- "Zero?! Haha! The pose might be that way, but I am not Zero! My personality is totally different to him, isn't it?"
- —ViA, Mega Man X DiVE
ViA (ヴィア Via) is a supporting character and the final boss of Mega Man X DiVE. He is a mysterious entity who was once the administrator of the Deep Log, but has instead become the very source of the Deep Log's many glitches. Due to these glitches, his digital body has come to resemble Zero.
Characteristics[]
Appearance[]
Due to glitches in the Deep Log, ViA at first borrows an almost identical design from Zero in the first Mega Man X. His armor is blue and white, unlike Zero's but not unlike RiCO's, and has different decals such as gems on his shoulders. His face is shrouded in dark blue, showing no features save for yellow, feline eyes. The crystal on his helmet is red and his hair is white. He also has his own blue Zero Buster and Z-Saber.
Once he reveals his true form, ViA■ gains armor similar to Zero's complete design in Mega Man X2, featuring rectangular shoulderpads and golden highlights around his legs and arms. His codpiece becomes a belt, pink lines run along his body, and a red gem appears in his chest. Most notably, his helmet disappears to reveal his true face and his ponytail becomes undone. He also gains two pink wings of energy.
Personality[]
At first, ViA has a cool demeanor as he quickly dispatches Mega Scorpio to save the Player. Once the danger is gone, however, he reveals a friendly and jovial temperament, poking fun at the Player for depending on RiCO too much and seeming amused at being mistaken for Zero. He is also scolded by iCO for not giving the Player enough info on their missions, as well as not informing them of her existence from the beginning. He is excited by the game's crossover events, even dressing up as Hunter V during the Monster Hunter collaboration. He seems to have a liking towards idols, as shown during multiple events.
Despite his light-hearted moments, ViA is truly resigned to his destiny as the story's antagonist, and fights the Player to the bitter end in order to fulfill his role in the game. He wishes he didn't have to be the antagonist, and only accepts it because he knows it's inevitable. He also hates getting sentimental, as he gets frustrated for becoming "wishy-washy" before his disappearance.
History[]
ViA was previously the administrator of the Deep Log, before RiCO.
ViA first meets the Player and RiCO in Gallery, once they are at the mercy of Mega Scorpio. He rushes in and defeats the glitched Maverick data, before introducing himself and offering to assist the Player from then on. He and RiCO work together to guide the Player as they restore the following stages.
Eventually, it is revealed that the source of the glitched Maverick data in the Deep Log is the "Robot Destroy Program", part of the Maverick Virus created by Dr. Wily. Erato informs the Player and RiCO that the host of the "Robot Destroy Program" is none other than ViA himself.
In the final Deep Log stage, ViA and iCO hide from the Player and RiCO. However, once the Player faces another Mega Scorpio, ViA is forced to save them once again, commenting on how nostalgic it is. RiCO promises to find a way to destroy the "Robot Destroy Program" without harming ViA, and although iCO agrees to help, she and ViA both know it is impossible.
Next, ViA challenges the Player to fight him to try rooting the "Robot Destroy Program" from his digital body. The Player defeats ViA but doesn't destroy him, and RiCO is eager to see if they succeeded. They fight Godkarmachine O Inary and the Sigma Virus, but neither was the true source of the glitches. RiCO doesn't want to believe ViA and iCO must be destroyed just like the Maverick data, until Sigma helps her accept this reality. ViA then reveals his true form, ViA■, and challenges the Player to finish the mission.
ViA tries to lighten up the Player before their battle, but iCO gets him to just go wait for them. Once they arrive, he thanks them for all the fun before battling them as ViA■ for the story's finale. Defeated, ViA and iCO explode and disappear. However, RiCO holds hope in ViA's phrase that "the story is not over", and grows excited as she realizes more errors will always persist in the Deep Log and they'll reunite soon enough.
Abilities[]
As a Hunter Program[]
ViA has four playable S rank Hunter Programs:
- Hunter V (Sinister) - ViA's first Hunter Program, added on June 2021. Limited to the Monster Hunter Rise collaborations.
- ViA - ViA's default form, a DiVE Festival exclusive that was added on March 2022. His Active Skills are ViA Style Sword Technique - Blue and ViA Style Sword Technique - Swift. The former is an area attack similar to Rekkoha, while the latter is a charging slash.
- Halloween ViA - A limited version of ViA dressed like a wizard that was added on November 2022. In the story of the Halloween event The Demon of the Flames he is a new recruit of the 17th Elite Unit of the Maverick Hunters working for Halloween Zero. His Active Skills are Pumpkin Landmine and Phantiom Pursuit.
- ViA■ - ViA's final boss form, a DiVE Festival exclusive added on February 2023. His Active Skills are Swift Shadow Slash and Ray of Extinction.
As a boss[]
In his default form, ViA appeared as a boss in three events. In the first, ViA's Deep Log Training, ViA primarily uses the same abilities Zero used as a boss in Mega Man X2, as well as Awakened Zero and Zero Nightmare skills, such as Shin Messenkou, Shingetsurin, Buster Attack and Genmu Zero. Later battles are similar, except that ViA uses additional attacks, gaining Absolute Zero's Crimson End in the event Pulsing Force of Destruction, and Omega's Arc Blade and Ranbu in the event Summon the Dark Blue Hunter!.
ViA later appeared as a boss in the main story, being fought in stage 20-2 in his default form with the same moves from ViA's Deep Log Training, and in the final stage as ViA■. In this final battle as ViA■, he also uses abilities of DiVE Armor Zero, these being Ryugoshoku and Zanrinjin.
ViA■ can also be fought on the Boss Challenge mode, and he appeared as the boss from the event NEXT! Collect All-New Armor.
Gallery[]
.png "Mega Man X DiVE ViA (Shadow).png (48 KB)")
.png "Mega Man X DiVE icon ViA (NPC).png (147 KB)"){kind=icon}
.png "Mega Man X DiVE Hunter Program Hunter V (Sinister).png (3.74 MB)")
Etymology[]
Via is Latin for “path”, or “way”.
Trivia[]
- During his introduction in the game, ViA saves the Player from Mega Scorpio, mirrorring Zero's own introduction scene in Mega Man X where he saves X from Vile.
- Later on in the game, ViA once again comes to the Player's rescue in the fight against Vile in his Goliath Ride Armor, and is heavily damaged. This mirrors another scene in Mega Man X, in which Zero suffers heavy damage in order to destroy Vile's Ride Armor.
- Through the datamining of the closed beta test, his artwork was found among the playable characters as well as a name attatched to it; Nought. Given ViA's design similarity to Zero, his name also shows similarity to Zero's, meaning "nothing" or "zero".