(Link to video)

Mega Man X5 "X" in 19:43.80 by Noxxa

Sigma returns again and Earth is in great danger. Zero is off having a party all night, so Mega Man X steps in to do the job. Even if not as awesome as Zero, he still manages to do the job in less than 20 minutes while also getting the Ultimate Armor.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: PCSX-RR v0.1.3 (I can hear the groans from the encoders already)
  • Uses a suboptimal character (Mega Man X)
  • Plays at hardest difficulty
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Manipulates luck

About the TAS

The making of this TAS started a long time ago. It started somewhere in July 2010. After repeated sections that really demotivated me from this TAS (which includes the luck manipulation part, Shadow Devil boss, some parts in Virus 3 stage, and some of the boss refights (especially The Skiver), I finally managed to put an end to it.

Stage by stage comments

Intro Stage

In this stage you can already see that X is much better at blowing stuff up without wasting time. Expect to see a lot of explosions.

Luck manipulation

Luck was even less friendly than always at this part (which is ironic, because there's much more room for luck manipulation here). I couldn't make anything optimal out of it after many thousands of rerecords. This is probably the most improvable part of the TAS. (Note that this part was made long before I took a crack at the RNG and coded devices just to make this easier).

Virus 1

Not much is of note in the stage itself, other than X destroying some more enemies in the stage than Zero.
The boss fight, Shadow Devil, is probably one of the largest time-wasters as X. X can't defeat it in one round like Zero can. Instead, X needs three phases to do it, with having the Shadow Devil turning into Wily Machine 6 for the last phase.

Virus 2

Again, not much difference in the stage other than X being faster at destroying enemies and destroying more of them. In the Rangda Bangda W fight, only the green one can't be destroyed in one round. The rest, while also taking much longer to destroy, are still defeated in one round, if sometimes just barely.

Virus 3

I take unarmored X to this stage (rather than Fourth/Force armor), so I can get the Ultimate Armor for Virus 4. One rope part of this area looks a little different from how Zero does it in his TAS, which is because of very subtle 1-pixel hitbox differences between X and Zero, which makes X just a bit slower in this area. And there's another area where X has to waste time on a moving platform because he needs an airdash to quickly get across, and unarmored X doesn't have that.
Zero's AI is incredibly stupid and also very easy to manipulate. I tried to make him look as stupid as possible.

Virus 4

With the Ultimate Armor, I get an infinite-use Nova Strike, which is only faster in the stage than regular dashjumping if the stage is completely flat or it's possible to cancel the falling moment after the Nova Strike. It's also the best bosskilling tool X has at his disposal, dealing 8 damage to all bosses. However, since executing Nova Strike takes a bit of time, it's not possible to hit the bosses optimally regarding their invincibility time. So instead, I had to focus on making the Nova Strikes and the waits between them as small as possible. All bosses still fall surprisingly quickly to Nova Strike.
Of note is that some boss AIs are different between X and Zero, which causes some small time wasters such as Mattrex' fire dash and Dark Dizzy flying up to appear regardless of luck manipulation.

Other comments

End-game stats:
Play time: 8:23
X Rank: SA
Zero Rank: SA
That's right, X did all this crap in less than 20 minutes and he only gets the same rank as Zero who didn't even do anything.
Thank you for reading this text!

Nach: Really nice run. Accepting.
OmnipotentEntity: I'll take care of the encoding for this run.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14775
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3283: Noxxa's PSX Mega Man X5 "X" in 19:43.80
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
Well, this thoroughly excites me. Since I don't have the .iso around, I request a quick encode, please.
Joined: 7/7/2011
Posts: 140
Location: Germany
scrimpeh wrote:
Well, this thoroughly excites me. Since I don't have the .iso around, I request a quick encode, please.
seconded
How should I know what I think before I read what I post?
darkszero
He/Him
Joined: 7/12/2009
Posts: 181
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Since I have the .iso around and the emulator was nice enough, so I managed to watch it. I love how well you used the nova strike. I though it would be boring to see X just nova striking all bosses, but you proved me wrong. Yes vote.
Editor, Skilled player (1936)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3239
I watched it. While it was interesting in its own way, I think that if a 100% or X 8-Boss was made, it would obsolete this one very easily should it be published. I'm not voting.
Joined: 9/1/2005
Posts: 803
I'm going to agree with FractalFusion on this one, in that while this has its own merits, the last 2 stages (which make up the brunt of the run) would be practically identical to this run in terms of completion style. I certainly did like some of the strategies you implemented against the boss "re"fights, especially against Duff. A yes vote indeed.
Post subject: mega man x5: youtube + video file
Joined: 3/18/2006
Posts: 971
Location: Great Britain
Editor
Joined: 3/10/2010
Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
The youtube encode has like 10-20 minutes of froozen screen just before the credits.
Noxxa
They/Them
Expert player, Moderator (4131)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4083
Location: The Netherlands
henke37 wrote:
The youtube encode has like 10-20 minutes of froozen screen just before the credits.
That's because of the encoder forgetting to turn off pause after playback. The frozen part is exactly where the input file ends.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Joined: 3/18/2006
Posts: 971
Location: Great Britain
Mothrayas wrote:
henke37 wrote:
The youtube encode has like 10-20 minutes of froozen screen just before the credits.
That's because of the encoder forgetting to turn off pause after playback. The frozen part is exactly where the input file ends.
should be fixed in the original post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKC6eKgFx6g well now there's a much shorter pause :p
Hoandjzj
He/Him
Experienced player (602)
Joined: 4/6/2010
Posts: 240
Awesome! I've been waiting for this long time ago! And finally.. :D:D:D thanks for making this TAS, Mothrayas! I'll watch it right now! This is so awesome :D definitely a YES vote! And an "All stages" with X will be more awesome :D:D:D
Editor
Joined: 3/10/2010
Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
Agreed, these three stage runs are so short.
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
Watched the run, it was quick and nicely entertaining, yes vote.
Joined: 7/7/2011
Posts: 140
Location: Germany
scrimpeh wrote:
Watched the run, it was quick and nicely entertaining, yes vote.
seconded i could get used to this:-D
How should I know what I think before I read what I post?
Rolanmen1
He/Him
Experienced player (750)
Joined: 2/20/2009
Posts: 569
Location: Dominican Republic
That's right, X did all this crap in less than 20 minutes and he only gets the same rank as Zero who didn't even do anything.
Dude, Zero is Awesome by default. Even though he was wiped out by Sigma in the intro stage
mklip2001
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
Thanks for the encode, antd! I'm not sure entirely how I feel about this run. Some boss variety is nice when fighting as X, but the intro boss and Shadow Devil just become boring with the extra phases. The fight against Zero was funny. The 8 boss refights were not bad, but the repeated use of Nova Strike gets a little old. Also, X has a really big blaster in this game :-) All things considered, I feel like the best feature of this run is that it gives us a nice short run to show off the Ultimate Armor. Outside of that, though, I find it fairly uninteresting compared to the X5 runs we already have. My vote is a positively-tinted Meh.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
Synahel
She/Her
Joined: 1/19/2011
Posts: 259
Location: France
Very neat, I didn't know this game was so fast. This game looks weird compared to X1/X2/X3. Never tried it, maybe someday.
Joined: 5/2/2009
Posts: 656
Voting yes due to hot robot-on-robot action. ..and quick and entertaining as well.
My first language is not English, so please excuse myself if I write something wrong. I'll do my best do write as cleary as I can, so cope with me here =) (ノಥ益ಥ)ノ
BigBoct
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 8/9/2007
Posts: 1692
Location: Tiffin/Republic, OH
This was great. Nice to see the Ultimate Armor used. Voting Yes, but I partially agree with FractalFusion; if a 100% run is done, it should obsolete this one. I don't see the point to just an all-bosses run with X, since he's the one who benefits from a 100% run.
Previous Name: boct1584
Player (98)
Joined: 3/20/2008
Posts: 466
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
MMX runs are always a pleasure to watch, and this is no exception. Definitely publication worthy, though I found the run a bit repetitive once the nova strike was acquired.
Editor, Experienced player (607)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012
This was entertaining. I enjoyed watching this. It deserves to be published alongside the current Zero run. Yes vote!
Editor
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 1466
Location: Not playing Puyo Tetris
Not really sure what I watched. Refraining from voting.
When TAS does Quake 1, SDA will declare war. The Prince doth arrive he doth please.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14775
Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [1887] PSX Mega Man X5 "X only" by Noxxa in 19:43.80
Joined: 5/13/2006
Posts: 283
The youtube encode has an a/v desync. It's most apparent during the boss refights.
<Zurreco> if so called professional players cant adapt to every playing field, theyre obviously not that great