Spike Rosered

"Are you a thief or something? You can't just take what you want that easily. Go home, kid. Otherwise I'll call the Maverick Hunter."

- Spike Rosered

Spike Rosered (スパイク・ローズレッド), also known as Axle the Red, is a rose-based Reploid from Mega Man X5. He possessed the Orbiter Engine, which was a part necessary for the Space Shuttle.

Characteristics
Spike Rosered is a Reploid with a design influenced by the roses of his environment. His wrists and his entire head resemble red roses, with one petal drooping over his face like a lock of hair. His armor is predominantly green, and forms leaf-like shapes around his shoulders. He also has a thorny vine wrapped all the way up and around his right leg.

Spike Rosered was an eccentric and dangerous individual with a mysterious past. He originated from a very rare mutation between a Reploid, the nature control unit of a Ukrainian jungle, and the Sigma Virus. As the process and cause of this mutation could not be determined, it was believed that this strange evolution could create a threat more serious than the virus itself. Thus, Rosered hid himself away in the abandoned Repliforce military base in the jungle that Guerrilla Commander Web Spider was once in charge of before his termination at the Hunters' hands. He didn't care what happened to Earth as he would be able to steal anything he wants during the panic. Rosered also expressed disapproval of the Hunters' methods, citing the Repliforce incident from Mega Man X4 when playing as Zero. In the same conversation, he also implies that he wasn't even familiar with what the term "Maverick" meant. Despite his distaste for the Maverick Hunters' methods, however, he does seem to at least be willing to request for them if needs be, as when confronting X for the Orbital Engine part, he threatens to call the Maverick Hunters if X doesn't leave after accusing him of being a thief.

The Hunters arrived at the jungle for the Orbiter Engine to power their Space Shuttle to destroy the descending Eurasia colony. He refuses to give it to them, citing his disapproval of their methods in determining which Reploids are deemed Mavericks and which ones are not. Thus, they are forced to engage him in battle and destroy him, taking the Orbiter Engine from him by force.

Strategy
Spike Rosered starts by jumping around and attacking with spiked balls. Afterwards he will create copies and attack with his spiked whip. If he catches the player's character with his whip, he will drain their life energy. Though, he shouldn't be too difficult to fight, even with his clone activated. As a plant-based Maverick, he is weak to Burn Dinorex's fire attacks, Ground Fire and Quake Blazer. If the player defeats him, X will gain his Spike Ball and Zero will learn the Twin Dream ability.

Attacks

 * Spike Rope (スパイクロープ) - Spike Rosered uses this attack until he loses 25% of his health. He uses his vines to form a purple spiked ball and throws it. The ball bounces around for some time before disappearing. He usually follow up by throwing one or two green spiked balls in the player's current position, which will remain in place for a while. The balls can be destroyed by the player.


 * Alter Ego (分身 Bunshin) - Rosered creates a copy of himself. The copy's behavior depends of Rosered's health. Initially it lasts for a brief moment, but after losing 25% of his health it will last longer, jumping a few times before disappearing and assisting with the Rose Whip attack.


 * Rose Whip (ローズウィップ) - Spike Rosered starts using this after losing 25% of his health. Rosered attacks with a spiked vine whip that can grab his opponent and slowly reduce energy until the victim breaks free. If in range, the first attack can be avoided by crouching or jumping, while the second can only be avoided by jumping. Sometimes the copy will use this attack at the same time.


 * Rose Cutter (ローズカッター) - Spike Rosered starts using this after losing 50% of his health. He launches four sharp petals from his head upward, and they will slowly fall down. The petals can be destroyed.

Other appearances
Spike Rosered is fought alongside Commander Yammark and Wire Sponge in two stages from the X Challenge mode in Mega Man X Legacy Collection and Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2.

When playing as X
Needing the Orbiter Engine= Spike Rosered: What do you want with me?

X: Nothing. I just want the Orbiter Engine.

Spike Rosered: Are you a thief or something? You can't just take what you want that easily. Go home, kid. Otherwise I'll call the Maverick Hunter.

X: Do as you wish. Now. Tell me where the Engine is!

Spike Rosered: I told you. You can't get it so easily. You'll have to fight me for it.

X: If that is the easiest way to persuade you, so be it.

Spike Rosered: Hey... You'd better watch your mouth... I'll do whatever it takes to win! Let the battle begin! Without needing the Orbiter Engine= Spike Rosered: Hey! Did you hear that?! They say the Earth will be completely destroyed! Everyone is in a panic, I assume, and... Wait... That means we can steal anything we want, doesn't it?

X: What a pathetic thief you are! Is that all you care about?!

Spike Rosered: Hey, we can work together and split the rewards. Or do you want to fight me? If so, I'll treat you... It'll be fun, because you look strong... If you lose, you'll be my servant! Now, let's fight!

When playing as Zero
Needing the Orbiter Engine= Spike Rosered: Are you the one they call Zero?

Zero: That's no concern of yours. Just give me the Orbiter Engine.

Spike Rosered: So, what they say about Maverick Hunters is true: Extremely pushy and threatening. They will terminate you if you stand in their way...

Zero: Hey, I don't care what you think or what you heard, but we only retire Mavericks.

Spike Rosered: Mavericks, huh...? And it's up to you who gets put in that category... I heard you accused the members of the Repliforce of being Mavericks... What are Mavericks, anyway...?

Zero: Wait a minute, that's not true...!

Spike Rosered: I'll show you exactly what people think when they get retired...! Without needing the Orbiter Engine= Spike Rosered: Excuse me, but... Are you the one they call Zero?

Zero: You don't need to know.

Spike Rosered: You are a Maverick Hunter, right? Tell me what will happen to the Earth! It seems the Earth is in very serious trouble.

Zero: ............

Spike Rosered: When you die, you will meet all of the Reploids you have retired. Then you will know what they felt when they were retired... What you did to them... In fact, I'm going to expedite your journey... and show you myself... Prepare to be retired, Hunter!

Archie Comics
Spike Rosered appears in Worlds Unite as part of Sigma-1's army of Mavericks, who briefly menace the crew of the Sky Patrol before dispersing to various worlds to set up their master's Unity Engines.

Rockman X5 (manhua)
Spike Rosered appeared in the Rockman X5 manhua, where he was modified by Shining Firefly and Sigma, gaining teeth and carrying the Sigma Virus. He bit Zero and infected him with the virus, turning him into a Maverick. Later, in Sigma's base, X is attacked by Sigma, Spike Rosered, Burn Dinorex, Spiral Pegasus and a Maverick Zero. X applied the cure he had to the virus on Zero, causing him to go on a rampage before returning to normal, defeating Spike Rosered, Burn Dinorex and Spiral Pegasus in the process.

Production Notes
Developer Comments

"His rose motif was decided early on. I had a nasty thought that, being a rose, he'd probably be a flashy/conceited jerk, so I modeled him on the Kakyoin in me. (grin) [Note: It might refer to the character Noriaki Kakyoin from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.] With the idea for Zero's learned skill pretty much undecided, it was a tough job. I get the feeling the Twin Vision was the last skill to be decided upon."

Designer Comments

"At any rate, since he's a rose, I tried not designing him simply in that object's form, but forming his silhouette so that when he spreads his arms, he gives an overall physical impression of a "flowerpot rose." By the way, I found out in researching roses that they come in a whole variety of shapes and colors."

Trivia

 * In the original American release, Spike Rosered was renamed as Axle the Red after Axl Rose, the lead singer of the rock band Guns N' Roses. It served well due to the fact that Spike Rosered is based on a rose, and there are guns (actually cannons) and roses in the background of his stage.
 * The name of his stage theme, "Into the Jungle!", may possibly be a reference to the Guns N' Roses song "Welcome to the Jungle".
 * In terms of ability, he's like Split Mushroom before him, who in turn is like Gemini Man from the original Mega Man series.
 * Despite being named Axle the Red in the original NTSC release, he is colored mostly green. The red part of his name may be linked to his rose theme.
 * In English releases, Spike Rosered's original American name and Metal Shark Player are the only Mavericks with three-word names.
 * Spike Rosered's sprites seem to have been reversed in the game as his leg covered by vines is the right one on the artwork but the left one on the sprites. Another change from artwork to sprites is that his petals seem to be dehydrated and about to fall while in the game.
 * In the prototype version of Mega Man X5, Split Mushroom can be fought in Spike Rosered's stage; this can only be accessed through the use of a GameShark code.
 * In the Rockman X5 manhua (as seen in the above picture), Spike Rosered has sharp teeth (probably usually covered by his mouth plate).
 * His vine attack acts like Wire Sponge's Strike Chain.