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FractalFusion's Mega Man X2 best ending 0% in 33:52.
Used Snes9x v1.43 v15 for the most part, and v16 briefly for Wheel Gator rematch.

Aims

  • Aims for fastest time
  • Abuses programming errors in the game
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Manipulates luck

About the run

This movie file is over one year old. I stalled progress a few times. At one point, I stalled at the beginning of Crystal Snail rematch for a few months, resumed, doing one boss battle, then stalled at the beginning of the Bubble Crab rematch for a few months. I hate Bubble Crab.
The goals here are the inverse of the currently published run. That is, Zero parts, no items. Trying to do Zero parts and no items in an unassisted run of any kind is extremely difficult.

Route

The X-Hunter cycle is as follows: 
        A                    S                        V 
gator->moth->sponge->crab->stag->centipede->snail->ostrich->
A, S, and V are the starting points of the X-Hunters after you beat two Mavericks. They will not show up in any beaten stage, so their starting points might be bumped forward. After each stage completion or game over, they will cycle forward, skipping any stages which are already beaten. If a stage in which an X-Hunter appears is beaten, or the X-Hunter is beaten, he will disappear. When you beat the third X-Hunter, an extra cutscene will occur on completion of the stage, unless it was the last stage.
I planned the location of the X-Hunters so that they would fall in certain stages. Due to favorable exits, I need two X-Hunters to show up in Wheel Gator and Bubble Crab stages. The other would be either in Flame Stag or Morph Moth stage. I also need one X-Hunter to show up in the last stage and the other two as early as possible.
With that in mind, and the boss and miniboss weaknesses, I decided on the following order: Flame Stag, Magna Centipede, Wire Sponge, Wheel Gator, Morph Moth, Crystal Snail, Overdrive Ostrich, Bubble Crab. I fight Violen at Wheel Gator, Serges at Morph Moth, and Agile at Bubble Crab.

Run Info

Intro Level

I saved 8 frames, due to an alternate method of reaching the first ladder and shooting the wall-mover to reduce lag.

Flame Stag

I found that when Flame Stag throws flames, his invincibility turns off. This is related to why Bubble Splash hits him faster than other weapons.

Magna Centipede

The miniboss here is the reason I do Flame Stag first.

Wire Sponge

Speed Burner speeds up the level slightly by turning rainy weather (which slows X's rightward progress) to hot weather.

Wheel Gator

Thanks to one well-placed enemy, I don't need to ride the platform up to the X-Hunter room. Violen goes down in 16 dashing uncharged shots.

Morph Moth

I don't use the Strike Chain in some places because it causes lag. Now for Serges, I figured out that pressing Y (not necessarily shooting, just pressing the button) every 10 frames or less disables his shield! I abuse this to the fullest. Serges has no chance to do anything in this fight.
As for Morph Moth, he is the only Maverick boss not to take 2 damage from dashing uncharged shots. So I use a combo of Speed Burner and charged shots on his first form.

Crystal Snail

No comments other than that Magna Quartz goes down quickly with Silk Shot, and parrot14green's skip crystal trick only works with X-Buster upgrade, which I don't have.

Overdrive Ostrich

Nothing, really.

Bubble Crab

It's not that easy to destroy the giant fish, even with Sonic Slicer. However, I must destroy it only after it opens the door leading down, or else it delays the door opening. I destroy Agile with Magnet Mine and Silk Shot (Bubble Crab is the stage where Agile takes special damage to Silk Shot).

X-Hunter 1

Nothing here, just Violen taking longer to be defeated.

X-Hunter 2

I have to take damage in a few spots. The damage rationing barely works out at the end. Serges' Wall goes down with Silk Shot, and Serges with various weapons.

X-Hunter 3

I take the lower route, and defeat Agile with Magnet Mines. It seems all different without Shoryuken.

Teleport Stage

Nothing too notable, just all the Maverick bosses beaten again.

Final Stage

I need to keep the Strike Chain energy up because of the final boss. I grab weapon energy from one of the purple blocks. Against the first Sigma form, I discovered that when he recovers from the slashing animation, his invincibility turns off. So I get him to slash all the time, while I repeatedly hit him with charged shots at the blue (green) level. It is actually strange to see a boss which takes only 1 (rather than the usual 2) damage from dashing uncharged shots, yet take 2 damage from shots at the blue level. As for Sigma Virus, I hit it quickly with Strike Chain, collecting weapon energy from one of the dispensed enemies. I delay one of the hits so that Sigma Virus doesn't warp.

Credits

Watch for Zero on the highway when X rides the bike, up until after the panel scrolls and he dashes in front of X. He will appear around the time "<RABBIT>" shows up on the left side. This easter egg only occurs if you beat the game without any Light capsule upgrades (heart tanks and sub tanks can be collected, thankfully).
Nach: A Superb highly entertaining run to augment the existing publication. Accepting.

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Posted: 11/13/2009 7:13 PM
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TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14852
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2452: FractalFusion's SNES Mega Man X2 "Best ending, no upgrades" in 33:51.62
Posted: 11/13/2009 7:28 PM
(Edited: 11/13/2009 8:27 PM)
Quote
Noxxa
They/Them
Moderator, Expert player (4136)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4083
Location: The Netherlands
Exotic platforms TASer of 2018 Exotic platforms TAS of 2018 Exotic platforms TASer of 2017 Exotic platforms TAS of 2017 Exotic platforms TAS of 2017 Exotic platforms TASer of 2016 Exotic platforms TAS of 2016 Gameboy TASer of 2013
Sounds like we get an X2 run with more bosses and less one-hit-kill Shoryuken. Going to be so awesome. Unfortunately I can't watch this right now, but I'll watch it soon. It can pretty much guarantee a yes vote, but I'll watch it first. EDIT:watched it, voting yes for all the awesome boss battles this has.
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.
Posted: 11/13/2009 7:47 PM
Quote
Atma
Former player
Joined: 9/1/2005
Posts: 803
That was pretty damn awesome. I especially liked the final sigma fights, as he was dominated ridiculously fast even with the limitations you had. The only thing I had a minor wonder about was in wire sponge stage: When you got to the elevator portion, if you had taken the left side instead of the right, would it have been faster to go over the elevator to progress onwards, as opposed to waiting for it to get high enough to jump under? Judging by how it looked, I doubt it is, but I'm just curious as to whether or not you tested it out. Anyhow, as I said, this was awesome and totally gets my yes vote.
Posted: 11/13/2009 8:04 PM
Quote
Toothache
Active player (276)
Joined: 4/30/2009
Posts: 791
Lucky TAS of 2013
Definitely a yes vote from me. Demonstrates more of the enemy abilities rather than just ripping through with Shoryuken.
Posted: 11/13/2009 8:25 PM
Quote
RT-55J
Player (147)
Joined: 11/27/2004
Posts: 688
Location: WA State, USA
My favorite boss fights were Crystal Snail, Wheel Gator, and Sigma 1. Simply awesome. And it looks like you used Maverick weapons much more often than your previous runs. Very nice.
Nach wrote:
I also used to wake up every morning, open my curtains, and see the twin towers. And then one day, wasn't able to anymore, I'll never forget that.
Posted: 11/13/2009 8:44 PM
Quote
dezbeast
Former player
Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
I have next to no knowledge of this game since I never played it. However, I have enjoyed watching the speed runs of this game throughout the last few years. I'm wondering, is 0% the fastest non-100% aim? I'm curious because I've always wanted to see someone verify that 100% is indeed the fastest way to beat this game. I'll check this run out in the meantime.
Posted: 11/13/2009 9:10 PM
Quote
Noxxa
They/Them
Moderator, Expert player (4136)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4083
Location: The Netherlands
Exotic platforms TASer of 2018 Exotic platforms TAS of 2018 Exotic platforms TASer of 2017 Exotic platforms TAS of 2017 Exotic platforms TAS of 2017 Exotic platforms TASer of 2016 Exotic platforms TAS of 2016 Gameboy TASer of 2013
I'm pretty sure 0% and no zero parts is the fastest, barring 100%. If you get an upgrade, you might as well get them all anyway, and getting (slightly) out of your way three times fighting the X-Hunters is slower than just fighting Zero once.
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.
Posted: 11/13/2009 9:37 PM
Quote
Captain_Forehead
Player (57)
Joined: 7/7/2008
Posts: 872
Location: Utah
What do you think I say about it? yes vote
Posted: 11/13/2009 10:39 PM
Quote
dezbeast
Former player
Joined: 3/10/2006
Posts: 347
Location: Maryland, United States
Mothrayas wrote:
I'm pretty sure 0% and no zero parts is the fastest, barring 100%. If you get an upgrade, you might as well get them all anyway, and getting (slightly) out of your way three times fighting the X-Hunters is slower than just fighting Zero once.
Ok, I'll take your word for it.
Posted: 11/13/2009 11:09 PM
Quote
FractalFusion
Editor, Skilled player (1938)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3243
Glitchy TAS of 2013 Gameboy TAS of 2013 PSX TASer of 2010
Atma wrote:
When you got to the elevator portion, if you had taken the left side instead of the right, would it have been faster to go over the elevator to progress onwards, as opposed to waiting for it to get high enough to jump under?
I'd like to think it's possible. However, it's not, and I tried. As for what the fastest non-100% run is, I think it is a run obtaining only the X-Buster upgrade. This is because X-Buster upgrade saves a lot of time against bosses.
Posted: 11/13/2009 11:42 PM
Quote
gocha
Any
Emulator Coder, Former player
Joined: 6/21/2006
Posts: 401
Location: Japan, Nagoya
Yes vote, for many interesting strategies (especially for boss battles). Little off topic: on this game, emulator's lag counter doesn't work at all, so I tried to create my own lag indicator with Lua. It works poorly (misses some lags), but it might be better than nothing.
local lagcount = 0
local lagged = false
local lagged_prev = lagged

memory.registerexec(0x8100, 3, function()
	lagged = false
end)

emu.registerbefore(function()
	-- I cannot put the following line to emu.registerafter,
	-- because of snes9x's poor timing :/
	if lagged then lagcount = lagcount + 1 end

	lagged_prev = lagged
	lagged = true
end)

gui.register(function()
	gui.text(2, 32, ""..lagcount, (lagged_prev and "red" or "white"))
end)
I am usually available on Discord server or Twitter.
Posted: 11/14/2009 2:30 AM
(Edited: 12/12/2009 6:34 AM)
Quote
Aktan
Publisher
Joined: 4/23/2009
Posts: 1283
Here is an encode: http://www.archive.org/download/FractalfusionsSnesMegaManX2In3351.62/megamanx2-tas-zero-fractalfusion.mp4 http://www.archive.org/download/FractalfusionsSnesMegaManX2In3351.62/megamanx2-tas-zero-fractalfusion.mkv Daily Motion links: Playlist: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x1657h_Aktanusa_mmx2-0-335162-fractalfusion Part 1: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb54wx_snes-megaman-x2-0-items-in-335162-b_videogames Part 2: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb54k4_snes-megaman-x2-0-items-in-335162-b_videogames Edit: Part 1 added. Encode coming up. Edit 2: MP4 coming up. Edit 3: Link taken done due to issues. Edit 4: Links added/fixed. Edit 5: Fixed filename in download links. Edit 6: Added Playlist link.
Posted: 11/14/2009 2:51 AM
Quote
Rolanmen1
He/Him
Experienced player (751)
Joined: 2/20/2009
Posts: 569
Location: Dominican Republic
PSX TAS of 2013
That was damn awesome. Yes vote definitively.
Posted: 11/14/2009 3:33 AM
Quote
kchrules
Joined: 11/11/2007
Posts: 242
Location: the 1950s
Ah I've been waiting for this run and it's awesome. There were a lot of great tricks and maneuvers. But the final battles were filled with ownage. I love seeing them TASed this way as opposed to Shyrokening them to death. YES vote
Currently working on: -Possibly the Wily Tower (Mega Man the Wily Wars)
Posted: 11/14/2009 3:43 AM
Quote
ugetab
Emulator Coder
Joined: 1/12/2007
Posts: 95
Interesting concept for a TAS, and it prevented equipment-related glitching rather effectively too. I thought it also made a lot of the actions you took more interesting, as there appeared to be a fairly hard limit to what you could do, even with the grappling claw. Yes vote, of course.
Posted: 11/14/2009 3:39 PM
Quote
mklip2001
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
This was a pretty awesome run. I especially liked the fights against Agile and Sigma, since you can't get to show them off in a run with no Zero parts and with the Shoryuken. Out of question, would a run with just the X-Buster upgrade be faster than a 100% run? Also, why did you have to destroy the giant fish in the Bubble Crab stage? This run really makes me want to see a new 100% run with improvements like the Flame Stag fight and the Crystal Skip. Mega Man X2 runs have always been awesome since the other weapons give the game variety and pace, and this run is no exception. Yes vote.
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.
Posted: 11/14/2009 6:18 PM
(Edited: 11/14/2009 8:06 PM)
Quote
Derakon
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
MKLip: IIRC the 100% X2 run we have is also an any% run -- that is, the author did the math for what the fastest route is, and determined that being able to one-shot all of the endgame bosses made up for taking the time to get all the upgrades. So any run that does not get all the upgrades is going to be slower. Edit: watched the encode (thanks, Aktanusa!), and it was quite enjoyable. I think my favorite part was the Sigma strategy, which made him look like he was doing aerobics. Nice work!
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 11/14/2009 6:46 PM
Quote
RT-55J
Player (147)
Joined: 11/27/2004
Posts: 688
Location: WA State, USA
mklip2001 wrote:
Also, why did you have to destroy the giant fish in the Bubble Crab stage?
The X-Hunter room in that stage is blocked off unless you destroy the fish.
Nach wrote:
I also used to wake up every morning, open my curtains, and see the twin towers. And then one day, wasn't able to anymore, I'll never forget that.
Posted: 11/14/2009 9:56 PM
Quote
Nach
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
Like all MMX2 runs, this one uses a lot of variety in weapons and makes good use of them. My favorite MMX game to be TAS'd. The entertainment was excellent, especially with enemies being destroyed while you blink. My only question is, which category do we publish this run under?
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Posted: 11/14/2009 10:47 PM
Quote
Satoryu
Joined: 7/1/2008
Posts: 272
My favorite parts were making Serges and Sigma stay perfectly still while you pummel them with pellets. Everything else was superb, too. Definte yes on this one. However, during the refights, you were able to kill Snail while standing on top of his shell. Couldn't you have done this the first time as well?
Posted: 11/15/2009 3:58 AM
Quote
Graveworm
Former player
Joined: 9/29/2005
Posts: 460
On the topic of the fastest way of completing the game, most likely the fastest way is getting the arm cannon upgrade only, as stated by FractalFusion. If I remember correctly from a couple of years back I anticipated it being by a very small margin though, less than 10 seconds. Btw, here's a pretty cool thing I discovered years back but could never reproduce. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/55583752/2%20block%20wall%20kick%20faster%20method.smv Now I picked out some position adresses in the memory watcher and realised how hard this actually is to do. It might already be known, but I've never seen it before. (Watch in frame advance I guess.)
Posted: 11/15/2009 7:12 AM
Quote
FractalFusion
Editor, Skilled player (1938)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3243
Glitchy TAS of 2013 Gameboy TAS of 2013 PSX TASer of 2010
Graveworm wrote:
Btw, here's a pretty cool thing I discovered years back but could never reproduce. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/55583752/2%20block%20wall%20kick%20faster%20method.smv
It's not hard to do if you have memory viewer. You find what the player Y position is when X bumps his head on the ledge, then find the highest point on the wall where dash-jumping away from the wall causes X to go above that Y position.
Satoryu wrote:
However, during the refights, you were able to kill Snail while standing on top of his shell. Couldn't you have done this the first time as well?
I can, but it costs ~20 frames because, after Snail explodes, the game drops X to the ground as if no shell were there.
Posted: 11/15/2009 7:52 AM
Quote
Graveworm
Former player
Joined: 9/29/2005
Posts: 460
Actually I made that .smv today, and as it turns out you can wall kick 8 pixels away from the wall, and the wall kick takes you 24 pixels and some sub pixels away from the wall. Now 2 blocks is 32 pixels as well which will make X bump his head. Thing is that if you have a low enough sub pixel position (or high enough if coming from the other direction), you will move 25 full pixels resulting in being 33 pixels away from the wall. This jump of course has to then be on the correct height as well so that you can wall kick before he reaches the point where he will switch to the "going straight up" animation. It's actually alot more complex than it looks. ;)
Posted: 11/15/2009 7:59 AM
Quote
Sir_VG
He/Him
Player (39)
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 1911
Location: Floating Tower
Nach wrote:
Like all MMX2 runs, this one uses a lot of variety in weapons and makes good use of them. My favorite MMX game to be TAS'd. The entertainment was excellent, especially with enemies being destroyed while you blink. My only question is, which category do we publish this run under?
Well, given that the 100% doesn't collect the Zero Parts, it's "technically" not 100% (according to some other site ^^;; ). But by the same logic, this run really isn't 0% since it is the opposite situation. They should almost be renamed: 100% -> All Items w/ Bad Ending 0% -> No Items w/ Best Ending Either that or just call this 0%.
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
Posted: 11/15/2009 10:59 AM
Quote
Bag_of_Magic_Food
He/Him
Active player (277)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
How about "Inverse of Any%"? Like how someone was thinking there should be a run of Mega Man X 3 that collects all the tanks and armors but doesn't trash Zero for his sword. And... kill off both Bit and Byte right away, but leave Vile alive for the fortress, just to make it as different as possible? The only problem is if a different, faster any% route is discovered... Getting everything but the arm cannon upgrade would be pretty silly.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
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