There is a nice shortcut technique in the Chargeman stage.
It occured accidentally, and its cause was very difficult to pinpoint. Fortunately, the Master Ninja Finalfighter solved the riddle in no time.
https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/chargemantrain.avi (1 MB)
https://files.tasvideos.org/bisqwit/chargemantrain.fcm (80 kB)
http://www.yuko2ch.net/rockman/chargeman2nd2.mpg (600 kB)
When riding the train top (possibly other locations in the game as well, possibly MM4 as well), when Megaman gets damage, he can steer to the left or right during the "ouch" pose. A minimal but existing amount.
To perform the trick:
- Take damage at least once while sliding.
Steer right while in the ouch pose.
- Play the rest in whatever way you want, but don't let the screen scroll to the left.
- Jump or fall to the pit, and instead of the screen blanking like it normally does, it will scroll and Megaman will be inside a wall.
There is a previous location in the game where the trick could be very useful, but we haven't been able to find a way to do it there. The same technique has no effect there.
Further hypothesis:
The game probably has a condition: "If scrolling down when the screen is number X, lock Megaman's control, blank the palette and scroll and replace Megaman and change palette". Taking damage and steering somehow skews off the screen number so that the rule doesn't match, and it becomes a normal down-scrolling event instead (no palette changes, no Megaman relocation). But if you walk to the left and back to the right, the screen number is corrected.