Zero's redesign EXPLAINED!

The mechanical reason is because sprites had to be compact and functional. The lore reason is upgrades.

Its because he hid himself while he rebuilt himself.

From what I understand with the lore and the series itself, it isn't just a design choice, because by ZX it was stated that since "Reploids" had upgraded so much, that the only easy way to tell them apart from a human was the crystal on their foreheads, and by that era humanity was also getting used to getting upgrades too, as some humans had been getting cybernetic upgrades so they could compete with reploids, and by the Legends era the "Carbons" couldn't be told apart from humans and reploids, so thats why it makes sense that it was just the technology getting better.

This is one of those things that would be easy to sort out definitively if there weren't so much conflicting information. Capcom staff, Inti's staff, and Inafune all have conflicting points. The only part of it that has been consistent is that Capcom technically considers every Mega Man series a "possible future" deal, so there's no strict canon that isn't specific to a series.

I have my own explanation, both x and zero's x series body was badly damaged after the elf wars. Because their bodies were a mystery to many scientists, they couldn't be rebuilt. So they gave them new sleeker bodies to keep up with the current technology.

I'd still like an Elf Wars game in this style.

Honestly, Omega’s appearance in the final battle has always seemed rather straightforward to me. We see him altering his own body (Zero’s original body) multiple times with the Dark Elf’s power. He keeps going bigger and bulkier, but Zero manages to keep up with and defeat him every time. So, Omega just says “screw it” and changes his body again to mimic Zero’s current one: sleeker, more agile, yet still retaining some of Zero’s abilities from the X games.

Not to mention the Phoenix Magnion phantoms having the X-series proportions since they were all from the time before the technology upgrade! Thanks for the visual cameo

personaly i preffer the redesign,not only is less comical without them wierd legs and arms but its also something that carried over to EVERYTHING IntiCreates,from BlasterMaster character's design to the ultimate homage to the Zero franchise Gunvolt AND LuminousAvanger IX,its sheer proof of how much Inti cared about megaman as a franchise just as much as Inafune did

I've always followed Reploid Revo's reasoning for the in-universe change. Even accounting for the century of war, energy crisis and rebellion, technological advancements still occurred, reploids being direct beneficiaries of that. Gears and rods replaced with artificial muscles, body proportions slimmed out to appear more humanoid while not losing strength, etc. As for the whole body shenanigans, while Weil himself making the modifications to both of Zero's bodies is possible, I'd just as easily assume enough time passed since the X series that Zero upgraded to that form over time. The only historical specifications we have are which century each series took place in. No exact years.

I find this interesting that after so many years people are still debating about this! Just goes to show how passionate the fans are. Did you all do the Capcom survey?

Funny this vid came out, just as I finished Zero 4 last night.

Force Metal was explicitly stated to be from outer space. I don't think Dr. Light or Wily planned for reploids to find kryptonite and use it as steroids.

Zero looks that way because he just evolved with the times, remember the games are leading into Legends series so naturally robots will look more human like. Shit in ZX series you would only be able to tell if it’s a reploid from looking at the Triangle tattoo on their forehead if not for that tattoo they would appear as a regular human!

Weirdest thing in megaman: Reploids having a cannon in each leg and still running fine, without tripping

Personally, I much prefer the X series version design of Zero.

Upgrade wise, Zero is way faster than his original body, refight omega, your triple slash is nearly double the speed of his. Gameplay wise, this tightens up control

i remember when i saw the cover art of Mega Man zero , i honestly thougt this was a game set before the X series and you was playing as a young zero. surprised is set after x series.

I had theory that omega was Og Zero but with the controll chip reactivated and that omega is the embodiment of the Z virus

It is mostly said by Reploid REVO that, prior to the Elf Wars where Zero originally have the megaman Zero design, his original body has gone missing and in doing so led to him using a spare body similar to his original body during that time period to join X once the Elf Wars arrived. Meaning that somewhere after megaman X 8 and before the beginning of the elf wars is where the technology has evolved