Rockman Science Hour - Theory, techbabble, and handwavium, oh my

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Offline Machina

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Internal consistency, truly thou art worthy of being called "Savior"

To look upon the Rockman series with the eye of a hard science fiction writer should be to sacrifice one's own sanity, but while the writing suffers in spots, internal consistency confers upon the series the ability to be analyzed, to be studied and dissected until even what was unintended comes to light. There is no element in the main sequence of series that the technological basis of an element, save those in the earliest of classic series games, that cannot be traced to an earlier technology or could not reasonably be created with that technological base. (The EXE/Star Force spinoff tends to be a little more shaky at times.)

As with any analysis of fiction, catgirls will die, wild conjectures will be made, and someone will probably analyze things way too deeply and come to the conclusion that Doctor Cain had a sex change mid way through X4 and put his mind in a Reploid body to become Layer.



And to start things off, I'd like to state the conjecture that Doctor Wily's alien hologram in MM2 and Gemini Man are the reason the various viruses in the X era and the cyber elves can behave like they do.

Looking at both the alien hologram and Gemini Man's copy, we can see that both employ some kind of hard light structure, likely employing force fields of some kind. We can determine this easily by running into either at full force and monitoring how much damage is received. Any amount of damage sustained higher than "none" would support this belief. This is important in that both the alien hologram and Gemini Man's double employ a projected energy weapon of some kind. While it is conceivable that the projected weapons fire somehow originates from the source of the hologram, observation would suggest that doing so would be visible to the player in the same way that the projected energy attack itself is, since that's the kind of thing Capcom is quite good with in those days.

Assuming that the projected energy weapon is a compressed plasma weapon similar to Rock's primary weapon, the use of it by the hologram would suggest sophisticated workings all emulated using force fields. The hologram would have to, using a set of actions that are pure speculation, draw in air, compress down the gasses, possibly filtering out that which it doesn't need, charge it, and keep it contained likely using a short lived mobile force field to keep the plasma from diffusing upon firing. (A technique Rock, X, and all buster users also likely use.) For such actions to be emulated using hard light holograms, it is not that far of a leap to a hologram that emulates a small fusion reactor to supply its own power, a purely light-based computer to provide it with independent thought, and even its own force field and holographic emitters to maintain its own structure.


Of course, it's all the ramblings of one fan. ^_^


Thus, I open these doors to the scientifically minded. Any other thoughts on Rockman technology and science?


Current Project: Intentions Rockman X1/X2/Xtreme Equivalent Visual Novel


Offline Bag of Magic Food

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Reply #1 on: February 25, 2009, 08:03:23 AM
How do you make a force field, anyway?



Offline RMX

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Reply #2 on: February 25, 2009, 06:49:05 PM
Maybe the alien hologram and Gemini Man's clone are product of mindwaves coming from Wily's computer and Gemini Man itself messing with Rock's robotical brain. As soon as he overcomes the delusion by killing both, the device stops functioning and/or explodes, killing the Robot Master.



Offline Zan

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Reply #3 on: February 25, 2009, 08:25:24 PM
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(The EXE/Star Force spinoff tends to be a little more shaky at times.)

I'm of the opinion that both alternate universes operate on the same physics, at least, highly similar ones. A lot of stuff from EXE/SSR actually explain X-series weirdness like the Virus and 0-Space.

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Gemini Man's copy, we can see that both employ some kind of hard light structure, likely employing force fields of some kind.

Yeah, GeminiMan's copies are factually solid, profiles even mention it. I guess it might relate in some fashion to the gemini laser, but I'm not sure. We know he has holographic equipment installed. Also, GeminMan likes mirrors and shiny items (why he dislikes snakes, I dunno.), which says a lot about him; holograms, light, lasers, mirrors. There's an elaborate relation, especially since his entire body looks like a big mirror. If the light used for the holograms is the same as the Gemini laser (Which bounces off solid materials), it would explain why it's a solid figure. (Gemini Laser developed by Dr. Light when he happened upon a special substance that would give a "reaction element" further acceleration. Whatever that means. I would reckon it means the light is just so photon concentrated it becomes solid. Or something.)

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alien hologram

The hologram isn't just the alien. The entire room is holographic. The alien simply masks a key component.

Also, if the Gemini's solid nature relates to the Gemini Laser... there'd be no way the alien could employ it; Gemini Laser wasn't invented yet.

Either way, this talk of holograms relates a LOT to teleporation, matter waves, wave lifeforms, cyber lifeforms, and cyberspace/substance world crossovers like the 0 space, more than you'd think.



Offline Tickle Buffalo

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Reply #4 on: February 25, 2009, 08:33:04 PM
(why he dislikes snakes, I dunno.)

Well, they do kill him pretty well. But does he dislike them because they kill him well, or do they kill him pretty well because he dislikes them?

Mystery leads to mystery.



Offline Bag of Magic Food

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Reply #5 on: February 26, 2009, 12:34:47 AM
Yeah, GeminiMan's copies are factually solid, profiles even mention it.
Hey, isn't funny how the first GeminiMan you destroy always conveniently turns out to be the fake one, leaving the real one to keep fighting?  Or could the fake one keep going on his own somehow even if you destroyed the real GeminiMan first?



Offline Acid

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Reply #6 on: February 26, 2009, 12:36:35 AM
- Gemini Man likes penguins.
- Penguins lay eggs
- Snakes eat eggs



Offline Acrosurge

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Reply #7 on: February 26, 2009, 03:31:03 PM
- Gemini Man likes penguins.
- Penguins lay eggs
- Snakes eat eggs
A shining example of modern, scientific thought.   

Hey, isn't funny how the first GeminiMan you destroy always conveniently turns out to be the fake one, leaving the real one to keep fighting?  Or could the fake one keep going on his own somehow even if you destroyed the real GeminiMan first?
Maybe they're both real!   ???



Enjoy life,
Acrosurge


Offline Shinichameleon / Nayim

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Reply #8 on: February 26, 2009, 03:41:52 PM
- Gemini Man likes penguins.
- Penguins lay eggs
- Snakes eat eggs

That explain why Geminiman hate snakeman



Offline Zan

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Reply #9 on: February 26, 2009, 06:52:29 PM
Hey, isn't funny how the first GeminiMan you destroy always conveniently turns out to be the fake one, leaving the real one to keep fighting?  Or could the fake one keep going on his own somehow even if you destroyed the real GeminiMan first?

You're only hitting the real one. It's not that it reveals itself as fake, rather, the real one getting damaged too much causes the fake to disappear.



Offline VixyNyan

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Reply #10 on: February 26, 2009, 06:54:22 PM

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Offline Bag of Magic Food

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Reply #11 on: February 27, 2009, 01:03:40 AM
You're only hitting the real one. It's not that it reveals itself as fake, rather, the real one getting damaged too much causes the fake to disappear.
But it doesn't matter which one you hit.  It's always the one who takes the 14th hit that disappears.  But I guess your explanation works if you don't cheat and use savestates to try hitting the other one as the 14th instead.

yea that's right ^^
Those lyrics are okay, but this one is my favorite: http://reggielutionmegamannintendo.ytmnd.com/

And what's up with the colors?  Rockman looks like he's using the Hard Knuckle already.



Offline VixyNyan

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Reply #12 on: February 27, 2009, 01:11:28 AM
And what's up with the colors?  Rockman looks like he's using the Hard Knuckle already.

Welcome to the "wonderful" palette coloring world of Virtual Console emulation. Dark colors are dark. >U<

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Offline Zan

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Reply #13 on: February 27, 2009, 05:04:04 PM
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But it doesn't matter which one you hit.  It's always the one who takes the 14th hit that disappears.  But I guess your explanation works if you don't cheat and use savestates to try hitting the other one as the 14th instead.

Meh, game mechanics >.>



Offline Sakura Leic

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Reply #14 on: February 28, 2009, 12:47:46 AM
and someone will probably analyze things way too deeply and come to the conclusion that Doctor Cain had a sex change mid way through X4 and put his mind in a Reploid body to become Layer.
...Oh god this is too much. XD

And to start things off, I'd like to state the conjecture that Doctor Wily's alien hologram in MM2 and Gemini Man are the reason the various viruses in the X era and the cyber elves can behave like they do.

Looking at both the alien hologram and Gemini Man's copy, we can see that both employ some kind of hard light structure, likely employing force fields of some kind. We can determine this easily by running into either at full force and monitoring how much damage is received. Any amount of damage sustained higher than "none" would support this belief. This is important in that both the alien hologram and Gemini Man's double employ a projected energy weapon of some kind. While it is conceivable that the projected weapons fire somehow originates from the source of the hologram, observation would suggest that doing so would be visible to the player in the same way that the projected energy attack itself is, since that's the kind of thing Capcom is quite good with in those days.

Assuming that the projected energy weapon is a compressed plasma weapon similar to Rock's primary weapon, the use of it by the hologram would suggest sophisticated workings all emulated using force fields. The hologram would have to, using a set of actions that are pure speculation, draw in air, compress down the gasses, possibly filtering out that which it doesn't need, charge it, and keep it contained likely using a short lived mobile force field to keep the plasma from diffusing upon firing. (A technique Rock, X, and all buster users also likely use.) For such actions to be emulated using hard light holograms, it is not that far of a leap to a hologram that emulates a small fusion reactor to supply its own power, a purely light-based computer to provide it with independent thought, and even its own force field and holographic emitters to maintain its own structure.
This is pretty intresting but I don't have anything to contribute to this theory.

Current playthrough: Chrono Trigger and God Eater Ressurection


Offline Align

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Reply #15 on: February 28, 2009, 01:59:51 PM
Hmm, hard light... any relation to the beamsabers?



Offline Machina

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Delayed response powers, go! (Blasted writing stuff. Had to distract me from tech discussions.)

I'm of the opinion that both alternate universes operate on the same physics, at least, highly similar ones. A lot of stuff from EXE/SSR actually explain X-series weirdness like the Virus and 0-Space.

Aye, but things like the Kotobuki disaster in EXE2 creates some iffiness. (Regardless of how awesome it was.)

Quote
Yeah, GeminiMan's copies are factually solid, profiles even mention it. I guess it might relate in some fashion to the gemini laser, but I'm not sure.

The Gemini Laser's properties seem to suggest it's simply a directed energy weapon that uses some, for lack of a better way of putting it, funky containment effects to give it its bouncing property. I say funky containment effects because the way the weapon behaves doesn't suggest being an actual light-based weapon, namely its speed and how it reflects off of objects that should absorb it. (I know, I know, game mechanics.) I've always held the conjecture that the reason the Gemini Laser and the clone have never been used at the same time was either due to power requirements, or because the use of the Gemini Laser required mobile force field emitters (as in, emitters to create a moving force field, damn ambiguous English language) that would be in use by the clone.

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(Gemini Laser developed by Dr. Light when he happened upon a special substance that would give a "reaction element" further acceleration. Whatever that means. I would reckon it means the light is just so photon concentrated it becomes solid. Or something.)

Sourced or conjecture?

Quote
The hologram isn't just the alien. The entire room is holographic. The alien simply masks a key component.

Aye, but the part I was driving at was the alien's solid structure and the use of a projected energy weapon. Though, it IS likely that the rest of the hologram contained a force field to keep stray shots from hitting either the emitter or Doctor Wily.

Quote
Also, if the Gemini's solid nature relates to the Gemini Laser... there'd be no way the alien could employ it; Gemini Laser wasn't invented yet.

Aye, that's one flaw with the Gemini Laser theory. But it could overcome that flaw by reversing the flow of technology in that case. The principles of the alien lead to the Gemini Laser being possible. (Which, in both the "Gemini Laser created Gemini Man Copy" and the "Gemini Laser and Gemini Man Copy are separate systems" theories, this flow would help explain.)

Quote
Either way, this talk of holograms relates a LOT to teleporation, matter waves, wave lifeforms, cyber lifeforms, and cyberspace/substance world crossovers like the 0 space, more than you'd think.

More than the average person would think. Not everyone here is normal. I'm an SF writer with too much time on his hands. Very little is beyond what I'd think. ^_^

Tremble, feeble mortals, for I wield the laws of physics and a penchant for breaking them for the lulz!

Teleportation might be a good next topic, but Align has already brought up beam sabers.


Hmm, hard light... any relation to the beamsabers?

Well, there are several routes you can go with beam weapons. First is the Star Wars route, which claims that the light sabers they use are a high intensity beam of light that's curved in on itself to make it stop where the end of the blade is. I, however, view this approach as crap. Take a flashlight and wave it at another flashlight. Light does not work that way, but this isn't really surprising  because Star Wars writers already fail science forever. Second route is the Gundam route, where the beam sabers are a fountain of charged particles. In Universal Century, this works out because of the Minovsky Particles used. They create a nice blade-shaped field and behave like good little particles. At least it isn't light.

In the Rockman universe, there are no convenient Minovsky Particles to work with. But, as Gemini Man proves, we do have force fields to play with. If we look at the beam sabers used by Zero, Sigma, and Colonel, we see that they have clearly defined edges and maintain their shape except for some bending when swung with considerable force. (Exceptions: The X4 anime intro, where Zero and Colonel's sabers are shown behaving somewhat like they were made of solid fire) This would suggest some kind of solid energy framework, most likely a force field that degrades somewhat toward the end, allowing the "bend" we see,

Now, determining the exact makeup of the blade requires determining how it cuts. If it's due heat, the blade is probably filled with some kind of plasma.

Any thoughts on sabers, Zan? ^_^


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Offline Bag of Magic Food

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Aye, but the part I was driving at was the alien's solid structure and the use of a projected energy weapon. Though, it IS likely that the rest of the hologram contained a force field to keep stray shots from hitting either the emitter or Doctor Wily.
Oh yeah, I think I meant to bring up something about this in the Ancient Theories topic, but I probably forgot.  Anyway, I got into an argument on someone's Youtube video comments about whether the Alien was a hologram emitted by that beer-can-on-a-track and Dr. Wily was standing in the corner operating it the whole time, or whether Dr. Wily was actually riding around the room in an Alien suit that he invisibly jumped out of when it was too badly damaged and ran to the corner to try to repair in a hurry.  Have you ever heard of that idea?



Offline Zan

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Aye, but things like the Kotobuki disaster in EXE2 creates some iffiness. (Regardless of how awesome it was.)

I think EXE2's reality - cyberspace overlap event is actually the exact same as the 0-Space. Overdose of server radiation merges two worlds. Overdose of Zero Virus merges two worlds. FM-King Cepheus' immense Z-wave emission turning the real world into waves being very similar.

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Sourced or conjecture?

Anything before "whatever that means" comes from AF's classic encyclopedia. After that is conjecture on what it means. Keep in mind, as it is a "laser", it should be light based...

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Aye, but the part I was driving at was the alien's solid structure and the use of a projected energy weapon. Though, it IS likely that the rest of the hologram contained a force field to keep stray shots from hitting either the emitter or Doctor Wily.
Quote
Aye, that's one flaw with the Gemini Laser theory. But it could overcome that flaw by reversing the flow of technology in that case. The principles of the alien lead to the Gemini Laser being possible. (Which, in both the "Gemini Laser created Gemini Man Copy" and the "Gemini Laser and Gemini Man Copy are separate systems" theories, this flow would help explain.)

I'm starting to reckon that what GeminiMan does is literally creating a second version of himself. Not just a fake hologram, but an identical robot with mass, to the point that it becomes irrelevant whichever is real. They're two bodies with one mind and identity. As such both take damage and, when it becomes too hard to sustain two, one just disperses the other and takes over as the main body. An extended variation of this would apply to his ability to create more duplicates in Super Adventure.

By comparison, the alien hologram isn't anything solid, just an image overlaying a holographic protector with weapons-mounted. This projector being protected from all attacks but the Bubble Lead by whatever means necessary.

Quote
Teleportation might be a good next topic, but Align has already brought up beam sabers.

Well, I mentioned teleporation as its the primary display of turning matter into data and data into matter. GeminiMan's copies would be no different.

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Any thoughts on sabers, Zan? ^_^

I'd go with the explanation Gundam gives. Aside from the fact that these are "beam" sabers instead of "light" sabers, Gundam, like many sci-fi series, does seem to be an inspiration for RockmanX. Minovsky-particles not being mentioned doesn't really matter. Just some equivalent has to be in use. Like in every Gundam series that is not UC.

Quote
Oh yeah, I think I meant to bring up something about this in the Ancient Theories topic, but I probably forgot.  Anyway, I got into an argument on someone's Youtube video comments about whether the Alien was a hologram emitted by that beer-can-on-a-track and Dr. Wily was standing in the corner operating it the whole time, or whether Dr. Wily was actually riding around the room in an Alien suit that he invisibly jumped out of when it was too badly damaged and ran to the corner to try to repair in a hurry.  Have you ever heard of that idea?

http://www.themmnetwork.com/wiki/index.php?title=Alien



Offline Ramzal

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You're all nuts.



Offline Shinichameleon / Nayim

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Offline Zan

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You're all nuts.

Says he who complained about fighting poses. At least this is part of the plot.



Offline Fragman

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Beam weapons.  Here's my take on it.  They're essentially plasma torches.  High temperature high energy particles.  They're encased in a magnetic field which of course keeps them from frying the wielder and just exploding.

The magnetic field is strong enough to contain plasma but not strong enough to prevent it from passing through solid matter though it does give it some resistance.  When it strikes something the magnetic field also passes through exposing the object to the plasma beam inside which burns right through it.

This would make sense given how they behave.  Beam weapons bounce off each other (magnetic fields repelling), and reflect some other weapons (possibly also plasma based), and may take more than one swing to pass through something.  If you didn't leave it on one spot long enough it wouldn't do as much damage, so a slow strike would spend more time dwelling on the material it's cutting and do more damage.  Also explaining how some attacks do more damage than others.

A twist on beam weapons in Megaman seems to be that they don't sustain shape for long.  In Zero's case his saber usually isn't visible when he's not attacking and if you look closely you can see it flicker out after he takes his final swing.  My guess is it can only maintain its shape for a short time, thus the user would quickly turn it on only to attack then turn it right back off.

I'm willing to bet that busters work on the same principle but rather than bother with magnetic fields just concentrate a ball of the stuff and fire it off.


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Offline Acrosurge

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Says he who complained about fighting poses. At least this is part of the plot.
Yeah, but the fighting poses are still mostly worthless for robots who mix it up close range at least once in a while.  Why the heck would humanoid, class SA hunters be imbeciles at hand combat?

*realizes no one cares*  -u-'

Uh, but back on topic.  About the plasma weapons thing: I always thought that Zero's saber changing shape when he swings it to be a stylistic depiction, rather than the blade actually curving or changing its length.

As to the busters, if you're going to utilize plasma as a weapon, then you have to have some kind of magnetic containment regardless of whether your using the stuff as a sword or a ludicrously large X-Buster blast.  If you didn't use magnetic containment, all that would come out of X's buster would be a big cloud of gas.  It would be really hot gas with the electrons stripped from their atoms, but still pretty useless as a range weapon.  You'd have to have some kind of EM field to force the plasma into a ball shape.



Enjoy life,
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Offline Machina

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Writer's block. Time to fish out my pseudo-scientist hat.

I think EXE2's reality - cyberspace overlap event is actually the exact same as the 0-Space. Overdose of server radiation merges two worlds. Overdose of Zero Virus merges two worlds. FM-King Cepheus' immense Z-wave emission turning the real world into waves being very similar.

The thing is, data is an abstract concept. Without a medium, there can be no data, similar to how you can't have a drawing without something to draw on. Now, in the Classic/X/Zero-verse, the existence of a non-physical medium for the storing and retrieving of data becomes a canon fact as of the middle of the X-series, with its existence being likely from the beginning of the Reploid species. This, of course, being the DNA Soul. The events of Xtreme 2 are enough evidence to suggest that DNA souls exist in the material universe as some kind of energy-based storage medium containing the "genetic" data of the Reploid as well as their memories.

In the EXE/RNR-verse, prior to Kotobuki, and after the fact, all data was stored on physical mediums, and cyberspace is a rather abstract representation of the data being stored on those mediums. However, once RNR came into the picture, we had the AM and FM beings, which, like the DNA Soul, represent a non-material medium for the storage of data that exists within the physical universe. However, the wave beings also possess another quality that makes them very relevant to the Kotobuki incident: the ability to convert matter into energy (granted, while ignoring the ratio given by the famous relativity equation) as witnessed by the transformation of humans into wave entities. Now, we know that the creations of humans in the EXE/RNR-verse are compatible with the wave entities, given how RNR Rockman entered physical systems as an Earth-made navi would, so it's not too far of a stretch to make the assumption that the Kotobuki incident ended up re-creating the matter to wave transfer process. Despite the two hundred year gap, we don't see that much technological progress in the EXE to RNR transition. Particularly in the operation of computer devices, they just get smaller.

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Keep in mind, as it is a "laser", it should be light based...

If it is, in fact, light it would move at the speed of light. It's likely a similar case to the Star Wars case of turbolasers not being lasers.

Where problems occur is the question of which is the true Gemini Beam: Its representation in the games, or Super Adventure Rockman's take? (Which, I admit, I've only seen from the opening, but it appears to behave like a true laser.)

Quote
I'm starting to reckon that what GeminiMan does is literally creating a second version of himself. Not just a fake hologram, but an identical robot with mass, to the point that it becomes irrelevant whichever is real. They're two bodies with one mind and identity. As such both take damage and, when it becomes too hard to sustain two, one just disperses the other and takes over as the main body. An extended variation of this would apply to his ability to create more duplicates in Super Adventure.

This is actually another viable explanation for Gemini Man. However, if Gemini man has another fully operational body, sustaining them both isn't really a problem any more than sustaining one body, destroying one would be a matter of structural damage. Thus, dispersing a body that you spend the energy and materials you created wouldn't exactly make sense. There's also the problem of two brains, which while doubling his processing power, would inevitably create problems.

Let's say Gemini Man creates an identical robot body, doubling every element of his design. For this body to function at the same capacity, all of its autonomic functions would have to be active. Its core would be outputting the same energy, and to control its body, the clone would be thinking, just like the original. Now, this works well because he's a perfect copy of Gemini Man, and thus would behave the same way. However, without some kind of infrared or radio communication between the two, the two may have completely different reactions to the same stimulus and thus step on each others toes, so to speak. Simple enough, add a radio or infra-red modem. This, however, creates a slight reaction time lag, because both copies have to transmit their reactions to the stimulus and come to a solution of what to do. This takes time, which is a precious commodity when you have a homicidal blue robot wanting to kill you and eat your soul to gain your special power. In either case, either coordinating actions or leaving the potential for conflicting reactions, with the addition of more clones, Gemini Man would run face-first into the brick wall of diminishing returns in regards to his combat effectiveness.

Now, there is another option with the perfect clone idea. Only have one Gemini Man "thinking" at a time, and controlling the others via said radio or infra-red modem like puppets. In this case, however, Gemini Man would require a very powerful brain to control another body in addition to his own, and if his currently active body is the one that's destroyed, it creates a potentially lethal lag during which the puppet body's brain has to boot up. There's also an issue with the more powerful processor: To gain that huge boost in performance, Doctor Wily would likely have to overclock the hell out of Gemini Man's processor, which would create huge amounts of heat. This... actually isn't too much of an issue, because it provides an alternate reason for the spikes on his helmet: heat radiators.

... Which creates the amusing mental image of Gemini Man catching a heat seeking missile with his face...


However, even with the hologram conjecture, the question of which Gemini Man is the real one is still irrelevant. It's a principle I like to call Schrodinger's Copy. Another good name would be the Naruto Effect, given how clone battles behave in that series.

Put simply, in a work of fiction, if you are facing four copies of an individual, and you fire three shots at three of those copies, each shot will hit one of the fakes. Similar to the cat in the box that is both alive and dead until the box is opened and the cat is observed, until the shot is fired and connects in a killing blow, each of those images is both real and fake.


The hologram also works with Gemini Man's hatred and weakness to snakes.

Snakes possess keen non-visual senses, and it's likely that Snake Man and his Search Snakes possess IR sensors. Now, a hard light hologram likely possesses a very different infrared image than a solid Robot, and thus a snake would be able to tell which is the real and which is the fake if it is indeed holographic. As for the physical weakness...

... I'll need to think more on that. For now, all I can think of is "LOL game mechanics"

Maybe some kind of psychosomatic reaction?

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By comparison, the alien hologram isn't anything solid, just an image overlaying a holographic protector with weapons-mounted. This projector being protected from all attacks but the Bubble Lead by whatever means necessary.

Heh, forgot about the little thing floating around the room after the hologram ends. So it likely does contain the plasma cannon.

The question would be "why Bubble Lead?" (Without resorting to "LOL game mechanics")

We know the projector in the ceiling is a holographic projector, and while it's protected from attack, it also shuts down when the alien is defeated. (On an unrelated note, it's possible the projector played a role in the prototyping and creation of Wily's Robot Masters at the time. The room does look like it would be well suited to that purpose.) While it is possible this is just narrative law in effect, if we look at the weapons Rock possessed at the time we notice something: Bubble Lead is a transparent/translucent looking sphere, relevance being that curved, transparent or translucent surfaces refract light very well.

Jumping into the realm of thinking way too much, each time the bubble hits the alien, the screen flashes. Sure, it's a general damage effect, but in this case it could be thought of as refracted light being scattered about and the projector having to compensate, and to do so, the computer running the system would have to think a bit harder, and generate a little more heat. Eventually, all of this compensation for the effects of the Bubble Lead would overheat the system, causing it to break, thus the loud whine after the battle while the holographic effects are ending.

Doesn't address if  it's the orb or the big dome that's projecting the alien, but meh. ^_^

You're all nuts.

You say that like it's a bad thing. ^_^

A twist on beam weapons in Megaman seems to be that they don't sustain shape for long.  In Zero's case his saber usually isn't visible when he's not attacking and if you look closely you can see it flicker out after he takes his final swing.  My guess is it can only maintain its shape for a short time, thus the user would quickly turn it on only to attack then turn it right back off.

That might actually be a power issue.

Using the Zero example, his saber seems to be separated from his main power source when being wielded, thus returning it to his back, likely to recharge, when not in use.

Yeah, but the fighting poses are still mostly worthless for robots who mix it up close range at least once in a while.  Why the heck would humanoid, class SA hunters be imbeciles at hand combat?

*realizes no one cares*  -u-'

I need to find that topic...

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Uh, but back on topic.

Leverage and force are still science. ^_^

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About the plasma weapons thing: I always thought that Zero's saber changing shape when he swings it to be a stylistic depiction, rather than the blade actually curving or changing its length.

True, the X6 sprites for Zero have his saber remaining straight, and the 3D games tend toward the rigid blade.

I suppose stylistic change and technological progress are both equally likely. ^_^


Current Project: Intentions Rockman X1/X2/Xtreme Equivalent Visual Novel