Board Thread:General Mega Man Discussion/@comment-25400375-20140909235847/@comment-32646513-20170831005757

I'd say X had the greatest Legacy. He saved the world 12 times over (with Zero's help), and then went on to rebuild the government, forming Neo Arcadia. After he became a Cyber Elf, he directly guided Zero and the Resistance to peace throughout MMZ1-3. However, after that, he was again brought back in the form of Model X. In that form, he trained Vent/Aile to save the world yet again. Not only that, but the Resistance, via the things they learned from X, evolved into the Guardians, who adopted Vent/Aile and Model X (ZX) so that he could again save the world. With that in mind, the Guardians and the events of MMZX/ZXA are a result of X's direct influence in both his Cyber Elf form, and his Biometal form. From that point to the Legends series, things get kind of fuzzy, but in all likelyness, the Protectors of Elysium most likely derived their name from the users of the Biometals, the Mega Mans (Mega Men?).

Formally what I'd say about this, is that X had the greatest legacy of influence, while Zero had the greatest legacy of his image. Many of the heroes after the MMX era had the image of Zero upon them (MMZ, Model ZX), while they were acting under the influence of X.