Rolanmen1's Megaman Zero "Warpless" TAS in 34:09.83
This is an improvement of my previous TAS, improved by 115 frames (1.91 Seconds). For those who are interested, the In-Game time at the end is 16:38
Recorded using: VisualBoy Advance 1.7.2 v22
Aims
- Aims for fastest time
- Takes damage to save time
- Manipulates luck (not too much)
- Warpless
- Genre: Platform
About the game
This is the beginning of a new saga of Megaman, this time, the main character is The Maverick Hunter Zero, after being awakened form his hibernation to delete the Willy Virus, decided to help Ciel and his resistance fellows against Copy-X, a simple copy of The Maverick Hunter X. Copy-X accuses the resistance group of being Mavericks, thus, sending the X Guardians and their subordinates to delete them.
This game is very different than it's sequels (Megaman X6), introducing a Ranking System, Weapon Level System and Cyber-Elf System.
Ranking System: This new feature gives a detailled summary of Zero's doing at the end of each mission giving him points and a rank name. This points are calculated through: Mission Succes, Clear Time, Enemy Killed, Damage Taken, Retries Taken and Cyber-Elves used.
After summing all the points, the game itself calculates an avergae, then Zero get's a Rank and a Rank Name. This calculation is the summing of all the points Zero have gotten so far divided by the number of missions done. The Rank determines if most of the bosses will use their special move against Zero. This is avoided because they make Zero lose time.
Weapon Level System: Since Zero was asleep for a great quantity of years, he haven't fight all that time, wich is probably the reason this system was added, Zero can't use all the attacks he could do in the X Saga, thus getting a little buster that can't charge to it's maximun, he can't even combo with his Saber unless he practices, but, some new attacks were added, like the Charged Saber, such kind of attack was never showed in the X Saga. Zero also gets 2 new weapons maded by Cerveau (Resistance Engineer), those weapons are the Triple Rod and the Shield Boomerang.
The Triple Rod is a spear-like weapon, after leveling it, he manages to combo with it (somehow), and later to charge it, Zero can also Pogo-Jump with it, this move consist on using the rod to stab an enemy from above, allowing Zero to get some height. The Shield Boomerang is a shield weapon that can reflect normal bullets, after charging it, it acts like a Boomerang, it can cut and returns to Zero, after leveling it up, he can throw it more far than normal. Unfortunately, these weapons aren't used in this TAS.
Cyber-Elf System: Cyber-Elves are little beings that can be used/fused with it's owner, though, they dissapear after, these can be equipped using a Trans Server, also, some of them needs E-Crystals to be used, using Cyber-Elves decreases Zero's points, thus, decreasing his Rank.
About the run
This run doesn't cancel missions, wich means it's "warpless", so this TAS beats every stage 'till the end as fast as possible, this is the route used:
- Intro Stage (Golem)
- Disposal Center (Aztec Falcon)
- Retrieve Data (Maha Ganeshariff)
- Destroy Train (Train Engine Core)
- Occupy Factory (Hydra Mechaniloid)
- Protect Factory (Phantom)
- Defend the Base (Heavy Mechaniloid)
- Rescue Colbor (Harpuia)
- Find Shuttle (Anubis Necromancess III)
- Find Hidden Base (Blizzack Staggroff)
- Duel in Desert (Fefnir)
- Stop the Hacking (Leviathan)
- Defend the Base (2) (Hanumachine)
- Neo Arcadia Shrine (Herculious Anchortus)
- Neo Arcadia Tower (Rainbow Devil)
- Neo Arcadia Core (Copy-X)
Weapons
The only weapons used in the whole TAS are the Z-Saber and the Z-Buster, both were leveled up to get their charged attacks, also got the Air Rolling Slash for the Z-Saber wich is realy usefull for some bosses.
About manipulation
Manipulation in this game is about bullet shooting, each bullet you shoot makes enemy drops and bosses attack pattern to change, they change RNG as soon as they get out of screen or hit something, I also found a way to manipulate between bosses in the re-fights, normally you can't enter a door while Zero holds his Z-Buster, but I found a way to change that, you can shoot and then use the Saber to cancel the Buster animation, doing this you can enter a door without loosing frames, you can only shoot 2 bullets without loosing frames, but something is something.
Improvements
One of these are the optimal way to farm Saber EXP to get it before Heavy Mechaniloid, this required to calculate every points on my ranks to avoid being in Rank A (The Average is invisible for the player).
The other improvement is the new temple skip trick that klmz discovered, unfortunately, the other temples can't be skipped because the game won't be completed since the bosses would dissapear and a door is closed in Neo Arcadia Core, blocking you from getting to Copy-X.
Other comments
Thanks to a lot of people ;).
GabCM: Added YouTube module.
mmbossman: A small improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. Accepting for publication.
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