Hey, happy to be back and bring you another TAS of my favorite game to TAS, Mega Man X6, in this occasion I have something special, and it is a TAS where I control both X and Zero with the same controller.
This is my first attempt at this kind of TAS and definitely it has been an interesting (and sometimes frustrating) learning experience, definitely going to work on more of this in the future.
Game objectives
- Emulator used: BizHawk 2.4
- Beat the game using both playable characters (X and Zero) with a single input
- Beat all 8 main mavericks (aka All Stages)
Mega Man X6 is a game developed by Capcom for the PS1, typically known for being rushed and poorly designed as it was developed in a year. Many parts are pretty unfair to a casual player where you can't advance certain spots by not having a particular armor or character.
I have already made TAS of this game in all shapes and forms, but in this occasion I have something different which involves using both X and Zero in two separate screens and control them with the same input, few TASes of this kind really exists and righly so as they are particularly challenging to create.
Aside from the technical difficulties that involves creating a TAS of this kind, it is challenging to control both characters as they have a pretty different playing style. X likes to shoot from a distance and Zero likes to come close and slash with his saber. This means they both have different approaches for platforming and fighting enemies and bosses. X also can use multiple armors but in this case only the Falcon Armor us used.
Something worth explaining is that normally it is not possible to use Zero from the very beginning of the game, you normally would need to unlock him first, this means an alternative was needed for this to truly be a "Two Characters, One Controller" TAS, and that is where the Mega Man X6 Tweaks projects enter.
It is a software mainly developed by acediez which allows you to patch the american V1.1 version of the game to do a lot of crazy stuff, one of them being unlock and use Zero from the very beginning by entering a code in the title screen. So two versions of the game were used:
- The original ISO which is used for X
- A patched version of the above ISO that allows you to use Zero from the beginning.
Since the original ISO does not have the patch, the code inputted allows it to get Black Zero once you unlock it the traditional way.
How to reproduce
- Find and Download online the Mega Man X6 (USA) (v1.1) ISO
- Download the Megaman X6 Tweaks Patcher.
- Download the corresponding Tweaks Profile.
- Open the Megaman X6 Tweaks Patcher, load the profile and load the BIN file of the ISO and click Patch.
- Download and install the BizHawk Prereqs v2.0.
- Download BizHawk v2.4.
- Download the BizHawk movie file.
- Open BizHawk, load the Tweaked Megaman X6 CUE file, and then load the movie file.
Tweaks Performed (Only for Zero): General Tweaks > Unlockables > Code #2 unlocks Zero from the start = Checked
How I made this TAS
TBA
Tricks and Glitches
TBA
This has definitely been a wild ride with lots of learning and lots of frustration, but the end result made it all worthy. I definitely plan to do of this in the future. So stay tuned :)
Want to give a huge shotout and thanks to all the member of my
Discord Server where I usually stream, it was nice having y'all join me and glad you were willing to be there, you made making this TAS way more enjoyable than what it would normally be.
Huge shotouts to the BizHawk team, I cannot imagine how many people were able to do this kind of TASes before TAStudio but it makes it so much easier to visualize the input while you work on it and ensure you are in sync, I cannot see myself doing this without it.
Shotouts to acediez and all contributors of the Mega Man X6 Tweaks Project, the software you made open up so many possibilities on what you can do in the game, without your software, it would've been way more difficult to make this happen.
Finally, huge thanks my Youtube followers, you inspired me to do this and to continue TASing as a side-gig, if not because of you I would stop doing it. If you like the content and want to support me please subscribe to my
Youtube Channel and watch the content.
Memory: Optimization seems good for the goal.
The run was received well for the most part. Multiple game runs have often been received well in the past and while this submission is not quite a multiple game run, the reception was just as positive.
The usage of a hack to allow for starting as Zero was a tad controversial in the thread. Some people sort of treated it as a form of cheating, but I disagree. It doesn't really make the game outright easier. In this context it was only done in order to allow this specific challenge at all. In that sense, this is a multiple game run with a hack of the original game as the second game.
However, I do not believe the usage of this hack should be at all acceptable outside of this particular challenge. The hack’s one change is allowing for the usage of Zero from the start. This is extremely minute compared to any other hack we have accepted to the site. In the context of creating this specific challenge, this hack creates an entertaining experience and I think that should be acceptable.
Accepting to Moons as a new branch/game/hack or whatever.
Each version/revision was able to select a completely different character starting from Xiaoyu.
If you want to prove any of this wrong all you have to do is create two separate verification movies saves that unlock Zero and then create a movie that fails to select both X in one version/revision and Zero in the other.
