This took entirely too long, but it's done. Mega Man X, done ~77 seconds faster than wodball's second version.
  • snes9x 1.43 WIP, no mods
  • Abuses programming errors in game
  • Takes no damage except where required by the plot (though I reserve the right to bend this rule)
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Shows off all bugs, oddities and general weird stuff I could find.
Thanks to blechy for some tips.
Major improvements over the currently published version:
  • Overall movement and shooting optimizations
  • Got through the title screen to Game Start/Password/Option faster
  • Better route through the intro stage
  • Flagrant abuse of the double-damage X-Buster trick
  • Better mini-boss crushing strategies
  • Ended movie as soon as possible
New glitches:
  • The bug found in Mega Man 7 which lets you shoot an uncharged shot while charging (without losing your charge) also works in Mega Man X.
  • In Boomer Kuwanger's stage with the lift.... well, you'll see....

Some kind of glitch might make snes9x crash when trying to view this movie. Sorry. Linux users are unaffected. Windows users can download a fixed version, or if you can use a hex editor, change
FF FF FF FF
near the top of the file to:
77 77 77 77

Bisqwit: Congratulations! This is the first MMX movie I actually like. :) Processing.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #568: DeHackEd's SNES Mega Man X in 30:43.92
Joined: 8/1/2004
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Voted yes, if not for the impressive movie, then at least for the fact that it beats the current record.
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Joined: 7/12/2004
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Obvious yes vote from me. Nice job.
Working on: Command and Conquer PSX Nod Campaign
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+1 Yes :D
Joined: 5/3/2004
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Wow. On a smaller note, it's also neat that the Mega Man 7 glitch works here as well.
Joined: 7/5/2004
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Omg! One of the best games in the world gets improved even more :O Absolutely yes!
Post subject: Re: #568: DeHackEd's SNES Mega Man X in 30:44
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I call this interesting.
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+1 Nice run !
Joined: 12/13/2004
Posts: 103
I've playes this game myself and suck at any megaman that's not on NES. Well played, a clear yes-vote from me.
Joined: 12/20/2004
Posts: 226
Very nice run Dehacked, a definite yes vote. All of your boss battles were very entertaining and I laughed during a few of them. In addition everything is frame perfect. There are things I spotted that would help me improve my MMX speed run. I have a few questions and comments: -How do you shoot the buster without losing your charge against Chill Penguin? -How does that Boomer Kuwanger elevator lift glitch work? Can you jump off the wall to get up faster with the glitch, or does the fixed scrolling force you to wait no matter how fast you climb up? -The only noticable mistake was how you jumped off the wall for the Vile/Zero dialogue skip. You only need to jump off the wall once, not twice to hit the gate. I think you didn't notice this because you jumped off the ladder on the first frame. -Your wall climbing was precise down to the frame and you hit the floor as soon as possible, but in a few moments there were times you dash jumped over the floor. Does this make any difference in time? If you need an example, right before fighting chill penguin in the second Sigma stage. I know charging weapons normally does not help kill the boss faster, but what about Armored Armadillo? -Are there any tips for baiting AI (on a console without rerecords) or frame data you can give me that could possibly help me? (if you do this, you will be my savior) Now all we need is Prower's MMX3 improvement (cough cough, Prower) to complete the SNES X series.
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My offical response. X-Buster charge: Release Y during the sequences where you can't control X. He'll keep charging. The moment (or very slightly before) you gain control, press Y. The window of opportunity is narrow, but wide enough that you should be able to pull it off on the console. Elevator glitch. You know, I have no idea. I did it entirely by accident, and was ready to rerecord over it before I noticed what had happened. I couldn't even reproduce it on subsequent trials. The dialog bug. You have to reach the gate without touching the ground. Take a look at this. Also, try playing the movie and terminating playback in the anteroom and wait a moment. Dash jumping over the floor. There's also a slight annoyance that jumping from a dash seems to stall me for a frame. Getting as much horizontal distance as possible makes me feel a bit better about doing that. Boss Baiting Not much I can say that would be useful here. Almost all bosses have an invlunerability period of exactly 60 frames. Chill Penguin seems to have 70 when I blasted him with the X-Buster. Vile has 25 and Velguarder has 24. The only comment about the AI I can make is the Bospider may be provoked to drop spiders while moving if you jump while it moves. Everything else which seems to be random probably is.
Joined: 12/20/2004
Posts: 226
Thanks for the quick response, I tried out the Vile-Zero thing and I was just plain wrong. Bad memory I guess. I was afraid the Boss AI was pretty much random, which makes speedrunning this game very annoying. Thanks for the frame data, it might be helpful. If you don't mind two more questions: -What is the invincibility period for hitting Spark Mandrill with shotgun ice? -Is Rangda Bangda's invincibility period also 60 frames?
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Spark Mandrill is also 60 frames. Ignore the whole "frozen in ice" visual thing and just pretend the AI suddenly decided to stand still for no good reason. Rangda Bangda is also 60 frames, but each component has their own timer. If you blow up one eye, the other is immediately vulnerable. Edit: 1) About the lift in Boomer Kuwanger's level. I misread your question. You have to wait for the lift to come into place to scroll. The glitch was my getting hit... 2) I dusted off the old SNES and tried the X-Buster shot glitch. I was able to pull it off, though practice is advised.
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Two thumbs up for me. Loved the damage shortcut in the opening stage.
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Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [300] SNES Mega Man X by DeHackEd in 30:43.92
Joined: 1/23/2005
Posts: 73
Location: Pekin IL
Gald to see this published. You took more care in entertaining during this run. Main spot is bosses. You also use special weapons more during the stages, which is a staple in all NES MM runs. The password screen seemed a few frames slower than the previous entry. Mighta just been me.
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Just wanted to say nice job. A lot can happen when you're away for a weekend, it seems. I liked how you took damage from the car while keeping on walking. On this topic, the run is marked as "takes damage to save time" in the genres, but the description says "takes no damage except when it belongs to the plot". I can't really make up my mind as to which is correct. What do you think yourself?
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Technically, he has to take the damage at one point to advance the plot, but since he takes it earlier (and keeps himself moving to boot) I think this is actually "damage to save time."
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Truncated wrote:
...the description says "takes no damage except when it belongs to the plot".
Doesn't this refer to the previous run? There is still a TODO at the MMX movie page and a while ago I think it said "old text" before the description.
Joined: 4/24/2004
Posts: 50
This movie certainly makes things easier for me. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve in my run, but I think I should start over just and incorporate what you did, and optimize with my stylings. I'm at a school computer, so I haven't seen it just yet. If I find something, I'll let you know. But the time is just much faster than I expected, I was only expecting to shave off a minute with my things. (Shaved about 23 seconds in the first 4 stages on my on and off run...) Well, I suppose I should get ready for the X1 100%, if I can ever find time away from midterms and World of Warcraft. Congrats, I salute you! --Woody
Joined: 2/16/2005
Posts: 462
This movie had some real nice high points. Almost all of the boss battles seem absolutely perfect! Very impressive! (Is it just me or does that ice sled look a little slow in sliding into the spider boss?) Nice varied use of weaponry and a pretty interesting performance during down times. Now some nitpicks... is there a reason why you arent charging up the first shot against the blue helicopters in the opening stage to kill them faster? Also it doesnt look like you descend down some pits optimally.... (you should jump and achieve a peak height before the lip and just barely clear the lip with maximal downward velocity.... it doesnt look like you are barely clearing a few of the lips). This only applies to areas where you cannot maintain forward speed (ie hit a wall of the pit). I was a little disappointed in the use of the sting chameleon invulnerability three times (not as cool as finding a way to kill them faster). If this can be avoided for at least two of those times it would be great. I just feel like the sigmas dog can be done faster though I have no specific advice. Barring some great new techniqure though I doubt this can be improved upon by more than 8 seconds. EDIT Im sure Blechy is going to cringe if he (she?) sees these mangled names. Sorry in advance! EDIT2 BOCO! damn sorry... my bad
This signature is much better than its previous version.
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Hm, Kyrsimys, you could be right. But I'm a little confused since the 77 seconds clearly refer to the new version. I'll go and update the description shortly. Asteron: you're thinking of Boco, I think. Boco's a she and has an obsessive-compulsive behaviour when it comes to Mega Man correctness. (hello Boco! ;)
Joined: 4/24/2004
Posts: 50
Okay... just watched it. I noticed that you switched some things from your alpha run, and you move like Blechy does. The technique (especially playing at lower speeds) is trying for me, and trying to beat it is out of my time range. I wanted to do this for fun, and now it's become even more entertaining. I guess what I'm saying is that I am most likely not going to try to take this record down. I'll watch it again for nitpicks, as I'm sure there's something I did right in my unfinished run that you could use. I noticed that you used invulnerability more than I did. Hopefully Boco doesn't get mad, since she got kinda pissed before I submitted my last run about the cheapness of it. Glad to see that you got out the lag and found more use of charged E. Spark than I did. (Something that most people ignored in the beginning.) The little nitpicking things I can come up with now are... 1. Sigma 1 beginning is better than mine, but is not perfect. This is the craziest part of the game, given little room and every enemy's coming at you. I would recommend against using Storm Tornado because, as you did in your run, it forces you to slow down in order to wait for it to come out. This is a shot in the dark, but I almost pulled it off with Rolling Shield since it works so well against Armor type enemies. Well... sort of. I got the first couple, but if you do a quick switch of weaponry from X-buster to R. Shield, and dash in with 2 bolts, you can kill them in 4 shields, preventing any slow down. Also, because the shield is so large, you have a large distance where you can pull this off. I was unable to do that quick of switching because I get frustrated at speeds slower than 300ms (And even then, it's trying...). 2. I suppose that the other thing is that I believe that the Sigma 1 invulnerability is just as fast as doing it without. Also, when I played, I noticed that after dashing into a boss, the first shot within 20 frames of the boss battle is automatically dashing, even if you are not moving.
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There, fixed it. Congratulations on being the 300:th published movie by the way.
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Well then... X-Buster against the Bee Blader. Yeah, I probably should. I'll put that in my list of things to do. Use of invulnerability: The first time (last segment in Sigma 1) it saves a lot of lag... go watch your video again. Almost any outstanding shots will lag that area. The second time I neeed to pass through a single shot. In conclusion, using the fully charged Chameleon Sting might be a sissy's tactic, but if it saves me time I'd make X wear his underwear over his armor. Boss X-buster dash: I've noticed that dashing isn't needed, but it doesn't hurt. I think it makes the video look a little better. Pit dropping: Maximum height isn't always possible, but I tried my best. Plus it isn't always necessary - only when the time required to fall will be more than the time required to move horizontally. I could only see one instance where I could have done a bit better. As for clipping the lip, the lip is wider than you might think. X's falling sprite seems to have an odd center. Give it a try some time.