NO MATTER THE COST

//-Alright, so at this point in my life, I’ve at least taste-tested every mainline entry in the Classic timeline of Mega Man games except the Legends series. Played Classic across the span of a few years, binged the X series when the Legacy Collections dropped, and did the same when the Zero/ZX Collections dropped as well. Each series has its own merit, except for the Zero series, which is Poopy Butt and I hate it but that’s a rant for another time.

//-Needless to say, I’ve also seen how the story plays out. From Light and Wily’s feud, to the Maverick Wars, the Elf Wars, and finally whatever the fuck Model W was doing in the ZX series. There’s a lot of story, and a lot of it is really good! I fell in love with the ZX series, for example, and I’d love to take up a character from it.

//-I have one huge, massive, INSANELY ANNOYING problem with it, though, and that’s that the Classic series is rarely EVER directly acknowledged in the timeline. What little there is is focused in the X series entirely, with Light appearing for X’s armor capsules + a flashback in Day of Sigma, and Wily showing up in a flashback in X4, an implied ghost in X5, and possibly as a robot in X2 (that one’s weird). Every reference to the Classic series after that is more so a cameo or a callback— the Masters in ZX Advent, for example, being named after Light, Wily, and Cossack, or Konro Man showing up on a comic cover also in ZX Advent. Even when Zero’s past is brought up in the Zero series, Wily isn’t directly acknowledged to my memory. Classic doesn’t matter. Hell, the X series barely mattered by then.

//-But you wanna know how many times Rock himself is acknowledged in the timeline after his presumed death? Across 10 X games, 4 Zero games, and 2 ZX games?

//-ZERO. NONE. NOT A SINGLE REFERENCE.

//-Even LIGHT doesn’t ever talk about him in the armor capsules. No “You’ve been forced to carry the torch that Rock left for you. I’m so sorry, X.” No “Previous hero Mega Man.” As far as the extended Classic timeline is concerned, Rock never even existed. The timeline effectively started when Light made X, and Wily Zero, not with the creation of Rock, or Blues before him, or the Double Gear before either of them.

//-It BUGS ME. I know I’m biased, since I love the Classic series means so much to me, but COME ON, MAN. MEGA MAN SAVED THE WORLD ON AT LEAST 11 DIFFERENT OCCASIONS, MANY MORE IF YOU COUNT SPIN-OFFS LIKE MEGA MAN & BASS AND THE GAMEBOY GAMES, AND HE DOESN’T EXIST? He fought aliens! Gamma! Himself! That’s gotta count for SOMETHING even in the future, doesn’t it?

//-This always bugged me so much. I know Reploids are the future and they extend from the X series to the ZX series while Robot Masters are isolated in the Classic series, but I wish their impact on robots with independent thought would be acknowledged. And I wish Rock saving everyone’s ass like 15 different times counted for something.