Classic interview reveals why Zero was given a sword

Ever wonder why Zero of the Mega Man X series fights with a sword? We now have the answer, thanks to a newly-translated interview from 1997. In the interview, the Mega Man X4 team explains the decision, as well as the initial push-back against it.

Koji Okohara, Planner: “Looking back at X3, we felt there wasn’t enough difference between the way Zero and X controlled, so we we tried to really distinguish them this time. Zero only gets his sword. And there’s no “charge” ability for his weapon, either.”

Yoshinori Takenaka, Producer: “I remember the vast majority of the developers were against that decision at first, actually.”

Okohara: “Yeah, his sword doesn’t have any reach, and they thought it would make the game too difficult. To address that, we raised his attack power and added Street Fighter-style moves, so he feels completely different from X.”