Hit priority is a gameplay mechanic in the Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX series. This allows the player to create combination attacks against bosses which bypass invincibility frames. This way, strings of attacks can be used in quick succession against bosses to do heavy damage and encourage skillful gameplay.
Mega Man Zero series[]
In the Mega Man Zero series, except for the first entry, all attacks have a priority. If a boss is hit by an attack, they can be hit immediately after by an attack with a higher priority than the one they were just hit by. The player cannot progress backwards in the priority chain. For example, in Mega Man Zero 3, Zero can hit a boss with the first (1), second (2) and third (3) hits of the Z Saber's combo, and then Split Heavens (4), but cannot hit the boss with another Z Saber combo or charged slash, as the priorities are all lower than 4.
Mega Man Zero[]
Despite not having a hit priority system, attacks in Mega Man Zero are classified into two groups, one doesn't trigger invincibility frame and one does. Here they are refered as "Light" and "Strong" hits respectively for ease of understanding. This system is unique to the first game.
Light hits[]
Light hits can be performed infinitely on bosses without triggering their invincibility frame, these include:
- Z Saber's 1st slash*
- Z Saber's 2nd slash
- Rolling Slash (only the last frame of the animation)
- Triple Rod's 1st stab *
- Triple Rod's 2nd stab
- Charged Triple Rod
*Attacks that require Zero to stand still to be considered Light hits.
Strong hits[]
Strong hits will trigger the bosses' invincibility frame and end combo if they are used. These include:
- Buster Shot
- Charged Buster Shot (Level 1 and 2)
- Dash slash
- Z-Saber's 3rd slash
- Charged Z Saber
- Downward Triple Rod
- Triple Rod's 3rd stab
- Shield Boomerang
Mega Man Zero 2[]
Mega Man Zero 2 is the first game to include the hit priority system. However, the system was still experimental and simple. Triple slash and charged Chain Rod are the only moves that have a hit priority higher than 1. All other attacks and EX Skills have Priority 1. This makes attack combos against bosses rare with little possibility for variation and makes the new EX Skills far less viable.
Priority | Attack (Buster Shot) | Attack (Z-Saber) | Attack (Other) |
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1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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4 |
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Mega Man Zero 3[]
Mega Man Zero 3 is the game that flexes out the Hit priority system the most, thus leading to many combo possibilities and strategies. Combined with generally good damage on a lot of attacks, combos could do very large amounts of damage to bosses.
Priority | Attack (Buster Shot) | Attack (Z-Saber) | Attack (Recoil Rod) | Attack (Shield Boomerang) |
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0 | ||||
1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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4 |
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5 | Burst Shot (Blast) |
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6 | Burst Shot (Blast) |
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Mega Man Zero 4[]
The Hit priority in Mega Man Zero 4 is the same as Mega Man Zero 3's (albeit with the EX Skills taking the priorities of their equivalent skills from said game), with the addition of the Z-Knuckle and stolen weapons which have priority 1.
Priority | Attack (Buster Shot & Other) | Attack (Z-Saber) |
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0 |
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1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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4 |
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5 |
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6 |
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Mega Man ZX series[]
Mega Man ZX[]
Mega Man ZX carried on the hit priority system from Mega Man Zero and every biometal and its own combo. However, due to the fact that some attacks can damage bosses multiple times and the player can transform during battle, some of the priorities have extremely huge number with the maximum of 224 and the priorities can be far apart from each other[2].
Attacks with * note will combo from the current priority to the priority in the bracket.
Model X | |
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Priority | Attack |
0 |
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1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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Model ZX | |
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Priority | Attack |
0 |
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1 |
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3 |
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80 |
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208 |
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212 |
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213 |
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214 |
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Model HX | |
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Priority | Attack |
4 |
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8 |
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80 |
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88 |
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92 |
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93 |
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Model FX | |
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Priority | Attack |
0 |
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1 |
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8 |
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9 |
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32 |
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- Priority 4: Ice Platform
- Priority 8: Freezing Dragon
- Priority 80: Jumping Halberd Slash/ Wall Slash/ Charged Ground Halberd/ Screw Halberd*(to 207)
- Priority 212: Ground Halberd Slash
- Priority 0: Shield
- Priority 8: Kunai*(to 11)
- Priorty 48: Shuriken*(to 79)
- Priority 0: Buster Shot
- Priority 1: Charged Shot Level 1/ Earth Crush
- Priority 2: Charged Shot Level 2's 1st bullet/ Messenkou
- Priority 3: Charged Shot Level 3's 2nd bullet/ Arc Blade's Saber Waves/ Rekkouha*(to 9)
- Priority 4: Shinkuujin (Wave)
- Priority 80: Jumping Saber Slash/ Wall Slash/ Rolling Slash*(to 207)
- Priority 208: Walking Slash/ Dashing Slash
- Priority 212: Saber's 1st slash
- Priority 213: Saber's 2nd slash
- Priority 214: Saber's 3rd slash
- Priority 216: Shinkuujin (Saber)
- Priority 217: Ryuenjin
- Priority 224: Charged Saber
Mega Man ZX Advent[]
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This section requires expansion. |
Mega Man ZX Advent carried on the system the introduction of the A-Trans ability and allows the player to transform into the Pseudoroids as well as the Mega Men. However, some of the abilities of the A-Trans are split between the two protagonists of the game, Ashe and Grey.
Attacks with * note will combo from the current priority to the priority in the bracket.
The Pseudoroids
Despite being a new addition to the game, all of the Pseudoroids' attacks have priority 0, meaning they lack the ability to combo unless their attacks can hit enemies multiple times.
Model A (Grey)
Priority | Attack |
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0 |
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1 |
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2 |
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Model A (Ashe)
Priority | Attack |
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0 |
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1 |
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Model ZX
Priority | Attacks |
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0 |
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1 |
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3 |
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80 |
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208 |
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212 |
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213 |
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214 |
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217 | Vent
Aile
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224 |
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Trivia[]
- Omega Zero's attacks in both Mega Man Zero 3 and Mega Man ZX follow the Hit Priority system, which allows him to ignore invincibility frames with his saber combos. This allows for Omega to bypass invincibility cheats as a side effect.
References[]
- ↑ This was discovered by Meshiya_ranbu
- ↑ Documented by Meta X