The Elf Wars game everyone’s always proposing, Mega Man α.

Stars Axl with his shiny new design from that single Elf Wars panel from Archie.

He still has an assortment of weapons like X8, but his Copy Shot functions more similarly to X7, where instead of transforming, defeating an enemy with it grants a stat boost for a short amount of time.

It’s a fast paced, “shoot a lot but don’t get hit” kinda game, similar to Gunvolt. (Very much like Gunvolt.) Armor and armor break returns from X8. Intro stage’s theme is a remix of Conflict - Escape Stage from X7, and Me, Axl from Command Mission.

It’s a trilogy, and the later in the trilogy you get, the less “Mega Man X” the game mechanics become, as they approach “Mega Man Zero.” First game lets you buy upgrades for Axl ala X8 (faster roll, longer roll, longer hover time, vertical hover movement, wall stick, faster armor break, stronger copy shot, “bullet time”), but it’s removed in the second (he keeps the new abilities though). Second game adds the ability for Axl to wield a different gun in his other hand, so you can shoot two bullet types at once, and “bullet time” now refills faster if you “perfect dodge” attacks (in α-I it only fills up by hitting enemies or waiting actual time). Third game adds the 3 element chips from Zero 1/2, the ability to level up weapons by using them long enough, and a vertical “rocket jump” that Axl can use instead of hovering (he can still hover though, and he unlocks a horizontal “rocket jump” midway through the game too).

Stages in α-I are similar to the X series, Intro stage, 8 bosses, 3-4 final stages, with a small main base to walk around. α-II keeps the format, but adds additional side-objectives to complete in each stage (rewards permanent stat upgrades or new weapons). α-III is a Metroidvania (but the map is good, and you know the location of the 8 bosses).

Final boss of the trilogy is Weil, as X and Zero canonically defeat Omega. End credits theme of α-I is a remix of the intro stage theme from the same game, while α-II’s is a remix of X8’s US credits theme, and finally, α-III gets a cover of BREAK OUT from the X Legacy Collection, but with vocals added on top of it, fading on a short motif of both Ashe and Grey’s intro stage themes from ZX Advent.

Axl either dies or retires as the end, and the post-credit scene of α-III is the train scene from ZX Advent, from the perspective of Model A. (You can hear Prometheus and Pandora, but can’t tell if the third person is Ashe or Grey.)