Here is my very last WIP all the way to the 3-4 Boss.
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1313132644/Hagane1.smv
By the end of 1-2 i'm ahead of you by 19 frames and you killed the Boss a lot faster than i did.
The secret is to not backflip all the stage.
The thing is, at the end of the backflip Hagane has a 5 frames recovery where he slides on the ground on the same direction, but when he propels himself backwards again you lose 4 frames because he stands still.
You can notice it in normal speed by seeing how to screen stops for a little bit everytime the screen moves by countinous flipping.
So the key is to short hop-spin (Jump in 1 frame, release, and jump at the next frame and hold the button).
When you spin you may encounter an enemy, or an object with a hitbox, in those cases you attack out of the spin with the flamming kick (Down at anytime in the jump) and in the very next frame spin and only lose 1 frame while continuing moving forward.
But when there are no enemies, you just flame kick to the ground and then slide, here you lose anything between 2 and 4 frames thanks to the crouching sprite and depending how for of the ground you are when you start the kick.
Here are some frame counts, damage ratings and RAM addresses:
Frame
----------
Full Triple Jump ------------ 155 Frames
Enemy Invicibility Frames --------- 7 Frames
Damage
----------
Sword ----------------------- 2 Damage (Add Invicibility Frames)
Shuriken -------------------- 2 Damage (Add Invicibility Frames)
Bomb ------------------------ 2 Damage (Add Invicibility Frames)
Bomb Explosion -------------- 1 Damage (DOES NOT Add Invicibility Frames)
Chain ----------------------- 1 Damage (DOES NOT Add Invicibility Frames)
Forward Roll 1 Step JUMP ---- 6 Damage (Add Invicibility Frames)
Forward Roll 1 Step ATTACK -- 5 Damage (Add Invicibility Frames)
Forward Roll 2 Steps JUMP --- 2 Damage (Add Invicibility Frames) Lasts Long
Forward Roll 2 Steps ATTACK - 7 Damage (Add Invicibility Frames)
Forward Roll 3 Steps JUMP --- 25 Damage (Add Invicibility Frames)
Forward Roll 3 Steps ATTACK - 4 Damage (Add Invicibility Frames) Lasts Long
DOWN while jumping ---------- 1 Damage (DOES NOT Add Invicibility Frames)
Bomb----------------------- 6 Damage
RAM Address
--------------
[HAGANE USA]
7e102F,1u,1st Boss HP
7e11AF,1u,2nd, 6th Boss HP
7e122f,1u,3rd Boss HP
7e112f,1u,4th Boss HP
A little messy, but here are some explanations.
The bomb explosion, that is, the blast range of a exploding bomb does 1 damage and doesn't add invicibility frames, that is if you could spam them you could continually do 1 damage as fast as you could hit with it.
You can cancel both the sword and chain attacks by sliding.
Also you can spam the flamming kick with, jump, kick, jump again and kick again but every time you repeat this you lose height.
And finally the bomb, it does a lot of damage so i think it's a good idea to end the bosses with it, but it adds TONS of lag, never really studied it beyond that point though.
That's all i think, will post if i remember anything else.
Good luck.
Note: Don't get discouraged with the 3-4 boss, he's real cheap. :P
Yeah, yeah, I managed to miss some orbs from killed enemies. Dante is just too fast. :p
For the movie to synch I just let the movie play for 1200 frames, then just load a savestate from the beggining (Frame 353) and it plays without problems.
Very fun so far, I wonder how long I can go until it gets unplayable.
Edit: I complete the first mission 11 seconds faster than the SDA run. Collect 443 less red orbs and am 293points less awesome than James 'Psychochild' Conway.