Mega Man X6 (all stages) by Noxxa
This run plays through Mega Man X Zero 6, finishing all eight boss stages traditional Mega Man-style. The other (shorter) run uses another way to reach the final stages, but that is not used here.
Goals:
- Aims for fastest time
- Plays at hardest difficulty
- Takes damage to save time
- Completes all stages
- Manipulates luck
- Abuses programming errors
Emulator used: PCSX-RR v0.1.2, and later, when it was released PCSX-RR v0.1.3.
YouTube:
This game's plot:
After being tossed aside for two games, Maverick Hunter X decided to try to be the hero this time (even stealing Zero's Z-Saber), only to almost get his ass kicked three times. Thus Zero decides to take over the job, slashing and shooting eight Nightmare Investigators to death before finding out that the
Big Bad Sigma Gate is behind everything, so he sets out to destroy him. And then he destroys Sigma as well.
The real plot:
Reploid scientist Gate went insane when he found a piece of Zero and then resurrected eight of his creations, created Nightmares which spread havoc over the planet (and bug X and Zero in just about every level; they're the enemies with yellow heads and red and blue tentacles) as well as a nice armor and a purple clone of Zero, who got destroyed last game. Zero got better, though. And then the Maverick Hunters have to stop him.
But I'm fairly sure none of you care about that and just care about slashing and shooting stuff to death.
About the TAS:
Here's the route:
Intro stage > Rainy Turtloid (secondary area; get Zero) > Shield Sheldon > Infinity Mijinion > Commander Yammark > Metal Shark Player > Ground Scaravich > Blaze Heatnix > Rainy Turtloid > Blizzard Wolfang.
And the final (Gate) stages following that.
Making the route was not easy, and it went through many, many iterations, sometimes even changing the order of stages that were already done, undoing the progress.
Unlike the other run, instead of using Shield Sheldon to get Zero, I use Rainy Turtloid's secondary area to get him, since I can get the Hyper Dash and Saber Plus parts there. (In this game, parts are collected by rescuing certain Reploids).
Since I need at least an A rank to use one part, which means getting 500 Nightmare Souls, I can't equip Hyper Dash right off the bat. For reference, beating a boss gets you 200 Nightmare Souls and beating a Nightmare and collecting its soul gives you 8. This means that I need to beat two bosses and 13 Nightmares. So I chose two short stages, Shield Sheldon and Infinity Mijinion, to start with. Infinity Mijinion also has lots of nightmares, making it possible for me to get 13 souls in these two levels. Infinity Mijinion also removes a Nightmare effect in Commander Yammark's stage which costs time.
Now with Hyper Dash, and the rain Nightmare effect that's caused by going into Rainy Turtloid's stage gone, I can blaze through Commander Yammark's level and get his very useful weapon.
Then I do Metal Shark Player to remove the same rain Nightmare effect in Ground Scaravich's stage, and Ground Scaravich is needed to beat Blaze Heatnix fast. Blaze Heatnix is done 'as soon as possible', because higher levels (gained by getting more souls) give the bosses more health, making them take longer to die. Doing Heatnix sixth keeps him at minimum health.
Then Rainy Turtloid and Blizzard Wolfang follow. Rainy Turtloid's weapon can be used for an invincibility glitch, which is used in Blizzard Wolfang's stage as well as Gate's Lab 1.
Tricks/glitches used:
Slash Dash Cancel (SDC): Ah, the famous SDC. In case you don't know what it is, I'll explain. The triple attack combo slashes can be cancelled by dashing, which can be cancelled by slashing again. Since the first two hits don't trigger invincibility (this is done to allow all three hits of a triple attack to hit), this allows to hit a boss repeatedly very quickly. In Mega Man X6, there are two different methods of SDC:
- SDC type 1: Standard SDC: Slash, wait a few frames until the sword hits, dash, slash again. (Square, null, null, Circle, Square, null, null etc.) This form of SDC is usually used when I need to destroy minor enemies and 2/5 SDC can't hit them; e.g., the Nightmares in Infinity Mijinion's stage.
- SDC type 2: 2/5 SDC: Slash with your back facing the enemy, wait until the swords hit, dash backwards and slash again. (face left, Square, null, null, right, Circle+Left, Square, etc.) Since X6 Zero's sword animations are different, this technique is possible. This is used in most boss battles.
Ice Physics Havoc: holding a direction in midair, then releasing it one frame before landing on ice transfers the air speed to the ground, making Zero slide quickly in that direction. When dashing during the slide, massive speed can be reached. With Hyper Dash, the speed can go up to 15 pixels per frame.
Ensuizan invincibility glitch: canceling Ensuizan (Rainy Turtloid's weapon) mid-attack makes Zero invincible. This is possible by either having Zero slide off ice, or standing on a destroyable block and destroying it with Ensuizan. Only the former method is used.
Intro Stage: The Blue Bomber mk. 2 Returns
Atma did this one for me, so I don't have much to say. It's short and you're forced to use X here.
I took over at the boss fight. I take a lot of damage there; this is to make the High Max sequence afterwards shorter.
Rainy Turtloid (secondary area): Through the Rain
Again, X is used because Zero isn't unlocked yet. This is the last you'll see of X. This stage has shield generators, which need to be destroyed to move on, as well as little balls around that need to be destroyed to shut off the shield. In the secondary part of the stage, I go out of my way to rescue two reploids - this is because they give the Hyper Dash and Saber Plus parts, which will be very useful later.
Nightmare Zero's weakness is the Z-Saber. Ground slashes stun him, but strangely air slashes don't.
Shield Sheldon: Laser Puzzles of Hell
Finally, here's Zero, ready to beat up the bosses hard. I destroy one Nightmare to collect its Nightmare Soul to be able to get Hyper Dash after Infinity Mijinion. Some of the laser puzzles were hard to manipulate.
Shield Sheldon himself goes down very fast, thanks to SDC.
Infinity Mijinion: Nightmare Infested Area
Time to go on a Nightmare killing spree. I destroy 12 Nightmares and collect their Nightmare souls, this combined with the one from Shield Sheldon's stage will allow me to equip Hyper Dash after this stage.
Infinity Mijinion was manipulated to be as close to the ground as possible, so I can Z-Buster him.
Commander Yammark: Who Turned Those **** Lights Off, part 1
With Hyper Dash equipped, Zero moves like a bunny on crack through the jungle. Infinity Mijinion's Nightmare Effect, which replaces Rainy Turtloid's (which costs time), is thankfully only an
Interface Screw, so no time is lost here. I don't even touch any enemy here.
Except Yammark himself, who as you might expect, goes down very fast with SDC.
Thanks to Hyper Dash and Yammar Option, relatively little time is lost because of the trash compactors. Rolanmen1 did the Ride Armor part of the stage, while I continued from there. The Ride Armor is dropped at the highest point because it prevents the compactor from going down completely, saving a lot of time. At the miniboss at the end of the stage, I take damage and get crushed under him so I can hit both sides and beat it in one round.
Shark himself... well, he gets SDC'd and dies fast, like expected.
Ground Scaravich: Nightmare Museum of Totem Poles
Rolanmen1 did the first half of the stage, as well as the luck manipulation for the second half, while I played through the second half.
Now that I have the rank Saber Plus equipped, SDCing Ground Scaravich only takes half as long. I use standard SDC instead of 2/5 SDC so I don't break his block, which makes him roll away.
Blaze Heatnix: Hell itself
There are five minibosses in the stages, and all five go down thanks to Rekkoha, Infinity Mijinion's weapon, and Yammar Option here and there. A lot of manipulation was required.
Blaze Heatnix can't be SDCed normally (he gets stunned on every hit, triggering long invincibility; which is also why I get Sentsuizan, his weakness, before doing him), but he can be SDCed if he prepares to do one of his attacks that he only does when he's lost half of his health. Therefore, the first half his health gets Sentsuizan'd, the other half SDCed.
Rainy Turtloid: Who Turned Those **** Lights Off, part 2
Yes, Infinity Mijinion's Nightmare still looms here, and it's being a major inconvenience visually. It's much more prominent here than in Yammark's stage. Nevertheless, Zero doesn't care and blasts through all of it with Yammar Option and some slashes here and there.
Rainy Turtloid gets SDCed as usual.
Blizzard Wolfang: Zipping Through The North Pole
The almost mandatory ice stage is done last. The ice physics in here allow me to reach incredible speed at times, although there are few flat areas where I can actually do that. I use the Ensuizan invincibility glitch to just not care about the enemies around.
Blizzard Wolfang gets SDCed and is finished by his weakness weapon, Shoenzan (Blaze Heatnix' weapon).
Gate's Lab 1: Through Ice And Fire
Ah, Gate's Lab. It's dreaded for its overkill of instant kill spikes, which you'll see at the very start of the stage. Furthermore, there are ice slopes, lots of lasers and lots of enemies, which with Ensuizan's invincbility glitch are harmless and get blown up by Yammar Option. There's also rising and lowering magma.
And there's Nightmare Mother, known for being a ridiculously hard boss to many. I can't defeat it in one round, although I get close. Rakukojin (Metal Shark Player's weapon) is his weakness weapon, and it's used quite a few times, as well as Yammar Option.
Gate's Lab 2: Totem Poles, Sequence Breaking, High Max, Trash Compactors And Gate
I had a small debate with
FractalFusion whether to use X or Zero. X has the advantage of beating High Max faster and not having a trash compactor section, while Zero has Hyper Dash and a sequence break that skips a nice chunk of the stage. I went with Zero, if only for the fact that nobody wants to see X. You'll see me screw around with Hyoroga and such, this is for manipulating moving platforms.
High Max needs to have his shield broken four times (it seems to depend on his level, which is why it's only two times on the other run), before he goes berserk, which you really should avoid when playing in real time. But it's faster and in a TAS you can avoid most of it.
Gate was really annoying. He can only be hit by shrapnel from his own energy balls. I luck manipulate a lot for him to shoot the balls as quickly as possible. Usually he can shoot them instantly, but not always.
Sigma's Stage: Lots And Lots Of Slash Dash Cancel
Here they are, the obligatory boss refights. I use some new strategies at Infinity Mijinion and Metal Shark Player's boss fights, otherwise they are mostly the same.
Sigma's first form is easy, since it can be SDCed. The second form isn't, but due to an invincibility quirk of some sort air slashes deal massive damage to him and beat him really quickly.
Thanks to:
- AngerFist, for getting me onto the 'team' (before everyone left, anyway), getting me into true TASing and for constantly motivating me to go on
- Atma, for doing the intro stage
- Rolanmen1, for helping out on some parts
Recommended screenshot: frame 89392
FractalFusion:
Nach hasn't accepted it yet? I'll accept it then. This TAS has been done very well and a lot of work has been put into it.
Nach: FractalFusion, if I predictably accepted every Mega Man X with the the first day or two of submission, I wouldn't be very chaotic, would I?
