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A Mega Man X Hack by Programmer Peru where you can play as Zero with his proper X1 Sprites. 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.

I thought this was the sprite swap vanilla game until I come across some maverick battles being 2 against one except Chill Penguin, Launch Octopus and Armored Armadillo. Problem is the weapon that weak against them drains so quickly and you can't remove Armored Armadillo's armor making the game much more difficult and it is an unnecessary change in gameplay.

I share the same sentiments as the rest of the reviewers here, the mod itself is near perfect, A perfectly playable Zero with some cheesy dialogue by Dr. Light who's acting like Dr. Wily in a hack with a difficulty earning it the title of "THE DARK SOULS OF MEGAMAN X SNES HACKS".

Make a pure mod with only the Sprite change it would be awesome, if you want to keep the difficulty then make it a "reasonable" difficulty, not too easy as to pander but not too hard as to treat your players like sh*t.

Thank you by the way for the mod!

Introduction

Having completed from beginning to end I can now add my input. Finally an original Zero that is both playable, authentic and have workable iconic yellow hair! However along the way I have noticed a number of issues that needs to be worked on as well as a number of areas that could be improve upon on. I will address them below:

Gameplay Issues

There has been an increased in difficulty that I wasn't expecting. I thought would be playing an equivalent version of Megaman X but with Zero like how it was done In Megaman X3, X4, etc. Difficulty Zero should be separate from the Normal Zero hack so we have an equivalent original version to get a good feel for how it would have been played. 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. Then there these robot master clones which felt really off. The flame mammoth stage doesn't freeze over anymore which made very hard to get the life heart because the lava is made to One-Hit you now.

Writing Issues

I've notice that Dr. Light is talking like Dr. Wily and that was really off. Dr. Light Sprite is also there instead of Dr. Wily which should be corrected. All the capsules including the Hidden Hadoken should have the purple capsules and Wily Sprites instead of Dr. Light to keep it consistent. During the dialog between Zero, X and Vile, the texts has mismatch colors. Zero texts should be Orange, X should be Blue and Vile should be purple, same for sigma too. If you are going to continue to use X with the super armor, his head sprite should match as well. After you beaten Final Form Sigma and the text box appears you still have control of Zero and moving around in the background of the text.

Sprite/Cannon Issues

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. For Zero it should have the orange color tint like that of Maverick Hunter Zero for PSP for that authenticity.

3) Level 3 Beam is a big multiple blasts with an off color tint. It has a mixed of orange, blue and white shades of colors that looks glitchy.

4) The hadoken capsule says he is giving you the Z Saber but it still shoots the hadoken attack instead of a beam saber.

5) Last but not least is when Zero changes his color based on the weapon you pick, it shows bleeding effects from his armor to his silver shoulders and dark legs mismatching and/or over saturated.

Optional Upgrades

When receiving the leg dash upgrade maybe adding the Air-Dash or Double Jump like how it was done for Zero in MX4 or higher for authenticity.

Conclusion

After reviewing this, I believe this is an authentic MX1 Zero experience so far, but it has so much room for improvement. Using the suggestions above by separating the difficulty from the original, using references from Maverick Hunter X PSP, MX3 SNES and MX4 PSX it will be one step closer to being truly authentic. I believe we can finally get the best original MX1 Zero experience we been waiting for so long.

Pros:

• Excellent Zero sprites (shot position is changed to account for Zero's height)
• X3-Accurate Life Bar
• "Weapon Get" screen includes a decent custom Zero

Cons:

• Mediocre Special Weapon palettes
• Poor script grammar
• Unnecessary boss pattern changes
• Flame Mammoth's Heart Tank is impossible to acquire

Score: 7/10

It's everything I ever wanted from a playable Zero hack, but then it goes and adds a bunch of unnecessary changes. If the boss pattern changes were put in their own patch, Flame Mammoth's stage was fixed, the script was proofread, and the Special Weapon palettes were tightened up, then this would be a 5/5 hack. Still, I enjoyed it very much and it is definitely the best X1 sprite edit out there.

For the longest time, I had hoped that someone would come up with a playable Zero hack, and though I gave Falchion22's Megaman Z hack a fair shake, I felt that it was a letdown for a number of reasons. Programer Peru's version is a massive step up in so many ways, and gets so many things right, but get certain things wrong that keep it from being the definitive X1 Zero experience.

One problem I had with the Megaman Z hack was that Zero's sprites were badly proportioned to fit X's frame, and was missing his signature long hair. Here, Zero is sporting his X1 body in all of its bulky glory, along with his flowing blonde hair that waves as you walk and dash. Said hair is even visible in the "Get Weapon" screen between bosses as well. His recolored Charged Shot graphics look great, and he even has that propelling blast that comes out of his feet when he dashes.

This hack also gets the gameplay right by having his height be an issue when shooting enemies low to the ground more difficult, and it seems like his larger body registers a larger hitbox to match. He doesn't just look the part; it genuinely feels like I'm actually playing Zero, so this is the most refined version of him I've seen for X1.

Unfortunately, this hack isn't without some issues that tarnish it, and the most glaring of them is the increased difficulty changes. For example, Chill Penguin has a faster dash attack and a long-range ice breath, and defeating him no longer causes Flame Mammoth's stage to freeze. Weapons also consume more energy, so I'm less inclined to use them, and I burn through full stocks on bosses before they die. These changes leave me wondering, why? Zero isn't the powerhouse that he is in X3, and he has no discernable advantages over X, so these changes feel unwarranted. If anything, these changes break the game's delicate balance, and all it does is make the learning curve steeper for newcomers.

The text changes throughout the game also stick out like a sore thumb. When you find that Leg Upgrade capsule, it's pretty clear that Dr. Wily's hologram was supposed to be talking in place of Dr. Light, but it's the latter's sprites that appear. Language barrier and grammar aside, he gives off this one-dimensional mad scientist vibe that makes him sound too much like a Saturday-morning cartoon villain. In classic Mega Man's time, this probably would have been fine, but this style of dialog is comically out of place in X's time. I think this hack would benefit from fixing Wily's sprites, and toning down the crazy a few notches. That or simply have Dr. Light acknowledge Zero like he did in X5.

The opening "typed" text crawl in the opening has been rewritten into a recap of Zero's events prior to X1. It's adequate, but it's nothing memorable. What would be more impactful is if it were Dr. Cain or Dr. Wily's personal thoughts on Zero instead, in a similar vein to Dr. Light's final thoughts in the original.

Past that, there are a slew of rough edges that could use some polishing. The menu still refers to his weapon as the X-Buster, and 1-Ups use a reddish version of X's head. The Arm Upgrade's Charge Shot also has a strange orange/blue pallet to it that doesn't quite look right. The pallets for Zero's body when he switches weapons is hard to get used to as well; some are basic enough that they're okay, while others just look odd. None of these are detrimental to the hack, but there's certainly room for improvement.

Overall, it's the best X1 Zero experience out there, but I wouldn't call it The Definitive X1 Zero experience. It's close though; I think with the difficulty changes removed, the script grammar-checked and refined, and the graphical grime cleaned up, it would get there. That or if the goal is to try something fresh, start Zero off with the dash, have the Leg Upgrade grant an air dash or double jump, and adjust the difficulty to compensate. Still, in its current state, I recommend giving it a try. Many thanks to Programer Peru for a wonderful job.

I hope you can merge it with Mega Man Z to get a more faithful version.

BUT... Programmer Peru had the Tendency to clone Sting Chameleon and Boomer Kuwanger (as well with other "small frame" bosses). That... kinda ruins the experience, making it a bother.

That aside, the sprite work is superb, hoping for an update that getting armor parts grants you Zero's appearance from X2 onwards.