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Mega Man 2[]

Normal: Refers to the US version of Mega Man 2 , which has a Normal (easier) difficulty.

Difficult: Refers to the US version of Mega Man 2's Difficult mode.

Rockman 2: Refers to "Difficult". Rockman 2 (Japanese version) does not have a normal mode option. It also has faster text / weapon-get scenes, which makes this the recommended cartridge for Difficult mode speedrunning.

Boss Names: Boss names will mainly be abbreviated to the first part. Air Man = Air, Crash Man = Crash, etc.

Weapon Names: Weapon names will mainly be replaced by the menu letter they represent. Leaf shield = W , Metal Blade = M, Atomic Fire = H, etc.

Notable RTAs[]

Rockman 2 any% in 26:36 by CoolKid

Rockman 2 any% in 26:37 by Cyghfer

Mega Man 2 (Normal) in 26:49 by ellonija  

Rockman 2 (Zipless) in 28:50 by ellonija

Boss Damage Table[]

Mega Man 2 Boss Damage Chart (Normal)
Mega Buster
(P)
Metal Blade
(M)
Air Shooter
(A)
Bubble Lead
(B)
Quick Boomerang
(Q)
Crash Bomber
(C)
Time Stopper
(F)
Atomic Fire
(H)
Leaf Shield
(W)
Metal Man 2 28 0 0 8 0 0 2:6:8 0
Air Man 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 4:12:12 16
Bubble Man 2 8 0 + 4 4 0 0:0:0 0
Quick Man 4 0 4 0 0 8 14 4:12:20 0
Crash Man 2 0 20 2 2 0 0 2:6:12 0
Flash Man 4 8 0 4 0 6 0 4:12:12 0
Heat Man 4 2 4 12 4 + 0 +:+:+ 0
Wood Man 2 4 8 0 0 4 0 2:6:28 +
Mecha Dragon 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 2:6:16 0
Picopico-kun 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 1:2:2 0
Guts Tank 2 0 0 2 4 2 0 2:6:14 0
Boobeam Trap 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0:0:0 0
Wily Machine 2
1st Phase
2 2 0 0 0 8 0 2:6:28 0
Wily Machine 2
2nd Phase
2 2 2 0 2 8 0 0:0:0 0
Alien + + + 2 + + + +:+:+ +
Mega Man 2 Boss Damage Chart (Difficult)
Mega Buster
(P)
Metal Blade
(M)
Air Shooter
(A)
Bubble Lead
(B)
Quick Boomerang
(Q)
Crash Bomber
(C)
Time Stopper
(F)
Atomic Fire
(H)
Leaf Shield
(W)
Metal Man 1 14 0 0 4 0 0 1:3:4 0
Air Man 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 2:6:6 8
Bubble Man 1 4 0 + 2 2 0 0:0:0 0
Quick Man 2 0 2 0 0 4 14 2:6:10 0
Crash Man 1 0 10 1 1 0 0 1:3:6 0
Flash Man 2 4 0 2 0 3 0 2:6:6 0
Heat Man 2 1 2 6 2 + 0 +:+:+ 0
Wood Man 1 2 4 0 0 2 0 1:3:14 +
Mecha Dragon 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1:3:8 0
Picopico-kun 1 1 0 3 1 1 0 1:3:3 0
Guts Tank 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 1:3:8 0
Boobeam Trap 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0:0:0 0
Wily Machine 2
1st Phase
1 1 0 0 0 4 0 1:3:14 0
Wily Machine 2
2nd Phase
1 1 1 0 1 4 0 0:0:0 0
Alien + + + 1 + + + + +

Notes:

  • For Atomic Fire (H), the first number is the standard shot; second is when it is charged more; third number is when it is fully charged.
  • Damage values for Picopico-kun apply to each unit. Destroying one will deplete the health bar by two units each.
  • Any data with a "+" represents the weapon actually restoring the boss's health completely.
  • Credit goes to Twilight Man from MMKB for damage values.

Boss Orders[]

Mm2zip

Any% (Normal / Difficult) Fastest Order[]

  1. Flash Man (Get Item-3)
  2. Heat Man (Get Item-1)
  3. Air Man (Get Item-2)
  4. Crash Man
  5. *Quick Man
  6. *Wood Man
  7. *Metal Man
  8. *Bubble Man

Bosses marked with * can vary with each other

Short Explanation[]

Flash's stage cannot be sped up significantly with any weapon. You need 3 to zip in Heat's stage which saves a lot of time. You need 1 (from Heat) to get through Air's stage much faster, especially the rotating clouds section. Crash is always the 4th stage.

It is recommended to do Quick 5th as it makes a trick in Wood easier(see later in Zips). Wood is recommended anytime after Quick. Metal needs be 6th or 7th. Finally, Bubble needs to be 7th or 8th (after Metal).

Mm2

Zipless (Normal) Fastest Order[]

  1. *Air Man (Get Item-2)
  2. *Quick Man
  3. *Flash Man (Get Item-3)
  4. Metal Man
  5. Bubble Man
  6. Heat Man (Get Item-1)
  7. ~Wood Man
  8. ~Crash Man

Bosses with * can vary in order with each other

Bosses with ~ can vary in order with each other

Short Explanation[]

The fastest "First Three" robot masters order in Zipless is Air / Quick / Flash but also the most difficult due to corner jumping in Air's stage and higher skill level in general required. Beginner / Intermediate players are recommended to do Flash / Air / Quick. The F skill will freeze the Air Tikki horns and make it easier to traverse the skies. If you have trouble with mashing, you can do Quick 3rd, so you have acquired A and can one-shot almost any enemy in your way and also F your way through the second quick lasers section.

Metal, Bubble and Heat follow in that order respectively. They follow each other in boss weaknesses and all require heavy 2 usage, acquired from Air. You end with Wood or Crash, based on preference.

Zipless (Difficult) Fastest Order[]

  1. Air Man (Get Item-2)
  2. Quick Man
  3. Metal Man
  4. Bubble Man
  5. Heat Man (Get Item-1)
  6. Flash Man (Get Item-3)
  7. *Wood Man
  8. *Crash Man

Bosses with * can vary in order with each other

Short Explanation[]

The Rock Man 2 Zipless route is based on the Japanese Community's top runners of the game. The route still requires to do Air first as 2 in Zipless is indispensable. There are not a lot of optimizations to do in Quick with items / weapons and the fight can be manipulated / very doable with the P. With 2 and Q, Metal 3rd can be done fast and the M is very useful in Bubble for directional kills and also that enemies take twice the amount of damage to be killed (not to mention M is Bubble's weakness), making Bubble 4th a great fit.

In Normal, Heat normally comes earlier however to eliminate the RNG factors of a Heat fight that would last twice as long with the P, having the B weapon is essential. Flash is 6th as you need his F in Wood for the Hot Dogs section and you need 3 for Crash's stage. Wood and Clash can be either 7th or 8th, by preference.

Zipless (Difficult) TAS Order[]

  1. Quick Man
  2. Metal Man
  3. *Bubble Man
  4. *Flash Man (Get Item-3)
  5. Heat Man (Get Item-1)
  6. Air Man (Get Item-2)
  7. ~Wood Man
  8. ~Crash Man

Bosses with * can vary in order with each other

Bosses with ~ can vary in order with each other

Explanation[]

The RTA route is extremely fast, but there's just one problem: Air Man's stage. While waiting for the cloud platforms isn't a true autoscroller (you can spawn them early with well-timed jumps), it is still 12 seconds slower than using Item-1. For this reason, the TAS route puts Heat before Air at all costs, sacrificing Item 2 rides in five different stages (even Quick), most notably in Heat. It works out to be about 2 seconds faster overall.

  • Quick first is a rough start in Difficult mode. The hotheads take 10 shots each, which requires some intense mashing. Taking damage from them could be enough to make the entire route slower.
  • In Difficult, Metal Blades save more time in the Flash fight than Time Stopper does in Metal Man's stage, so Metal comes first. The stage is Buster-only until the boss fight, which requires dodging the toppling cans and some lag reduction strats.
  • In the TAS, Bubble is done entirely with Metal Blades. Handling the first stretch (up until the crab damage boost) with Buster or even Quick may be a better choice for RTA.
  • In Flash, the sniper armors can be defeated with Quick Boomerangs, which saves 8 frames despite the extra weapon switch; this is not practical for RTA. You should do the stage Buster-only until the boss fight.
  • Heat starts off similarly to Any%; missing candy skip could be enough to make the whole route slower. You need to climb the pillars with Item-3 and do the long disappearing block section without Item-2, which accounts for most of the time loss in this route.
  • Air is the crux of the route. It plays out identically to Any% (if you don't count the delay scroll and corridor zip).
  • The TAS shows off Weird Wood, which saves time by using all of its Item-2 energy in one ride (this is important because Item-2 takes about 3 seconds to rev up). Using Item-1 to dodge the monkeys and birds is extremely laggy and extremely precise, so the standard two-ride strat is recommended for this stage.
  • Crash plays out identically to the standard RTA version.

Bubble and Flash are interchangeable as far as dependencies go, although both F and 3 get in the way of menuing to M, costing at least 2 frames if Bubble is done later. Wood and Crash are truly interchangeable; Wood is done first in the TAS to manipulate some arcane memory values and make Crash a bit faster.

Basic Mechanics and Tricks[]

Walking vs Jumping Speed: Mega Man moves a little bit faster in his walking animation versus his jumping animation, so unless you are performing a trick or specific required inputs, avoid jumping and when it is required and keep the jump as low and short as possible.

Jump

Video Showcasing Optimized movement -Credit to tasvideos.org

Ceiling Bonks: When Mega Man jumps and bonks his head on a ceiling, he gains momentum coming downward, falling faster.

Ledge Jumps: When Mega Man walks off a ledge, he starts falling slowly and gradually gains speed. When doing a small jump off the ledge, his falling speed will increase faster and save a bit of time. Combine this with the "Ceiling Bonks" where possible, and you get the best ledge jump.

Standstill Jump-Start: Whenever Mega Man comes to a standstill, he takes a couple frames to start his walking animation before you are at full speed. Doing a small jump forward from standstill will cancel that animation and give you full momentum right away. Situations this is useful in are at stage starts, when you take damage or after going into your menu.

Bottom-Edge Ladders: If you grab a ladder at the very bottom-edge of it, Mega Man will be pushed up about 2-tiles higher.

Ladder-Facing: When you grab a ladder, Mega Man will face the opposite direction of how you've grabbed it. This is important because Items when on a ladder will be shot in direction Mega Man is facing. If you grab a ladder facing right, items will be casted on the left, and vice-versa.

Screen Transition Ladders: If you jump through a screen transition with a ladder, you can grab it off-screen with either UP or DOWN. Pressing DOWN will however spawn you a little bit higher than pressing UP. Whether you should grab with UP or DOWN will be determined in each section of the game where this applies as this mechanic will be combined later with more difficult tricks.

Ladder Boost: After performing a screen transition ladder, if you press UP, Mega Man will be boosted higher on the ladder. This will allow you to not only climb faster, but place 3's under his feet allowing you to drop on them.

Bird Spawn Manipulation: There is an enemy bird, Pipi, that flies towards you and drops an egg that hatches when it hits the ground, releasing its babies (Copipi). The Pipi is designed to fly towards the direction Mega Man is looking as it spawns. If you do a quick wiggle jump (look back and forth quickly) as the bird is about to appear on screen, it will spawn from the back side instead. This can also despawn certain enemies in the game.

Ladder_Grabs,_Bird_Spawn_Manip,_Pause_Buffering

Ladder Grabs, Bird Spawn Manip, Pause Buffering

More Basic Mechanics - Video Provided by Amad

Pause Buffering: Pausing and unpausing the game will do various things: The first one is it will reset Mega Man's velocity during a jump, allowing you to travel a bit further with a jump than you normally would. When doing this in succession, you can clear gaps that would otherwise not be possible. It can also be used to avoid damage, typically in the BooBeam fight in Wily 4.

Metal Blades and Time Stopper: When using M or F while on the ground, Mega Man will come to a standstill animation, losing time. When using these skills, try to use them in the air or during a small jump to avoid this.

Maximum Weapons on Screen: Each weapon in the game has a maximum number of units of it you can have on screen, so it's important to time your shot when necessary.

  • Mega Buster (P): 3
  • Time Stopper (F): 1
  • Atomic Fire Uncharged (H): 2
  • Atomic Fire Charged (H): 1
  • Air Shooter (A): 1
  • Crash Bomber (C): 1
  • Quick Boomerang (Q): 4
  • Leaf Shield (W): 1
  • Metal Blade (M): 3
  • Bubble Lead (B): 2
  • Item-1 (1): 3
  • Item-2 (2): 1
  • Item-3 (3): 1

Advanced Techniques and Tricks[]

Tricks required in several stages:[]

Crash_Climb_by_llamapals

Crash Climb by llamapals

Item-3 Climb - Video provided by llamapals

Item-3 Climb: The Item-3 Climb is a technique which is used to climb certain vertical ladder sections of the game. It is composed of many mechanics combined into one:

  1. Ladder-facing: You will need to cast 3 so it sticks to a wall, so it's important that you grab the ladder the opposite direction of where you want your 3 to stick. You can face either side in the event that there are walls on either side.
  2. Item-3 Jumps: When not coming out of screen transition, you would press B + A simultaneously to cast 3 and jump off of it immediately. It can be tricky to know where to cast your 3's. For every 16 pixels of climbing, you have a 4 pixels window where you can place your 3. See the visual queues on the right (Work in progress)
  3. B-UP-A: This technique name refers to the order of inputs you will need and only after a Screen Transition Ladder(also covered in basic mechanics) Since you are now facing the correct direction, pressing B to cast 3 and it will stick on the wall. Immediately follow with UP to perform a ladder-boost(covered earlier in basic mechanics) to boost just above the 3. Finally, you press A to let go the ladder and land on it and do a full jump to skip a climbing portion.

NOTE: After a screen transition where you place an Item-3 and then grab the ladder above the screen, the ladder will be grabbed on the 3rd frame of the d-pad press. If you manage to do the d-pad input shorter then 3 frames, Mega Man will not grab the ladder and immediately land on the item 3 and you'll be able to jump right away. If you press the d-pad for 3 frames or more, then you have to let go the ladder to land on the item3

Item1Zip1NoGuide

This is as far right as Item-1 may be placed in comparison to a ceiling.

Ceiling Zips(A-Triggers): Here are the conditions/steps to perform a ceiling zip:

  1. Place a 1 or 3 underneath the wall you will zip into. It has to be low enough so that Mega Man can stand underneath it. At least the full left side of the item needs to be sticking out of the wall (see image on the right).
  2. Mega Man has to be facing right before you enter the ceiling. He also needs to be standing to the right side enough so his hitbox is completely under the wall.
  3. When the item has pushed Mega Man fully into the wall, press A to initiate the zip (hence the A-Trigger name).
  4. You have a 4-frame window to tap left after pressing A (frames 3 to 6). If you press it on frame 1-2 or on frames 6+ , Mega Man will get ejected from the wall and the zip will fail.

***When zipping through screen boundaries the traversable ground will often be mismatched to the graphics on screen, being pulled from another screen altogether. This can be both very helpful and very confusing (See: Wood Man Zips), and takes time to fully understand. This zip is used in Heat, Bubble, Quick, and the Wily stages.***

Wall Zips(B-Triggers): Here are the conditions/steps to perform a wall zip:

  1. Place your 1 or 3 exactly the same as the Ceiling Zip.
  2. Position Mega Man the same as as the Ceiling Zip.
  3. A wall zip happens when Mega Man gets pushed into the wall, but is still on screen/into a wall instead of above it. instead of jumping, you must shoot another 1or 3 by pressing B (which will not actually materialize), then press left to start the zip. This is also why it is called a B-Trigger.

During a Ceiling Zip, you can press Right to stop the zip, and then left again to continue the zip.

During a Wall zip, you have to use a technique called Wiggling.

Stopping a Zip / Wiggling: Typically, a zip will keep you in the same screen, allowing you to do your A or B Trigger and zip all the way (until you are ejected out of the wall. However, in some cases, the wall carries all the way to a screen transition. If you do not stop the zip, you will soft lock the game.This means you have to stop your zip before the screen transition, and then hit it.To do this, you have to stop your zip by holding RIGHT followed by an A-Trigger(Pressing A then LEFT in frames 3 to 6) and holding RIGHT again. If you did your A-Trigger correctly, Mega Man will move about 1-tile and the RIGHT input will stop the zip again. If you fail the A-Trigger input, Mega Man won't move from his spot and you have to do it again.

In simple terms, you alternating between stopping your zip(holding RIGHT) and performing an A-Trigger (A > LEFT) until you hit the screen transition.

Vertical Zip : By entering a wall similarly to a Ceiling/Wall Zip and then repeatedly jumping, followed by an Up input, you can scroll the screen. Your position on the next screen is dependent on how many times you jumped, and each jump lowers your vertical position.

cyghfer's explanation from a mm2 thread in sda forums:

"The way the NES palette is structured by tiles seems to affect how mega man is inserted into walls/ceilings. you'll notice that when you go to perform a normal zip, mega man always ascends to a certain exact height before you can begin zipping leftward. now, let's say you let the item-1 that is pushing you into the ceiling keep going - you'll be pushed higher into the ceiling an exact amount, basically what seems like one tile. vertical zipping comes into play when there is 1. a screen above the one you're currently in 2. a ladder touching your X-coordinate in the above screen. if you're lodged into the ceiling close enough to the top of the screen and you jump, you'll ascend so that you're not visible on the screen anymore. technically mega man is now in the above screen, etc. etc. further jumps after mega man enters the above screen will decrease your Y-coordinate in the above screen, which affects the height you'll be at when you choose to enter said screen.

Flash Man Stage: []

There isn't anything about Flash's stage that we have not already covered in the basic mechanics. For full coverage on this stage, please refer to Duckfist's full tutorial video.

Candy_Skip_-_By_Amad

Candy Skip - By Amad

Candy Skip - Video Provided by Amad

Heat Man Stage: []

Item-3 Skip (Candy Skip): The name coming after the shape of 3, the Candy Skip requires to throw your item at a specific vertical point in the stage so it sticks perfectly to a tile that is normally not reachable. Heat Zip: This zip is done from the ladder at the end of the first small Yoku Block section. Make sure you let go the ladder and fall down facing right and hold DOWN during the screen transition.Cast 3 by pressing A+B when Mega Man's foot reaches the middle of the second row of bricks (there is a different color separation you can use as a visual queue). When you land on the 3, move to the right and position yourself under the wall to perform a Ceiling Zip.

1-Frame Ladder Release

1-Frame Ladder Release - Image provided by ZodaNOR

1-Frame Ladder Release: While this technique can be done on any ladder, it is only useful at the top of the Heat Zip ladder. When you grab the ladder from the top you need to release it as quick as you can to start falling. If you release it at the first possible frame, Mega Man will start a little bit lower on the next screen, meaning you can set up the Heat Zip a little bit quicker. The image shows someone who did the 1-Frame Ladder Release (left side) and someone who did not (right side). Yoku Blocks: Since you have not acquired 2 yet, you'll need to get across the Yoku blocks. Stand on the very edge of the cement-looking title (last one before the lava) and do a full jump straight up. If done correctly, you'll land directly on the block above you. You can then cross the blocks as normal. It is worth noting that the Yoku Blocks spawn as you they scroll on screen so for small optimizations you can cross by standing on the rightmost edge of the blocks and jump as quick as possible.

Zipless_Heat_by_llamapals

Zipless Heat by llamapals

Zipless Heat - Video provided by llamapals

Heat Stage(Zipless): The Zipless version of Heat requires only 2 as demonstrated in this video by llamapals. Precise placements 2 and jumps will allow you to navigate past the Telly. You can't waste any weapon energy during this strategy as it requires all of it.

Air Man Stage:[]

Mega_Man_2_-_Fast_air_with_and_without_time_stopper

Mega Man 2 - Fast air with and without time stopper

Video Provided by Amad (any% Fast Air)

Corner Jumps / Pixel Jumps: There are two section of enemies called Air Tikki. They serve as platform / terrain but also have horns come out of the top and Gremlins from the side. If done fast and accurately, you can jump on their edges enough to make Mega Man stand on his toe, and not hit the horn. There's only 5 pixels of room to land, so it takes practice. When done correctly, you will save time over waiting on horn cycles, or damage boosting through them. Alternately, you can take a safer/slightly slower route by using F and freezing them all in place.

Fast Air (Any%): You can skip the rotating cloud enemies, lightning lords, using 1 to jump between them, known as "Fast Air". The dangerous method is corner jumping on the clouds, while the safe method damages through them.

Bird Boost: This is the first Pipi you encounter immediately after "Fast Air" section. You have a 3-4 pixel window to jump in the bird in order to take damage at the right spot. If done correctly, this will prevent the next two birds that would appear from spawning giving you a clear path to the next screen transition.

Fan Enemy Despawn: After the last Tikki of the stage, you will encounter more Pipis. By performing a Bird Despawn Manipulation on the second bird that spawn, while optimally moving to the right, you will despawn the last Matasaburo(Fan enemy) you would normally encounter.

Zipless_Air_Without_Flash_and_With_Flash_by_llamapals

Zipless Air Without Flash and With Flash by llamapals

Zipless Fast Air - Video provided by llamapals

Itemless Clouds (Zipless Only): Since you do not fight Heat early in the Zipless category, you do not acquire 1 for the Air Stage, requiring Mega Man to ride the clouds as intended, but you can do so in an optimal way.


[]

Crash Man Stage:[]

Crash Man Zip:  The Crash Man Zip is performed on the 2nd screen of the stage consisting of several steps involving precise 1 placements

  1. As soon as you climb out of the first ladder(first to second screen transition), jump to the right and cast 1 a few frames into the jump. Land on it in the same motion. The 1 placement should be to the left of the middle ladder, and partly underneath the left edge of the middle platform. Then, immediately do a full jump on top of the middle platform, so that Mega Man's hitbox is directly centered with the left side platform tile. Face Left.

Note: You can cast 1 without jumping here, but you have to wait a moment for it to rise and make the platform jump, causing a little bit of time.

The "Biggie" Special: For a long time this trick was only possible with a TAS, until a speedrunner, CoolKid, found a way to make it RTA viable.

Crashman2

1: Position Mega Man on the edge of the platform and fire an Item-1 to the left. Jump on the platform and move to the right edge of it.

2: When Mega Man is inserted into the ceiling, fire another Item-1 and immediately hit left to begin zipping.

3: After a screen wrap (possibly 2, going from memory here), hold up as Mega Man reaches the position shown on the screen to grab a ladder and climb up.

4: After climbing up to the next screen start walking to the right and switch to Heat Man's weapon. You will wrap around the screen twice, as you are wrapping the second time, start charging Heat Man's weapon.

5: About 2 or 3 tiles after the second screen wrap, press down to grab a ladder. Press jump to release the ladder and Mega Man will die after falling off the bottom of the screen. After you hear Mega Man die, release the charged Heat Man shot to skip the death fanfare and instantly go to the "READY" screen. You will restart at the checkpoint halfway through the level.

Quick Man Stage: []

Quick Man Zips

FLASHING SCREEN: A standard Ceiling Zip. Keep in mind the background will remain black for the beam section (see Dark Beam Section below).

You can turn right to pause your zip and then tap left again to resume it near the end of the zip in order to turn the lights back on. This makes the rest of the stage easier to navigate, but it will cost you approx. 1/4 of a second.

MM2QMZip4.gif

FINAL SCREEN: This is a standard Wall Zip, but you must stop the zip (tap right) as you approach the boss door. The boundary you must enter is one(?) pixel wide. If you pass this boundary, you will softlock the game, able to move but unable to proceed or die. Keep in mind that unless you turned the lights back on during the Flashing Screen zip, the screen will still be dark except for sprites, unlike the image to the right.

It is recommended to wiggle near the boss door to lower your chances of getting stuck. Either way, this is a very risky strategy.

QuickZip2-3

Dark Beam Section[]

Once you begin the beam section, the traversable ground will be mismatched from the sprites and platforms on screen, so you must use Flash before the second screen or you will die. You must walk off-screen on the second or third screen, wrapping around to reset the ground's position.

DarkZipFinal.gif

Metal Man Stage: []

Wood Man Stage: []

Wood Man Zips

A Wall Zip can be used on the first Dog screen. However, the boundary to enter the next screen (for all three dog screens) is very thin (2 pixels?), so wiggling is recommended.

It is strongly recommended you watch an RTA along with the following explanation, as well as practice this section on emulator rather than console.

Note: I might have been a little unclear in the next area with some ladder or jump numbers since I'm recalling this from memory.

Beginning Screen: The main zip (Death Zip) in this stage begins on the screen following the dogs. Doing a Vertical Zip next to the ladder (use 2-3 jumps with timing; gif or video needed) will place you in the first of many unloaded screens. In the first screen, you should end up on a ladder near the top right corner of the screen. If you end up on the bottom right ladder, try again.

Screen 1: Release the ladder and tap left to zip. After wrapping around the screen twice, your zip will end near the center of the screen, and you will begin to fall. Move slightly right to avoid the bat and fall into the next screen while facing left in order to continue zipping.

Screen 2: Wrap around once and immediately press right as soon as the zip ends (near the center of the screen where you entered). There is a large gap, so you may need to pause to land on the platform to the right (It is recommended that you use this pause to switch to Quick Boomerangs, as you will need them in order to perform the next zip). Walk right. You will wrap around 3 times total - The first time you will fall on to a lower platform, the second time you will need to jump over the edge of the screen to avoid the pit, and then jump again in the middle of the screen to avoid another pit, and a third time do a short hop 1 block past the ladder. On the final wrap, you will need to grab the ladder at the end of the hall to initiate the zip -- to do this, hold shoot (with Quick Boomerangs equipped) while walking right and press down to grab the ladder. This will place you in the correct position necessary to begin the zip. Once in position on the ladder, press Left and Up to begin the zip. You will need to pause in order to successfully pull off the zip (use this pause to switch to Heat Man's weapon), otherwise you will fall into a room from which you cannot get out except by dying in the ladder pit on the left. You need to grab a ladder on the right of the screen after this zip. There are two different ways to do it: #1: Time your pause so that the weapon switch keeps the velocity and grabs the ladder high (early in the zip, just after you wrap around the screen), or #2: pause a few times after the zip ends to slowly (but more safely) move right til you can grab the ladder. Climb up to the next screen.

Screen 3: Release the ladder and hold left. You will take a step and then fall into the next screen.

Screen 4: Continue to hold left so that Mega Man is walking in place (against a wall). Tap jump 2 or 3 times and press up + right to scroll to the next screen.

Screen 5: (Need to add info on when you're too high/low). Release the ladder and tap left to zip again. After a single wrap, hold up to climb to the final screen.

Screen 6: Tap left and up to begin zipping. Start charging Heat. Zip far enough along the screen to enter the correct respawn zone (past the right side of the lowest bamboo pole platform). Press jump to die, and immediately afterward release the charging Heat to instantly skip the transition to the READY screen.

If done correctly, you should continue in Wood Man's corridor.

Bubble Man Stage:[]

Wily 1 Stage: []

Wily 1 Zips

1. the 1st vertical zip at the dead end, when you start traveling upwards: the setup for this one is pretty precise but you can get consistent at it with practice. while you're on the item-1 rising through the small gap below the ladder, throw an item-1 while facing left and with sufficient distance below the small ceiling to the left of the long ladder AND throw another one somewhat above that one. after throwing the item-1, quickly position yourself so 1. you're facing rightward 2. the leftmost pixel of mega man's hitbox matches or is one or two pixels right of the leftmost pixel of the ceiling. this basically takes muscle memory to be able to position consistently. if you positioned yourself correctly, you should rise into the ceiling. when you've fully entered the ceiling, the item-1 above the one that took you into the ceiling should push you another tile length upward (or, to make it faster, you can jump and the same effect should be achieved). at this point mega man's sprite should be touching/overlapping the top of the screen. jump 3 OR 4 times and then press up+right. the screen should shift upward and mega man should again be touching the top of the screen, halfway into the ladder.

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in this position, pressing jump once will shift mega man from the climbing sprite to the standing still sprite. pressing jump again will, like before, send him to the above screen, and subsequent jumps will push his Y-coordinate in the above screen down. so, you want to hit jump around 13-16 times and then press up. okay, this is important: IF, when the screen scrolls up to the next screen, mega man is partway in the ceiling, simply hold left and press A, and he will descend onto the ground below without zipping rightward (if you're too far into the ceiling you'll be unable to reach the ground and will be forced to zip rightward and kill yourself). IF mega man's sprite is in the climbing animation and is barely touching the top of the ladder, hold up + RIGHT to avoid entering the ceiling and subsequently zipping to your death.


2. the vertical zip through the long ladder leading to the wily dragon stretch: the setup for this one starts in the screen with the little ground robot that moves leftward. you need to jump up three item-1s so that mega man's sprite hits the ladder when he's offscreen. simply make sure you're holding up+right when such happens (mega man's sprite touches the ladder sprite while above-screen). in the next screen, mega man will be partially hanging off the ladder. throw an item-1, climb up the ladder and then jump & throw item-1s so that, when mega man touches the ceiling while standing on the 3rd item-1, the leftmost pixel of mega man's hitbox is AT LEAST 1 pixel left of the leftmost pixel of the edge of the ceiling. be aware that mega man's "throw animation," during which you can't move, will be active for a short time after you land on the 3rd item-1 unless you jump out of it, but as you probably know jumping while you're rising into the ceiling promptly gets you ejected from it (in most cases). so ideally you want to either land so that you're positioned at least a pixel left of the ceiling or you want to throw the 1st item-1 low enough so that you have plenty of room to walk after the throw animation ends such that you're left of the ceiling. mega man should rise into the ceiling - jump 3 OR 4 times and press up+left. in the next screen, switch to quick boomerang - jumping will, in this case, eject you wholly onto the ladder instead of making mega man ascend a tile upward. switching weapons avoids this. after switching to Q, jump twice and then press up, and voila, you'll be at the top of the above screen. then simply hold down+right to advance toward the wily dragon.

Wily 2 Stage: []

Wily 3 Stage: []

Wily 4 Stage: []


Mettaur Zip[]

A very short zip is possible on the second screen of Wily-4. Fire an Item-3 into either of the walls. If fired left, the platform will attach below you most of the time, depending on your relative position to the 16 Pixel tiles. If fired right and not lined up with the 16-Pixel tiles, you will need to climb a short ways to mount it. Once on the platform, face right, jump, and press up right at the top of the ladder. If done correctly, Ladder Ejection will insert you into the ceiling, and you will zip right over the head of the Mettaur.

Hallway Zip[]

A short zip is possible in the uppermost room in Wily 4 (The long hallway before the moving platform screens). Attach an item-3 to the left wall just below the top ladder on the screen below. Jump onto the Item-3, face right, and jump above the screen when you are near the very top of it. Press down at the top of your jump to begin scrolling, and hold up to continue climbing. When the screen transitions, Mega Man will clip up into the ceiling and begin zipping. You can get a little extra distance out of this zip by pausing 4 or 5 frames into it. It is recommended that you use this pause to switch to Item-1.

Buebeam damage transfer[]

When a Crash Bomb is exploding it's possible to apply it's damage to other nearby enemies by taking damage yourself within a certain distance. In the speedrun this is utilized to kill an extra turret in buebeam trap. The allowed distance from the original explosions depends on certain values in memory that get set whenever you take damage. The general method is to take damage in a specific way that is known to produce good values, then apply the damage in another specific place where you know those values will suffice. There are theoretically a large possible of possible specific setups (which you can explore with this FCEUX script), but two are commonly seen in RTA.

The easier and slightly slower one is to stand close to the upper one of the two turrets on the right wall, place a bomb inside it, then jump and fall on it while touching the wall. This will set the damage transfer distance to 30 pixels horizontally and 105 vertically, letting you damage transfer from the bomb you just set to the bottom turret.

For the faster one, in the beginning of the fight after the initial wall+turret kill, place a bomb next to the middle turret without killing it, and stand on the middle platform facing right with your left foot one pixel over the ledge (TODO image). Wait for the turrets to shoot, and taking damage from the bullets here will set the damage transfer distance to 80 pixels horizontally and 32 vertically. Proceed as normal, until the wall double kill (or top right wall kill if you miss the double). Now if you managed to avoid damage and still have the values you set up earlier, you can transfer the damage from the wall kill to the top right turret.

Refights Stage:[]

Alien Stage: []

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