Mega Man Zero 4: Final Stage (No Damage Challenge Run)

Mega Man Zero 4, no damage walkthrough of Ragnarok Core (Final Stage - Dr. Weil). This challenge playthrough is ran on a New Game+ Ultimate Mode file. Most of Ultimate's perks aren't being used - it's mostly ran just for cosmetics (AKA why my color palette is so much more red than default Zero), as Ultimate has the same difficulty as normal mode. I'm only using Hacker Elf level 2 (well, technically level 3, since apparently I forgot to turn that off. Doesn't make a gameplay difference anyway, lol) and Animal Elf level 1 for the entire run. This NG+ file also does not have anything but the Rolling Chip unlocked (which activates the Rolling Slashes). All EX Skills will be earned naturally through my no damage run's routing. In case you need it reiterated here, this is the challenge run's specifications and rules:
-No Damage (Duh)
-No Charge Attacks (This includes buster EX Skills.)
-100 points on EVERY mission.
-No Buster Shot (Not even lemons.)
-No Junk Armor (This chip combination gives double damage, so bosses will survive a little longer from combos.)
-No Double Jump (Final stage is excluded. I'm free to use it there... because it's boring as heck in the boss rush without it.)
Ragnarok Core (Dr. Weil) analysis:
This. Was. Hell.
Not going to waste your time on trying to justify my end ranking, because you know good and well why it's that high. This boss rush beats Mega Man Zero 1's by a long shot, mainly because there's non-manipulative RNG to deal with in EVERY boss fight here. You might be thinking, "But Magnus, you fought them before, and their RNG didn't mess with you there!"
Yeah, well, guess what? I DIDN'T HAVE TO FIGHT THEM ALL IN A GAUNTLET BEFORE.
This is the first and only Zero game that brought back the full 8 boss rush room from the Classic and X series, and having to fight them all back-to-back while dealing with their randomized patterns and stalling shenanigans is very stupid. This final stage drains every ounce of energy you can possibly muster, if you're trying to no damage AND play under these restrictions. It got to the point where you'll now see why I made an exception to the No Double Jump rule here: the boss fights like Pegasolta and Titanion can waste a HELL of a lot of time without it, if they give crappy patterns like they did to me here. And double jump also helps make Genblem's laser lag a lot less stressful to deal with, since mashing the double can mitigate that issue. It's such a big endurance round that things which normally won't be a problem CAN be, since your execution will falter more and more as you progress.
The actual stage segments themselves aren't even worth explaining. Yeah, the final stretch before Weil can get a bit dicey, but with the amount of friggin retries I had with this stage (I had WELL over a thousand. That might be an underestimated retry count. I couldn't keep count, man...), those segments were so drilled in my head that I practically Ultra Instincted through them - My friggin' FINGERS with muscle memory executed those segments to perfection without much brain power or attention.
Dr. Weil himself isn't a huge threat, but considering his first form can either make things go super fast, or drag out due to RNG, he's definitely a more stressful boss to fight with good execution, compared to Zero 3 with Omega. Weil's overall a more competent final boss in comparison. I wouldn't put him up there as some super hard boss (far from that), but he's not one to be underestimated. I factored in the fatigue and weakened execution into his ranking, as you really have to take all that into consideration if you're doing this stage in one sitting. Unless you're purely speedrunning or casually running, you'll be mentally exhausted by the time you make it to him, which makes dodging what could be easy into a bit of a challenge.
Phew.
All right, this run's done, man. Despite the huge trials and tribulations I went through with the final stage, this was a very fun run to do, and I still feel it's one of my better runs so far on the channel. Thanks for tuning into this run.
Also, stop asking me to run ZX. I really have no idea how many times I must repeat myself on why I'm not running it yet...
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My Zero Series Tech Guide: • Mega Man Zero Series: ...
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Credits:
Challenge Rules BGM: Xenogears OST - Invasion
Outro/Highlights: Mega Man Zero 4 - Inside of a Flame ( Remastered OST)
Background animations - SUNARI VFX, Luna Gualano
All copyright material and game belongs to Capcom
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