Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection: Item Upgrades Locations

The goal of this guide is to help players locate the various item upgrades that can be found in the ZX series. To begin, I will go over a brief summary over what each item is, and then there will be sections dedicated to how to obtain them in each game. Note: The Item B section for ZXA is currently incomplete and will be updated later.

Life Up: As the name suggests, Life Ups are upgrades to your Life Energy. Each one permanently increases your health by a small amount. To increase your health to maximum capacity, you will need to find four of these per game in the ZX series.

Subtank: These function identically to how they did in earlier games in the franchise. Once obtained, they can be filled by collecting Life Energy pickups while you are at full health, or alternatively by talking to a particular NPC in ZXA. By going into your pause menu, you can hover over a subtank with any amount of Life Energy in it and select it to transfer it to your main health bar. It will do this until either your health is full or the tank is empty. Obviously if your health is already full or the tank is already empty, nothing will happen.

Item B Chip: These are special items given to you by certain NPC’s. When you first receive them, they are inactive in your inventory. You can activate and deactivate them individually as you see fit once you have them. Each one has a different effect, from sliding down walls slower to reducing knockback and etc.

BM Upgrade: These are special upgrades exclusive to ZXA. They are hidden throughout the world similar to Life Ups and Subtanks. They are similar to Life Ups in function, but instead of increasing your Life Energy they increase your Weapon Energy.

The first Life Up is located in Area D. This one is perhaps the easiest to obtain. Pay attention to the area under the road, accessible only through sections of the road that have holes in them. What you are looking for is a big red glowing button above a locked door. Attack the button to unlock the door, and the Life Up is inside, as well as a Large Life Pickup to fully restore your health. The button to unlock the door is not in a very deep hole, so if you have to slide down very far, you are in the wrong place.

The second Life Up is in the upper portion of Area F-2. Look for an area where there’s a row of ground spikes just barely underwater that you have to approach from the right. Switch to your Hx form and wall jump up out of the water. Do an upward air dash and then activate your slow fall while holding left. If done correctly, you should fall safely into the spot the Life Up is hiding.

The third Life Up can be found in Area I-5. Look for one of the platforms that is usually floating up and down, but lacking power and as such sitting on the ground. Using your Hx form, create a tornado to lift the platform to the upper ground platform, then create another to lift it even higher and jump on top of it. Do an upward air dash and then slow fall to avoid the spikes to the right, and if done correctly you should land down on top of the Life Up.

The final Life Up is located in Area J-1. Switch to your Lx form and locate the Data Transerver Room. It’s up to you whether you want to actually save your data at this point. From here, make your way down and you should find a room you can enter to the left of the first underwater enemy you encounter. Going deeper into the room to the right, there’s a line of spikes that you have to swim across. Be careful of the enemy, as taking a hit will cancel your swim state and you might fall down into the spikes below. The Life Up is sitting just past the spikes at the end of the room. Feel free to go back to the data room and save your game once you have it.

The first Subtank can be found in Area A-2. Using your Hx form, look for a portion of the area where there’s a Whirling 44 (saw mechanaloid) to your right inside of a small dirt cave, with a grassy platform you can reach as Hx above it. Get up onto the platform and then go up into the tree to your left. Keep going left being careful not to lose too might height while air dashing and you will find a small alcove in the rocks you can stand in, with the Subtank above you. The left side of the ceiling above you is fake, so just wall jump your way up and claim your prize.

The second Subtank is in Area E-4. This one is quite easy to get with your Hx form. It is next to the third Shock Face, just upward air dash your way up to the platform, defeat the Shock Face, and grab the Subtank.

The third subtank is in area K. This is the hardest one to obtain in the game, but with a little patience it’s totally doable. You are going to need the Hx, Fx, Lx, and Px forms to obtain this one. After defeating the Lava Demon, you will fall down into the underground section section of Area K. Keep an eye on the ceiling above you and you will find platforms you can grab onto to go higher with your Px form, but be careful not to touch the spike walls on either side. This leads you to a section in which you must escape the rising lava on your way back up to the surface.

Once you are back outside, proceed to the left but keep your eye on any holes you encounter. Inside one of them is the entrance to a room containing a control panel to control the speed of the lava flow. Once you find this room, set the lava flow speed to slow, then go back outside and finish traversing the area until you get to the lift on the far left. You might notice an upper area with a red door that won’t open for you. Remember this place for later. Take the lift back to the section of the level just before you fought the Lava Demon, then jump back down into the underground portion.

From here, continue through the level as normal but keep an eye on the top part of the screen. Eventually you will encounter blocks you can break with your Fx form’s punches. Charge both primary and secondary at the same time to punch as quickly as possible to destroy all the blocks and then quickly proceed to the newly opened path to the right to escape the approaching lava flow. This may take a few tries as you only have just barely enough time to do this before the lava comes too close and kills you.

Switch to your Px form and keep an eye on the sub-screen. Progress to the right, and use Px’s senses on the sub-screen to locate a hidden door you can enter. Progress through the room carefully, taking extra care not to touch the lava at the bottom of the room, and press the red button, giving you a prompt that a door has been unlocked in Area K-1. Backtrack back out of the room and make your way back to the room from earlier where you need to escape the rising lava. Once you are back outside, progress back all the way to the left, but instead of taking the lift return to the red door up above you found earlier. It is now unlocked, so you can enter the room on the other side. Switch to Lx to swim past the spikes in your way, and the subtank is yours for the taking.

The final Subtank is not hidden anywhere within the world. While at the Guardian Base (Area X-1) take the elevator up and talk to the nurse Muguet to get the “Deliver the Aid Kit” subquest, then after completing that subquest talk to Rose to get the “Deliver the Energy Pack” subquest. You can do this multiple times, but you need to progress through the story to be able to receive the quests, so if they aren’t giving it to you just do some story quests for a bit and then talk to them again.

The sidequests involve exploring Area L and destroying any large supply crates you encounter along your way. Eventually, one of them will drop the item you are looking for, and you can go turn in the quest and receive the next by talking to the proper NPC, either Muguet or Rose. Once you have done this several times, you will be rewarded the final Subtank.

Eraser: This one is quite easy to get, and can be obtained very early into the game. After you obtain the Zx form, talk to Carrelet in the Guardian Base. You might have to talk to him a few times. He will simply hand the chip over to you without asking you to do anything. This chip allows you to destroy small energy projectiles with saber weapons.

Absorber: After freeing the people from Area I-3 and sending your mission report, talk to Leonardo in Area C-2 (He’s in the final room, up above the fountain). You might have to talk to him a few times. This chip neutralizes knockback.

Featherweight: After you defeat Prometheus 1v1, you can go talk to Bar inside the Guardian Base (Area X-1) on the bottom floor to receive this chip. You might have to talk to him a few times. This chip makes you weigh less, so you won’t sink down into sinkable floors or crumble fragile terrain. (It does NOT make you jump higher)

Wind Boots: After obtaining the Hx form and unifying both halves together, talk to Anguille at the Guardian Base. You might have to talk to him a few times. This chip gives you a strong grip to the ground while grounded, so wind cannot push you. You can still be pushed in the air however.

Quick Charger: After obtaining the Hx, Lx, Fx, and Px forms and unifying all their halves together, talk to Fleuve in the Guardian Base. You might have to talk to him a few times. This chip reduces the amount of time necessary to charge your weapons.

Extender: After obtaining the Fx form and unifying both halves together, talk to Silure in the Guardian Base. He will give you a quest to obtain a rock in Area K. Complete this quest, and he will give you another quest to bring the rock to the crusher in Area E. Complete this quest and finally he will give you the chip. This chip causes your invincibility frames after taking a hit to last longer.

Frog: Go to area C-1 after defeating Fistleo and turning in the story quest related to doing so. Find a woman named Karen who will give you a side quest to find her son. Return back to the burning building at Area G where you rescued the civilians and you will find out he has been here playing hide and seek with his friends. As the seeker, win the game of hide and seek by finding everyone hiding in the building (The last one is sneaky, he’s hiding to the left just outside the building) and then return to Karen back in Area C-1. After completing the quest, find Kenny in a nearby room and talk to him while transformed as any form. He will hand over the chip. This chip causes you to slide down walls slower.

Ice Boots: This one is a quest reward for completing a handful of quests, and it’s slightly different depending on which character you are playing as.

As Vent, you will need the full Fx and Hx forms unlocked. Talk to Yu in Area C-1 (The kid just before the door to C-2) and do a couple of quests for him. The first quest is to take a quiz. The second quest is to take another quiz. When you return to the transerver to turn in the quest after completing it, you will receive a Pink Crystal. Return to Area C-1 and talk to Jack, the old man next to the Green Door that requires the green card key. You will give him the Pink Crystal, and in return you get the Ice Boots Chip.

As Aile, you need to have Prometheus defeated. Talk to Arcea in Area C-2, she’s a girl with purple hair and nerdy glasses on. She will give you a quest to find her a Mushroom. Take the quest and then find the Mushroom in Area A, and return to her. She will inform you that you misunderstood, and that Mushroom is the name of her small bird. Return to Area A after taking the new quest and find her bird for her. Returning the bird to her will reward you with the Ice Boots Chip.

This chip allows you to run on ice without slipping, but you will still be unable to grip ice walls.

The first Life up is located in Area 3 of the Tower of Verdure. You are going to need either the Aeolus or Queenbee transformation to reach it. After defeating the Spidrill, work your way to the right until you come back to the outside of the tower and begin your ascension up along the wall. Eventually you will reach the highest point, at which point you will see a fragile vertical tube that comes apart when you touch it. Transform into Aeolus or Queenbee to gain the vertical mobility needed to reach the life up at the top.

In the first area of the Control Center, you can find the second Life Up, just before the entrance to the second area. Using Aeolus or Rospark, take the upper path instead of entering the elevator the normal way to skip being inside the elevator on your way up the elevator shaft. The Life Up is at the very top of the shaft.

Go to the second area of the Scrapyard to find the third Life Up. There is a spiked door that you raise by pulling on a switch that you use Chronoforce’s time bomb to give yourself enough time to cross before it drops, leading to a series of three doors. Take the door on the far right while the time slow is still in effect and quickly drop down to the area below before a second set of spikes blocks your path or smashes you. The Life Up is there waiting for you. If you don’t make it in time and the path is blocked off to you, you can just carefully make your way around with Vultron, but be careful not to touch the spike walls.

The final Life Up can be found in the second area of the Waterfall Ruins. As Thetus, swim up a waterfall to find a hidden room. The Life Up is waiting for you inside.

The first Subtank can be found in the Arctic Ice Flow. If you want to obtain it early on, make sure you complete the Tower of Verdure by defeating Rospark before coming here. You will come up to a selection of small pipes that Rospark can grab onto. Simply climb your way up and the subtank is yours for the taking.

The second Subtank is located at Legion HQ, in the outdoor segment with the jet sleds. In the lower areas of the map, you will find it just inside a window you can’t break normally. The safest way to get inside is to use one of the jet sleds to break into the building from the other side, however if you have the transformation to become Argoyle and Ugoyle, you can charge up your secondary to spawn Ugoyle and get the subtank by phasing through the window. Make sure you quickly transform into someone who can wall jump as soon as you grab the subtank if you are using this method, as otherwise you will fall into the bottomless pit and die.

The third Subtank can be found at the Mysterious Lab. At the end of the section where you place the batteries into their slots, climb the ladder to the upper area and enter the room that’s up there. At far side of the room you will find the Subtank sitting out of reach behind a pipe. Transform into Argoyle and Ugoyle and phase through the pipe to grab the Subtank.

The final Subtank is a quest reward. Talk to Meg in the Floating Ruins (Her room is located about halfway through the Floating Ruins, it’s hard to miss) and she will ask you to find some items for her. The first item is the L tank, located just above you at the very start of the Floating Ruins. Transform into Aeolus to reach it.

The Pinwheel is sitting on one of the trees you have to climb normally. To reach it, use Aeolus to activate slow fall so that you can lower yourself through and under the gusts of wind otherwise pushing you up.

The Old Balancer can be found near the start of the third area, also just above you. Use Aeolus to make your way up, then use Bifrost to destroy the wall of cubes blocking your path. Climb the ladder to find the room containing the item. Use your base form or Hedgeshock after entering the room to get under the narrow passages.

The Light Bulb is hidden at the very end just under the ruins where you battled Aeolus. Use Thetis to be able to see where it is on the sub screen, then use Aeolus or Vultron to reach it. Once you have all the items, return to Meg and she will give you the Subtank as a reward. You will have to talk to her again for every item you collected for her.

WIP. Check back later for full list.

The following items can be found in Oil Field 3: Warrior Helmet, Soccer Ball, Magic Pumpkin, Demon Buster, Baby Doll.

The first BM Upgrade is located in the Oil Fields. Transform into Atlas and keep an eye out for destructible ground tiles while traversing on top of the pipes. Break your way down to the scorching hot sands below and then make your way as far right as this alternate path will take you. The BM Upgrade is sitting there waiting for you.

The second BM Upgrade is at the Highway. The easiest way to find it is to use Thetus’s sub screen radar to find the fake pit you are looking for. Once you are in the right spot, you will notice destructible blocks you can destroy as Atlas. There’s a button you can attack to push, but don’t just yet. Instead, Transform into Chronoforce and activate a time bomb, then quickly transform into Aeolus for maximum mobility/speed. Finally, press the button and quickly backtrack back up to the main path and work your way to the right and down to get to the other side of the wall the button was on where another button and the BM Upgrade are located. If you are too slow, the path will lock up and you will have to go back to the first button and try again.

The third BM Upgrade can be found in the Quarry, during the chase section. You should notice it sitting up above inside a collection of destructible rock blocks suspended above a bottomless pit. If you are quick, you can grab it during the chase sequence as Atlas, but it’s far easier to simply progress to the next area entirely and then backtrack to it so that it respawns without you being on a deadline. Be careful not to accidentally break both the blocks it’s sitting on or else it will fall and you will have to reset it again.

The final BM Upgrade is in the Bio Lab. Along the main path, you will find a section where you need to transform into Queenbee to raise containers blocking chemical pipes to progress. You will find it just under a couple of floating platforms that block you from getting to it if they are too low. Solve the puzzle and the BM Upgrade is yours.