Mega Man Forever Project

So.. to anyone reading, and whomever cares.
This started as a small experimental romhack in 2006. I continued
work on it in 2007 after various events left me with nothing better to do.
Now, after releasing the 3rd demo in 2010, im deciding to stop working on
this in the same way. You could consider this project cancelled.
The idea of working on a hack like this until completion, by myself, is insane.
I'm already "satisfied" with the amount of work i have placed into this thing.
It is a shame that it will not be complete. But admitedly, the goal i had for
this was crazy to begin with.
Also, the reception i've gotten from the 3rd demo so far, doesn't motivate
me in the least. All i hear is that it still needs work, and people seem to be generally concerned with pointing out whatever isn't good. This has been the subject of overly high expectations for a romhack done by a single individual, and now the work i did is dismissed and put down, and you just ask for more. You aren't getting any new releases. So take it for what it is, or leave it.

(copied from Board2: http://acmlm.no-ip.org/board/thread.php?id=6411)

Download!: http://acmlm.no-ip.org/uploader/get.php?id=3342

Also, for those interested, here is a PAL version: http://acmlm.no-ip.org/uploader/get.php?id=3343

The PAL one has some more timing issues with IRQs and so on, but it fixes the sound pitch and tempos.
Both IPS are to be applied to Mega Man 4 (U).

"Demo 3" means this is the third demo in total. "Unabridged Demo 1", released May last year, was the second.

The 8 main stages are not 100% complete, but all of them should be playable from start to end, including battles with the robot masters. You can't play the later stages. (unless you cheat). Offshore Fortress 1 will appear on stage select but its messy.

Since the last demo, Solar Man has been renamed to "Photon Man" (becouse of Mega Man 10), and Timing Man has been given the new, much better name "Chrono Man".

A list of notable changes from Unabridged Demo 1:

* Chronoman's level is more complete
* Boilman's level is more complete
* Whole Propelman level is playable
* Photonman's level improved
* Rush Jet section in Wingman no longer has energy depletion
* Robot master sprites implemented to more or less extent
* Robot master AI's more complete
* Blow Cyclone weapon more complete
* Implemented mechanism which prevents getting stuck in Guardman's stage
* Games can be saved and loaded
* Weapon Get changed
* Demo hass less "stupid" bugs/hangups than the last one (i took the time to fix such problems)
* No cheatish debug menu this time

Another feature i think did not exist in the last demo (i don't remember) is that you can now buy items by pressing B on Stage Select. All items (should) work, except Weapon Tank, which is not implemented yet.

A note for those who own a PowerPak and would like to play this, unfortunately it seems impossible to have MMC3 games which has both CHR-RAM and Save RAM. So saving/loading does not seem to work, even if it does in any emulator.

The password system is completely broken so don't rely on it at all.

When the ROM boots, it may show a brief blue screen or red screen. A blue screen means SRAM has been detected and has been reset. It should never show again once the save file has been generated. A red screen means that SRAM for some reason does not exist, games cannot be saved.

Finnaly, enjoy.

edit: I am not going to post any new screenshots or release any new demos by request.

Rows are present for the things/levels in the game that has been changed since the "Unabridged Demo".

Overall Completion Estimate

Levels
Bosses

("Levels" is the average of all levels in the game. "Bosses" is the average for all bosses, including those later in the game.)

Stage Completion Estimate

01: Haz
02: Chr
03: Che
04: Pho
05: Gua
07: Boi

And here are screenshots of the game Save/Load feature i decided to implement as an alternative to passwords.

Since Mega Man 10 has been announced, and Solar Man being one of the robot master names, his name will be changed, it has been decided to "Photon Man".

Just to clear any suspicion, this hack project is neither canceled or iced.

For anyone interested (and reading this), here is a NSF rip of the unabridged demo:

http://matrixz127.comoj.com/mmforever/Megaman_Forever_UDemo1.nsf

Boilman's sprites were designed by SpeedReemix.

The plan is to work to finish the 8 regular stages, and release a 9-level demo when they are complete. That is not to say it will be anytime soon..
I may post progress reports again for significant steps in the game's making.

The winner name will end up replacing "Timingman".

edit: Closed!
The new name of the robot master is Chronoman. (Chrono Man)
Thank you to everyone who voted. 198 is quite much.. :)

Just a list of robot masters and which has been made sprites for, and by who.

Wingman: Sprites done + Mug - Vintersphrost
Hazeman: Sprites done + Mug - Vintersphrost
Chronoman: Sprites done + Mug - Vintersphrost
Chemicman: Sprites done + Mug - Vintersphrost
Photonman: Sprites done + Mug - Vintersphrost
Guardman: Sprites done + Mug - Vintersphrost
Propelman: Sprites done + Mug - Vintersphrost
Boilman: Sprites done - SpeedReemix, mug concept by RushJet1

W	H	Chr	Che	Pho	G	Pro	B

(Copied from Board2 thread, i'm lazy and tired.)

Foreword

Megaman Forever is a hack of Megaman 4, which started with level modifications. I eventally added some ASM hacks.. and the hack grew in extent as i worked on it. I have come up with a storyline.. and 8 new robot masters. This is experimental, especially the story, and is still in draft. I don't have the biggest confidence in storytelling talents, so we'll see what the final result will be depending on the response i get. Plus, i realize that if the hack is to have a feeling of realism, it needs to be true to the 'feeling' of mega man games. And if this hack will be able to do that, is not for certain..
My sprite talents are also lacking, so the robot masters and their portraits would end up rather pathetic.. but i will be asking for help on that. Thanatos-Zero has already offered some help, anyone who wants to help with sprites is welcome.

The decision

So far i have promoted this hack by revealing only a drop of what i've accmplished, and keeping a lid on everything else. But.. i have decided that, its not worth it to do things that way. This is a very big project. Many people probably want to try it out before its completed, and keeping this open can lead to many good things.. Therefore, here comes the 1st "Unabridged" demo of Mega Man Forever. If there will be more demos, who knows.

Download:
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mmf_udemo1.zip
(edit: link to zipped IPS instead of ROM image.)

Now. Note that every corner of this demo is incomplete, a lot of things is a temporary sketch. Especially for dialogues, and anything story-related. There's a debug menu system in place. It basically allows you to go to any continue point in any level, get all weapons immediatedly, get all weapons immediatedly (haha), and other fun functions. Some stages are pretty complete, so they can be cleared, other stages only lets you play a few screens.. i think.

This release contains so much that isn't shown off yet. But here are some teasing images:
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-0.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-3.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-6.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-1.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-7.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-8.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-10.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-11.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-12.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-13.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-15.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-16.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-17.png
http://matrixz127.comoj.com/share/mm4ex-19.png
(end of copy)

Link to Board2 release thread: http://acmlm.no-ip.org/board/thread.php?id=4963

Propelman stage & Rush Marine video

Additionally, here's a new video, showing the 2nd section of Propelman's stage.. and the video says the rest.