Stop Hating Top Spin

Seriously. This weapon is much better than you think, it just has one major glitch that you can avoid once you know about it. It's actually quite powerful, just not as fast as other weapons in most situations for a speed run, mostly because at its core it's a melee weapon.

Avoiding Losing Top Spin on Shadow Man

Or, really, any boss with invincibility frames.

The problem is Top Spin triggers just about every frame it thinks it can hit an enemy. For Shadow Man, if he has invincibility frames, this means you get to watch the weapon ammo meter drain across 27 frames doing no damage.

The fix is very simple - just don't use Top Spin into invincibility frames. This goes for Shadow and Doc Heat.

Be Ready To Get Bumped Left

This is mostly noticed during the falling "Parishus" at the end of Shadow Man's stage.

Mega Man tends to get bumped left when killing an enemy with Top. Keep this in mind when trying to make tight jumps.