ROCKMAN ZERO, Chapter: AXL

Blog dedicated to a Megaman fan project featuring Axl as the center protagonist. Updates will be slow.

[jazzpostsstuff]

Status Update (August 10, 2025)

Hello!

The last proper release of anything related to the project was almost two years ago, ouch! The reasons for those are simple:

I started university in September 2023, I am studying languages, cultures and international relationships and it's been taking a lot of time off my schedules;

Some mental health problems I had to continue dealing with since December 2021. Still working on my anxiety, but my depression had been null and void for three months now;

On September 2nd 2023 I started playing Final Fantasy XIV for the first time. I had spent an embarrassing amount of time in the game since then and moved away from Rockman in general for most of those two years. You may know of that from my side blog!

Why am I coming back only now? It's simple, really, I just felt like doing Chapter: AXL again. Especially after experiencing FFXIV and some other games prior to replaying MMZ again, and seeing what can be done to make the story and the world-building of Megaman Zero even greater. However, it all resulted in the scope of the what-if project getting... bigger than ever before, oops.

So now, instead of being a "What if Inti Creates made an Axl trilogy set in alternative timeline of MMZ series back in the DS days", it now is something much simpler: "What if modern Inti Creates remade MMZ series and added the Axl campaign to every game except Z1?". It's still something that wouldn't really happen in the way I imagine it (especially with the art style I decided to go with), and I'm trying to not insert far too much into the project, but I hope it would still be fun to read about and imagine how it would look like in your head :D

And so, in accordance with everything I have listed above, I have to announce that we have started rewriting Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 because my friends and I think we can make our writing even better after... experiencing 3000 hours of peak writing of FFXIV in two years, yeah yeah. Still not the only thing we have been playing or watching all this time, mind, but XIV just thwarts everything else at this point lol

I have to add that we didn't remove anything from the core of the story and all stages and major story bits will still be the same. We're just rewriting the dialogue and interactions in the scene that already existed as well as adding more context to make some moments hit harder later on.

Thus far, we have rewritten 75% of story content for Chapter 1. We also did 10% of work on Boss Patterns (that really needed to be reworked in chapter 1 especially) and 30% on the new Bonus Document which would list the changes done to Zero's campaign in Z1 and Z2 remakes (Z1 doesn't have a lot at all since Axl wasn't even awake during this game's events). Writing progress is currently slow because I am desperately trying to figure out how to do art again, I had a very rough art block since mid-July and decided to change artstyles for the project twice. First was in an attempt to get closer to Toru Nakayama's style during Z2 and Z3 (I have made Axl, Peatan (Ch1) and Euclid in that style), and then two nights ago I had an eurika moment and made something new, combining the early Z1 art style with Z2 and Z3 style, plus rough-er marker-like shading. It's very hard to explain without showing it, but it has to be the best thing I made this year hehe.

So yeah, most likely that all of the art for the project from now on will be done in a similar style. I just hope I would be able to replicate the shading again in different angles and poses. I even decided to play around with the eyes for certain groups of characters after I decided to try going for a style change.

Other than that, my team is still looking for more people who can help with proof-reading, lore-corrections and some art advice (while I feel quite confident with my lineart, coloring and shading now, I am still pretty bad at angles and complex shot compositions which really affects my self-esteem lol). We all work off pure enthusiasm when we have time and interest, so if you feel interested in the project and can contribute in some way (reblogging this post would also be great!) -- feel free to contact me through comments there (or PMs? I don't remember if I have them set to open).

I think that will be it for now. I might provide more info tomorrow if I remember something I forgot. Have a nice day, everyone!

[jazzpostsstuff]

Ah damn, here go the consequences of making this blog my main one oops.

No ChAZ news for now, busy with uni!! Have a fun April Fool's Day!

[jazzpostsstuff]

Item: The Memory Squeegee Rarity: ⏶ Common

What game would you erase from your memory just to experience it for the first time again?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

Any NieR game

[jazzpostsstuff]

Item: A Shield Rarity: ✦ Uncommon

What video game will you defend forever?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

Rhythm Heaven Fever

[jazzpostsstuff]

ROCKMAN ZERO 2, Chapter:AXL - Revised Public Release!

Hello, everyone!

After a long development and proofreading phase, we are proud to announce the public re-release of chapter 1 from ROCKMAN ZERO Chapter:AXL!

We revised a lot of the dialogue as well as changed the formatting and the approach to the whole concept. Now it's a concept for a modern remake of the entire Zero-series with a new storyline on top which also brings changes to the original story! Still starts with Z2 though.

One of the main additions this time is an expanded New Game + section which now includes 32 new short stories which allows us a peak into every boss character's lives, giving a new perspective on them. Some of these stories are also adaptations of the audio drama cycle we made for chapter 1 originally so this info could be accessed within the game without a need for external sources (which isn't exactly how Inti Creates does it but I think it's neat). This whole idea came to me after my first NieR RepliCant playthrough, and many of the rewrites to the text in general were inspired by the NieR series and Final Fantasy XIV.

In addition to that, we wrote a short document related to Axl's gameplay (primarily combat), and the Bonus document also includes some altered scenes for Zero's campaign. You should also check them out!

It's important to keep in mind that chapter 1 is huge, containing over 400 pages of written material (with some 10% of it being dead space but still). Please don't try to read all of it in one sitting. If you find some errors we haven't picked up - tell us! We would correct them. And if you have some questions, you can ask them in my ask box!

Please start reading from this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ywodSykXRuJqwOaN9dhJw1Sw-i7O_-iz-Pk3C6QyrYw/edit?usp=sharing

The full folder can be found there: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1N2hBCqScy0yF0JtDijn7GFzgghmoVM8s?usp=sharing

Don't forget to open the links within it as well (try reading past credits too).

Also, for the best experience, read it in the full screen on your monitor or with a PC view setting in the Google Docs themselves.

And finally, enjoy the read! My team will take a long break after this release and in the meantime I will try to find some time to give some art for the characters in this chapter. Additionally, I will slowly work on an Ao3 release so it would be easier to discover online.

Stay Tuned! ~

[jazzpostsstuff]

Status Update (February 22, 2026)

Hello, everyone!

Only the main document remains to be proofread by my team (those whose native language is English, we did proofread it for mistakes with other part of the team already). While I waited for that process to finish, I decided to sketch up a few characters in my sketchbook. Most of those are just mugshots but that was a good practice for me as an artist! (Not to mention that having a proper face to a character in the script would make the scenes easier to imagine in your heads!)

I haven't really drawn side profiles like these since at least the middle of last year but I think I did a good job. Additionally, I was figuring Axl's design out again since I wanted his hair to look relatively the same no matter what side you will be looking from, and I wanted to keep the front-facing look from that one thousand-yard stare mugshot of Axl I did back in August. A friend of mine helped me to figure it out which is what I have settled upon (picture 3).

As you can also see, I shrunk down the collar. It was a bit too big and was messing with the silhouette...

But then I had a discussion with another friend of mine who told me that Axl wearing actual cloth shorts, even if it was made from the same material as repliroid clothes, was a bit weird. I gave it a thought and, yeah, they do actually do more harm than good for someone who should be as mobile as Axl. And this evening I finally figured out how to fix the design in that aspect.

You see, I didn't want to give him the same pelvic armor as other humanoid combat repliroids in Zero-series do, especially after this Axl had the shorts for so long, he felt very naked without them, so in the middle of the day I realized that I can just turn the shorts into a stylized armor piece! That inspiration came from the Guardians actually, with Harpuia and Phantom looking like they are wearing stockings. Another part of the design inspiration came from Rock-On forms of Ashe and Grey from ZXA, with the "metal belt" on their waist in place of proper pelvic armor. I just combined both ideas, then reverted the suspenders into lines on his body and, voila!

The only question now is how would he carry Red Scythe around... but since Axl already has a hammerspace for his guns (actual design element of his which is shown in X7), we can say that he also could put this weapon into there.

But I think this is it for today. If I manage to do more art before chapter 1 releases, I will post it all here.

Stay Tuned ~

[jazzpostsstuff]

Progress Report (February 10th)

Hello, everyone!

We're happy to report that (if I didn't miss anything), chapter 1 of Chapter:AXL has been completed! Now, everything that is left to do is to do a few proofreading rounds to make sure everything is consistent and there are no grammatical errors.

Once proofreading has been concluded, the links to the documents will be posted here on this very blog! And a month later I will work on porting this over to Ao3 if I will have free time.

Although I must alert you! There's barely any art done for this rewrite, I didn't have time, sorry! In order to alleviate this problem we gave the new characters slightly more detailed descriptions. Hope it won't hinder your enjoyment of this script revision, my team and I have worked very hard on it!

Stay Tuned! ~

[jazzpostsstuff]

As of today, 21st of September 2025, the main story document for chapter 1 has been completed! I have sent out the copy of it to several friends who agreed to proofread it. After that, we'll move on to side content and boss patterns. After the final few adjustments, the chapter 1 will be released it its entirety! Can't say when that will happen, the life is busy and all, but I hope to release it by the end of 2025. No promises, it's done when it's done :D

Stay Tuned! ~

[jazzpostsstuff]

As of 29th of January 2026, chapter 1 is still not finished. The side-content had gotten very big so we're still working on it.

Boss patterns are complete, however! Side Content document remains the only one that still needs to be completed. There's around 40% of it still left to do.

[jazzpostsstuff]

As of today, 21st of September 2025, the main story document for chapter 1 has been completed! I have sent out the copy of it to several friends who agreed to proofread it. After that, we'll move on to side content and boss patterns. After the final few adjustments, the chapter 1 will be released it its entirety! Can't say when that will happen, the life is busy and all, but I hope to release it by the end of 2025. No promises, it's done when it's done :D

Stay Tuned! ~

[jazzpostsstuff]

Development Document, The meaning behind Axl's design and his role in the story

Hello, everyone! Like promised, here's another development document, this time on the meaning behind Axl's MMZ design and (less so) his own role in this larger story he wasn't meant to be a part of.

Unfortunately I don't have any new artworks to share this time so I apologise for the lack of any images in this post.

As you saw in the previous post, Axl's appearance went through a lot of changes over the years. The main goal with the design, however, always was to have Axl appear a bit old-fashioned and youthful.

In Chapter: AXL, the story of what happened to Axl between the ending of X8 and the start of Chapter 1 is purposefully left ambiguous as even the old data archives struggle to bring out much regarding the existence of Lord X's other loyal companion. Yet, despite the many decades that he had spent in stasis, Axl hasn't aged a day, he still is the same kid he was in 22nd century. That's why the new reality he woke up to was so weird to him, that's why he got lost in it so easily (and also why some characters continue finding new ways to call him old).

The old-fashioned part of the design got reduced as the time went on but I believe it still does a good job at conveying that. Axl's body has changed less than X's or Zero's, because it wasn't getting upgraded during the stasis. His chestplate in particular still has the same design as in MMX, it was only reduced in size and had its edges smoothened, and the same can be said about the shoulderpads, side-boot jets and backpack wings. The helmet also looks very similar to the one Axl used to have.

The youthful part of the design can primarily be seen in the clothes Axl wears. Unlike the reserved and serious Zero who has a closed repliroid jacket, Axl has an open jacket with a high collar (which he can't close anyway because the chest gem gets in the way), and unlike Zero, Axl also wears something over the codpiece, that being shorts on suspenders. The suspenders also have a another practical use aside from keeping the shorts on, as he keeps the folded Red Scythe behind his back with them. It's all a bit of a mess, but it still conveys that Axl is a kid with an attitude. He does mature over the course of the story, but he would still have the same heart of gold that he had as a kid back in his age, which perhaps is another way to explain why he keeps wearing these shorts even in Z4 chapter, hehe.

Hmmm, what else... Ah! I can tell you the reason why I removed the burn from the right side of Axl's face, as well as the scar on his left cheek. It was because no one ever mentioned a thing about those scars in the original chapter 1 and chapter 2, not even Axl himself who wouldn't remember how he got them in the first place. While cute references to other two characters linked to Axl (Red and Grey), they didn't do anything but hint at the guy apparently going through absolute hell prior to him being put into stasis, which also aged up his appearance even more and ultimately became unnessesary noise on his face when I got back to working on ChAZ. And so, I removed them, Axl has a clean face again (almost)!

I think that's all for today! It's not much but I think I did OK at conveying my thoughts here. Not sure what will I talk about next, but feel free to send me asks about the project, I have re-opened those! I would be happy to answer your questions :D

See ya in the next post! o/

[jazzpostsstuff]

Development Document: Axl's everchanging design

While the development of the project progresses slowly, I decided that it would be a good idea to continue posting development documents here. I'll probably make more once I have enough art, but for now let's discuss Axl a bit.

I already had a similar post here two years ago, but some stuff had changed since then. So let me have a quick re-cap:

I had made two designs before the project was born. The first one was made in early March 2020, long before I actually got into MMZ properly. He was written as a hermit who lived in Area Zero in a shack he made from scraps of metal. He also had a dog that a Caravan member left in the forest to die... yeah, I really didn't know what I was working with, reading the first few paragraphs from a fan wiki is not enough.

This is probably the most different iteration of MMZ Axl that I have, even from the design perspective. He is even supposed to have one of the strands of his hair dyed red (to look more... modern?). The only design element to carry from on from this design were shorts on suspenders, attached to the bolts because that's how I read Axl's MMX design.

The dog does look cute, maybe we can repurpose it somehow?

Then I made Halloween Axl art a few months later, where he was wearing a grim reaper costume reminiscent of Red. I had a reference art made for the design as well but I had since lost it unfortunately, but largely it was me trying to manifest X DiVE Halloween alt design for Axl (didn't work but I got some praise from my mom for the artwork o3o)

Then in August of 2021, I decided to make a sequel drawing for this one, with Axl with the MMZ design in Grim Reaper costume instead. By that point, I started to get interested in MMZ and chose to scrap the original idea I had for MMZ Axl in 2020. The design below was done by August 24th.

I did notice by that time that MMZ Zero had the same helmet silhouette as MMX Zero despite how different they actually were. However, I had no idea how to do the same with Axl's helmet so it became a bit of a mess and the addition of two new scars also didn't help it in the slightest as I look back at it. Another major difference there are the backpack wings; they're very different but they look more like they were made with the purpose of proper flight rather than hovering above ground. I ended up reverting this change later on.

Then I started working on the Halloween art. I have been drawing it for the entirety of October actually but it really became my magnum opus at the time. I made the outline for it in 10 minutes between classes which you can also see below.

In the middle of the drawing process, I thought to myself: "Damn, the idea actually sounds quite good, what if I develop it further?". And thus ROCKMAN ZERO, Chapter: AXL was born. The design shifted around a bit between 2021 to 2023, but mostly remained the same (you can see all of those iterations below, in the order of their completion).

Most of these changest were done for simplification reasons, either in the coloring department, or in the amount of details Axl's body had rendered. At some point we (me and my team) decided to ditch the reaper cloak altogether, too... it's not like he wore it more than once in the entire story anyway.

Then I left the project hanging for two years and now that I am back working on it, I have redisigned Axl again. Changed the shape of the helmet once more and removed other elements that I thought were too much. Then I redesigned him again to change the appearance of the forehead/chest crystals and the eye (and by extension the scythe light) from green to blue to reduce the color pallete again.

I am yet to actually make a character sheet for the final design but it should be the same as pictured above.

I wanted to also write about every design decision I have made for the final design (I have put too much thought into it), but I guess I will do that tomorrow. Writing this thing for the whole 3 hours made my head hurt ^^;

See ya in the next post! o/

[skulpin]

Went back to mushroom and polished up quite a bit of things. He no longer has stupidly short arms like before amongst other things.

The cap now has a new design to it thanks to my friends suggestions. Really wanted to add more animation frames so the liquid in the belly would be a bit more animated and dynamic

[puyonlilah]

•i hav another one, you think i will make one and disappear? (I mean that's true)•

Im a bit late for pi day- this character name is pi, holding a pie, with a pi simbol

Also, this character is not mine it's by @/jazzpostsstuff (although i think i draw this character alot, but who cares, beeg hat is life)

[jazzpostsstuff]

Aww! It looks so cute, Puyon!

Late Happy Pi Day everybody!

[jazzpostsstuff]

'Reminiscence' Audio Drama Script OUT!

So, the last entry just released on the Discord server (link in the pinned post). It's time to post the links to the entire series here for everyone to enjoy it in full!

A content warning though: Mentions of suicide, death and depression. Although members of the server didn't have much issues with the writing featuring those subject matters, I still think it's right to give you guys a warning so it doesn't come out of nowhere.

The link to the folder (Check the four numbered entries, everything else is for Chapter 2 in general)

This is the last piece of material dedicated to Chapter 2. Thank you all for the continued support and Stay Tuned for more.

[jazzpostsstuff]

Just a sketch for Axl's new character art. Took me a few tries to get the pose right, but I still see a few problems I can't really fix :'(

Hope I won't get so sad to the point of leaving it as a wip forever hahah

Btw, something interesting is coming out tomorrow. Read the previous post in order to learn what exactly.

[jazzpostsstuff]

I remember talking about my own mental problems and trauma a few times here and on this Tumblr blog. They were one of the reasons why the project is the way it is. Right about the time I finished Chapter 2, I felt a certain type of exaltation that honestly made me feel much better after a year and a half of trying to get over it finally. And I wouldn't have gone as far as I did without your support, guys.

All that experience inspired the creation of the second CD-Drama Script series - Reminiscence, telling the story of Sotiris after Chapter 2 as he has to find out the source of his mental struggles in order to eventually overcome it.

First entry, "Composure", is out right now. You can see it early through the Discord server. There will be one entry each two days and if you can't wait to see them, feel free to join (a lot of fun stuff happens here, be it ChAZ related, Megaman related, or not any of that). The last entry will be uploaded on this Sunday, and with it I will also add them to the Chapter: AXL folder. Don't worry, I will make a post announcing that.

Stay Tuned.

[jazzpostsstuff]

If the opportunity was created, would you plan making a fan game

Absolutely! That's one of the reasons why I even wrote it this way. I just can't imagine this project being anything than a game you could play (and some additional material that could've been added as sidestory content perhaps? Basically a very long optional cutscene).

Unfortunately, I cannot make it into a real game, at least in the near future. I am the only artist here (and my art isn't quite there yet in terms of being 1-to-1 with the original) and I can't hire people that could assist me with that, as well as making the sprite art, maybe music, and of course the programming for the game itself. Mostly due to how I am a poor student stuck in Russia with no proper way for paying for anything outside the country :/

But in case you just happen to really enjoy the project and know a thing or two about spriting and programming "free of charge", we would be incredibly happy to have you there! Just DM me here or go to my Discord server!