Hello, everybody. Here is hellagels. It is around one year that I have not submitted more movie. I with red-crowned-crane finished such a long movie this time. It is my fifth movie or red-crowned-crane's second movie.

Goals

  • Emulator used: DeSmuME 0.9.7 with Advanced Bus Timing OFF
  • Aims for fastest real-time, on normal mode
  • Collects all secret disks, life ups, BM upgrades, sub tanks. (Metals are not collected for it makes the boss battle long but boring.)
  • Takes damege to save time
  • Uses death to save time
  • Manipulates luck

About the game

Mega Man ZX Advent is a little Metroidvania-like. Most of the areas are connected. You can activate warp points, so you can transfer to it with a transerver. Activating a warp point cost EC(energy crystal) which can be got by finishing a mission or just touching it. Half of the stages should be went to twice in this movie, so warp points play a important role.
When get to a transerver or get a recovery item, you recover HP. But recovering every HP pauses all in-game action for 4 frames. So unnessesary damege-taking should be avoided. Taking damage gives you temporary invincibility, sometimes we save time by taking damege.
You can transform in the game. There are 15 forms available. They have very different ability, some items can only be got by a special ability of a form. To transform cost 44 or 64 frames, so we reduced the times of transform if we can. While a cutscene start, you always transform to the form Model A.
When you hit a enemy or a shield with a slash (Model L's halbert, Modle H's sabers, Model ZX's ZX saber), all in-game action pauses for 4 frame. So we use Model H' charge attack or Model ZX's gun when using Model H or Model ZX to avoid the pause.
You can go for a quest in the game. You can get some awards after a quest, such as EC, Armor. Secret disk O02 ,O04 and one of the sub tanks should be got by finishing quests.

Route

(Regards Train 3 as a part of Legion HQ) -Raider Pursuit -Train -Tower of Verdure -Arctic Ice Floe (1st) -Oil Field (1st) -Legion HQ (1st) -Highway (1st) -Floating Ruins (1st) -Control Center -Scrapyard (1st) -Quarry (1st) -Arctic Ice Floe (2nd) -Mysterious Lab (1st) -Waterfall Runs -Bio Lab -Underwater Volcano -Quarry (2nd) -Oil Field (2nd) -Floating Ruins (2nd) -Highway (2nd) -Scrapyard (2nd) -Mysterious Lab (2nd) -Legion HQ (2nd) -Legion HQ (3rd) -Ouroboros

Stage by Stage Comment

Raider Pursuit

There is no collectables in the stage. We collect 100 EC to activate a warp point.

Train

Now we can dash with Model A. The stage is very short, has only one collectable. We reduced the used BM(JAP:LM) to remain enough BM after the boss battle.

Tower of Verdure

We choose this stage because Rospark can get the sub tank in Arctic Ice Floe 2. I found an irregular way to get Disk E16. The form Buckfire has a big wall jumping, we pass the spikes with it. How to get both Disk E15 and the Life Up troubled us. At last, fortunately, I work out with an interesting idea.

Arctic Ice Floe

1st: Disk M07 should be got by the form Chronoforce, so we need to get into the stage twice. Activates the warp point between Arctic Ice Floe 1 and 2. Disk E21 is got by both Model A and Human Form, it is difficult in real-time.
2nd: Transfers to the warp point. The miniboss battle is finish very fast by using Model F. Deaths after getting Disk M07, restarts the game from the beginning of Arctic Ice Floe 2. Disk E22 can be simply got by Buckfire.

Oil Field

1st: Activate the warp point between Oil Field 1 and 2. Human Form is used in the miniboss battle. Human From can shoot every frame. (We do not do like that in Tower of Verdure because it will increase the times of transform twice. )
2nd: We got the Disk E19 without Wing Armor. Use Chronoforce's charge attack to slow the time down, so Hedgeshock can go through the small corridors before the tube is broke completely.

Legion HQ

1st: Activates two warp points, one is in Train 3, the other is in the middle of Legion HQ 2. After the miniboss battle, there are many buildings with glass. Some glass can be broke by your attack or the hit from flyer, or both. We use Model P to reach high place.
2nd: Use Bifrost to force the flyer down with its weight, looks funny. So the glass can be broke. (The glass cannot be broke by your attack.)
3rd: We escape there by a man in Train 3, cost a few EC.

Highway

1st: Disk M01 is not collected, or we would lead the miniboss to the left side, lose much time.
2nd: There is a doot before BM Upgrade, we hit the button to the door with Model H' charge attack, a slow attack just we need.

Floating Ruins

1st: Most of the collectables is difficult without Model H. Only Model A is used on the path. We used Model F on the battle against Model H, to our surprise, it is around 110 frames faster than to use Model L.
2nd: Model H has a great show there. There are some enemy that can force the button B to be unavailable. So we need Model H's air dashing.

Control Center

Model H climbs the wall very fast. Against Queenbee, we use Model F to destroy her hive, then use Rospark.

Scrapyard

1st: Model P has a great show here. Model P as Ashe can put up a shield, which helps a lot against the falling scrap shafts. Model P is also necessary for some switches which you need to cling on.
2nd: Just collect the sub tank.

Quarry

1st: Quarry 1 is in dark. We transform into Model H, because Model H can reach the place that Model A not. The miniboss in Quarry 3 is very different. I has invincibility like regular bosses. Model ZX is just available and we use it. For Model ZX' rolling slash causes to much pause, stops the miniboss' movement, it is not used.
2nd: Costs some EC, then the man in Quarry 1 will open a shortcut to Quarry 3.

Mysterious Lab

1st: Hedgeshock is needed to get the Disk E01 in Waterfall Runs, but Argoyle & Ugoyle are needed to get the sub tank in Mysterious Lab. We choosed this stage first because the sub tank is closed to a warp point and the transerver.
2nd: The form Argoyle & Ugoyle is much useful than I had thought. It move the object to the door very quickly.

Waterfall Runs

The stage branches into two at Waterfall Runs 2 and 3: we can go left or right. Both two paths have disks. Disk E47 is at the beginning of the right path, and the Disk E30 is at the end of the right path. So we collect E47 first, then E01, then E30.

Bio Lab

I found an interesting way to get the BM Upgrade. The BM Upgrade is in a poor. Opens the outfall, then closes it in a certain time, creates a path to get it.

Underwater Volcano

No collectables in this stage. We finish the boss battle around 3 seconds faster than Noxxa done.

Ouroboros

Model ZX makes the boss battles very short. We take damage in Ouroboros 3, stand on spikes and get the last disk.
In-game time when beat the game: 01:32'54 (after staff)
Thanks Rolanmen1 and Noxxa for there nice movie on ZX series.
Enjoy the run!

Noxxa: Judging.
Noxxa: Very well played run. For such a long run, it contains a fair amount of variation throughout the run, so that even though it's quite long, it doesn't get boring or repetitive. Accepting for publication.

Guga: Processing...


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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ZXA is one of my favorite games. I'm glad to see another run of it. Some of the collectables are a pain to get. Seeing it done quickly should be educational.
Noxxa
They/Them
Moderator, Expert player (4128)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4090
Location: The Netherlands
Nice, you finally finished this. I'll look at the complete run later.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Editor
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Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
Requesting encode.
ALAKTORN
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Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 2527
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awesome!!! were any improvements to the any% found while making this? 14 minutes to collect everything seems pretty quick “When you hit a enery or a shield with a slash” what does that mean?
hellagels
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Experienced player (772)
Joined: 2/1/2011
Posts: 83
Location: Guangdong, China
ALAKTORN wrote:
awesome!!! were any improvements to the any% found while making this? 14 minutes to collect everything seems pretty quick “When you hit a enery or a shield with a slash” what does that mean?
I made a mistake on spelling, not enery but enemy. I am not an English speaker, I always make mistakes...
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)
Rolanmen1
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Posts: 569
Location: Dominican Republic
Oh awesome, i will see this when i get the time.
Joined: 5/27/2008
Posts: 57
henke37 wrote:
Requesting encode.
Seconded. Refraining judgment until I can watch it.
GoddessMaria
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Reviewer, Experienced player (868)
Joined: 5/29/2009
Posts: 519
Location: Hell...
I am working on an encode now. Please be patient.
Current projects: failing at life
Editor
Joined: 3/10/2010
Posts: 899
Location: Sweden
Good stuff, but why the Japanese version?
hellagels
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Location: Guangdong, China
henke37 wrote:
Good stuff, but why the Japanese version?
I choosed the Japanese version for an unimportant reason: I am not used to the voice from the character in the USA version.
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)
hellagels
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Encode by red-crowned-crane: Link to video
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)
ALAKTORN
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Joined: 10/19/2009
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rewatching Moth’s run, it looks like in the first level he didn’t do a ladder boost (pressing down early to get a little bit ahead) and lost a bit of time? or am I wrong? will I see a lot of things that could be implemented in the any% run to improve the time?
Editor, Experienced player (885)
Joined: 1/23/2008
Posts: 529
Location: Finland
Wish this game had less cutscenes and more glitches. I don't have the willpower to watch this to the end right now, though. Returning later.
Joined: 11/26/2006
Posts: 115
still waiting for a downloadable encode - somehow I cant view that embedded video posted before... thanks!
Noxxa
They/Them
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Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4090
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I've finished watching this. Very well done. I've especially noticed you used some creative solutions to get certain parts; most notably, multiple uses of Argoyle, and the way you collected some disks such as in the Tower of Verdure. Quite impressive.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Joined: 8/27/2009
Posts: 159
Location: California
This is everything I expected from a ZX:A (and Mega Man in general) run. Very nice work getting all the disks the ways you did. Yes vote.
Joined: 4/3/2006
Posts: 269
The embedded video here works fine for me. I like the run and it seems pretty optimized. Yes vote!
Joined: 11/20/2011
Posts: 27
Location: UK
I thought this would be a nice run to watch, because I had beaten this game. But after watching for some time, I realise how amazingly boring the cut-scene and storyline are, this really goes beyond my imagination. Fighting scenes are really quick, which is good, but compare to cut-scenes they are too short. The cartoonish characters are increasingly abominable. I never knew I hated the characters so much. This run is definitely good, but I just can't decide what to vote right now. Well, let's see what comes up to my mind when I finish watching this run. Edit: Finished First 25 mins is full of stupid cut-scenes, but after that everything goes better and better. Stages are longer and bosses are stronger later in this run, makes it more enjoyable. Yes vote.
Soig
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waiting for publication~
Guga
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Sorry for taking so long. http://archive.org/details/HellagelsRed-crowned-cranesDsMegaManZxAdvent100In13322.76 Will be publishing it in a few days, once the YT encode is up.
Rolanmen1
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Yes vote. I knew you were working on ZX 100%, have you abandoned that?
hellagels
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Location: Guangdong, China
Rolanmen1 wrote:
I knew you were working on ZX 100%, have you abandoned that?
I feel sorry, but I have abandoned the project. After the project started, I found ZX 100% movie is kind of similar with the ZX TAS in some way. Since I found I lost too much time in my ZX 100% WIP, I have to redo many parts of it. Then I stopped working on ZX 100% and started a better project, ZXA 100%.
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)
Reviewer, Skilled player (1020)
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Why voting "No"?Is a good Megaman ZX Advent TAS I vote"Yes"
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
hellagels
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Posts: 83
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The movie have not been published yet? I have waited for so long....
Current projects: Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia (NDS)