Dark Hold

Dark Hold (ダークホールド) is a Special Weapon obtainable in Mega Man X5 by defeating Dark Necrobat. It can stop time in X and Zero's surroundings; the duration of the weapon depends on the Weapon Energy, and once active it can't shut off. Because it is activated as soon as the Special Weapon button is pushed, it cannot be charged. To deactivate Dark Hold, either simply go to the weapons screen and choose another weapon or use a Giga Attack.

Spiral Pegasus is the only boss that can be frozen by this weapon - all other bosses are otherwise immune to the Dark Hold. When used against Dark Necrobat in the boss rematches, it will only consume one unit, and the screen will only flash white for a split-second.

Besides Mega Man X5, Dark Hold also appeared in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars as Zero's level 3 hyper combo. After stopping time, he changes the shape of the Z-Saber as it grows in size for the finishing move (where he glides through his target into the air to impale them), making it resemble the saber from the Mega Man Zero series.

Damage Data Chart
Damage values in units in Mega Man X5.


 * Spiral Pegasus is the only boss that is vulnerable to Dark Hold, thus more damage can be inflicted on him with this weapon using the X-Buster or Z-Saber than with other bosses.

Trivia

 * Upon activation, X and Zero's surroundings will invert colors.
 * This weapon functions almost exactly like the Time Stopper, which stops all enemies from moving, the only difference is the inverted colors and being able to use the buster/saber without wasting energy, unlike in Mega Man 2 where the buster is not usable.
 * Coincidentally, it stops the beams, see below for the example.
 * This weapon is immensely helpful in successfully navigating through the latter half of the first Zero Space area, which contains lethal laser beams reminiscent of Quick Man's stage from Mega Man 2. Note that using Dark Hold is not absolutely necessary, as there are ways to dodge the laser beams successfully, even without Dark Hold. If skilled enough, it is possible for the player to even clear the area with Gaea Armor X, which cannot use special weapons.
 * In Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, when Zero does his Dark Hold level 3 Hyper combo, sometimes he will say "Checkmate da!" which is a reference to the manga series "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" in where the character Dio, who has the ability to stop time, says "Checkmate!" when throwing knives at his opponents. This reference could also be a callback as Capcom also worked on an arcade fighting game of the brand.

