Troia Base

"Investigate why the "Helios" program has gone haywire."

- Stage description

Troia Base (トロイア・ベース) is Optic Sunflower's stage in Mega Man X8. It is a Maverick Hunter virtual reality training facility located somewhere in northern Europe, possibly in Sweden or Denmark. The training program is named Helios (ヘリオス).

Description
The stage is a virtual reality test split into eight separate levels. When entering a level, the player is transported into an alternate world where they must accomplish a task (usually defeating enemies) within a time limit. The faster they can do this, the better rank they get, which affects the difficulty of the following level. There are also brief platforming challenges between each level. At the end of the test there is a prize room full of Metals and other rewards depending on the player's overall rank. The player then steps into a portal that transports them to where Optic Sunflower is fought.

Before the boss, there is a secret 8-bit Cut Man mid-boss that can be fought at the end of the training program if the player is on a difficulty higher than Easy. In all version, Cut Man appears if a secret code is inputted on the Title Screen before entering the stage. In the PlayStation 2 version, Cut Man can also be unlocked by having a save data from Mega Man X: Command Mission on the Memory Card. In the original PC release, Cut Man also appears if all training sections are cleared on their highest difficulty, having all the upper lights lit.

Enemies

 * Formation-Q
 * Flight-Q
 * Ghost-Q
 * Jumping-Q
 * Scale-Q
 * Scorpy-Q
 * Guardroid VR (sometimes replaced by Vile)
 * Dragon-Q
 * Hidden mid-boss: Cut Man (not available in Easy Mode)

Items

 * Buster Parts H: After the third area of the test, go to the top left of the room and break the barrier using Squeeze Bomb to find the capsule.
 * Rare Metal - Weapon Converter (Zero): In the final area before the end of the test, Air Dash straight out over the pit to find the Rare Metal on a hidden ledge under the door.
 * Rare Metal - Life Tank: Complete five to seven levels of the test with the highest rank for the Rare Metal to appear in the prize room.
 * Rare Metal - Metal Generator: Complete all eight levels of the test with the highest rank for the Rare Metal to appear in the prize room.

Intermission
The Intermission in Optic Sunflower's stage has the Hunters fight against the eight bosses in a time trial-like mode. Although it's specifically set in Troia Base, the virtual images shown are on Gateway, the stage where the actual boss rematches take place.

Trivia

 * The word "Troia" sounds similar to trois, the French word for three. This is possibly in reference to the three available routes that can be taken throughout the stage.