Mega Man X5 in 16:51.08 by Noxxa
This run is 456 frames (7.60 seconds) faster than
the current published run by Atma. The improvements come from various minor optimizations, including intentionally lowering rank to lower some bosses' health and handling the bosses better in general.
About this game:
This game, the fifth game in the X series, is about a giant space colony that's about to drop down on Earth, and you need to collect 4 pieces (from the first four Mavericks) of a giant laser cannon, which can be used to blow it up. Usually, it fails and you need to get 4 pieces (from the final four Mavericks) from a space shuttle to use that instead. Here, though, the laser blows it up in one shot without any pieces collected. (Which, in real time, has a 1/16 chance of occurring). This instantly unlocks the final stages, which are therefore the only stages needed for completion.
Of course, this being an X game, expect loads of instant death spikes, wall jumping, dashing and challenging bosses, and Sigma as the final boss.
Tricks used:
- Slash Dash Cancel (SDC): First hit of a triple jab (which doesn't activate invincibility) can be cancelled with a dash, which can be cancelled into another slash. Repeat for lots of damage.
- Turnaround SDC: By turning around while doing the first hit of a triple jab, Zero will automatically do the second slash in the other direction. It's faster than normal SDC, provided it's actually possible to hit with it.
- Lowering ranks to save time: Boss levels in this game determine the bosses' health, and these are (partially) determined by your rank, so lowering your rank intentionally makes some boss battles shorter. These include Rangda Bangda W, X and Sigma's first form.
Because of this, Zero ends up with a SA rank instead of the published run's GA rank.
Table of improvements
| Stage name | frames | total |
|---|
| Intro Stage | 15 | 15 |
| Luck manipulation | 4 | 19 |
| Zero Stage 1 | 9 | 28 |
| Shadow Devil | 15 | 43 |
| Zero Stage 2 | 6 | 49 |
| Rangda Bangda W | 68 | 117 |
| Zero Stage 3 | 7 | 124 |
| Ultimate Armor X | 10 | 134 |
| Sigma Stage | 0 | 134 |
| Burn Dinorex | 19 | 153 |
| Dark Necrobat | 0 | 153 |
| Shining Hotarunius | 22 | 175 |
| Volt Kraken | 25 | 200 |
| Tidal Makkoeen | 5 | 205 |
| Crescent Grizzly | 26 | 231 |
| Spike Rosered | 21 | 252 |
| Spiral Pegacion | 21 | 273 |
| Final Sigma W | 37 | 310 |
| Gamma Sigma | 146 | 456 |
Intro stage: Saved 15 frames by better precision, and destroying one enemy instead of avoiding him. Alia's constant interruption is really annoying...
Luck manipulation (Sigma Head): ...but not as annoying as this. It takes a while for the RNG to deploy a new 'set' of numbers for the cutscenes (in which the RNG doesn't change, barring some exceptions here), which makes the boss fight take a bit longer than it should. Nevertheless, I saved 4 frames here. Enjoy the cutscene-heavy part here.
Zero Stage 1: The first of the Zero Virus areas. It has a blue background, and is a harder version of Quick Man's already notoriously hard stage from Mega Man 2. And the boss, Shadow Devil, is a harder version of the notoriously hard Yellow Devil from Mega Man 1. Because of this people hate this stage a lot. I saved 9 frames on the stage by taking damage from the Ride Armor enemies on a better spot, and 15 frames on the boss by using turnaround SDC. I take damage during the boss fight which may be seen as 'sloppy', but I do this to prevent Zero's rank from raising, to save time.
Zero Stage 2: This purple stage is modelled after the first Sigma stage from the first Mega Man X game, and the boss is a harder version of the second fortress boss from the same game. I save 6 frames from minor optimizations, and 68 frames on the bossfight by the boss level drop giving it less HP (saving one hit on the always-aerial green eye), as well as more optimized SDCing on the blue eye. I also rearranged the order at which the eyes and nose appear, to make it more entertaining with no time loss.
Zero Stage 3: The red stage. It's full of spikes, and fairly short. Not much to note here, aside from me taking damage in a different place, saving 7 frames. Maverick Hunter X is manipulated to dash forward and use Soul Body instead of standing at his starting position. The level drop allows me to destroy him before Soul Body hits here. Instead, it ties (intentionally), keeping Zero's rank low. I saved 10 frames in total on the bossfight.
Sigma Stage: Ah, the obligatory boss fight revisits are here, and they have maxed out health, meaning that even with SDC they take a while to destroy. I didn't gain any time in the stage itself. Individual comments on the eight bosses:
- Burn Dinorex: Manipulated him to shoot fire from the wall instead of air-dashing down. Saved 19 frames.
- Dark Necrobat: No change, and no time gain.
- Shining Hotarunius: Manipulated his vertical location better, giving me more opportunities to SDC him. Saved 22 frames.
- Volt Kraken: Manipulated him to drop earlier, and used turnaround SDC on him. Saved 25 frames.
- Tidal Makkoeen: I hit him faster at the first part, but since he needs to be above a certain height to not crash into me, the loss was practically gone. Instead, I used the saved time to do a triple jab on him, saving a few hits after that. Saved 5 frames.
- Crescent Grizzly: Used more opportunities to come close for faster SDCing. Saved 26 frames.
- Spike Rosered: Didn't delay hits (this delay prevents his health from getting low enough to clone himself, costing time) - letting himself clone himself, but be beaten faster anyway. 21 frames saved.
- Spiral Pegacion: Optimized the first part's SDCing. 21 frames saved.
Sigma Stage (part 2) (Final W Sigma, Gamma Sigma)
I don't pick up the health capsule because spending time manipulating the first form wasn't needed nearly as much now (there's only one frame of delay now): this, along with the rank drop, save 37 frames on Sigma's first form. The second form, Gamma Sigma, is improved by 146 frames. I don't exactly know how; I assume he spent less time phased out, letting me hit him more.
In-game ending stats:
Play Time: 5' 43"
Hunter Ranks:
X: B
Zero: SA
Enjoy the run!
Aktan: Processing... may take a bit..
