Sega came out with X-Men in 1993, for Genesis. You can play as one or two of the four caracters, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine and Gambit. Other X-Men can be summoned but not played as, by going to the pause menu. In this run, Nightcrawler is used almost all through the game, except for some boss fight that needed a real man to handle the job so then Wolverine is used. The main goal is like pretty much every X-Men game... You do a couple stages, then beat Magneto. Near the end of the game, a reset of the console is required to reach the final stage. This made the game unTASable for quite some time, since Gens did not support it.

This run improves my currently published TAS by 1731 frames. It is actually my third time TASing this game. It was at the very end of my second try that i noticed a some major possible improvements. Basically, everything has been rebuilt from scratch. I tested out many ways to warp straight to Apocalypse and skip the elevator. For this i had to find as much MP refills as needed and also rely on iceman instead of teleport to save on MP. Every boss battle has been improved due to less lag. It seems that less is more when it comes to waiting for battles/levels to end. Jumps, divekicks and even moving the camera can affect the time in a good or a bad way. Almost all character are used now except for Cyclops who i was very close to using in the Apocalypse fight but only 2 morphs are allowed... Then i would have been stuck with Wolverine.

128 frames saved just by jumping in better places for longer dives other than that, everything is the same here.

It turns out that hitting him before sending Archangel on his ass is faster, since you don't need to wait for him to become vulnerable... . This rookie mistake i had done and lag reduction made this fight 124 frames faster.

I now refill twice on MP during this stage. The first set i grab allows two teleports. One that i use to skip an automatic door and the second is to avoid the wait of descending lower floors to reach the second refill. The way it works to get MP out of the boxes, you need to hit 3 of them to get something. The outcome depends on which box you hit last. While waiting for the MP sphere to appear, i take the time go summon Iceman for the locked door, since i would have to wait for him anyway. Because he is free of charge, i now have a full MP tank. Even after this huge detour, this level was done 23 frames faster. The suicide at the end of the stage was also faster by 3 frames. The jet ride was much better due to lag reduction and i did not use warp to avoid getting pushed behind. This saved on MP and 97 frames.

89 frames faster with a longer warp into the boss room. The fight is not much different from the last but less lag and a quicker entry by the elevator.

To save on MP, i use Iceman to skip the Sabretooth fight. He can be called at any height to skip the fight but higher is better for longer divekicks. It is always better to summon Iceman as far as possible so that he appears closest to where you need him. With all this, i managed to save 5 frames, since in this run, i did not do any detour in the control room to get MP. If not i would have probably lost half a second. In the end it pays off...

This is obviously the biggest improvement with 609 frames. The elevator is now skipped thanks to all that saved MP. I tried skipping some floors with Iceman but for some reason, he does not appear to be available in the lighthouse. The first teleport leads to Juggernaut (2), which is skipped, then Apocalypse's room. The warp does not send you entirely up there so i had to morph into Wolverine as soon as i landed on closest position to reach the marker for the start of the fight. Even in the floor, the character will pop out when transformed.

In my previous run, i had morphed just before dealing the first blow, thus avoiding taking damage and waiting for Wolverine to take damage. Having already morphed, this time around, i cannot use this to do the first attack so i use Archangel. My initial plan was to transform into Cyclops, walk to Apocalypse then warp to Wolverine and hit him but i would have had to wait for the next stage to switch back to Nightcrawler. Other than that, the fight is pretty similar. 59 frames faster.

Iceman is no longer needed thanks to Gambit. When in the right position, you can unlock the door leading out with his heat seeking cards. He is only used for a couple of frames since he to slow but still... He saves the day, in these 2 frames. The rooftop section was improved by not getting hit by the birds. I try to avoid blowing them up also, as they create lag. I detour for a full MP refill which is very helpful in the long run. At the end of the stage, Iceman is once again neglected, since i found out a great new way to enter the boss room. 225 frames faster overall.

Shaved 40 frames with less lag. I decided to do Rogue as the final blow, instead of the second, for more epicness.

At the start of the stage, the dive leading to the wall is no more, thanks to remaining MP. Had more ease this time around with the purple guys. I end the stage by grabbing an MP sphere that is located right under the reset room. It allows 1 upward warp instead of jumping. I then use Archangel to blow up the screen. Mojo's Crunch is now 186 frames faster.

Pretty similar to the last run in the first ¾. I had to wait a couple of frames in the acid rain tunnel for MP to refill. In my last run, my MP was already refilled at that point which means it was already slower. I end it all with better positioned teleports and 84 frames to spare.

Basically the same here. Magneto is much more forgiving when it comes to lag... At least compared to other bosses. 72 frames saved mostly due to calling Storm as my last input.

feos: Yeah...