Sage Harpuia (Legacy)

**Sage Harpuia** is a recurring antagonist in Megaman Zero 1 and Megaman Zero 2, a supporting character in Megaman Zero 3, and a playable character in Megaman Zero Online.

## Bio

"*I am a warrior, born to protect humans. I am a proud warrior of Neo Arcadia! I don't need any help! Even if my body should fall into ruin... I will still gladly fight for humanity!*"
―Sage Harpuia in Megaman Zero 3

Sage Harpuia was created from Copy X's DNA for the purpose of fighting for humanity as a member of the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia. Commander of the Strong Air Battalion, Neo Arcadia's air force, Harpuia manipulates wind and thunder, and fights using the Sonic Blades, twin swords which are part of the Ten Shining Weapons. During the events of Megaman Zero 1 and 2, Sage Harpuia was an antagonist sided with Neo Arcadia, even becoming the leader of Neo Arcadia during Megaman Zero 2. Originally loyal to Copy X and his ideals, he later sided with Zero and the Resistance after Copy X died in Megaman Zero 3.

## Overview

Sage Harpuia's defining mechanic is his ability to airdash. Most of his gameplan revolves around exploiting to his advantage the superior mobility he gets from airdashes, as he is frailer than average at 12hp. This means that any mistakes can be potentially deadly, and that hit & run strategies are encouraged. While as a swordfighter, he shares several of Zero's attacks, his damage output and close-range pressure is awkward and fairly uninpressive. Overall, Harpuia is somewhat hard and awkward to play compared to Zero, but in the hands of the right player, the few things he has going for him can make all the difference.

 * **Air mobility:** Harpuia's airdashes grant him amazing mobility, which he can use for several purposes during battle.
* **Hitboxes:** Many of Harpuia's attacks have good hitboxes, and the 3rd hit of his ground autocombo is a projectile.
* **Speed:** Harpuia has an above average speed, making him one of the fastest characters in the game.
* **Commital buttons:** Harpuia's ground autocombo is slower than Zero's and thus more commital. This means he also has to capitalize on d.B for abare.

## Attacks

### 5B

 * First hit of Harpuia's ground autocombo
* Slightly slower than Zero's own 5B, but has a larger hitbox

Harpuia gets fewer mileage than Zero from his triple slash due to not having a 6B to increase his damage output for free. The slower speed makes it also easier from the opponent to escape, but the bigger hitboxes and 5BBB being a projectile somewhat makes up for it. You're still left with no choice but to use it.

### 5BB

 * Second hit of Harpuia's ground autocombo
* Noticeably slower startup than Zero's 5BB

Slightly quicker recovery than 5BB and that's about it. Reasons why Harpuia's ground autocombo is worse than Zero's are covered in 5B's description.

### 5BBB

 * Third and last hit of Harpuia's ground autocombo
* Unorthodox 5BBB which launches a flinching projectile, goes roughly 1/3 of the screen
* Actually slightly faster startup than Zero's 5BBB
* Can be spaced to increase hit advantage

Not actually useful for zoning due to the somewhat short range as well as being an autocombo ender, however being a projectile makes this a great 5BBB overall, boasting huge horizontal range. Flinching from 1/3 screen away can make all the difference in FFA scrambles. On far hit, Harpuia has all the time in the world to retreat. He can also dash in and potentially get a d.B to continue pressure, but the gap is large.

### j.B

 * No landing lag
* Can be performed from an airdash, doing so will keep dash momentum

Solo j.B can be used in short hops as a poor man's j.B due to the lack of landing lag. Mostly famous due to Harpuia's air autocombo, more info below.

### j.BB

 * Identical framedata to j.B

Harpuia gets extra mileage from his jumping attack compared to the rest of the cast, as his air autocombo allows him to rack up damage in the air way more efficiently than other characters. To land short hop j.BB, it is required to buffer the jump slightly longer than usual, else Harpuia will land before j.BB comes out.

### d.B

 * Harpuia's fastest attack, but has very commital recovery
* Applies for 60f and is affected by Dash attack flinch protection
* Has small forward momentum during the entire animation
* Identical to Zero's d.B (same framedata, hitbox, damage, etc)

Main combo starter, one of the reasons why Harpuia can actually play the game. Because Harpuia has a slower 5B than Zero's and lacks a walking slash, he has to capitalize on his d.B for abare. Otherwise it's the same as Zero's, go wild.

### w.B

 * Can be cancelled at any point of the animation by releasing directions and/or jumping

Harpuia having an air autocombo potentially enables more damaging wall cancel combos by cancelling j.B/j.BB recovery frames into wall slide, otherwise just as niche as Zero's.

### Taunt

 * Can be cancelled at any time by walking/jumping/dashing

Universal taunt.

## Trivia

* Harpuia was the second character to be added in the game.
* In his trailer, Sage Harpuia is shown with a vastly different design, color palette (most white parts of his design being recolored to black), and broken sprites. Due to internal and external complaints towards this design change, Bozo reworked all sprites to restore Harpuia to his original design and color scheme. While this old design has been entirely scrapped, the trailer has not been updated and is still featured on official media such as the Gamejolt page.
	+ Sage Harpuia stands as the only member of the Four Guardians to sport a different design on NightmareVava's spritesheet.
	+ During development, the second, more faithful redesign of Harpuia earned itself the nickname of "Cum Harpuia".