About
Mega Man X4 is a 1997 platform game developed and published by Capcom, the fourth entry in the Mega Man X series and its first release on PlayStation and Sega Saturn; it lets players choose between X, who uses an arm cannon, and Zero, who wields an energy blade. MegaManX4Recomp is a static recompilation of Mega Man X4 (PS1, SLUS-00561) into a native PC executable, built with the author's PSXRecomp framework (also used for TombaRecomp, MegaManX5Recomp, and MegaManX6Recomp). It's an early playable preview (v0.0.5-alpha): the game boots, plays its intro cinematics, and starts stages with working controller input, but hasn't been verified deep into stages or through to the end. It runs on Windows and Linux (with an AppImage release) and requires the player's own PS1 BIOS and disc image.
How it differs from the original
This simulates the real PS1 hardware (a recompiled BIOS, GPU, SPU, GTE, and memory cards) rather than using high-level emulation shims, and it doesn't ship any original game assets, BIOS, or disc data — those must be supplied by the player. It also adds options the original PS1 release never had: a choice between OpenGL and software rendering, supersampling/anti-aliasing, an experimental true 16:9 widescreen mode, interpolated-frame blending, adjustable fast-loading speeds, and an integer damage multiplier for testing. Since X4 predates the DualShock and only supports a digital pad, that limitation is preserved rather than changed.
Getting started
Download the release package for your platform (an AppImage for Linux, a zip for Windows) and run it to open the graphical launcher. Select your own legally-obtained PS1 BIOS file (SCPH1001.BIN) and your Mega Man X4 (USA, SLUS-00561) disc image — using the .cue+.bin format rather than a converted .iso, since converting loses audio/video data the game needs — then adjust renderer and controller settings and press Launch. The game uses a digital pad; keyboard and SDL-compatible controllers are both supported.
History
The author describes this recompilation as a byproduct of developing the underlying PSXRecomp framework itself — the games serve as a proving ground, with the framework as the actual goal — shared across sibling projects TombaRecomp, MegaManX5Recomp, and MegaManX6Recomp.
Known limitations
- gameplay: Stage gameplay starts but has not been verified broadly; uncovered code paths halt rather than misbehave silently.
- features: Memory-card save and load have not yet been verified end-to-end.
Additional notes
- License
- Released under the PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 license rather than a standard open-source license.