Submission #9146: McBobX's PSX Mega Man X3 in 19:22.61

Rockman X3 "Low%, Best Ending" (it is actually, and it is the fastest route lol) in 19:22.608 by McBobX

Most people know Mega Man X3 for the SNES, which plays as any other X game, as you go intro into 8 mavericks then Doppler stages. However, for the PS1/MMXC version, you can skip straight to Doppler stages by executing a glitch in stage select by highlighting the Doppler icon and pressing X or Start button on the same frame, even if it doesn't appear on screen. Hetfield90 and nrg_zam already done an awesome All Stages TAS, but here we're at the absolute early and minimum stages to complete the game. In fact, this is absolutely lowest% as we finish the game with buster only and nothing else! Oh, and because we automatically don't get saber, this turns into a Best Ending as well, and that is good!

Hetfield90 and nrg_zam already described in their submission. Check "Version Gameplay Differences" section.

Before working on the run, I was debating whether I go get the saber and hoping that it makes up for the time lost trying to beat Vile as soon as possible, or simply go straight to Doppler stages and just buster everything down. Honestly, I was really hoping that going for the saber ends up being faster as it is more fun to make and watch, but after testing both routes, Buster Only route ended being significantly faster than Saber route by over a minute and forty seconds.

In Mega Man X games, charging buster takes a number of frames that is a tiny bit higher than bosses i-frames (with the exception of Doppler that his i-frames are higher than buster charging time). This gives the idea of using a regular shot from a far distance in order to make the charged shot be ready immediately after the i-frames wear off. This technique is called CF-0 in MMX RTA community because it is mostly used against MMX2 intro boss CF-0, and so it got that name. A great example can be seen in Buffalo fight. This is the main technique to use for every boss fight in this run which are Maoh the Giant, Bitbyte, Vile (second phase), all 8 mavericks, Sigma. However, it is pretty suboptimal against Vile (first phase), Doppler and Kaiser Sigma, which will be explained later.

Pretty similar to current All Stages TAS, nothing much.

I just got through the stage in a fast way. Notable parts are the boss fights. Mini boss needs 1 regular shot and 3 charged shots. I tried to organize them in an optimal way

First, off we don't have water physics so some not good kicks were required. As for the famous elevator skip, well, I wasn't able to start the climb from a first kick, because the way buster is used does not allow to shoot the snail and kick at the same time, so I had to take damage, fall down then initiate the climb. Not having Triad Thunder also makes it difficult to optimally initiate the climb. Not sure if there is a secret way to do it without falling down though. Vile fight is interesting. I'm glad that Vile (first phase) is soft weak to buster (charged shot does 3 damage while green shot does 2), this made the fight a lot more manageable. Vile (second phase) was straight forward.

Are they really refights? Probably! (no, they aren't, just kidding!)

In X2 and X3, you can't have a charged shot between capsules, so we have to start with a regular shot. The CF-0 technique is still powerful here, but because of limited area where X can move, it definitely makes it a bit less optimal for some fights.

This is the first fight and it is one of those weird fights. CF-0 is still optimal despite the limited area, but on top of that, it is a flying boss and its patterns just make it hard for X to freely move from one corner to the other. I tried my best there to not waste any non i-frames.

Welp, it is pretty simple! Just shoot your lemon, charge your shot then start the scripted AI fooling fight until he dies! Easy right?

He isn't the worst but I found difficulties not allowing him to trigger his desperation move that wastes 10-15 seconds, that it may cost some frames.

It is pretty similar to SNES version, you still have the i-frames glitch. I take advantage of that while preventing him from doing his golden slash attack. I'm sad that the meowing is gone from the PS1 version!

Ok, this was my most feared fight ever, but luckily I managed to kill him before he attempts his desperation attack. It is essentially a zero drill fight if we compare it to SNES version (it doesn't mean that it is the best though!)

For this fight, I try to maximize the distance from which I shoot the lemon, hence why I try to go the right side and wait until he decides to jump against me. When that happens, I run to the left side (while there still i-frames) in order to have an optimal CF-0. Allowing him to jump to the left side is significantly worse and not wanted.

This is by far the worst maverick to play against with buster. First, it has its move set fully unlocked, which means he will deflect shots and make CF-0 technique pretty hard to get the most of. Second, he has a rainbow pattern that should not happen because it costs a lot of time. It was absolutely difficult to optimize this fight, but I believe I did a good show there!

This fight is funny because at first I thought that it wasn't gonna be CF-0 friendly, but it turned out to be just as scripted as Buffalo. I didn't like it at first but now I love it!

Doppler has his weird pattern that allows him to refill his life back if you shoot him during the time window for that pattern. Additionally, his i-frames duration is equivalent to charging duration. All of that make the fight less interesting, as it is just charge and wait until right time

Since we didn't get the saber, Zero comes in and wastes a bit of our time!

First phase of Sigma was great for CF-0 technique, but I also had to make sure that I finish him while being at the exact position where X would move before the cutscene which saves quite a bit of time if done randomly. Kaiser Sigma sadly not weak to regular shot, which leaves us with just charged buster, while dodging projectiles and avoiding death.

Overall, this category seems intimidating to tackle but once I started working on it, it didn't seem that bad. Sure some fights are more gimmicky and hard a bit but overall, it is good to showcase more from the bosses in a way. It was fun to work on this TAS and I'm motivated to work on future projects. I hope you like this run!

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