Casual Mega Man speedrun strats?

2015-02-02 09:31:01 am

#FailFish

Hi speed friends,

I'm going to be doing a "Mega Man week" this month as a 100-follower thank you special, and I'll be playing all 6 NES games over the course of the week. I'd like for it not to take forever and to be able to do a few things that are slightly more interesting than straight casual. I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on some simple strats for the games that might be easy enough to learn this week to get ready.

I've played them all often enough that I'm more than comfortable with them on a casual level. I'm planning to have a list of boss weaknesses available (mostly for Wily stages, as the robot masters I've had memorized for years), and Duckfist has already been kind enough to point me to the speedrun wiki. Is there anything else specific worth learning? Or is it all mostly just advanced tech like zips or precise balloon/super arrow use?

I'm thinking the zip through the final 4 refights in Wily-4 on Mega Man 1 interests me most, as those refights are awful.

Thanks!

Thread title:

Hi speed friends,

I'm going to be doing a "Mega Man week" this month as a 100-follower thank you special, and  I'll be playing all 6 NES games over the course of the week.  I'd  like for it not to take forever and to be able to do a few things that are slightly more interesting than straight casual.  I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on some simple strats for the games that might be easy enough to learn this week to get ready.

I've played them all often enough that I'm more than comfortable with them on a casual level.  I'm planning to have a list of boss weaknesses available (mostly for Wily stages, as the robot masters I've had memorized for years), and Duckfist has already been kind enough to point me to the speedrun wiki.  Is there anything else specific worth learning?  Or is it all mostly just advanced tech like zips or precise balloon/super arrow use?

I'm thinking the zip through the final 4 refights in Wily-4 on Mega Man 1 interests me most, as those refights are awful.

Thanks!

doicm

2015-02-02 11:32:36 am

Learn the pause buffer stuff in MM1 for killing bosses.
Good luck on W4 boss in MM2 with Crash weapon management, as well as Item-1, Item-2, and Item-3 management in Wily stages.
If you struggle with Doc robots in MM3, save your E-Tanks. The Wily stages are pretty easy.
You can explode Drill manually before it hits its target in MM4. Not sure if you knew that, but it's pretty helpful on Wily Machine part 2.
Enjoy Crystal stage in MM5. Falling crystals kinda stink. Also enjoy Dark Man stage music.
MM6 has some dumb stuff, specifically the long-neck's hitbox. Other than that, nothing too bad.

Good luck!

Antilles58

2015-02-02 11:42:21 am

#FailFish

Thanks! Those are exactly the sorts of tips I wanted.

That Crystal stage caused me more trouble as a kid than anything else in my life....

Thanks for the reminder on W4 boss - i'll make sure to have a route written down for what to do. Last time I played it i spent quite a bit of time farming energy refills at the midpoint.

I'll try to pick up as many e-tanks as I can, too. The time those will save vs the cost to pick them up will be very helpful.

How do I explode drill manually?

Antilles58

2015-02-02 01:18:38 pm

#FailFish

Actually, on that note, Mega Man 2 should be played on "Difficult," right? That's the same as Rockman 2?

Antilles58

2015-02-02 01:25:36 pm

#FailFish

Also, what are the mechanics of magnet beam? It looks like people are making platforms that extend almost infinitely for little energy.

On that note, is there a could place to get mechanics descriptions of different stuff in the game? The wiki has good setups for zips and other advanced strats, but not necessarily the fundamentals.

doicm

2015-02-02 03:22:48 pm

Mechanics descriptions? I'm not entirely sure, but I guess you could check out MMKB wiki for general stuff? I'm not sure how comprehensive it is.

For exploding the drill manually, just hit fire again. Play around with it to understand.

Speaking of, Drill Man's stage will be fun getting past all the dropped boulders, if you don't recall. Just use Skull Barrier or Flash Stopper if you're entirely unsure about that last section.

As far as Magnet Beam goes, you can hold it out for as long as you want. Once you release it is when the timer starts for it's duration as well as where it's placement is. Also, if you're standing on it when it disappears, you fall at maximum velocity. For as long as you're "shooting" it out, it will go out, but I don't know about it's maximum range. There may be more to it than that. The amount that you use only depends on the initial shot.

"Difficult" in Mega Man 2 corresponds to Rockman 2 difficulty. Also, if you plan on playing on Anniversary collection, the default difficulty also corresponds to "Difficult."

Mechanics descriptions? I'm not entirely sure, but I guess you could check out MMKB wiki for general stuff? I'm not sure how comprehensive it is.

For exploding the drill manually, just hit fire again. Play around with it to understand.

Speaking of, Drill Man's stage will be fun getting past all the dropped boulders, if you don't recall. Just use Skull Barrier or Flash Stopper if you're entirely unsure about that last section.

As far as Magnet Beam goes, you can hold it out for as long as you want. Once you release it is when the timer starts for it's duration as well as where it's placement is. Also, if you're standing on it when it disappears, you fall at maximum velocity. For as long as you're "shooting" it out, it will go out, but I don't know about it's maximum range. There may be more to it than that. The amount that you use only depends on the initial shot.

"Difficult" in Mega Man 2 corresponds to Rockman 2 difficulty. Also, if you plan on playing on Anniversary collection, the default difficulty also corresponds to "Difficult."

lecorbak

2015-02-04 07:43:48 am

Vanilla H is mai waifu

in megaman 2, use the metal blade to kill the game.

NME

2015-02-04 07:49:20 am

Quote from Antilles58:

Actually, on that note, Mega Man 2 should be played on "Difficult," right? That's the same as Rockman 2?

Well, it's 42.66 seconds slower than Rockman 2 because the English text takes longer to display than the Japanese text in RM2.

Besides that, yeah, some enemies/all bosses take a few more hits. For your stated goal of "not to take forever," normal mode would be preferred.

Antilles58

2015-02-04 09:26:24 am

#FailFish

Nice! I learned Bomb Man zip, Wily 3 zip, and Wily 4 boss skip yesterday in MM1! Lots of fun! Also considering I beat the game in like an hour and a half while learning those and taking a break to talk to my wife, I think MM1 won't be as hard as I feared. I remembered it being much more difficult...

Quote from NME:

Besides that, yeah, some enemies/all bosses take a few more hits. For your stated goal of "not to take forever," normal mode would be preferred.

I did a few quick practice levels on yesterday, and difficult will be good. I want to do the community's "accepted" mode so it's a valid speed run. I've played MMAC mostly in the last few years (this time I'm trying with emulator, since MMAC is way too slow with the saving/loading) - and it feels to me like difficult is what I'm used to. Normal might feel like I'm cheating.

Antilles58

2015-02-04 09:33:13 am

#FailFish

Are any of the zips in MM2 as easy to learn as the ones I mentioned above? They seem harder to set up, at least from just watching.

I imagine that balloon strats in MM4 and Super Arrow in MM5 are too tough to learn on short notice, eh?

Honestly, I'm most worried about MM6, as I've maybe finished that once or twice in my life. The others I'm very familiar with and have played in the last few years.

NME

2015-02-04 01:27:50 pm

Quote from Antilles58:

Are any of the zips in MM2 as easy to learn as the ones I mentioned above? They seem harder to set up, at least from just watching.

Heatman is dead simple.

Old Crash Zip (the one on the second screen) is simple enough.

The first Bubble Man zip just takes some practice to get comfortable with the item positioning, but it's simple enough.

For the record, Normal (both with zips and zipless) is a legit category for MM2, but good for you running on Difficult.

Antilles58

2015-02-04 02:09:32 pm

#FailFish

I checked those ones out and indeed they look pretty straightforward. Wiki seems to have a good description for the Crash Zip. I'll try tonight, hopefully can get 'em. And thanks. Smiley

I watched Darkman's SGDQ run from last year, and some of the Super Arrow stuff seems pretty straightforward - just a matter of knowing which rooms to use it in. I'll probably give some of those a try as well.

NME

2015-02-04 06:15:52 pm

Good luck Antilles! Glad to help. If you want any MM2 help, let me know.

Antilles58

Edit history:

Antilles58: 2015-02-09 11:38:53 pm

2015-02-05 11:46:34 am

#FailFish

Thanks, NME! And everyone!

If any of y'all are interested, I'll be doing these runs in the evening (~8 MST) on:

Sat 2/7: MM1
Sun 2/8: MM2
Mon 2/9: MM3
Wed 2/11: MM4
Thurs 2/12: MM5
Sat 2/14: MM6 (oh crap that's valentine's day... maybe I should actually check with my wife first....)

Antilles58

2015-02-05 10:50:51 pm

#FailFish

Heat Man, Crash Man, Bubble Man, and first Wood Man (sort of) zips - check!

lecorbak

2015-02-07 01:31:22 am

Vanilla H is mai waifu

Quote:

Also considering I beat the game in like an hour and a half while learning those and taking a break to talk to my wife, I think MM1 won't be as hard as I feared. I remembered it being much more difficult...

MM1 is only difficult when you don't know the game.
MM1 is easy when it's no longer the case.

Antilles58

2015-02-10 11:10:21 am

#FailFish

MM1 and 3 went pretty well - 2 I slopped up like crazy on Wily.

I went ahead and learned the Super Arrow stuff in MM5 - pretty straightforward, as I thought.

I watched a couple MM4 runs, and I'm still thinking it's not worth learning the balloon strats - any thoughts on that before I try it tomorrow? I'd only have a couple hours tonight with which to try.

DarkTerrex

2015-02-11 03:07:22 am

If you want tips on Mega Man 6 watch this guide I made. It will have everything a beginner would need to know about the game. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIWNiIM6Hm28Afslkwq3MLsjJsxkyCjC5 If you have any questions about MM6 just PM me on twitch and I'll be more than willing to answer!

charleon

2015-02-11 05:44:52 am

What is a man?

I've actually made a megaman 1 speedrun tutorial that can be found here:

With clickable timestamps for all the stages. If there is a special trick you're interested in you should be able to find it pretty easily.

Antilles58

2015-02-11 11:39:52 am

#FailFish

Thanks guys! I already did my MM1 run for this, but I'm planning to come back to it since I think sub-30 should be easy - I'm sure that tutorial will help a great deal!

DarkTerrex especially that is AWESOME!! Like I said, I'm pretty unfamiliar with MM6, so I was planning to just watch the GDQ race you did with Golden over and over til I had it memorized. This will be much better.

As much as it's helped me, I think this thread will turn into a good reference for anyone else starting out, too.

DarkTerrex

2015-02-11 04:23:22 pm

yeah it would be way better to watch this than that run lol. If you have any other questions you can also post on the megaman forums http://jokaah.com/mmrta/forums/

Antilles58

2015-02-12 04:11:26 pm

#FailFish

Dude that tutorial is fantastic. I wish I had time to actually practice and implement the stuff you describe in there. Seems like charge cancelling is a pretty important mechanic in that game - makes it a little more technical than the other mega man games, I think. I probably won't be able to get the actual screen by screen techniques you describe, but some of the more general stuff and some of the weapon timing likely. Maybe I'll go for the knight man skip, too. Wink

Thanks! MM5 tonight then 6 tomorrow.

DarkTerrex

2015-02-13 02:16:06 pm

I think you mean Slide Cancelling Wink

But yeah because of that it has the hardest movment of all 1-6, which imo makes it the 3rd hardest Mega Man games to speedrun after 1 and 2. I'm glad the guide helps; I've been worried ever since I made it that it wasn't a very good guide but a few people have been going through it and it seems to be holding up well. Ceiling skip isn't too hard once you know what to do in all honesty. just got to get the timing of the first jump under the spikes and know when to pause before you die. Hopefully I'll get to see your run if I'm not at work. Good luck otherwise!

Antilles58

2015-02-13 02:43:30 pm

#FailFish

Yes slide cancelling! Maybe I meant Charge MAN Cancelling? Tongue

You'd be most welcome, as long as you can handle watching a 1:30 or so! I'll play at roughly 8 MST on Saturday - I mistyped on my last post.

Antilles58

2015-02-14 11:59:57 pm

#FailFish

Thanks everyone again for your help! I ended up with these times as my first runs of the games (in case you're curious).

Mega Man - 37:29
Mega Man 2 - 1:16:43
Mega Man 3 - 1:14:02
Mega Man 4 - 1:28:14
Mega Man 5 - 1:06:11
Mega Man 6 - 1:06:01
Mega Man X - 100% - 1:21:21

Not sure if any of these are good starts or not (I think MM1 probably is) - but in case you're curious, I figured I'd share! I'm really surprised my second best game was Mega Man 6! I thought for sure it would be my worst given the semi-blind nature of the run. But major shout outs to DarkTerrex - the tutorial he mentioned above and watching another of his runs really helped me know what I was doing.