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Rockman & Community => Rockman Series => X => Topic started by: AquaTeamV3 on October 29, 2009, 03:16:25 AM
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Welcome to the 5th topic in the 'Rate and Discuss' series! This topic is about the Falcon Armor, an upgrade that gives X quite a lift!
The Falcon Armor debuted in Megaman X5, where the new capsule system was introduced. X (or Zero) now had to find all of the armor parts before he could use them, and there were now 2 armors instead of the usual one. The Falcon Armor was the first one X could find (outside of the Fourth Armor that you start with) , as you needed Falcon to get Gaea's parts.
Anywho, the Falcon Armor's main gimmick was that it could actually fly, which was a large step above the usual air-dashing. You were actually invincible (mostly) during flight; only certain projectiles could hit you, such as those rather annoying waves Sigma insists on chucking at you. You could actually take advantage of this to a rather large extent, particularly during Skiver's dash routine. It actually did minor damage to enemies too, which was pretty interesting. You weren't going to actually kill anything important with the minor damage you got, but it was something.
Interestingly enough, you couldn't actually charge weapons with this armor, but the head part gave you a larger supply of ammo to work with. The Buster Part was pretty useful here; the charged shot had laser-like capabilities and actually pierced through anything it hit, including walls. This was pretty useful for those irritating shielded enemies in the Zero Virus Stages. Lastly, the Body Part did the usual routine of having the damage X took, but also gave him a Giga Attack as well. The Giga Attack caused charged shots to vertically fly through the screen, hitting whatever happened to be there. Not particularly good or bad, I honestly didn't find much of a use for it, personally.
The armor was pretty useful overall in X5, particularly with the Speedster attached. It was pretty solid in terms of enemies and bosses; not as powerful as Gaea, but still able to hold it's own rather easily.
Come X6, X started out with a degraded version of this armor. It lost it's unique flight ability in exchange for an air-dash that did minor damage and offered very little protection. I guess it's nice if you can't avoid Wolfang's Ice Burst on your own, but otherwise it's just your standard air-dash. The armor could actually charge weapons now, which was nice to have from the start. The buster shot did get nerfed, however. It no longer had it's old piercing abilities, and was now nothing more than a very skinny charged shot. The Giga Attack remained the same, although it did get a flashy background to accompany it.
X6's Falcon Armor was pretty useful as far as armors go. While it lost a big chunk of it's mobility, it's charged shot was arguably more useful than Blade's, which counts for something. It really had no gimmicks, but was pretty solid overall. The Falcon Armor gets a perfect 10 for the X5 variation, and an 8/10 for the X6 version.
Post your opinions/ratings/thoughts here!
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and was actually unobtainable without the Force Armor (or the Ultimate Armor capsule found later)
False. The only things you need to complete the Falcon Armor are Makkoin and Grizzly's weapons. The parts in Grizzly and Kraken's stages require absolutely nothing.
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False. The only things you need to complete the Falcon Armor are Makkoin and Grizzly's weapons. The parts in Grizzly and Kraken's stages require absolutely nothing.
Wow, now I feel really stupid. All these years I honestly thought that you had to charge (http://mmxz.zophar.net/megamanxz/megamanx5/items.shtml) the Goo Shaver to get into that room. Talk about embarrassing! -AC
*fixes review*
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Falcon armor also had a nifty falcon design on X's chest. it looked like a beak!
One thing to note, its air dash in X6 covers very little distance. Much less than a normal air dash.
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Ah, yes, the Falcon Armor.
Quite possibly the best armor, although its attack is a little weak. In Physics, a greater amount of force or energy over a smaller area results in greater impact.
Put bluntly, the Falcon Armor's buster and Giga Attack WOULD do the most damage of any of X's attacks, ceteris paribus.
On top of that, flight and invincibility that would more than rival ANY ultra-deadly cloaking-device Wily Machine. And it survived worst case scenario, whereas the Force Armor crumbled.
A toast to the Falcon Armor!
May it one day return with a glorious fire punch Giga Attack!
FALCON PUNCH!!!
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One thing to note, its air dash in X6 covers very little distance. Much less than a normal air dash.
It seemed okay as far as distance was concerned. Then again, outside of the Ultimate Armor, there was no real comparison anyway, as Blade's Mach Dash completely outclassed it, and Shadow simply didn't have one. As a whole, X6's Falcon armor did feel 'heavier' as well, probably due to the reason you just mentioned, as the air-dash was pretty sluggish. I mean, it got you where you wanted to go, but it was slower than the previous air-dashes throughout the series.
On top of that, flight and invincibility that would more than rival ANY ultra-deadly cloaking-device Wily Machine. And it survived worst case scenario, whereas the Force Armor crumbled.
Makes you wonder how X6 might have turned out had Alia chosen to repair the Gaea or Fourth Armor instead...
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But we had the Gaea Armor... they called it "Shadow" Armor
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Shadow was Gaea without the cement shoes. And a BFS.
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The [tornado fang]ing charge shot doesn't cleave in X6. Unarmored is better in that sense. It's bigger & it cleaves.
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Shadow was Gaea without the cement shoes. And a BFS.
and the ability to stick to ceilings.
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Falcon Shot does more damage, I believe. It was mostly noticeable with most enemies dying in one charge shot from Falcon, but not charged unarmored X, or Blade, though that goes without saying.
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But we had the Gaea Armor... they called it "Shadow" Armor
Shadow was Gaea without the cement shoes. And a BFS.
They both had spike immunity, wall-sticking, and a loss of weapon usage, but the similarities pretty much end there. Gaea pretty much felt like a tank, as it was slower than usual, but could churn out loads of damage at a time without even breaking a sweat. Shadow felt a lot more lightweight, and seemed a lot more like the 'hit and run' type than one the bulky tank type.
Falcon Shot does more damage, I believe. It was mostly noticeable with most enemies dying in one charge shot from Falcon, but not charged unarmored X, or Blade, though that goes without saying.
I think it may do slightly more damage than normal X's. I tend to equip Buster Plus by default, anyway, and the only enemies I focus on taking out as swiftly as possible are Nightmares, for obvious reasons.
The [tornado fang]ing charge shot doesn't cleave in X6. Unarmored is better in that sense. It's bigger & it cleaves.
Yeah, I really don't know why that feature was dropped entirely from the armor. It went from tearing holes in anything to stopping whenever it hit a single enemy. What's the point of a charge shot if there's no collateral damage?
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I guess they just figured they can't start you off with something too awesome. X5 starting you with Plasma Charge was really overkill (not to mention it destroyed any non-Giga appeal to Ultimate; they REALLY should have used Stock Charge instead).
And yes, Falcon's charged shot in X6 is still slightly more powerful than unarmored's.
In X5, Falcon + Speedster = perfection. Plain and simple.
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One thing to note, its air dash in X6 covers very little distance. Much less than a normal air dash.
It seemed okay as far as distance was concerned.
I guess they just figured they can't start you off with something too awesome.
I just realized that I had Speedster on when making that comparison. After getting rid of it, I never really noticed how puny that air-dash really is. I can kind of appreciate them not giving you something too nice right out of the box, though, as I agree that the whole Fourth Armor thing was overdone. X6 did a good job of giving the armor that 'crippled' feel, while still having some useful qualities.
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I just realized that I had Speedster on when making that comparison.
So, wait, X6 Falcon's air-dash is still Speedster enhanced and not Hyper Dash enhanced? It never occurred to me to test that.
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But Hyper Dash kills air dashing.
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Due to lack of momentum, yeah, shorter time usually overrides any movement speed benefit. However it worked great in combination with Zero's F-Splasher.
Choice of words aside, what I meant was which part affects X6 Falcon's air-dash. For better or for worse is another story.
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So, wait, X6 Falcon's air-dash is still Speedster enhanced and not Hyper Dash enhanced? It never occurred to me to test that.
It's enhanced in the sense that you'll cover more distance overall. The dash length in itself is not increased, but Speedster's overall increase in horizontal movement increases the distance that you cover. Hyper Dash outright kills air-dashing, as Falcon's air-dash acts more like an air-fart. It's one of those parts that functions better when equipped on Normal X (or Shadow), as there is no air-dash and thus nothing gets hurt. It's a shame that Gaea didn't get access to any parts; would've been fun to see how it's mobility could've been altered.
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On the other hand, though, the different amount of part slots available to X in different states really boosted reasons other than shits & giggles to go unarmored.
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Meh, I just went unarmored due to obsession with the Z-Buster. Quite a love-hate relationship, though, seeings how X5's was rather crappy.
Thing is, at least it's unique. 4th Armor does absolutely nothing that Ultimate doesn't. So, yeah...
The dash length in itself is not increased, but Speedster's overall increase in horizontal movement increases the distance that you cover.
So what you're actually gaining is jumping/falling distance? Well, that's not what I was talking about, but thank you.
Finally got un-lazy enough to test for myself, and yes, Hyper Dash does in fact slightly shorten your air-dash length. But it looks worse than it is, due to the sharp difference in movement speed; in truth PS1 air-dashing as a whole blows anyway (and yes the same all applies to X6's Falcon; I was wondering if it might be exempt due to appearing to be X5's flight in a fixed direction/length, but not so).
However, I did take notice, in the same manner that Hyper Dash increases your dash length when combined with Zero's F-Splasher in X5, it does the same for Blade Armor's Mach Dash in X6. You can catch some serious air that way.
Oh yes, and I confirmed for myself that contrary to what many have said (this comes up in many an X6 discussion), Speedster does not enhance dash-jumping. As expected, if your dash speed is applied, it overrides Speedster; that's as true in the air as it is on the ground, with or without Hyper Dash.
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Meh, I just went unarmored due to obsession with the Z-Buster. Quite a love-hate relationship, though, seeings how X5's was rather crappy.
But it had the cool sprite of him pulling his front foot back.
However, I did take notice, in the same manner that Hyper Dash increases your dash length when combined with Zero's F-Splasher in X5, it does the same for Blade Armor's Mach Dash in X6. You can catch some serious air that way.
Can't neither of those be stopped midway through either? I know F-Splasher can't.
Oh yes, and I confirmed for myself that contrary to what many have said (this comes up in many an X6 discussion), Speedster does not enhance dash-jumping. As expected, if your dash speed is applied, it overrides Speedster; that's as true in the air as it is on the ground, with or without Hyper Dash.
People actually wondered that?
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Meh, I just went unarmored due to obsession with the Z-Buster. Quite a love-hate relationship, though, seeings how X5's was rather crappy.
Thing is, at least it's unique. 4th Armor does absolutely nothing that Ultimate doesn't. So, yeah...
I love the animation for it, but the damage is pretty horrible. Not even Buster Plus can fix that one.
However, I did take notice, in the same manner that Hyper Dash increases your dash length when combined with Zero's F-Splasher in X5, it does the same for Blade Armor's Mach Dash in X6. You can catch some serious air that way.
I noticed that as well when I was testing stuff yesterday. Zero's Hisuishou in particular is pretty strong as well, as it can take out quite a few enemies in one shot. Zero's X5 arsenal was sort of a mixed bag IMO, as he had some good moves (Messenko), but a lot of the other ones weren't all to great. Zero felt a bit more sluggish here because a lot of his techniques weren't as quick as they usually are.
Oh yes, and I confirmed for myself that contrary to what many have said (this comes up in many an X6 discussion), Speedster does not enhance dash-jumping. As expected, if your dash speed is applied, it overrides Speedster; that's as true in the air as it is on the ground, with or without Hyper Dash.
Hyper Dash translates to dash-jumps pretty well, particularly when fighting enemies like the Nightmare Mother where precise jumping is needed (especially in Extreme mode). Speedster is better when you need to clear pits, like the one in Metal Shark Player's stage, for instance.
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But you can make it across that gap with Hyper Dash.
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Hyper Dash translates to dash-jumps pretty well, particularly when fighting enemies like the Nightmare Mother where precise jumping is needed (especially in Extreme mode). Speedster is better when you need to clear pits, like the one in Metal Shark Player's stage, for instance.
uh, yeah, about that... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR_Sw7MRerY&fmt=22) Whoops, forgot he still hasn't been able to pull that off.
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uh, yeah, about that... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR_Sw7MRerY&fmt=22)
Wow that looks boring.
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I love the animation for it, but the damage is pretty horrible. Not even Buster Plus can fix that one.
True, but it makes it all the more sweet when you kick X's ass using that alone. >U<
Other than that I pretty much just use it as an anti-Taxi weapon. Funny, though, Shot Eraser/Black Zero effects apply to the Z-Buster the same as they do the saber, so you can cut through X's shots with that little pea-shooter.
Inversely, X can destroy Zero's shots with Gaea Armor. But you're REALLY asking for trouble if you try that against Awakened Zero, since his shot delay is determined by when the previous shot pauses and not by timer, thus destroying them outright will cause him to launch the saber wave instantly.
Hyper Dash translates to dash-jumps pretty well, particularly when fighting enemies like the Nightmare Mother where precise jumping is needed (especially in Extreme mode). Speedster is better when you need to clear pits, like the one in Metal Shark Player's stage, for instance.
It depends on your method. For maximum dash-jump distance, you want Hyper Dash and Jumper; Speedster is irrelevant. Speedster aids in those who prefer air-dashing for whatever reason (which I suppose is valid if you're Mach Dashing or Nova Striking your way through, although the latter pretty much gets you where you need to go by itself), and in weapon-physics-exploiting.
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Speedster rocks for hovering.
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Funny, though, Shot Eraser/Black Zero effects apply to the Z-Buster the same as they do the saber, so you can cut through X's shots with that little pea-shooter.
Inversely, X can destroy Zero's shots with Gaea Armor. But you're REALLY asking for trouble if you try that against Awakened Zero, since his shot delay is determined by when the previous shot pauses and not by timer, thus destroying them outright will cause him to launch the saber wave instantly.
Never knew Z-Buster actually got the effects of the Shot Eraser, I'll have to try that one out. I lol'd at the idea of Zero smacking you in the face the instant you destroy his shots, though.
It depends on your method. For maximum dash-jump distance, you want Hyper Dash and Jumper; Speedster is irrelevant. Speedster aids in those who prefer air-dashing for whatever reason (which I suppose is valid if you're Mach Dashing or Nova Striking your way through, although the latter pretty much gets you where you need to go by itself), and in weapon-physics-exploiting.
It also helps with double-jumping, as Zero can clear quite a good distance with a simple Speedster enhanced DJ. I never really liked Jumper as a part, honestly, as it just makes the characters as a whole feel very floaty (sorta like Brawl). It's pretty much a necessity if you want to beat Nightmare Mother as Normal X, though.
Speedster rocks for hovering.
That it does. I only wish they had made the duration a bit longer for it, but Speedster does at least help you get some nice distance off of it.
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Oh man, Zero is so sick with Jumper & Speedster in X6.