For the Mega Man X: Command Mission enemy, see Preon Bitmaster. For the DOS boss, see Bit Man. |
- "It... It is not possible for you to contain so much power... The next time we meet the result shall be different!"
- ―Bit, when defeated without his weakness, Mega Man X3
Bit, known as Vajurila FF (ヴァジュリーラFF Vajurīra FF) in Japan, is one of the members of the Nightmare Police, along with his partner Byte. He is sent to hunt X during the events of Mega Man X3.
Characteristics[]
Appearance[]
Bit is a yellow Reploid of slightly above-average height, being the smaller of the Nightmare Police. He possesses blue plates along his feet and hands, and his breastplate and head are adorned with orange swirls resembling magatamas. His face is concealed by his helmet save for his eyes, and he has four blue orbs on either side of his head resembling the ancient mizura hairstyle. In battle, he wields a beam saber with a red or purple blade. In promotional artwork he is shown wielding a blue shield resembling a dōtaku bell, though he does not use it in his boss battles.
Personality[]
Bit appears to have an arrogant personality. He enjoys combat and serves Dr. Doppler with unquestioning loyalty.[1] When he confronts X, he treats him affably and clarifies that he is following orders by hunting him. In the Japanese version, he also proudly announces that he has killed many Reploids for Doppler's sake. However, upon his defeat he is shocked by X's power and assures him that their next encounter will be different. In the Rockman X3 manga, he is notably more deranged and sadistic.
History[]
Background[]
Bit and his partner, Byte, were both created by Dr. Doppler to protect Dopple Town as part of the Nightmare Police. His technical specifications were based on the most advanced Reploids of the time, built to fight with a balance of offense, defense, and speed rather than prioritizing power.[2][3] The two served dutifully, until they joined the riots led by their creator along with the rest of the supposedly Sigma Virus-vaccinated Reploids.
Mega Man X3[]
Bit served as the right-hand-man of Dr. Doppler, issuing orders to the Mavericks of Dopple Town and directing their movement.[4][2] After X and Zero defeat the second of the eight Maverick bosses in Dopple Town, Dr. Doppler orders the Nightmare Police to capture X for him, alive if possible.
Bit randomly appears as a sub-boss in the third, fourth, or fifth Maverick stages X visits until he is defeated. If he is not defeated by using his weaknesses, he merely retreats, and X will have to face him and Byte again in the first Doppler stage in their combined form, Godkarmachine O Inary. If Bit is defeated with Frost Shield or Triad Thunder, he will be destroyed and won't reappear later. If only Bit or Byte survive, they will still be able to change into Godkarmachine O Inary without the other's presence. Regardless, Bit's fate is to be destroyed.
Strategy[]
Bit, being the faster of the two members of the Nightmare Police, uses more agile attacks. He owns a large shield, but as it is heavy, he often chooses to give it up in order to make full use of his speed.[5] His simple pattern involves jumping and dashing with his beam saber, occasionally stopping to throw a paralyzing ring or a homing projectile - however, it is more difficult to maneuver than it may seem. Bit is weak to Frost Shield and Triad Thunder, which can outright destroy him if used as the finishing blow.
Charge (突進 Tosshin)[4] | |
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Bit leaps vertically, stopping midair at the player's height to dash with his beam saber. The saber protects him from frontal attacks above his waist. | |
Damage: 3 | |
Ring (リング Ringu)[4] | |
Bit throws a ring of light that slowly flies forwards, then drops to the floor and moves back and forth until it fades or hits the player. On hit, it freezes them until they are damaged by Bit or mash buttons to escape. When Bit is below half health, he may throw two rings at once. | |
Damage: 0 | |
Homing Shot (誘導弾 Yūdō-dan)[4] | |
Bit throws a sphere of light that follows the player, leaving off-screen after a while or after dealing two hits. When Bit is below half health, he may throw two spheres. | |
Damage: 4 |
Quotes[]
- "Affirmative, Dr. Doppler!"
- "Welcome, X. I'm Bit. I have my orders. You are to be destroyed."
- "It... It is not possible for you to contain so much power... The next time we meet the result shall be different!"
- "This Reploid's special abilities are too... N... No it can't be... Gahhhhhh!!" (Death; defeated using his weakness.)
- "We've been waiting for you X!" (Doppler's Lab with Byte.)
- "Take a look at these new upgrades!" (Said together with Byte, before Godkarmachine O Inary transformation.)
- "X, you fought well to defeat Byte. But I will not go down so easily! The victory over Byte was your last!" (Doppler's Lab alone.)
Other games[]
- Bit has a cameo appearance in the opening of Mega Man X5, where he is shown fighting Zero in a flashback.
- Bit appears in Mega Man Zero 2 as a ghost in Phoenix Magnion's Illusion attack, where a blue image of him attacks Zero alongside Vile, Agile, and Colonel.
- Bit is an opponent in Rockman X3 Buster Battle.
- Bit appeared in a Battle Memory from Rockman Xover.
- Bit appeared as a unit card and in the illustration from the card Tag Team in TEPPEN.
- Bit appeared as an event character in Tower of Saviors.
- Bit would have appeared as a boss in the canceled Rockman Online.
Mega Man X DiVE[]
Bit appears as a boss multiple times in Mega Man X DiVE. He is the final boss of Story stage 9-6 in Cyberspace, using a slightly different attack pattern than in Mega Man X3, with his attacks renamed Dash Blade, Bind Ring, and Decoy Flare (a mistranslation of Homing Shot). Bit then reappears as the final boss of Story stage 13-6 in Snow Base, this time as Bit (Shield) wielding his shield for extra defense and a new Shield Charge attack.
Bit is also a playable Hunter Program, who was added to the game for Christmas 2020 as a reference to the Rockman X3 manga. His Active Skills are Forward Slash and Bind Ring. This marks the first time Bit has ever been playable in a video game.
Christmas Bit, known as Saint Vajurila MC (セントヴァジュリーラMC Sento Vajurīra MC) in Asia, is a Christmas-themed version of Bit that appeared as a limited event skin and as a boss in the 2020 Christmas event. His boss pattern is similar to his shield-wielding version, and has Christmas-themed enemies appearing to assist.
Other media[]
Rockman X3 (manga)[]
Bit and Byte are the Nightmare Police created by Dr. Doppler. In the manga, both of their bodies are made of thousands of small mechanical Worms made of chips that can turn Reploids into Mavericks. Bit is first seen at the beginning of the riots in Dopple Town. He appears to Blast Hornet, offering him great power before disabling him with his saber and taking him away.
Bit and Byte attack the Maverick Hunters' base and fight against Zero, Blast Hornet, Blizzard Buffalo, Tunnel Rhino and Neon Tiger, having the advantage in the battle despite being outnumbered. After X's recovery, he goes to the battle and destroys Bit's shield and arm with one charged shot. They decide to retreat after this.
After the defeat of the eight Maverick bosses, they make an announcement on Christmas Eve to challenge X and Zero. Bit and Byte manage to defeat them with ease, capturing and locking them into a powerful drilling machine that would kill them, showing it on a screen in Doppler Town. Dr. Cain and Marty went to the rescue, with Marty's pirates distracting Byte and several Mavericks while she goes to their location to give X the four power up chips found by the reformed Mavericks. Bit sees Marty approaching and confronts her, beating her nearly to death while mocking her attempt to save them and forcing her watch them die. As the drill above X's head begins to make contact, she escapes Bit's grasp and throws the chips to X in a last attempt to save him, and a large explosion occurs, Bit laughing and screaming "Merry Christmas" at X's supposed death. However, the explosion was caused by X, who gained his new armor thanks to the chips and destroyed the drills. X fires at Bit, causing heavy damage to him and destroying several Mavericks that were at distance with Byte.
Seeing this, Byte returns to help Bit, and Doppler appears on a dragon made of worms. Byte asks Doppler to help Bit, but he makes his dragon attack with a powerful blast in the area X and the others were at, the attack hitting Bit, Byte and Zero, who didn't have time to avoid it. Damaged, Byte (holding Bit, who appears to be either unconscious or dead) asks Doppler to give them a chance to defeat X, and he drops several worms to combine them into Godkarmachine O Inary. Despite the power increase, none of their attacks work on X, and X takes down both Godkarmachine O Inary and Dr. Doppler's dragon with one shot. As a last attempt to defeat X, their remains merged into a giant two headed worm-like monster, but it collapsed before it could attack because of the damage they had received.
Archie Comics[]
In the crossover Worlds Unite, Bit is one of the many Mavericks revived by Sigma, being seen alongside Byte in Sonic the Hedgehog #274.
Merchandise[]
Bit was one of three Mavericks, alongside Vile MK-II and Return X, to be made into a model kit in Bandai's Mega Armor series. The three were originally released as an interchangeable armor conversion kit and later released as an independent model. The model kit features his shield, which can be attached to his back.
Bit was also released as a miniature in various toylines:Rockman Factory (packed with his shield and Blast Hornet in part 1 and Vile Mk-II/Goliath in part 3), Super Max Rockman, Mega Buster Pencil (Packed with Max Armor Mega Man X) and Battle Brusher. All of them were released only in Japan.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
- The English names of the Nightmare Police members come from Bit and Byte, two units of digital information in computing and telecommunications.
- Bit's Japanese name, Vajurila FF, is derived from Vajra, a Sanskrit word meaning both thunderbolt and diamond. "Vajra" is also the name of a short metal weapon that is symbolically used in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism.
Trivia[]
- The scene of Bit wishing Merry Christmas in the Rockman X3 manga is often used as a joke in Japan. Every year from 2005 to 2017, except for 2015, the author of the manga, Iwamoto Yoshihiro, posted a parody of the scene on his site during Christmas, where Bit has exaggerated expressions. It has also become one of the recurrent memes among Mega Man fans.
- In 2020, Mega Man X DiVE featured a Christmas version of Bit as a skin for Bit (for top 30 players at the Christmas event) and as the Christmas event boss in a reference to the meme.
- Bit's appearance is based on ancient Jomon and Nara period tribal Japanese outfits, and to those representing the ancient Shinto gods; some parts of his body resemble Magatamas, and the details in his head resemble the mizura hairstyle.
- How he is weak against the Frost Shield and the Triad Thunder may draw reference to the battle of the Shinto gods Takemikazuchi and Takeminakata, which is believed to be one of the origins of Japanese martial arts and wrestling; according to the tale, Takeminakata grabbed at Takemikazuchi's arm, but the latter was able to transform it into an icicle, and then into a blade, making it hard to subdue him. Takemikazuchi is also known to be a god of lightning and swords.
- Period Japanese decor aside, Bit's armor also bears a striking resemblance to the MS-14A Gelgoog.
- In his artwork, Bit uses a shield, but he doesn't use one in the battle against him in Mega Man X3, instead using a beam saber which wasn't seen in any form of artwork from the game. This is explained by flavor text in Mega Man X DiVE, which clarifies that he usually leaves the shield behind due to its heavy weight.
- Bit is seen using the shield when he appears in Phoenix Magnion's attack in Mega Man Zero 2 and in his cameo in Mega Man X5's flashback, although neither him using the shield nor him fighting Zero are possible in Mega Man X3.
- In Mega Man X DiVE, Bit is fought twice in Story Mode, in the second fight he uses his shield to actually block attacks while tossing Rings and Homing Projectiles as well as using a new Shield Charge attack. Notably, he appears with the shield in a collapsed form strapped to his back, before grabbing and unfolding it.
- Despite Dr. Doppler specifically indicating that he'd prefer for them to capture X alive, Bit as well as Byte when first encountering X immediately opt to outright kill him. This may owe to Bit's somewhat sadistic personality.
- In both the video game and manga, Bit has the ability to levitate through unknown means.
- Bit currently holds the record for the most years in Mega Man games between his debut and first playable appearance, with 25 years apart between both games.
References[]
- ↑ The Mega Man Network web archive: Rockman X3 Collected Sourcebook Information
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "One of the elite two-member Nightmare Police, Bit's technical specifications were based on some of the best aspects of high-tech Reploids around the globe. He acted as the right hand of Dr. Doppler, issuing the Mavericks of different regions their marching orders." - Bit, Mega Man X: Maverick Hunter's Field Guide, 2021. p. 16
- ↑ "But whereas Bit's focus was on a balance of offense, defense, and speed..." - Byte, Mega Man X: Maverick Hunter's Field Guide, 2021. p. 26
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Boss File: Vajurila FF, Compendium of Rockman X. p. 53.
- ↑ "In order to make full use of his incredible speed, he has chosen to give up his heavy shield." - Bit's boss description, Mega Man X DiVE, 2020.
Mega Man X3 | |
---|---|
Doppler Army | |
Toxic Seahorse • Tunnel Rhino • Volt Catfish • Crush Crawfish • Neon Tiger • Gravity Beetle • Blast Hornet • Blizzard Buffalo | |
Other Bosses | |
Maoh the Giant • Vile MK-II • Bit • Byte • Godkarmachine O Inary • Press Disposer • Volt Kurageil • Dr. Doppler • Sigma | |
X's Special Weapons | |
Acid Burst • Tornado Fang • Triad Thunder • Spinning Blade • Ray Splasher • Gravity Well • Parasitic Bomb • Frost Shield - Other - Beam Saber | |
Stages | |
Hunter Base • Giant Dam Stage • Quarry Stage • Power Control Center Stage • Shipyard Stage • Safari Park Stage • Airborne Aircraft Carrier Stage • Weapons Factory Stage • Frozen Town Stage • Vile Stage • Dr. Doppler's Laboratory | |
Miscellaneous | |
Armor Parts • Walkthrough • List of Mega Man X3 enemies • Damage Data Chart • Game Script |
Mega Man X series | ||||||||||||||||||||
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