Topic: Zero series: Why was it so successful?

[Waifu]

I wonder why the Zero series was so successful compared to other series? If Sega were to create a Shadow the Hedgehog series or even Kuckles series of games, it wouldn't worked out to well yet Zero who supposed to main of the X series ends up successful. Why is it easier for the X and Zero series respectively to go darker and edgier while some concepts that try it simply fail?

[Sub Tank]

Because it's easier to make a dark theme involving killer robots, instead of talking animals.

[Flame]

Sega can't get a solid gameplay formula working, and they are going to make a successful spin off series?

What Sub said, and well, X series was popular, Zero is popular, (enough that he overshadows the main character half the time) make a spin off that takes place in the future of the X series, with an evil X, and a fresh new art style, and the fans gobble it up.

[Alice in Entropy]

People love Zero and want his robot babies, of course. That and people can't resist the GRIMDARK setting and MATURE and EMOTIONAL PLOT.

I never saw the appeal in it myself.

[GP Aznable]

'Coz Zero's more popular than X, period.

[Acid]

'Coz Zero's more popular than X, period.

How terrible!

[Align]

Could it be the fun gameplay combined with the serious (and significantly less ridiculed than X) plot and per-capcom-standards awesome music and distinct graphics style?

[Zan]

Could it be the fun gameplay combined with the serious (and significantly less ridiculed than X) plot and per-capcom-standards awesome music and distinct graphics style?

No way!

Seriously, the series was never as dark as people make it out to be.

[Waifu]

But it is still considerably darker than the Classic series was, Mega man X was just as dark as this series even if they didn't take themselves too seriously.

[Blackhook]

I agree with Zan. The series is not THAT dark...the collection got an E rating remember?
Well at first I wasn´t too fond of the Z series. But then I finished all four games and kinda started liking it, even more than the X series.  I think that it was mostly because of the boss fights. The boss desings look great and the fights themselves are fun.

[Saber]

It's dark from the perspective of featuring mass genocide on innocents for no reason and dictatorship. DEEP, you know?

[Align]

But it is still considerably darker than the Classic series was

Kind of hard to avoid without becoming the Teletubbies.

[Sakura Leic]

It's dark from the perspective of featuring mass genocide on innocents for no reason and dictatorship. DEEP, you know?

Not only that but the apathy of the human race is really high lighted in the series too.  They're using the reploids as a scapegoat for the energy crises and blaiming them collectivly for the wars.  

The humans of that time think that reploids are just worthless machines meant to be slaves that are 'highly expendable' and kill them for a little mistake or saying somthing out of turn. They pretty much think that the resistance reploids are worse than rapists, murders, heck even Weil before he took over Neo Arcadia.  If that ain't dark then I have no idea what is.

Also I sorry if this seems a bit disorganized, I didn't get any sleep last night.

[Blackhook]

Well, the humans woke up from their apathy eventually...though it took a psychotic evil scientist that enslaved them to realise that

[Waifu]

The story and overall gameplay og Shadow the Hedgehog kind of reads like some "dark" comic form the nineties, I thought about it and maybe Zero isn't as dark but still robots having blood, concetration camps and energy crisis?

[Hypershell]

It's Zero on the Gameboy Advance.  No further explanation is needed.

Seriously, Z1 is actually very un-MegaMan in many ways; the lack of weapon theft and weaknesses involving only palette-swapping your charge attack being chief among them.  The gameplay was actually rather shallow (unless you enjoyed Elf collection and weapon-grinding), and the graphics somewhat bland.  But...it's Zero.  And yeah, for a MegaMan game, the story was unusually strong (even if obviously censored).  And Nintendo dominating the handheld market means that there's no segregation of the audience; anyone into handheld gaming probably had a GBA.

I personally believe that Capcom does a lousy job in matching console audiences to their franchises' appropriate demographs.  In 2006 we had Biohazard/Resident Evil on the DS and bug-eyed super-deformed Rock on the PSP; explain to me how that makes ANY sense.

[Chainsaw Guitar]

I wonder why the Zero series was so successful compared to other series?

It wasn't; none of the Zero games have sold nearly as much as MM2, MM3, MMX or even MMBN4.

[Saber]

Not only that but the apathy of the human race is really high lighted in the series too.  They're using the reploids as a scapegoat for the energy crises and blaiming them collectivly for the wars.  

The issue regarding that is that there are no humans to be found in those games, if you exclude named characters such as Ciel, Neige, the Caravan members and perhaps Vile (and perhaps the two or three humans that took care of Fafnir and Leviathan in that Telos drama track). As in the X series and even the classic series, the opinions of human residents remained unaccounted for. As Neige put it well in her report, (or was it the journalist from Vile's Incident, I don't recall anymore), humans simply stood by and watched as robots fought out their wars.

I mean, the only time in that time period (DASH is way into the future, so I don't count that) that we find human civilians going about their daily business is in ZX and ZXA and these guys are pretty oblivious to what's going on around them.

[Zan]

As in the X series and even the classic series, the opinions of human residents remained unaccounted for.

Both the original X and MHX give some valuable insight into the humans, though. Mentioning the human council in the former, the latter showing a small glimpse of their coexistence and hinting at the human fear and immaturity of a century ago.

As Neige put it well in her report, (or was it the journalist from Vile's Incident, I don't recall anymore), humans simply stood by and watched as robots fought out their wars.

Neige outright mentions the situation in ZERO4's intro. Though Montagne did highlight several of the same issues to lie at the root of Vile's Incident.

[Jericho]

Align wins this one.

[Waifu]

Yet why was it a smooth transition for X and Zero in their own respective series to get to that point.

[UrielManX7]

for me it wont be a complete success until inticreates fills the holes they left with MMZero 4

[Flame]

first of all, dont necro.

Second, WHAT holes?

[Hypershell]

The full and sole plothole of Zero4 is that in the transition to ZX somebody realized that they forgot to give Harpuia, Leviathan, and Fefnir a proper send-off.  So they retconned them to share Zero's weakness to generic boss explosions in Z3.

[UrielManX7]

Just to sumarize:

1.-Real proof of zero's death (painful as it is for me T_T)
2.-How ciel came up with the whole biometal thing (like, if she converted the reploids into bio metals, or just took their DNA or whatever). I know they explain a little in ZX but not the WHOLE thing.
3.-The whereabouts of Harpuia, Leviathan and Fefnir
4.-Real proof of X's death (T_T)
5.-Link from MMX5-X6? to MMZero (assuming that X7 and X8 arent story related, X5 was the last "official")
6.-And also the link between MMZero and MMZX

And sorry for necro, noob mistake