Title: Mega Man Zero 1 Revisited
Author: PowerPanda
Version: 1.0
Applies to: Mega Man Zero GBA (USA, Europe)
(No-Intro version  20130720-015858)
ROM/File SHA-1: 193B14120119162518A73C70876F0B8BFFDBD96E

Contents:  mmz1_revisited.ips		The Main Patch
		--individual patches--
	   mmz1_antigrind.ips	 	Cyber-elf costs half of MMZ2
	   mmz1_antigrind_alt_mmz2.ips	Cyber-elf costs same as MMZ2
	   mmz1_mission_penalty.ips	Mission penalty adjustment for cyber elves and damage
	   mmz1_9_retries.ips		Start the game with 9 Retries

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-=Intro and Description=-
Mega Man Zero was an ambitious and experimental release. Most of it worked, but the character progression felt rough. The main problems were:
1. Weapon upgrades took too long to grind out
2. Cyber Elves took too many E-Crystals to evolve
3. Permanent upgrades gave the player a permanent penalty score on missions
4. The game started you with 3 retries and never gave you more

Capcom recognized these problems, and made changes in MMZ2. Weapons leveled up in half of the time. Cyber Elves took around 1/3 of the E-Crystals to evolve. When you continued, you got 2 free retries. As a result, when playing through the series, MMZ1 feels significantly rougher than MMZ2. The series would be further refined in MMZ3.

This series of 3 patches addresses issues in MMZ1.

*mmz1_antigrind: This patch ports the weapon experience requirements from MMZ2 back to MMZ1. It also sets Cyber Elf E-Crystal costs to values that are 1/2 of MMZ2, and roughly 1/6th of MMZ1's original costs. For example, your subtanks have gone from a cost of 1200 E-Crystals to 200.

*mmz1_antigrind_alt_mmz2: An alternate version of mmz1_antigrind that sets Cyber Elf costs to the same values as MMZ2. Do not apply both antigrind patches.

*mmz1_9_retries: This small patch starts a new game with 9 lives. MMZ1, unlike its successors, does not replenish your lives (aka retries) after game-over. The retries you get from the start are all you get for the rest of the game, unless enemies drop them. If you run out of lives, you permanently fail the mission you are on. This gives you a full life counter from the beginning.

*mmz1_elf_penalty: This patch eliminates the mission penalty score from cyber-elves that you must raise with E-Crystals. This includes permanent upgrades, but also the hackers that eliminate small enemies and cut boss HP. In turn, the penalty for each one-time use Cyber Elf used during a mission has been increased from 2 to 5. You will never go negative, but if you use 3 one-time use Cyber Elves, your score will be 0. Additionally, the penalty for damage taken during a mission has been decreased from 1p per 3 damage to MMZ3's more forgiving 1p per 6 damage.

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-=Patching Instructions and Compatibility=-
These patches can be applied to the rom using Lunar IPS, or a similar program. If using individual patches, choose one antigrind patch or the other, but do not use both. 

These patches ONLY update the specific values for weapon experience and cyber-elf e-crystals, and do not relocate any other code, so they should be compatible with any other patch used.

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-=Credits=-
Hacking: PowerPanda

Weapon Experience Locations: acediez
Mission Penalty Locations: PowerPanda
Cyber-Elf Cost Locations: ElwinBran
Programs Used: HxD (Hex Editing), no$gba (Debugging), VBA (Testing)

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-=Code Changes=-

CHANGE MISSION PENALY FOR DAMAGE TAKEN
2B/8166
03 > 06		;1p lost for every 6 damage taken

DISABLE PENALTY FOR PERMANENT UPGRADES
2B/8165
0A > 00		;penalty for permanent upgrades reduced from 10 to 0
02 > 05		;penalty for temporary upgrades increased from 02 to 05

START WTIH 9 RETRIES
00/F3EC	0321 > 0921	;sets the number 9 instead of the number 3

SPECIAL MOVES
01/88A2 (Buster Shot Up)  FF > 80
01/8A60	(Saber Air Roll)  FF > 80
01/8A1C	(Saber Dash Roll) FF > 80

2A/8168 (Buster Levels)
Lvl 2	9001 > C800
Lvl 3	B004 > 5802

2A/8184 (Saber Levels)
Lvl 2	2800 > 1E00
Lvl 3	A000 > 5A00
Lvl 4	3002 > 2201
Lvl 5	9006 > 5203

2A/81BE (Triple Rod Levels)
Lvl 2	2800 > 1E00
Lvl 3	A000 > 5A00
Lvl 4	3002 > 2201
Lvl 5	3007 > A203

2A/81D6 (Shield Boomerang Levels)
Lvl 2	3C00 > 1E00
Lvl 3	A000 > 5A00

CYBER ELF COSTS
2B/727C
Orig. 		AntiGrind	Alt_MMZ2
E8 03		96 00		2C 01
B8 0B		F4 01		E8 03
EE 02		7D 00		FA 00
B0 04		C8 00		90 01
F4 01		64 00		C8 00
D0 07		5E 01		BC 02
E8 03		96 00		2C 01
C8 00		23 00		46 00
90 10		4B 00		96 00
EE 02		7D 00		FA 00
DC 05		FA 00		F4 01
AC 0D		58 02		E2 04
E2 04		96 00		2C 01
E8 03		96 00		2C 01
DC 05		FA 00		F4 01
94 11		EE 02		DC 05