Mega Man 7 "100%" in 41:13.33

Run details

• Takes damage to save
• Uses death to save time
• Abuses programing errors
• Full completion
• Manipulates luck

Summary

• This is an improvement over the current published run by 4402 frames (or 73.37 seconds). However, due to this run using US version instead of Japanese version and also done on a more accurate emulator that creates more lag and longer loading times, this run appears to be only 31 seconds ahead.
• These improvements were achieved mainly thanks to a faster route in second 4 robots that revisits Shade Man for Proto Man Shield, and various usage of the broken Rush Search glitch that allows interrupting cutscenes. There were a lot of optimizations throughout the run.

Improvements table

Tricks and glitches

Cutscene interruption with Rush Search

• This is the main glitch that significantly makes this run faster. By summoning Rush to search for a certain refill (health or ammo) during a cutscene (Proto Man fight for example), we gain control during that cutscene. This works since whenever we refill in this game, the game pauses, but for some reason, if you do it during a cutscene, the game resets the state of Mega Man as being playable, which he should not be.
• This glitch works only with refills AND if you have bars to refill so you pause the game, as a result, non of the other items are useful for this glitch, OR even refills if you are maxed out. Ammo is always going to work because Rush Search ammo is used a bit whenever you summon it
• Now, all that is good, but Rush Search has different delays before it finishes digging up an item, and those delays are very random. FractalFusion explained perfectly how it works in this post. Due to that, sometimes it is not worth using for minimal time save like moving during Bass cutscene in Shade Man's stage for instance (only place tbh).
• RNG changes every frame, and for Rush, you can't change it by shooting, unless you kill an enemy next to it (from what I've seen). Thus, the only way to search for good Rush times is by delay the frame when we summon Rush.

One Hit KO (OHKO) with Noise Crush

• Before entering any boss door, we can precisely position ourselves so that we launch a Noise Crush shot inside the room and enter at the same time. Since all bosses have their hitboxes as soon as their health bar is filled up, it is possible to finish them off instantly by reducing their HP to 0 before it rises up to higher values, as the game only checks for HP to be 0 so that it triggers the death animation and declare stage is cleared.

Vertical Zipping with Rush Jet & Coil

• On platforms that are not the ground, if you face the opposite direction of a wall then make a slide and cancel it, it is possible to get inside the wall for a few pixels. You can then climb up by executing consecutive slides spaced by 2 frames. Depending on the wall, if a ceiling is met, it helps getting inside the wall, then climb using consecutive jumps spaced by 3 frames, which is faster. It is possible to travel horizontally by doing 2 frame jumps spaced by 3 frames, though usage is very minute and not the useful most of the time.
• Rush Jet being useful being a platform at will is very powerful, which is the main way of doing this vertical climb
• Rush Coil is a faster option provided there is an enemy to damage boost from, as you can't trigger Rush Coil's spring if you have i-frames even if you're on top of it, thus, allowing for instant wall climb.

Route change

• Now things are becoming interesting! The current run follows a route that tries to not make a revisit to this stage for Proto Man fight. Due to that, Shade was done last in sparky's run. I think he didn't know about Noise Crush quick kill, which is very helpful against Spring Man, but optimally it should've been done right after Turbo Man, if not aiming for a revisit.
• For this run however, we're doing it first because we will use Noise Crush against both Turbo Man and Spring Man. This forces us to go for a Shade Man stage revisit to fight Proto Man as we have to meet Proto Man in Turbo Man stage before fighting him.
• We also interrupt Proto Man's second cutscene in the revisit, thus we softlock the game, and the only way to unlock is using the Exit item we obtained in Freeze Man stage, which can only be used during a revisit.
• The new route might seem slower, but it is faster by around 15 seconds if comparing against sparky's route, but only 7 seconds against the optimal non-revisit route.

Stage by stage comments

Intro

• Classic sentence: Same as published run... Nothing special :P.. Actually I saved some frames in Bass fight lol

Freeze Man

• As part of the optimization, Rush Coil was used to early in the stage all the way until last room. It saved couple frames
• During Rush Search digging animation, enemies were respawned so that we force Rush to leave the screen. This allows us to prepare a charged shot which speeds up Freeze Man fight.

Burst Man

• Similar to current run, however, Rush Coil was optimally in disappearing blocks room... Though, the time gained was mostly lost because the chemical water is apparently on a global timer, thus it is rendered insignificant, but I do believe couple frames were saved
• A cool trick before the second boss door. It doesn't save time at all, but at least it is cool to see wall climbing that way!

Cloud Man

• Because we're on BizHawk which generates more lag, the birds section after we get the letter has been rough, and lag management there was needed.
• The first Proto Man cutscene was entirely skipped thanks to Rush Search glitch. As explained earlier, maximizing time save from this trick comes for shorter delay and have more chance for refilling. This is the reason why we took damage at the start of the room before the cutscene room. That damage boost was not only helpful in getting more time save from the cutscene skip, but also saved couple frames.
• Entering the boss fight with charged buster is faster than rushing with a danger wrap bomb.

Junk Man

• Some optimization here and there, such as freezing the lava blocking the secret ladder as early as possible.
• Rush Coil trick was also used here as it saves around 1.5 seconds compared to climbing ladder.

Museum

• Yeah sure, fighting a clown. I placed 7 bombs there. Not sure if they're exploded yet or not! :P

Shade Man

• The first visit is pretty similar to Any% Shade Man. Ghosts'n Goblins music was triggered because it cool and saves some frames
• Rush Coil vertical climb is proven to be faster than using Rush Jet in this stage.
• Since we don't have Wild Coil yet, S.Adapter was a great substitute as it deals with Shade Man in 7 hits instead of 5 charged Wild Coils, while not costing much time.

Turbo Man

• More optimizations during the stage thanks to having Noise Crush early
• Here, similarly to Proto Man meeting in Cloud Man stage, we do meet Proto Man, but we skip the cutscene by landing on the same frame as leaving the room, thus it counts as a meeting without even seeing his face lol.
• Noise Crush here not only quick kills Turbo Man, but also we prevented a very LAGGY fight, due to the emulator used if we go for buster fight.

Shade Man revisit

• Music played is the original one, this is because Shade Man was defeated, thus no more boss intro, meaning that triggering Ghosts'n Goblins music is not possible. On the bright side, this run now plays both themes in one movie... Kind of generous! (maybe this is 101%? :P)
• Rush Search glitch was performed twice:
  • First was right before Proto Man door. This allows us to gain control of Mega Man way before Proto Man appears. Thanks to this, we start the fight very early and we don't trigger first cutscene. Saves over 5 seconds. Thanks to PJ for this finding, he shows it here more clearly in this video. Boss music is disabled as a result though ;(
  • Second cutscene is the important one. We basically use Rush Search glitch again to gain control and grab the Proto Man shield very early. It softlocks the game, but we have the Exit item for that!

Slash Man

• We stay on Rush Jet, even against big dino, as it allows grabbing the ladder after the fight earlier, and burning the tree and grabbing the ladder faster
• Noise Crush is helpful in this stage, especially in Slash Man fight
• For some reason, sparky had Scorch Wheel and didn't use it. Scorch Wheel burning animation is faster than Freeze Cracker freezing animation. This saves some time over the current run.

Spring Man

• Pretty much the same as current run, but a secondary Jet climb after we get the big bolt was used as it is faster than exiting normally.
• Riding Rush Jet under last two wide springs is a bit laggy in BizHawk
• Noise Crush again finishes Spring Man instantly :)

Dr.Wily Stage 1

• Optimized some parts such as Jet climb, however, the fan enemies room had many extra lag frames

Dr.Wily Stage 2

• Similar to the current run, but some optimizations were done in Bass fight, while trying to reduce lag if possible, especially in the turtle fight

Dr.Wily Stage 3

• Again, minor optimizations, however, the third screen and boss fight were so laggy to the point that we lose close to a second

Dr.Wily Stage 4

• I tried to invert the boss order for funsies :P
• The final Rush Search was used here to finish the first Wily fight instantly. Here, since we have our health maxed out, it is impossible to rely on health drop, however, Rush delay doesn't matter and we can even accept big ammo drop. Thankfully, it only costed me 7 frames to get the drop we want for the quick kill :)
• Wily capsule fight is RNG heavy. I barely had enough Freeze Cracker to have the optimal fight.

Possible Improvements

• Rush search delays are very random, and in Bass cutscene in Shade Man stage it is possible to save about half a second if you get the great Rush Search delay with a small ammo drop. I summoned Rush there for fun but failed to save that, as I couldn't find a better delay with good drop.
• Two spots I did not notice (nothing too major however):
  • In Freeze Man stage, before entering the room letter H, you can stay on the ice platform under the ladder until it starts to break, and apparently it doesn't regenerate if you revisit the room again, thus allowing for a quick fall after getting the letter H and dropping off of the ladder, which saves 11 frames.
  • In turtle fight, FractalFusion used an interesting Wild Coil strat which saves around half a second. I tried to implement, and I was able to take the run all the way to Wily capsule with half a second time save, but sadly, no good drop for over 30 frames, which makes the time save pointless. I do believe that if gameplay changes, it may affect the RNG in a good way, but again, extensive search and change of gameplay is probably not worth it for just half a second.

Special thanks

• FractalFusion: Immensely for his WIP TAS... It truly packaged all strats used in this run and was very helpful. I optimized as much as I could but was a great guide
• PJ: For finding the early Proto Man fight. It is an awesome and cool trick, and save a good amount. He also explained well how it goes.
• sparky: His 100% is one of my favorites on the site. I tried to be entertaining in this run during stand still moments, but he far ahead on me in this regard. I do recommend watching both of his Any% and 100% runs, even if this TAS gets published.

Suggested screenshot