Can Mega Man X7 be... better? Well, the odds are looking pretty good. Enter Mega Man X7: N's Edition, a recently-released fan-patch that's making strides to address a number of issues and design choices. The result might just make your next (or first) playthrough a lot more enjoyable.
The current patch is specifically designed for the PlayStation 2 version. You can download it here, and grab the necessary patching toolset here.
Now, let's dive into the comprehensive patch notes, courtesy of N himself:
-The enemy's weakness system has been added.
-You can turn the conversation over quickly with the start button.
-The tempo of some event scenes has accelerated.
-Some unnecessary conversations have been deleted.
-The conditions for X to join us have been changed to the rescue of 32 hostages.
-Sound effect and BGM volume have been adjusted.
-Rank promotion conditions have been eased further.
-While Axl is transforming, you can release the transformation with the player change button.
-Weapon damage and consumption have been adjusted.
-Some special weapons have been accelerated.
-HP and damage of enemies and bosses have been adjusted.
-Initial special weapons gauge changed from 25 to 32.
-It's been changed so that if you fall, it happens faster.
-Reploid was changed to be killed if he was attacked three times by the enemy.
-Zero be judged invincible while you're demonstrating Bakuenjin, Raijinshou, Gokumonken.
-The problem with dash wall jump has been improved.
-It's been changed to allow Zero to change direction during the jump attack.
-Zero Saver Attack Delay has been reduced.
-The sound of getting a heart tank has changed.
-Camera angles on some stages have changed.
-The scrolling speed of the Mole Bore stage has increased slightly.
-The placement of some enemies within the stage has changed.
-Boss's weakness has changed.
(Soldier Stonekong)-(Tornado Tonion)-(Flame Hyenard)-(Splash Warfly)-(Snipe Anteator)-(Wind Crowrang)-(Vanishing Gungaroo)-(Ride Boarski)
-Tornado Tonion's waiting time increased.
-Splash Warfly's missile tracking time has decreased.
-Snipe Anteator's sniper device has been reduced from six to two.
-There's an increase in the delay before Red's attack.
-Tornado Tonion Stage The mid-boss's rotation time has been reduced.
-When you get a life-up or energy-up, all characters' max gauges increase. (1.1.5)
-The system that gets Life up and Energy up when you knock down a 8 boss has been deleted. (1.1.5)
-Soldier Stonekong's initial pattern changed to sword-wielding behavior. (1.1.5)
-Fixed the issue that does not reflect on the resume screen when the heart tank is obtained. (1.1.7)
-If you pass through a particular area within the step, it will start in that area when you retry. (1.2.1)
-Setting the video plugin to softwere fixed the issue of darkening the boss icon color. (1.2.2)
-In the Weapon get screen, a bug has been fixed where Zero's hair floats in the air. (1.2.3)
Keep an eye out for potential updates in the future by checking the author's YouTube channel. Once you've given it a try, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!
Messing with the boss order is the kind of thing that turns me off from these so-called "improvement patches." That's not an improvement, it's a subjective preference, and it only serves to confuse those who are already familiar with the original.
ReplyDeleteBut the original X7 sucked ass.
DeleteBut the original wasn't very good. I get what your saying, but every other change in the patch was to help make X7 more enjoyable like the other games.
Deleteoh no not my precious X7 boss order
DeleteMUH X7 BOSS ORDER IS DIFFERENT, 0 OUT OF 10
DeletePlease... X7 is trash, anything is an improvement over the vanilla game.
X7 is dog poop, but I kind of agree with Hypershell here. At least put an option for the original order or something, unless it's a fan game or a brand-new game somethings are just sacred.
DeleteThen again Capcom removed the ability to slide through or tip-toe into a door in Mega Man 11, and that was the most sacred thing about Mega Man to me so...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ugh, still such pompous hostility towards this game. Even if X7 were remade, I don't think the haters would let up. Oh mah gah, it's just too fun to always bash X7! Burn to da ground! El oh el!
DeleteMost people are also trash and have trash opinions but you don't see me bashing them over the head with it as if to beat a dead horse over and over again./
DeleteAlso just saying X7 could be "trash" and someone's fan made edit of it could be trash as well... Two things can be true at the same time.
Its an improvement by basis of not being the same as the original game.
DeleteNothing about the original X7 experience is worth preserving.
This mod doesn't go far enough, game needs to be burned to the ground and remade from the ground up
If you're already familiar with the original version than that's literally the whole point. It's like complaining about a mod that changes the vanilla order when the entire point is changing around. Nobody is taking away the original X7. It's right there for anyone to play. These patches just make a "remix" version of the game
DeleteNo game deserves to not be preserved. I think X8 belongs in the dumpster (especially after 100% and doing no damage on all stages) but I wouldn't want it to be lost or to replace it with something I would prefer, because I know there are fans of X8 out there who wouldn't want that. In addition, a fanmade modification isn't free from criticism just because the game it's based on is widely disliked. Change isn't inherently good.
DeleteThat said, I personally think at least some of the things in this mod are very appreciated and it's also generally well done, considering the PS2 games are difficult to work with, so props to the mod creator. Don't know why it's based on the US version, though, considering it's lack of manual sound settings, the changed damage values and the odd localization (in terms of both script and some of the voices)
I'ma be 100, Sprite Recreator is spitting facts. Games do deserve preservation even if they're a complete pariah to most like X7. Hell, I think X6 is one of the best X games! Though I still don't get basing the game on the localized version, since the damage values are nearly halved on everything.
DeleteI couldn't agree more, and I'm speaking as someone who hates X7 and unironically likes Mighty No. 9 and X6 way over that game. This is the toxic attitude that really proves how unpleasable Mega Man "fans" and, at worse, it comes off as spitting in the face of anyone trying to fix some of the game's shortcomings and/or fundamental problems. Imagine bringing this kind of callous attitude in front of the respective creators of X3 Zero Project, X5 Improvement Addenum, and X6 Tweaks Project. If someone were to something similar for Mighty No. 9, I bet you these ungrateful people would out of their to drudge tired and played out memes to ad nauseam while finding more excuses just bash the game and Inafune (while having no issue circlejerking the Gunvolt games for more than their worth) because beating a dead horse for many years somehow doesn't make these people come off as petty and pathetic.
Delete@ViperAcidZX
Delete"Imagine bringing this kind of callous attitude in front of the respective creators of X3 Zero Project, X5 Improvement Addenum, and X6 Tweaks Project."
I would and I would be proud of it. X3 Zero Project is pointless! X5 Improvement Addendum is okay for the most part. X6 Tweaks Project is trash by making too many subjective changes.
And when it comes to Inafune, MN9 is trash, whatever, but Gunvolt is terrible as well and it's more of a force field or, in this case, electric field game with an emphasis in combos than anything resembling a Mega Man game.
Stop calling fans "fans" just because you can't take our opinions.
X3 Improvement Project is mid, but X5 and X6's improvements turn the original two mid games into legit fantastic ones, WTF are you smoking anon?
DeleteRevising X6 Tweaks Project. It wasn't as egregious as I originally thought. Only the following things feel like they shouldn't have been changed:
Delete·Rescuable Reploids no longer give extra lives and health.
Extra lives was OP and detrimental when wanting to exit a stage without defeating the boss, but the health function shouldn't be removed.
·Blue Orbs left alone won’t turn back into a Nightmare Virus.
Just increase the delay of the timing of the big orb and then of the small orb. Don't get rid of that function either.
·“Exit Stage” button always available.
Not until the boss is defeated. Yes, even in the secret areas.
·Nightmare Mother health bar has been cut in half.
Unnecessary. What acediez should have done instead is decrease the number and speed of the bullets. They corner you too much and there are certain patterns(fire on floor while being shot from above) that are impossible to avoid(especially in xtreme). Meanwhile, the boss itself it's just too fast to avoid its body especially when it changes direction.
·Commander Yammark and Blizzard Wolfang: increased damage to all attacks. Projectiles are now indestructible.
Completely disagree, at most Yammark should have some indestructible ones along the destructible ones. Leave Wolfang how it is. The increased damage is fine.
·Amazon Area: the ceiling has been extended on the equally infamous blind jump in the section with transport enemies over spikes.
I can't believe I'm the only one in the entire planet that understands that puzzle. IT'S NOT A BLIND JUMP. All you have to do is shoot the caterpillar at the tallest tower while you are standing on the right side of said tower. Jump over it, it will land on the spikes and unwrap itself. The only challenge is that you have to calculate it so the caterpillar doesn't fall to the next set of spikes. GG easy.
The rest of the changes are fine.
To be fair Hypershell, the patch is not an improvement. It's an N edition. The N seems to stand for "normal man" when you try to translate his username using Google Translate. The developer is not solely advertising the improvements but also his own subjective changes(like the heart tank sound effect change). It's just his version of the game. I don't think Protodude meant any harm by titling the article that way, but it's not merely an improvement patch. It's its own edition.
DeleteAnother fix for the Nightmare Mother boss is adding platforms to avoid ground fire and still being able to move away from the bullets. Could be disappearing platforms that start flashing when either one is about to disappear for a more intense but still possible battle. As well as making the sprite smaller.
DeleteAnd regarding the Amazon puzzle, you may not like how it looks, but the game introduces those caterpillars early on. You are meant to experiment with them to understand how they work so when you get to that section you know what to do. Alia also tells you they can stand on spikes, hinting you have to use them. What the game did to a large extent did make sense. X6 is a game designed to stop and think before attempting anything. Most of the games are more about quick reaction to dash through the levels, especially X4 and less about analyzing a situation. That's why X6 is one of my favorites of the entire saga. A shame that it was released unfinished. X4 used to be my favorite but now I prefer the level philosophy of X6. Not over the first X game though.
Played the first 6 stages of this new boss order. definitively an improvement, but there still some things to change, like Alia, Flame Hyenard and the playable character repetitive voices, for example.
ReplyDeleteWhat about "Burn! Burn! Burn to the ground! Burn! Burn to the ground!"?
ReplyDeleteHow about a undub version? :)
ReplyDeleteThe only real "off" voices are X (god forbid) and Signas (although he has some better lines during endings.) People think Axl is annoying but Lenne Hardt did a great plucky young boy with good inflection. All the Maverick voices fit the way they look perfectly. All very memorable and animated voices. It's totally unfair to dismiss the whole cast just because of a few off lines and a jank script at times.
DeleteThere's no need cause X7 has the option to use the Japanese voices.
DeleteYou can turn them on in the options if I remember right.
Anonymous: Half-right -- I think the Japanese voices only run during cutscenes. Or was it gameplay? It's been a while, I just remember it only working for one and not the other, unless I'm REALLY forgetting...
DeleteYeah, X7's dub had such memorable voices I can barely remember any of it outside of "Burn to da ground! El oh el!" and what Axl sounds like when he explodes. And the only reason I can remember Alucard, er, Signas is because of that.
DeleteI've been trying to recall X and Zero. Nothing.
So...
That'd be pointless cause you can play with JPN voices in the main game.
DeleteYou can toggle it on or off in the options.
Works in cutscenes and gameplay.
@LBD It works for the full game, but the opening and endings remain the western version's instrumentals.
DeleteThe only thing an un-dub could do in that regard is restore them. I do miss Code Crush, (its my favorite Rockman X opening and I'm not a fan of MMX7's random new instrumental theme) but the ending theme instrumental of Lazy Mind is actually better than the Japanese version IMO.
@Shrap the JPN option only make the japanese voices available in the cutscenes, The in-game voices still sounds in awful english dub, and the OP and END are still just instrumental
Delete"I want to play in the japanese dub".
Delete"So you hate the english dub".
"No, thats a completely new sentence".
@shrap man, I can remember soo many lines from X7, mostly absurd repetitions from bosses
Delete"triangle kick" -gungaroo
"no way" -boarski
"around and around" -tonion
the rest, I just remember the gist of what was said. I really liked chain smoker sigma though.
The english dub has such a corny vibe that I honestly grew to love it. It's ridiculous, but things like Tornado Tonion have me convinced that ridiculous was completely intentional.
DeleteI'm just baffled that we're only seeing this years AFTER Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 brought it to PC, which is where I thought this mod would be applied, if ever.
ReplyDeleteThis patch is for the PS2 Version
DeleteApparently, the X Legacy Collections are really difficult to mod if you aren't just doing music and movie swaps.
DeleteThat's even without having to deal with Enigma Protector as a DRM.
Enigma's not in the XLCs... yet.
Delete*knock on wood*
I still think the running and dashing should be a bit faster...
ReplyDeleteYou have to try also
ReplyDeleteMega Man X3 ZERO Project 4.6a (Normal an MSU-1 Versions)
Mega Man X5 Improved
Mega Man X6 Tweaks
And X4 X8 XCM MHX Undubs
I mean it’s cool that there is a group of fans dedicated enough to try to make the game somewhat decent but at the end of the day no matter how much is fixed X7 is still going to be crap. Not trying to be negative but it’s just a very poorly designed game.
ReplyDeleteSame could be said about your opinion but it's still out their trying to appeal to people. Imagine making a statement like "no matter how much a videogame is fixed it will still be crap" and thinking it makes logical coherent sense. Well you don't have to, that statement was just made categorically evident and assumed to make sense right before your very eyes.
DeleteAt what point do people just love to hate and revel in making others do the same? People have less hatred for literally broken as in cannot be played to completion... as in crashes or freezes due to erroneous code, or massively doesn't function due to bad code/bugs, than X7 with its "I can't play as the title character bro" "Muh camera" and let's not forget "burn to the ground broken my playthrough guys" "critiques".
The camera getting stuck into a wall in Gungaroo's stage is not a legitimate critique because? Oh right, there's no because. It's only because anon said so.
DeleteIf I record myself playing through Gungaroo's stage without running into camera issues that hinder my progression and post it here, I'm sure you'll accept that and reconsider your passionate and unyielding stance./s
DeleteDo it with getting in the ride armor while destroying every enemy in your way and collecting every item and hostage with no damage and then you'll be taken seriously.
DeleteAlso, not being able to see where you're going with the Cyber Stones if you're behind one in Anteator's stage as well as getting shot off-camera by some of them. This also happens with the Flyers in Crowrang's stage. The Pastegunners
Deletein the room with Dr. Light's capsule also shoot you off-screen. They can respawn off-camera on your way back the main path and shoot behind you and I'm sure there are other examples in the rest of the game. Enemies in general can spawn and respawn off-camera. The Fighter Aircraft in Warfly's stage is another problem. You should be able to rotate the camera and the camera should have been moved upwards towards the horizon in Crowrang's stage.
In other words, 3/10 bait, made me reply three times.
I actually love X7, but I do admit it’s a very flawed game. This is a great way to fix those flaws.
ReplyDeleteAt best a hobby project. Cant really imrpove X7 beyond the first layer so honestly cool but whatever? 😅
ReplyDeleteGoin' over the list here, and… yeeaaah. "Improvement" is a bit of a stretch.
ReplyDeleteThis patch makes a lot of arbitrary changes that simply don't make much sense to me. The boss order, in particular, is ridiculous. A number of changes just make the game "easier", too, like reducing the amount of Reploids needed to recruit X.
This one is a hard pass from me. X7 is fine the way it is, quirks and all.
" X7 is fine the way it is, quirks and all."
DeleteI don't think that you're going to get a lot of agreement on that.
I don't think he'll get a lot of disagreement either, the fanbase is pretty much dead, people barely care anymore. It's only really known for being whiny about things like X7 and appreciating Mega Man 2. It's the equivalent of Sonic being known for Sonic 2 and Sonic '06 except without the sales and Sonic actually being know widely for far more than those 2 things. That's all we are known for tho, that one series that made the worst game ever made X7 and Mega Man 2 nostalgia fetish.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDoesn't look much different than normal X7 when watching the video, though the fix list shows some speed improvements, they could still make it better noticeably by completely getting rid of the 'knock the player on their ass' if taking damage sometimes. The player should never fall down if hit, taking seconds to stand back up. Also make Zero's moves even quicker like other X games.
ReplyDeleteLet me contextualize my opinion: I think that X7 is a better game in almost every regard compared to X6.
ReplyDeleteBut, for further context: Rockman & Forte, Challenger from the Future, Battle Network Transmission, and Mega Man World 2 are some of my favorite games in the franchise. So, ya know…
XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DeleteBest meme of 2024 lads
"I think that X7 is a better game in almost every regard compared to X6."
ReplyDeleteLol no
The link got updated, FYI and the one posted here no longer works. The updated link can be found on the YouTube video, but this is it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HeYozrbm12Xn2FDVHdVKUb0bPbGOMj2J/view
ReplyDeleteAs someone who never defeated any maverick from this game and who hated it even since the introductory stage, I must say NormalMan made an excelent thing with this N's Edition. The game is actually fun to play, and the 3D camera is no longer breathing on the neck sof our characters. I compared this with my copy of MMX Legacy Collection 2, and I must say this is superior. It's a middle ground between MMXLC2 "Rookie Hunter mode" (that "fixes" the US weak damage bug, but makes you practically immune to everything) and the normal Japanese version. It made it Mega Man X5 levels of fun, and that's something I never thought I would say about this game. A lot of quality of life tweaks that are no big deal individually, but overall, eliminates that feeling of "walking through mud" given its original slow pacing. First X7 gameplay for me, and I must say this patch makes it a really good game.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you use PCSX2, I also recommend to
* Set the "normal speed" to 110% (66 fps)
* Activate fast CDVD
* Set internal resolution to 2.5 (this makes textures and pre-rendered stuff look ugly in comparison, so I recommend using vgStallion's upscaled textures, it's an improvement).
* Use a joypad with turbo toggles or use some mapper (like AntimicroX) so you can activate and deactivate turbo for the square button. That way, you can activate rapid fire for Axel and then deactivate it for Zero and X. I configured my gamepad to switch the turbo with the select button.
If you haven't played this game yet, give this mod a try.
Why no option just to have X in the very beginning? That's the worst part of the game
ReplyDeleteWhy no option just to include X at the very beginning? To me that was the game's worst aspect
ReplyDelete