Mega Man X4

Mega Man X4
Also known as: Rockman X4 (JP) Developer: Capcom Publishers: Capcom (JP, US), Virgin Interactive (EU) Platforms: PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Windows Released in JP: August 1, 1997 Released in US: September 25, 1997 Released in EU: October 13, 1997 (PlayStation) This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article

Mega Man X4 marks X's second! first entry on the PlayStation and Saturn as the Maverick Hunter has to team up with his buddy Zero and fight off an entire Reploid army that decides to go rogue because everyone is bad at basic communication.

The game has many similarities to its sibling Mega Man 8, and marks the cut-off point where many fans think the series jumped the shark.

Plus the infamous "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOR!"

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Unused Enemies

To do: Upload sprites for the second unused enemy.

Present in the data for the second section of Storm Owl's stage are two unused enemies. Both graphics and programming are fully intact.

The first unused enemy is Rollin' Gear, an enemy that wouldn't debut until X5. In this game, it constantly tries to chase the player down.

The second enemy is a flying green robot. It will try to aim at the player's general X position before dropping a turret and flying away. Said turret drills itself into the ground before it starts shooting. Both the robot and the turret can be destroyed

Unused Sprites

Unused frames of Double. While the only unused part about the three on the right is his facial expression, the first sprite to the left is entirely unused.

Used in a demo version of the game. A placeholder graphic for boss portraits, particularly for unavailable stages.

Used in a demo version of the game. A placeholder graphic for boss portraits, specifically for selectable stages that have unimplemented bosses.

Used on the title screen in the demo version of the game.

Used in the demo version after getting a game over. The "FOR PLAYING" part of the message appears to have been overwritten.

Unused throughout all known versions of the game, and untouched in the international versions. Palette data for these images still exists, however.

Unused Gameplay Demo

Located on the US PlayStation disc is a file called PLDEMO.ARC containing data for an unused demo. This file is not present on the Japanese release. The demo starts X at the final boss, which for spoiler reasons is probably why it was cut (that and the atrocious playing).

This footage was captured by copying the data from PLDEMO.ARC over one of the four demo files that are used.

(Source: DarkHunter)

ABS Text

An ABS text file, written in Japanese, can be found and accessed in the directory containing a blurb about the game. This can only be found in the Japanese Saturn version. Text as follows:

Original
セガサターン版ソフト「ロックマンＸ４」は弊社の「ロックマンＸ」シリーズの第４作目となる、スクロールタイプのアクションシューティングゲームです。今回は、プレイヤーキャラクターとして、従来のエックスに加え、人気の高いゼロも使用できるようになりました。エックスは、各ステージにいるボスを倒すことで、新しい武器を手に入れたり、ステージに隠されたパーツを装備したりすることで、パワーアップを行います。ゼロは、各ステージにいるボスを倒すことで、ボスの技を覚え、新しいアクションがどんどん増えていきます。また、今作ではエックスとゼロとで、全く異なるストーリー展開となっており、それぞれで、動画の内容や、ステージ、登場キャラなどが異なり、一枚のＣＤで２倍楽しめます。
Translation
The SEGA Saturn software "Rockman X4" is the fourth title in our "Rockman X" series, and is a scrolling action shooting game. This time, in addition to the existing X, the popular Zero can now be used as a player character. X can obtain new weapons by defeating bosses in each stage, and equip parts hidden in the stage to power up. Zero can learn the boss's techniques by defeating bosses in each stage, and new actions are added one after another. In this work, X and Zero have completely different story developments, and each has different video content, stages, and characters, so you can enjoy it twice as much with one CD.

Regional Differences

To do: Upload voice clips of the Mavericks from the Japanese version. A picture comparing Zero's weapon menu might be useful.

Title Screen

Japan	International

The images of X and Zero from the player select screen slide across the title screen's opening animation. This was simplified in the international builds.

Japan	International

Additionally, the menu selection on the title screen was also repositioned in the International versions.

Intro Music

Japan	International

The Japanese opening song, Yukie Nakama's "Makenai Ai ga Kitto Aru", was replaced with a different track for the international releases.

Credits Music

Japan	International

The Japanese ending song, Yukie Nakama's "One More Chance", was replaced with a different track for the international releases.

Name Changes

As with the previous X games, the Mavericks go under new names overseas, though in this case one (Split Mushroom) is spared.

Japan	International
Web Spidus	Web Spider
Cyber Kujacker	Cyber Peacock
Storm Fukuroul	Storm Owl
Magmard Dragoon	Magma Dragoon
Jet Stingren	Jet Stingray
Slash Beastleo	Slash Beast
Frost Kibatodos	Frost Walrus

Weapon Select Screen

The Japanese pause menu gives instructions on how to perform Zero's techniques. In order to fit their romanized names, international releases omit this.

Voices

Some voices, such as the pre-battle voices from the eight selectable bosses, were disabled in the international releases. While these bosses do still retain their voices during battle, Cyber Peacock is the only one who's been muted entirely.

• Despite being disabled, the Japanese pre-battle voices of Maverick bosses are still present in the game's voice data set. The English PC version removed all Japanese voices and battle cries properly but only replaced them with dummy data files, and all of them are interchangeable with voice files used in the Japanese PC version.

Revisional Differences

PlayStation vs. Saturn

• Certain music tracks have additional intros in the Saturn version not present in other releases, alongside proper looping tracks.
• A ripple effect was added in Sky Lagoon 2 and Magma Dragoon's stage in the Saturn version.
• Due to limitations with the Saturn hardware, many transparency effects are missing or replaced with a dithering effect. This is most noticeable with afterimages, which are completely opaque in the Saturn version.

Windows version

• Like the Windows port of Mega Man X3, an easy mode that halves damage from enemies is added.
• A music player/test option is added to the Options menu.
• The music tracks "Sigma 1st" (when fighting the cloaked and uncloaked forms of Sigma) and "Sigma 2nd" (when fighting his final form) is played the other way around, as the files for it are stored the other way around (BGM01.SE contains "Sigma 2nd" and BGM02.SE contains "Sigma 1st"). This can be easily fixed by swapping the names of both files.

(Source: MMKB (Sigma music swap))

Mega Man X Collection

Many enemies behave differently in the demos, causing all but the Military Train demo to desync.

Mega Man X Legacy Collection

Has a few differences from the original PS1 release:

• The scene in the intro where the General does a salute was removed, possibly due to it resembling a Nazi salute.
• Cutscenes where the screen flashes rapidly were changed to have the screen be dim.
• The amount of save slots was increased from three to six, likely to compensate for the lack of a second memory card slot.
• The opening and ending use tracks from the international builds, regardless of language settings.