Like my Metal Slug 4 run, I opt to spend a few extra frames to display the level at the bottom of the screen. Not necessary, but it looks cool to have it displayed throughout the run to leave no doubt.
Unlike later Metal Slug games, you can actually get through the Play Manual pretty quickly. Turning it off still saved 2 frames for me. We take those 2 frames.
I really wanted to use Eri and Fio like X2poet. Unfortunately, they cause more lag than Marco and Tarma when using melee attacks, they alternate between using a tonfa and a hatchet. Killing soldiers with the tonfa doesn't disintegrate them, their sprites will flicker for a bit before disappearing, which can cause more lag. Meanwhile Marco and Tarma always use a knife for their melee attacks, so killing soldiers with a knife will always disintegrate them, which is preferred (You will see that I rely on this a lot throughout the run to minimize lag). So I decided to use Marco and Tarma for this run (Eri and Fio can star in Metal Slug 6). This does result in a small time loss in Mission 5 part 3 when I need to unlock the crank for the big F.
- Start to mini-boss
I only need 1 H from the two POW's at the start. Taking both H's would allow me to save an extra grenade against the R-shobu and the Sarubia later, but it costed too much time. When fighting the R-shobu, X2poet spawned it from the right while 面点 spawned it from the left. I test both and found that spawning it from the right was 2 frames faster and also saved a grenade. I actually had Tarma behind by about a pixel from the ideal position when picking up the H because it allowed him to go immediately forward again after using a standing jump to kill the soldiers on the Landseeker, which saved time. When fighting the Sarubia later, I delay firing and throwing grenades at it till the last moment to reduce lag.
- Mini-boss - Mosque Artillery (400 x 3 HP)
Since we only took 1 H from the beginning of the mission, we need to use C, not that it's an issue because it's better anyway. I tested two approaches: having each player starting at opposite ends to destroy one tower each before meeting in the middle to destroy the middle tower vs having both players start at the left side and destroying the towers from left to right. It turned out that the former idea was better. At the start of this fight, I can spray H to deal 10 damage to the left and middle towers for free before attacking the right tower. This ended up being important because this single hit lowers the HP of the left tower to 390 HP, meaning I only need 13 shots of C to destroy it instead of 14. This also allows Marco to move to the center and start attacking the middle tower earlier and destroy it faster. 面点233 used a grenade on one of the missiles to deal damage to the middle tower and destroy it faster, but I'm able to destroy it before the missile is low enough to hit with a grenade.
- Post mini-boss to boss
Using grenades to destroy the building saves time, but at this point, we could only afford to use one more grenade and it was better used to destroy the Utility Truck. The utility truck is invincible at the start, it becomes vulnerable when Abul Abbas starts to swing his sword. The truck also doesn't have to destroyed asap, just fast enough. Using a grenade to destroy the truck while killing the 3 Arabian fighters at the top got the screen to scroll the fastest. It's possible to avoid rescuing Rumi to save time in the prisoner tally at the end of the mission, but that unfortunately caused more lag than the time saved from avoiding her.
The Metal Slug is usually slow and not worth taking, but the high speed jump made it faster than the camel for most of this part. There is a prisoner that gives an extra bomb crate, but it costs 30 frames and given the boss's unique mechanics, we don't need the extra grenades. It's also possible to destroy the Bradley with a single cannon and get 3x damage, but this required me to stop jumping with the Metal Slug, which would lose speed, so I used two cannon shots instead (one for 2x damage). Not that it's an issue because we have plenty of cannon shots for the boss anyway. Right before the boss, the red Masknell is initially invincible for a bit when it appears, so we have to wait a bit before we can attack it.
- Boss - Iron Nokona MK II (6500 HP)
So it turns out that Iron Nokona actually works the same as its MS1 counterpart with two phases. The first phase simply consists of it firing the arching projectiles. The second phase is initiated when its HP hits 4000, where it lifts itself to use the flamethrower. It gains a brief period of invincibility after revealing the turret can only be destroyed after this period ends. During its invincibility period, it can still be damaged till it has 10 HP, but attacking it again will cause it recover back to 20 HP (so it will alternate between 10 and 20 HP during its invincibility period if you manage to deal enough damage during it). Because of this, the strategy here is to frontload our damage to trigger the second phase immediately and start the clock for the invincibility period. With Marco, I get off the slug beforehand and use crouch canceling to use big R + grenades simultaneously while with Tarma, I throw grenades from the Metal Slug while using vulcan. Even though I had 6 grenades with Tarma, I found that throwing 5 and using 2 cannon shots to triggered the second phase a bit faster and it was better to throw the last grenade later. It was also not worth getting out of the slug to try to use crouch canceling, it takes too much time.
After triggering the second phase, we have barely enough remaining resources (grenades, cannons) to get the boss's HP down to 10 during the invincibility period so that we can destroy it as soon as the period is over. This actually ended up being important because we're able to destroy it after it has fired only two arching projectiles. Destroying it any later would cause the boss fire a third projectile during its destruction animation, losing about 30 frames. You can tell that this way of fighting the boss is faster than previous TAS'es from how I'm able to trigger the second phase before it fires any shots and destroy it after it has only fired two shots.
As I'm finishing off the boss, I also have Marco jump towards and ride the camel slug again so that he can use it in Mission 2. This is also important because it turned out that having the camel saved time in Mission 2. I also have Tarma move to left after crashing the Metal Slug to pull the screen to the left, this helped reduce lag by making some of the explosions go off screen.
- Part 1
For this mission I used a new strategy that involved taking L. Having player 1 on the camel is the fastest way to rescue the prisoner. The danger barrel can cause random amounts of lag that has to be "manipulated." One thing that I found was to minimize the number of Arabian fighters that scattered body parts after exploding the barrel. I was able to get it down to just one, but couldn't find a way to get zero. However, depending on the inputs I used, sometimes I would still get large amounts of lag even if only one the Arabian fighters scattered body parts. It's also important to wait to explode the danger until the player 2 is close to the tomb entrance. The screen doesn't transition until both players have entered the tomb and exploding the barrel while a player is jumping will cause them to lose a lot of speed.
After looking for the best danger barrel scenarios, taking the L ended up being 19 frames slower than not taking it. From the in-game time, it should be 24 frames, but the best scenario I got with skipping the L resulted in 5 extra lag frames.
- Part 2
Using L can cause a lot of lag so we have to be careful about when we use it. The first mummy can be killed faster with L, but it lost more time to lag so I only used pistol + 2 grenades. The first two mummy generators don't have to be destroyed asap and using L here also allowed me to save a lot of grenades. Against the first one, I delayed pistol shots to reduce lag. Using two grenades results in zero lag, but using only grenade only costed a single lag frame and still got the screen to scroll at the earliest time. The second mummy generator can be destroyed using only L + pistol (thankfully, there was no lag created by using L here), the screen scrolled at the earliest time. By opting to get L from the previous part, I can skip getting the 2nd big F, which costs a lost of time. For the third mummy generator, I tested using different amounts of grenades and found that using only one grenade + F + L actually got the best results due to causing less lag (Having more grenades for the later parts of the missions ended up being better too). At the same time, I was able to destroy the generator fast enough before any dog mummies spawned, saving even more lag frames. It's unfortunate that the big S doesn't drop here in 2 player, though it causes a lot of lag to use.
At the end of this part I use a combination of F + knife to kill the first two trios of mummies. For the seven mummies that descend afterwards, I found a way to use grenades to hit two mummies at once (used 3 to hit 6 mummies total) so I could kill them with a single shot of F. Killing the last mummy with knife ended up not wasting time, the final group of dog mummies dropped at the same time as if I had used a grenade to kill it faster. The final wave of dog mummy could be killed faster by using L to hit the pair on the right after throwing the grenade, but this ended up being slower because of lag. So I settled for using 2 shots of the big F, which is slower in in-game time, but faster in real time.
- Part 3
Using L can still cause a lot of lag here so I use it sparingly, though it plays a crucial part here. There are also places where the screen won't scroll until both players have landed, which is why one player will sometimes wait for the other player to land before jumping together with them.
I used a grenade to when killing the pair of chariot spitting mummies to kill the first one faster and to kill the bat with the grenade smoke. Using L could save this grenade, but it caused way too much lag. There is also a small shortcut that can be taken after killing these mummies.
When landing on platforms to turn around jump to the next platform, it's better to walk forward for an extra 2 frames before turning around to give yourself room to walk for 2 frames before jumping again to gain more speed and distance (see note about walking before jumping). There was only one spot where this was not the case (the platform with the first chest that gives F), the next platform was at a much higher height so it was better to jump immediately to gain height faster (using a standing jump was still slower). I also didn't speed boost off the mummy before this jump as well because getting the boost positioned me such that I would actually jump 2 frames later to get to the next platform.
Previous TAS'es avoided getting the first bomb crate, but after some calculations, I found that it was actually worth taking in all cases (whether I brought L or a 2nd big F). By using L, getting the bomb crate only costed 30 frames (if I had 2 F, it would cost 50 frames, but it still saves time in the boss fight). The hanging mummy needs to be manipulated to not drop early. Later in the part, I get the 2nd F as the L has done its job. X2poet skipped this F and opted to take the S instead, but I found that bringing 2 F is better for the boss even if it causes more lag. The mummy that drops the second bomb crate can be killed with F + knife (the screen will scroll at the same time), but using a grenade to kill it faster is still better because it drops the bomb crate faster.
It's a little annoying that the final waves of the dog mummies have 120 HP, meaning a single grenade isn't enough to kill them. I had to use 2 grenades to kill the final dog mummy on the right, but it was still better to do that to let Marco and Tarma move to the left sooner.
- Boss - Aeshi Nero (7000 HP)
A pretty straightforward boss. The important key with this boss is to consistently get 13 hits with the main flame of F for maximum damage. I found that shooting downwards while doing standing jumps was the best for getting the most damage, though the jumps had to be done at specific times so that I could consistently get max damage with F. Due to the timing of the jumps required, I couldn't throw more grenades near the start of the fight, but was able eventually use them later. I tested taking the Slug Noid with one of the players, but unlike the 1-player run, it was slower. Disappointing that the cannons only do 100 damage in this game.
- Start to mini-boss
Throughout this mission, whenever we shoot soldiers, we want them to fall off the train so that they get off screen faster, which reduces lag.
At the start of this mission, I time a pistol shot with Tarma to kill the shield soldier by hitting the soldier directly as he spawns, which got the screen to scroll sooner and subsequently allowed me to get the 2nd firebomb and big S faster. Killing certain soldiers and manipulating them to fall off the train helped reduce a lot of lag early in this mission. When fighting the Di-cokka, I could destroy it 4 frames faster by using 2 more grenades with Marco instead of the big S, but Marco actually needed the those grenades for later in the mission so I use the big S. When the two Landseekers appear, there is a lot of lag that occurs. 面点 used grenades + S to destroy them immediately, but I found after testing that using big S to destroy them together only caused 15 extra frames of lag while saving a lot of grenades. A bit later when I jump on top of the freight cars, there are 4 soldiers that appear on the 2nd freight car. Killing them with the big S could save 44 frames of lag, but I couldn't afford to use it.
When fighting the Jet Hammar-Yang's, destroying the Flying Tara's will make the 2nd wave appear immediately after the first one is destroyed. However, destroying both Flying Tara's at the same causes a lot of lag, so I destroy them at separate times. This was also one of the rare moments where making the 2nd Flying Tara crash land actually caused less lag than having it explode, doing it this way still got the 2nd wave to appear at the earliest time. At the same time, I manipulate the POW to give C (this POW can also drop big R or big H) with Marco. Afterwards, I get the stones with Marco and have Tarma convert his firebombs back to grenades, we can deal more damage this way. When fighting the R-shobu, I use C with Marco at the start, but stop using it when it starts to cause lag. Using more C would allow me to destroy the R-shobu faster, but it causes lag and I actually want Marco to only have 2 stones and as much C going into the mini-boss.
- Mini-boss - The Kessi II (6500 HP)
This mini-boss has some interesting and important mechanics. It has two separate hitboxes at the wings have 400 HP each, but still share the same HP total as the main body. For some reason, hitting the wings will double count the damage done to the boss. This only lasts as long as the wings are active, but it effectively reduces the boss's HP to 5700. Any excess damage to the wings is not counted (e.g. if the wing has 20 HP left, hitting it with S will do 220, not 400). You don't need firebombs to take advantage of this which is why I get regular grenades with Tarma. Another important mechanic is that when its HP is below 5250, two Bull Chan tanks will spawn on top of boss. They will usually fire a few shots before moving forward and falling off, but sometimes they will move forward immediately and fall off without firing any shots. While falling, they can be destroyed and will sometimes drop weapons (H, C, L, or S). The weapon I want from this is the S.
With that all in mind, the overall plan was get its HP below 5250 asap to spawn the Bull Chan tanks, manipulate one of them to move forward without firing any shots, and drop an S when we destroy it. During this, we also want to continue doing damage to the boss so that one shot of S will destroy it. With Tarma, I throw 3 grenades at the start to deal 600 damage to the right wing while using the big S to hit the left wing to deal 400 damage. Meanwhile, with Marco, I throw the two remaining stones for 300 damage (the 2nd stone hit the main body so it only did 100 damage). This instantly brought the boss's HP down to 5200 HP, triggering the Bull Chans to appear. From there, it was a matter of continuing to deal damage to the boss while manipulating the Bull-Chan to do what we needed. Fortunately, I only had to briefly stop firing with Marco twice to get the right manipulations.
- Post mini-boss to boss
After getting the slugs, you can skip the Bradley and the Sarubia simply be flying over them. Killing the mortar soldier behind the Bradley and having him fall off the train helped save some lag. Like previous TAS'es, I get the bomb crate with Tarma, we don't need extra cannons or missiles. Before the boss battle, there are three waves of Eaca-B's you usually have to fight. The first wave can be skipped by destroying the sidecar biker (Sometimes a missile biker will spawn instead so this has to be manipulated) and then scrolling the screen at a specific time. 面点's theory was that by leaving the bazooka soldier alive and timing the screen scroll, you trick the game into thinking that the bazooka soldier is the first wave and once he's off screen, the game thinks you successfully destroyed the first wave. He thought the soldier should be kept alive, but I was able to kill him so it might just be the sprite. This trick is also only possible with 2 players afaik.
The second Eaca-B is manipulated to appear at a spot that's ideal for Tarma to destroy it with S + grenade. Moving the slug flyer along with Tarma as he throws the grenade will add both of their speeds to the grenade, making it fly much faster. For the final wave of Eaca-B's, using S + grenades can save lag, but I need the grenades to save more time in the boss later so I use S + missile + vulcan to destroy them, which unfortunately causes a lot of lag.
Before the boss fight, I use up some shots of S. 16 shots are enough and after the 16th shot, it's better to use pistol to deal the remaining damage needed to finish the boss.
- Boss - Dragon Nosuke (9000 HP)
The S on its own has a higher DPS than cannon + vulcan with either slug so it's better for one player (Marco) to use both slugs in this fight. Previous TAS'es would use one missile from the Slug Flyer and immediately crash it and use the Metal Slug, However, I saw that after using all the Metal Slug cannons, you still had to use a good amount of vulcan before you could crash the slug to finish off boss. Seeing that, I decided to use a few more missiles with the Slug Flyer to get a little more extra damage in before crashing it. It's also possible to land on top of the boss after crashing the slug flyer, which allows Marco to act earlier and get in the Metal Slug faster. After some testing, I found that 3 missiles was the right amount to use before crashing the flyer and that you can also delay using vulcan a little bit to save a bit of lag.
After getting in the Metal Slug, I manipulate the boss to use its minigun as it initially causes no lag. However, near the end of this pattern, the game starts to lag constantly which can't be avoided. I wait till then to throw grenades with Tarma, since throwing them early causes lag while throwing them later when the game starts to lag didn't create extra lag. Because of the extra damage I did with the missiles and the extra grenades I brought with Tarma, I'm able to crash the Metal Slug immediately after using all the cannons. For some reason, firing an extra shot with Tarma after crashing the slug helped reduce some lag.
An important thing to note is that this boss should be destroyed while it's standing up. Destroying it while it's sitting wastes time because it will stand up before its destruction animation plays.
- Start to boss
The shortest and most straightforward mission.
Early in this mission, we can use melee attacks to destroy the bikers by hitting regular soldiers that are close by them, saving a grenade and lag. There were two shots I seeming fired randomly with Marco, this reduced lag for some reason. Destroying the bikers before attacking the Di-cokka also helps reduce lag. After destroying the Di-cokka, I wait to destroy the building at a time when it won't cause lag and also manipulate it to drop a bomb crate (it will sometimes drop an ammo crate instead). The area after destroying the double-decker bus has a lot of lag which can't be eliminated. It's actually possible to get a speed boost off the sandbags, but doing that causes me to jump into the TM-1 Missiles, so I can't use it.
Later in the mission (when we start going down the incline of houses), the first Mini-UFO can be destroyed nearly off screen with a stone. Killing soldiers with knife as I continue down the incline helps reduce a lot of lag (though there was one soldier I had to shoot because he would throw a grenade, which costed a lag frame). At the bottom of the incline there are two pairs of Mini-UFO's I need to destroy. I also want to fight them while avoiding the houses because destroying them causes a lot of lag. The first pair of Mini-UFO's each have 170 HP, so the best solution was to manipulate them to come to the middle while damaging the one from the left with, hit them both with one grenade, and then finish off the second one. The second pair only have 50 HP, so the best and fastest solution was to have each player use H to destroy one. Jumping while using H allows me to destroy them faster, but it causes Marco to get in the Metal Slug, so I crash it immediately to get out (fortunately, this didn't cause any lag). After getting the big S with Tarma, there is a MV-280B that's partially in the way. Destroying it should be faster, but it causes more lag than it saves so I jump over it instead.
- Boss - Big Shiee (8000 HP total, 500 HP for each turret)
This boss consists of seven turrets and the main cannon which share the same HP total. The fight only ends when the main cannon is destroyed, which only appears after at least 5 turrets have been destroyed. However, this also has to be manipulated because sometimes the main cannon won't appear right away. This boss has a similar mechanic as the Kessi II from Mission 3: when the main cannon is out, hitting the two turrets that are next to it will double count the damage done to the boss (similar to the Kessi wings). This only works as long as the turrets are still active and any excess is not counted (e.g. if the turret has 20 HP left, hitting it with S will do 220, not 400). This means we want these turrets at full HP when the main cannon is revealed to take full advantage of them and effectively reduce the remaining HP from 5500 to 4500 (after destroying 5 turrets). So the plan here is to destroy the 5 turrets on the left, manipulate the boss to reveal the main cannon asap, and then destroy it while taking full advantage of the extra damage enabled by the two turrets on the right.
At the start of the fight I immediately go to the left with one of the characters to hold the screen in place, this gets the left turrets on screen and vulnerable faster, allowing me to attack them earlier. This also keeps the rock on screen which Marco can stand on to deal damage to all 5 turrets with grenades. Meanwhile Tarma is able to use the big S to hit all 5 turrets. So I use one shot of the big S and 3 grenades to instantly destroy the 5 turrets on the left. I then manipulate the boss to immediately reveal the main cannon and destroy with my remaining weapons and grenades. Leaving one grenade/bomb to use right before using the final shot of my weapons ended up saving some lag frames. After the destroying the boss, I try to go as far right as possible to keep the screen moving to the right so that the boss moves offscreen as its destruction animation plays, which helps reduce lag.
One thing to note about this boss is that when it is destroyed, it will turn the main cannon to the left before it explodes. Unfortunately, when we reveal the main cannon asap, there's not enough space on the left side for me to get good damage with my weapons (mainly F). Staying of the right side causes the cannon to rotate towards the right, but it's the only way for me to get good damage from my weapons. I was able to stay close enough that the cannon only rotated to aim straight down rather than towards the right. This results in a time loss of about 20 frames, but it was still better take this small cost rather than wait to reveal the cannon later to get more room to attack it from the left side. Being on the right side also allows me to go farther to the right after destroying the boss and reduce more lag frames.
- Part 1
A lot of lag here that can't be eliminated, unfortunately. The enemies in this mission have a lot of HP and grenade usage is tight in Level 8 so the L is definitely worth getting (has to be manipulated). I used 面点's strategy for most of this part. I take the Metal Slug to use its cannons against the first few enemies (Girida-O and the first Masknell). Normally, when you destroy the "Hog" truck containing the Metal Slug, collecting all the meat or cabbages will cause you to get fat. Interestingly, if you get thrown into the air while inside the Metal Slug (by getting on top of the car and destroying it), you will not get fat after exiting, but collecting another food item will immediately cause the transformation. X2poet continued to use the Metal Slug destroy the next two Masknell's, but I adopted 面点's idea of crashing it early against the 2nd Masknell instead. Keeping the Metal Slug would require me to destroy the 2nd "Hog" truck, which would make Marco get fat, which is slow. Using cannons against the 2nd pair of Masknell's is also slow, it's much faster to use grenades to destroy them after manipulating them to group together.
Destroying the Sarubia fast enough will prevent an extra soldier from appearing on the left. I wanted to use more grenades (using 7 is the fastest), but saw that grenade usage might get tight in the next part. So I opted to use the minimum number of grenades (5) needed to prevent the extra solider from appearing. This ended up being the correct decision..
- Part 2
There are three POW's that give a big L, but I found that you only need two of them (rescuing less prisoners also saves time at the end of the mission for the tally up). It was best to destroy the first Masknell with grenades, it gets the screen to scroll asap and we need to move forward for bit before we can go back to attack the next two Masknell's. The 2nd Masknell doesn't have to be destroyed asap, the 3rd one appears at a set time after the 2nd one. It's fastest to destroy the 3rd Masknell with 4 grenades, but I found that using 2 grenades + L to destroy was only slower by 4 frames, a trade absolutely worth taking.
Like Mission 1, the red Masknell is initially invincible for a bit when it appears, so we wait a bit before attacking it. After destroying it, we don't have to go to the right immediately, we just need to move fast enough and the subway will still appear at the same time. So I wait a bit before moving to reduce lag. After destroying the subway, there is a POW at pillar who gives a bomb crate, but I immediately move to get closer to the Di-cokka with Tarma after rescuing the POW to reduce lag (we have plenty of time to pick up the bomb crate after destroying the Di-cokka).
After the Di-cokka, there are seven total Masknells to fight. They're sort of divided into 3 waves (2 + 3 + 2), but destroying one Masknell will make one from the next wave appear. I found that it the best way to approach this was to destroy them in together in groups. The first wave consists of two Masknell's, which were destroyed together and only required one grenade, using more didn't make the next wave appear faster. The 2nd wave consists of three Masknell, but only two appear at the start before the third one appears a bit later. I destroy one of them with just L and destroy the remaining two once the third one appears using L + 2 grenades (using more grenades didn't make the next wave appear faster). The third wave is the only on where the Masknell should be destroyed asap, so I use Marco to destroy it with grenades while Tarma rushes to the right to rescues the POW that gives C and kill some soldiers to reduce lag.
The remainder of this part consists of fighting Karn (from Metal Slug 1) and three subways. I start off with using big L + C + grenades to destroy Karn. I time freeing the POW that gives big R so that he'll walk toward the right and will still be on screen after I move forward to fight the subways. Tarma uses any remaining C, then R, and then G against the subways while Marco sticks with the big L. I use the rest of my grenades here because the weapons alone aren't enough. Whenever I destroy a subway, I jump to the left reduce lag from the subway explosions (though I can't do that for the final one).
At the end of this part, the screen doesn't transition until both players have exited the tunnel so I wait till Tarma (who stayed behind to pick up the bomb crate) gets close to the exit before destroying the door. Destroying the door early while either character is jumping will cause them to lose speed and spend more time exiting the tunnel. I also only use the big L with Marco to deal most of the damage against the door, using pistol along with L causes lag and we need to wait until Tarma is close enough anyway.
One thing to note is that the door is divided into three separate segments of 80 HP. Excess damage does not carry over to the next segment (Similar to the mechanic seen in bosses in Metal Slug 4) so using grenades or G here would be a damage loss.
- Part 3
Another section with large amounts of lag. Using the big L doesn't help our cause, but we don't have much of a choice when we have less grenades to work with in this part than X2poet (still worth using all the extra grenades in the previous parts). The mutated soldiers cause a lot of lag, but there a few ways to work around them. Killing them or having them explode is one option, but another is to shoot at them to cause them to jump up or down from the ceiling. Since they only move vertically when they jump up or down, we can move quickly to get them offscreen in the time it takes them to complete their jump. In certain spots, the number of mutants that appear is random, I manipulate it so that the smallest number of them appear.
The first door is divided into three separate 80 HP blocks. Using grenades on it is a damage loss, but pistol and L are more than enough. The three gates are divided into 5 separate HP blocks (240 for the 1st gate, 280 for the 2nd and 3rd). I use grenades on the first two to destroy them faster, but I make sure to throw them at times where I don't lose damage (excess damage doesn't carry over to the next block). I don't use any grenades on the 3rd gate because I'm able to do enough damage with Tarma in the time it takes Marco to unlock the big F. Using the big L a little bit more after unlocking the big F crank should've been better, but it loses more time to lag. I also lose 12 frames from having to use Marco to unlock the big F crank, Eri/Fio are able to unlock it faster, but Marco is necessary to help reduce lag over the entire run.
After destroying the Sarubia, there are two waves of Girida-O tanks have to be destroyed before the screen scrolls. The first wave can be skipped by screen scrolling to the left and back at the right time (this also was perfect for picking up the bomb crate with Tarma). The second wave can also be skipped by repeating this two more times, but it actually ended up being slower. After the screen scrolls, there's another Girida-O tank that appears, but that can be skipped by manipulating it to move forward and jumping over and hurrying over to the boss. The manipulation is necessary for it to disappear after it gets off-screen.
- Boss - Hozmi (9800 HP)
This boss has several unique mechanics to account for. First it has 5 separate hitboxes that share the same HP total (see the picture from
mtvf1's post on Bilibili). Each hitbox starts off with an "armor" of 350 HP, damaging this armor still counts toward the total HP. When this armor is destroyed (indicated visually) the hitbox will have a 100 HP block (same mechanic seen in Metal Slug 4 bosses). Any excess damage to the armor or the block will not carry over to the next block. Because of this, when I start the fight with the Slug Noid, I fire a cannon at the hitbox where the hatch is before slightly moving to the left to crash it to damage the hitbox with the fins. This way, I'm able to deal 450 damage with the Slug Noid before I use F.
For this fight, using moving jumps gets you the most hits with F. You can get 10 hits by firing F right after jumping and 11 hits by firing right before landing. However, there is only one hitbox that can be hit with F and because of the 100 HP block mechanic, some damage is lost when I hit it with 2 players. I adjusted the timing of firing F with one player to reduce the damage lost, but it wasn't completely avoidable. It was also better to throw grenades as I'm using F instead of throwing them all before using F like in previous TAS'es. Because of the armor mechanic, one of the grenades will only do 50 damage, but the damage loss is worth it.
The boss is manipulated to first shoot single flashing energy balls and then the red energy balls. I used up some shots of F beforehand so that I would run out of bullets right after using the last F shots needed and potentially use pistol shots to speed up the end of the fight a little, but it was only worth firing one shot. Firing more shots caused more lag and ended up slower. After destroying the boss, I jump to the left to reduce lag, but only far enough to not rescue the prisoner.
- Part 1
So. Much. Lag. And we can't do much about it, killing soldiers with melee attacks didn't help much :(
At the start of this mission, by using Tarma to kill soldiers that are hiding behind the sandpiles to throw rockets, Marco is able to keep jumping and clear the rising TM-1 Missiles. Right before I get the I with Tarma, there is a 4 frame window (6 frames with lag) where you can jump off the tip of a TM-1 Missile if it is low enough, this allowed him to pick up the I at the earliest frame. Killing the pair of parachuting bazooka soldiers with I isn't necessary to get the screen to scroll, but it saved a few lag frames.
At the winding bridge, I manipulate the TM-1 Missiles to appear in spots where they would interfere with my movement the least. Ideally, we want to avoid jumping off them completely since doing so can cause us to lose speed (though there are a few spots where this isn't the case, the one time I jump off with Tarma didn't lose speed). There were a few times this couldn't be avoided with Marco, but the bigger priority is getting Tarma to catch up. As I jump off the bridge, there will be sometimes be extra soldiers that spawn along with the 4 that are already there, so I manipulate that to not happen to reduce lag (though depending on what actions you took before, doing this would sometimes not reduce lag).
- Mini-boss - Allen O'Neill (1100 HP)
There are two main priorities in this fight. The first is to kill Allen asap so that we can move again faster. At the same time, we also want to be as far off to the right side of the screen to get to the next area faster. Optimizing this fight requires balancing these two priorities.
Allen only takes half damage from grenades, so we avoid using those. However, he takes the full 60 damage from I so we can use that to deal more damage than melee attacks. At the same time, using too much I starts to cause lag. Previous TAS'es opted to just use crouch canceled melee attacks to kill Allen on the top platform. However, one thing I discovered was that if you kill Allen as he jumps down, he will fall into the lake much faster and allow you to move again earlier. It's possible to manipulate him to jump down immediately when the fight starts, but we aren't able to deal enough damage to kill him. So the strategy is to get him to do his melee attack sequence once and then jump down. This requires us to be in front of Allen at a distance (but close enough so that we can easily switch between using our weapons and melee attacks) because if we're too close (overlapping with him like previous TAS'es), he will just continue to use melee attacks instead of jumping down. Since we're in front of Allen now, we also need to back away briefly to dodge his melee attack before going back in to deal more damage. By weaving in a few shots of I with our melee attacks, we're able to do enough damage so that we can kill Allen as soon as he starts to jump down to trigger the faster death animation.
I also tested having Marco and Tarma be on the middle platform below Allen at the start of the fight, have him jump down to the middle platform and then kill him as he jumped down again. This actually results in an even faster death animation because he's closer to the lake, but ended up being slower overall because I couldn't be as far off to the right side afterwards even though I was able to move earlier. Killing him the top platform and moving to the right like I did in this run ended up being the best balance between to the two priorities.
- Rest of part 1
The screen doesn't transition until both characters have entered the base so the priority is to get Marco (who stays back to get the bomb crate) to enter the base asap. Since Tarma moves on ahead, I use him to kill soldier with knife to reduce a lot of lag. I also get C here for Marco because it's much more useful in the next part than H. At the end, I manipulate the Bradley to move forward just a little and only use grenades to destroy it. Using I can save a grenade or two, but it caused too much lag. It turned out that I needed the extra ammo for the start of the next part and we'll have plenty grenades for the boss anyway.
- Part 2
One of my favorite sections in this run. This section has five stops where we have to fight several waves of enemies, usually Martians. One important detail to account for is the death animation of the Martians. When killed they will either disintegrate and disappear fast or spill green blood and disappear slowly. Certain weapons will only cause one type of death animation, while others will cause either one, so this has to be manipulated. When using C or I to kill a Martian, only the main hit is able to cause the fast animation, killing with the smoke will only cause the slow animation. Killing a Martian while it's in the air will always result in the fast animation. Ideally we want the former animation, but not all Martians need to be killed that way. Knowing which ones need to have the fast death animation is key to saving time in this section. Using F to kill them will always result in a unique burning animation, but this is the slowest animation so we avoid it (except for one case).
At the start of this part, it's important to keep Marco moving forward to trigger the first wave of Martians at the first stop. The Martians that need to be killed with the fast death animation are: 2 out of the 3 regular Martians from the third wave, the 3 Martians that descend on the second elevator on the left (5th wave), one of the two Cabre (brown) Martians from the 6th wave, and both Cabre Martians from the last (7th) wave. For some of the Martians, using weapons allows me to hit them a few frames earlier than using grenades or melee attacks. For the final wave, it's better to use a grenade to kill the Cabre Martian on the left, but it only saved 6 frames so I used C + knife instead. The random pistol I fired with Tarma before getting the L was to reduce a few lag frames.
Before the second stop, I wait to destroy the container that drops the bomb crate at a time when it cause the least amount of lag. At the 2nd stop there are two waves of Martians you need to kill, but the first wave can be skipped by timing a jump off the box of coal and scrolling the screen downward (Tarma is the one who initiates this). Killing all three Martians of the 2nd wave with grenades is the fastest, but killing the middle one with L only costed 6 frames, so I opted for that trade. There wasn't a good way to kill any of them with C and it would just cause more lag.
The third stop consists of several waves of martians that appear from different spots. Normally, there's two waves of a pair of Cabre Martians that descend from the top right, but the first wave can actually be skipped by timing a jump from the platform and scrolling the screen downward (Marco is the one who initiates this). Bringing C here with Marco allows me to kill the other Martians fast without having to rely on grenades.
The fourth stop consists of two Melty Honey's and a few Martians. Using a grenade to destroy the first Melty Honey gets the second one to appear faster. By bringing C here with Marco, I'm able to destroy the second Melty Honey faster. The Martians in this area don't have to be killed, but I do it for entertainment.
- Part 2 final stop
The fifth and final stop consists of several waves of Martians that appear from different spots. A lot of details here that warrant its own section in this text. Usually, killing a certain number of Martians is enough to spawn the next wave. There are extra enemies that also spawn along with the Martians, but those don't always have to be killed asap, just fast enough. Knowing the right ones to kill and trigger the fast death animation is the key to getting through all of the waves fast.
When you first get to this stop, there are two Cabre Martians and one Elite Martian. It's important for all three of these Martians to be killed asap to make the Melty Honey appear asap. I use grenades for all of three of them to trigger the fast death animation (the big F can't be used here and the L is too slow and causes lag). At the same time, there are additional Martians that are supposed to descend, but this can be skipped by timing a jump off the platform and scrolling the screen downward (Jump right where the first Cabre Martian is). If we manage to get the fast death animation on the first three Martians, we can just use L to the destroy the Melty Honey, the next wave of Martians still appears at the same time.
The 2nd wave consists of four Martians that descend straight down on the right. I thought all four had to be killed to trigger the next wave, but it turns out you only have to kill 3 out of the 4. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until after the run was completed.
The 3rd wave consists of four Martians that descend diagonally from the top left. Only 3 out the 4 need to be killed to trigger the next wave, but killing all 4 didn't cost extra time. There are two additional Cabre Martians that fly in from the left and right (only in 2 player). They can be killed at any point, but killing them earlier is better to prevent lag.
The 4th wave consists of four Martians that warp in above the 2 small crates. Only 3 out the 4 need to be killed to trigger the next wave. In hindsight, I should've had Marco go over there sooner and killed the 3rd Martian instantly with knife, which would've saved 4 frames. There's two additional Cabre Martians that also warp in and like the previous pair, they can be killed at any point.
The 5th wave consists of four Martians that fly in from the left. Only 3 out of the 4 need to be killed to trigger the next wave. The big F can be used to 3 of them while they are still off screen, which is exactly what we need. Doing this gets the next wave to spawn the fastest even if the Martians die by the burning animation (which is the slowest). The last Martian can be killed as we clear the next wave.
The 6th wave consists of 8 Martians that descend from the top. All 8 Martians need to be killed to trigger the next wave asap. We also kill the last martian from the previous wave (doesn't affect when the next wave spawns, but still good for preventing lag).
The 7th wave consists of 3 pairs of Elite Martians that spawn at various spots. For the first two pairs, only one of them has to be killed to spawn the next pair while both Martians in the third have to be killed asap. I manipulate them all to spawn at the center so that I can hit both with one grenade and kill them all fast. Using two grenades for each pair is the fastest, but it's too much of a damage loss (these Martians have 120 HP) and using knife or L is only 4 frames slower.
The 8th wave consists of two Girida-O tanks and two Elite Martians that warp in. Of these four, three of them have to be killed/destroyed to trigger the next wave. I'm able to destroy the Girida-O tanks before the Martians warp in and once they do, kill one of them asap with grenade + knife.
The final wave consists of two pairs of Elite Martians. All four need to be killed for the screen to scroll. The second pair spawns at the same time regardless of how fast the first pair is killed. So I kill the pair with just knife and the 2nd pair with grenade + knife.
At the end of this part, there are a few soldiers that need to be killed before we can exit. By having Tarma go to the top platform and kill the first soldier asap, I was able to significantly reduce the amount lag in this area. At the same time, I wait until the last moment to kill the last soldier with Marco. This is because killing all soldiers will cause both characters to lose a lot of speed, especially if they are in the air. I use the big F for the soldier since 26 shots are enough for the boss.
- Boss - Dai-Manji (9500 HP)
For this battle (and the final boss), we need some heavy luck manipulation. Dai-Manji has two possible patterns at the start, deploy three Mini-UFOs or fire its laser. Sometimes it will move around a bit before doing either. The maximum number of Mini-UFO's that can be deployed is three, it will not deploy more until they are destroyed or the player dies. The Mini-UFO can drop various items, including weapons and bomb crates. The plan here is to get an L and two bomb crates, all for Tarma, while destroying it asap.
I had both characters go to the top of the roof since they can deal more damage to Dai-Manji faster. I also manipulated Dai-Manji immediately position itself close to the roof and start deploying Mini-UFOs right away. I had Tarma use all of his grenades because he could use crouch cancel to throw them while using the big S and the plan is to have him be the one to go down and get all the drops from the Mini-UFOs. Meanwhile, I had Marco jump towards the boss to get more damage with the big F and use just enough grenades needed to destroy Dai-Manji at the earliest frame where it will still deploy the 3rd Mini-UFO.
Luckily, I was able to get the perfect manipulation for this boss and get all the drops I needed with zero delay. Unfortunately, getting a weapon seemed to cause 30 extra frames of lag for some reason, I couldn't find a way to avoid it. I also jumped to the left with Marco for a small time save at the start of the final boss battle.
- Final boss - Rugname (9500 HP)
The plan for this battle is simple, get bomb crates from the first three Mini-UFOs, which is enough to destroy the boss. I also want both characters to stay on the platform so that they could keep jumping to throw grenades. After some testing, I found that it was worth having Marco keep the big F and use it for this fight instead of trying to get another L. I found that you could do comparable damage with the big F in between jumps (max was 7 hits with the main flame for about 150 damage) and it becomes the better option when you're able to throw more than 3 grenades per jump (by using the Mini-UFOs). And I realized that grenades were ultimately the best option against this boss, so it was better to just get more of those.
By having Marco on the left side, the screen moves less, allowing me to move about 40 frames earlier. This comes at the cost of doing only about 65 damage with the first shot of F, but I found that I would've done similar damage with L before Marco was high enough to throw grenades, so this was worth the trade. I was able to get nearly perfect manipulation for the first Mini-UFO and get it to drop a bomb with almost no delay in attacks. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky for the next two UFOs. I tried many different combinations of inputs, but could not get bomb crates to drop with no delay. I eventually had to settle for briefly stopping my attacks which got the bomb crates to drop. I'm not completely satisfied, but this is still the fastest this boss has been cleared.
