Who? What?
Are you talking about the GBA series where they make reference to the fact that even though he's a legend he's an obsolete\weak design? Where at the end of the first game he defeats [spoiler]a mega man X clone[/spoiler], who's been giving him shit for his "obvious inferiority" and Zero quips something to the effect of, X was WAY stronger than you'll ever be.
Yes. When I said "Mega Man Zero", I was in fact referring to Mega Man Zero.
Also, weird thing about the Mega Man X series/canon, because Mega Man X was the source design for all reploids, every reploid is referred to as a "Mega Man something something". I think Sigma is (once) called Mega Man Sigma.
Not in any of the first 7 console games, but could be in there somewhere.
Zero though, shouldn't be called Mega Man because he was made...before he was?
I'm not sure I agree with the "every Reploid is called Mega Man Something" premise. (Though that brings up the "Is Zero a Reploid?" question. If you define "Reploid" as "replica of X's design", as it's given in the original X's manual, then no, Zero presumably wouldn't be one; if, however, you just use it as a synonym for "android" since it's quite clearly an homage to "replicant", then X and Zero would indeed both be Reploids.) As far as the game, shrug, it's called Mega Man Zero because it's a Mega Man spinoff starring Zero.
I know we're dealing with a franchise where character consistency between games is pretty high through sprite re-use, but I guess I've never expected sprite or even character design consistency across consoles. It really never occurred to me that Zero might not be Zero just because he looked different.
It's not just that he looks different, it's that the artistic style is completely changed. Big oblong face, no nose, giant eyeballs, no pupils, spindly limbs, and so forth. Looks like something more at home in the Battle Network series than the X series.
Yeah, at a certain point the Megaman mythos just starts to sound like a cat coughing up a hairball.
It's actually pretty straightforward if you ignore every X game after 5 and ignore the hints that Legends is set in the distant future of the X series. I mean, the whole story's pretty much told in SNES-sized cutscenes. (And, okay, the hilariously Engrishy PS1 cutscenes, but those honestly aren't that much longer.)
(He's named X, not Mega Man X)
The series is extremely inconsistent on this point.
None of them are as strong as X, because they're inferior copies of the original design.
Depends on your definition of strength. X is initially weak but upgradeable; see his first conversation with Zero after the fight with Vile.