Quarter-Finals! Mega Man X vs. Cloud

Arena: Bamboo Grove

In the Red Corner, the chrome-plated Maverick Hunter, the Blue Bomber 2.0, from Mega Man X: Mega Man X!!!

And in the Blue Corner, the jade-eyed schizophrene, the master of the Buster Sword, from Final Fantasy 7: Cloud Strife!!!

The sky is coated in a thick blanket of dark thunderheads. The wind whips through the bamboo stalks, creating a sea of violent, swaying arms. X surveys the area, standing at the bottom of the hills' steep slope. Cloud works his way through the tempest of bamboo, slowly creeping down from the top of the incline. As the two catch each others' eyes through the chaos, a heavy rain begins to fall. The violence of the storm is such that any normal person would have to be insane to reamin exposed to it. Our two combatants begin their initial charges, and the fight begins in earnest. There can be only one...

Ahhh, a great match-up here indeed.

While I reveer Cloud as my favorite character of all time in any game I've played, I just think he might be outclassed in this one folks. Senesia has made me quite the believer in X over the last few battles, and this one should be a doozy!

Well, let's see some action, people! It's been open for 24 hours and nothing has happened! Frankly, I think Cloud might win this one. Let's see someone step up to bat!

Everytime cloud would try to win, mega man can just skimmer up one of the bamboo branches like hes does walls in any of his games. Then when cloud passes him, he can simply fall down, and shoot the hell out of could. In the end, due to his higher crebral fuctions (processing power in the head, he is a computer after all), mega man will rein victorious over the charred remnants of cloud strife.

Bamboo trees? Perfect for cloud to chop down sending X to the ground.

X=robot. Robot=metal. Metal=strong. Mega man x is made from an extremely powerful alloy. He can fall and still not be damaged. If cloud wants to waste his time chopping down trees liek a lumbarjack thast fine. Even if he gets one when x is there, when x is falling, he could just aim upwards, and fire shots right through clouds skull. When cloud charges him, all x has to do, with his immensially powerful legs, is jump up high in the air to avoid him.

Well... shooting and jumping are hardly the specialties of X. You should have said he double jumped to avoid Cloud. That's a more feasable way to avoid an opponent, and, since he has the ability, why make use of it?

My argument would begin with the metallic nature of X giving him a certain defense against any attack with a sword. Secondly, I would say that he would at least attempt to use the Zero Saber against Cloud. Cloud would not be able to block it as it is a beam. Aside from that bit of information, the Zero Saber does immense damage to all enemies. I believe it took two hits with the Z-Saber to kill Sigma. (It may have been three, but I'm not sure, although two hits are required for all other bosses - This may vary from game to game. The only game I know of that X uses the Zero Saber is in X-3.)

Cloud doesn't stand a chance if X uses Ultimate Armor (X6). Unlimited Gaia attack.

Basically, Ultimate Armor allows X to use Nova Strike indefinitely. In the air, on the ground, during a jump, during his second jump, dashing...X will be invulnerable when he executes it. It is a (sort of) mid-air dash which destroys/damages everything on its way.

What's the downside of this attack? X can't change direction during Nova Strike, so it can be avoided somehow. (But it is extremely fast, and it does have some sort of area of effect...)
(But then again, you can't change direction in any 2D game because there is only 2 dimensions...)

Anyway, Ultimate Armor can be used only if you enter a code on the selection screen.

So...he will probably use Blade Armor for this fight.

With his Blade Armor:
- His charged X-Buster shot will leave a energy field which damage the enemy
- His Z-Sabre attack is more powerful
- can choose to release a powerful slash attack when charged
- His dash has a greater range
- He can damage the enemy simply by air-dashing
- can air-dash in all 4 directions
- can hover in air
- He sends a powerful slash attack forward, which will deal a lot of damage if hit. (Shockwave kind of attack.)
- can charge up Maverick weapon
- Weapon energy comsumption reduced by 1/3
- Damage taken reduced by 1/2
- No recoil (stun) when taken damage

Parts:
D-Barrier - Doubles the invulnerability time after X has taken a hit.
D-Converter - Convert damage into weapon energy.
Buster Plus - Increase X-buster damage
U-Buster - Always fire charged shot. (Can unlease charged Z-Saber as well.)

Limited Part:
Life Recover - An extra Sub Tank, basically.

Blade Armor is capable of carrying 2 E-Tanks and 1 W-Tank.


(I'm running out of time, schoolwork..)

Cloud has fought more worthy opponents in my mind in FFVII, namely the Ultimate Weapons, Emerald and Ruby, so this is in no way a cut and dry match as some may be making it out to be.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with Titus on this. There's a big difference between a robot having defenses against a normal sword, and a robot having defenses against the Ultima Weapon. Hell, the Ultima Weapon isn't even technically metal, it's a weird half-energy, half matter composite if anything.

X running on Bamboo? Please. He's made of fucking metal! A goddamn babmoo shoot isn't going to hold him up any more than it would a Howitzer.

And let's not neglect the weather conditions...

edited for minor grammar adjustments and restructuring of the text.. apparently that is important

Imo including bamboo in this fight is pointless;
one character is using a giant blade and the other is using high energy mech destroying weapons... the entire field would be barren in the first 10 seconds of fighting.

Is the "hadoken" ability of X in Megaman X legal?
This ability is, after all, not entered as a cheat code but rather a secret ability that can be found in the armadillo stage that is designed to be very difficult to obtain.
In any case, due to the fact that Cloud is from a RPG game, he doesnt move that much even when being attacked.
The "hadoken" ability of X is a one hit kill on everything it is capable of hitting in Megaman X.
Therefore, X should not have a hard time hitting Cloud with a "hadoken" and ending the battle.

If "hadoken" is not allowed, or using the structure of an rpg game as a weakness is unfair, or maybe you say that cloud can deflect the "hadoken" with his sword:
X never seems to get tired from all the running and dashing he does in all the games he is in, so I think it would be safe to say he has infinite movement endurance. So, X could run and dash around until the end of time with Cloud chasing him around with his gigantic blade in tow.
Now, given the aforementioned infinite movement, and the addition of the aiming laser and the head upgrade (allowing X to use the laser infinitely) from Megaman X4, not only can X run around forever keeping a safe distance and preventing most possible chances for Cloud to deal damage, but X can run around forever shooting a laser that aims automatically with Cloud cursing and screaming in frustration.
Cloud would eventually succumb to the laser or run out of breath.

Post here, this is ridiculous. This is a big match and no one is putting in much of an arguement for either side...

My two favorite characters... you can't do this to me!

EDIT: But it'd be cool if X won, and X fought Sigma in the Finals.

Apparently, Cloud is able to fly in kingdom hearts, which could be a huge advantage.
I could see Cloud flying around and then shooting things like meteorain or finishing touch or blade beam, but those would take time to do while X can continuously shoot. Added also X has an assortment of different style weapons.. including one that can automatically aim.
Of course being the Cloud's Ultima Weapon is extremely powerful it may be possible for Cloud to use the sword as a shield blocking any attempted projectiles sent by X.
Cloud could.. for example.. while in flight, charge at X (perhaps from behind) with sword in front blocking projectiles and then get in close for an omnislash or cross slash or whatever.
X may whip out the saber up close too.. but i don't think the saber would be as powerful as the Ultima Weapon.
X may be able to dash away in time as well though.

Cloud will win if no one else steps in.

Just a few thing.

meteorain, finishing touch, blade beam, cross slash or omnislash are Limit Break so cloud need to be hurt lot to use them once. So he cannot use them often.

Cloud never blocked any projectile with his sword. So it's either cause he aint skilled enought to do it or that the sword wouldnt resist. So it's most likely not skilled enought.

Or maybe it was because because he was mostly in RPGs, where you dodge, I don't remember anyone "blocking."

If I remember correctly, in either Ergheiz or Kingdom Hearts, I'm 95% sure he blocked with his sword.

In terms of Mobility, X has the advantage here. His movement is fast, he can double jump, air-dash, double air-dash in some series with leg upgrade, hovering, (In Blade Armor), deal damage to enemy during air-dash, dash jump, wall jump, (No wall in this arena, but he can...) Kick jump right off the wall, which, I think he can do that using the Bamboo.

Keep in mind that he is fully capable of attacking while he's jumping, dashing, etc. His fast movements will not reduce his abilities to attack.

As I have mentioned in my previous post, with U-Buster equipped, X can shoot fully charged shot everytime, or use his charged Z-Saber. The power of charged Z-Saber is not to be underestimated, for it destroys most enemies in one hit. Of course, Cloud could block it, but it may give such an impact which will break his blocking and give X another chance to attack.

His charged shot will leave an energy field (which stays for a few seconds) and it will deal damage to the enemies. This would restrict Cloud's movement. X can even take the defensive stance, keeping a distance from Cloud and just shoot Charged Buster at Cloud. (It consumes no energy)

When Cloud gets near, X can either pull out his Z-Saber, or double jump/Air-dash away. (I forgot to mention, X is semi-invulnerable in his Air-dash. Like...he only takes damage when he's close to landing, which should be far away.)

What if X gets hit? From the previous battle, I've mentioned his D-Barrier. X will be invulnerable for the next few seconds after he gets hit. It is not possible to land multiple hits to X. By equipping the D-Barrier part, the length of his invulnerable period doubles. So, keep that in mind.

I haven't even taken the charged Maverick weapons into account yet. Most of the maverick weapons are deadly when charged, (whole screen attack, such as meteor shower, acid rain, etc) the downside is that they consume energy. With blade armor however, the energy consumptions are just 1/3. X has 1 W-Tank which complete refills every single weapon X has. (8 in total) All of the charged Maverick weapons will deal damage to the opponent. (they may not do full damage every time, but moderate damage is unavoidable)

About the weather condition, I don't see how it will effect X. Well, X has fought under water, and it hardly has any effect on his performance. (Except the fact the he could jump and dash even further...)

P.S. One more thing, I don't think you can block energy shoot. Charged Shot are pure (Or mainly) energy.

do i detect a little bias titusfied? heh

it can be blocked.. there are numerous examples in the game
ones i can take off the top of my head are:
mmx1: armored armadillo uses padding on his arm
mmx4: split mushroom stage.. while running up the stairs those machines with the movable shields
mmx4: frost walrus stage the miniboss in certain forms creates a shell that blocks attacks

in any case being that

Ultima Weapon isn't even technically metal, it's a weird half-energy, half matter composite if anything

i would think that it should have the ability to deflect any concentrated energy in the form of projectiles or at the very least be able to absorb the impact or partially the energy in the shot

cloud can fly.. thus the energy field left behind doesnt leave a lot of hindrance.. slight change of his course in flying to go around the field would solve that and the field doesnt last forever.. additionally, the buster takes charging time to shoot the power shot

and now a huge disadvantage that i have now thought of for X is that his buster can only shoot horizontally.. imagine cloud flying higher than X can jump.. this would render the buster virtually useless against cloud as well as some other weapons

bleh nvm its raining heavily
in any case i dont think the bamboo could hold up X
and would quickly be cleared out with a couple of shots from X

btw the weather and the bamboo was most likely intended to give cloud an advantage.. being able to hide within the bamboo forest and the weather bolstering his lightning based attacks
but i dont think it works because the energy weapons of X would easily clear out the entire forest with little to no effort (he would probably do it unintentionally just shooting) and i seriously doubt cloud would be stupid enough to try to charge X head on being that X could murder him with projectiles.. thus cloud would use his ability to fly
and cloud casting spells would take too much time while X just blasts the hell out of him as it does not take time for him to use the numerous maverick weapons and X has powerups that allow him to use them infinitely

Im not sure who said cloud has to be hurt to use limit break. Wrong, limit breaks are anger controlled. If im not mistaken in ff7 they go up by themselves. Also, seeing as how you cant use materia here, cloud probably wont win. You guys are taking into consederation that when the ff7 warriors fought any big monster their main skills were material. Very very seldom could you beat any real chalanger without the use of materia.

Sh0e what game have you been playing?!?!? Cloud cant fly...