Characters

Well, here we go! This is about the main Hunters of the game. This will include a brief bio, Action Triggers, Final Strike attacks, Hyper Modes, and Hyper Mode Action Triggers. Action Trigger information can be found here: Action Triggers. The other characters that also play an important role (except for one, which is a big spoiler) can be found in the Other Characters section.

Note: X and Zero are the only two with two Hyper Modes: their regular one they start off with and the Ultimate one that you have to win. Hyper Mode information can be found on this page: Hyper Modes.

X
"Here we go! Final Strike!"

Bio: The final creation of Dr. Light, X was the machine that the entire Reploid race (except for Zero) was built on. He wants to live in peace, but as long as evil threatens (like the Mavericks, for instance), he must use his powers to protect the innocent. He hates to destroy other Reploids to bring about peace, but even when the going gets tough, X'll never give up.

X can be pretty versital. While his normal attacks are shot attacks, when he goes into his Hyper Mode (X Fire), he switches to combat attacks. He also has busters of all three elements, so he'll be in the party most of the time as well. X also has his own Force Metal (once you win it), X Heart, which'll revive him once after he's defeated.

Action Trigger: Charge Shot
One of the easiest Action Triggers to do, and X's signature move, all that you have to do is hold down the button that's used for attacking to charge up and let loose a powerful attack that hits all enemies. The more WE that is put into the attack, the more damage it does. A 100% WE garentees a Critical Strike. Best used on small groups of Mavericks (like the Bat Bones) that will attack or do more damage if destroyed singlely.
Final Strike attack style: Shot

Hyper Mode: X Fire
X's first armor, this one is also known as the "X Cross". Unlike the unamored X, this one is more combat than shot based. X gains a big boost to all his stats as well in this form. Both his Shell Buster sub-weapon and Charge Collider Action Trigger are Fire-typed, but X himself is neutral, so he doesn't take double damage from Water attacks. When he's in X Fire during a Final Strike, X does Combat damage intead of shot damage.

X Fire Action Trigger: Charge Collider
It's the same activation as the Charge Shot, but this time, X releases a multi-hit Fire Burst attack into a single target. Once again, the more WE put into the attack, the more power to the attack. The Charge Collider does rediculiously high amounts of damage at 100% and is excellent for the early bosses as well as bosses and enemies that are Thunder-typed.
Final Strike attack style: Combat

Hyper Mode: Ultimate Armor
This has gotta be some of the most impressive armor X has donned in his long career (if you ask me, it makes him look a bit like a Gundam). It's a doozy to get, but get ready to have some fun! Besides the big boost to all his stats, he's also a flyer in this form. That means that X has a chance to avoid enemy attacks while in this form. One of the more impressive parts to this is the Nova Strike, which I'm going to discuss right now.

Ultimate Armor Action Trigger: Nova Strike
This is like having a Final Strike in one character. It changes to where you're looking at what X is seeing as well (a bit different than what the usual Action Triggers are). X unloads both Sub-Weapons and a missile rack into his enemies (overkill, anyone?). Change the target with the joystick and press all attack buttons rapidly to pound opponents into teeny tiny pieces. Once again, the more WE that you have at the activation of this Action Trigger, the more time you have to spray ammunition into your foes.

Zero
"You know me... Never say die."
Bio: Like X, Zero is from a century past. Unlike X, tho, Zero's creator is none other than Wily (hey, if you haven't been keeping up with the X series, you wouldn't know this, right?). Unlike X, though, Zero was made to destroy X (which that didn't happen, fortunately). The virus was passed onto Sigma during a battle between those two when Sigma was a Maverick Hunter (yup, he was one at one point) which is when the virus became known as the Maverick Virus. Zero became a powerful Hunter then, but he still can't escape his dark past. He's often aloof, chilly, and doesn't trust strangers that much (except for maybe Axl), which explains why he reappears and disappears several times in the game. In battle, he's absolute ruthless.

Unlike X, Zero likes to get up close and personal with his foe. He also has weapons of the elemental types, but his Force Metal slots are a bit lower than X. He's also slower than X, but when Zero hits, he hits HARD.

Action Trigger: Command Arts
You've gotta be good with doing joystick motions to pull off all of Zero's moves. He also targets a single enemy with this Action Trigger, but then again, that's how he always is. He starts off with three moves, but over time, he can bring the number up to five moves and a total amount of command inputs from 300 to 999 successful inputs total.

Command (GCN/PS2)	Attack	Effect
Quarter circle from down to towards+A/Circle	Zero Slash	Standard attack at -20% power
Quarter circle from down to back+A/Circle	Zero Breakthrough	Attack at -70% power, Ignores target defense
Dragon Punch motion+A/Circle	Zero Dragon Slash	Attack with 65% accuracy against airborne enemies
Half circle from back to towards+A/Circle	Zero Wave Slash	Attack randomly between -50% and 100% power
Three-Fourths circle from towards to up+A/Circle	Zero Skull Crush	Guarenteed Critical attack

Final Strike Attack Style: Combat

Hyper Mode: Black Zero
Zero goes into his black armor that many would first reconize from X2 (though I reconize it from X4). He also gets a power boost and quicker turnaround time. However, it doesn't last as long as X's Hyper Modes, so consider spending a few Build Hypers on him. His Hyper Mode is the same as Regular Zero.

Final Strike attack style: Combat

Hyper Mode: Absolute Zero
We FINALLY get to see Zero get an Ultimate Armor of his own. Yea, it looks a lot like Wily's "other" powered-up robot, but it's got a cool transformation sequence. Once again, Absolute Zero is geared towards combat attacks. His attacks are also Ice-typed, so this makes him a good choice against Fire-Typed bosses. Like Ultimate Armor X, he's also a flyer, so he gets an increased invasion to Combat attacks as well. There is one risk with this form though: If Absolute Zero gets below 25% LE, he goes Beserk, and not even a Cooler can calm him down. The only way to calm him down is if he hits himself or his LE rises above 25% before his next turn.

Absolute Zero Action Trigger: Calamitous Arts
Button-mashing is the name of the game, as this is an incredibly well-named move. Zero gets right in his opponent's face and starts pummeling. Watch the bottom of the screen for the joystick/button combination given to attack. Press the combination for Zero to do a move. If you mess up or don't get it in time, you move onto another move. The more WE that Zero has when this attack is activated, the more time Zero gets to do the pummelling, plus more powerful moves are put into the move pool. This attack has the potential to do tens of thousands of damage, so this makes Zero a prime choice against bosses or the dreaded Meltdown enemies.
Final Strike attack style: Combat

Command (GCN/PS2)	Attack	Effect
Left +Y/Square	Left Kick	Guaranteed Critical Ice Attack at +25% Power
Right + X/Triangle	Right Kick	Ice attack at +50% Power
Down + Y/Square	Surge Strike	Combat attack randomly between -50% and +100% Power
Up + X/Triangle	Rising Dragon Punch	Ignores Target Armor
Y/Square, X/Triangle	Skull Crush	Guarenteed Critical Strike at +25% Power
A/Circle	Whirlwind Leg	Ice attack at -25% Power, Ignores target Armor

Hand	Effect
Pair	2-Shot attack
Two Pair	2-Shot attack, second shot +50% critical chance
Tri Card	3-Shot Fire, Water, and Thunder attack
Straight	5-Shot attack, final shot guarenteed critical
Flush	1-Shot Blinding attack
Death House	1-Shot attack with chance of instant kill
Four Penality	All enemies -25% Power, Armor, Shield, and Speed
Straight Flush	3-Shot attack against all enemies, final hit guarenteed critical
RSF	+200% shot attack against all enemies, high instant kill rate

Final Strike Attack Style: Shot

Hyper Mode: Trickster
Spider's indeed a tricky one. When he slips into Trickster mode, he can't be touched. Enemy attacks of both kinds and status effects slip right on through him, and he gets a nice power boost to boot. However, this comes with two disadvantages: Tricker has very few activation turns, and he can't be affected by allies' aiding moves, so don't use them on him. His Action Trigger is the same as in normal mode.

Final Strike attack style: Shot

Massimo
"Kaboom!"

Bio: Steel Massimo is a legend amoung the Resistance. He is a warrior of colossal strength and endurance who has faced legions of Rebellion forces and won, but few people know the truth. The "true" Massimo was captured and excuted by the Rebellion. His armor was entrusted to another Resistance fighter who reluctantly took the mantle and name of Massimo. Though scared outta his wits as first, working with X has given him the strength to be strong both mentally and physically as well as the confidence in himself to continue the legacy of Steel Massimo.

Massimo's your tank player. Though he starts off weak when you first get him, he gains levels and LE quickly. However, Massimo has one glaring weakness: he's weak to all three Elements taking 150% damage from elemental attacks. He also has two Force Metal slots, so it's hard to agument him against elemental attacks. However, if power and attack is your name of the game, Massimo's the Reploid for you.

Action Trigger: Beserk Charge
Drawing on all his WE reserves, Massimo converts it all into a powerful beam of energy that he aims at a single foe. Mash the buttons repetively under each bar during the alloted amount of time to add effects and power to the beam. The more WE that Massimo starts off with when he starts the move, the more time he has to boost up the beam. He starts off being able to boost his power and add status effects, but he can add two more by inflicting  first 3000 and then 10000 damage within a single turn.

Name	Effect
Attack	Up to +100% Power
Code Red	Add Blind, Virus, Bind, and Beserk Effects
Criticals	Up to 80% chance of a Critical Strike
Multistage	Up to 12 Successive hits

Final Strike Attack Style: Combat

Hyper Mode: Glint Armor
Massimo was no lightweight before, but once he dons the Glint Armor, he becomes a truely heavyweight contender. Not only does he get get some nice power boosts, but his defense against all element attacks is increased! Plus, he's all nice and shiny! His Action Trigger is the same before.

Final Strike attack style: Combat

Marino
"Now the real fun starts!"

Bio: Lightning fast with both weapon and wit, Marino describes herself as a "petty thief", but her ambitions are anything but petty. Seeing the conflict between the Rebellion and the Resistance as a smokescreen for her actions, she sneaks into Giga City to steal the rumored Force Metal Generator. She was nearly killed by Psyche's goons, but Cinnamon saved her life, and she joined the Resistance. Though Marino acts like a cynical loner at times, Cinnamon and X's selfless behavior has brought out a more generous side to her.

Marino might not be the strongest member of the bunch, but she's hands down the fastest. She can also use both Shot and Combat weapons. The Shot weapons come in the elemental variety, which makes her another good canidate for boss battles. Her Action Trigger, Emotional Reel, ups her offensive cabilities, plus it gives her a move that can take hard-to-steal items from enemies quite easily. Add onto that the Hawk Eye Sub-Weapon, which allows her to hit those hard-to-hit enemies, and you've got one good Reploid.

Action Trigger: Emotional Reel
It takes a sharp eye to use Marino's Action Trigger. You have to get three matching symbols to get one of the effects, but if you get mismatched symbols or three minuses, Marino will do the Marino Stamp, a combat attack at +30% Power. Though she starts with three winning combinations, she can get up to five winning combinations. Also, the more WE she starts off with in the move, the slower the reels go, so at best, try to start it at 100% if you can.

Move	Effect
Hyper Dive	Combat attack at +100% Power
I'll Take That!	1-hit attack, guarenteed item steal
Your Life Please!	3-hit attack at +50% Power, LE gain equal to damage given
Scattered Flower	3-shot attack with high chance of instant kill
Mirage Dive	1-hit Combat attack at +150% Power
Marino Stamp	Combat attack at +30% Power

Final Strike Attack Style: Combat

Hyper Mode: Quicksilver
This is a definately good-named Hyper Mode, as Marino's Speed shoots through the roof. At higher levels, Quicksilver can give Marino at least a string of a half-dozen attacks with no interruptions! While this is good for laying down a string of attacks, you can also use this to prep your teammates for the upcoming attacks. However, because Marino's so fast, it doesn't last as long as the others, so be prepared to switch her out at the end of Quicksilver or use a Gain Hyper to keep her in it for a continous attacking stream.

Final Strike attack style: Combat

Cinnamon
"Sorry, but I did try to warn you."

There always has to be a healer in the group, and Cinnamon is that. She can also inflict status effects such as Virus and Beserk. Her sub-weapon, Energy Field, briefly supplies the party with extra WE in a pinch, which is quite handy, especially for ones like X and Zero once they get their Ultimate Hyper Modes. She may have low power, but she's well defended against the Elements only taking 50% damage from all three (unlike Massimo, who takes double the Elemental damage, but then again, he's a tank, not a healer). Surprisingly enough, Cinnamon is one of the better Final Strike fighters. Why this is I don't know, but that's a useful ability as well, I guess.

Action Trigger: Angelic Aide
This one's a definately useful one especially if you're running low on LE. Simply spin the secondary joystick (the C joystick on the GCN controller or the analog joystick on the PS2 controller), and hearts grow on the screen. Each of these complete hearts restores 10% of the party's max LE. She may be only able to restore 20% of the party's max LE at first, but give her some time, and she'll likely be able to restore a LOT more than that.... Just keep her in the back row for now until needed. As her healing ablities grow, Cinnamon will gain more hearts, increasing the percentage of max LE she can restore.

Final Strike Attack Mode: Shot

Hyper Mode: Iron Maiden
Cinnamon doesn't look as innoncent in the Iron Maiden, but she does gain better offensive capablities, which is good. However, the best part about Iron Maiden is that her active teammates gets an added 25% added to the WE gain rate! Now that's what I call a useful Hyper Mode.

Final Strike attack style: Shot

Axl
"That wasn't so bad."

Axl definately replaces Spider in the projectile area. Of course, Axl has something else that makes him pretty unique: his shape-changing ablity. By takng a sample of DNA data from certain bosses, Axl can change into them and use their powerful attacks including some powerful Elemental ones! In addition, most of his weapons can be bought instead of won, so he can be equipped to how you'd want him to be equipped.

Action Trigger: DNA Change
Note: Because of how complex this is, I will be giving only one pathway for each boss transformation on both the GCN and PS2 versions. Trust me on this. It'll be a heck of a lot easier.
Another button-mashing one, this can look pretty daunting when first encountered. Depending on the boss form you want to activate, you're going to either need a good eye or a keen memory. To activate each form, you must press a sequence of buttons along a branching path within the time limit. Running outta time or hitting a blank space (when you've only got a few bosses to choose from) will give you the Rolling Axl, a shot attack that's at +30% power.

For GCN:

Combination	Boss Form Activated	Attack
AXAABYBA	Wild Jango	Thunder attack up to +100% power
AYXYBAYA	Silver Horn	500-damage Watter attack to all enemies
AXAABYBX	Mad Nautilus	Attack all enemies, random Blind, Virus, Berserk, and Bind effects
AYXYBAYX	Mach Jentler	500-damage Fire attack to all enemies
AXAABYXB	Incentas	2-hit combat attack
AYXYBAXB	Depth Dragoon	3-hit, 250-damage Thunder attack to all enemies
AXAABAYY	Rafflesian	Fires 10 200 damage missiles at every enemy
AYXYBYBA	Ninetails	9-hit 999-damage combat attack

For PS2:
Note: S=Square, O=Circle, T=Triangle, X=X

Combination	Boss Form Activated	Attack
XOXXTSTX	Wild Jango	Thunder attack up to +100% power
XSOSTXSX	Silver Horn	500-damage Watter attack to all enemies
XOXXTSTO	Mad Nautilus	Attack all enemies, random Blind, Virus, Berserk, and Bind effects
XSOSTXSO	Mach Jentler	500-damage Fire attack to all enemies
XOXXTSOT	Incentas	2-hit combat attack
XSOSTXOT	Depth Dragoon	3-hit, 250-damage Thunder attack to all enemies
XOXXTXSS	Rafflesian	Fires 10 200 damage missiles at every enemy
XSOSTSTX	Ninetails	9-hit 999-damage combat attack

Note: There are other combinations of buttons to activate the forms (it is branching), so choose your own way if you can't remember these basic pathways.

Final Strike Attack Mode:Shot

Hyper Mode: Stealth Mode
It's the same as Spider's Trickster, so there's not much to say about this one except that Axl takes a big hit in the speed area when he's cloaked. However, this form can really save your butt if timed right, and it's also useful for a fun combo I'll tell you about later. Think about spending some Build Hypers on him instead of Spider (since you lose Spider later on).
Final Strike attack style: Shot