Megaman X 5, help!

Hi everyone,

I wanted to play Mega Man X5, but the whole hours/parts mechanic is driving me crazy.

I still haven’t really understood whether I’m supposed to do two separate playthroughs, one with X and one with Zero, or if it’s better to do a hybrid run and share the parts between them.

I’m also confused about X specifically: should I start with 9 hours left instead of 10? And what exactly do I lose by doing that? I read somewhere that it affects a Falcon Armor part, but I’m not sure how.

On top of that, I don’t really understand which parts are best for X and which ones are best for Zero.

Could someone explain this in a simple way? I’d really appreciate some help before I mess up my run.