A brand new ROM hack has just been released for the original Mega Man for the NES, which aims to "revamp" the classic title for modern players (as spotted by the fine folks over at Retro Dodo).
As noted on the project page, the hack is the work of the wonderfully nicknamed Doodle Dangernoodle and follows two similar hacks from the fellow Mega Man ROM hacker TheSkipper1995.
This includes 2019's Mega Man 3: Revamped (which Doodle Dangernoodle is also credited on under graphics) and 2022's Mega Man 2: Revamped.
Now, though, it appears that it is finally the turn of the 1987 NES game that started it all, with the aim, according to Doodle, being to create "as polished a hack as possible within the constraints of the original rom."
It is available to download now as an IPS file from a Google Drive (linked through Romhacking.net), and brings with it a bunch of improvements to the vanilla experience, such as "significantly reduced" lag, "rebalanced difficulty", and "new weapon behaviour" for the Hyper Bomb and Rolling Cutter.
There are also a bunch of other changes too, which have been included to bring the game more in line with future entries, such as "new graphics and sprites", a Mega Man 3-style "You Got!" screen, and the removal of the original's scoring system, which was deemed superfluous in later entries.
You can find the download here.