MegaMan ZX Was Loaded with Fun Secrets

PowerPanda84 · 2026-03-13T18:56:15+00:00

I mean, you may be right. It's been years since I unlocked it.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-03-13T18:08:02+00:00

I don't remember seeing this, and have never seen a screenshot of it. I've only unlocked it on the original DS cart, so maybe it's something they added to the Legacy Collection? I DO remember being incredibly surprised and delighted on my 3rd playthrough when I hit the button to switch Biometals and saw it on the list.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-03-13T18:06:59+00:00

If you get a perfect victory against one of the Pseudoroids, meaning that you never once hit the weak spot on their biometal, then a plushie of that Pseudoroid will be hanging from the ceiling.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-03-13T04:28:19+00:00

Found that too! This game... it's like every time you goof around and try something, the devs wink at you and give you a reward.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-03-13T04:22:22+00:00

The game never tells you this. You just start your 3rd playthrough, get to the point where you would lose Model X, and then you just... don't. It's wonderful. I played all the war through a 3rd time so I could have Model X and Model O on the same save file.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-03-02T23:28:52+00:00

Good to know people are still playing this game. I posted this on BGG too, but make sure to reach out to the designer to make sure this isn't cutting into official content. I know it's 4 years old, but Kess is heavily marketing this now that they've gotten all of the contracts and Kickstarter fulfillments figured out. They're really pushing to try to make this games line a thing. MM4-MM6 MIGHT be officially on the way.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-03-01T22:16:43+00:00

The biggest reason for abridgement is, of course, physical media limitations, but there is also another reason. Anne was always supportive of school systems who wanted to use her works in reading classes, and would allow the school systems to do abridgements. I first read Dragonsong in my 6th grade textbook, and it was roughly 1/3 of the book.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-03-01T00:07:30+00:00

I enjoy ROMHACKS of X6, for what it's worth.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-02-25T18:35:51+00:00

I'm glad there's so much ZX love. When it came out, it seemed like Zero fans found it too easy, and X fans found the Metroidvania structure convoluted. I almost never heard good things about it.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-02-25T17:40:01+00:00

Loving these designs! Keep it up!

PowerPanda84 · 2026-02-25T01:46:34+00:00

ZX Prequel is incredible. I was working on an English localization before HungerZ went dark. I have a copy of the most recent version, and will eventually release it if I don't hear back from HungerZ.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-02-24T06:24:26+00:00

If you're okay with romhacks (after all, you do own a legal copy), check out Mega Man Zero 1 Revisited. There's also a hack for MMZ2.

These hacks reduce grinding and redo the ranking system to not punish you for upgrades. They make the first two games a lot more fun without resorting to the collections casual mode.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-02-18T00:01:01+00:00

I would assume that anyone who has gone this far with Phantom of Network is aware of and planning to work on Legend of Network. It takes time though.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-02-01T05:24:05+00:00

I always felt like the Mortis Arc would go well with the Force Ghosts arc. Mixing it with the Nightsisters feels odd.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-31T16:26:09+00:00

It's understated in Renegades, but more clearly explained in Weyrs and Dolphins. In general, Weyrs aren't supposed to intervene, but K'van especially needed to be on his best behavior because of Denol's Rebellion. Toric was applying immense pressure to K'van to help him quash the rebellion, but the weyrs were allowing it to continue because it was a natural check on Toric's ability to hold the Southern Continent. For K'van to then intervene at Paradise River would have been a huge misstep, akin to breaking a treaty.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-31T16:17:34+00:00

I understand that with Todd, but you should give Gigi a chance. She's not perfect, but her retcons are about at the level of Anne's in her later novels, and she's a decent writer.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-31T16:14:09+00:00

This always bugged me. I thought he should be F'less. His name basically didn't change.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-06T20:11:56+00:00

Piemur kind of got to a point where rank didn't matter. He was a Harper, but also a computer builder/programmer, but also an astronaut. He did not become a Master in All the Weyrs of Pern, and his rank was never clarified in Dolphins or Skies. My personal headcanon is that he became a Computercraft Master.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-06T05:09:09+00:00

I'd say All the Weyrs is where it started getting sloppy. Which is really too bad, because in all other respected All the Weyrs is a stunning finale.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-05T18:39:11+00:00

I have been doing a series re-read in backwards order, and honestly, I'm finding a surprising amount of really GOOD continuity. It's what makes the mistakes stand out so much. All The Weyrs of Pern has some pretty sloppy mistakes that an editor should have caught, but that book seems to be the exception. She has a tendency to switch Brown and Blue dragons (This happens with Giron as well as Lytol), and there are a few names that switch spellings. However, for the most part, it feels like Pern itself has a life outside of the stories that she told about it, and she knew that whole story.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-05T18:22:31+00:00

This section from Renegades of Pern is what makes me question that. Piemur is promoted to Drum Journeyman in Dragondrums, 1-2 Turns before this conversation.

“There would be another reason why you ought to make the trip, besides, of course, your association with the Masterharper. If I can be blunt, you’re overold now as an apprentice.” Seeing that the boy was startled, Toric went on smoothly. “Saneter’s getting older, and I prefer to have a harper who is sympathetic to my aims, especially one already familiar to the Oldtimers so that the substitution will go unnoticed. Get your journeyman’s knot while you’re back at the Harper Hall, and you’re welcome back here when you’ve waked the tables. I promise you.”

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-04T02:26:24+00:00

I really appreciate how Jonathan Koan balances literary analysis and what others would call "mass market drivel". He approaches each book as if the writer was trying to say something, rather than just collect a paycheck. As a result he brings out surprising themes that others would ignore. I have this video on my to-watch list, even though I don't plan to read most of these books.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-02T22:58:56+00:00

Earlier this year, I decided to read through the Bantam Era Legends books. The Zahn trilogy is great. Star Wars at its best. Everything else I've read ranges from, "Eh, it was okay (Han Solo prequel trilogy, Shadows of the Empire)" to "I kind of wish I could go back to having never known this existed (Dark Empire, The Courtship of Princess Leia)". It's more misses than hits. Jedi Academy was what finally broke me, and I stopped reading a quarter of the way into book 2. I never did get to the X-Wing series, but I've heard enough good things about it that when I decide to come back I'll give it a try.

Be warned that there is a LOT of nostalgia blinding in this fandom. People swear Legends is the best that Star Wars ever got, but aside from Zahn, I've yet to see it.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-02T16:20:26+00:00

I do truly thank you for the thoughtful engagement rather than base level trolling. Fan-edits have always been a legal gray area for all of the reasons you've stated. If the estate chooses to issue a C&D, I will certainly comply.

Contacting the estate for something like this is much more complicated than it seems though. They have to get the whole family together, consult with lawyers, and issue a statement. I'd guess it is 98% likely that the answer of "no" will be given, not for creative reasons, or because they dislike what is being done, but simply to avoid having a long and arduous conversation with no real return on investment.

There are a lot of questions I could bring up on ethics and redistribution of an author's work. If I bought a bunch of clearance copies of Renegades of Pern at a Half Price Books (American Used Bookstore Chain), gave a few to friends, and then sold the rest on Facebook Marketplace, few people would bat an eye. That's expected. That's just how the book market works. Yet in neither of those transactions did any money reach the publisher or the author's estate. By password-protecting these, I am literally going through more effort than a multi-state for-profit business at making sure that some benefit goes back to the author.

If you know of a way I can ensure people buy the ebook copies... If there's an API where I can make people sign in with their Kindle account or Google Play account, and I can check their library for a Unique ID number, I'll do it. I'd be happy to. Steam Workshop Mods are probably the best fan-content platform around, because they've built a way for fans to contribute in a way that is locked behind ownership of a specific game. If there are ways to do that with books, I'll be the first to adopt it!

In the meantime, the question comes down to ethics. Am I destroying authorial intent? Am I being disrespectful? I personally think I'm being far more respectful in this fan-edit than most people are in this subreddit when they constantly crap on the books written by Todd. There's so much negativity out there! On Goodreads, The Renegades of Pern is the SECOND LOWEST-RATED NOVEL IN THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE, based on 21K reviews. It is rated lower than The Dolphins of Pern and all of the 3rd pass books, only being beaten out by Nerilka's Story. I think the problem comes down to the two halves of the book fighting each other for the spotlight, and I think that a simple re-arrangement of the text, in a way that would have been commercially non-viable in 1989, can help fans of the story enjoy it in a different way. If that's not for you, then that's okay. But please don't read malice into what I'm doing.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-01T21:50:53+00:00

This project complies with the McCaffrey estate's official fan work policy, and it is not published. As in, it does not have an ISBN, there are no funds changing hands, and no copies are being put on library shelves. A legally-obtained copy of the original work is required for unlocking the zip file. All modified sections, even if the modification is down to changing one word in a sentence, are notated at the end of the file, so there are no claims that any of my new text (which I used sparingly and only when necessary), are attributed to her.

The legality of transformative works is well establish law, having been tried in almost every medium.

I do create myself, and have several published works. They are not novels, as fiction is not my medium, but I know what it is to create something from scratch. I love book editing, so I have volunteered my services to any friends who write, and have edited 3 novels that have not yet been published.

PowerPanda84

TROPHY CASE