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— Introduction —

Having completed from beginning to end, I can now add my input. An upgraded version of Programmer's Peru Zero Hack that addressed some of the issues it originally had. On top of this, additional features were added that may this a more enjoyable Zero experience. Throughout this spoiler review, I will address my experience, issues, and a number of areas that could be improved upon on.

— Boss Stages Review —

There has been an increase in difficulty as it was from the previous hack. The difficulties I've noticed are Chill Penguin Dash Speed Increase, Storm Eagle Dive Speed and Armored Armadillo Rolling Speed are the most noticeable to me. Chill Penguin's Dash Slide not only goes further, but his ice breath doesn't create Ice Penguins Statues like he did before. The Armored Armadillo can't no longer lose his armor when hit with electricity and his Rolling Speed has increased, making him tougher to beat. The Flame Mammoth Stage doesn't freeze over anymore, which made it very difficult to get the life heart because the Lava is made to One-Hit you now. You can still chain-stunned Spark Mandrill with Shotgun Ice as before. The Spark Mandrill Stage still has the Spark Rail and Electricity running even after defeating the Storm Eagle Stage. On top of all that, the introduction of robot master clones still feels really off, but understandable if you are trying to differentiate between the Zero and X experience.

— Zero's Game-Play Review —

What's really new here is that Zero has an increased jump power! With this new change, it offers new challenges and advantages. Challenges such as jumping higher in water or when bumping into enemies you wouldn't often bump into. The advantages are now you can have greater reach with areas that were normally difficult to traverse. Some stage layouts had changed to adjust to the new jump power increase, which actually may this even more enjoyable and difficult at the same time. Zero's height added a new challenge when using the buster. Enemies that were shoot-able at a lower height won't longer hit. Zero's dash graphic has been added, which further gives it a more accurate Zero experience.

— Writing Review —

The writing here has greatly improved over the previous hack. Dr. Wily replaces Dr. Light and has his own dialog and interesting story attached to it. During the dialog between Zero, X and Vile, the texts themselves match their respective colors. Zero texts are Orange, Megaman X texts are Blue and Vile texts are purple. As for Sigma, his texts are green, which works really well. If you are going to continue to use Megaman X with the Upgraded Armor, his head sprite should match as well. After you have beaten Final Form Sigma and the text box appears, you still have control of Zero and moving around in the background of the text. Lastly, during the Zero Walking End Credits, you can see X in his default blue armor instead of his Upgraded Armor that he began with, which feels like a mismatch to me.

— Music Review —

1) Using Zero's Rescue Theme in the Intro Stage was a great idea. I really felt immersed with the Zero experience as a way to start off his journey.

2) Using Variable X Theme in the Final Sigma Stage was a great idea. I really felt immersed with the Zero experience as a way to finish his journey.

— Cannon Review —

Zero has 3 kinds of Beams; Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.

1) Level 1 Beam is a blue blast like the original when he used it against Vile, which felt authentic.

2) Level 2 Beam is a big blast with a green color similar to X level 1 beam.

My Recommendation: For Zero, it should have the orange color tint like that of Maverick Hunter when Zero gives Megaman X his Z Buster.

3) Level 3 Beam is a big orange and blue tinted blast that fires multiple balls.

— Sprite Review —

1) The hadoken capsule also gives you the Black Armor! This is such a cool addition to the Zero experience.

Palette Issue: Black Armor looks incomplete as it gives off an orange tint. When charging the cannon, the orange tint shows more.

My Recommendation: Resolved it with either more black or adding shades of gray for more depth.

2) When Zero changes his color based on the weapon you pick, the bleeding effects from his armor to his silver shoulders and legs has been reduced, and it's less saturated.

Palette Issue: When Zero unlocks a new ability, I've noticed his sprite changes colors, but not the Large Zero Portrait of himself. While it's not a problem but more of a distraction with the mismatch palettes.

My Recommendation: Either make it where both Portrait and Sprite change palettes with each new ability, or leave it has their default orange palettes.

3) Zero Life Icon has been changed from a Head Icon to a Z Icon in the menu, however when an enemy drops a life pick-up its Zero Head Icon.

My Recommendation: In my opinion, consistency is key. I suggest matching the Menu Life Icon with Life Pickup. So Z Menu Icon and Z Life Pickup or Zero Head Menu Icon and Zero Head Life Pickup.

4) All the capsules, including the Hidden Hadoken, have the blue capsules with the Wily logo, making it easier to differentiate from Dr. Light's.

— Suggested Upgrades —

• When receiving the Leg Dash Upgrade, maybe adding the Air-Dash or Double Jump like how it was done for Zero in MX4 and higher.

• Make separate patches to have either: High Jump, Double Jump or Air-Dash.

• Instead of the Hadoken, replace it with the Z-Saber to make it shoot the Beam-Saber instead with Normal Dr. Wily.

• IF Hadoken remains as is, then change Dr. Wily outfit to Ryu's outfit as a fun Easter Egg.

— Suggested Features —

• Difficulty Zero should be a separate hack from the Normal Zero hack so we can have an equivalent original version to experience

• Add Palette hacks for Zero. First palette hack to change Zero's color based on weapon abilities. Second hack to keep "Zero's Orange Default Palette" to remain the same regardless of abilities.

— Suggested Fixes —

• Return the boss names in the boss intros when selecting their stages.

• Return Zero's "Green Orbs" on his chest plate in the Zero's Portrait/Upgrade page.

• Show Megaman X upgraded helmet in the dialog boxes instead of his default blue helmet.

• Show an Upgraded Megaman X during the Zero Walking End Credits instead of his default blue armor. Since his first appearance in this hack was an Upgraded X. I think it keeps it consistent.

• Show Zero on the cliff at the end credit instead of a silhouette.

— Bug Errors —

• The room before Spark Mandrill in the 3rd Sigma Stage shows D-Rex bottom-half floating in the top-right corner.

• The room before Launch Octopus in the 3rd Sigma Stage as a water issue. The water itself doesn't show correctly, even though you can see breathing animation.

— Final Thoughts —

To end on a positive note, I hope this doesn't discourage you, but rather use it to strengthen you as both the person and creator within you. After reviewing this, I believe this has been a more polished and authentic MX1 Zero experience by far! However, this has so much room for improvement. Using the suggestions above, I believe it will be one step closer to being truly authentic. I believe we can finally get the best original MX1 Zero experience we have been waiting for so long.

This hack is really good, putting Zero's original sprites into the original Mega Man X game. However, I found many inconsistencies, like the message in the introduction, which clearly spoils the final cutscene of Mega Man X4, and the Wily capsules, which definitely don't make sense, since in the cutscenes of Mega Man X4 he doesn't know him. Also, replacing X with a very strange Z in the logo; they could just put a message below like 'playable Zero'.

Another complaint would be the gameplay, where the high jump is more of a hindrance than a help. It could be replaced with a double jump, and the buster could be inspired by Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, where Zero's maximum charge shoots an exclusive and powerful red shot.

So unfortunately, I have to say that this is just a reskin of X and not lore-friendly.

Contrary to widely held belief, Zero DOES play a little bit differently from X. His dash is just a little slower, and it seems that he can't dash jump off walls (which hurts his mobility compared to X). That's where you must move a bit more carefully. As for Maverick Weapons, Zero absolutely uses more energy than X per shot. But, there seems to be a bit more power here. The Storm Tornado and Fire Wave in particular are almost busted now, even if you can't spam weapons like normal. The only thing I got against it is that there's a section in the fortress that seems impossible to get through since Zero can't dash jump off walls, and those platforms apparently need just that. Or perhaps I'M missing something, I don't know.

Otherwise, this is an incredibly interesting hack, it'll definitely keep you on your toes. (Flame Mammoth is just downright cruel if you don't have Storm Tornado, and even if you do have it, he still ain't the complete pushover he was at X's hands.)

I've been waiting for a hack like this since I first started Emulating and it does not disappoint. There isn't much for the Read-me so I'll just go through most of everything:

The Sprites have little to no issues, everything seems to function properly, and what is off, does not affect or distract from the game play at all (Such as Capsule upgrades / spacing). Zero is using X's Physics so everything feels super tight and natural.

I would call this hack a soft hard mode. The AI for some of the bosses has been tweaked to make them quicker and jump further. Making Bosses like Armadillo a more fast paced battle, and Boomerang K. a deadlier challenge.

Zero also seems to take more damage, Sub Tanks Refill just under half a full Life Bar, some objects like lava are now an instant kill. Half of the rematch bosses are doubled, not sure why not all of them but it was interesting and challenging like the X Collection, except for you get to use the good version of X (Zero). I'd like to think it's canonical but Zero uses twice the amount of weapon energy that X does, which with the Doubling of Bosses makes for most of the battle to be with the Buster.

A gripe with this is that none of the enemies drop a full energy refill. I can't really think of any way that this would affect a normal play-through except for to add grinding to the game (if you don't have enough lives and just want to commit) especially for refilling your sub tanks, which now takes twice if not 3x as long using the Armadillo stage strategy. I would wager that most if not all of the people playing this hack have played this game a few times before, lives aren't really an issue, and none of the stages are so long and boring that re-doing any is arduous enough for it to be a punishment.

All in all this is very well done and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Only needs a few dabs more of polish. With X's physics, Zero handles like you think and feel he should, making the game a wonderful re-skinned hard-mode that I was waiting for.

A child's dream came true.

When i was young, i wish and tought that after completing the game it was possible to play with Zero, but poor me, that did not happened. So, by the grace of romhacking that is possible now, and its near perfect. I guess this is not an easy task to be made, but the game runs and looks really fine. Recommended!!

Gave this hack a full play through with my FXpack on Console and it played great. The edits to the script worked well with the main story. The only issue I had was when battling against Velguarder and restricted me from moving zero until I paused the game changed my weapon. Other then that thanks for the great hack!

There's not too much to be said here, but the main draw of a patch like this is the attention to detail put into it. While I personally don't understand the removal of the Maverick names when you select a level, the entire rest of the hack was extremely immersive in its premise and playing as Zero. Sure, there's no Z-Saber to work with (considering X1 predates it, I find its absence fitting if anything) and a lot of the actual gameplay changes are fairly minimal, but I think that honestly works in the hack's favor by keeping the MMX1 experience largely the same.

The most that is altered here is cosmetic, this is true - but it's extremely well-done and I found myself grinning the whole time. Who didn't want to play as Zero when playing this game for the first time? Well now's your chance. The re-worked capsule upgrades with Wily instead of Light are a delightful change, and the new sprite work could have been ripped from an alternate universe they're so good.

I suppose this hack is a fairly surface level one. It does not impose a lot of creative choices on you, but what it does change feels thought out and fits the bedrock established with the base X1 experience. The upgraded charged buster being able to penetrate shielded enemies and the slightly higher jump feel like enough to me, even if they do wind up trivializing certain moments of the original game's level design.

Overall, I thought this hack was superb. If you want to go through X1 again and want a fresh way to experience the original game, this will give it to you. It may not have all the bells and whistles of a more extensive hack, but it's not trying to be that. What it does try to be, I find to be extremely convincing and captivating.

As Headline reads!

Not much more I can say without spoiling some changes the Hack makes.

Sprite work is solid - even if it is lifted mostly from X3, it's updated to match Zero's Look from X1 so as said, solid!

Difficulty is a mix between easier and harder with Zero's different jump height. Hack says the Buster has different damage but I only noticed it after the Buster upgrade.

Overall, A Wonderful Hack for Zero fans of the Series!

Mega Man x is one of my old school favorites and the love given here makes me quite happy. This is Zero's story and this, as my title says, is more than a re-telling.

One thing I noticed first is the new prologue. The red letters and a new start to the story and it's well written. Next, the sound engine seems to be much more powerful as I booted up the original Mega man X and this version has a much more enhanced sound and it sounds amazing! There are no robot master names upon going into the stage, but no big deal. Some bosses have either faster speed or superior damage, some enemies can swarm if you are not aggressive enough too. The new dialog is nicely done and the way cutscenes are done is well done. There are no slowdowns as robot masters explode faster and even the notorious rail car in armoured armadillo's stage are no more with an injection of a fast rom! There are some changes to some fortress bosses as well that really change things up and are quite challenging, but not impossible to overcome. And the final credits and final ending are also have a new set of dialog.

Needless to say, this is a labor of love and has gotten my hopes up for a possible Zero project for part 2! Fan of this game, then play now!

Extremely well polished and a good time overall. Zero functions well, has interesting differentiations from X, and looks great. The extra enemies, dopplegangers, and tweaks to boss AI are a nice way to spice things up for those who have beaten the game before.

The integration of Zero into the script is thorough and well executed, though some parts of the script are cheesy. (It seems a bit odd for robots to tell eachother to go to hell - is there a robot hell?) It still does the job, and the final line of the ending is a fun reference. A big step above most hacks.

Big recommend for anyone looking for a new way to replay Mega Man X.

This is an excellent hack that gives this classic a fresh coat of paint, by realizing what Keiji Inafune had originally planned: start a new series with a completely new character. Back in the day this plan was scrapped out of fear that the fans would not accept Zero, and thus X was created, with the former becoming a deuteragonist.

While said plan would later come to fruition brilliantly in the Mega Man Zero series, this here is an interesting what-if.

Graphics were expertly replaced and animated, all respecting Zero's appearance at the time of the X series' inception, as well as other relevant graphics and text (even with a neat reference to official materials here and there).

Rather importantly, Zero is correctly referred to as a robot in the text, which he is, not as a Reploid (a mistake both the games themselves and even the fanbase are liable to commiting).

There were some interesting changes sprinkled throughout the stages and even boss patterns, but Zero still plays very close to X mechanically, so don't expect changes in this regard; however, the hack largely succeeds at what it set out to do.

Polish is the biggest praise I can give this hack, and that isn't intended to be snide. It lacks the typos and graphical errors a lot of romhacks have (a bit of odd text spacing but nothing terrible), the new graphics and text are great.

However, it doesn't have much else going for it. Despite the gameplay changes touted in the hack description to make the game more difficult, if anything the game is much easier due to Zero's higher jump and the ability to exit stages at any times. I played seven of the eight stages (skipped Boomer) and I didn't notice any significant level design changes beyond the stages no longer changing when other Mavericks are defeated (though Sting Chameleon's still does, not sure if intentional or an oversight).

The Mavericks have some changes, but only a few and they aren't really impactful. Chill Penguin's slide seems to go longer so he's a bit harder to avoid, but his ice breath doesn't create statues. Armored Armadillo can't lose his armor and is much faster, but this merely raises him from "total joke" to "actually have to exert some effort". Speaking of a joke, Spark Mandrill can still be chainstunned with Shotgun Ice. The bosses were the only time the lower weapon energy was noticeable, but I still had plenty to get the boss to low HP or kill them, I just couldn't spam the attack freely.

Overall, it's just Mega Man X with X reskinned as Zero and the dialogue changed appropriately. And that's fine, it's the reason you're gonna download it, but it doesn't go very far beyond that in spite of the creator's intent.