Violen

"X, I shall crush you like a tin can!"

- Violen

Violen (バイオレン) is one of the X-Hunters from Mega Man X2. He and his fellow X-Hunters fight to avenge Sigma and resurrect Zero as a Maverick under their control.

Characteristics
Violen is a stocky Reploid with primarily red armor and a pig-like face. He possesses spiked armor around his wrists, shoulders, and neck. Like the other X-Hunters, his feet spike upwards at the tips. His most notable trait is the "hair" protruding from the back of his head, which is composed of metal spike balls ending in one giant flail. He is sometimes seen wearing an orange cape with a raised collar.

Violen is a tough and cocky individual. Possibly due to his design focusing so much on power, his thinking circuitry is incomplete. Not an intellectual in any sense of the word, his rowdy and aggressive behaviors characterize him as the brute force of the organization.

Mega Man X2
Nothing is known of Violen's past. He is one of three X-Hunters, an elite squadron of Mavericks who took over Sigma's rebellion in his absence to continue the war. The rebellion laid low at first, quietly analyzing X and the Maverick Hunters while researching and repairing the parts of Zero recovered from the last battle. However, without Zero's control chip they could not fully resurrect him.

Six months after Sigma's defeat, the Maverick Hunters raid an old factory that is mass-producing weapons and Mechaniloids for the Maverick army. The X-Hunters watch the attack from afar in their Arctic fortress, affirming that they will not underestimate X.

After X destroys two of the eight Mavericks, Violen and the X-Hunters grow anxious. They challenge X to a series of duels, using the rebuilt parts of Zero's body as bait. Violen is the third and final X-Hunter to stop awaiting X's arrival among the stages, but if X defeats him before he leaves, he will relinquish one third of Zero's body - his upper body - before retreating.

Violen later reappears as the boss of X-Hunter Stage 1 to challenge X again. X defeats him, and Violen explodes in utter disbelief.

First Encounter
Encountering him in one of the hidden rooms, his attacks consist of him either flailing his large morning star or shooting sprays of energy pellets from his fingertips. The path of the morning star can sometimes be difficult to judge, at times it will appear to follow an arced pattern that starts wide and gets progressively closer as it returns back to him, but it can also somewhat randomly move outwards again; either way it will bounce about six times before returning to Violen. He can spray his energy pellets one of two ways: in a wide splash pattern while hovering at the top center of the room (it's possible to avoid these by climbing up a wall) and in an arced pattern while on the ground (it is possible, but difficult, to jump over him before he fires). This battle can be very difficult, due to the random pattern of the morning star and the fact that one hit takes off a significant amount of health. His weakness is Bubble Splash, but its short range makes it somewhat difficult to use. However, a charged Bubble Splash (you need X-Buster upgrade first) is more effective, since it will constantly shield you and damage anything it hits. It continues on until you change weapons or you run out from energy. If you charge the Bubble Splash, get near him, and let the splash do the rest. Charged shots or Sonic Slicers are also decent alternatives.

Second Encounter
Violen will be the first X-Hunter encountered in the X-Hunter Stages, but unlike his comrades, he doesn't appear in an alternate battle form, only having a slightly different strategy as Neo Violen (ネオバイオレン). His room is equipped with small platform blocks that Violen will change the position of from time to time; the blocks can work in your favor on occasion, as they will sometime block the morning star. Violen rarely uses his energy spray in this battle, favoring his morning star more, sending it bouncing wildly around the room in even more unpredictable patterns. Just like before Bubble Splash is his weakness, but fully charged shots also work well.

Other appearances

 * Violen has a short appearance with the other X-Hunters in the animated opening scene of the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PC versions of Mega Man X3.
 * Violen and the X-Hunters also appear briefly in the opening scene of Mega Man X5.
 * Violen appeared in a Battle Memory from Rockman Xover.
 * Violen appeared as an unit card in TEPPEN.

Stats
* Applies to both encounters.
 * Power: 18400rp
 * Speed: 6200rp

Quotes

 * "Those who underestimated him are now nothing but scrap."
 * "They can be yours, if you can defeat us!" (Referring to Zero's parts.)
 * "X, I shall crush you like a tin can!" (First encounter.)
 * "It cannot be! Now the unification is in jeopardy!" (First encounter, defeat.)
 * "What?! How could he have overloaded my circuits?!! Arrrggghhh..." (Second encounter, defeat.)

Rockman X2 manga
Violen appeared in the manga.

Archie Comics
Violen and his comrades appeared in Worlds Unite as members of Sigma-2's Maverick army, recreated to travel through the Genesis Portals and plant Unity Engines on various worlds so that Sigma could absorb their power. He and his fellow X-Hunters ended up on the world of Monster Hunter, where they briefly deceived some of the inhabitants before being exposed by X and Sticks the Badger, who proceeded to destroy them with help from the locals.

Etymology

 * "Violen" derived the French word "violent" (pronounce roughly like "Vy-oo-lonn") phonetically. Like his fellow X-Hunters, Violen's name is the French word for his defining characteristic.

Trivia

 * Violen is the only X-Hunter that doesn't change forms when fought again, as Serges uses a steamroller/tank hybrid, and Agile changes into a "pod missile system". This is due to lack of resources (memory limitations), which also resulted in another character (a female X-Hunter) being cut from Mega Man X2.