Jet Stingray

"I'm impressed that you found me... But your search is over. Get ready X!"

- Jet Stingray

Jet Stingray, known as Jet Stingren (ジェット・スティングレン) in Japan, is a stingray-based Reploid and one of the Maverick bosses in Mega Man X4

History
Jet Stingray is a Reploid who worked his way up the ranks to become a member of the Reploid Navy. He is dedicated to his military career, and had great respect for both General and Colonel. When General announced his move for Reploid independence, there were no question to where his loyalties lay. During the Great Repliforce War, Stingray attacked an underground power station as a distraction to draw in the Maverick Hunters.

When he was chased by the Hunters on Ride Chasers, he fled through the water and had his Repliforce subordinates fend off the Hunters but was eventually caught. Stingray then challenged the Hunters to a duel at sea and was ultimately defeated, his military career and life ending in the very place he had spent so long fighting.

Powers and abilities
Stingray poses excellent mobility as he can dash in either the water or air (Zero will learn this as the technique called Hienkyaku). He can also perform "crashing" attacks while dashing with extreme speed.


 * Ground Hunter - While outside the water, Stingray launches four blue robotic stingrays from his knees that move forward until they hit a wall, then they will move down and crawl back and forth on the ground. After losing half of his life energy, Stingray will launch five red stingrays that will go down sooner if they are positioned under the player.
 * Swoop - Stingray dives in an arc.
 * Body Blow - Used after losing half of his energy. Stingray dashes downward at high speed, then does the same upward.
 * Jet Stream - Used after losing half of his energy. Stingray enters the water and creates a vacuum from the jet turbine on his right arm to pull his opponent in.

Strategy
His weapon, Ground Hunter, is basically small robotic stingrays that run along the ground and up walls seeking out their target. There are two types of miniature stingrays that Stingray will release: blue that he will release from above in sets of four and red which he will start releasing when his health meter changes to yellow. These cause more damage and will also drop down once they are above the player rather than once they run into the far wall. He is incredibly fast and will try to charge into his opponent from any direction. Stingray will also use the jet turbine on his right arm to pull his opponent in.

Ice-based attacks will freeze him momentarily and interrupt his attacks. X can use a well timed Frost Tower to bring him down. With Zero, using Hyouretsuzan on Stingray takes practice. A popular strategy is to have both Hyouretsuzan and Kūenbu. Double jump when Stingray approaches, and then use Hyouretsuzan. One method that can reliably freeze Stingray is to stick to the wall behind him and use Hyouretsuzan once he descends to use his jet turbine, however this can only be used once he is below 50% of his health. If the player has Rakuhouha, it can be used to destroy the Ground Hunters in a tight situation as well as deal moderate damage. While Zero is performing the move he is also invincible, making Jet Stingray's diving attack less of a concern.

Most bosses show the ability that the player will gain during the battle. X's Ground Hunter is obviously the mini-stingrays Jet fires himself. Zero's air dash, or Hienkyaku, is of course based on Jet Stingray's mobility.

It is interesting to note that Jet Stingray's tail does not have a hitbox, either when he is stationary or diving.

When Playing as X
Jet Stingray: I'm impressed that you found me... But your search is over. Get ready X!

When Playing as Zero
Jet Stingray: Argh! He's still after me! Enough already. We settle this now!

Battle Quotes

 * Note: These are only present in the Japanese version of the game.

Archie Comics
Jet Stingray would be among the many Mavericks recreated and unleashed by Sigma-2 in order to invade various worlds through the Genesis Portals so that Sigma could use the Unity Engines to drain their energies and gain god-like power.

Rockman X4 (manga)
Jet Stingray appears in the manga version of Mega Man X4 as a loyal commander of the Repliforce navy. He has great respect and admiration for the Colonel, as he once saved his life during a mission by taking a blast meant for Stingray. He follows along with the Repliforce when they announce their coup d'etat against the human government. Just like in the game, he destroys an entire city on the Colonel's orders, using a remote-controlled device to trigger the explosion. However, he is shown having his Repliforce subordinates evacuate the human civilians from the city of Toraisu first.

Zero arrives on the scene with a Ride Chaser, demanding to know where the Colonel is, and Stingray refuses to tell him. He immediately recognizes Zero due to his red armor and blonde hair, as Colonel previously described Zero to Stingray in a conversation where he exclaimed that Zero was his lifelong rival. Stingray tells his subordinates to flee, saying he will handle Zero all on his own.

He is infuriated over the fact that Zero has chosen to oppose Colonel and the Repliforce, seeing it as a betrayal and insult to the Colonel. After Zero and Stingray battle it out for a while, Stingray's Repliforce subordinates intervene on the scene with Ride Chasers, wanting to aid their commander. Before they can, everyone present is blasted in a surprise attack from the Reploid Self-Defense Forces, who had come to stop Repliforce's coup. The Self-Defense Forces blast Zero because he had previously attacked fellow Maverick Hunters and declared his support for the Repliforce coup as part of his plan to go undercover and take down Repliforce but did not inform anyone of his plan. Thus, they were unaware that Zero was actually on their side. Stingray is clearly anguished over seeing his men wiped out, and he laments their deaths before succumbing to his own wounds from the blasts and perishing as well.

Zero would survive the battle, being rescued by Iris and taken to an undisclosed location where she provides medical treatment for Reploids injured from the ongoing Repliforce war. After waking up, Zero expresses outrage at Stingray for destroying the city of Toraisu. Zero argues that it didn't matter that he evacuated the millions of residents first as he cut off the financial lifeline for those same millions, making it the same as murder in his eyes.

Trivia

 * Though Jet Stingray attacks the player with yellow Ground Hunters while chasing them in his stage, he never uses them in his boss fight.
 * His original Japanese lines painted him as eloquent and boastful, making no implications of hiding.
 * In Ace Attorney 6, another Capcom game, when the character Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin starts playing heavy metal, the guitar chords on the background sound almost identical to Jet Stingray's theme.
 * In Rockman X DiVE, the weapon Howling Storm, known as Stingray (スティングレイ) in Japanese, is based on Jet Stingray. However, the bullet is based on Storm Owl's weapon, Double Cyclone.