This is a total ROM conversion for the original Mega Man X which can be downloaded here: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8167/

I have been working off and on with this project for a couple years now. It's no secret my favourite character has always been Zero from the Mega Man series. The way he has always been eager to lend a helping hand to X and his comrades. How he would continuously save the world against overwhelming odds. That his life followed such a complicated trajectory across multiple sub-series' but he consistently tried to be a force for good despite his background, being made by the evil Wily for world domination. As a young child, he was an inspiration to me. So naturally my mind was blown the instant I discovered he was playable in X3. Doubly so when I discovered the Zero Project for X3.

The original Mega Man X is my most played game ever. For a while it seemed like every revisit, I learned something new about the game; be it the stages changing depending on the boss order tackled, or the enemies losing their body parts when hit with certain weapons.

This is why I wished for a world where this game could feel fresh to me again. After being wowed by the X3 Zero Project, I felt a rush of excitement to try my hand fully incorporating Zero into the world of X1, so I got to work. Over 2 years or so, I was faced with numerous self-doubts.

"I'll never be smart enough to edit the text."
"These files are in bin format? I can't open these with PowerISO, what can I do then?!"
"I'll never figure out how to change the music!"
"I wish I could change the 1up icon...."

I'm here to tell you that if you want to achieve something hard enough, you CAN get it done. Your biggest enemy is yourself, and everybody is their own worst critic. Creating this hack was a long journey and I learned so much about so many things that go into game creation, particularly the retro classics.

Assembly language coding. Music sheets. Which objects are transparent VS opaque. Pallet swapping. Health and ammunition variables. Scripting and font colours. It simply goes on and on.

To all those who love Mega Man as I do, I hope this hack is something universally enjoyable. I much prefer to spread my love for things I am passionate about than to focus on the negativity, which is why I went above and beyond to put this together. That the levels, stages, cutscenes, music, physics, graphics, and so forth can have so many significant changes to make the world truly feel like a what-if alternate universe where Zero was the main character, rather than some mere character swap. The overall aim was to have a game that was somewhat harder than the original Mega Man X, but still make Zero feel powerful and different enough that his campaign wasn't just X's campaign but harder.

And of course, I have to give a huge shoutout to everybody over the years who helped this project come into fruition. Xeeynamo for creating a level editor. xstuff for helping me with graphical and music edits. denim for compression and decompression programs. GoldS and Power Panda for disassembly files that gave me a great headstart. Falchion 22 and Peru for initial hacking elements I mixed and matched. cerberus-rack, brongaa12, Kensuyjin33, and fallensoldier420 for graphical work relevant to Zero’s canon design. Umiliphus for graphical work relevant to Dr. Wily’s sprite. Maël Hörz for HxD, the greatest hex editor I have ever used. And of course, Vis for the amazing cover art I submitted to IGDB. https://twitter.com/PD_CGT_games/status/1718036539622531354?s=20

I truly believe working with so many people to learn romhacking skills in the past couple years and gaining so many new perspectives around the hobby has not only made me a better coder, but also a better person. I thank everyone who helped push my dream of a fully integrated Zero in MMX1's world to reality.

"Sigma, you should have studied the blueprints closer! There is only one Zero!"