Where to begin? Making Zero fully playable in Mega Man X1

[Noble6]

While I am not new to programming, I am new to ASM and I can't wrap my head around these tools. ASM seems to be the best route but the actual editing of code, finding what does what and so forth I am having difficulty grasping. Once I figure out how to use the tools, I'll be golden, what tools would be best for my project listed above and anything anyone else might suggest?

[slidelljohn]

I use Geiger's snes9x debugger, vsnes, and asmdev for most of my projects.