"Ha ha ha! You're struggling awful hard for a world that's doomed."

―Vile V, Mega Man X8

Vile V, known as VAVA V (read as ヴァヴァ ペンテ, VAVA Pente^[1][2][3]) in Japan, is a form of Vile appearing in Mega Man X8. Although the circumstances of his revival since Mega Man X3 are left a mystery, this Vile joins the Maverick new generation Reploids in hijacking the Jakob Project and wreaking havoc.

X, Zero, and Axl first encounter Vile V while investigating Crabs-Y at Noah's Park, near the Jakob Orbital Elevator. Vile grabs their attention with a fearsome hail of missiles, showing them Lumine in the grasp of a Bindholder before challenging them and departing. Soon after this confrontation, the new generation Reploids' riot begins.

As the player advances through the eight Maverick stages (save for Dynasty and Central White), Vile V may suddenly appear when the player enters a stage's mid-boss room. He first appears after the player has defeated two Mavericks. He next appears in Troia Base, Pitch Black, or Inferno whenever the number of times the player has entered a stage is a multiple of 3, or when it's a multiple of 4 for Booster Forest, Primrose, and Metal Valley. In these mid-boss battles, Vile fights with a limited strategy and no visible life bar, retreating once he is defeated. Vile also has a secret fourth encounter with unique dialogue in Noah's Park, which is only available after all three of his other encounters have occurred and all eight Maverick bosses are defeated, but before Gateway has been cleared.^[2]

He is later fought as a proper boss with his full arsenal atop Jakob, but manages to survive this encounter as well. He reappears for the final time piloting the Ride Armor Devil Bear in the Sigma Palace, where he is put down for good. In Hard Mode, after his defeat he uses a kamikaze attack to separate the player's Maverick Hunters for a while. Judging by how the other Hunter returns to help with Sigma, it's implied that they destroyed Vile.

Design[]

As Vile V, Vile's main color scheme is changed from the original purple and gold to green and yellow. He is much more complex in terms of design, featuring belts, vents, and colorful accents that evoke a militaristic look. His helmet has three cords that extend from to his backpack. Both his shoulder cannon and missile pod are relocated a bar along his back, a redesign that would be later applied to his base form in Mega Man Maverick Hunter X and other future appearances.

Personality[]

As per the norm, Vile is depicted as arrogant and sociopathic, with his even admitting just before his final battle that he was considering deliberately holding back until the last possible moment in order to have "fun" in crushing his foes. However, he seems to have even less sanity compared to before, having a more nihilistic outlook where he not only was fully on-board with wiping out all old reploids despite technically being one himself, but also inferring their only point was causing destruction. Similarly, he seemed to have developed an almost suicidal nature to him, deliberately trying to take out one of the other Maverick Hunters in a kamikaze attempt after seemingly being beaten while laughing maniacally, a notable contrast with his prior incarnations who at least had enough self-preservation to retreat and fight another day when the odds are against them.

Strategy[]

Vile V[]

Vile V uses thrusters to hover, rather than staying grounded like in previous appearances. As a mid-boss in the eight stages, Vile has reduced health and only uses Flight Shot (in the first battle he only uses α, in the second and third encounters only uses β, and in fourth and higher encounters he uses γ and λ). He only makes use of his full moveset as the boss of Jakob. He is weak to ice attacks such as Drift Diamond, Hyouryuushou, and Ice Gattling, which freeze him out of the air.

	Flight Shot α (フライトショットα[3][4])
	Vile shoots a spread of three shots twice.
	Damage: 4
	Flight Shot β (フライトショットβ[3][4])
	Vile shoots a sequence of nine shots at the player's location.
	Damage: 4
	Flight Shot γ (フライトショットγ[3][4])
	Vile shoots a sequence of six shots that home in on the player.
	Damage: 4
	Flight Shot λ (フライトショットλ[3][4])
	Vile shoots two giant shots, which each split into eight smaller shots to home in on the player all at once.
	Damage: 4
	Fire Stream (ファイアストリーム[3][4])
	Vile drops a flame that bursts into a fluctuating pillar of fire, which crosses the floor before fading. This move is only used on Jakob.
	Damage: 6
	Summon Bindholder (サモンボルダー, "Summon B.Holder"[3][4])
	Vile lands, tossing out canisters to release a pair of Bindholders. This move is only used on Jakob.
	Damage: 4 (canisters)
	Hexa Involute (ヘキサインボリュート[3][4])
	Vile's Overdrive Attack. He floats in the center of the arena, invincible, and expels six streams of electricity. They slowly rotate around his body, occasionally fizzling out to let the player duck through the gaps, before changing direction and rotating again. On subsequent uses of this attack, Vile only rotates the electricity once. This move is only used on Jakob.
	Damage: 4

Vile V (Devil Bear)[]

In the Sigma Palace, Vile reappears as a mid-boss, this time with his trademark Ride Armor. The invincible Devil Bear Ride Armor demonstrates a remote link with Vile, fighting without him manipulating the controls in the cockpit. Vile must be knocked off it with a Guard Break to fight him one-on-one. Here he only attacks with Flight Shots α, β, and γ.

In Easy and Normal modes, Vile explodes upon defeat. In Hard mode, Vile attacks the reserve character, forcing the remaining character to face the rest of the stage alone, until the two are reunited against Sigma.

	Devil Rush (デビルラッシュ[5][6])
	Vile's Devil Bear approaches and performs a rush of lightning-fast punches.
	Damage: 4
	Devil Stamp (デビルスタンプ[5][6])
	Vile's Devil Bear jumps, attempting to land on the player. On impact, it causes a small tremor for the player.
	Damage: 4

Other appearances[]

• Vile V appeared as a Unit Card in TEPPEN.
• Vile V was planned to appear in the canceled game Rockman Online.

Quotes[]

Dialogue[]

Mid-Boss[]

Mid-Boss (Noah's Park)[]

Jakob[]

Sigma Palace[]

In-battle quotes[]

Gallery[]

Vile V's concept art for Mega Man X8.

Full body render of Vile's Mega Man X8 character model.

Vile V atop of the Jakob Orbital Elevator.

Vile V in Mega Man X8.

Destructive Force Vile V card in TEPPEN.

In the TEPPEN card Cause of the Bug.

Videos[]

Megaman X8 Boss Vile ( Vava ) in Jakob Hard mode no damage

Vile V battle on Jakob from Rockman X8 (Hard Mode)

Trivia[]

• Vile V's Japanese name, VAVA V, is read as "VAVA Pente" (ヴァヴァペンテ, Vava Pente), meaning "VAVA 5". As Vile's previous X3 incarnation was Vile MK-II, this may suggest that it is the fifth iteration of Vile's design, although it has not been made clear.
• There are some details left out about Vile's resurrection as Vile V. X and Zero both treat Vile's reappearance with little surprise, the latter even calling him a wanted criminal at the time.^[7] This implies that he has been around for a while already before the beginning of Mega Man X8.
• Vile V's desire to make a world for new generation Reploids implies that his new body is possibly upgraded into a New Generation Reploid (hence with a Copy Chip inside), but this has not been confirmed.
• Despite firing a large missile barrage in the cutscene when he first appears in Mega Man X8, Vile never uses these missiles during any of his boss battles.
• Vile and Sigma are both played by the voice actor, Mugihito, in Japanese version of Mega Man X8. Additionally, Vile's voice has a noticeably mechanical and insane-sounding echo in the Japanese audio of X8, which is not found in his English voice.
• Unlike his appearance in previous games, Vile V has his own boss theme music only used during his fights.

• In Mega Man X DiVE, the weapon Electric Current Spray Gun, known as Electicer V (エレクトリカーV, Erekutorikā Pente) in Japanese, is based on Vile V. The weapon is also used by Guardroids in the Jakob Challenge, but when used by them, the weapon shoots thunder balls similar to the Cannon God instead of electric currents.

References[]