Mega Man ZX is an action platform game developed by Inti Creates and published by Capcom for Nintendo DS. It was released on July 6, 2006 in Japan, September 12, 2006 in North America, June 20, 2007 in Australia, and June 22, 2007 in Europe. Part of the Mega Man franchise, ZX is set two hundred years after the events of the Mega Man Zero series, and revolves around the efforts of the protagonist to recover powerful ancient artifacts called "Biometals" from the Pseudoroids, evil robots made to harness their power. The game introduces a new open-ended gameplay environment and the ability to select the protagonist's gender, a first in the series. The game received positive reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay and level design, but were divided about its high difficulty level. A sequel, Mega Man ZX Advent, was released the following year, in 2007. The game was later re-released in February 2020 as part of the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. Plot Setting In the year 25XX, humans and Reploids - sentient androids initially created by Dr. Cain prior to Mega Man X - now coexist peacefully, successfully restoring Earth's former nations thanks to the technological efforts of Slither Inc. However, the peace is disrupted by several incidents of Reploids mysteriously going Maverick. Trading between nations became obstructed, forcing the nations to separate into utopian cities. To repel the attacks, people banded together to create the Guardians, a Maverick-fighting defense and investigation force. The group's original leader, Ciel, mysteriously disappeared after an investigation where she discovered a Biometal (a living artifact containing characteristics of someone who lived long ago) called "Model W", which turned her team into Mavericks. In response, Ciel created six new Biometals (based on X, Zero, and the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia) to counter the growing threat. Story A decade prior to the beginning of the story, Vent or Aile (depending on what gender the player chooses) loses his/her mother to a Maverick raid on an amusement park and becomes orphaned. He/she is taken in by Girouette (Giro for short in North America and Europe), the owner of Giro Express (Girouette Express in Japan), a delivery service. Giro is contacted by an unknown person to deliver a package containing Biometal Model X to a rendezvous point in a forest. Vent/Aile and Giro are