First of all i never said that i was complaining, i was rather saying if you are making a project maybe and i mean if you can. Put in some new stuff in your games or maybe just a small little extra thing. Also i understand that people want to re-create the nostalgia that people had experienced when they were young, but if you look around other fan games they look nearly the same but with different weapons and story.
I also did say that i played most of the fan games and i never stated their bad but they kind of feel the same because Rock has done this for years. I also know that it is hard to develop games since i myself have been through a lot of headaches and sleepless nights when creating my engine on MMF2 and I mean A LOT, maybe because i am quite new to game programming. If you are staying and repeating the games Capcom made. Then its just going a step backward.
A lot of people would and are agreeing with me about this so its not just me. And changing weapons and bosses doesn't make it different that much. I do also know that creating 8 bit sprites is easier but people should try (If they can) to learn to do some spriting. Once you get the basics of it then it will make your job much easier.
I also do know that is hard to animate sprites that you create but you can use a program that animates them for you called Spritimator.
The problem with making an X fan game is that you have to put so much time and effort into the graphics and other elements of the game, that it's not really worth it. I'm speaking for myself here and I know there are X fan games out there, but at that point I really think you should be making an original game instead so you can sell it and get something back for your time and effort. Personally I prefer the classic series, but it's also convenient that 8-bit sprites are much easier and take less time to do than their 16-bit counterparts.
Thats quite lazy of you to say that people should make a classic game instead of making a X or Zero game. Just because those series have harder graphics and have other functions such as the dash and wall jump which is what makes them unique and changes gameplay radically. If you stick to just making 8 bit fan games, people will get tired of the same formula being used over and over.
If your making it to play yourself then that is fine. But staying in your safe zone wont make you progress as a developer since risks and change are necessary to make something progress. All you are doing is the same thing as Capcom. You wont change anything if you keep sticking to the same thing and not changing much other then story and weapons.
I am making a 32 bit X game engine and isn't easy but i get good results at the end. Going for something easy is understandable but people should aim higher. As i said before if your making the game to play yourself than that's fine but if you would like other people to play. Then you need to add some new ideas like maybe multiplayer which was pretty cool and awesome for Rockman Multilayer like in this video [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPPYh0UHDLs[/youtube] or else people will get really tired of it despite the hard work you did. In the end its results and not how hard it was to make. If you think that's harsh then all i am saying is the reality.
Also games take time and passion to produce, going for the most hard ambitious route and trying to create something new is what will get more results.