Mega Man X4 Recompiled: X and Zero, together (Preview)

Mega Man X4 already gives X and Zero their own campaigns. I’ve been working on letting them share one. Both heroes can now play through X’s or Zero’s story together in Mega Man X4 Recompiled, locally or over netplay.

If you saw the Mega Man X co-op preview, this is the next one to try: X4’s own X and Zero, each with their attacks, voices and effects, in the same stages.

Two heroes, one campaign

Player 1 chooses the campaign and owns the story, boss clears and permanent progress. Player 2 joins as the other hero. Each has a separate lifebar, while retries belong to the team. You’re bringing a partner through one campaign, with both characters fighting on screen.

For couch co-op, enable X + Zero Co-op in Mods, assign two controllers in Controls, and press Play. Separate keyboard bindings work too. The same co-op option is available when hosting or joining from the launcher’s Netplay page.

One camera or two

Unified is the default: one shared view for the pair. It’s also the camera used for local play. Over netplay, Split (Experimental) lets each player have an independent screen following their own character. You can take different routes through the same shared world without keeping both heroes inside one camera.

The launcher supports Online Netplay and LAN / Direct IP. Both players need the same release, and the host chooses the shared co-op options. Split is still experimental and can slow down; Unified is the place to start.

Make it your run

Optional rules let you tailor the run:

• Boss doors: either player can open them normally, or you can require both living, present players to arrive.
• Boss scaling: double effective boss health with shorter shared hit cooldowns.
• Double and Iris: fight both story bosses in sequence. Return to the inner door after the first encounter to start the second.
• Character codes: enable Ultimate Armor X’s code and Black Zero together. X still needs to visit a capsule for the armor.

Boss scaling, the extra encounter and character codes are off by default.

Try Playtest 22

Download the Windows ZIP or Linux x86_64 AppImage. Linux needs glibc 2.38 or newer. Supply your own Mega Man X4 USA (SLUS-00561) disc image; choose the .cue from a .cue + .bin set. OpenBIOS is included. Co-op requires OpenGL and a fresh game boot.

This is still an active alpha, so expect bugs and rough edges. Normal memory-card saves keep your campaign progress between playtests.

If you hit a problem, leave Playtest Diagnostics enabled, reproduce it, quit normally, and send the complete saves/diagnostics folder with your release version and a video timestamp. For netplay, collect both players’ logs. The playtesting guide has the details, and bug reports are welcome.