So do these games take place in the same timeline or separate?

you shouldn't have to ask this question

X takes place considerably after the world in the original games has fallen to pieces. Heavily implied that Zero is made from Protoman's parts. X was constructed using plans for Rockman\Megaman.

The backstory's there. Head over to the Wikia and lose yourself for a couple of hours.

>>383622780
>Heavily implied that Zero is made from Protoman's parts.
What? He was being built during the original series. Bass steals part of the plans for X in 7 which are used to help work on Zero, and later in that arcade game talks to wily about him.

>>383622780
But what happened to the original Megaman?

>>383622986
His past self kills him

X and Rock are different. Nobody seems to know what happened to Rock, probably retired at some point.
Zero was straight up created by Wily, play The Power Fighters.

>>383622257
X comes after Classic, Zero comes after X, ZX comes after Zero and Legends comes after ZX.

>>383622257
Classic, X, Z, ZX and legends share the same universe

BN and SF are spinoff

Megaman X is in the future but not sure how many years into the future. X and Rock are different androids.

Willy created Zero to destroy Rock and spread the virus that turns reploids into mavericks but because X has free will the virus doesn't affects him.

Zero turned into a good guy when he had a short circuit after a fight with Sigma that changed his personality but during the fight Zero infected Sigma with the virus and this is what the whole series is about. X fighting mavericks that were all created from Zero and then from the Sigma virus (same shit but different name).

>>383623706
X takes place 100 years after Classic.

X series takes place 100 years after classic.

Dr. Light decides robots need to be able to tell right from wrong for themselves after wily guilt trips megaman about destroying his robots. at the sane time though, Dr. Wily, who had discovered Bassnium by pure accident, creates a new energy source that will power his Bass replacement (Zero)

Wily basically reverse engineers the Evil Energy from 8 to create Roboenza, which functuins in a similar way and has similar properties. (program with a body of energy)

he test drives it in MM10, and it's a success.

he creates Zero but upon activation, due to a flaw in his cognitive programming, Zero is extremely violent and unwilling to follow Wily's orders. so he seals him away. He seems to never get around to fixing him, and alters his plans and designs. he also puts in Zero's capsule, a derrivative of the Roboenza virus, for reasons unknown.

Dr Light meanwhile, at some point towards the end of his life, creates X. But unlike Rock, who was a domestic robot first and combat robot second, X is built primarily as a combat robot, because Dr. light fears for the future, especially after the roboenza incident drove robots crazy.

he seals X in a capsule that runs diagnostics on his ethics and morality, requiring 50 years for the tests to finish.

100 years later, X is discovered by Dr. Cain, who is actually searching for fossilized plants. Cain is a genius though, so he does his best to reverse engineer X, and, with X's help, mostly succeeds. From this, he creates, reploids and they begin to be produced en-masse.

around this time, the virus in Zero's capsule starts leaking, causing localized robot troubles.

then Hunters find Zero and awaken him, Sigma fights him, and the rest is history.

important things to note:

X has perfect virus countermeasures

Omega (and therefore Zero by extension) has imperfect virus countermeasures.

Classic -> 100 years -> X ->100 years -> Zero -> 200 years -> ZX ----> power gap of unknown length ----> Legends