"Nightmare" redirects here. For the Mega Man Battle Network series virus, see Nightmare (virus). For the weapon, see Nightmare (Mega Man X DiVE). |
The Nightmare (ナイトメア Naitomea) is a reality-altering virus in Mega Man X6, created by Gate from the Sigma Virus after analyzing a sample of Zero's DNA from the ruins of Eurasia.[1]
History[]
The Nightmare is a creation of Gate, an altered form of Sigma Virus made through the study of Zero's DNA. It has a wide variety of effects, as Gate uses it to power up his creations and cause mysterious physical phenomena, and also plans to use the Nightmare Viruses to control Reploids in his ideal utopia. Zero Nightmare, a clone of Zero, was created to make the public believe that the "ghost of Zero" was spreading the Nightmare. Isoc used this explanation to rally Reploid volunteers to assist his Nightmare Investigators in wiping out the Nightmare, when the actual intention was to gather victims for the Nightmare. However, the plan is thwarted by X and the real Zero; together, they defeat Gate and put an end to his use of the Nightmare.
Nightmare Phenomenon[]
- "It shows Reploids a kind of "dream" for human beings... no. It's a "Nightmare". The Nightmare makes Reploids confused. In the worst case, they may malfunction or delete themselves."
- ―Isoc
The Nightmare Phenomenon (ナイトメア現象 Naitomea Genshō) earned its name for its ability to project nightmarish visions into Reploids. While advancing through stages, players come across abnormal events that cannot be detected by Alia, indicating the presence of a Nightmare Phenomenon. The Nightmare is said by Isoc to confuse Reploids, leading them to behave erratically or even destroy themselves. Each stage from the eight Nightmare Investigators has a Nightmare Phenomenon that is activated in other stages after exiting their stage:
Image | Phenomenon | Exiting stage | Occurrence stages |
---|---|---|---|
Nightmare Bug (ナイトメア・バグ) |
Amazon Area | Laser Institute, Magma Area | |
A bug enemy, more info below. | |||
Nightmare Cube (ナイトメア・キューブ) |
Central Museum | Recycle Lab, Laser Institute | |
A box obstacle. Its behavior when struck by Ground Dash/Sentsuizan depends on color: brown cubes are destroyed, red cubes explode to cause damage, purple cubes slide across the floor until they hit something, and black cubes slide only one space. | |||
Nightmare Dark (ナイトメア・ダーク) |
Weapon Center | Inami Temple, Amazon Area | |
An obscuring effect, making the screen pitch-black save for two swaying searchlights that hardly illuminate the screen unless they cross in the middle. This greatly reduces visibility. | |||
Nightmare Fire (ナイトメア・ファイア) |
Magma Area | North Pole Area, Weapon Center | |
Fireballs that rain randomly from the top of the screen. They can be destroyed by Magma Blade/Shoenzan, but are better off avoided. Of note, a secret room in North Pole Area only becomes accessible when Nightmare Fire is active to destroy a cracked ice wall. | |||
Nightmare Freeze (ナイトメア・フリーズ) |
North Pole Area | Recycle Lab | |
Some floors and surfaces are coated with slippery ice. It can be cleared off with Ice Burst/Hyourouga. | |||
Nightmare Iron (ナイトメア・アイアン) |
Recycle Lab | Magma Area, Central Museum, Weapon Center | |
Iron blocks that occasionally move vertically. Fortunately, they do not cause instant death if they crush the player. They can be destroyed using Metal Anchor/Rakukojin. | |||
Nightmare Mirror (ナイトメア・ミラー) |
Laser Institute | Inami Temple, North Pole Area | |
A silhouette of X or Zero, manifesting as the character the player is not using. Similar to the Zero Virus from Mega Man X5, they appear from nowhere and dash at the player. They can be dispelled with Guard Shell. | |||
Nightmare Wind (ナイトメア・ウインド) |
Inami Temple | Amazon Area, Central Museum | |
A strong wind that pushes the player, accompanied by light rain to indicate the wind's direction. |
Alia notes that the reactivation of Illumina in Weapon Center and the purple magma in Magma Area are both results of the Nightmare. Other examples of Nightmare Phenomena, which are not activated by exiting a stage and are merely stage obstacles, include:
Image | Phenomenon | Stages |
---|---|---|
Nightmare Ice (ナイトメア・アイス) |
North Pole Area | |
Rolling chunks of ice. They can be destroyed with Metal Anchor/Rakukojin, but it is better to avoid them as they require several hits to be destroyed. | ||
Nightmare Laser (ナイトメア・レーザー) |
Laser Institute, Secret Lab 1 | |
Cannons that occasionally emit lasers. Only the ends of the lasers deal damage, and the damage is minor. They are needed to complete puzzles in Laser Institute by rotating reflective panels. | ||
Nightmare Press (ナイトメア・プレス) |
Recycle Lab, Secret Lab 2 (as Zero) | |
A massive press of warped size and shape. It kills the player instantly if it crushes them, but can't crush Ride Armor. | ||
Nightmare Rain (ナイトメア・レイン) |
Inami Temple, Secret Lab 2 (as X) | |
Acid rain that slowly drains the player's life gauge. It is accompanied by special platforms which freely recover the player's health. It can be dispelled by destroying a Weather Analyze device, though they are protected by barriers that must first be deactivated. | ||
Nightmare Random (ナイトメア・ランダム) |
Central Museum, Secret Lab 2 | |
Round and square rocks that float and roll at random. They can be destroyed by any attack. They are the main enemies in Central Museum, besides Totem Gates and Nightmare Viruses. |
Enemies[]
Nightmare Virus[]
The Nightmare Virus (ナイトメア・ウィルス Naitomea Wirusu) is a manifestation of the Nightmare that appears in almost every stage of the game. They are troublesome enemies that can brainwash Injured Reploids and drop Nightmare Souls upon defeat.
Nightmare Bug[]
Nightmare Bug (ナイトメア・バグ) is a bug enemy that flies near the player. Using normal attacks on them will only chase them off, only to reappear after some time. They can only be destroyed permanently by using the Yammar Option on them. They appear in Shield Sheldon's and Blaze Heatnix's stages and is activated after going through Commander Yammark's stage.
Nightmare Insect[]
Nightmare Insect (ナイトメア・インセクト Naitomea Insekuto) is a mantis enemy that appears in Commander Yammark's stage. If they are destroyed with any weapon other than the Yammar Option they will regenerate, leaving the player a quick chance to get by.
Nightmare Pressure[]
Nightmare Pressure (ナイトメア・プレッシャー Naitomea Puresshā) is the mid-boss of Metal Shark Player's Recycle Lab stage. Presumably, it is the core of the Nightmare Press compactor that antagonizes the player throughout the whole stage. It traps the player on a conveyor belt between its two spiked arms, attacking with bouncing mines and descending to crush like a press. Its weak points are the pink laser cannons which appear in the middle of the screen, and it is defeated once all three of them are destroyed.
After Nightmare Pressure's defeat, the conveyor belt and Nightmare Press stop for the rest of the level, allowing the player to progress unimpeded to Metal Shark Player's boss arena.
Nightmare Snake[]
Nightmare Snake (ナイトメア・スネーク Naitomea Sunēku) is the name of five red Mechaniloid mid-bosses that appear in Blaze Heatnix's stage. They resemble a mythological creature known as Ouroboros, a snake that bites its own tail, making a circle. They can only be defeated by destroying the four green cores around their frame. They are weak to the weapon gained from Infinity Mijinion, Ray Arrow and Rekkoha. A charged Metal Anchor can take out the mid-boss in one hit, given a bit of positioning and luck. The Giga Attack of the Falcon Armor can take it out in one hit as well.
This mid-boss is considered to be one of the most annoying in the whole X series as there are six such enemies to destroy throughout the stage in which the player has to destroy five of to reach the stage boss. It is also worth noting that on Easy Mode, this mid-boss does not shoot its projectiles from its cores. Just prior to the boss fight, X reports seeing it and claims it was a Mechaniloid, although Alia notes that it isn't emitting a data signal, causing X to wonder whether it was actually a Nightmare and wondering who created it.
Bosses[]
Zero Nightmare[]
The Zero Nightmare (ゼロ ナイトメア Zero Naitomea) is a copy of Zero created by Gate with Zero's DNA.
Nightmare Mother[]
The Nightmare Mother (ナイトメアマザー Naitomea Mazā) is the boss of the first part of Gate's Secret Lab, two giant masses of Nightmare Viruses.
Nightmare Souls[]
The Nightmare Viruses and bosses leave behind Nightmare Souls when they are destroyed. Gathering Nightmare Souls increases the player's Hunter Rank, which determines the number of Parts that X and Zero can equip, along with the Boss Levels. If collecting at least 3000 before defeating all eight Investigators triggers a cutscene with Alia on the true nature of the Nightmare (note that only the first Hunter to achieve this will trigger the cutscene, as X and Zero's versions of the cutscene play out slightly differently). Dynamo also demonstrates an obsession with gathering Nightmare Souls, hoping to grow stronger via the DNA within them. There are 4 types of Nightmare Souls known in this game, distinguished by color:
- Blue (Normal): Appears just after a Nightmare Virus is destroyed. Worth 8 souls each.
- Blue (Small): The blue soul will shrink if it not been obtained after 3 seconds, and is only worth 4 souls each. If the Soul is not obtained after another 5 seconds, it regenerates a new Nightmare Virus. Destroying that Virus does not generate any Nightmare Soul.
- Green: Appears after defeating a Maverick boss, automatically descending onto the victorious Hunter. Worth 200 souls each. They can also be obtained from Dynamo in the Another Routes by striking him twice with his weakness (Meteor Rain/Ensuizan). Dynamo will drop a maximum of 3 green Nightmare Souls per battle, which means the player can net a maximum of 600 souls per run. Another, if a reploid infected by the virus and is destroyed, they will also drop one. Beware that infected reploids with parts destroyed means parts meant for either X or Zero will be lost forever; while nightmare souls from them will simply disappear upon failing to obtain.
- Red: Appears in place of the green Soul if the player took too long to defeat a Maverick boss. Worth 100 souls each.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Compendium of Rockman X, p. 89.
Mega Man X6 | |
---|---|
Nightmare Investigators | |
Commander Yammark • Ground Scaravich • Blaze Heatnix • Blizzard Wolfang • Rainy Turtloid Metal Shark Player • Shield Sheldon • Infinity Mijinion | |
Other Bosses | |
D-1000 • Zero Nightmare • Dynamo • Nightmare Mother • High Max • Gate • Sigma | |
X's Special Weapons | |
Yammar Option • Ground Dash • Magma Blade • Ice Burst • Meteor Rain • Metal Anchor • Guard Shell • Ray Arrow | |
Zero's Special Techniques | |
Yammar Option • Sentsuizan • Shoenzan • Hyoroga • Ensuizan • Rakukojin • Guard Shell • Rekkoha | |
Armors | |
- X - Falcon Armor • Blade Armor • Shadow Armor • Ultimate Armor - Zero - Black Zero | |
Stages | |
Opening Stage • Amazon Area • Central Museum • Magma Area • North Pole Area • Inami Temple • Recycle Lab • Laser Institute • Weapon Center • Secret Lab | |
Miscellaneous | |
Walkthrough • Another Route • Parts • Injured Reploids • List of Enemies Damage Data Chart (X) • Damage Data Chart (Zero) • Game Script (X's story) • Game Script (Zero's story) |