Megaman X5 improvement
This is an addendum to the Mega Man X5 Improvement Project by DarkSamus993 (v0.01.1). It started in 2019 as a restoration of graphics, songs and voice clips from the japanese version and unused soundtrack. In 2021, development resumed with the inclusion of a retranslated script and several new features. The amount of work put on this is now comparable to what's been done in X6 Tweaks. And even though there isn't (and there won't be) a patching tool, there are a few customization options (see below).
Features from the original Improvement Project (v0.01.1):
- Alia's hints are permanetly disabled (replaced by in-game option since v1.6)
- Keep both character bonuses regardless of which one is chosen
- Each Heart Tank/Life-Up Part affect both X & Zero
- Save/Load menu was given a redesign
- Fixed the injured sprites for X & Zero
Addendum Features:
- Graphics:
- Title Screen restored from the japanese version (custom graphics by Metalwario64)
- Mavericks renamed to their japanese/MMXLC2 names (custom graphics by Metalwario64, based on MMXLC2 new graphics, ripped by DarkSamus993)
- Script:
- Main version: Complete script replacement, based on Hondoori's translation. Edited by Ghaleonh41
- No Retranslation: the original USA version's script and font, except for various typos corrected, and Mavericks renamed to their japanese/MMXLC2 names.
- Soundtrack: (optional)
- Opening theme replaced with the japanese opening song "Monkey"
- Ending theme replaced with the japanese ending song "Mizu no Naka"
- Tidal Whale's stage theme changed to the unused track "Deep Sea"
- X's "Good" Ending theme changed to the unused track "Armageddon"
- Dr. Light's theme changed to the unused "Dr. Light" track.
- Stage Select 2 theme changed to the unused "Stage Select" track.
- Voice clips restoration:
- X's Charged Shot
- Zero's Giga Attack
- X and Zero on low health
- Maverick introduction name calls
- Dynamo's voice clips
- Parts Unlocking:
No need to waste "hours". All available in a single playthrough.
- Get Life Up/Energy Up at any level
- Get Life Up+/Energy Up+ (Parts) at any level
- Get both Parts regardless of Life Up+/Energy Up+ selection.
- Enigma/Shuttle RNG exceptions:
- Enigma/Shuttle launch with no parts will always fail.
- Shuttle launch with all 4 parts will always succeed.
- Stage modifications:
- Tidal Whale's Stage: Auto-scrolling segments run faster (100-125% horizontally, 150% horizontally).
- Tidal Whale's Stage: U-5555 (mini boss): smaller health bar (75%), but deals more damage (about 150% each attack).
- Dark Necrobat's Stage: slowdown gimmick removed
- Zero Space 1: the inner walls in the laser segments are now not grabbable.
- More options to explore areas:
- More weapons can break stage objects blocking items in Tidal Whale's, Shining Firely's and Dark Necrobat's stages.
- Dark Hold protects you from spikes.
- F-Splasher and can push V-Blocks.
- More forgiving orb collecting in the Ride Chaser segment (you only need 7 out of 8.)
- Incomplete Armors:
- Armors can now be selected as soon as you get a part for it. While incomplete, they'll be displayed as unarmored X with a custom palette (see details below)
- Gameplay:
- Dark Hold: can be cancelled.
- F-Splasher behaves like a regular air dash (can be cancelled)
- W-Shredder: input changed to Dash + Special
- Disabled double tap dash input
- Falcon Armor: gets a custom air dash with the same properties as the "free move" flight.
- Gaea Armor: can slide down walls by pressing down. Dash speed penalty removed.
- Rebalancing:
- Gaea Armor: buster damage against common enemies increased.
- Z-Saber: damage against main bosses decreased.
- Z-Buster: startup delay sligthly reduced.
- Longer/harder "X vs. Zero" fight (damage tables reduced)
- QoL:
- Alia's hints can be turned off from the options menu
- Cutscenes and dialogues skip by pressing START
- Cheat Code to unlock Ultimate Armor will keep the Fourth Armor selectable
- Cheat Codes to unlock Ultimate Armor and Black Zero can be combined
- Faster pause menu transitions
- Exit Button always available, can be used to skip intro stage.
Customization & Optional Hacks:
- Altenate patches:
- No Retranslation
- No Music Changes
- No Music Changes + No Retranslation
- All Music Changes Except Opening
- Additional hacks available in the "readme" as hex editing instructions:
- Remove Timer
- Hide Virus Status UI
- Always get both Life Up and Energy Up upgrades
- Receive All Parts on the Next Hour
- Change default game options
- Enable Item Drops in Xtreme Mode
- Change number of Parts equipables by armor
- Enable Fourth Armor Nova Strike
- Continues restart the stage (experimental)
- Enable Title Screen voice clip ("Rockman X5")
- There's also instructions to reverse some of the changes included in the patch.
About "Incomplete Armors":
Works exactly like in X6 Tweaks: Falcon and Gaea armor will become selectable as soon as you find an Armor Part for it. While incomplete, they'll be displayed as unarmored X with a custom palette. This is the breakdown of the skills you get for each Part:
Falcon Armor
- Helm Parts: Increases Special Weapons ammo by 50%.
- Buster Parts: Spear Charged Shot
- Armor Parts: Halves damage taken and reduces recoil
- Leg Parts: Air Dash**
- Complete Armor: Free Move + Giga Attack
** Originally, the Falcon Armor doesn't have an Air Dash, forcing you to use the slower "Free Move" flight as its only air move. Since we're keeping the flight as a complete armor bonus, the Leg Parts will give you a customized Air Dash instead. It does contact damage and gives you invincibility. You get to keep it when the armor is complete.
Gaea Armor
- Helm Parts: X-Buster quick chage (mid-charge becomes fully charged shot)
- Buster Parts: Shot Eraser Buster + Ladder climbing speed bonus.
- Armor Parts: Halves damage taken and reduces recoil
- Leg Parts: Spikes protection + Sticking to walls (controllable!) + Dash that can move V-Blocks**.
- Complete Armor: Giga Attack
** Originally, the Gaea Armor has a Dash speed penalty. Since that doesn't do much for the game's balance except being annoying, and the Gaea has enough drawbacks as it is, the penalty was removed.
FAQ:
Current status of the project?
(August 2021) Keeping an eye out for any remaining bugs in the v2.0 release. No new major features are being worked on.
Can I use it in MMXLC2/PC/PS1 PAL/PS1 NTSC-J versions?
The patch only works on the PS1 USA version.
Status on the retranslated script?
It is what it is. This script wasn't edited by me, and I'm not personally making edits to it now. You still have the option to play the hack with the original game's script.
Why keep the Falcon Armor's flight and the Giga Attacks for the completed armors instead of the individual armor parts?
I thought having the full Falcon flight from pretty much the start of the game was too unbalanced. Besides that, there's also a technical limitation: there's no underlay sprites (unarmored X) for those moves. I could theorically import them from X6, the Falcon Armor ones at least, but the player graphic files are compressed, and I don't currently have the tools or knowledge to handle compressed graphics files.
Why can't the Falcon Armor charge special weapons? Can the Gaea Armor have special weapons at all?
They can be activated, but the graphics for them don't display correctly. And, again, modifying them would require editing compressed graphics files.
Will you ever make the armors actually be displayed by parts, like in X1-X4?
I don't know. I haven't really tried yet, and I don't currently plan to. It's a big leap in technical difficulty.
Is there gonna be a patcher tool like in X6 Tweaks?
No, I prioritized working on the actual hacks this time.
I don't like (thing)
Besides the included patch variants, the readme has a bunch of instructions to revert some of the changes manually. If what bothers you is not covered by either, there's probably a technical/practical reason for it.
I want to work on my own hacks for this game
I made my documentation available in the download page. Everything I ever wrote for this game is in there. Good luck!
Change log:
Quote
v2.0.1
- Bugfix: fixed audio issues occuring on some emulator settings (wrote on a RAM address I shouldn't have touched)
v2.0
- Incomplete Armors. Armors can now be selected as soon as you get a part for it.
- Stages: Dark Necrobat's stage slowdown gimmick removed.
- Stages: Volt Kraken's stage orbs requirement to destroy wall reduced to 7 (you can now miss one orb)
- Bugfix: fixed invincibility bugs introduced by the cancellable F-Splasher code (v1.9) and custom Falcon Air Dash (v1.8)