User blog comment:Oshbosh/Season 2 Battle 6: Mega Man X vs Quote/@comment-4484220-20130413230057

Ah, what a fantastic and fitting match-up that pits against each other two of the most deadly, yet also most heroic humanoid robots in all of video game history. And by extension, in all fictional media. First, let's analyze the edges in terms of weaponry:


 * Close Range: Since you put both the Spur and the Polar Star in Quote's loadout, I'm going to assume that what you really mean is Quote only has the Spur and not the Polar Star, and that in this edge, it's only evaluating the single bullets shot when it is not being charged. By no means do I think the loadout should be changed, nor do I see any problem with it, but the Polar Star/Spur and X-Buster can hardly be described as short ranged weapons. For short ranged weapons, both can reach pretty far. Polar Star bullets are able to travel a whole eight blocks before disappearing. While that is nowhere near anything to sneeze at, the X-Buster gets an advantage due to having a little bit more range than the single bullets from the Polar Star/Spur, as X-Buster bullets do not disappear until they go off the screen. The Spur bullets make up for this, however, by having no limit to the number of bullets allowed on screen at once, allowing Quote to shoot Mega Man X from the maximum distance as rapidly as he can mash that trigger with results on par with if he were doing it closely, as opposed to Mega Man X with his X-Buster who would have to be up close to Quote in order to take full advantage of his X-Buster's rapid fire capability, since it allows no more than three bullets to be on screen at a time. After playing both Cave Story and Mega Man X and analyzing the amount of hits each enemy takes to take down by each of these weapons, I'm going to call it a draw between these two weapons in terms of the amount of damage dealt by one single bullet. I can't say this definitively (I just eye-balled it), but in gameplay, it does appear that the Polar Star/Spur bullets travel a tiny bit faster than X-Buster bullets. If not, then they travel at the same speed. I would give this edge to Quote by a hair if it weren't for one last factor to consider here: the X-Buster's ability to charge for a more powerful shot if the trigger is held down. It should be noted, however, that this charging sequence cannot be initiated on the fly. MMX has to first fire a bullet, wait a moment, and then begin charging. Once it starts charging though, it goes pretty quickly. After only one second of charging, it can fire a medium shot, and after another three can fire an even more powerful shot. While even the fully charged X-Buster probably won't completely do away with Quote, it certainly will do some damage. While the Spur does have charging capabilities of its own that are superior in every way to the X-Buster's, that's to be compared with another weapon, as per your loadout. My edge: MEGA MAN X


 * Mid Range: The Shotgun Ice has longer range, and I think it's a reasonable assumption to say that one bullet from it does more damage than one bullet from the Snake. The pieces of ice that the shot splits into travel in the opposite direction that the shot was fired, so if Mega Man X misses and it hits a wall behind Quote, then the shards of ice coming out behind him may give him a sting he won't be expecting. That's just about as far as the Shotgun Ice's advantages go. The Shotgun Ice only has limited ammo, unlike the Snake which is unlimited. Though it is debatable whether or not this will be a factor in this fight, as there is a fairly decent supply, but it isn't altogether impossible that Mega Man X could run out of ammo during the battle. Snake bullets not only travel faster than Shotgun Ice bullets, but also move in a wavy motion that allows them to cover a more wide area, increasing the likelihood that Quote will hit something. The Shotgun Ice has a minimum one-second window in between each shot, and no more than one bullet can be on screen at once, a massive contrast from the Snake which can fire very rapidly with the minor constraint of no more than four bullets on screen at once which, if at all, only is a minor hindrance if Quote is firing from a considerable distance. Overall, the Snake's amount of damage per second puts that of the Shotgun Ice to shame. If that wasn't enough, the Snake's bullets can travel through solid objects and continue onwards until they either strike an enemy or reach their range limit, something that will benefit Quote greatly if he wants to hit X when the latter thinks he's safely behind cover. Quote takes this edge easily. My edge: QUOTE


 * Long Range: I think it's safe to say that the Spur does more damage than the Ray Arrow. The Spur, even if not fully charged, generates a much longer beam of light, making it harder to dodge, and simply carries more energy due to its vastly longer length, which is why I think it's a reasonable assumption that the Spur is more powerful. The Ray arrow is simply a fat bullet that doesn't come even close to the length of Spur bullets. The Ray Arrow's bouncing ability is not to be confused with the Gemini Laser wielded by regular Mega Man which continually bounces at 45 degree angles until it either hits a target, or runs out of juice. All the Ray Arrow does in terms of bouncing is change its direction to upwards if it hits a wall, and continue onwards. This can be useful if a wall is behind Quote who jumps up to avoid one of these, and it surprised that it continues traveling towards him, but other than that, the Ray Arrow doesn't have much of an advantage with bouncing. The spur has great flexibility with the three different powers of shots it can shoot depending on how long it was charged, and has cool down period slightly short of a second after a charged shot before it can start charging again or be used for its standard “Polar Star” bullets. I'm going to base the Spur's charging speed off of how fast it charges in Cave Story+ as opposed to that of the original Cave Story, because Pixel himself said in an interview that the game was meant to be played at 60 fps and not 50. It takes about half a second for the Spur to charge to its minimal power, another half second to reach its second charging level, and then two seconds after that to reach its max level. Three seconds in total to reach its fully charged level. That's pretty quick if you ask me. I only think that one fully charged Spur shot can kill Mega Man X if it's very well-placed. In most cases, it will simply put a huge dent in his remaining stamina. I am going to say that Quote could withstand one of Mega Man X's ray arrow bullets on the grounds that those large balls of energy emitted from the Core in Cave Story are larger than Mega Man X's Ray Arrow bullets, yet the former only brought Quote's health down by 1/5. My edge: QUOTE


 * Special: By the way you describe this weapon, I'm going to assume you mean X is wielding the explosion he gets when he defeats Vanishing Gungaroo, rather than Vanishing Gungaroo himself. The explosion is quite powerful, and will get quite a hit on Quote, but it lacks range. Mega Man X is going to need to be up pretty close to Quote in order to make effective use of this. The Nemesis, on the other hand, gets pretty decent range, is very powerful, and can fire quite rapidly. Mega Man X does have pretty good armor that I'm sure will enable him to take a few hits from this thing, but even then, the Nemesis will give his armor a pretty thorough bruising when Quote's out of the explosion's reach. My edge: EVEN


 * Defensive: I find your description of the guard shell to be slightly inaccurate. The Guard Shell doesn't surround Mega Man X in a shield in all directions like those bubble shields you see in Halo, but rather generates a disk-shaped barrier in front of X. It will not offer protection from behind, nor from above, nor from below; only in front of him. That aside, the guard shell does a decent job of deflecting projectiles that come its way and sustaining its energy... but not from the kind of hard-hitting rapid firepower Quote's packing. If MMX were to use his Guard Shell for a brief moment to deflect a few shots before switching back to the offense, he'd be fine. But it would not hold up for a prolonged period. If Quote dedicated just a few seconds to mash the trigger of pretty much any of his guns here, he'd probably be able to break Mega Man X's Guard Shield. This still doesn't diminish its potential sporadic usefulness though, as the only thing I for see being able to take it down in one shot is the fully charged Spur. The Bubbler offers more thorough protection in terms of volume. The Bubbler surrounds Quote in all directions with bubbles that don't pop until they get hit by enemy fire, and take the bullet with it. Varying amounts of firepower are able to break this barrier to varying degrees. Some large and powerful shots are able to break through it completely. Generally, it works well in fending off smaller bullets. For example, Mega Man X doesn't have a chance at trying to break through Quote's bubble shield with his X-Buster unless he charges it, nor with his Shotgun Ice. The Bubbler would probably keep producing more bubbles faster than either weapons can pop them (the X-Buster being potentially debatable if X is up close to Quote and fires rapidly, but that would be dangerous for him, because he'll get hurt if he comes into contact with these bubbles). Although a Ray Arrow shot, fully-charged X-Buster shot, or an explosion could probably get through it, and have enough lethality leftover to do some damage to Quote. In addition, when Quote desires, he can tell all of the bubbles surrounding him to travel as a single unit towards Mega Man X, which will be quite a lethal shot. It isn't as powerful as, say, a fully-charged Spur shot, but it'll still be a hit to remember if Quote gets him with it. Timing it in Cave Story+, Quote was able to hold up his bubble shield for about eleven-and-a-half seconds. It should also be noted that when the Bubbler runs out of ammo, it automatically replenishes itself over a about four seconds of idleness. It should also be noted that Quote could easily buy himself the necessary recharging time by making what bubbles exist charge at Mega Man X. Even if it doesn't recharge completely, it can still be re-initiated, it just won't last its full eleven-and-a-half seconds. My edge: QUOTE


 * Weapon Type: I know this isn't actually listed in your blog post, but I think this is such a unique setup we're presented with in this match-up that I think this should be taken into account. All of Mega Man X's necessary functions are built into his body; hence, none of his weapons can be disarmed unless you cut one of his limbs off or something, unlike Quote's arsenal which consists of hand-held guns. Though this also means that Mega Man X can only be in one mode at a time, giving him less flexibility than Quote who can (in Cave Story, quite literally) instantly switch between weapons due to being able to draw a new weapon just after firing another, instead needing put his body through a transformation. Mind you, these transitions are faster than those of regular Mega Man, but if one weapon has been fired, Mega Man X must wait a moment before he is able to switch his body to another weapon. If one were to try and stretch it, Quote could theoretically dual-wield weapons with his setup and do twice the damage at once, something Mega Man X could only dream of. Now it's debatable whether or not Quote could dual-wield weapons. This is not canonically possible to do in Cave Story, but perhaps that was just what Pixel enabled players to do. We see official promotional art, however, that depicts Quote dual-wielding, so it's not entirely impossible. Even supposing he couldn't, this is just an example of the flexibility Quote gets with his types of weapons. My edge: QUOTE

DEADLIEST WARRIOR: QUOTE

Who is stronger? In terms of physical arm strength, I haven't really seen any real sources that show how strong Quote is. I suppose would have needed to be pretty strong in order to pull Malco out of the ground the way he did when Balrog had smashed him in, and I'm sure Mega Man X has strength beyond that of a man at his physical peak, but I can't say for sure which of these two robots is stronger physically. In terms of strength of weaponry though, Quote takes almost all the edges, and has a more efficient way of switching between them that will allow him to adapt to the situation better and more quickly than Mega Man X. Who is more experienced? Mega Man X has been on many adventures wherein he's taken down hordes of enemies, and eliminated dozens of other advanced robots. Quote's amount of experience is quite unknown. Pretty much nothing is known about Quote and what missions he may or may not have gone on before he and Curly were sent up to the floating island to destroy the Demon Crown. It seems like to have the emotions necessary to care about Sue and Curly whose lives he saved out of compassion for them, he would have had to have gotten some experience of interacting with his world around him before being able to handle these situations the way he did. But then again, in many fictional works, robots fulfill their missions fresh off the assembly line. Although Quote and Curly Brace didn't come off an assembly line. They were very unique robots designed to counteract the attempts of all the emotionless killer robots that shy in comparison to Quote and Curly in every way. I really can't say how experienced Quote is, so I'm going to mark this edge as unknown. Who is more agile? When comparing their physical abilities and performances of weapons, a good balance must be maintained between being realistic if these two characters met in a realistic three-dimensional world, and taking into account how the characters and their weapons behave within their respective two-dimensional game-engines. I think it would be safe to use the comparison of these game-engines for things like the edges, as done above, and things like the fact that Quote can jump higher than Mega Man X, due to the game engines showing that, but other things like trying to say Mega Man X would be limited in his aiming due to only being able to shoot left and right within his 2D engine as opposed to Quote who can shoot in four directions would be plain silly, considering this will be taking place in a three-dimensional world. In terms of regular running, Quote appears to be capable of running faster than Mega Man X unless the latter slides. Mega Man X gets quite an advantage over his standard counterpart with the speed and agility that he's empowered with when he slides and wall-jumps. However, there is another factor to consider when saying who's more agile: Quote has the Booster 2.0 in this fight. This boosts Quote very quickly and straight as a line in any direction he pleases for a satisfactory amount of time, and automatically refuels 100% the moment Quote so much as brushes the tip of his shoe against the ground. The agility offered to Quote through the Booster 2.0 surpasses that of what Mega Man X can do with his sliding and wall jumping. Over all, I think this battle will be close. But Quote wins this due to having slightly better weapons, as well as his Booster 2.0 which makes it rather easy to keep the higher ground and avoid anything Mega Man X may be shooting at him. By the way, this is a match-up that, as a Cave Story fan, absolutely HAS to happen, which is part of why I went to all the effort to write this long vote, so I have high expectations for the simulation. I hope you can deliver.