But even now firearms are developing such that even those are becoming obsolete (Armor Piercing rounds do exist). And that's not even getting to the point of heavy Ordinance. But during the time between fire arms becoming a potent weapon in the army until bulletproof materials were made, soldiers wore cloth, because moving faster and without tiring the soldier was a far better option, than useless armor.
So, let's apply that to The Megaman X series into the Cyber Fairy Wars into the Megaman Zero and ZX ages. In X1-5 even, we see the enemy weapons develop to such a point at which Zero and X are blown into bits by the end of X5, and when they continue on the armor gets even less bulky. Why? Because Dodging the attack is better than trying to take it head on. X5 is the Turning point. In it, X has the Fourth Armor (from X4) and gains the Falcon, Gaea and Ultimate Armor, but in X6, he only keeps the Falcon armor (and later reobtains the Ultimate). Why is that? He can fly. Maneuverability trumps defense because the weapons are outstripping the armor again. Heck even in the same game, the Ultimate Armor has features from the Fourth Armor and Falcon Armor, completely refusing to take anything from the Gaea armor. Flash forward to Zero, And Copy X uses a version of X5's Ultimate Armor that is coloured as the Fourth Armor (Again only taking Fourth and Falcon Armor abilities). Gameplay wise, I don't know about you, but even in my rather poor gameplay Zero is absolutely zippy. He flies across the screen without any upgrades to his abilities. His upgrades and powerups are all internal upgrades. He never feels this fast in the X games. In fact, it even feels like he's an outright upgrade to X8's Black Zero, which doubled his strength and speed at the cost of doubling the damage he took (effectively shed armor for more speed and power).
Then, there's the ZX Series, where the Bio-Metal/Live Metals are literally Super-Sentai/Magical-Girl Transformations that put parts on top of the user's body. And even further into the *VERY* far flung future, in Megaman Legends, we had the super advanced world ended, and the reboot that was the Carbons didn't advance weapons or armor tech, even to the point that this generation's Megaman is shoddily refurbished and his weapons are analog and have to be removed and attached in a workshop. Why didn't this Megaman, Who is a holdover from the Super Advanced time, have the super advanced tech inside him to do any of the prior stuff? Well, endgame weapons like the crystal drill and the super laser from Legends 2 show you just how overpowered the lost technology had. Literally everything with any amount of armor is melted by the weapons. What would be the point in actually armoring him, when those endgame weapons can absolutely melt the final boss in seconds?
This even makes sense as to why the Zero series' Z-Buster, and Copy Busters all are external guns. They always were. Rock/Mega put on the armor, which includes the Megabuster built into the Arm parts. Same for X And the X-Busters, Zero and the Z-Buster (Which is also why he can give it to you in Megaman X1 if you don't have the Arm Parts by the time he self-destructs on Vile, he's not giving you his entire arm, he's giving you the armor's arm parts). The Zero Series even takes this to the logical Extreme in Z3, where you get the Z-Knuckle, which RIPS THE WEAPON OFF OF ENEMIES. Weil's Weapons are advancing faster than the Resistance's weapons can, so it's faster to just take the enemy's and use them. In the Real world this happened A LOT in WW1 and WW2.
Sure, the Redesigns were absolutely real world decisions, but you can absolutely easily retcon that the design was always there, just under a lot of armor, and it's just the shape of the armor that ever got redesigned.
Wait, the question Keiji was asked was about Reploids of the Zero series in particular, not specifically Zero himself who maybe could be considered a Robot Master of a different era, so isn't it possible he was just referring to Reploids of that time period rather than Zero? I feel like we don't have enough conclusive information to definitively claim that Zero looks different due to upgrades, although we do know explicitly that it was claimed to be an art change for Zero specifically, since in the interview with that they specifically mentioned him.
The rest of the evidence you proposed kind of feels like a stretch to me, but I appreciate the fact that you didn't waste time, got to the point, and stated your sources, even if I personally feel there isn't enough explicit information like there is with the art style change quote to support the idea of Zero looking different due to upgrades.