Herculious Anchus

Herculious Anchus
The Lightning Beetle(ライトニングビートル)
In-Game Information
HP:	64 (Both fights)
Attack Damage:	Both battles in MMZ1: 4 (contact, Beet Tackle) 2 (Beet Anchor, arms) Beet Plasma: 4 (energy orb, small) 6 (energy orb, large) All Range Attack: 1 (shot) 4 (arms) In MMZ2 (With Kuwagust Anchus): 3 (contact) 2 (shot) 4 (Beet Tackle) 4 (All Range Attack, with Kuwagust)
Weakness:	Ice
Affiliations:	Neo Arcadia, Strong Air Battalion
Location(s):	Neo Arcadia Shrine
Misc. Information
Alt. Name(s):	Herculious Anchortus
Series Information
In-game Appearances:	Mega Man Zero Mega Man Zero 2 TEPPEN

"You should view it as an honor to be slashed to retirement by my sword!"

—Herculious Anchus, Neo Arcadia Shrine, Mega Man Zero

Herculious Anchus (ヘラクリウス・アンカトゥス, Herakuriusu Ankatusu), also known as Herculious Anchortus, is a boss in Mega Man Zero. He is a Mutos Reploid based on the hercules beetle, and is a member of Sage Harpuia's Strong Air Battalion. He is also the brother of Kuwagust Anchus.

History

Mega Man Zero

Herculious Anchus rushes to stop Zero's intrusion of Neo Arcadia, serving as the main boss of the Neo Arcadia Shrine after the fights with the Pantheon Aces and Asura Basura. He reappears as one of the four Mutos Reploids in the boss rematches in the Neo Arcadia Core, taking the place of Aztec Falcon as Harpuia's lightning Mutos Reploid, and is destroyed again.

Mega Man Zero 2

Herculious reappears to support his brother Kuwagust Anchus in his rematch with Zero in Yggdrasil. They believe that their combined might can defeat him, but end up crashing into each other and exploding once their shared life meter is depleted.

Strategy

In the first game, his attacks are based on uses of lightning projectiles and dash attacks. Charged Ice attacks will knock him out of his own attacks (except for the Beet Anchor).

In the second game, at the Yggdrasil, Herculious appears along with his brother instead of fighting alone. Their attack pattern changes to fit into each others and each of them have one attack that performs without their brother (noted below). One of them stays in the background, becoming invulnerable while the other one performs their solo attack.

After their health bar depletes, they won't be defeated immediately, instead they will finish whatever the attack they are performing then dash into each other in the same lower-level height, resulting in both of them colliding each other and dying, officially ending the battle. If the player dies to this attack, they will have to refight both of them again at the teleporting hatches.

Attack	Description	Notes
Beet Tackle	Herculious Anchus charges at Zero.	He always starts off with this attack in both battles.
Beet Anchor	Herculious Anchus launches two of his arms to block and barricade the player (on the ground or in midair) and creates a electric fence. He then charges at Zero.
Beet Plasma	Herculious Anchus fires four energy orbs from his horn. After losing enough health, he will also fire a large orb that slowly moves towards Zero.
EX Skill: All Range Attack	Herculious goes to the center of the screen, outstreches his arms, and shoots four bullets in Zero's direction.	In Mega Man Zero 2, this is the only attack he uses other than his charge attacks, which he does alongside his brother. Despite being an EX Skill in Zero 1, this is Herculious' default solo attack in Zero 2. Unlike its counterpart in the first game, hitting the Herculious with an Ice attack in Zero 2 won't end the effect early.
EX Skill: Electric Circuit (no official name given)	Yggdrasil-exclusive attack. Only seen after each of them performs their solo attack at least once. After their dash attack, they jump, stop mid-air, extend their chains from their body to connect them in the middle of the screen and creating an electric ball right in front of their chains then starts spinning around it in a random way. Both of the brothers and the chain itself will hurt Zero if contacted. This circular motion can change its direction once during the attack. Also both of them cannot be damaged during this attack. Hitting the electric ball in the middle of their chains will deactivate the electricity of the chains temporarily. Zero can use this to prevent this attack.	To avoid this attack, avoid being touched by either of them and damage the electric ball right in front of the screen with any weapon to temporarily turn off the electricity of the chains, then jump to the other side of the screen.
Last Effort (no official name given)	Yggdrasil-exclusive attack. After their shared health bar depletes, they won't be defeated immediately but instead their next Dash attack will be on the same level and instead will be aimed at each other, finally ending the battle.	To dodge this, jump instead of dash. Both of them can be hit by attacks but it won't have any effect besides leveling Zero's weapons. If the player depletes their health at the very end of their normal dash attack, they will perform at least one solo attack or their EX Skill before executing this. If the player dies to this, Zero will have to refight them again.

Other appearances

• Herculious Anchus is one of the bosses from World 6 in Rockman Xover.
• Herculious Anchus appeared as a card in Mega Man X DiVE.
• Herculious Anchus appeared in TEPPEN.

Gallery

Herculious' early concept art.

Herculious' charge animation.

TEPPEN card.

Trivia

• Herculious Anchortus and Kuwagust Anchus have the same second name in Japan, but Herculious' name was localized into English as "Anchortus" in Mega Man Zero, while Kuwagust was localized as "Anchus" in Mega Man Zero 2. Both share the name "Anchus" in Mega Man Zero Collection.
• While Herculious is named after the Hercules Beetle, design-wise, he appears more like a beetle from the Chalcosoma genus.
• Herculious Anchus is the only "fortress boss" in the series to also appear in the boss rush. He is also the only boss to appear in another game's boss rematch segment, supporting Kuwagust in Mega Man Zero 2.
• Him and Kuwagust are the two of the three bosses in this series that keeps attacking to the player after their health bar depletes. The other one is Phantom, who explodes to damage Zero at the end of their rematch at the teleporting hatches.