Hack Showcase: Mega Man X1-2 Zero Playable + X3 Zero Project 4.6 (SNES)

Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

Mega Man X and X2 Zero Playable was designed by Programmer Peru and makes Zero instead of X the main hero using his sprites from throughout the games and some other fixes. You’ll proceed normally throughout the game to fight the Mavericks, get items and upgrades on your way to fighting Sigma normally. Skull_emperor_ is the developer behind the graphic and text fix hacks which can be attached easily to the Zero Playable hacks to make some small graphical fixes in both games, and change the dialog in the openings and endings and cutscenes to reflect Zero being the main hero instead of X. In X1 the Dr. Light capsules were changed to Dr. Wily capsules and the dialog reflects that. Future updates for the X2 hack will change Dr. Light to Dr. Wily.

The Mega Man X3 Zero Project (as of this writing is version 4.6) by Justin3009 adds Zero as the main hero, with X playable too, and adds a lot more (worth noting this is different and rewritten from the ground up than their original Zero in X3 hack). Added in the Zero project is improved music and sounds, gameplay, Zero and X having their own sets of dialog through the game, and other options like a save/load system! Zero also starts with 2 mega shots and his sword attack! There’s also a New Game+ feature!

With most romhacks, strongly suggested to check out the readme files for advice on the changes to hacks and any gameplay tips, especially with rpgs. Readme files for rpg hacks can contain additional gameplay advice, etc, and it’s worth subscribing to hacks you like on RHDN to keep up with updates for bug fixes, additional content, etc.

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Hack Showcase: Mega Man Wily Wars Improvement Hacks (Genesis)

Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

Mega Man: Wily Wars came out for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in Japan and Europe, but only released on the Sega Channel service in the US in the 1990s. It finally got a real US release on the Sega Mini. It’s a collection of the first 3 Mega Man games along with the new Wily tower level with new bosses to fight. The jump to 16-bit graphics and music were applauded, the play control, uneven challenge in all 3 games, the sluggishness and slowdown…not so much. Since emulators and the Sega mini rom of Wily Wars dropping, various hacks have attempted to fix the shortcomings of this collection.

For this Hack Showcase, I used the European rom of Wily Wars and put 4 hacks together for a better experience, which I’ll be reviewing separate and together in the order that I patched the rom. Anyone reading this is welcome to patch their game the way I did. These hacks are made for the European rom of Wily Wars and I patched SRAM + Proto Man first, then the others, testing each one as I put them together. I played these in Retroarch, your mileage may vary on Retroarch and other systems. Feel free to try these together or separate!

The SRAM + Proto Man Size Fix hack by JackelZXA is the first hack attached and adds the following:

  • SRAM saving
  • Changes the ROM from EU to US (50Hz to 60Hz)
  • Fixes Saving so Wily Tower can be unlocked
  • Improves Input Lag
  • Improves Buster Fire Speed
  • Adds the Slide to Mega Man 1 and 2
  • Redraws all of Proto Man’s sprites.

Weapon Master by Woodfrog adds the ability to use any weapon and item in all 3 mega Man games, along with Wily’s Tower! Hit the C button for the Window will pause the game and hitting up or down will cycle through the weapons and items from Mega Man 1, 2 and then 3. Worth noting that you can only use MM1 weapons on the Copy Robot fight in MM1 to prevent crashes.

Wily Tower Always Available by Gruesome_Garie gives you the option to go right to Wily Tower from the start! No need to use save states or worry about saves not working after finishing Mega Man 1-3!

Fixer Upper by Josephine Lithius adds the following improvements, which actually build upon some from the 1st hack I added:

  • Enemy invulnerability time has been all but eliminated.  This means that enemies can take damage more frequently and reliably.  No more “missed” shots!
  • The default weapon (the Buster) has been sped up to match its 8-bit counterpart.  Watch those lemons fly!
  • The default weapon and some boss weapons can be fired more rapidly!  Hammer that “fire” button and launch waves of projectiles!
  • Rockman pulls his Buster back a little sooner after firing!  This… only affects a handful of weapons and the change isn’t that big, but hey!  It might help!

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Mega Man Derusting Mega Man X3 (SNES)

So I have a long history with the Mega Man games growing up. I came up with the Mega Man Derusting series to do such a task. The goal is to play and finish the Mega Man classic series along with most of the X series and some other Mega Man titles. I still have some of my Mega Man and X carts and discs and hadn’t really played them in years but I wanted to share my adventures on stream of relearning my way through the classic titles, and in some cases finish the later games to completion! 

THE REVIEW: The last of the X games on the SNES, this one was also released on the Sega Saturn and Windows. Capcom pulled out all the stops to get the best out of this game in terms of music and graphics from the SNES and it showed. This one has always intimidated me the most of the SNES games due to the difficulty and backtracking too. X and Zero have been living their lives as maverick Hunters after Sigma’s defeat when a Dr. Doppler rose to create a Reploid paradise. of course, things went wrong and it’s up to X and Zero to stop the mad doctor’s plans and defeat his henchmen Bit and Byte, and the return of another old enemy too. You can even switch out X for Zero too! Besides going through stages on foot, you can switch to different types of Ride Armors for different situations to get through the larger levels, or find hidden stuff.

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Mega Man Derusting: Mega Man X2 (SNES)

So I have a long history with the Mega Man games growing up. I came up with the Mega Man Derusting series to do such a task. The goal is to play and finish the Mega Man classic series along with most of the X series and some other Mega Man titles. I still have some of my Mega Man and X carts and discs and hadn’t really played them in years but I wanted to share my adventures on stream of relearning my way through the classic titles, and in some cases finish the later games to completion! 

THE REVIEW: X2 was always my favorite of the X trilogy on the SNES. Better graphics, gameplay and music made this a worthy sequel. Months passed since X defeated Zero and a new enemy appeared with an army of mavericks for X to battle, and they’re also holding Zero’s body parts hostage!

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Mega Man Derusting: Mega Man X (SNES)

So I have a long history with the Mega Man games growing up. I came up with the Mega Man Derusting series to do such a task. The goal is to play and finish the Mega Man classic series along with most of the X series and some other Mega Man titles. I still have some of my mega Man and X carts and discs and hadn’t really played them in years but I wanted to share my adventures on stream of relearning my way through the classic titles, and in some cases finish the later games to completion! 

REVIEW TIME: I loved this game as a teen and replaying it now, I still love it! Finishing it finally I’ve only finished X, X2, and I think X4. The gameplay is solid and the graphics are very pretty as per Capcom’s usual high quality. The music is incredible! The story of X fighting Sigma during the Maverick War (the 1st of many), and X seeking vengeance from Vile and later Sigma is classic. Besides the graphical and music improvements, X sports a number of new moves and features. One of them being the 8 bosses you fight being called Mavericks and their names being based upon different animals and plants and are humanoid in appearance, and of course Sigma replacing Dr. Wily as the final boss. X can still gain new weapons from defeating the 8 Mavericks just like in the classic series. Another change are the upgrades to X’s helmet, armor, boots and gun which are found hidden in capsules around the 8 levels. X now sports a dash move when you upgrade his boots, along with a wall jump move letting the player jump up walls and slide down them, along with doing dashes off walls themselves. Other upgrades found in stages include heart tanks which increase X’s life bar and 4 sub-tanks which replace energy tanks from the classic series. Unlike the classic series, you can fill these with energy until max, and use as needed, and keep refilling them with energy when your life bar is full. A password system like the classic series, saves your progress on fought Mavericks and other upgrades.

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Mega Man Derusting: Mega Man 8 (PSX)

So I have a long history with the Mega Man games growing up. I came up with the Mega Man Derusting series to do such a task. The goal is to play and finish the Mega Man classic series along with most of the X series and some other Mega Man titles. I still have some of my Mega Man and X carts and discs and hadn’t really played them in years but I wanted to share my adventures on stream of relearning my way through the classic titles, and in some cases finish the later games to completion! 

THE REVIEW:  Released for the PSX in 1997, this was the first mega Man to jump to 32 bit along with Mega Man X4. MM8 was also released for the Saturn with 2 extra mini-bosses in the form of Wood Man and Cut Man. Plot of Mega Man 8 isn’t so much a “Wily wanting to take over the world” like the others, but Evil Energy from space and a mysterious robot named Duo showed up which got the curiosity of Dr. Light and Wily. of course Wily decides to use the Evil Energy for his next Robot masters as its corrupting Wily more and more. This one added animated cutscenes to continue the story and questionable voice acting when translated to English. I actually didn’t like this one as much as the previous games.

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My History with the Mega Man and Mega Man X Series

The “My History With…” series are my thoughts back when I was a kid to young adult, about when I got games of a series, my initial thoughts about them, and other thoughts about the games. I stick to games I have or had, not one I played for the first time when i discovered emulation or modern system remakes. 

So I’ve mentioned before I do have a long history playing and loving the NES Mega Man series. First one I played being 2 thanks to a cousin and he and I tore it up figuring out the order to fight the Robot Masters, figuring out the weapons to use in Wily’s Castle, and looking through Nintendo Power issues for if/when the password system was cracked. MM3 was the first one I owned myself and loved, doing the same as with 3, and eventually went back to the series roots with 1, and 4. Never owned 5 or 6, though I eventually did play them via roms and played them again, along with 7 in the ps2 MM Anniversary Collection. I had played 8 thanks to a cousin bringing his copy over.

ONTO THE GAMES:

I think I got this for a gift sometime after getting MM3 and 4. I knew it was the first and didn’t have the polish of the later games, but I still had a blast! Never finished it, but i did learn the boss order and about the pause buffering from Nintendo Power. Not so much a favorite of mine, but still fun seeing its more crude compared to the later ones.

Now we’re talking, this was my first when a cousin brought this over to play, a lot! We spent hours exploring the game, figuring out the order, and even going against the order to try runs with different weapons. I never finished it as a kid cause I got stopped up at the Boobeams Trap like most people, and that was even after knowing you could blow up the walls and they won’t return during your next trip. Probably my 2nd favorite of the NES games! I think I bought this one myself some years back since it was the one I played the most outside of others. In March of 2023, I finished this on both difficulties buster only! Never doing Difficult Mode buster only again though.

This was the first Mega Man I owned and still my favorite and most played out of the NES games. This is still my favorite, even though knowing now how broken and glitchy the game is. I can still rock most of the game except for still getting stuck in Doc Robot Hell. This one has my favorite of the Robot Masters and music and a few favorite weapons! After relearning this it’s still a favorite of mine to play and find hacks for like the MM3 Improvement and Revamped hacks! In March 2023, I finished this buster only! Many my streaming friends are surprised how well I rock it in this game too!

Probably the 2nd MM NES title I owned. I was fascinated by the Robot Masters in this one as a kid, glad there wasn’t a hellish portion with Doc Robots again but surprised there were 2 boss castles (which is why i call MM4-6 the 2 boss castle trilogy). I never finished this one as a kid either cause I’d get stuck in Wily’s with no e-tanks. I finished this one for the first time on stream, after a couple tries.

First time and only times I really played this was with a cousin of mine. I had forgotten about this until I got older and into game collecting and streaming. I found the plot interesting and even younger I found the voice acting cheesy, but then again it was the early years of video game voice acting and anime dubs. Finishing this one recently I enjoyed the plot and the soundtrack, but it felt kinda meh compared to the others. I don’t think I would revisit this thanks to the 1st Wily boss and the “jump jump, slide slide” sections.

I think I first played this at a friend’s house or rented it and I was blown away. The soundtrack kicked ass the minute you turned on the console and you were fed a rainbow of colors when you started the game. Seeing Mega Man X and its cast in beautiful colors was amazing to me as a late teen! I loved relearning how the X series worked with the new mechanics and upgrades and liked the idea of the bosses being called Mavericks in a more mature storyline set in the future. I finished this for the first time a couple years ago and enjoy revisiting it when I can! Zero was also awesome!

This one I did rent often as a late teen and I think the first of the X series I finished. I enjoyed the still mature storyline set by the first game and started seeing how Sigma would be the “It was Wily all along!” of the X series. The colors and soundtrack still blew me away with how many colors and what a great and mature soundtrack this game had. I enjoyed learning the new mechanics of this one and the following games that started with the first X game.

X4 was the first one I owned and loved the upgrades to the series on the 32-bit PS1 system. I can play as X or Zero now, sweet! Loved how both had their own fighting styles getting through the stages with X being a ranged fighter and Zero being a melee fighter with his sword. The graphics and soundtrack still amaze me. I think this is my favorite of the X series and something I need to finish cause I always get stuck up on the final Sigma fights. X4 and X2 are my favorites!

If you enjoy reading any of my content and hearing of my nerdy adventures, feel free to share my posts on social media or leave me a comment. I would be forever grateful if you supported me via my Cash App or buy me a coffee via Ko-Fi. All donations are very welcomed and appreciated. I earn no income from this blog and this will help me continue in providing content and fulfilling my dreams. Thanks!

Hack Showcase: Mega Man 2 Revamped (NES)

Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

Created by TheSkipper1995, this hack is just like the Mega Man 3 Revamped hack where it adds polish and other corrections to Mega Man 2 with hose weapons are used, ai of enemies and bosses, new level design to benefit stage gimmicks and more. There’s also 3 optional patches included with the base hack which are recommended:

  • NoFlash – Removes the flashing visual effects
  • Friction – Removes the slide Mega Man does when he stops running
  • FastEnergy – Faster speed which energy is refilled

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Hack Showcase: Mega Man 2 Sliding & Charging Hack (NES)

Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

Mega Man 2 Sliding & Charging by Kujakiller adds a Mega Buster charge and sliding mechanic to Mega Man 2 and Rock Man 2. The Buster charge works and looks as it does in Mega Man 5, and the sliding mechanic works based on Mega Man 3. You can also change your weapons hitting the select button. As of this writing, version 1.2 is out with the additional fixes:

  • Various bugfixes, added support for the MM2 randomizer
  • Flashman battle, opening/closing menu while he freezes you
  • Switching Flash Stopper to other weapon at Mecha Dragon boss autoscroll
  • Touching energy drops when sliding won’t “auto jump”
  • Fixed graphics corruption with select button

For the record, when I streamed this, I patched my copy of Mega Man 2 with the “don’t lose e-tanks at game over” patch already on and worked perfectly!

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Mega Man Derusting: Mega Man 7 (SNES)

So I have a long history with the Mega Man games growing up. I came up with the Mega Man Derusting series to do such a task. The goal is to play and finish the Mega Man classic series along with most of the X series and some other Mega Man titles. I still have some of my mega Man and X carts and discs and hadn’t really played them in years but I wanted to share my adventures on stream of relearning my way through the classic titles, and in some cases finish the later games to completion! 

THE REVIEW: Mega Man 7 was released for the 16bit systems in 1995. The series made a great conversion to 16-bit with great graphics and music! Even if the sprites seem a bit too big. The plot of this one continues from that of Wily finally going to jail at the end of MM6, where he had a backup plan (like every good mad scientist) of a new set of Robot masters to free him from jail after a certain amount of time. This was the first game to feature Auto’s shop and new abilities from Rush. I think one of my favorite parts is how deep the ending for this game is (and the cool scene of Wily’s Castle burning as Mega Man walks home).

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