General Tips & Glitches

Screen Wrap Ladder Grabs
If you jump off the top of a screen at a location where a ladder is on the bottom of the screen, notably in Cut Man and Wily 1, you can press Up and grab the ladder at the bottom of the screen. 
 This is considered a glitch and not allowed in Glitchless.

The Select Button
The select button is most famous for "mashing to keep hitting with Elec Beam" against Yellow Devil, but it does more than that. 
 The intended function of the Select button is to pause the game without entering the menu. 
 The specific trick against Yellow Devil is that enemy Invincibility Frames "run out" during a select pause. This allows the player to "mash" select (though it's better pressed with timing) to hit most bosses multiple times. 
 The select button can also be used to stop knockback with quick presses in places, and is in fact intentionally done in speedruns.

Route Information
Mega Man 1 All Stages has one route variation - Guts first or Cut first. The record run uses Cut first. 
 Guts first is recommended for beginners, or anyone uncomfortable with the Early Magnet Beam zip. (This also means Guts first is all but required for any glitchless or zipless speedrun). Having Guts in Cut Man's stage only affects the boss fight, and having the other 5 weapons in Guts Man's stage saves more time (primarily through Magnet beam). 
 Incidentally, this route is also boss weakness order. 
 Many years ago, magazines suggested Bomb Man first. This weakness route is valid, though slower than other routes that visit Bomb Man later. 
 Cut First Route 
 
 Cut Man 
 Elec Man (Must ladder zip to acquire Magnet Beam) 
 Ice Man 
 Fire Man 
 Bomb Man 
 Guts Man