The Ultimate Armor's BIGGEST Weakness! The Degradation Theory | Mega Editorial
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- čas přidán 9. 06. 2023
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▶In the PlayStation-era games, Mega Man X's Ultimate Armor is a recurring feature, but each time we see it, it looks a bit different than the last time. Does this go beyond a stylistic decision? Perhaps something deeper is happening here....
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Tribe King(MMSF2 Ninja)Murders Ultimate Armor X,I Beat Le Mu Xa In 1 Turn With My Giga Card Spam(5200 Total HP Damage In One Turn!)And Le Mu Deluxe(9999 HP)In 3 Turns!
what about x 8
sorry
Ya, I think the Ultimate armor is degrading from X4 to X6 that's why the Blue exterior colors fades into a dark-grey, just like how Magna Centipede such X out and take some of X's abilities, which makes normal blue color turns into an also gray old color.
The true big weakness is that the devs never came up with anything other secret upgrade in any entry afterwards
This is the true answer
We could’ve gotten references to other capcom games but no, the ultimate armor had to do
they really robbed us of tasumaki senpukyaku in x2, but at least they delivered it in x8
It's called The Ultimate Armor for a reason😶
@@Josuh You mean x3?
I like the Degradation Theory idea for one specific lore reason: Copy X from the Zero series. Copy X also uses his own unique version of the Ultimate Armor, and the idea of the Ultimate Armor being incomplete and insufficient for prolonged use fits very thematically with Copy X himself as an inferior copy of X who only grows more and more corrupt and tyrannical with time. Copy X is reckless and values power above all, so it's very fitting that he would use the thing that would give him as much power as possible, even at extreme cost over time.
My personal theory is that all the armors, heart-tanks, and sub-tanks eventually naturally integrate themselves with X's system, providing permanent upgrades to his natural base form with some losses in overall functionality (mostly just granting basic offensive and defensive boosts). My evidence for this was:
-X's ability to dash after X2.
-The constantly changing nature of the Charge Short (including more pink each successive game until becoming golden between X1-X4)
The only reason it didn't FEEL like X was being upgraded was because Weapons and Armor tech was increasing at a phenomenal rate during the Maverick wars. There is also evidence of this in Zero. In X1 Zero states "You may even become as powerful as I am" but even with the upgraded buster, X could still not damage Vile's Ride Armor whereas Zero took an arm off it with a half-charged shot.
It is not until X3 where X achieves this. His health is finally equivalent to Zero's (after collecting the game's heart tanks) and he can finally damage and destroy even Vile's upgraded Ride Armor even in his base form without any upgrades at all. After X3, even Zero now has to collect upgrades to maintain pace with weapons tech as he has to collect heart and E-tanks as a playable character from that point on alongside X.
This DOES come into a bit of a snag after X4 however, where there are fewer changes to X's base form between games and Armors start to reappear in different games. I chalk this up to Alia having discovered a means to prevent the natural integration of the Armors to preserve more of their functionality for longer, although it's not a perfect preservation. I can even excuse the Ultimate Armor as being purposefully designed by Dr. Light NOT to integrate itself with X's system due to it's experimental properties perhaps as a means to prevent any potential negative effects it might have on X or even simply because Light himself feared what X could become with such a permanent upgrade, but most likely the Nova Strike power source could've severely messed with X's innate power core.
This actually still fits with your theory here as EVERY armor from game-to-game tends to lose some functionality so it's possible that all the armors degrade in time to either become a natural part of X or simply expire due to Dr. Light's hesitation to unleash a potentially uncontrollable disaster upon the world as he feared in the intro scene to the very first game.
Edit: Some Grammar and Spelling corrections.
I'm half and half on this. I definitely agree that there is scaling and the amount of health and damage is a gameplay benefit more than in-story. In supplementary materials, it is stated that X returns the First Armor to a Capsule, and Light uses the battle data to improve it into the Second Armor (expect a video on the subject sometime). As for the dash, at the beginning of X1 when we see X's schematics, it shows that a built-in dash is optional. I like to think after learning how to do it, X just kinda remembers, then by X8 (or X7?) he can air dash with no upgrades.
@@ColeFam I suppose both can be true. Given that the armors seem to almost be software based using X's base form as a 'Operating System' so to speak, it's possible that the armors are ALSO offering some kind of firmware upgrade to X's base systems when used such as unlocking the Dash function and still providing some passive defensive/offensive benefits even as he returns them (I still want to believe that the subtle changes to the charge shot from X1-X4 are more than simple 'artistic choices' even if I know that's the most likely case).
Other strikes to my theory are the fact that several reploids X fights in later games are known to be older reploids (such as Gravity Beetle and Boomer Kwanger being contemporaries, or the same with Volt Kraken and Launch Octopus) but there's nothing that says THEY haven't been receiving upgrades as well as technology has improved to maintain pace.
But when you consider Sigma's various forms and just how advanced and monsterous he allegedly becomes with each new iteration (barring his 'unfinished' form in X6) it stands to reason that X would need similar upgrades to keep pace. Even if you take into account that Light was years ahead of robotics tech than the world around him (and that the reverse engineering was incomplete), wars have a tendency to drastically accelerate technological development and even today if you compare a brand new computer to a computer from five years ago there's almost no contest which will perform significantly better (not to mention X was already at LEAST over 30 years old- and probably more- simply at the point of discovery). X HAS to be receiving some kind of permanent base upgrades to his specs that allow him to keep pace with modern systems, and the armors/capsules and upgrades are the best way to explain this in my eyes.
Of course, that brings a whole OTHER question on what, exactly, the hell this 'Dr. Light' construct actually IS. More and more it seems the theory of Light having uploaded himself into some kind of AI system somewhere seems to be the most logical choice.
I mean, we already know that Wily could do it, even if that plot thread never went anywhere.
@@PulmonoxThis may be a bit out of line without sources to support my theory, but considering that changes in DNA-Soul can change the appearance and specifications of the body, and that X and Zero are way beyond their time, it's not impossible to imagine that they are capable of self-improvement with enough data absorbed into them
Narratively, you can probably include Rockman X2: Soul Eraser/Megaman Xtreme 2, which fits between X3 & X4 as it introduces Iris and runs on with the fully playable Zero having to get upgrades & weapon techniques...but oddly NOT having his Z Buster like in X4 (where he just doesn't use it) or in X5 if you follow the X route (and only the corrupted Zero can use it). Of course, a possible explanation there is that the components had to be removed and ultimately replaced, which is why Zero went from having a Buster similar to/slightly better than X's...to having that garbage he's had since his story route in X5.
But another snag for X narratively is this: if perchance his systems pretty much immediately kept the data processes to unlock and activate his dash function natively (X1 to X2; this makes some sense if you subscribe to the notion that the original Megaman retained the super strength of Gutsman's Super Arm between Megaman 1&2)...then why in Primus's left lugnut did it take so long for X's systems to do that for AIR dashing, like "Oh yeah, he CAN do that, we better lock it in"!? (First gets air dashing in X2, can't do it on his own until X8)
Yeah. Also dont forget X gaining the ability to charge his buster into one more level and also air dash in x8, without any armor
It's a great theory. But it appears that the Ultimate Armor X4 is an incomplete armor. we must remember that Dr. Light said to X that this armor was unstable. So the X5 version is a complete version of this one, the X6 version is kinda interesting cause it appears that it's black because the armor was damaged in the combat between Zero and X. And of course, Alia repairs it. (And yes you are right it is the same Armor, the Compendium of Rockman X confirms it). By the way, nice video.
I didn't know about that compendium thing! I'll need to look more into that.
And the incomplete could still be putting out extra power. It just wasn't fine-tuned yet. The X vs Zero battle going back to X4 colors pushes me that way.
But it was a fun thought experiment. A lot better than "they just changed it for no reason," right? These kinds of videos are fun. If you liked this enough, I hope you check out the rest of the Editorial playlist. Thank you for watching!
To me the dialogue from Light indicates that the blue Ultimate Armor is in fact the most stable and completed Ultimate Armor, he doesn't say it is incomplete in X5 but he does mention that in X4, in X5 he only warns X to not get lazy because of the armor's power, the purple tone of the X4 armor is indicative of it's volatile power and it's incomplete nature, this is also something that is echoed in the X4 manga where the power of the Ultimate Armor corrupts X and turns him unhinged and violent.
I'd be with that if that's what X wore during his boss battle. But that's still completely valid. I hope you enjoyed!
@@ColeFam yeah the X4 armor being in the boss is odd but if You think about it in the sense that in the Game, unless You Game over and quit on purpose only one of the two hunters would get the X5 secret (since Zero doesn't have black Zero in the boss either), so if Zero goes it's in the timeline where X got the armor in X4 so he still has the more volatile incomplete version.
At least thats how i rationalize it lol.
@@prometheusmodelow8322 I think they just went with the rule of cool and did what looked neat. That wacky Capcom
@@ColeFam Yeah that would be the actual out of universe explanation, or they just wanted to reference X4 given X uses his X4 weapons too.
Not to mention in the X4 manga, once gaining the Ultimate armor, he becomes remorseless when fighting enemies.
Once the amor is broken does he become his normal self.
I'm pretty sure the changing palette of the Ultimate Armor is supposed to just be stylistic, but the idea that it's degrading from exhaustive use over the course of three games is an interesting take that I'd never considered before.
Seems a lot more fun that way if you ask me. Otherwise, it's just a thing that happened. Glad you enjoyed the idea
I like to belive that the armor was getting weaker over time. Or was getting damaged beyond repairs. Just like how Alia barely got the Falcon Armor to work again.
Personally here's my take for why it becomes a bit weaker by X5 and X6, the armor isn't becoming weaker... X is becoming stronger.
X was designed to always continue to evolve a robot designed to be as human as possible, that's his limitless potential. From the beginning on the series back on that Highway with him unable to holding a candle to Zero or Vile to X3 when he is fully capable of defeating Vile and, by that point, being equal to Zero in power and such even with his new body. X has grown in power over the course of the series to keep up the ever evolving technology around him.
In the several months between X4 and X5, I think X and the technology and power of Reploids has grown to a point where the armor is finally at the verge of becoming outdated, which is why it is how it is by X6 three weeks later. After that X no longer needs the armor (or just threw it out because of him stepping down from fighting in X7).
Alternately, if you wanna buy the theory that X's armors have actually been slowly integrated into his base model and stacking across the entire series to keep up with the power creep of Reploids, X might have slowly been learning and growing from the time he wore the Ultimate Armor where by X6 he's basically almost completely done integrating it within his systems. Which I can also see being the reason.
This actually makes sense given that starting X2, X can dash without the leg upgrade, and (haven't played X7 yet) in X8, X can air-dash without any armors
I feel like it's just a part of X6 revamping a ton of the character visuals, such as Zero's sprites being heavily changed, X's main palette was actually changed to be brighter and his new sprites generally have more detailed and on-model faces than X4 ones (compare the Rising Fire sprite to the underlay sprite of the sticking to the ceiling move), but you have a very interesting theory. Personally, I feel like if there's a story reason, it's probably due to the Nightmare Virus, especially since the dream X saw can be understood as Nightmare Zero trying to influence/confuse him and all that, but that's definitely the more boring explanation.
For everything X6 does wrong, it does the character sprites so right.
perhaps X was going into a phase, and that's why the darker colors XD
hell yea
"It's not a phase, Dad!"
I think that's probably the reason why X8 kind of got into this drastic phase too 😂
My hadcanon when I wanted to do a fanfic for the whole series was the the original "Ultimate Armor" was the golden Max Armor from X3, but that that armor pushed X's systems too hard and it hurt him, so then the X4 Ultimate came as a way to access that kind of power without damaging X, but he only got to use it for the final fight. the Light capsules manage to do the final upgrade and maintenance in time for the ending of X5, but the armor gets damaged beyond complete repair, so if it showed up again at all it would be as a nerfed version.
I always saw the armors as drawing from X's limitless hidden potential, they were unlocking things rather than outright giving X new powers. You could see the lack of the classic Ultimate Armor after X6 as X having outgrown the unlocking potential of that armor.
Like another commenter said, I believe that the change in X's buster shot sprites represents his baseline weapon growing in power and evolving as the series progressed. Same with him having the dash by default in X2. I think that besides the extra armor on the outside giving him physical protection, the armors were changing his systems inside.
Dr. Light: Don't use this with a clouded mind.
Manga X: Let's use this with a clouded mind.
General: X, I'm confiscating your armor.
Hey maybe that why X7 didnt have it.
Manga X is a different beast XD
I feel like when the ultimate Armor was losing it’s colour over time, the Maverick hunter’s remodelled his armour to look White and Blue to avoid it losing its colour.
I imagined that he isn't purple in X5 because X's body was adapting to the armor or something. "Unlimited potential" is still a vague concept.
X6 had a weird developement but they still changed the Ultimate Armor colors so it must have been deliberate.
If i had to guess maybe it's related to X being almost killed at the end of X5. Something about the armor might have broken.
I think X just accidentally dropped it in a vat of molasses. That shit never comes out. Or maybe it was intentional?
RIP Ultimate Armor. You will be missed, and I will be pissed.
This one's been a long time coming! I'm glad it turned out well!
X has been known to drop important things into molasses from time to time.
Thank you! I really appreciate all the support.
The infinite ammo is also a feature of the 4th Armor in X4, so no real loss of power, it's just Capcom saying "this is too busted, gotta nerf it."
Btw, X8's Ultimate Armor not only brings infinite ammo back, but also makes their charged attacks not consume energy either. The Nova Strike now has a long cooldown between uses, but makes up for it with the ability to 2-shot every boss in the game. So, if anything, the Ultimate Armor has become STRONGER.
If there were any actual degradation, it'd be on the player, who can easily become dependant on the armor's power and get their skills rusted.
The data books appear to indicate the armor wasn't actually getting weaker, rather X himself was getting more powerful. In time, he would've had all the powers of his different armors natively. You can somewhat see that in the games themselves with Copy X having the powers of several armors combined into his replica of the ultimate armor. Given we're told the real X was A.) more powerful than Copy X; and B.) was no longer reliant on special armors by the time he decided to become the Mother Elf's seal, we can infer readily this lines up with the data books.
Which data books? I wanna read 'em.
I'm of the opposite view.
Black (x6) is a stronger color than Bright Dark Blue (X5) is a stronger color than just Dark Blue (X4).
Purple limbs in X4 could be just as Dr. Light said, X not adapted to properly controlling the Armor yet which he did in X5,X6.
In X7 he simply didn't use it because "I've had enough voilence...."
Just like how in X Challenge boss mode, Black Zero X6 is a transformation shown more powerful than Awakened Zero, X6 Ultimate Armor is shown to be the peak of Ultimate Armor stronger than X4, X5 versions.
Things like 0% to 50% weapon usage etc. is just gameplay balance adjustments.
The dimming of the external circuitry from X4-X6 could probably be attributed to the constant wear and tear the suit is getting through those games and it's inability to handle it. Being a prototype suit it's powerful sure, but it's not exactly finished yet either so it can't handle the load of it's own power. It's probably why in X5 you don't see X shooting it as laissez faire as he did in X4; He realized that if he did, he'd probably overload his suit and blow himself up to kingdom come. So that's probably why he cranked down the arm cannon power supply saver to half rather than full.
I like this.
Let's go with degradation theory for the moment, as the most drastic change was between X5 and 6.
In X5, specifically Zero Space 3 and 4, the Sigma/Zero Virus was at it's highest concentration. So, not only did the Ultimate Armor have to maintain a power level for X to be able to navigate these areas, the armor was taking a massive pounding from the virus trying to infiltrate X's body.
Then in X6, the Virus was still a problem in the form of remnant energy but not in the same form as in X5 (Hence the Zero Nightmare). More to the point, the armor had to contend with environmental dangers as well from the Eurasia Crash fallout. Earth is pretty much in a Nuclear Winter situation.
So, Degradation is indeed a valid theory as the armor had virtually no time for study and repair as was noted in Alia's comments about the Falcon Armor. Falcon had to have taken the same pounding as Ultimate, you'll note that the Gaea Armor didn't make it into X6.
My guess? Gaea was scrapped to save Falcon.
I really like the idea that Gaea was scrapped in favor of saving Falcon. That's a really good idea.
The editing in this video is really good!
I dont know if this was your intention but the use of Final Weapon from X4 specially here 5:27 conveys off an eary yet concern feeling to the state of the armor through time and use.
i think this theory makes a lot of sense if you add some more details to it. the fourth armor is nearly identical in functionality to the ultimate armor and shows much lesser signs of degradation over time. the main difference between the two is the nova strike, and it's sensible to assume that x's armor can take a hit when its most powerful move covers x in deadly sparks and energy. it could also tie in to dr. light's comment about x's safety, maybe the nova strike doesn't harm him but it damages the armor with prolonged use!
The way i see it the Ultimate armor been black might be because 2 things:
- It was damage in the fight against Zero in X5. In X4 we see the full power of it been purple, then on X5 its more blue because of X downgraded the output of it for safety parameters so X wouldn't be harm by it or to show some restrain. However when he needed to confront Zero in its maverick state he had to go full power on the ultimate armor therefore the purple color we see when X is the boss. he wins the fight but the armor is damage from it then we get the situation that happens with sigma, The Dr. light shows up to save X and maybe he takes the armor way from x to repair it therefore the black version.
- Or if we could use it in lore wise from X5 to X6 the black ultimate armor is a copy of the original one that X lost in X5 and Alia just made a new copy of it from the data she could get from the remains of the original and made a new one but in black.
I always thinked Light give the "Black chip" to X Ultimate Armor because Zero didn't accept the upgrade. Like the golden upgrade on third armor XD
In my opinion I think it's like a safety mechanism that Dr.Light made just in case someone stole it or if X turn rogue and maybe there is no one who know how to recharge the armor
I'm not really sure if the Ultimate Armor is "falling apart"... I know that the 4th Armor has some obvious differences between X4 and X5, and the Falcon Armor has some obvious differences between X5 and X6... However, even though the armor loses its infinite weapon energy in favor of half energy consumption between X4 and X5 (as well as the ability to shoot through walls), there seems to be no degradation in functionality between X5 and X6. The Plasma Shot still leaves behind a trail of three plasma balls, and the Nova Strike still works the same. However, your theory is a good one, as the "Ultimate Armor" in X8 is a design based on the Neutral Armor with some differences (as in several improvements!) in functionality from the PS1 games.
The main thing that inspired this was the color changing and fading and also how it was just missing in X7. Makes sense if the armor just died and isn't in a game. A lot more fun than "it's X7" I think, haha.
@@ColeFam Indeed. It was odd that X7 had no hidden secrets at all, when that had been part of the series since the very first X game on SNES. Even the two GBA games each had a hidden capsule that gave both the Hadouken and Shoryuken! But it occurs to me... Between the three PS1 games, Zero's dark armor has different functionality in each game, also disappears in X7, and reappears with new functionality in X8. Hmmm... LOL!
I think it's completely plausible that the armor was destroyed before the event of x7 but the armor data was stored in the hunter base. During the event of x8, x was given the neutral armor which can use data given from light capsule to enable the abilities of different armor (icarus/hermes) it's entirely possible that the ultimate armor data was then put into the neutral armor and thus granting neutral armor the capability of the ultimate armor.
I like the sound of that.
I had an opposite headcanon to this. I always imagined it as X getting closer to his full potential, as Zero implied back in X1. The color degradation for me is more of an indication of X beginning to fully adapt to the armour and it's abilities, kind of like how he gained the dash by default in X2 and the airdash in X8. The changes in the art style over time to make X and reploids as a whole look closer to humans show that as well. Using it more allowed him to internalise it's power, until eventually he didn't need it at all. That's why at the end of the elf wars, the dark elf was sealed inside of his body, not including any armours, showing that he had achieved the highest potential possible and didn't need armour anymore.
Definitely a fun way of looking at things! It's a fun discussion either way since we are only given breadcrumbs, so who knows?
Thank you for watching!
I think that maybe the Ultimate Armor was meant to have blue biceps, thighs, and waist like X normally does. And they went with purple to go along with Black Zero. Maybe how it looks in X5 was its intended look. It might be black and silver in X6 because of a color palette issue, maybe.
I'd say X6 was intentional. The pallette issue there is that the charging pallette matches X5 more. And I might be with X5 being the intended one, but the fight changing X back to purple, who knows what they were even thinking, haha
As for pallette errors, we've seen that with X-Challenge and that one's a nightmare.
I like the degradation theory. More on the fact that the games make it clear that the protagonists don't do a perfect no hit run and are beaten up (see X5 ending with Zero and X being reduced to a torso). This also carries over into the Megaman Zero games, where it's stated that Zero's weapons(primarily the rod weapons and the Shield Boomerang) needed maintenance. It's especially evident in the opening of Megaman Zero 1 and Megaman Zero 2, MMZ1 locking saber and Buster leveling until Zero gets proper repairs in the Resistance base, and MMZ2 locking weapon leveling AND the 2 other weapons until Zero gets repaired(seeing as MMZ2 takes place a year after constant fighting after Copy X commands his army to hunt Zero down).
The Megaman X and Zero games makes no secret of X and Zero getting beaten up in every game they're in(with Zero being the main victim), with a part of the narrative using "it's too damaged to use" as an excuse for the armor of the previous game not being used(up to X4. after that the games just make the older armors weaker like you said.)
All in all, this is a solid video and a solid theory that I also believe in.
What if the armor’s color change in X6 is because Alia was able to repair it a bit but it suffered lots of damage in X’s battle with zero and sigma
I hope we get the black ultimate armor as a model kit
That's the one I wanna see the most! They've already shown a ton of love to X6, so why not?
@@ColeFam they could even have different nova strike pieces for each
@@halfdraggy That'd be a fun plan
Tbf they had these really old model kits from a long time ago many years back though Id LOVE a revamp with modern articulation
@rockman_exe9539 That's basically what the current Kotobukiya line is. Hoping they do the Ultimate Armor soon. I missed out on the old Mega Armor kit, so this will be a nice chance for redemption.
Ngl, I kinda wanna see The Ultimate Armor with the Black "Armor" parts from X6 and the Purple "Skin" parts from X4
Ooo, that sounds promising. Would the other parts be gold or silver?
@@ColeFam I personally think Gold "Fins" look better than Silver ones, but either's fine
ok i've posted a link of it so hopefully youtube doesn't hide it, i think the creator has to manually aprove the link or something idk but trust me bro does look lit with all that purple
it just keeps getting deleted damn
2:05 the armor in x8 has the same color schemes as the one in x4. and the only real "change" in color we got was from the armor used in the x collection challenge. which is either not canon, or is a fake/reproduction in a test room.
either way, i dont think we can take the sprites color as proof of anything. its diferent, so it look diferent, without really changing anything. its kinda how megaman(and x) change color when he has a boss weapon equiped. technically he doesnt change colors, he is always blue, but we, as players, need a good visual hint of what he has equiped, and changing his color is the easiest way.
I do like this theory, and it definitely feels credible in the sense that the armor’s power was not as great after X4. The X6 pallet suggests that the armor had been used for a while and that it’s losing the original luster, be it the X4 purple or the X5 blue!
If you know how the armors are programmed into the games you will find the answer: the amor parts just get slapped on top of X. That's why he's pink when you put the secret code in X4, to keep the ultimate armor pink. X5 was heavely rushed so they might have forgotten about the pink color
I miss videos like this. Not a haunted game cartridge or a theory about dr lights shoe size. Just a reasonable fan being observant and sharing his opinions.
I really appreciate that. The Mega Editorial series has a lot of videos like this that just asks and tries to answer questions that we never really got answers to. These are a lot of fun to research and think about, and we have a lot of fun stuff planned for the future.
Thank you again for the kind comment.
Looking into this video multiple times, I've come up with a head-canon on the Ultimate Armour myself.
The Ultimate Armour was incomplete in X4 because Dr. Light didn't have time to add in the additional features when X called upon for the Fourth Armour, given that the Ultimate Armour is basically the Fourth Armour with a few adjustments.
After X4, X gave the armour back to Dr. Light so he could finish the remaining adjustments as he knew, with Sigma returning, he'd need it for an emergency. However, these adjustments ended up getting destroyed while the Ultimate Armour itself was pushed to the limit during X's fight with Zero.
Because of that, the Ultimate Armour's colour became faded in X6 from X's fight with Zero as well as Sigma's final form. Alia would have likely fixed it, however, compared to the Falcon Armour, the Ultimate Armour probably required more time to fix and repair due to how damaged it was by the end of X5, and the drawback was so great that X had her and Douglas overhaul it.
By X8, the Ultimate Armour was repaired as Alia & Douglas fixed it in the spare time between X6 and X7. And because the technology had been upgraded, so too did the Ultimate Armour.
I reckon the Ultimate Armour from the Command Mission game could be the same armour, or an armour the Maverick Hunters had created using X's Ultimate Armour as a blueprint like how Copy X likely had the Ultimate Armour ingrained into his body because everyone who was around during the X Series would have seen X with the Ultimate Armour during major missions.
In the manga, The Force Armor while fighting Sigma was almost broken down and then X transform again and the Force Armor turn into Ultimate armor. I think the Ultimate Armor is the stronger version of the Ultimate armor. But remember that before it turn into Ultimate armor, the Force Armor was damage almost completely, the head part also got damaged so I think that the reason why it lost the infinite special weapon’s ammo feature
Interesting enough, the idea in the original x game was suppose ld to feature armor that broke down that had to be replaced or repaired.
Considering it debuts in the same game that has a Black Zero cheat code, the previous games' tendency towards fanservice, game-breaking easter egg upgrades and how weirdly different it looks from other official armors I've never considered the Ultimate Armor canon any more than I believe Dr. Light knows how to Hadouken.
What an interesting theory! I thought ultimate armor color palettes since x5 to x6 are just artistic choices. Noting how in x6, ultimate armor has darker schemes due to X becoming exceptionally mature as if he's returning to his x2 state; a battle-scarred warrior losing his friend. Only to return to be a hardcore pacifist in x7.
I like the concept where the armor decaying over time as the first ultimate armor in x4 manga almost turned X into copy X.
Glad you enjoyed! There are so many potential explanations for the armor changing, so hearing what other people think is always really fun as well. Thank you for watching!
I always wondered that too the armor color never made sense to me
1:04 Mega Man X4 title intro is PEAK!
the armor was to advance or complicated to repair so X used it until destruction the colors and such is a pretty good theory
Thank you! Hope you enjoyed the video!
Makes sense especially since it’s supposed to be his canonically most powerful armor so he would probably use it against Sigma each time, using a lot of it’s power each time and probably taking damage each time would add to the degradation
So... Maybe if (in case it's really canon), x would be given acces to the ultimate armor, the armor being reused also in Megaman X5 and 6, the degradation of the armors power might also affect X's own capabilities as Im concerned that X is not weary of fighting, he's not only tired of it, but he's also getting weaker (hence X dying in the future Megaman Zero titles). Since X's body is confirmed to be partially human (mentioned in the secret hadouken upgrade specifically in Megaman X Maverick Hunter) there is a possibility that X's energy was draining over the course of the 3 games along with the Ultimate Armor's capabilities...
I dunno, I just tried, maybe it'll help?
In X6 when you charge your buster, the color seems to return to its original. Maybe that shows that it needs more power to keep up, after the damage in X5. It's also possible that the creators of X6 just made the color change so that when you charge your buster the color overlay would cause it to look like it's original instead of the massive glow which may take away from its featured design in the eyes of some designers. That said I do like the Natural Armors comparability to take the powers from its other two forms and combine them with the program for the Ultimate armor to resurrect it in a sense.
I think in real life, the UA color change was a last-minute thing, so the charging color pallette was never updated. But I do like the idea of it really struggling to work and charging back to a previous form temporarily.
I think ot should have been mentioned that, when charging the base shot in X6, the Ultimate Armor gets its golden highlights.
Ot looks much more like its older self when you're charging the buster.
I think it uses the exact charging pallettes from X5. Just seems like a mistake, but I do like the implications. Probably could have somehow integrated that into the video. Thank you for the reminder!
For me its only canon in X5 since it is from a real capsule and it was destroyed when X fought Zero. because if the falcon armor was damaged its clear X fought Sigma in the falcon armor (X5) and the ultimate armor got destroyed by Zero. X6 is a cheat code so at least for me it dosent count. Btw im speaking from Zero only story
Where does the part with sprites at the end of the video come from?
Do you mean the X-Challenge sprites? They are from the Mega Man X Legacy Collection. They were ripped on The Spriters Resource.
If I recall correctly, wasn't the Fourth Armor in x5 only a reconstructed version of the one in x4 and not the same?
I think that's right. It was repaired, but not to full power, so no infinite ammo and has no Stock Shot or Nova Strike
This style was lifted from Wave Man. The trident makes it too nautical to be a general ultimate armor
In universe reason probably was because it was damaged during the fight with Zero and only gets restored near the end of X6 in a weaken state if you collect enough nightmare soul orbs. The orbs might be why the color changed as it might be a fake version of the ultimate armor.
Out of universe/meta answer is probably because they wanted to change it's color pallet to fit the post apocalyptic tone of X6. Nerfing it in an attempt to preserve X6's diffculty. With the armor being absent in X7 because the team did not have time to give X a second armor. And feared the ultimate armor would make Axl less fun to play as by comparison. They really wanted players to try out Axl. With X8 perfecting his gameplay.
I like each colour variant of the ultimate Armour, the X6 one is the coolest, and the X4 one is most classy in my opinion
I'm practically right there with you.
Ok but can we talk about armorless purple arms X, that shit is fire
3:25 i dont know why i found that soul body bit hilarious
It made my day :)
Zero just never saw it coming
My question is if the armor is the same armor, why and how does it keep turning up in Light’s capsules and why did a pacifist like Light create so many WMDs for a robot man that doesn’t even like war?
The degradation theory is still applicable as it’s possible the armors could have still degraded inside the capsules, but the consistency of their existence is mind boggling.
At some point did Light give up on his dream and just decided to entrust X with a means of surviving through nuclear deterrence?
What the Hell did Light see in his final days?
It probably lacks the maintenance it needed to sustain its power. The one person who can do it is already long dead.
What if the reason x gets rid of his armors is due to the armors having a self-contained power source for their respective features?
funny thing, X4's ultimate color scheem is my favorite out of the 3 we got in the ps1 games
(Edit): I even got the ultimate armor D-Arts figure
My understanding was that obtaining the Ultimate Armor in X4 is non-canon and that Megaman doesn't officially get it untill X5. Then I just assumed it was given a new paint job in X6 for no reason in particular, just like the Legacy collection version of it.
It makes at least some sense, since Dr. Light seems to imply some sort of potential danger or drawback from using it.
In a Beta of X3, there seems to be a color choice for the Ultimate Armor in Doppler Stage 1 instead of gold, it had the same color scheme as the Ultimate Armor in X4 (X5 now that you see X's cyan thighs).
Wait a min..ohmigod, I forgot you played the Beta! 0.0 But then again, Dr Light possibly sending the armor in a dangerous place like Doppler (who was biting off more than he can chew) had the Ultimate Armor debuted in X3 would explain the degradation theory. Had it been but we all knew what color of the armor was in that game so that doesn't count.
Interesting, I've played all X series (except X2 for reason) but didn't realize the color in X5 is black, perhaps because the tv I use in the past or I just ignore it XD
But I thought they didn't include it in X7 because it's kinda imposible to control Nova Strike in 3D environment, so perhaps not? :3
Also I just know that Mega Armor came out first rather than X4, so I always thought the Mega Armor one is just a toy version from the game XD
X2 is really good! I hope you can try it out
@@ColeFam One day :3
I don't think they thought any of that out at all. They didn't waste time making good gameplay, so why would they bother making good story?
I love that opening bit
How about a similar altenate take. What if the armor itself isn't degrading but instead X simply no longer being able to handle the stress it outs on his body.
Think Kaio Ken from Dragon Ball. It grants the user an incredible boost in strength/speed but it also hurts the user.
There's a Theory that there's more than 1 Ultimate Armor in X series. X5 gave us a Hint when you play as zero in the zero space stage 3. When fighting against X, he uses his ultimate armor featuring the same color palettes from X4, like he kept that armor for special occasion despite being nerfed. He doesn't use Nova Strike in this fight, implying that this ultimate armor suffered from the same downgrade as Fourth and Falcon armor, being damaged in the previous game and not totally repaired in the next one, preventing X to use all its potential.
But when playing as X in X5, using the armor, his blue color remain and he gets Nova Strike hability again, also implying it's a new armor he only got in zero stage 3
In Legacy collection 2 they also implied that the Ultimate armor with Black colors is the strongest one X got before X8, since he is a way faster and stronger in that fight after defeating Zero in the challenge.
I bet Dr. Light developed Prototypes of the ultimate Armor before reaching the spot in X8, the ultimate armor there has a stronger and bigger nova strike + unlimited boss weapons even using the charged version
I never considered the part about the secret fight against X and Zero in X-Challenge. That's a good point.
There's also an Ultimate Armor in Megaman X8. But, the Armor looks different than the other Ultimate Armor from 3 previous games of Megaman X.
he did mention that in the vid, the theory is that doctor light remade the armour from the ground up
It's worth mentioning that the X4 manga gave the Ultimate Armor a different drawback: it made X extremely ruthless, and more or less gave him zero qualms about killing others
I wish I had fully read the manga before this video (I'm only through X2) because that's really interesting
@@ColeFam right? But I think you could still adjust the theory around it.
Perhaps the high output of the armor makes X more callous and brutal, so he lowered it in X5 to try and avoid losing himself? (And then, like you said, he forces the armor back to max output against Zero), and then in X6, it’s at even lower output due to the strain of going at full power for that long, and the damage that Zero dealt to it.
Edit: it’s even stated that Megaman grows more violent if he holds more than 8 weapons (I think in Archie Megaman?), so X using his X4 loadout could be explained by that too (implying that Dr Light didn’t fix that particular bug.)
I have a question… *Why are you RT-55J?!!*
Speaking about sprite weirdness… did you know that Nightmare Zero uses Zero's _X4 / X5_ sprites? I didn't notice this for a long while, but now, I can't unsee it.
He's my dad.
And yes, the Nightmare Zero thing was covered in my Z-Buster video. It was one of those things I never noticed, but then couldn't unnotice.
Amusingly, there was a fella who had Auto / Rightot as his identity, waaay back in the day. He had a _Rockman_ site that focused on the Japanese side of things. He also showcased his custom sprite art, then later had a short-lived site about _Goemon_ before finally making a blog with random, though-provoking stuff about the Classic series.
Seems like you're (inadvertently?) carrying on that tradition, but with a focus on the _X_ series. 🎊
Personally i think the ultimate armor was simply being made obsolete due to X becoming stronger. He was either absorbing the power of the ultimate armor or it was intended to boost X over time by being worn.. Thus the reason why it may not have been safe to use while it was in it's unfinished state. X absorbed its power (though not it's defense boost) allowing him to keep up with and surpass more modern reploids. The armor worn by X looks more and more like.. just armor. the purple fading to his normal colors.. The blue fading to black as it lost its power. Turning off. At least thats my theory.
I like this idea. The basic charge shot in X8 being so huge kinda lends to this theory
Maybe... he limit his use...X don't want to become a maverick himself ...or lose the reason for fight...he fight for peace.
What a great armour I remember first using it and it was amazing
No mention of X8's weird ultimate armor, where it's more like the custom armor is copying its abilities?
6:39 mentions how X8 Ultimate Armor is a rebirth after being absent in X7. As stated at the beginning of the video, this is strictly about the Ultimate Armor seen in X4-6.
That being said, I love the X8 Ultimate Armor and plan to do a video covering it later on down the line.
@@ColeFam Oh. Somehow I heard the part about it being absent in 7, but completely missed the end of that sentence.
To be fair, it does go kinda fast. The vision of the X7 "Ultimate Armor" in that shot is pretty distracting. Probably my favorite visual joke of the video.
@@ColeFam I think I may have looked away at the time too, lol
ive noticed it gets harder and harder to refill subtanks.. the big health pickup that refills your health bar to max used to also fill one subtank to maximum, or refill a fraction of another subtank if the first one was almost full to begin with and was filled by it. nowadays, that same biggest health pickup from x4 only refills about 2-4 units of a single sub tank. you need to pick up a lot more. this energy crisis probably has something to do with the armor's diminished power.
is not the ultimate armor just the forth armor but with unlimited nova strike and a diferent color pallet?
well at least functionaly it is just that.
The armor wasn't canon in X4. That's why you could only get it with a cheat code. So technically if it was degrading it'd just be degradation between X5 and X6. Although I think it's supposed to not be canon in X6 either. It's just there as a "new game plus" reward seeing how you can only get it through a code you normally can only see by beating the game. So really the armor is only canon in X5 which fits because the lore reason for why he never has any of his old canon armors between games other than X5 and X6 is he's afraid the power would corrupt him so he destroys his armors between games.
My only catch with the X4 statement is that fighting X as a boss has him using the X4 Ultimate Armor colors with X4 weapons. But, like most unexplained things, it was likely just going with the rule of cool.
If I were to guess, I'm pretty sure the x challenge version of the ultimate armor is the armor at essentially its breaking point
I think its not degrading, just sprite color. If the game carry on the save feature from x4 to x5 to x6 it could be possible
I thought the color change was because he fixes the ultamte armor with left over parts of the fourth armor
That's a fun idea, too
"the most powerfull armor the megaman x franchise has ever seen"
golden 3rd armor with zero saber: let him cook...
I'd always seen the Z-Saber as a separate power-up. Especially since it's more powerful without having the arm capsule at all. But the gold armor can do a lot more, yeah. One of my favorites
@@ColeFam why? in x6 we see megaman wielding the z-saber as part of his normal kit, and both armors he has access to use it for the charged shot. its no diferent from the arm upgrade we get from zero in X1 if we get to vile without one.
but more importantly, we see the diference of X using the saber while wearing the 3rd armor, and without it, and its clear that the 3rd enhances it to become the most powerfull weapon he has ever wielded. i would even argue that its superior to the hadouken, since:
a: its not a cameo joke weapon
and
b: it doesnt require him to be at full health.
What I meant was that using the Saber without the arm capsule in X3 does 50% damage to bosses. With the arm capsule, it's 75%, but the charge time is significantly longer. You can get two no arm capsule saber hits in before getting two with the arm capsule.
I like to think that the Ultimate Armor, even if it was made by Dr Light 100 years ago, is still too advance for modern day technology to fully comprehend and repair, much like X himself. So after each usage, with insufficient repair, the armor abilities keep degrading until it finally become unusable after X6, and they patch it up during X7 to be used in X8
This would make sense. X has used the Ultimate Armor many times and since it saved him from many threats, like from death in X5, the Black and White Color might show that the armor was losing it's power. It even felt, I don't know, less powerful than before. So this theory might be true.
one big great Theory for a canon
When upgrading armor in Megaman X5 you can see the armor is damaged
個人的な見方ではアルティメットアーマーがますます古いものを表現したのではないかと思う。 X7では完全に古くて廃棄処分し、X8ではDNAデータのみをニュートラルアーマーに注入して再使用したとか...
I really like the idea of injecting the DNA data into the Neutral Armor. That's really clever!
X just doesn´t care about keeping his weapons in good shape, ever, if he was more careful he would keep also all maverick weapons since X to X8
Where did that Dr.Light monologue about the X4 Ultimate Armor come from? Maybe I completely just forgot, but I recall the monologues being the same as for the usual capsule upgrades.
If you're talking about the voiced part at the beginning, that was written by me and voiced by my friend Richie T (links in description). If you mean the capsule footage from X4 itself, that's just from the game. If you have the Ultimate Armor code enabled, it will be the whole sequence no matter which capsule you get since you get the whole armor all at once.
The challenge armor is called dive armor x in megaman x dive
The DiVE Armor is a different armor. The X-Challenge coloring was in DiVE under the name AC Ver.
@@ColeFam i think the dive armor is the complete ultimate armor in data form cyberspace world is still unknown territory it holds many ancient secrets in Megaman X five or six don't remember which one when you get to the sigma boss fight just before the battle starts you see a red and blue capsules in the background signifying the ancient resting places for X and Zero
Interesting idea. Even if it's not the case and the color change really is just for aesthetics, it's good headcanon material.
What about Command Mission Ultimate Armor? :3c
That may get a dedicated video later on
What is X7?
Isn't the blue parts of the Ultimate Armor in X5 BRIGHTER blue than X4? Or am I just seeing things? As in the armor itself, not X's arms.
It's hard to tell if it is a brighter color or just a less saturated blue. Maybe it's like a star, burning its brightest before going out.
Lore of The Ultimate Armor's BIGGEST Weakness! The Degradation Theory - Mega Editorial momentum 100
Where would X8's ultimate armor fit in this?
It's mentioned near the end as a rebirth of the Armor.
I'd like to do something that focuses on the X8 Ultimate Armor. I really like how it looks.
@@ColeFam Sounds like a good idea. It's weird x7 didn't have an ultimate armor.
@Intrepid Swordsman Either the Ultimate Armor broke, or it's just X7 being X7, haha.
@@ColeFam LOL I had to play that game in Japanese to save my sanity.
Imagine you get the armor and drlight calls you out for cheating
"Who leaked the code? Tell me where you got it, X."
in my opinion the best armor is the golden armor.
It's ironic that ultimate armor is no longer my favorite for X in X8 because the Nova Strike needs some time to recharge and we can not mix - match the ultimate armor parts unlike icarus & hermes parts on the neutral armor (even though X8 Nova strike is kinda overpowered in boss fights especially the final form of Lumine)
As far as I know, the Nova Strike in X8 brings any boss down to 1hp, no matter what their current HP is. Probably so the boss can go to their second phase.
@@ColeFam yes, I can't believe how easy Lumine 2nd form with ultimate armor and I finished him / her / whatever with X and Zero double attack. But it's such a missed opportunity in the regular stage since the ultimate armor effects are so different in X8 than X6, X5, and especially X4. And yes, my brain is freezing when someone mentioned that super boring X7
Watching this MegaMan videos makes me notice how inconsistent Capcom is with this series.