Atma and FractalFusion's Mega Man X4 in 36:42. Time is for final input, before the last cutscene.

Aims

  • Aims for fastest time
  • Abuses programming errors in the game (but not heavy abuse)
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Manipulates luck (but not heavy luck manipulation)
  • Genre: Action
This run uses PCSX v0.1.2 .
Note: The encode misses the last cutscene. To see the cutscene (and credits), see the cutscene section below.

Cutscenes for your enjoyment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS46EDfbD3o Zero's opening cutscene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOI09fbQ6Zs Cutscene after intro stage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hu_TW2hoK4 Cutscene after 4 Mavericks defeated
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK1fQ-Eqwsk Cutscene after beating Iris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpaKpfy5jbw Cutscene when meeting Sigma for the first time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQNn7oXYFOM Last cutscene and credits
I left out the title opener, because it's not a cutscene.
***TAS SPOILERS AHEAD; READ AT YOUR OWN RISK***

Programming errors abused Exploits

  • SDC "slash dash cancel". You all know what this is because you watched the X5 and X6 runs. And if you didn't, you're not interested in this run.
  • Crushing some bosses while they are just off the top or side of the screen. They lose invincibility for some reasons.
  • Surprise Hyouretsuzan on Split Mushroom miniboss.
  • If forward is released when landing on a slippery surface, it gives Zero a large boost.

Tools used in this run

Here's your RAM Watch:
13C19C boss|hp|1
13BF2C boss|hp|2
13BFC8 boss|hp|3
13BF62 boss|inv|1
13BF64 boss|inv|2
13BF54 boss|inv|3
13BF5A boss|inv|4
| |
141924 player|HP
| |
| |
| |
!1419C6 screen|X
!1419CA screen|Y
!13E47A player|X
!13E47E player|Y
!13BEDA boss|X
!13BEDE boss|Y
| |
X13E2E8 rng
| |
| |
| |
| |

About the run

This TAS was the joint work of Atma and me over the course of about, say, 3 weeks. There were definitely some challenges, and we even restarted part of the run for one glitch. Granted, the glitch was cool, so we actually looked forward to it.
This game isn't super or anything, but it is most similar to the early X games in gameplay structure. No leveling, no skipping to the fortress, no item confusion, none of that.
This run basically explains the rise of Zero and why Zero is such a super ninja. Within seconds, Zero first learned one of the most powerful arts, SDC. He found the perfect opportunity to use it against Magma Dragoon, destroying him in 4 seconds. Thereafter, Zero had such an exaggerated sense of power that he proceeded to beat the stuffing out of everything he came across. Even enemies which resisted the SDC fell in more artful ways. Poor Storm Owl, who was playing with a warp charm, fell to the GOD HAND. Web Spider, who was playing with a similar charm, was slashed into oblivion. Don't try looking for him.
Of course, there's always the bad guys to mess things up. Colonel is first up but Zero crashes ice spikes all over him. Next up is Iris but Zero, being the ninja that he is, can use as many as 5 different techniques to take down the gem-possessed soul armor. Such defeat is so powerful that Zero suddenly suffers a Heroic BSOD.
Of course, Zero doesn't have much time to think as the two-storey-tall Reploid called General is upon him.
<Zero> GOD HAND
<General> Is that all you got? Take this *fires fists*
<Zero> Hey, thanks!
<General> Get off! *fires energy ball*
<Zero> GOD HAND
<General> Wait, how did you just go through
<Zero> Take this
<General> Wha- *dead*
Of course, all 8 Mavericks just had to be revived by the most evil mastermind. And Zero redoubled their humiliation. Guess what, it was none other than Sigma. Who knew? But Zero stayed the course and completely exposed Sigma for the fraud he is. The world is now safe until X5.

About the run (seriously)

I had already made a few older runs, but to me they were somewhat lacking. X5 and X6 runs were published on this site first. Eventually, Atma offered to work with me on the run, so I did. When we started out, Atma did the intro level, Split Mushroom, Magma Dragoon, and I added on Slash Beast and almost all of Jet Stingray. At this point, Rolanmen1, a regular speedrunner of this game, discovered the glitch (more like exploit) of using Hyouretsuzan on the Split Mushroom miniboss. So now we changed the order. The order is:
Magma Dragoon -> Jet Stingray -> Cyber Peacock -> Frost Walrus -> Split Mushroom -> Web Spider -> Slash Beast -> Storm Owl
Techniques obtained from Dragoon and Stingray help in the Frost Walrus stage. Peacock is done before Mushroom because defeating Mushroom saps Zero's ability to use plain air slash, which is the best weapon against Peacock. This is also why the refights take longer. Spider, Beast, and Owl can be done in any order. It just so happened that the Slash Beast hex edit worked there so that's why it is where it is.
Atma worked on everything up to and including Cyber Peacock, Slash Beast boss battle up to but not including the Iris fight in Fortress 2, and the Magma Dragoon, Storm Owl, Jet Stingray, and Cyber Peacock refights, and Grim Reaper. Everything else was done by me.

Weapons

All of Zero's weapons, except the first two ground slashes and Rakuhouha, cause a 5-frame delay.
  • Z-Saber Ground: The basis of SDC. SDC relies on the first two ground slashes not triggering any invincibility. So all Zero has to do is keep slashing, dashing to cancel the slash so he can slash again. The reason for not triggering invincibility is so that Zero can perform a triple slash on a boss.
  • Z-Saber Third: The third slash of a triple slash. Sometimes comes in handy against bosses that aren't susceptible to SDC but are weak to third slash.
  • Z-Saber Air: Zero uses saber in air. Once Split Mushroom is beaten, Zero can no longer use normal air slash but it is now replaced with Kuuenzan. This makes some refights longer because for a couple bosses, Kuuenzan does less damage than normal air slash.
  • Z-Saber Wall: A wall slash. Often not useful.
  • Kuuenzan: Zero spins in the air while using this.
  • Ryuenjin: Fire sword. Zero launches up-forward as if he is doing a shoryuken. Zero can reach dash speed after a Ryuenjin, if he dashes just before doing it.
  • Hyouretsuzan: Ice sword. Zero stabs downward with this.
  • Raijingeki: Lightning sword. Zero thrusts it forward while standing on the ground. Can be used in place of a second or third ground slash.
  • Shippuuga: Dash sword. Zero swipes as he dashes along the ground. It only seems useful for the ice blocks in the Frost Walrus stage, but this run does not have the opportunity to do that.
  • Rakuhouha: Zero pounds the ground with his GOD HAND and a whole bunch of energy balls come flying out. It makes Zero invincible during when he uses it, but it is time-consuming.

Other

  • Kuuenbu: Double-jump
  • Hienkyaku: Air-dash
  • Tenkuuha: No one really cares what this does. All it does is make Z-Saber function as a shot eraser.
Double-jump and air-dash can be used after being hit. This is useful in some places.

Damage chart

Go find it at Mega Man Damage Charts.

Thanks


Nach: Accepting as a good first submission for this game.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #2528: Atma & FractalFusion's PSX Mega Man X4 "Zero" in 36:42.63
sgrunt
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Emulator Coder, Former player
Joined: 10/28/2007
Posts: 1360
Location: The dark horror in the back of your mind
I've been wondering when we would see this - it's been a gap in the series on the site. Anyway, this is well-played, even if I'm not a fan of the Mega Man games in general (shock and horror!). Yes vote.
Active player (437)
Joined: 4/21/2004
Posts: 3517
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
As I said before in IRC, the most coolest and wicked moment for me was when you fought Iris. Its evident that this run has been thoroughly optimized and planned. Clear yes vote.
Nitrogenesis wrote:
Guys I come from the DidyKnogRacist communite, and you are all wrong, tihs is the run of the mileniun and everyone who says otherwise dosnt know any bater! I found this run vary ease to masturbate too!!!! Don't fuck with me, I know this game so that mean I'm always right!StupedfackincommunityTASVideoz!!!!!!
Arc wrote:
I enjoyed this movie in which hands firmly gripping a shaft lead to balls deep in multiple holes.
natt wrote:
I don't want to get involved in this discussion, but as a point of fact C# is literally the first goddamn thing on that fucking page you linked did you even fucking read it
Cooljay wrote:
Mayor Haggar and Cody are such nice people for the community. Metro City's hospitals reached an all time new record of incoming patients due to their great efforts :P
HHS
Active player (286)
Joined: 10/8/2006
Posts: 356
When I watched the AVI in VLC, there were gaps in the video with audio only.
mklip2001
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Editor
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
Nicely played. However, this game annoys me for some reason. This is my first time seeing it, and I guess I don't really like the feel of the game (for instance, almost everything about Cyber Peacock looks utterly ridiculous to me). There were some really good boss fights, but overall this game isn't as entertaining to me as X5 or X6. I think this is nice work and publishable quality, though I still think my vote is 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.
Joined: 7/1/2008
Posts: 272
Nicely done. Yes vote.
Player (107)
Joined: 1/5/2008
Posts: 84
Location: china
Waiting for this run a long time. I don't like the model Black Zero, but nice work, expecially the the Split Mushroom miniboss. Yes vote from me.
I'm coming to here to learn English~
Sir_VG
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Player (40)
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 1914
Location: Floating Tower
WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOORRRRRR?! You're fighting for a Yes vote Zero. And you got it. Now stop screaming in Iris' ear, KTHXBYE.
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
HHS wrote:
When I watched the AVI in VLC, there were gaps in the video with audio only.
I had the same problem. It looks like any time there's a break in the action, VLC just stops rendering for awhile, and then takes a very long time to start up again. Unfortunately this makes the run rather unwatchable for me, so I look forward to seeing an alternate encode.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Player (80)
Joined: 7/7/2008
Posts: 873
Location: Utah
Even though I would rather see X duke it out, great run. My favorite X game for the PlayStation! Yes vote.
Joined: 2/11/2007
Posts: 45
Location: Iowa
Very nice run. Like I've said for X5 and X6, I think these games are terribly clunky and in real time, and it's a joy to see Zero move so fluidly in these TASes.
Derakon wrote:
HHS wrote:
When I watched the AVI in VLC, there were gaps in the video with audio only.
I had the same problem. It looks like any time there's a break in the action, VLC just stops rendering for awhile, and then takes a very long time to start up again. Unfortunately this makes the run rather unwatchable for me, so I look forward to seeing an alternate encode.
You lazy-ass pansies. Set a couple keys to three-second skip and you're done.
Active player (252)
Joined: 3/12/2006
Posts: 155
Location: Taiwan
Nicely run. I like watch your MM tas always.
Former player
Joined: 9/1/2005
Posts: 803
Captain Forehead wrote:
Even though I would rather see X duke it out
It's on the todo list, perhaps within a few months? Depends on how well certain factors go, since X isn't quite as dominating as Zero when it comes to boss slaughtering, and he also has an additional boss fight to take care of.
Expert player (2574)
Joined: 12/23/2007
Posts: 831
Oh my god! This day finally comes!
Recent projects: SMB warpless TAS (2018), SMB warpless walkathon (2019), SMB something never done before (2019), Extra Mario Bros. (best ending) (2020).
Rolanmen1
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Joined: 2/20/2009
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Location: Dominican Republic
Pure Ownage. YESZ
Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
I've always thought that X4 was a good game with too many slow points, but this proves me wrong (somewhat). I could still do without all the forced slowdowns, but this is really great either way. Yes vote.
hi nitrodon streamline: cyn-chine
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
"Are you ready for your final journey? No? Hm...how about now?" Looked good to me. Nice work. Thanks for the encode, Aktan!
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Editor, Experienced player (735)
Joined: 6/13/2006
Posts: 3300
Location: Massachussetts, USA
Finally watched it. I like this game better than X5 or X6, so good to finally see a run for it. Especially since the bosses have such different patterns and strategies that the SDC yawnfest of the next two games isn't as present here. Yes vote.
Homepage ☣ Retired
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [1439] PSX Mega Man X4 "Zero" by Atma & FractalFusion in 36:42.63
darkszero
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Joined: 7/12/2009
Posts: 181
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
MMX5 is impressive that it's incredibly short and boss refights aren't boring, but this one has different strategies for each boss, using many different abilities. It's a nice break of the SDC fest.