Strategy Guide - Guide for Megaman X5

Rockman X5 FAQ V0.4
by John Peasley   

 Unpublished work Copyright 2000 John Peasley

 This FAQ is for private and personal use only.  It can only be
 reproduced electronically, and if placed on a web page or site, may
 be altered as long as this disclaimer and the above copyright notice
 appears in full.  This FAQ is not to be used for profitable/promotional
 purposes; this includes being used by publishers of magazines, guides,
 books, etc. or being incorporated into magazines, etc. in ANY way.  This
 FAQ was created and is owned by me, John Peasley .  
 All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged that are not specifically
 mentioned in this FAQ.  Please give credit where it is due.

 If you plan to use this on a site, PLEASE email me to let me know,
 and keep it up to date with the latest version!

 Special thanks to Kao Megura; the format of the FAQ and copyright 
 information was borrowed from his works. Hope he doesn't mind...

 The Rockman X series is (c) Capcom of Japan.
 The Megaman X series is (c) Capcom USA.


=========================================================================
CONTENTS
=========================================================================


 INTRODUCTION
 COMMON MENUS
 HUD
  - Virus Infection
 BASIC AND ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
  - Basic Techniques
  - Advanced Techniques
  - Armor Specific Techniques for X
  - Armor Specific Techniques for Zero
 ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS
 SUBSCREEN 
 SPECIAL WEAPONS/Z-SABRE TACTICS
 UPGRADES
 STAGES
  - Training Stage
  - Intro
  - Stage Select
  - Crescent Grizzly
  - Tidal Whale
  - Bolt Kraken
  - Shining Firefly
  - Dark Necrobat
  - Spiral Pegasus
  - Burn Dinorex
  - Spike Rose
  - Colony Strike
  - VS Dynamo
  - 'Unknown' Stages
 SECRET CODES
 CLOSING REMARKS
  - Revision History
=========================================================================
INTRODUCTION
=========================================================================


Does Rockman really need an introduction? Capcom's most proliferic little
blue hero has starred in more games than Ryu, Mario, or Sonic. In this
latest adventure, plenty of plot twists await, and many past questions
are answered.

Capcom could have merely used the X4 engine and made an excellent game in
itself, but they've made a lot of changes this time that increase the
difficulty factor quite a bit. This guide will hopefully assist you in
mastering these new techniques.

This FAQ was produced with the Japanese Rockman X5 release in mind, but
I doubt there will be much changed between the Japanese and US releases.

I thank all of you for the emails. Just to save some of you time,
I do know where all of the heart tanks are and so forth-- I just need
to sit down and write up the stage descriptions. I'll try to get these
done as quickly as I can, so please bear with me.

I apologize on the lateness of this. I lost almost all my work in a 
drive crash, and it took me a few days to get my system back running
enough to replace the lost text and finish this.

=========================================================================
COMMON MENUS
=========================================================================


Main Menu _______________________________________________________________

From the main menu, you get several choices. They are, from top to
bottom:

Start a new game
Continue an old game
Options Menu
Training

Starting a new game is fairy obvious. You'll be asked who to start
the game with, and you'll go straight to the intro stage.

Continuing a game is a little more complex.

The options menu will let you redefine controller use, set mono/stereo
and other common options.

There are three options in Japanese at the bottom. I'm not yet sure on
the first and last one, but the middle toggles autofire. When turned on
your controller acts like it has turbo built-in. Can be useful!

The training option is reccomended if you're rusty from not having
played MMX in awhile or if you're new to the series. This is a
shortened stage that will teach you the techniques you need to be a
successful hunter, as well as let you unlimber those fingers if you've
been on the injury list or slacking off since your last major mission.

Continue Menu ___________________________________________________________

Continuing a game is a little more complex. If you exited a game
you were playing previously to return to the main menu, using either
the select button from the subscreen, or the L1+R1+Select+Start
trick, the game will ask you if you want to continue the previous
game in memory. Yes (top option) will bring you back to that game.
No will bring up the memory card file selection menu.

=========================================================================
HUD
=========================================================================


In the upper left corner of the screen are two gauges. The one on the
far left is always visible and is your lifebar. When this is gone, you're
history. It can be recharged with the white life powerups. 

The gauge to the right of this only appears if you have a special weapon 
selected. This is your special weapon energy. When this runs out, you 
cannot fire this weapon again until you either finish/exit this stage, 
recharge from a blue weapons energy sphere powerup, or die.

Below the lifebar is a dual-purpose indicator. If you don't have a 
special weapon selected, it indicates how many extra lives you have in
stock. If you have a special weapon selected, it indicated numerically
how many shots you have left of that weapon.

In the lower left corner is a corruption gauge. At various points in the
game you will be attacked by Sigma's viral form, or later on, the true 
nature of the virus. These purple apparitions should be avoided at all
costs, as they cannot be destroyed. The timestopper WILL stop them in 
their tracks. The purple Sigma head will chase you slowly, following 
you. The true virus will appear in a hovering position, then dash at 
you. If it misses, it teleports to a new position and tries one last 
time.

This gauge has three levels. Normal, Caution, and Danger. It takes two
corruption points to push you to Caution, and one beyond that to take
you to Danger. After taking an additional hit in Danger, you go to
'Infected' status. X will glow for about five seconds, taking continual
damage for that time before returning to Normal status. Zero regains
ALL health from the virus.

Sigma does one point of corruption when he touches you. The Zero virus
does two points if Zero has gone Maverick, pushing you to the next 
level with each touch. Otherwise it does one point.

In the upper right corner boss life meters will appear. Below the meter
is a level indicator which gives you a pretty good idea how tough this
boss is. The longer you take to finish the game, the tougher the bosses
will be, up to a maximum of Level 99.

=========================================================================
BASIC AND ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
=========================================================================


Assuming you left your controls at the default settings, these are the
controls you'll be using:

X          - Jump
O          - Dash
SQUARE     - Attack
TRIANGLE   - Special Attack
L1         - Switch special back one
R1         - Switch special forward one
R2         - Giga Attack
START      - Pull up the Subscreen

D-Pad Controls work as follows:

UP         - Climbs ladders, grabs onto poles/vines when jumping/falling
DOWN       - Descends ladders, ducks when standing on platforms
             Note that some enemies CANNOT be hit unless you shoot from
             a crouched position!
LEFT       - Run to the left
RIGHT      - Run to the right

Advanced techniques will use Street Fighter standard notation, assuming 
that you're using the technique facing to the right. For left, reverse 
the direction.

Advanced techniques _____________________________________________________
   
Dash       - Tap right twice quickly
Wall climb - Jump against wall. While holding right, you'll begin to 
             slide down the wall. Continue to hold and tap jump to climb.
             With practice, you'll be able to climb most anything.
             Note some walls can't be climbed. Attacking while dashing
             does a bit more damage than a normal attack.
Air Dash   - perform a dash in mid-air. Note that if you dash on the 
             ground, then jump, you cannot dash in mid-air. It is USUALLY
             easier to use the dash button in mid air than to tap the
             direction twice, especially when making tight maneuvers.
Fast Jump  - When climbing walls or dodging, you may find it occasionally
             useful to push dash and jump at the same time for a faster
             movement. This takes practice to do with any consistency and
             to use with any skill, but can be a life-saver. It also can
             allow you to speed through boss battles and stages.
Ranking    - Depending on how you do in a stage, your ranking as a 
             Maverick Hunter changes. Known rankings are B, A, SA, GA, and
             PA. The factors for rank are the amount of time it takes to
             complete the stage, including boss battle and the damage you
             take.


Pole/Vine Tricks ________________________________________________________

Dash       - You CAN dash along the length of the pole or vine, even if
             vertical.
Jump       - Hold up while jumping, to make sure you grab back onto the
             same or another vine. If used with a dash, you can jump
           - over enemies on a horizontal vine. An air-dash also works.

Unique Techniques to X___________________________________________________

X-Buster shot - Press the attack button.
Charge shot   - Press and hold the attack button. Release to fire.
                The X-Buster can be charged to several levels of power.
Special attack- Press the special attack button to fire the currently
                selected power captured from a defeated boss. If you do
                not have one selected, it will fire an X-Buster shot.
                Keep in mind you have limited special weapon energy.
Giga Crush    - Depending on the armor suit worn, X has several one-shot
                giga crush attacks:

                No special armor (blue): No Giga Crush
                White armor: No Giga Crush
                Flight armor: Vertical barrage of lasers
                Gaia armor: A strong punch that leaves a powerful green
                sphere that continues to damage targets.
                Ultimate Armor: Psycho Crusher on steroids. Infinite
                use of the attack as well. EZ-Cheese in a can. Gotta
                love it!
                Giga Crush power is recharged as you take hits from
                enemies.


Armor Specific for X_____________________________________________________

Unarmored X: (Straight blue)
Air Dash      - Unarmored X has NO AIR DASH.
Charge Special- Unarmored X has NO CHARGE SPECIALS.
Giga Crush    - Unarmored X has NO GIGA CRUSH.

White Armor: (This armor is pretty much all of the upgrades from X4)
Hover         - While wearing the white armor, X can hover by pushing the
                jump button while in the air. If you hover without
                moving, you can stay airborn for about five seconds.
                Movement takes a drastic chunk out of your hover time so
                be careful. You cannot hover if you're in a dash-jump or
                have air-dashed in this jump. The easiest way to tell is
                if you have the glowing trail behind you.
Plasma        - While wearing the white armor, a full charge shot leaves
                a plasma sphere behind that continues to do damage for
                several seconds. This does no additional damage to a
                boss, but is LETHAL to almost every regular enemy.
Charge Special- Like the X-buster, most special weapons can be charged
                up for a special attack. This eats weapon energy faster,
                but it does have its uses. Know each weapon well.

Flight Armor: (This is the white armor with the flight jets on the back)

[Quick note: Enough with the emails with the name, PLEASE! I'm not
changing it until I can confirm the translation. Please, I'm getting
FLOODED on this!]

Flight        - When wearing the flight armor, you can push the jump
                button while in the air to activate the flight ability of
                X's armor. You can fly in all eight directions, and have 
                limited invincibility while in this mode. Weaker enemies
                will take damage from your touch, but shots of any kind
                will knock you out of the air. This lasts for several 
                seconds before dropping you back to the ground. You can
                recharge your flight by grabbing onto a wall or
                landing on any safe surface.
Charge Special- X has NO CHARGE SPECIAL in this armor!
Air Dash      - X has NO AIR DASH while in this armor! Caution!
Piercing Laser- X's Buster shot is replaced with a laser that goes
                through walls and enemies. Even those with shielding
                are not safe from this powerful weapon. Very useful,
                if hard to aim well.

Gaia Armor: (This is the black armor for X)
Spike-proof   - Spikes that normally kill with a touch are nothing to
                worry about. Wall, ceiling, or floor; walk over them,
                climb up a wall of spikes, no problem.
Smash Dash    - If given a small amount of room to gain momentum, X can
                push the large black crates out of the way to find
                hidden areas.
Attack        - X's attack is reduced to a short-range green blast that
                can be charged into a semi-weak shot that can destroy the
                black crates. This is needed to get one of the heart
                tanks. Keep in mind the charge shot does LESS than 1/2
                the damage of a normal charge shot.
Special Attack- X CANNOT USE Special Weapons in this armor!
Heavy Armor   - X takes much less damage in this armor, but loses a lot
                of jump height.
Wall Grip     - X does not slide down walls when grabbing on for
                walljumps.

Ultimate Armor:
See the white armor for most of the details.
Giga Crush    - Pushing the Giga Crush button will allow X to smash
                through any enemies in his path and kill most with a
                touch. He hops up slightly beforehand, and goes about
                the same distance as a fast jump, or 2X the length of
                an airdash. Practice this move, or it'll get you
                killed. You can use it UNLIMITED times with this armor.

Advanced Techniques for Zero_____________________________________________

3-hit combo   - Zero's sabre combos easily with button taps. Press attack
                rapidly three times in succession to do an instant 3-hit.
                This can be chained into special techniques too.
Double Jump   - Once earned from Crescent Grizzly, Zero can jump a second
                time from the air. Keep in mind that if you double jump
                you can't air-dash in that jump, and vice-versa.

Armor Specific for Zero__________________________________________________

Black Armor:
Armor         - Zero takes 1/2 the normal damage while in this armor.
Purple sabre  - This sabre is slightly faster than the green one, and can
                additionally cut through MOST enemy projectiles. This
                sabre is also equipped with the Sigma antivirus from X3,
                which allows you to destroy the virus when it attacks.

Black Armor Zero does NOT get unlimited gigacrush attacks, unlike X's
ultimate armor.

=========================================================================
ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS
=========================================================================


Pits           - An obvious danger, yet sometimes they hide secrets. So
                 how do you tell the difference? Slide down the side. If
                 you reach almost to the bottom without the screen
                 scrolling, it isn't safe to go down.
Spikes         - Unless you're using X with the Gaia armor, one touch
                 kills. Be VERY careful around these. If you absolutely
                 need to walk on spikes otherwise, you can get a couple
                 second headstart by deliberately taking a hit from any
                 enemy. While you're invincible for the two or so seconds
                 spikes won't kill you, but you'll have to move FAST.
Enemies        - Need I say more? Not all of them can be hurt.
Crushing Walls - Primarily seen in the first stage. Getting crushed kills
                 instantly. The falling ceilings earlier in the same
                 stage do not kill instantly but do critical amounts of
                 damage.
Autoscroll     - The bane of all platformers. If you are swept offscreen
                 or crushed by a wall/ceiling, you die. It usually isn't
                 too tough to deal with, however.
Sigma Virus    - A floating purple head that follows you slowly. It isn't
                 too hard to avoid, if you're aware of where it pops in
                 and don't try to sprint by. Does one point of corruption
                 by touch. Can be destroyed with Black Zero's sabre.
Zero Virus     - A floating purple image of Zero. It waits about two
                 seconds, then airdashes at you. After a certain distance
                 it disappears. If it missed, it tries for a second shot.
                 It isn't too tough to avoid, as long as you're not 
                 dealing with enemies at the same time. Dash in the 
                 opposite direction of the virus when it dashes at you,
                 or jump over it. Does two points of corruption IF you
                 let Zero go Maverick, one otherwise. Can be destroyed
                 with Black Zero's sabre.
Landchaser     - You use this hoverbike in one stage. Takes concentration
                 and can be frustrating for the inexperienced.
Maverick Hunter- On occasion you'll run across yellow armored maverick
                 hunters calling for help. Touching one restores some
                 life to you as well as giving you an extra life (up to
                 the maximum of nine). This should be done as often as
                 you get the chance, as they quickly build up extra
                 lives and E-Tank energy for when you need them the most.

=========================================================================
SUBSCREEN
=========================================================================


Pushing the start button at any point brings up the subscreen. The game
is paused while you're in this menu, and several options are available
to you from here.

Top center is your extra lives remaining. In the upper right corner is
the status of any E-tanks and W-tanks you have. 

If you're using X, the center of the screen shows all special weapons 
you have, and the power left in each. A special weapon can be selected 
by highlighting it and pressing circle. This is useful during boss 
battles where you don't want to be distractedly pushing L1/R1 repeatedly 
to find the weapon you need. Note that the Giga-crush weapon cannot be
selected. This occupies the last slot of the subscreen if available in
the armor you're wearing.

If you're using Zero, the center shows all Z-Sabre tactics you've earned
and the controller motions needed to use them. It also shows the several
special weapons available to Zero. These can be selected in the same way
as X's. Note that the Giga-crush weapon cannot be selected. This 
occupies the last slot of the subscreen if you have earned it.

By selecting one of the E-tanks, you can refill your life guage by the 
amount stored in that tank. You must find a tank before you can use it,
and there are two of them in the game. E-tanks are refilled by grabbing 
life energy when you're at full health, and can take quite awhile to fill 
to max.

The W-tank refills all weapons energy for every weapon. It too must be 
found and there is only one in the game.

Pushing select from the subscreen brings up a question on if you wish to
continue the game. The top option is 'yes', bottom is 'no'. To exit back
to the main menu, tell it that no, you don't want to continue, then yes
you're really sure about that.

There are four icons at the bottom of the subscreen: 
 - The door icon appears if you have finished the stage previously. 
   Selecting it allows you to leave a stage without going all the way 
   through it. 
 - The U-Turn arrow returns you to the game just like pushing start a 
   second time or selecting a weapon.
 - The controller takes you to the options menu.
 - The monitor allows you to center the display if it isn't appearing 
   well on your TV.

=========================================================================
SPECIAL WEAPONS/Z-SABRE TACTICS
=========================================================================

When you defeat a boss, you'll be asked by Alia which type of DNA
combination you want. The top option is Weapon+Life Energy up. The
second choice is Weapon+Weapon Energy up.

Additional note: The names on most of these are NOT accurate. I can't
provide accurate names until I can get translations of the game text.
I'll do this as soon as I can, but it may take some time.


Crescent Grizzly
X   : Crescent Shot (confirmed name)
      - This weapon is a spinning crescent of yellow energy. It is
        fired in one of three directions randomly: straight forward,
        40 degree arc up from forward, 40 degree arc down from forward.
      - Charged, this creates two crescent barriers around X for a
        several-second period that injures most enemies heavily. Very
        useful.

Zero: Double Jump and Crescent Moon Slash (confirmed name)
       - This replaces Zero's jumping slash with a multi-hit spinning
         slash that also has a much wider attack radius. This is one
         of the most useful techniques.

Tidal Whale
X   : Ice wave
       - Fires a small ice wave that descends down walls and glides
         along the floor in much the same way as the old Bubble Lead
         from Megaman 2.
       - Charged, X throws up six ice blocks, which arc back down to
         cover a decent area to either side of him.

Zero: Ice dash
       - Zero's Air-dash gains the element of ice. Dashing through
         enemies causes ice damage.
       - Activated by dash button in air, or left/right twice in
         rapid succesion while in air.

Bolt Kraken
X   : Thunder Beam
       - Three-way electric attack. Electric bolts that touch walls
         or ceilings become sparks and follow along them.
       - Charged, fires a series of random lightning strikes from
         above. Near useless.

Zero: Thunder Slash
       - A dragon-punch style aerial slash that leaves a long
         trail of electricity behind it.
       - Activated by up+attack

Shining Firefly
X   : Shining Laser
       - Fires a firefly that can be controlled with the D-Pad. Be
         careful, as you can't dodge enemies while controlling it.
       - Charged, fires a constant beam attack that can be very
         useful and is pretty powerful.

Zero: Fallen Phoenix Crush
       - Pretty much the same as in X4. Fires a wide-spread attack.
         This is a Giga Crush and uses weapons energy.
        
Dark Necrobat
X   : Time stopper
Zero: Time stopper
       - A relic from Megaman 2, this weapon freezes most enemies and
         shots in their tracks. It doesn't work so well against bosses,
         but this weapon has one VERY important use. It drains from the
         weapons meter quickly. You cannot stop it using L1/R1, but
         going to the subscreen and choosing another weapon will stop
         it, as will using X's Ultimate Armor's Giga Crush.
       - Charged, it does the same thing.

Spiral Pegasus
X   : Wind Slash
       - A dragon-punch style attack that launches a spiral of air
         upwards. If fired while running in either direction, it fires
         the air in a more diagonal direction.
       - Charged, it fires three bursts of air instead of one.

Zero: Wind Slash
       - An image of Zero dashes forward a short distance before slashing
         once and fading away. Not very strong, but useful for distance
         strikes.

Burn Dinorex
X   : Flame Wheel
       - Fires a wheel of flame that spits fireballs in random directions
         for a short time before fading away.
       - Charged, fires two long columns of fire to either side of X in
         a horizontal burst.

Zero: Fire Punch
       - A descent with a flaming punch that explodes when it hits the
         ground. The explosion does no damage. You CANNOT pull out of
         this move to grab onto a vine, so be careful where you use it.
         It can be aimed to some extent to the left and right.

Spike Rose
X   : Spike Ball
       - Fires a spiked ball out that goes a short distance and hovers
         there. After a few seconds, it returns to you. It can do
         multiple hits worth of damage before being destroyed.
       - Charged, fires a spiked ball in front of X in a diagonal path,
         ignoring walls and bouncing around the screen several times
         before disappearing.

Zero: Soul Body
       - Creates a ghostly clone of Zero that stands several steps
         ahead of him. It does everything he does, including attacks.
         It cannot be injured. After several seconds, it disappears.



=========================================================================
UPGRADES
=========================================================================


To obtain the flight armor or black armor for X, you have to find the
capsules Dr. Light left-- there is one capsule in each stage, though some
you won't be able to obtain without the flight armor or extreme skill. 
Zero can access these capsules for X as well.

Armors consist of four parts-- leg, armor, hands, and helmet. Once all 
four parts of one armor are found, that armor is selectable.

Additional powerup modules exist that can further boost your power.
Each armor has a certain number of slots for these upgrades.

Unarmored X and Zero have four slots for modules.
White armor X and flight armor X have two slots.
Black armor X has NO slots.
Ultimate armor X has two slots.
Black armor Zero has four slots.

There are 16 modules. In order as follows

01 02 03 04
05 06 07 08
09 10 11 12
13 14 15 16

They are: (Thanks to Rewind yet again!)

1) Speed move      - Speed up
2) High Jump       - Self explanitory
3) Hyper Dash      - Dash Speed up
4) Energy saver    - Weapons only use half energy (I think that's what it
                     means, I don't think it means half damage)
5) Super recover   - Item effects up
6) Virus Barrier   - Only half effects from the viruses
7) Buster Plus     - Increases the power of normal shots
8) Speed shot      - Shot speed up 
9) Shock absorber  - Half damage (could be only from bullets, not sure
                     what the words after the kanji means)
10) Virus Buster   - Can destroy viruses (I think, haven't used it yet)
11) Rapid 5        - Five bullets instead of the normal three (X only)
12) Ultimate Buster- Charge shot without charging. (X only)
13) Hyper Charge   - Charging shots only takes half the time (X only)
14) Z-Saber Plus   - Increases the damage of Zero's saber (Zero only)
15) Z-Saber Extend - Extends Zero's saber's range (Zero only)
16) Shot Eraser    - Energy... (Something about extinguishing. Not sure
                     what this is, because I've never had it.)
                     (John's note: Probably lets you destroy most enemy
                      shots similar to Black Zero)


=========================================================================
STAGES
=========================================================================


__________________________________________________________ Training _____
At the begining of the training session, you will be asked to select
X or Zero. The one you pick is the one you take through the session.

This won't give a full walkthrough of the training, as that is quite
unneccessary. There are no secrets, and pretty much everything is
obvious. New or old hand at the series, do take note of the poles.
These take some getting used to.

At the end of this stage, you'll get to duel an old 'friend' in
a much weaker form.

_____________________________________________________ Training Boss _____
Boss      : Magma Dragoon
Weakness  : X-Buster or Zero Sabre
_________________________________________________________________________

Magma Dragoon from X4 is here waiting. For those of you who remember him
from before, note that his old lava ball attack and massive firestream
attack are both gone. This leaves him with three basic attacks.

For those of you who have never seen him before, these attacks are the
Hadouken, Shoryuken, and a diving kick.

If you REALLY have been under a rock the last ten years and don't know
the moves, the Hadouken is a forward-firing fireball. He can throw it
high and low. The Shoryuken is a dragon punch; jumping assisted flaming
uppercut. The kick is always telegraphed by Dragoon leaping to the top
of the screen: dash out of the way.

You can duck below the high fireball now, and the general lack of
strength makes this an easy battle.

Teach this poor excuse for an Akuma clone a lesson. Once victorious,
you'll return to the main menu.


_______________________________________________________ Intro Stage _____
At the begining of the game, you will be asked to select X or Zero. You
can use either one, no matter which you pick, but the difficulty of the
game is affected by your choice.

If you choose X, you start with unarmored X, white armor X, and Zero.
This is the easier of the two paths.

If you choose Zero, you start with unarmored X and Zero. You CANNOT
obtain the white armor from X4.

Whichever you chose, you'll take that character through a short 
introductory stage. Nothing too tough here-- just watch the ceiling 
inside the building, and the crushing walls while scaling the statue 
area.

__________________________________________________ Intro Stage Boss _____
Boss      : Sigma Head
Weakness  : X-Buster or Zero Sabre
Weak Point: Beam cannon in mouth
_________________________________________________________________________

This boss has several patterns it follows repeatedly. It may fire two
sparks from its eyes-- these sparks will autotrack you and try to nail
you after a few seconds. Quick movement will get you by these. Sigma
may also fire a barrage of blue shots. These can be tough to avoid, but
don't do a whole lot of damage. X will find this a complete cinch,
but Zero will find it a bit tougher. His three-hit slash combo
does even more damage to the boss than X's charge shots, but with Sigma's
constant movement, it can be tough to get all three hits without taking
one in return. The last pattern is slightly tougher. Once damaged
sufficently, Sigma will teleport back, and open its mouth, shuddering.
You can get in a quick hit or two here, but you should then climb up
the left wall as quickly as possible (or duck) as Sigma is about to
fire a large beam attack.

Overall this is the easiest boss in the game. This should not be tough
once you've warmed up.


______________________________________________________ Stage Select _____

After some additional story information regarding the fact that an 
explosion on the space colony has destabilized the orbit of the colony,
you'll meet a few of the new characters of X5. You have 16 units of time
to stop the colony's descent, or mass destruction comes down on a global
scale. If you fail, the results are mostly the same as if you failed
with the shuttle-- you lose Zero and get the worst ending.

These units of time are actually 'hours', but they're not real-time
hours. So, to avoid confusion, I'm referring to them as units of time.

Each time you *enter* a stage, you use one time unit. Continuing uses no
additional time.

Your first goal is to obtain the parts needed for the Enigma Particle 
Cannon. The four bosses on the left side of the select menu have these 
parts. After two bosses have been beaten, Dynamo will challenge you to
a duel. Once all four parts have been obtained, the cannon will be 
fired. A backup plan has also been created, using a space shuttle to
send a reploid to orbit to destroy the colony. The four robots on the
right side have the shuttle parts needed to protect it from the blast.

After beating two of the Mavericks on the right side, Dynamo will
challenge you for a second round.

Once the colony is destroyed, the timer stops-- feel free to go back
to any stage you've played previously to find the items you've missed.

Pressing L1 or R1 from the stage select screen will bring up 
additional screens. Alia's screen will allow you to add/change 
modules if you have earned any, as well as see which armor parts you
have.

Douglas's screen will tell you the status of the parts you have for
the particle beam cannon and shuttle, as well as to use either one
prematurely.

The stages are as follows:
Crescent Grizzly  Spiral Pegasus
Bolt Kraken       Spike Rose
Shining Firefly   Dark Necrobat
Tidal Whale       Burn Dinorex

Suggested order is
Grizzly, Whale, Kraken, Firefly, Necrobat, Pegasus, Fire, Rose


__________________________________________________ Crescent Grizzly _____
Items: Heart Tank, E-Tank, Armor Capsule [Flying, Leg]
Reccomended: Zero, Flight Armor X

This should be the first stage you enter. White armor reccomended.

You'll start atop the last car of a fast moving convoy of flatbed cars.
Going to the second, you'll run into a weak enemy. Keep going. The third
car is the one you should be concerned about. Watch the laser on the back
of the engine-- and that missile launcher. Your goal here is to drop down
in front of the nose laser and destroy it. If using X, ducking charge
shots will do nicely. If using Zero, duck and slash repeatedly. When
destroyed, you'll only have a couple of seconds to get to the next car
before this one blows up.

The next car is a little harder, but same routine. Watch out for the
charging enemy on the car after that.

Now, this next car is a lot larger. Climb the side and enter it.
Not too much to be concerned with here. At the midway point, you'll
notice you can climb up between this car and the next. There are spikes
atop the roof, and a heart tank up here. Later, you can use the black
armor to walk over the spikes to get it, or use the flying armor to
get it, and sacrifice a life in the process. Continuing onward, you'll
find your first pole-- remember to hold up when jumping to it.

Next car is a little more of the same, but when you destroy this car,
several start to go up in flames. You'll need to move quickly here.
When you reach the pillars with the drills on the sides, you can
dash-jump from the top of each pillar to the next, saving a LOT of
time. Touching a drill will cost you a life, considered a spike.

The next car after this, don't forget the E-tank sitting on the
nose of the car! Shortly after this, you'll be treated to a new world
record in the long jump and end up in a cave. See that hole in the
ceiling? Not the twisty passageway going forward, but the one where
the glowing red light is. Climb up there for your first capsule. Zero
can enter capsules too, so no excuse for passing it up.

This capsule contains the flying armor leg upgrade.

A little further and you reach the boss.

_______________________________________________ VS Crescent Grizzly _____
Boss      : Crescent Grizzly
Weakness  : Spike ball (X) or Clone Zero (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

First method of attack is to launch crescent-shaped energy blades. Kneel
beside him and hit him with charge shots if using X, or slash away if
using Zero. If you have the spike ball, use that instead.

Second method of attack, Grizzly will jump up through the ceiling, then
dive through the floor right over where you're standing. Dash out of the
way to avoid this. He'll then attack in one of two ways depending on
where you're standing. If you're in a indentation in the floor, he drills
up at you from the floor. If you're on a high panel, he breaks through
the background behind you and tries to bearhug you. Keep attacking, and
when you get him down to 1/3 of his health, he'll switch to pattern
three.

Third method, he lands again and starts throwing larger crescent
shots at you. He rarely fires them in a downward angle, so if you
kneel below and to the side of him, you'll usually only take one or
two hits in killing him.


_______________________________________________________ Tidal Whale _____
Items: Heart Tank, Armor Capsule [Flying, Body]
Reccomended: Zero, White Armor X

You'll start this stage being chased by a huge fishy battleship. Looks
like Sigma took a page from the Darius book. The cannons on the front
can be damaged. If using X, the white armor's charge plasma or fire
wheel work well here. If using Zero, almost any kind of attack works
well here. Make sure to destroy those as soon as you can, as the fish
enemies it releases are annoying enough without additional shots to
worry about.

After a bit, the going gets rougher. Watch the jumps, those ARE spikes
between the columns. See the ceiling alcoves? Those are where you should
be waiting-- every so often, the big beam cannon comes out and fires.
This cannon cannot be hurt yet, so use the high positions to dodge
while you can. On occasion, the battleship might let out one of the
yellow injured maverick hunters. Touch him to gain an extra life and
some energy. Also watch out for the fish. These are the same as they
were from Megaman X1. They'll suck you in if allowed. Mashing jump,
fire, and directions will let you break out, but hurry! They'll slowly
damage you. Charge shots as X will make short work of them. Spinning
slashes or regular attacks from behind are best as Zero. You DON'T want
to stand right in front of one.

There are also floating starfish here. These can't be hurt. Dodge them
carefully.

The ground will eventually level out, and you'll have to fight the
battleship. If using X, hitting it with charge shots will work well,
but be careful of the beam cannon. If using Zero, this battle is easy.
Just stand RIGHT in front of it and keep slashing. Your slashes will hit
the beam cannon, and it'll go down in no time. Piece of cake!

It floats off after being beaten, but not for long. Continue onward and
you'll have to deal with the battleship's tail while descending. This is
an autoscroll section. Don't worry about the bottom, but getting pushed
off the top of the screen is instant death.

The tail has four cannons. Destroying these will temporarily take the
pressure off, but they reform after a bit. These cannons fire
semi-seeking torpedoes. They seek you on a horizontal level, then
descend or rise on the vertical plane to attack. If using X, your best
bet is either to use a charged crescent to protect you, or dodge very
quickly. If using Zero, jumping spinning slashes work nicely here, and
tend to rip the cannons apart too if you're close enough. More fish
here, use the same tactics as before to stop them.

At the bottom, you'll again have to fight the battleship. This time,
you're fighting the tail (obviously). The trick here is that the
cannons will continue to reform until the boss is dead. If using X,
use charge shots against the center of the tail, as well as the cannons,
and watch those missiles. If using Zero, spin and slash-- again, you'll
rip through this one in no time.

After beating the battleship, it floats off again for a bit. A couple
of steps forward will take you to a set of wooden platforms, where the
water level declines to let you take a bit of a breather.

Not too much to be concerned about here. It's easier to slide down
the wall to get to the low platform between the spikes. The enemies
here are pretty much the same stingrays from X4-- kneel and shoot them.
It's better to wait for them to come to you than to jump down or up to
one. At the end of the passage, you'll reach a drop.

Notice the spikes above you? Later when you have either the flight armor
or Gaia armor, you can go up there to get a heart tank.

Dropping to the bottom of the passage reveals a capsule you can't get to
yet. You'll want to return here later to get the capsule. Preferrably
after you stop the satellite, as re-entering this stage will cost you
time. To get the capsule, step back several steps from the wall, face
it, and kneel. Fire the ice wave weapon you received from Tidal Whale.
You don't even need to charge it. It'll detonate the bomb and open the
wall for you.

This capsule contains the flying armor body upgrade.

Continuing onward, the water rises again, and with it comes the
battleship for one final round. This is again an autoscroll area. Watch
the cannons below you. Zero can easily hit them with a standing slash or
spinning slash. X will need to crouch and fire charge shots to hit them.

Be careful of the ceilings here. Getting crushed between the ceiling and
battleship is a Bad Thing(tm). Instant death, as you'd expect. There are
more fish here, so keep an eye out. The platforms have the occasional
life energy, so it never hurts to keep a bit ahead of the battleship.

Eventually, you'll reach the top and a door. You'll have to finish off
the battleship first, however!

On the protruding fin, there's a glowing generator protected by a
yellow shield, and a panel. Destroying the panel will remove the shield
and allow you to attack the generator. The cannons below can be
destroyed but will reform. The panel will be repaired after several
seconds, and you will have to repeat the process. If using X, kneeling
charge shots against the panel, then standing ones against the generator
work best. If using Zero, I again cannot stress how useful the jumping
spinning slash is. You can hit the cannons, panel, and generator all at
once.

When the generator is destroyed, the battleship will sink. Quickly jump
to the wall or door before it does, and go on through. Then prepare for
a boss battle.

____________________________________________________ VS Tidal Whale _____
Boss      : Tidal Whale
Weakness  : Crescent (X) or Spinning Slash (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

Notice the spikes on the right side? These will be a key aspect before
too long, so remember they're there. Tidal Whale has two patterns.

He starts by creating a maze of ice. Stay on *top* of the ice. Very
important, as getting caught between an ice block and the left wall
hurts. After a bit, he'll suck the maze back to the right as quickly
as he can-- now the spikes are in play. DON'T let yourself get pushed
into the spikes.

If using X, you can knock him out of the ice block creation phase by
hitting him with crescent shots, or better yet, by effective use of
the charge version. Use the white armor's hover ability to stay JUST
above Tidal Whale but close enough to hit him with the arcing defense
of the charge attack. You can usually get 2-3 good hits in before the
shot ends.

If using Zero, stand right in front of him and use a jumping spin
slash. It will keep knocking him out of his ice block creation, and
prevents him from putting up much of an offense.

After knocking away two-thirds of his life, he'll float off the left
side of the screen, then pop back in facing right. Thus begins the
second pattern.

Tidal Whale now attempts to launch you into the spikes by spitting
fast-moving ice blocks directly in line with you.

If using X, switch to distance strikes with the crescent. You don't
want to be too close to Whale or his ice.

If using Zero, use good use of the double-jump with the spinning
slash, and keep out of his direct line as much as possible. Try to
fake him into shooting his blocks high.

At this point, it shouldn't take much more effort to beat him. You'll
get the ice wave/ice dash for your trouble.


_______________________________________________________ Bolt Kraken _____
Items: Heart Tank, Armor Capsule [Flying, Helmet]
Reccomended: Flight Armor X, White Armor X, Gaia Armor X

You'll start this stage on the Landchaser. Almost as _soon_ as you hear
the word 'ready', you're going to come across a pit. Be ready to jump.

This initial section can be tough. The thin barriers go down with one
shot each, while the thick ones take two. The Landchaser can smash
through barriers using the dash button, but this leaves you unable
to react for precious moments afterwards. Doing the dash will get you
killed too often; save it for the very end of this section, when you
face a ton of barriers.

Your immediate goal is to grab all of the sparks floating here. If you
have all of them when you reach the end of the Landchaser sequence,
a secret passage will be opened to the capsule in this stage. If you
didn't succeed, you can always come back later.

This capsule contains the flying armor helmet upgrade.

Telling you where each spark is won't really help here for the sheer
speed of this section. All I can suggest is to practice a few times,
and give you two very specific hints.

One-- to get the two sparks where one is really high, then the other
really low, jump and hold back to choke on the jump while grabbing
the high one, then hold forward to land on the bottom platform.

Two-- for the high concentrations of barriers, using the fact there are
two firebuttons to your advantage helps. Wiggle your finger between
square and triangle and you'll fire faster.

Either way, once you reach the end, you'll have to drop into the hole,
and the real stage begins. By the way, isn't this the third Landchaser
X has destroyed this way? He sure is hard on his equipment!

You've got a new enemy here, a machine that sends sparks along the
floor or ceiling. This thing is invincible while neither of the two
bays are open. Note the Maverick Hunter behind it.

Reaching the bottom, you'll find a familliar trick if you've played
Rockman and Forte. To open the door, you have to shoot the two
halves of the switch together. Not too hard yet.

Continuing onward, a couple of plaform jumps and a weak shielded
enemy. Just watch out for the electric barrier. You'll see more of
these later, and they can't be destroyed. Quite annoying.

The next room has another switch. Move quickly, and use the pole to
your advantage, but be aware that if the bot below you fires a spark
upwards, you're RIGHT in his line of fire. This shouldn't be tough.

The next room, however, is where things get a bit harder. Take a hit
and dash past the spark guy if you want, or kill him. Either way,
you're going to find there are TWO switches here. For ALL of these
two switch puzzles, I reccomend you shoot them equally. One charge
shot/sabre to one, then to the other. This makes it easier to time
the door's shutting. If it shuts on you, you're dead.

Keep in mind that a switch that has been sitting there for a couple
of seconds without being shot will slowly start to open again. An
open door will also shut after a few seconds, so move QUICK.

You'll probably help the hunter here, no problem. The next room has
a vertically moving electric barrier. Dash underneath. Another
sparky, then one of the two nastier puzzles. Try not to hit the
electric barrier while working on the two switches. Zero will have
a harder time with this than X, obviously.

The next room is a series of barriers and maverick hunters. Study
the barriers and help each hunter in turn.

You can duck under the last two electric barriers. In fact, the
only way past the last one without taking a hit is to drop into
the indentation and duck, then move out as it passes.

One more switch puzzle. This one is a real pain. Concentrate on
NOT hitting the spikes; you can always take another shot at
the puzzle, so long as you're alive to do so, right?

The room after this has a hunter, then a weak enemy in combination
with a spark producer. Another spark producer after that, behind a
ladder. Don't worry about this guy. Head up. To your left is
a switch that may seem a little hard to hit. If you open it and
head up there, you'll see a stack of black crates and a spike floor.
You need the Gaia armor to get the heart tank past the crates, so
come back later when you have it.

To the right is one last switch puzzle, then to the boss we go!

____________________________________________________ VS Bolt Kraken _____
Boss      : Bolt Kraken
Weakness  : Ice wave (X) or Ice dash (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

Bolt Kraken uses a three-way electric/spark attack while floating around
the room. He tends to chase you around the battlefield. On occasion,
a crate may appear in the center of the room. If electrified, avoid it,
but it may come in handy nontheless.

Kraken will electify the floor to keep you on the walls on occasion
as well. When he spreads his tentacles wide, he's about to fire a wide
spread electric shot. To avoid this, use the box as cover.

X can nail Bolt Kraken with the ice wave, so long as you're slightly
higher than he is. Zero should air-dash through him using the ice dash.
Either way, this battle should not take too long compared to the stage.


___________________________________________________ Shining Firefly _____
Items: Heart Tank, EX Life, Armor Capsule [Flying, Arms]
Reccomended: Flight Armor X, White Armor X, Unarmored X

You'll start the stage by a gateway that can be shot open. If you drop
down into the pit, you'll find there's more than you originaly expected.
Returning down here later with the Gaia armor or Flying armor will
let you get the heart tank on the spikes.

Continuing onward past the pit, you'll enter the castle. Some weak
enemies, then you'll run into a fun toy. Ever play Castlevania? These
spike crushers work the same; getting the 'point' hurts, but you CAN
stand atop them. Also, see the wooden planks above you? You can hit
those with a fire shot as X later when you get it to get the EX Life
upgrade that lets you start with 5 lives instead of 3.

Continuing, you'll have to pass a spike crusher twice in a winding
passage. The next room bears notice. You have to jump across the top
of the spike crushers, but don't land on the spikes. Also, watch out!
The Sigma virus will attack you in here.

Further on, more spike crushers. Go across the tops, but don't get
crushed against the ceiling. You'll reach a door, blast it open
and hit the staircase.

This isn't too different from the similar section in X4. Take your
time, and watch out for the Sigma virus here as well. He'll attack
twice. The laser emitters can and should be destroyed before
proceeding. Before long, you'll start seeing fireflies. Watch them;
after a few seconds they turn deadly and charge directly at you.
Jump out of the way or destroy them.

A miniboss here. Three laser emitters drop from four poles. The
black one can be destroyed with a charge shot or spinning slash. You
can also ride on the poles to avoid the beam attacks. Lastly, you
can jump onto the emitter for a short time, but you should get off
before they start to rise again, or you'll take damage.

After destroying enough, you can continue to a teleporter.

The next room starts a slow uphill trek. Watch for the bouncing
spike ball here. See the red emitter? It shoots a yellow shot that
can be destroyed. The emitter can be destroyed with a crescent
shot or spin slash. Got it? Good, there'll be a quiz on this soon.

Heading to the next floor, you'll see a laser emitter guarding a
hole in the ceiling. A yellow shot comes out of that hole every so
often-- jump on up and destroy the emitter with the crescent weapon.

Ooh, what's this? A capsule!

This capsule contains the flying armor arms upgrade.

Proceeding from here, you'll climb again, persued by the Sigma
virus once more. Drop down the right side, then get him offscreen
as quick as you can. You'll reach a set of stairs. At the end of the
first set and beginning of the second, you'll be attacked twice more
by a persistent and annoying Sigma.

There are a number more emitters here, but don't worry about them.
Pass by as quickly as you can to avoid Sigma. You're almost to the
boss.

________________________________________________ VS Shining Firefly _____
Boss      : Shining Firefly
Weakness  : Thunder Beam (X) or Thunder Slash (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________


Shining Firefly has several patterns to watch. He teleports around a
lot at first, firing the occasional firefly shot at you. These can
be destroyed.

If you're using X, be careful with the thunder beam attacks-- they drop
the firefly to the floor, and chances are you'll be attacking him from
RIGHT below him. Get out of the way as best as you can, but chances are
you'll take a couple of hits anyway.

If you're using Zero, there's not a whole lot you can do to avoid
getting hit except aim your electric attacks VERY well-- the trail of
the attack will hurt as much as the actual sword slash. You're bound
to take at LEAST one hit here, though.

When sufficently weakened, he'll start to use one of two patterns more.
These are a vertical sweeping beam attack that will cover most of the
battlefield, but can be ducked easily (you can also knock him out of
either with an electric attack) or a horizontal one that leaves no safe
spot to avoid being hit. 

The most annoying part of this battle is the constant teleportation.
Be patient and you'll have NO problems.

If you followed my pattern, you'll get to see a cut-scene after this
battle, described in this next section.

_____________________________________________________ Colony Strike _____

After closer study, this SEEMS to be all random based. On the EXACT same
save file, I've had opposite results.

The particle beam will either blow the colony out of the sky, or damage
it heavily. If it succeeded, skip the rest of this. You're free to
continue to the Unknown stages or grab the rest of the weapons first.
I'd suggest beating Necrobat first at LEAST before going there.

If the colony was only damaged, a remaining option remains: Sending a
space shuttle up to destroy the colony. Zero volunteers to fly this
shuttle. Again, the results seem to be random here, but it seems the
odds are stacked against X and evenly stacked for Zero.

The shuttle succeeds in destroying the colony, but Zero's retrieval
is the random factor.

Worst case scenario, the colony isn't completely destroyed and rains
fire down upon the planet. Zero goes Maverick as well. This is the
same as letting time run out, and is the road to the worst ending.

Best case scenario, the colony is completely destroyed, and Zero
makes it back in one piece. You can thus continue to use him. This
leads to one of two endings.

_____________________________________________________ Dark Necrobat _____
Items: Heart Tank, Armor Capsule [Gaia, Head]
Reccomended: Flight Armor X, White Armor X

This stage can be extremely frustrating your first time through it.

Note the background here. When it isn't moving, time is stopped. You'll
see constellations in the background here as well. When time unpauses,
these turn into groups of enemies and spikes that fall to the floor.
The spikes will kill with a touch as always.

The easiest way through this part is probaby to dash through it,
jumping the enemies without destroying them.

Before too long, you're going to reach a hovering platform. Jumping onto
it will begin the next part of the level, which may have you tearing
your hair out. 

We'll refer to it as a hoverboard.

The first platform the hoverboard comes across is fairly simple. A spark
generator. You CAN stand safely on the edges of the platform, so 
carefully jump next to him, then over him as the hoverboard glides 
underneath. Don't worry about taking a hit here.

Next is a series of two platforms. Jump to the high one and rest there.
The platform will go under the low one, then come back to go OVER it.
If you're not careful, you'll drop off into space, or end up spiked.

After this, you'll reach three more platforms. Hop quickly to the first 
one, then across to the second one. This middle one is the ONLY safe one 
once time resumes. Wait here until the hoverboard passes by the third, 
then dash jump to it.

IMMEDIATELY duck as soon as you land, so the epikes won't get you on the
underside of the next platform.

One more plaform with a heart-- Zero's double jump can reach this easily,
and X can either use the wind weapon with a jump or dashjump from the
hoverboard BEFORE it descends offscreen.

You're done with this section.. on to the second half.

In here, there are gravity reversing beams that you'll have to travel
through. There's also a puzzle leading to a heart.

First room is simple. Take out the enemies and pass through the beam.

Second room is a bit more of the same.

Third has more spikes. Be careful of these and continue.

Fourth you'll be attacked by the Sigma virus. Dodge as best as you can.
If you have the flight armor, this will be easier.

Fifth has another sigma virus, and some platform jumping. Jump back
into the beam to reverse the gravity a second time for this room. Now
you can get the heart-- be careful though. It might actually be easier
to take a hit from one of the bats before jumping up to the heart. The
short invincibility period will protect you against the spikes.

Sixth.. If you reversed gravity in five, do the same here, so you can 
trap the balls in the pits. Watch out for the Sigma virus HERE again
too.

Seventh, more platforms, and another Sigma virus. Fake him low, then 
jump to a high platform to get by him without harm.

At the end, there's a pit and the door. Drop into the pit to find
an armor capsule. To get to the capsule, you'll need to use X. Fire
the shining laser weapon, then carefully navigate it through the maze
to hit the door from behind. This'll blow the wall open and allow you
through.

This capsule contains the Gaia armor head upgrade.

Head back up to fight the boss.

__________________________________________________ VS Dark Necrobat _____
Boss      : Dark Necrobat
Weakness  : Shining Laser (X) or Giga Crush (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

This is probably the easiest Maverick in the entire game. You can
EASILY beat him using just charge shots from X or Crescent Moon Slashes
from Zero.

His pattern consists of mostly flying slowly along the walls, releasing
a swarm of bats from the corners. A charge shot will vaporize the bats
and continue to strike him. Zero's Giga Crush will NOT go past the bats
however, so be careful on your timing.

On occasion, he'll use one of three other tricks, however. He may charge
up, preparing to stop time for a few seconds. After doing this, he will
USUALLY use his second trick, dropping to mid-screen to fire a VERY slow
moving sonic barrier. This can be easily dodged, and does not do a whole
lot of damage.

His third trick, however, you should take note of. He may stop for a
moment, then swoop at you. If he grabs you, he'll suck life out of you
to recharge his bar. You can shake out of it by jamming the controller.

If you hit him with the weapon he's weak against, he'll drop to the
floor immediately. This means you shouldn't aim the Giga Crush to hit
him while he's above you, or use the Shining Laser that way either.

You should have NO trouble with this battle.


____________________________________________________ Spiral Pegasus _____
Items: Heart Tank, W-Tank, Armor Capsule [Gaia, Body]
Reccomended: Flight Armor X

The first section of this stage is amongst the hardest parts. Take it
step by step. The bombs will do severe damage to you when they blow up,
no matter where you stand. Make them your priority!

First one's easy. Right in front of the passage it'll open up.

Second room, bomb's in the upper right. Focus on that, but don't forget
to rescue the hunter before going on.

Third room, lower right corner. Don't waste time on the guy in the upper
right until you've dealt with the bottom floor IF at all.

Fourth room. upper platform. This is one of the hardest ones to get in
time. Speed through, don't worry about taking a hit-- just get that bomb.
The shots hurt MUCH less than a bomb detonation.

Upwards passage: First floor has an easy enemy. Second floor has one of
the more annoying ones. Third and fourth are about the same, but watch
for the bomb overtop the enemy on the fourth floor! Focus on the bomb
BEFORE the enemy.

Cross the rooftop now to head to an elevator back down.

First landing, the enemy is on the left. Jump off of the elevator if
you like, either side, but you can't go any further until the elevator
smashes through the old platform.

Second landing, enemy is on the right. Again, wait for the elevator.

Third landing, you should jump down from the elevator to take out an 
enemy as quickly as possible. There are two, one on each side, and
they're annoying as ever-- but the real focus here is the E-Tank
sitting on the platform the elevator is descending towards. If you
don't get it before the elevator gets there, kiss it goodbye.

Last landing, you should just jump to the right and land by the door.
There's nothing in the pit where the elevator lands, and you'll die
if you try to look for yourself. Head outside.

Out here, you'll reach an elevator heading to the upper right. If you
have the flight armor, you can fly DIRECTLY up from where you're
standing to reach the capsule for this stage.

This capsule contains the Gaia armor body upgrade.

The elevator is pretty basic. Sigma will pop out here to chase you,
but he cannot catch up with the elevator. Ignore him for now.

You'll reach a set of spikes. To get past them, stand on the right 
edge of the platform and duck. When you reach the end, dash jump up
to the platform and dash to the next elevator BEFORE the last one
stops. You want to ditch Sigma before he can get onscreen by the
new elevator. If he makes it to the elevator, it'll be next to 
impossible to keep dodging him in such cramped quarters.

First landing, two maverick hunters guarded by a weak enemy, the
Sigma Virus in the very back, and a bomb. Even offscreen, the bomb
will hurt you, so destroy it quickly. Also, get Sigma off-screen
as quickly as you can, as the same rule about dodging applies here.

Move quick, before the elevator tries to leave you behind!

Spiked platforms coming up. Just stay out of the way.

Second landing, tough enemy, maverick hunter, and bomb. Watch out
for Sigma here! He appears RIGHT on top of the hunter!

Several more spiked platforms, weak enemies, then the top. Prepare 
to fight the boss!

_________________________________________________ VS Spiral Pegasus _____
Boss      : Spiral Pegasus
Weakness  : Time Stopper (X and Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

It is suggested you wait on the time stopper. You'll want to use it once
you can be assured you're not going to waste it.

Pegasus's first attacks are simple charges right at you. If you're hit, 
you'll be sent flying a fair distance, and potentially off the 
battlefield if you're not careful. If he pauses for a second on the
ground, he's about to fire a blue image of himself at you. This image
can easily be jumped, does NOT throw you back, and does minimal damage.

Simply jump each charge, getting in attacks while you can with Zero's
sabre or X's X-Buster.

After a bit, Pegasus will rise into the air. If he pauses just in
jump range, he's going to dive back down into another charge. If he
rises off the screen, he's going to the second pattern.

His second pattern is to divebomb you from one of eight different
angles. He repeats this several times, and always finishes by flying
up from underneath. He finishes this usually the second time he
tries to get you from underneath.

After this, he drops back into just within jump range and starts
throwing tornados across the battlefield. These crawl across the
ground, growing bigger with distance. Your best bet is to stand just
to the side of Pegasus and attack.

Fire a charged shot or slash, then dash to his other side while he
fires a tornado that way. After firing a few of these, he'll drop
in with another charge. Be careful you don't end up on the side of
him nearest the edges of the arena, or he'll send you off.

When you get Spiral Pegasus down to about one-third health, use
the time stopper while he is on the ground, and plug away at him
with your strongest attacks repeatedly. You should be able to take
him down with no further trouble.

The reason it is suggested you wait is that after the third pattern,
he switches back to the second one again, diving from different
angles. It can be hard to get good hits in when you only have a split
second to hit him.


______________________________________________________ Burn Dinorex _____
Items: Heart Tank, Armor Capsule [Gaia, Arms]
Reccomended: Flight Armor X, White Armor X

You'll start on a descent through a section of dragon heads. Watch the
eyes. They'll tell you when they're about to try to flame broil you.

Some shoot a continuous flame, others fire short bursts. Either way,
they hurt a LOT.

You'll eventually reach a horizontal hall with two drops into a large 
hall. You might want to wait here for a bit-- a flame blast will race
through the cavern below you. Drop down after it finishes into the
large hallway. Here's where things get fun. To your left is a drop into
a small area with an extra life and a heart tank. Get the extra life,
since you probably won't be able to make it back to a safe spot before
the next fire storm hits.

Heading to the right, you'll quickly learn that when you start to see 
the rocks spouting, you have about five to ten seconds before the next
fire storm. The black areas are the safe spots. Grab onto a wall if you
have to, but wait out the storm in a safe place. Every so far down the
hall, there are brown walls of stone you can't pass. These can only be
destroyed by a fire storm, so find a safe spot that still gives you
visual access to the wall, and wait.

Don't try to go too far in a single pass. You can't pass most hall 
sections in one storm.

At the end is a door you'll need to destroy. The small hiding places
right in front of it are only safe if you duck in them. Continue on
to the second half of the stage!

Here you get a choice of two paths. Either way, hop into the robot
ride and stop. If you jump over the pit right in front of you, you
can take an above-ground shortcut, chased by a dragon. Or, you can
descend into the pit and take the below lava route. We'll cover
the above route first.

Above ground, after jumping the pit, hop out of the mecha and grab
onto the block. Then hop quickly up onto it. Lava kills with a touch
here.

You can't hurt the dragon yet either, so move carefully forward from 
block to block. There are several doors you'll need to destroy along
the way. At the end of this passage, you'll find two hovering 
platforms. Now it's time to fight the dragon.

_________________________________________________________ VS Dragon _____
Boss      : Dragon
Weakness  : Ice Wave (X) or Ice Dash (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

To take the dragon down with Zero, simply slash away. Don't use the ice 
dash or you'll end up in the lava more often than not. For X, simply
jump and put him on ice. After several fireballs, he'll charge into the 
wall-- this is your chance to use the ice dash safely if using Zero.

Nothing too tough. Continue through the door when done, and you'll end
up where the next section ends.

If you took the lower path, remember that the mecha is the ONLY thing
keeping you alive. Don't take too many hits here! All enemies are weak
against the overhead slash, so it's actually easier to jump at an enemy
and attack to slash them apart. I won't cover this in much depth since
you can see the enemy coming in most cases.

Near the end of this, you have two choices. You can take the low road,
dropping into another narrow passage that leads to a couple tough
jumps, and then to a platform with a robot ride armor on land. JUST
past this armor is a capsule with the next armor piece.

This capsule contains the Gaia armor arms upgrade.

You can also take the high road, and jump up near the door you'd exit 
the dragon battle from. From here, you can fly to the capsule if you
have the flight armor, or you can take the vines upwards to the door
leading to the boss.

___________________________________________________ VS Burn Dinorex _____
Boss      : Burn Dinorex
Weakness  : Wind Slash (X), Wind Slash (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

He starts by jumping around, spitting flame wheels at your position.
These wheels shoot small fireballs to the sides before fading away.

For X, you'll have to get close and tag him with the wind spirals from
your Wind Slash. Zero can attack from a distance. For either, the
results are the same, lauching Burn Dinorex up into a spin before
dumping him on his backside.

After reducing his life in half, he'll jump up to a wall, then dive
at you, wall or floor. After landing, he'll skid across the floor
quite a distance, and he is invincible during this skid. Wind Slash
won't hurt him, nor will Ultimate X's Giga Crush, so get out of the
way.

He'll proceed to continue to leap to the walls, alternating dive/skids
with spitting fire. His attacks grow more powerful-- he adds a flame
spit that covers the entire floor, and a skid that leaves smaller
flames on the floor that ignite up into small columns of fire.

Continue to use the Wind Slash, and you shouldn't have too much
trouble taking him down.


________________________________________________________ Spike Rose _____
Items: Heart Tank, E-Tank, Armor Capsule [Gaia, Leg]
Reccomended: Zero, Flight Armor X, Gaia Armor X

Start heading to the right as expected, climb the wall, and continue.

This next section has several high platforms you can take, or a low
path. Sigma appears halfway through the low road, so take the high
one. Take out the cannons as you go, and ditch Sigma as quickly as
you can.

Continuing, you'll have a choice of two paths. The black crates can
be destroyed if you have the Gaia armor. Heading through here will
take you to a puzzle where you'll need to destroy crates, and push
one over to the very edge to use as a boost to get to the heart
tank in this stage.

Since you won't have the Gaia armor the first time you come through
here, head up the vines.

Note the spikes on the walls. Those DO count as spikes-- don't
touch. After a bit of climbing, you'll have to deal with the Sigma
virus as well as some floating cannons. Move as quickly as you can.
Taking a hit from the cannons isn't going to do a lot of damage,
but Sigma can ruin your whole day if you're playing X.

When you reach the top, you'll head right to find a purple rose.

This enemy ONLY appears in this stage and needs a small explanation.
Until they open up, they're invincible. Standing beside them to wait
for them to open is a bad idea, as they will unfurl a vine and wrap
you up for several hits worth of damage. When the rose opens, it also
unleashes several small spiders-- then is your chance to destroy it.

They're also usually quite easy to dodge past.

You'll find another new enemy as you enter a small tunnel. Spiked
roots rise from the floor or drop from the ceiling. The ONLY place
they can be hurt is the crystal at their base. They're positioned
to completely block your path, and will shoot darts if left alone
for a few seconds. These can be predicted by a small green sprout
in the floor or ceiling, so keep an eye out for them. Soon after
this, you'll drop down a set of stairs. Below this is some life
energy guarded by a rose, then below that two roses guard the
path down.

When you drop here, hold up to grab onto the vine below you, or
you'll drop into a pit. From here is a series of vines that
you'll have to navigate. The fourth one is important, by the
bottom of the screen. Note the green sprout in the ceiling right
above you-- a vine is about to drop, and if you're not careful,
it will knock you down into the pit.

At the end of this vine is an open section that leads to the
capsule for this stage. Note the spikes on both walls here.
There are two ways up to the capsule. If you have the flight
armor, you can fly up to it (but be careful as there are more
spikes along the left wall up there).

If you're a true master, you can also get this with Zero.

You'll need the high jump module. Jump over to the fifth vine
that mostly covers the area right below the capsule. Double
jump up to a VERY small ledge in the upper left corner where
you can grab on. From here, jump back to the right, then do
a second jump in midair to grab the wall RIGHT below the
spikes on the left wall. If you jump again, even to steady
yourself, you'll hit the spikes. So, slide just a fraction down,
jump to the right, then airdash to the right wall. From here
you can climb up to the capsule.

I've done this personally. It isn't easy, but it IS possible.

This capsule contains the Gaia armor leg upgrade.

Continuing to the right after the capsule, you'll come back onto
land. A rose on your ascent up the steps, but you can easily pass
it without a thought. Sigma pops in below you when you reach the
top, but he is too far away to do much if you dash onward. There's
two more roses coming up, but these are also easy to avoid.

Now, you'll reach a set of small pits with spikes at the bottom.
A spiked root will appear dead center of these pits and knock you
in if you try to jump by too quickly. Walk to the edge of each,
take the root down, then continue.

There will be a couple more roses before the boss, but nothing
you can't handle, right?

_____________________________________________________ VS Spike Rose _____
Boss      : Spike Rose
Weakness  : Fire Wheel (X), Fire Punch (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

Spike Rose will start by throwing out a seed that creates a clone of
himself. This clone cannot take damage, but can hurt you. Keep track
of the real Spike!

He will create a spiked ball, which he will either leave like a
floating landmine, or launch it around the room in a angled bounce.

Also, he may launch rose petals into the air. These too can hurt you.

If he jumps back to the edge of the screen, he'll call his clone to
the other side. They'll simultaneously use the vine whip. If you're
caught in it, expect to take damage until you shake yourself out of
it.

For X, use the fire wheel in direct strikes, then dodge back as he
jumps again. He'll become vulnerable just about as he lands. If he
tries the vine whip, hit the correct one with the fire wheel, or
use the charged form to hit both if you're unsure.

For Zero, you'll have to be a bit more careful. A direct hit with the
fire attack will drop you right into the boss, and you'll take damage
too. Use glancing blows, then get out of the way before he jumps onto
you.

_________________________________________________________ VS Dynamo _____
Boss      : Dynamo
Weakness  : Crescent/Spinning Slash
_________________________________________________________________________

The first time you fight Dynamo, his techniques are fairly simple. He'll
throw his energy blade like a boomerang, spin it to block your shots,
and dash at you. When he dashes, he leaps up right in front of you to
slash downward in a diagonal arc.

If using Zero, use the spinning slash to quickly cut him down to size.
Don't worry about taking damage. Odds are you'll beat him LONG before he
can kill you.

For X, use the crescent shot, airdash to avoid his slash, and keep just
close enough that all of your crescent shots hit him whenever possible.

This first form isn't nearly as tough as the second.

The second time you fight him, he adds lightning to his arsenel. The
lightning strikes come in three stages. The first is a staggered shot
from above that is hard to avoid. The second is to fill the half of the
screen opposite of where Dynamo stands. Lastly, he'll fill the side of
the screen where he stands.

To easily avoid this attack, keep right in front of Dynamo for the first
strike, using the spin slash or crescent. For the second, stand right
next to where the lightning ends. For the third, dash to where the
lightning just ended.

You gain no weapon for this victory.

___________________________________________________ Unknown Stage 1 _____
Items: None
Reccomended: White Armor X

You start this level at the beginning of a nice long drop. Be sure to
climb the left wall and get the extra life if you don't have nine 
already. Then two weak enemies, and a further drop. Drop down the right
side of this passage. These green beams are the same as they were in
Megaman 2-- kill with a touch. They can also be stopped with a time
stopper, but save that for now.

After the first two beams, you'll drop onto a small plaform where a
green beam crosses RIGHT over your head. Drop to the right. You'll
skip a couple beams and get another extra life in the process.

You now drop into a horizontal passage. Two mecha enemies protect
this area, as well as two Zero Virii. Careful of these, as they're
sneaky about getting you from behind in such tight quarters as a 
battlefield.

You'll drop onto a small platform. From here, walk off to the left
and onto the next platform. Stand on the left edge and use the time
stopper here. From here you'll need to move quickly.

Drop off to the left, dash to the right, drop again, and dash to
the left to drop further.

Dash jump to the right to save time, drop into the hole, dash left
again and drop further.

BE SURE TO GET THE WEAPON ENERGY HERE! Without it, you're not going to 
be having much fun from here out. Dash to the right, drop down, and 
into the next section. Try not to stay too long on platforms here.
Just keep dropping as fast as you can to avoid getting trapped here.
If you're fast enough, you'll hit bottom before you run out of weapons
energy.

The last horizontal passage is easy. For the beam generators at the 
top of the screen, dash under them. For the generators at the bottom,
jump as high as you can, and air dash over them. Head through the
door and prepare to meet an old friend.

___________________________________________________ VS Shadow Devil _____
Boss      : Shadow Devil
Weakness  : Thunder Beam (X) or Thunder Slash (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________


This boss is a REAL pain, and an old 'friend' to boot. He still has his
attacks from Megaman 1, 3, and 8, plus some new tricks up his sleeve.

His most common form of attack is to split into twenty black spheres
and send himself across the room one at a time. Keep in mind he finishes
each vertical row BEFORE going on to the next row.

It is HIGHLY reccomended you take advantage of ducking for this. Once
the bottom one of each column is past you, you can wait out the rest of
that column without worry, if you're ducking. Once the Shadow Devil
reforms its body, it gains an eye. This eye is the weak point. Hit it
with Thunder Beam shots or charge shots if using X, or Crescent Moon
Slashes if using Zero. TOUCHING this boss while whole is extremely 
damaging, so using Zero's Thunder Slash is a BAD idea. He'll shoot
fireballs from the eye twice, before turning back into the balls 
and beginning again.

According to Rewind the Hamster, the pattern to the spheres 
is as follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------
I did get most of the pattern for the black rock monster (he keeps
getting on my nerves, so I wrote down the pattern for the normal
block-moves).  They're in sets of four, the blocks numbered from
one to four, one being the closest to the ground, four being the one
closest to the ceiling.

2314 2134 1234 2341
1342 3142 4123 1234
1234 1234 1432 1234

That's the basic three patterns he'll use when going from side to side.
I don't have the pattern for the dual side parts (I think the equal
height exchanges go 2143 2143, but I'm not too sure, seeing that he's
only done that one a couple times), but I'll work on it when I get some
spare time.
-----------------------------------------------------------

The second form occurs after he has done the first several times.
He halfway repeats the first pattern, ending up with two columns of
five spheres each. Then he sends spheres back and forth from BOTH 
sides at once. After doing this several times, he then sends the 
remaining spheres from one side back over, and reforms his body.

Once sufficently damaged, he reverts to the third form. This form
appears to be a clone of one of Wily's old saucer attacks, from
Megaman 6. The saucer first slides forward across the ground until
it hits the wall, before beginning its pattern. If using Zero, double
jump it. If using the Flight Armor, fly over it. If using anything 
else, dash to the wall, climb quickly, and either airdash past it or 
dash jump it from the wall.

The Shadow Devil then bounces forward, aiming to land right atop you 
and forming spikes underneath it. These spikes KILL. After landing, it 
forms the eye for a second, then leaps forward again. After doing this 
several times, it will back you into a corner. This time, dash under it.
Hit the eye whenever you get a chance. After several rounds of this, it 
will turn back into the spheres and the process begins anew.

Take him down, for once and for all.

___________________________________________________ Unknown Stage 2 _____
Items: None
Reccomended: Gaia Armor X, Zero

Start the level by fighting four hovering mecha, and dodging two Zero
Virii. Nothing too tough here. Take a hit if you have to to prevent 
being hit by the virus. After this, you'll have to head up via a series
of hovering platforms. The ones that are smoking and shuddering will
abruptly descend, so get off those as quickly as you can.

The Flight Armor will be VERY helpful here.

Past here, two weak enemies and another mech. Take the weak ones down
before the mech, since they're faster and pesky.

The spiked balls are easy to avoid. Dash past when they rise. If using
the flight armor, you can fly through them without taking a hit.

Another spiked ball blocking your passage, also guarded by a mech, two
weak enemies, and the Zero Virus. If you have trouble, dash past while
invincible from getting hit. Just take it patiently, and put priority
on the virus if playing X.

Now we start to hit more spikes. Airdash or dash jump them, but get
rid of the virus first. It will make two attempts.

Now you climb a vertical passage. The mecha here are the real problem.
Carefully take each down before proceeding. Shortly up your climb on
the left wall. Switch walls when you reach each platform, as spikes 
will blodk your way.

When you reach the pole, you'll have to dash jump or fly to get to it.
Dash up it carefully to avoid taking hits, When you reach the two mecha,
either fight them or go to the top of the pole and dash jump to the 
ladder.

Climb up to the top. See the platform on the left? Walk through the
wall for a boost, then go through the door to fight the boss.

Here's another old friend for you.

____________________________________________________ VS Ramda Ramda _____
Boss      : Ramda Ramda
Weakness  : Fire (Blue eye), Crescent (Green eye), Thunder (Red eye)
            Ice (Nose)
_________________________________________________________________________


Interesting that the Maverick symbol is shown by the virus here. This
hints that Wily really WAS behind the Maverick Virus as a whole-- Zero
was probably the initial carrier.

Alright, this guy is identical to how he was in Megaman X1. The
basic pattern is two eye attacks, then the nose. Repeat.

The blue eye merely flies around, trying to ram you. Avoid and attack.
The green eye fires a barrage of weak shots. Counter with the charged 
form of the Crescent shot if using X, or Crescent Moon Slashes with 
Zero. It may be easier to use charge shots with X.
The red eye fires a slowly spinning wave of strong shots. Avoid 
carefully, by following it; climbing the wall and airdashing as 
necessary.

The nose attack starts by the walls closing you into a tight space.
Note the spikes on the floor. Occasionally spikes will appear on the 
walls for a short time as well. Get out of the way if they do. The 
nose will slowly follow you around. It can't move diagonally, so use
this to your advantage. If using X, hit it with Ice Wave shots.
If using Zero, Ice Dash through it.

When all three eyes OR the nose has been destroyed, the walls will
stay permanently closed, so the best way to win is to take two of the 
eyes down, then injure the nose near death. Take down the last eye, 
then finally kill the nose.

___________________________________________________ Unknown Stage 3 _____
Items: Armor Capsule [Ultimate Armor for X, Black Armor for Zero]
Reccomended: Zero, Unarmored X

Take either unarmored X or Zero into this stage.

You'll start on a downward decline. Watch the ceiling spikes as you
continue. After two Metools, you'll reach a tough looking jump over two
spikes. Dash across, holding right, or carefully jump.

Another short drop, then more spikes. These are easier to cross.

Now it gets harder. You've got a yellow pole suspended between spikes.
Jump to it. When you reach the end, you'll either have to fly, air
dash, or dash jump from this one to the next one. And then a third
one after that! Falling at ANY point means death.

From this third one, you'll have to avoid some invincible enemies on
this pole. Hold up all the time. Jump what you can, and don't worry 
about taking a hit or two. As long as you're holding up when you touch 
the pole, you're fine.

After this is a moving hovering platform over spikes. Nothing too tough.

Then a hop across several hovering platforms. Note some are smoking. 
These WILL drop, so move quick. After this, you'll reach the hardest
jump in the entire game. You'll have to jump through a narrow shaft
with spikes on the ceiling and floor, from a moving hovering platform.

Don't worry about the spikes below you while on the platform- they 
won't touch you. From the LOWEST point of the platform, dash jump 
through the spikes, being careful not to hold the jump button too long
and hit the spikes. Or air dash through with Zero.

You'll land on a smoking platform ready to drop so quickly move onward
again. 

Now, there's a hovering platform over a small pit. Fall into this pit
and cling to the wall on the right. If using unarmored X or Zero,
you'll reach the final capsule in the game, with the ultimate 
enhancements for either.

You can take X here, die, restart the stage with Zero, and get the
armor for him too. Vice versa as well.

Head back up and continue to the right. Jump from hoverboard to
hoverboard as quickly as you can. In some cases, you can skip a board
or two to speed up your progress. Go through the door, and prepare
for battle...

______________________________________________________ VS X or Zero _____
Boss      : X or Zero
Weakness  : X-Buster or Z-Sabre       
_________________________________________________________________________

If you took X to this stage, you'll fight Zero. If using Zero, you'll
fight X.

If you let Zero go Maverick, this battle will be MUCH tougher.

Zero (Non-Maverick) fires charge shots, his sabre, and Giga Crushes.
Keep away as much as possible and hit him with charge shots.

Zero (Maverick) [I'll have to do this again...]

X (Ultimate Armor) will charge up and fire ghostly images of himself
in your direction as well as charged versions of various weapons on
steroids. EVERYTHING he does here is more powerful than ever!

No matter who wins.. the end result is the same. If Zero is still 
standing after the cutscene, you obviously started with Zero. If he is
lying on the ground, you chose X, and he's gone from the game now.

___________________________________________________ Unknown Stage 4 _____
Items: None
Reccomended: Black Zero, Ultimate Armor X, Gaia Armor X

Final Stage!

Drop off the plaform and continue along the ground. Those epikes on the
ceiling sure look familiar for you old-timers, don't they? They even
pull a Bubble Man here, foring you to jump down between some.

Eventually, you'll reach a section with floating blocks over a bed
of spikes. Jump and grab the first block, then hop up to it. Now quickly
jump from block to block. The last platform you end up on is a bit 
longer and guarded by a mech. Beat him, then dash jump off the platform
to the right in a leap of faith. You'll go past a pit and get yourself
a nice boost before coming back to drop into the pit.

Teleporters.. as is the tradition! From left to right, these teleporters
take you to fight these bosses:

Burn Dinorex, Dark Necrobat, Shining Firefly, and Bolt Kraken on the 
left.

Tidal Whale, Crescent Grizzly, Spike Rose, and Spiral Pegasus on the
right.

Between fights, the energy capsules on the platform you dropped onto
come back, so remember to use them!

After beating all eight, a final teleport to the last section of the
stage opens.

To the right are a bunch of spheres that are slow rolling. Take them
down with charge shots or slashes. The triangle darts are the same
as X4. You have a couple seconds to take them down before they start
zooming directly at you repeatedly.

There's a hidden life capsule above the stairs down.

After heading down, you'll have to climb up a short section, then
reach another set of 'old friends'.

The teleporting blocks. Thankfully, they're muted in comparison to
how bad they could be in many of the older games. Jump to each
in turn as they appear, no real surprises. the last block actually
takes a few moments longer to appear than the others. A leap of
faith from the last one will take you to the door, and the
final boss.

__________________________________________________________ VS Sigma _____
Boss      : Sigma
Weakness  : Thunder Beam (X) or Thunder Slash (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

Sigma has two forms of attack here. He starts by charging across the
room in a similar manner to Megaman X1, minus the sword. He adjusts the
charge each time to try to land where you are, so don't stand still too
long.

For X, hit him with any of the electric shots from the Thunder Beam
or use charged shots. Do NOT use the charged electric-- it is all but
useless here. Keep out of his way as best as you can.

For Zero, use the Thunder Slash, but don't hit him directly with it or
he'll charge into you at the same time. The Thunder Beam has quite a
tail on it. Use it a second or so ahead of when you normally would,
and he'll dash underneath you right into the electric trail. This takes
practice!

After a bit, Sigma will teleport. Depending where he teleports, he'll
either repeat the pattern or start the second one. If he teleports to
the middle of the screen on the right, he's going to the second pattern.
If he teleports to the middle or left, he's either going to teleport
again, or start charging again.

For the second pattern, Sigma fires very large, fast moving blue waves
of energy. The ones that go directly across the center can be ducked.
Those he aims low, you'll have to climb the wall to avoid. He may also
cover the floor and ceiling with a half-wave each; this is the hardest
to avoid. Jump as high as you can, or airdash from the wall to avoid
them.

X should continue to use Thunder Beam or charge shots, ONLY when he can
get a hit in without putting himself in danger. These shots DO hurt.

Zero can either attempt to dash him to get a quick slash in between
waves, which is risky, or wait until Sigma returns to the first pattern.

This is only a warmup for the next...

____________________________________________________ VS Gamma Sigma _____
Boss      : Gamma Sigma
Weakness  : Spike Ball (X), Giga Crush (Ultimate X), Soul Body (Zero)
_________________________________________________________________________

Gee, where have we seen something like THIS before? Completely new
pattern, though! Watch those fists-- the spikes on them don't kill but
do damage you.

When the hands are moving slowly, just be aware of where they are. You
can climb a hand if you need to, but he quick about it. You can also
stand on them.

If the hands are moving fast, they're doing one of two things. If the
hand is moving towards its own side of the screen, it's going to open
up to fire shots from its palm. If it moves towards the opposite side
of the screen, then the fists are going to punch the upper corners of
the screen. Drop as quick as you can if this is the case.

The fists CAN be destroyed, but will regenerate later.

Sigma's weak point is the crystal at the very top of his head. You can
ONLY hit him while he's solid (e.g. not wireframe). Stay in the upper
right corner, and use X's Spike Ball or Zero's Soul Body-- both will
have PERFECT range to hit the weak point while you're holding on to
the wall.

Sigma will occasionally fire a series of blue energy spheres out.
These spheres will all target your current position. Dodge as quickly
as you can. They'll then try a second time, so get out of the way
again.

When you've done enough damage, Sigma creates a square field of purple
energy. He tries to create this right on top of you, so circle the room
repeatedly until he gives up and creates the square field wherever.

This field is VERY difficult to avoid. It moves QUICKLY horizontally or
vertically, but cannot go diagonally. Stay at a diagonal from it. If it
passes over or under you, dash to the open side of it to keep it
diagonal. If it reaches your height, climb the wall or drop to the
floor. Attack Sigma when you can, or wait until he stops the field.

If you're using Ultimate Armor X, this battle is a piece of cake. You
can Giga Crush this boss to death in almost no time, but you really
haven't *earned* the ending if you cheese it.

Once victorious, prepare for the ending.....

=========================================================================
SECRET CODES
=========================================================================
Thanks to Kyoji Shirakani for the codes! These HAVE been tested.

To START with X's ultimate armor, highlight X and press:
Up x 2, Down x 9, then circle to select X
You'll hear a chime when the code is complete. Pressing any additional
buttons before circle will cancel the code.

To START with Zero's black armor, highlight Zero and press:
Down x 2, Up x 9, then circle to select Zero
You'll hear a chime when the code is complete. Pressing any additional
buttons before circle will cancel the code.

Thanks again to Kyoji Shirakani!

You can also get these codes by letting the game sit for about five to
ten minutes minutes at the 'statistics' screen at the end of the credits.


=========================================================================
CLOSING REMARKS
=========================================================================


Revision History  _______________________________________________________

Version 0.1 - * First revision. Basic framework, not all information in
[Dec 02 2000]   place. Wanted to get this up on GameFAQs ASAP. 


Version 0.2 - * Added one stage walkthrough, clarification on some
[Dec 03 2000]   things that didn't quite look right.
              * Addition of the secret codes thanks to Kyoji Shirakani!
              * Fixed some errors in the text.
              * Next version will have more stages, I promise.
                These codes were just too hot to NOT release an
                interim version for!

Version 0.3 - * Changed instances of black armor for X to Gaia armor. I
[Dec 05 2000]   knew about this already but wanted to make sure of the
                translation before switching it. After getting TONS of
                email on it, I'm just going to switch it. If it's wrong,
                I'll change it later.
              * Added information on Black Zero's antivirus, and virus
                infection.
              * Name translations added for bosses. May not be accurate,
                and definitely not accurate for US release.
              * Updated information on Colony Strike
              * Walkthroughs for first four stages. This makes 1/3 of
                the game covered in walkthrough. I'll try to get the
                next four for the next version, and last four for the
                one after that.
              * I'll say it again-- I know where the armors are. I
                know where the hearts are. Thanks for the mails, but
                you really don't need to remind me. I'm working on
                this as fast as I can, just give me a little time!

Version 0.4 - * Lost a TON of material in an HD crash. Rebuilding as
[Dec 16 2000]   fast as I can. All walkthroughs are in place.
              * Name corrections.
              * Weapon names (preliminary until I get translations).
              * Module information.
              * Virus information updated.
              * Pattern for Shadow Devil
              * HOPEFULLY everything was updated back to where it was
                when I lost it. There may still be an error or two.
                If so, I'll correct them as I find them.

Special Thanks  _________________________________________________________
In no particular order:

 Akiya K                                                            
  - For putting up with me while I smashed through the game and attempted
    to find all the secrets I could. Some translation assistance.

 Kelli, Joy, and Avery                                              
  - Moral Support

 Kao Megura                                                         
  - FAQ basic design, copyright information.

 Kyoji Shirakani                                          
  - Codes for Ultimate Armor X and Black Zero from start
  - Clarifications on several parts of the FAQ

 "Hanbin"                                                 
  - Additional notes on Ultimate Armor X and Black Zero

 "too2buff"                                               
  - Clarification on powerup slots.

 "Time Killer"                                            
  - Errors in Black Armor section (gatling, charge)

 "Cranium X"                                              
  - slots for black zero, additional notes on black zero

 "Rewind the Omnipotent Half-Hamster"
  - Weapon translation for Crescent Grizzly
  - Pattern for Black Devil
  - Modules
  
 "Justice Strike"
  - Info on Autofire

 Rob Kelley
  - Called me on the phone to give the information on virus infection.
    I know you read this, so hello. ^_^

Sites that host this FAQ  _______________________________________________

These sites will ALWAYS have the latest version of the FAQ.

Cheat Code Central:
www.cheatcc.com

GameFAQs:
www.gamefaqs.com

Game Advice:
www.gameadvice.com

Megaman 21XX
beamsaber.verge-rpg.com


Author's Note  __________________________________________________________

Anything I've missed? Email me and if I can confirm it, you'll definitely
get credit for it. If I can't, I'll see about adding it as a unconfirmed
rumor if reasonable.

Keep in mind that it MAY take me a bit to reply to your mails, and new
versions of the FAQ do take time to finish. So please, be patient. ^_^

 Unpublished work Copyright 2000 John Peasley