Shining Firefly

"My work is not for Maverick Hunters. I've never trusted your approach. Therefore, I won't cooperate with you."

- Izzy Glow

Izzy Glow, known as Shining Hotarunicus (シャイニング・ホタルニクス) in Japan, is a character from the Mega Man X series. Izzy Glow was a reclusive firefly-based Reploid Doctor of Engineering and the world's leading researcher in laser technology.

He rarely allowed any of his work to see the light of day, out of fear that they would be used to create weapons. One of his creations, the Laser Device, was one of the necessary parts needed for the Enigma cannon. But, due to the large scale virus outbreak he was already infected by the time the Maverick Hunters arrived at his lab near the Kuril Islands. While still in his right mind, he asked the Hunters to put him down before he becomes a Maverick.

Strategy
He teleports about, shooting F-Laser firefly shots, and firing large laser beams from his abdomen. Electricity is his weakness, so use Tri-Thunder if playing as X or E-Blade if playing as Zero.

Powers and Abilities

 * Body Blow (体当たり) - Izzy Glow will teleport around the room and fly at his opponent's direction to cause contact damage. This is his main attack and becomes faster as he takes damage.
 * Will Laser (ウィルレーザー, F-Laser) - Izzy Glow will launch a firefly-shaped robot that target the position of the player. The firefly also leaves a light trail right behind it, and it will break after a while. X gains this attack as a Special Weapon once he defeats Izzy Glow.
 * Prism Laser (プリズムレーザー) - Izzy Glow will start firing a horizontal laser attack after losing 25% of his health, and he will also fire it vertically after losing 75% of his health.
 * Prism Shot (プリズムショット) - Only used when he loses 75% of his health. Eight lights appear on the floor, then light balls fly.

Stage enemies

 * Sub-boss: Prism Guardian
 * Death Press D
 * Hotarion
 * Metall T
 * Prism Generator
 * Sigma Virus

When playing as X
Needing the Laser Device= Izzy Glow: What a graceful entrance...

X: This laboratory is so badly infected by the virus, there's no other way for me to enter.

Izzy Glow: Humph! You Hunters always do that... My work is not for Maverick Hunters. I've never trusted your approach. Therefore, I won't cooperate with you.

X: Doctor... I don't have time to argue with you. Please understand.

Izzy Glow: My body... has already been infected, too. I realize I may have been wrong... But it's too late to change now... I've made up my mind... Now, let me rest in peace!

When playing as Zero
Needing the Laser Device= Zero: Dr. Izzy Glow, will you do us a favor?

Izzy Glow: My work is not for Maverick Hunters. I've never trusted your approach. Therefore, I won't cooperate with you. However... I find you fascinating... No one has ever managed to analyze the infamous X and Zero... But it's too late... Soon, I'll be one of the Mavericks... It's time... I'll have to learn about you through battle. Now... put me out of my misery! Without needing the Laser Device= Zero: Dr. Izzy Glow... Oh, am I too late?

Izzy Glow: Yes, you are. I've already been infected by the Virus. However, I'm still interested in you. X and Zero, whom nobody has ever succeeded in analyzing... I guess my only hope is to analyze you by fighting you before I lose myself completely and become a Maverick... Now, fight me. And put me out of my misery!

Archie Comics
Izzy appears in the Archie Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Boom crossover event Worlds Unite, which also includes the X franchise. He is one of numerous Mavericks cloned by Sigma-1 to form an army and goes by his Japanese name of Shining Firefly.

Production Notes
Developer Comments "This boss was also settled on from the start. He's not plain evil, he's an intelligent, stubborn professor. I think he got a design that nicely echoes my mental image of him. There's actually a goof-up, though...I screwed up his coloring in the middle of designing him. There were two versions, red and yellow, and I'd decided on yellow, but things went crazy and I had a dot picture made with the unaccepted red. I noticed this at the last stages of the development, but by then it was too late."

Designer Comments "The majority of an actual firefly's body is blackish, so I designed him that way, but I didn't want to get people thinking, "Is this a cockroach?" I thus considered red, yellow, or white (doctor's coat) schemes, ultimately choosing red. He's a red-faced old man. His white mustache and glasses convey his scientist feel."

"I was told that Firefly would be a sort of professor like character, so that could only mean two things: glasses and distinguished facial hair! The red stripe I put along the top of his head is supposed to be a sort of bald look." -Haruki Suetsugu, Mega Man X Official Complete Works, 2009

Trivia

 * In the American version, Izzy Glow was named after Izzy Stradlin, the former guitarist of the rock band Guns N' Roses.
 * Interestingly, Izzy Glow's wings are orange in his official artwork, but his in-game sprite's wings are green.