X's armors

Armors used by X in the Mega Man X series.

X's standard armor
This is the body X was created with. It is blue, with lighter blue at the joints. In Mega Man X4, if players use the Ultimate Armor code, X's joint areas will be purple, rather than light blue.

New Armor
The New Armor allows X to equip the Booster Parts he finds in the mines, as well as multiple Busters. It is a stockier armor than X's original. The most notable difference are the openings in the back, which, while X is moving, produce energy trails referred to in-game as a "scarf" ("Beam Muffler" in Japan). While this armor isn't traditionally exchangeable (excluding X Fire and Ultimate Armor), the scarf's color can be replaced with different colors.

Mega Man X Armor
The Mega Man X Armor, also known unofficially as the First Armor by fans, is the first armor that Mega Man X obtains in the Mega Man X series. It made its debut appearance in Mega Man X.

Mega Man X2 Armor
The Mega Man X2 Armor, also known unofficially as the Second Armor by fans, is the second Normal Armor that Mega Man X obtains in the Mega Man X series. It made its first appearance in Mega Man X2.
 * Note: This is the first Armor to begin the tradition of reducing Weapon energy usage. Completing the full set of armor grants the secret benefit of reducing X's Weapon Energy usage by half.

Mega Man X3 Armor

 * Note: The armor lacks an official name in the game itself, but the respective Bandai model kit is named "Max Armor", and the golden version is named "Hyper Special".

Max Armor (マックスアーマー) is the armor from Mega Man X3. When X obtains the Hyper Chip, it gains a golden color and becomes the Hyper Special (ハイパースペシャル) armor.

Mega Man X4 Armor
The Fourth Armor (フォースアーマー), sometimes called the "Force Armor", is an all-around armor first found in Mega Man X4. In its debut game, it was collected in four parts and slowly became more powerful as the parts were collected, similar to armors found in the previous games.

The armor can also be obtained in Mega Man X5. If X is chosen at the Character Select screen at the start of a new game, he will begin the game with the armor equipped. The second Arm Capsule ability is in effect, enabling the Plasma Shot, but the effects of the Helmet Part are disabled for the duration of the game. The Nova Strike is also unavailable. If Zero is chosen instead, the armor will become damaged in the first stage and made unusable for the remainder of the game.

Falcon Armor
The Falcon Armor (ファルコンアーマー) is found in Mega Man X5. The main feature is a flight function, which allows multi-directional maneuvering in a Nova Strike-like air dash. While in flight, X is invulnerable to everything except for instant-kill objects such as spikes and lasers. However, it sacrifices the ability to charge special weapons for this feat. The Falcon Armor's charged shot is a small, fast-moving, thin beam similar in appearance to a needle. The shot can pierce through walls and shields.

In Mega Man X6, X begins the game with the Falcon Armor. Alia had to repair it quickly, and its flight function is unavailable for the entire game. The charged shot is now essentially a fast-moving, smaller projectile with no piercing properties, but can now charge weapons.

Gaea Armor
Gaea Armor (ガイアアーマー) is found in Mega Man X5. It is a heavy armor that sacrifices maneuverability and special weapons in exchange for both greater offensive and defensive strength.

The armor grants X complete immunity to spikes at all times, as well as mitigating the damage he receives. Additionally, X is surrounded by a green field which pushes back blocks with a tell-tale "V" on them when he dashes, and his grabbing strength is increased, allowing him to hang onto walls without sliding indefinitely.

Blade Armor
The Blade Armor (ブレードアーマー) is an armor focused on mobility and using the Z-Saber (which is physically adapted into X's buster, rather than a separate entity). The most significant feature is an upgraded air-dash. If the jump or dash buttons are pressed while X is airborne, X will freeze mid-air until the button is released. After this, he will perform a quick air dash that covers a lot of distance. X can air-dash vertically or horizontally, a feature from Mega Man X3, and he can also air-dash down.

Shadow Armor
The Shadow Armor is a modified version of the Gaea Armor from Mega Man X5. It keeps many of the main features of the Gaea Armor, including invulnerability to instant-kill spikes, being able to hold on to walls without sliding down them, and the lack of an air dash. The Shadow Armor sacrifices the Gaea Armor's ability to push V-Blocks while dashing for a ninja-like maneuver. The X-Buster has been heavily modified for the Shadow Armor. X's normal shot fires shurikens, and behaves similar to the C-Shot from Mega Man X5.

Glide Armor
The Glide Armor is found in Mega Man X7. It is different from the armors in Mega Man X5 and Mega Man X6 in that it can be collected one piece at a time, slowly getting stronger with every part, in contrast to X5 and X6 in which all parts of the armors must be collected to be functional. Also, X can remove the armor and be used without it once it has been fully assembled. It is a fairly all-around armor, as it is the only armor in the game.

Neutral Armor
The Neutral Armor gives X no enhancements on its own. However, it has the ability to mix and match parts of the other two armors to give a customized group of abilities. Having a complete suit will unlock the Giga ability of that armor. It will, upon completing a set, glow more brightly, compared to a dull glow as an incomplete armor.

X Fire
The X Fire (Ｘファイア) is X's Hyper Mode in Mega Man X: Command Mission. It is a special armor system that focuses on melee combat and is Fire-elemental. In this state, X's LE and attack increase by 50%, his speed and WE gain increase by 25% and he takes half damage from attacks. X's buster is replaced with a tri-pronged attachment called the "X Collider" that stuns with electricity, much like a taser, and can be charged with his Action Trigger to use the "Charge Collider". X's sub weapons are replaced by a Power Charge and a Shell Buster. It however, cannot be used indefinitely and has a cooldown phase, reverting X back to normal after some turns. It presumably does not have long range combat capabilities.

Ultimate Armor
X4-6 Ultimate Armor - The Ultimate Armor is an upgraded version of the Fourth Armor. This armor is usually secret, activated by using a code before starting the game. In X5, however, X can get the armor without using the code (thus, retaining the Force Armor as well). X also uses this armor during his battle against Zero in the same game. It is always given to X as a whole, though the Capsule shows an image of the Ultimate Armor Helmet. For reasons unknown, the Ultimate Armor is black in X6. Command Mission Ultimate Armor - The second Hyper Mode of X, obtainable after defeating Rafflesian. A stark change in appearance from previous armors in terms of design, but the color-scheme is back to the white, blue, red, and yellow detailing.

Clear Armor

 * Note: Japanese names will be used for best effect, with English names in brackets, due to the Japan-only release.

During the first Rockman X Mega Mission, upon defeating the first Irregular (Maverick), Wire Hetimarl Limited, (Wire Sponge L), a Limited parasite was released, and infected X, giving him the very powerful Clear Buster (クリアバスター). Later on, after defeating all eight Irregulars, the Clear Buster evolved to the Clear High Buster (クリアハイバスター) during the fight against Schmitt. During fighting the unleashed iX (named so to differentiate 'Ikusu' pronunciation from Rockman X's 'Ekkusu'), X gains the full Clear Armor (クリアアーマー). The armor is then destroyed by iX's final attack before him perishing.

Replicapture

 * Note: Japanese names will be used for best effect, with English names in brackets, due to the Japan-only release. Even though its not an armor, it is similar to one.

After defeating four of the Irregulars (Mavericks), and then passing out, X is captured by the Order Breakers. When the remaining four Irregulars are defeated by Zero, Zero verses X. The reason behind this is that Tackione had used a Limited created by him to control X and make him fight (and kill) Zero. The Limited resembles an armor with tubes connecting to X's arms and legs. It was destroyed by Zero and X returned to normal.

Giga Armor
The Giga Armor (ギガアーマー) was used by X in the fight against Tackione's final form. As Zero was tired because of his previous battles, he gave all his remaining energy to X, along with the Neo Armor and Neo Buster. The armor became the Giga Armor, a powerful armor equipped with the Giga Buster and Giga Saber (Tackione's Saber Grap). With it, X is able to use the Giga Crush attack, which destroyed both Tackione and the Giga Armor itself by using all of its energy.

EX Armor / All-X Armor
The EX Armor (イクスアーマー) was obtained by X when Return X decided to suspend their fight and temporarily join with X and Zero to become the two EX Armors. After defeating the Hyper Limited Irregulars when formed together as Mix Forte, Enemice used his Sigma Chip to turn into Sigma Limited, and knocked down Zero. When Zero got unconscious, the part of Return X that was on him attached to X, becoming the All-X Armor (アルイクスアーマー). X and Return X combined their busters into a powerful attack that defeated Sigma Limited, but the armor vanished because of the amount energy used, presumably destroying Return X.

Trivia

 * Armors have always had one red, triangular or diamond-shaped crystal situated in the forehead. The first and only armor to not have this is the Neutral Armor and its variations. It appears to be situated on the front of the collar instead and changes color depending on the version of this armor, however a glowing triangle is visible on his forehead.


 * In Mega Man X8, due to design changes, X's armor was slimmed down in the arms and legs, to give him a more streamlined appearance. Also, his head crystal was increased in size.


 * Excluding X8, there is always at least one armor that has a white base with blue, yellow and red details. This includes the special armors from X1-4 and the Falcon, Blade, and Glide armors.


 * The Plasma Shot, besides the regular charged shot, is the most used special charge attack in the games (mostly due to it being in the Ultimate Armor). It existed in X4-6, and then again in X8.


 * Like the Plasma Shot, the Nova Strike is also the most used Giga Attack.


 * The Armor from X1 is sometimes referred to as the Light Armor by fans, due to it being the first special armor created by Dr Light; setting the standard for nearly every armor afterwards.
 * Similarly, the X2 Armor is sometimes called the Giga Armor in reference to the Giga Crush provided by the Body Part. However, this conflicts with the Giga Armor from the Mega Mission 2 trading card story.
 * Likewise, fans sometimes refer to the X3 armor as the Max Armor, and it's gold version as the Gold Max Armor.
 * The Shadow Armor is likely refrencing Shadow Man, due to the armor looking like Shadow Man and the armor's weapon being similar to the Shadow Blade. Being ninja-themed is also a similarity.