Mega Man 9 has two main categories: Real-Time Attack (RTA) and In-Game Time Attack (TA). You will pause to save in-game seconds in TA, using weapons and strategies that would be slow in RTA from pausing.
Boss Damage Table
| Mega Man 9 Boss Damage Chart | ||||||||||||
| Mega Buster | Proto Buster | Concrete Shot | Tornado Blow | Laser Trident | Plug Ball | Jewel Satellite | Hornet Chaser | Magma Bazooka | Black Hole Bomb | |||
| Concrete Man | 1 | 1:3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1:1 | 1 | ||
| Tornado Man | 1 | 1:3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1:1 | 1 | ||
| Splash Woman | 2 | 2:4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1:1 | 1 | ||
| Plug Man | 1 | 1:3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1:1 | 1 | ||
| Jewel Man | 1 | 1:3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1:1 | 5 | ||
| Hornet Man | 1 | 1:3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2:4 | 1 | ||
| Magma Man | 1 | 1:3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1:1 | 1 | ||
| Galaxy Man | 1 | 1:3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1:1 | 1 | ||
| "Spike Shooters" | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| "Shark Submarine" 1st Phase |
2 | 2:4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2:4 | 2 | ||
| "Shark Submarine" 2nd Phase |
2 | 2:4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2:4 | 2 | ||
| "Shark Submarine" 3rd Phase |
2 | 2:4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2:4 | 2 | ||
| "Twin Devil" | 2 | 2:4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1:1 | 6 | ||
| Wily Machine 9 1st Phase |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Wily Machine 9 2nd Phase |
1 | 1:3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1:1 | 1 | ||
| Wily Capsule | 1 | 1:3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1:1 | 2 | ||
| Fake Man | 1 | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1:1 | 1 | ||
Notes:
- For "Spike Shooters" and Wily Machine 9's first phase, both bosses do not have data for them because they must be damaged with their own weapon or obstacle -- the Arm Cannon and the Special Weapons cannot inflict direct damage to them.
- For Proto Buster and Magma Bazooka, the first digit is the damage done when the weapon is fired normally; the second digit is damage done when the weapon is charged up.
- For Tornado Blow, using it against Shark Submarine's second phase when there are two hatches will inflict 4 units of damage to each, coming out to 8 damage total.
- Credit goes to Flintlock Vitor and Twilight Man from MMKB for damage values.
Boss Orders
RTA Fastest Order (Mega Man):
- Concrete Man
- Magma Man
- Galaxy Man
- Hornet Man
- Jewel Man
- Splash Woman
- Plug Man
- Tornado Man
The main strategy here is to obtain Concrete Shot first, then particularly useful weapons (Black Hole Bomb). You want Rush Jet for Splash (see Bubble Skip below), Plug, and Tornado.
TA Fastest Order (Mega Man):
- Tornado Man
- Splash Woman
- Concrete Man
- Magma Man
- Hornet Man
- Galaxy Man
- Jewel Man
- Plug Man
Here, you want the items that will assist you most in pause buffering strategies. Tornado Blow allows you to jump higher with no in-game time penalty, and is useful for clearing the screen of small enemies and projectiles. Tornado is done before Splash since Tornado Blow also allows the bubble puzzle and the floating platform screens to be done faster. You then obtain weapons as they are useful and proceed to the weakness order. Rush Jet is only critical in Plug Man's stage to skip through the disappearing block sections.
RTA Faster Order (Proto Man): (needs more research)
- Splash Woman
- Concrete Man
- Galaxy Man
- Jewel Man
- Plug Man
- Tornado Man
- Magma Man
- Hornet Man
Since Proto Man begins the game with Proto Jet, there is no need to delay Splash Woman's stage as is done in a Mega Man RTA. Also, Splash Woman is moderately weak to the buster, so the Splash-weakness order makes sense here. A big downside to this route, however, is not having Hornet Chaser for the miniboss in Jewel Man's stage.
TA Fastest Order (Proto Man): (needs more research)
- Tornado Man
- Splash Woman
- Concrete Man
- Galaxy Man
- Magma Man
- Hornet Man
- Jewel Man
- Plug Man
The best known TA order here is similar to the TA order with Mega Man. Tornado Blow remains useful in every other level, making it the obvious first stage. Doing Galaxy Man's stage fourth instead of sixth is more for safety as it can be handy for cleaning up mistakes made in Magma Man or Hornet Man's stage.
Techniques
Pause Buffering/Weapon Canceling
Pausing in Mega Man 9 cancels weapon shots. (Black hole bomb vs Jewel or Wily 3, Wily capsule)
Switching to Magma Bazooka immediately after hitting a boss with another weapon allows the boss to be hit during the boss's invulnerability window.
Concrete Zipping
By shooting a Concrete Shot while mid-jump, you can zip forward a small amount without losing your walking speed.
Splash Woman Bubble Skip
Using Rush and/or jumping, you can climb the bubble section and land on a bubble as it transitions screens.