2D SideScroller Analysis (Part One)

For my sidescroller analysis, I chose Mega Man Zero!

Mega Man Zero came out in 2002, but I didn't end up playing it until I was older. Mega Man Zero is the ~third~ official spinoff of the original Mega Man series, but this particular spinoff plays in a different way than it's predecessors (Mega Man X and the original Mega Man games). This series was more challenging and had a complex storyline with intractable characters and more linear missions.

In the original Mega Man games, you're presented with a level selection screen, and that's it. It's up to the player which level they chose first.

(The Mega Man 2 Level Select Screen)

There was no notable "tutorial" level until Mega Man X, where you were dropped in a starting level when you started the game for the first time. After you beat the first level, you were presented with the level select screen like above. Mega Man Zero continues this tradition with it's own introductory level, or "tutorial" level.

(Apologies ahead of time for the Japanese screenshots, long story short it's the only version I could find! There is an english version out there. I figured the language in the screenshots wouldn't hinder the understanding of the mechanics and explanations and blah, blah... blah...)

The first mechanic used to teach the player how to play is story elements. The game begins with a cutscene, which briefly explains the backstory of the hero character, Zero. Ciel, the pink girl character, sets off to find him in order to revive him so he can supposedly save her dying rebel organization. However, she was chased by the dictator's minions, and all her crewmates were slaughtered, leaving Zero her only hope for salvation.

The reason why the story alone is a teaching mechanic is because it clearly identifies the blue robots as enemies that you, the player (Zero), need to destroy. It also gives you a clear directive as far as what your goal is: you need to help Ciel escape.

The first instinct of most gamers (when given no actual direction) in a situation like this (enemies in front of you) is to slam buttons. After standing a while, I noticed that the first three enemies don't shoot or attempt to attack you. They run back and forth in a specific pattern, which gives the player time to figure out /which button shoots./ After a while of slamming buttons, B is what shoots off the stereotypical Mega Man "lemon" bullet. Now the player knows how to shoot.

Throughout the rest of the level, it's mostly just shooting.

The next enemy you encounter is a hoard of these spiders that pop out of a nest. If you shoot the spiders, more spawn out of the nest. This teaches you that if you don't wanna get destroyed by some freaky little robot arachnids, you need to kill their nest. (Not pictured, sorry. But you can see them forming in the corner.)

After you kill (most) enemies, they drop little green and sometimes red boxes. If you run straight into these (since there's nowhere to go but right), you regain health (or gain whatever the green boxes do, which isn't actually explained in the first level unfortunately. BAD DESIGN!)

Either way, most instincts tell you that collecting things is good, because the noise that sounds when you pick something up is a pleasant one. Positive reinforcement.

After a while, you start to see the same enemies (larger spiders, too), but they're more advanced, or have different mechanics. So the player recognizes that these are enemies that can hurt you, but with slight variations. The blue robots now only have a melee attack (hence the visual arm cane-thing), and the spiders can now climb down from walls and shoot webs at you that trap you (on the left). This is the game's way of preparing you for the ridiculous learning curve that the game throws at you after you advance beyond the training level. (Which is somewhat irrelevant, but... It's true. This game gets difficult fast.)

Towards the end of the actual level, another mechanic is introduced that the player needs to find out on their own. The orange, floating object in the first image is actually a bomb. And it moves up and down very quickly. Since you have a gun, you can shoot it (hence the right image) and it'll explode. If you're anywhere near it, it'll hurt you. HOWEVER! You can shoot it while it's around enemies (like in the left screenshot) and it'll BLOW THEM TO PIECES. Which is always fun.

Another mechanic taught to you is the dash. Most early Mega Man players don't realize this is a function until they mess around with the GBA's controls, because this ability was only recently implemented at the beginning of the game. The player is presented with a pit full of spiders, and it's impossible to shoot and/or aim at them. So the only smart thing to do would be to jump over it, but in order to get distance, you need to dash over the hole, as pictured. This becomes incredibly important later, hence platforming and relative distance.

Once you're safely on the other side, you can shoot the bugs.

Finally, at the very end of the level, Ciel (the girl) is kidnapped by a big robot. When the cutscene ends, a loud blaring noise and a "WARNING!" appears on screen. This indicates a boss battle along with a change of music, and a health bar on the opposite side of your own.

Not only are you taught boss mechanics, but new weapon mechanics as well. Once you have the boss at half health, this weird glowy sprite thing (seen on the left) tosses you a sword. With no justification whatsoever. And says "USE IT." So the game is basically trying to tell you that your sword might do a better job of killing the boss than your gun would. Now, once you get it, as seen on the right, you get a sword icon under the "shot" icon, which implies that you can now switch to a different weapon. Sounds easy enough.

Once that's all over and done, you get to a final screen that shows your ranking, which the entire game's difficulty level is based on. This becomes clearer as you go on, but introducing this ranking system early helps the player get a feel for how well they're progressing, and even lowers the difficulty for players who did worse in the tutorial level. (In this one, I got 91 points (91p) out of a possible 100, so I got an A ranking. The A ranking would make the game much more difficult for me.)

And that's pretty much a summary of the basic mechanics introduced in the tutorial level!