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TAS of Megaman 4 (Rockman World 4) for the Gameboy from 1993. Bag of Magic Food started this run back in 2006 but stopped progress. So more than half and a year later I decided this game deserves a finished speedrun. So with BOMF's permission I continued.
BOMF did: approx. 7/12
PreddY did: approx. 5/12 (Frame 70372 and on)

Game objectives:

  • Emulator used: VisualBoy Advance v1.7.2 - 19.3
  • No passwords where used
  • Reset was used to skip the Intro
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Manipulates luck
  • No deaths
  • Aims for fastest time

The Game

As many people know, the Gameboy games always take half of the bosses of two NES Megaman games. Megaman comes between Megaman 4 and 5.
Revenge tried by:
  • Toad Man
  • Bright Man
  • Pharaoh Man
  • Ring Man
  • Charge Man
  • Crystal Man
  • Napalm Man
  • Charge Man
Every Gameboy Megaman game adds a 9th boss. In Megaman 4 it is Ballade. And, as in every Gameboy game, the weapon of the 9th boss is the only (good) way to beat Dr. Wily's forms. This game futures cool cutscenes. And, for me, it has the best soundtrack of every Megaman game there is, and I played them all. It's just so classic.

Comments

The run starts with Pharaoh Man. BOMF did this because using Bright Mans weapon versus him is pure time waste. Pharaoh shot is incredibly valuable in all stages, especially in the first 4 and the Wily Fortress Defender Machine. The route after Pharaoh Man is obvious: Ring -> Toad -> Bright.
As every 9th Gameboy boss Ballade has no weakness.
After beating Ballade v1 it gets more tricky, because weapon energy isn't refilled automatically between stages. So one has to plan ahead and manipulate more energy refills from enemies at certain places.
The second route starts with Charge Man, because you get Rush Jet after beating him. Crystal Man is done afterwards using Ring Boomerang on him, as Charge Kick is slower.
On Napalm Man's level the authors switch, after the collection of the Wily Letter in the stage to be exact. Ballade v2 is difficult, because he produces lag with the Crackers and leaves small Crackers on the ground when jumping anytime. So this makes maneuvering harder.
Space Station Defender bites the dust thanks to the almighty Pharaoh Shot (and BOMF's tip).
The Hunters (eye thingies) fall pretty quick to Napalm Bomb.
Wily's forms get owned insanely quick. I actually feared the game would glitch somewhere, because it was that fast :)

Things you would like to see

If you played this game:
  • everything (especially boss fights, did you ever imagine back in the 90's Wily's forms could be beaten that hard?)
If you didn't play this game, but like Megaman games:
  • everything for entertainment and yet another defeat of Dr.Wily (and his hilarious escape)
If you didn't play this game:
  • everything...you wouldn't read the comments if you weren't at least interested

Possible improvements

Weapon switching and usage in some places, some maneuverings, certain boss fight elements

Suggestions:

Screenshot: frame 120192 (or another cutscene screenshot)

Bisqwit: Renamed submission ID due to accidental double submission.

NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots of this movie and placed them here. Oh! I also corrected the ROM name.
  • You indicated MegaMan 4 (U).gb
  • I updated it to Mega Man IV (U) [!].gb

mmbossman: As has been mentioned in the submission thread, there seems to be quite a bit that is unoptimized about this run. Rejecting due to quality issues.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2125: Bag of Magic Food & PreddY's GB Mega Man IV in 35:23.12
Joined: 11/13/2005
Posts: 1587
Shouldn't this have BoMF as a co-author? After all, he did TAS most of the run.
ventuz
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Nicely done, but you didn't get game to bring to "The End" screen tho.
Post subject: Re: #2125: PreddY's GB Mega Man 4 (Rockman World 4) in 35:23.12
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NesVideoAgent wrote:
BOMF did: approx. 7/12 PreddY did: approx. 5/12
So why isn't this labeled as a co-authored movie?
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actually I didn't find an information on how to setup a co-author. if you could provide a likn or im just blind i would be glad to change it :D
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PreddY wrote:
actually I didn't find an information on how to setup a co-author. if you could provide a likn or im just blind i would be glad to change it :D
- Go to this page: http://tasvideos.org/2125S.html - Scroll down, at the left you will see "Edit" (You need to be logged in at the site) - At "Real name", enter "Ryan Ferneau & Marcus Göhlert" (or the other way around) - At "Nickname", enter "Bag of Magic Food & PreddY"
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Posts: 115
Baxter wrote:
PreddY wrote:
actually I didn't find an information on how to setup a co-author. if you could provide a likn or im just blind i would be glad to change it :D
- Go to this page: http://tasvideos.org/2125S.html - Scroll down, at the left you will see "Edit" (You need to be logged in at the site) - At "Real name", enter "Ryan Ferneau & Marcus Göhlert" (or the other way around) - At "Nickname", enter "Bag of Magic Food & PreddY"
thanks, did it istantly. it seems there are things so simple even a diploma isn't enough for :)
Joined: 11/26/2006
Posts: 115
ventuz wrote:
Nicely done, but you didn't get game to bring to "The End" screen tho.
dont know about that one, because as i know there isn't a Megaman game that requires input after beating Wily to progress. maybe for avi encoding the dialogue can be done or i could do the input and upload it if it doesn't count towards time.
ventuz
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PreddY wrote:
dont know about that one
You ended movie at final shot on Wily, but there's dialog with Ballade waiting for button presses before you get to "Thanks for playing" screen. There's rule that says you need to complete it.
Joined: 11/26/2006
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ventuz wrote:
PreddY wrote:
dont know about that one
You ended movie at final shot on Wily, but there's dialog with Ballade waiting for button presses before you get to "Thanks for playing" screen. There's rule that says you need to complete it.
Informed bisqwit about it including updated file. Sorry.
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On the other hand, I didn't want to submit this movie. I was only hoping that Preddy finishing a test run would let us find improvements more easily. It's too sloppy the way it is now.
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I have to say that despite the issues, it seems worth watching. If someone's going to best it, that would be nice, but overall, I think it's worth a view. I saw a lot of stuff that looked like it took a lot of time, but also saw where a lot of it saved time too.
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I'd have to agree on several points. It's a very watchable movie, good strategies and movements and such, but it's not up to the near-godlike quality of the other multitude of Mega Man runs on various systems. There was a noticeable difference after the author change, too--whether the corner hugging, weapon changing, rapid-firing of B in two places, and such were simply stylistic changes or actually cost minute amounts of frames, I can't say. The movie was worthy of publication, though, from start to finish. With the exception of perhaps the obstacle-exploding room after Ballade 2 and some of the enemy-freezing weapon usage (was that necessary? Did it save frames of lag? Did it balance out the need to change weapons again after?), I really don't know if I'd even be able to see all of the improvements of a perfected movie. Not to say it isn't worth the effort perhaps, but that this particular TAS was a good watch despite.
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Twisted Eye wrote:
some of the enemy-freezing weapon usage (was that necessary? Did it save frames of lag? Did it balance out the need to change weapons again after?)
That's one of those strategies where, when it's done, you don't see why it's done. (Think of that part in the Rockman 1 run where he fires Thunder Beams at blocks that are just offscreen. People who hadn't played the game much thought he was firing at nothing.) There are enemies that hide in the pits and rocket up to crash into you before you can clear the pit. With Flash Stopper, you don't have to take the time to wait for them to lower or crash into them and worry about recovering the health later.
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Things I spotted that may be improved: - Falling stone platforms: in Pharaoh Man's level they were handled really well. However, in later stages, the author just stopped jumping right before the platform dropped to the desired level, therefore losing some frames for each platform. - 1st Ballade fight: At the end of the battle, Mega Man auto-walks to the left side of the screen. Maybe it could have been faster if Mega Man was already there before Ballade was defeated? - Napalm Man refight: At the end of the battle, Mega Man seems to take longer to teleport out of the room. Maybe that was because of the Crystal Eyes still bouncing around on screen? If so, could that be avoided by switching to the regular Buster to deliver the finishing blow to Napalm Man? Oh, by the way, Rush Coil standing in mid-air was funny.
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GeminiSaint wrote:
1st Ballade fight: At the end of the battle, Mega Man auto-walks to the left side of the screen. Maybe it could have been faster if Mega Man was already there before Ballade was defeated?
I remember I actually tested this. I think there was a set amount of time after Ballade's final jump before he would teleport out, and it was a little longer than the time it took for MegaMan to walk all the way across the room, so it didn't matter where MegaMan ended up, and I just stayed up against Ballade for kicks. I believe the actual time you wanted to minimize was the time Ballade spent jumping back into position. I'm surprised no one mentioned the obvious improvement, firing uncharged shots in between fully charged shots when using the Mega Buster against bosses. That's something I didn't figure out until I made the Rockman World 3 run. I'm sorry that I've been so slow to make a new run for this game. If anyone wants to help me test levels, I'll try to stay on IRC for the next few days. You'll know I'm available to chat when I reply!
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I watched it twice, and looked at the discussion. It's obvious that there were stylistic changes between authors. In some parts (mostly in the second half), Mega Man stopped to shoot enemies, and there were a lot of waiting parts. The things that stuck out were the following: - Bright Man fights. The first one (presumably the faster one) was by Pharaoh Shot, the second by Rain Flush. This inconsistency strikes me as bad. - The fight with the robotic arms and hands. A lot of time is wasted by defeating it early, since the hands retract slowly after the fight. I tested this myself. - Not getting the energy capsules that the Robot Masters leave behind in the refights. I tested, and it seems to cause lag if not picked up.
Bag of Magic Food wrote:
I'm surprised no one mentioned the obvious improvement, firing uncharged shots in between fully charged shots when using the Mega Buster against bosses.
I would have mentioned it.
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FractalFusion wrote:
Bright Man fights. The first one (presumably the faster one) was by Pharaoh Shot, the second by Rain Flush. This inconsistency strikes me as bad.
Not to mention, even if you can't spare the Pharaoh Shot ammo, the Mega Buster is still faster than the Rain Flush on BrightMan.
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