Downloads · xcota-tag-4p
XCOTA TAG for X-Men: Children of the Atom — four players
XCOTA TAG V5.6 Special: Gambit crouching chains and lows, Rogue blocking, Marrow meter-aura reset and genuine KO voice repairs, with the matching four-player core.
Latest v5.6 · Oct 15, 2026 · Latest
Release details and change log
Parent: XCOTA Euro 950331, MVC1 Euro 980123, XMvsSF Euro 961004 / USA 961023 / Japan 961023, MVC2 Naomi. Write-up: /blog/xmcota-two-on-two-tag-teams.
What changed in v5.6
- Correct Gambit crouching LK/MK/HK low guard classification.
- Repair the tested crouching LK→MK→HK chain using source-measured native medium-kick recoil; retain damage values and startup.
- Allow native blocking against Rogue’s ordinary active normals while retaining attack-box and owner checks.
- Initialize imported native meter auras and repair the reproduced Marrow Stinger reset against Omega Red on The Deep.
- Play Gambit’s authentic stored MVC1 KO cue once on genuine KO, with healthy arrivals silent.
Previous versions
- Download XCOTA TAG V5.5 Special four-ROM builder
v5.5 · released Oct 15, 2026 · Latest. Extract the whole V5.5 bundle into a fresh folder. Drag all four clean game ZIPs together onto BUILD V5.5 SPECIAL.cmd: XCOTA Euro 950331, MVC1 Euro 980123, supported XMvsSF and MVC2 Naomi Export/Korea Rev A. Run PLAY V5.5 SPECIAL.cmd with its included matching core.
- Gambit punch and magic-series chains in both editions; retain tested air/landing routes.
- Buffer legal hitstop special inputs without duplicating the previous normal contact.
- Remove extra KO cues on healthy tag/KO entry while preserving the original native KO path.
- Repair Special Gambit forward dash and paid-Duo dash recovery.
- Repair Marrow and Sabretooth guard freezes after ordinary throws, plus Marrow tag-return facing.
- Require the exact matching Special ROM/core pair and defer inactive controller refresh safely.
xcota-tag-v5.5-special-builder.zip · 35 MB
SHA-256 89c9b1fb5569020c0dcf2ce802357a96bff3ee7376ea0d4cc4cfa19b300ac545 - Download XCOTA TAG V5.4 Special four-ROM builder
v5.4 · released Oct 7, 2026 · Latest. Extract the whole V5.4 bundle into a fresh folder. Drag all four clean game ZIPs together onto BUILD V5.4 SPECIAL.cmd: XCOTA Euro 950331, MVC1 Euro 980123, supported XMvsSF and MVC2 Naomi Export/Korea Rev A. Run PLAY V5.4 SPECIAL.cmd with its included matching core.
- Repair Rogue/Sabretooth ordinary grounded guard entry and native recognition of committed Rogue/Sabretooth/Marrow normals.
- Finite mirrored guard and recovery checks preserve health; guard startup is distinguished from proven contact and whiffs.
- Repair Gambit light-normal chain ranks in Special.
- Repair the tested Gambit crouching-HP launch into down-up and air LP/MP in both editions.
- Adapt six selected heavy-normal reaction records to native XCOTA reactions.
- Keep the original character-select artwork and layout, existing CPU policy and ordinary damage rules.
- Rebuild from all required clean games together; keep the complete builder and matching Special core together.
- Repair the tested Gambit Special super-jump startup, air normals, apex, descent and landing paths.
- Retest selected challenger entry, reselection and fresh-match paths after team defeat.
xcota-tag-v5.4-special-builder.zip · 34 MB
SHA-256 fbb35ebef3be4e4adc8eea7df409bd2a64f7dac11ddf28a0559ed483b19cd301 - Download XCOTA TAG V5.3 Special four-ROM builder
v5.3 · released Oct 5, 2026 · Latest. Extract the whole V5.3 bundle into a fresh folder. Drag all four clean game ZIPs together onto BUILD V5.3 SPECIAL.cmd: XCOTA Euro 950331, MVC1 Euro 980123, supported XMvsSF and MVC2 Naomi Export/Korea Rev A. Run PLAY V5.3 SPECIAL.cmd with its included matching core.
- Repair the tested original thirteen fighters’ ground-HP throws into all four imports, including Akuma turn, Wolverine held art and Sentinel release; 104 mirrored living routes pass.
- Repair the Marrow paid-Duo animation stack and verify selected repeated KO, promotion, tag and full Duo expiry routes.
- Restore an authentic Akuma health portrait and verify damage, tag, Duo, KO and results lifetimes.
- Repair Gambit air-card contact effects and selected donor audio cues; preserve all six air normals and familiar commands.
- Retain the original character-select artwork and frames; make setup labels clearer and start fresh selection at Harder.
- Use delayed visible observations, legal inputs, ordinary damage and earned meter in the retained CPU policy; external testers judge its difficulty.
- Rebuild from all required clean games in one drag/drop operation, with finished README and launchers protected by the complete package inventory.
xcota-tag-v5.3-special-builder.zip · 34 MB
SHA-256 84d57e4bc66d1c0e3c152aead272d9bdb4a684f09e4bd824848412ffc689a723 - Download XCOTA TAG V5.2 Special four-ROM builder
v5.2 · released Oct 4, 2026 · Latest. October 5 corrected Special installer: extract the whole download into a fresh folder. Drag four clean game ZIPs together onto BUILD V5.2 SPECIAL.cmd: XCOTA Euro 950331, MVC1 Euro 980123, XMvsSF Euro 961004 / USA 961023 / Japan 961023, and MVC2 Naomi Export/Korea Rev A. Use the included matching RetroArch core.
- October 5: repair the Special README/manifest mismatch, seal the finished package and add complete package-file checks before Windows compilation. Game and core bytes are unchanged.
- Repair Gambit forward/backward walking and card/staff presentation while preserving the existing character-select screen.
- Accept unique clean ROM members in wrapped folders and small desktop metadata; preserve exact content authentication and source ZIPs.
- Read the authenticated Euro parent from merged XCOTA/MVC1 archives while leaving regional clone folders and original ZIPs untouched.
- Retain the V5.1 drag/drop input fixes, clean-source authentication and source-preserving output workflow.
- Import authentic Gambit Royal Flush card/cast/flash sprites from the supplied MVC1 source.
- Repair the verified card-hit recovery and tag-entry cases for imported fighters, including native KO lifetimes.
- Restore Sabretooth donor-style claw effects and repair the verified normal/helper hit-recovery paths.
- Restore native paid-partner fall, hurt and landing continuation on Mutant Hunting and Mojo World.
- Increase only the matching Special driver’s emulated instruction budget to prevent native update starvation.
xcota-tag-v5.2-special-builder.zip · 30 MB
SHA-256 a375501259f50f877bd43608b8936648bb8ad7285670df1344ab68c240674d9a - Download XCOTA TAG V5.1 Special four-ROM builder
v5.1 · released Oct 4, 2026 · Latest. Use the full V5.1 RetroArch bundle. Drag clean XCOTA Euro 950331, MVC1 Euro 980123, XMvsSF Euro 961004 and MVC2 Naomi together onto BUILD V5.1 SPECIAL.cmd. USA/Japan 961023 XMvsSF also work; split clones read shared files from a clean xmvsf.zip beside them. Output: xmcotas4p.zip.
- Fix Windows drag/drop: the first ROM remains an input, rather than becoming the output-folder argument.
- Accept separate clean game ZIPs, one bounded outer ZIP holding them, or one common member folder; keep originals unchanged.
- Explain xmcota.zip/xmcota.key, missing inputs, unsupported revisions and the two-player/Special workflows.
- Authenticate real XMvsSF Euro 961004, USA 961023 and Japan 961023 programs/keys; support split clones with their clean parent.
- Zero four unused bytes after archived move tables so all supported donor revisions generate one consistent Special ROM. No animation frames are cut.
xcota-tag-v5.1-special-builder.zip · 35 MB
SHA-256 3ef5edd50d9d7a253506db6481f4d97dbfd8b3503cc3cd7b8aad5a1c43135b9a - Download XCOTA TAG V5 Special four-ROM builder
v5 · released Oct 4, 2026 · Latest. Use the full RetroArch bundle for the matching core and launcher. Drag all four clean game ZIPs together onto BUILD V5 SPECIAL.cmd: XCOTA Euro 950331, MVC1 Euro 980123, XMvsSF Japan 961023 (xmvsfjr1), and MVC2 Naomi. Order does not matter. The generated game is output/xmcotas4p.zip.
- Seventeen selectable fighters: Akuma retained; MVC1 Gambit, XMvsSF Rogue and Sabretooth, and MVC2 Marrow join the native screen.
- Three centered rows preserve original portrait frames, complete faces and body previews; original source colors and floor-shadow properties are adapted to XCOTA.
- Four individual controllers keep their fighters through tags, paid Duo and KO; source commands have bounded recovery and owned-child cleanup.
- Rogue Drain and borrowed attacks, Goodnight Sugar; Sabretooth rush, Birdie, grab and supers; Marrow source specials and hypers use the disclosed XCOTA engine adaptations.
- Matching extended Special driver/core and four-ROM vanilla Windows builder; existing two-player Fightcade remains the separate stock-size edition.
xcota-tag-v5-special-builder.zip · 35 MB
SHA-256 2da9e76ece25445761380aa1a928fad0daaf39bff5071317ead408aa429711c4 - Download XCOTA TAG v4.1 four-player (preview)
v4.1 · released Sep 25, 2026 · Preview. The XCOTA TAG RetroArch download holds everything for four players except RetroArch and your ROM: the XCOTA TAG core, the four-player installer and the PLAY XCOTA TAG 4P launcher. Put your clean xmcota.zip next to the launcher and double-click it: it makes xmcota4p.zip, copies the core into RetroArch and starts the game with it. The installer on its own writes xmcota4p.zip, the name the core loads: keep it. RetroArch's own FinalBurn Neo and FB Alpha cores, MAME and Fightcade read two players only for this game. There are no Start or Coin buttons: HP+HK joins.
- One download for four players: xcota-tag-v4.1-retroarch.zip holds the XCOTA TAG core, the four-player installer and the PLAY XCOTA TAG 4P launcher, which makes xmcota4p.zip from your clean xmcota.zip, copies the core into RetroArch and starts the game with it.
- The installer now says to keep the name xmcota4p.zip and points at the launcher. v4's closing text said to rename it, which loads the two-player game.
- The reset fix from the two-player v4.1.
- Stated plainly: the four-player script passes in MAME and in Fightcade's core with the four-controller profile; the Windows core and the launcher ran under Wine only; four physical controllers and Windows itself are untested.
xcota-tag-v4.1-4p-preview.cmd · 154 KB
SHA-256 12250880c16ebd48959379413399bf2e3f73c2bacc5b44edf3c3a3eb7779e105 - Download XCOTA TAG v4 four-player (preview)
v4 · released Sep 25, 2026 · Previous. Windows one-file installer: drag your clean xmcota.zip onto it. It writes xmcota4p.zip, the game the XCOTA TAG RetroArch core loads (the core is the second download here, with its README). Stock MAME, FBNeo and Fightcade read two players only for this game. There are no Start or Coin buttons: HP+HK joins.
- Plays in the XCOTA TAG RetroArch core: FinalBurn Neo's libretro core with a four-player xmcota4p. Four pads on one computer, or four people online through Parsec (the host runs RetroArch) or RetroArch netplay.
- Everything in XCOTA TAG v4: six colours (each player's pick button), COMBO BREAKER, tag cancels, full-screen tags, the same X-Man twice, the stage-break fixes, the calm fever sky with a floor and the HUD changes.
- Each fighter keeps its owner's controller through tags, team supers, Cross Over Fever and knockouts, with a 1P to 4P marker over it.
xcota-tag-v4-4p-preview.cmd · 153 KB
SHA-256 0a042dd13c0632b242ab4e4b1b352e67463e2d3a7b9599e49cbdbf9fd78c0ec8 - Download XCOTA TAG v3 four-player (preview)
v3 · released Sep 24, 2026 · Previous. Windows one-file installer: drag your clean xmcota.zip onto it. It needs the native CPS-2 four-controller input profile, the one the Cross Fever four-player builds use; Fightcade's xmcota is two-player only. There are no Start or Coin buttons on that wiring: HP+HK joins.
- Four humans on one board: P1 and P3 against P2 and P4. P1 and P2 pick their side's first X-Man, P3 and P4 the second, and each fighter keeps its owner's controller through tags, team supers, Cross Over Fever and knockouts.
- Free play on the four-controller wiring: a fresh HP+HK is a Start for that player's side, to join or to challenge the CPU; in a fight between humans HP+HK keeps its meaning.
- Everything in XCOTA TAG v3: the three-story HUD, red health, Cross Over Fever, team supers and the crash fixes.
xcota-tag-v3-4p-preview.cmd · 98 KB
SHA-256 b73f2a613793dde38282c754bab010524fd62c5f48213cc6e8eceace467c0024
Same latest version, other files
- Full V5.6 RetroArch Special bundle: builder, matching cores, launcher and sources
xcota-tag-v5.6-retroarch.zip · 36 MB
SHA-256 707f176e0a971517e30e893c3b37bce3cbaefecc6946c90b4a32d72b2c81854e - Complete corresponding V5.6 Special core and gameplay patch sources
xcota-tag-v5.6-special-core-sources.zip · 28 MB
SHA-256 d1f706495d3655fcaae57bbe945922bc7f70c5f65e426d9aae70a409020b5b08
Files from previous versions
- Full V5.5 RetroArch Special bundle: builder, matching cores, launcher and sources
v5.5 · Oct 15, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.5-retroarch.zip · 35 MB
SHA-256 89c9b1fb5569020c0dcf2ce802357a96bff3ee7376ea0d4cc4cfa19b300ac545 - Complete corresponding V5.5 Special core and gameplay patch sources
v5.5 · Oct 15, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.5-special-core-sources.zip · 27 MB
SHA-256 b8936eb4ba9c1fa42af144d0b5d37b9003f8fd62140b62ff15c2ae652fc5f544 - Full V5.4 RetroArch Special bundle: builder, matching cores, launcher and sources
v5.4 · Oct 7, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.4-retroarch.zip · 34 MB
SHA-256 fbb35ebef3be4e4adc8eea7df409bd2a64f7dac11ddf28a0559ed483b19cd301 - Complete corresponding V5.4 Special core and gameplay patch sources
v5.4 · Oct 7, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.4-special-core-sources.zip · 26 MB
SHA-256 b9818e8eff235da98f23ffcfed4ce74c6ce2cb3c981632c60a470b21eefd58d6 - Full V5.3 RetroArch Special bundle: builder, matching cores, launcher and sources
v5.3 · Oct 5, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.3-retroarch.zip · 34 MB
SHA-256 84d57e4bc66d1c0e3c152aead272d9bdb4a684f09e4bd824848412ffc689a723 - Complete corresponding Special core and gameplay patch sources
v5.3 · Oct 5, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.3-special-core-sources.zip · 26 MB
SHA-256 aeec50e5e7360e8ddb12b2178fe50db6d4f60b445b1567f2ef76db183326f21b - Full V5.2 RetroArch Special bundle: builder, matching cores, launcher and corresponding source
v5.2 · Oct 4, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.2-retroarch.zip · 30 MB
SHA-256 a375501259f50f877bd43608b8936648bb8ad7285670df1344ab68c240674d9a - Complete corresponding Special core source and platform build provenance
v5.2 · Oct 4, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.2-special-core-sources.zip · 21 MB
SHA-256 9e24fe78615cb79a36065a0ad9df89265b253a2e5d76ea5ac588f32eba5a90b3 - Full V5.1 RetroArch Special bundle: builder, matching cores, launcher and corresponding source
v5.1 · Oct 4, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.1-retroarch.zip · 35 MB
SHA-256 3ef5edd50d9d7a253506db6481f4d97dbfd8b3503cc3cd7b8aad5a1c43135b9a - Complete corresponding Special core source and platform build provenance
v5.1 · Oct 4, 2026
xcota-tag-v5.1-special-core-sources.zip · 27 MB
SHA-256 0c270a7e0f25736846ca0b607a638ba8bb2176409da5912ad2327a004793554b - Full RetroArch Special bundle: builder, Windows x64 and Apple silicon cores, launcher and corresponding source
v5 · Oct 4, 2026
xcota-tag-v5-retroarch.zip · 35 MB
SHA-256 2da9e76ece25445761380aa1a928fad0daaf39bff5071317ead408aa429711c4 - Complete corresponding Special core source and platform build provenance
v5 · Oct 4, 2026
xcota-tag-v5-special-core-sources.zip · 27 MB
SHA-256 0c270a7e0f25736846ca0b607a638ba8bb2176409da5912ad2327a004793554b - XCOTA TAG for RetroArch: the core (Windows, Linux), the PLAY XCOTA TAG 4P launcher, the four-player installer, README
v4.1 · Sep 25, 2026
xcota-tag-v4.1-retroarch.zip · 8.2 MB
SHA-256 9d94d7c5aaecc2c92e4ecca7e384a94167734fb179279de0515916932ef40f83 - Patch package: README, patch spec, Python patcher
v4.1 · Sep 25, 2026
xcota-tag-v4.1-4p-preview-patch.zip · 152 KB
SHA-256 9cefcf9e6b2e95c800c2f2e06b7d19c1fb3e8bc705ec704d4531dcfbc3578763 - XCOTA TAG RetroArch core: Windows and Linux builds, macOS build script, source patch, README
v4 · Sep 25, 2026
xcota-tag-v4-retroarch-core.zip · 8.1 MB
SHA-256 70af6c831fd5b0676423c93e72d661208fd73a36457d4b5bd7acbb83832e2352 - Patch package: README, patch spec, Python patcher
v4 · Sep 25, 2026
xcota-tag-v4-4p-preview-patch.zip · 150 KB
SHA-256 3fc6081ee9adcdb306903eab9965f92d6d548269b7306f173cc81b383f437f34 - Patch package: README, patch spec, Python patcher
v3 · Sep 24, 2026
xcota-tag-v3-4p-preview-patch.zip · 98 KB
SHA-256 0373ceabe6708711a68cccfe49a7bc0569c7253dafacdc7159acf2fa9342c539