General Info
Route Differences - 100%
Form PJ on why Shade 5th
Shade Man revisit (to the respawn point and exiting, since that is all the additional content):
2684 frames (44 seconds)
Minus the cost of death abuse and respawn:
91411 - 90650 = 761 (11 seconds)
Total cost of revisit: +33Shade Man fight (first pixel to teleport frame):
Hyper fist: 93758 - 92147 = 1611 (26.8 seconds)
Regular S.Adapter: 71314 - 69692 = 1622 (27.0 seconds)
Turbo Man:
Good truck with T.Bolt: 9.8 (from slide-shot to movement after truck death)
Other trucks with T.Bolt: 11.5, 10.5, 14.5
Good truck with Noise Crush: 6.8
Difference: -3-8 seconds, based on patternTurbo Man fights (from first pixel of health to end teleport):
Buster (good): 74931 - 71773 = 3158 (52.6 seconds)
S.Adapter (good): 74725 - 71773 = 2952 (49.2 seconds)
Noise crush QK: 106034 - 104966 = 1068 (17.8 seconds)
Difference: 32-35 seconds (probably 33 best case, since health refill is needed)Total Turbo Man difference: 36-41 seconds with good luck on boss. Probably -48 vs really bad luck.
OVERALL route difference: 33 seconds lost during revisit and Shade Man fight without Hyper Fist, 36-48 seconds saved with Turbo Man QK and truck fight. In all, 3-15 seconds faster.
Route Info
The two main categories being Any% and 100%.
100% collects all permanent upgrades, such as Protoman's Shield, the Energy Balancer, and the Exit Module.
Any%
- Cloud
- Junk
- Freeze
- Burst
- Slash (use Ice)
- Spring
- Shade
- Turbo
An alternate route would be to visit Shade early to get a second Quick Kill on Spring Man
100%
- Freeze (so avoid a Junk revisit)
Noise Crush Quick Kills
Shade Man's weapon bounces off walls, creating a unique opportunity to have a shot bounce around a robot master's room.
In theory, this can be used to strike a boss the moment its life meter appears, reducing it from the first HP it gained to 0, killing it.
In practice, even with the use of options to get Noise Crush early, there are only 2 viable places to use this trick - Spring Man and Turbo Man.
Execution
Mega Man must fire the noise crush as he moves into the gate, making the noise crush spawn on the other side of the gate and bounce around the room.
As a slow method, you can tap right and Y at the same time to have Mega Man inch forwards. This is slow, but faster than the boss fight. Faster methods certainly exist.
Phantomire's MM7 Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu9v9BR8l89jfhqU6G9YllrApwy_sv2zs
Weapon Notes
The Mega Buster
The charge speed is kinda awful. Lemons out DPS it against bosses (though if you do have free time to charge, do it).
Wild Coil (Spring)
This weapon can be charged. Charged springs do more damage (perhaps obviously), but can also bounce higher. Hold up when releasing Y to get a high bounce. This is extremely useful when fighting Shade Man and the Wily Capsule.
Freeze Cracker
Has 6 directional fire, hold up or down to fire diagonally.
If you use it against Freeze Man, it will heal him to full HP.
Rush Jet and Coil
Rush can get hit in this game. If Rush takes damage, he will cease being a platform for Rush Jet, so be careful
Danger Wrap (Burst)
If you hold down when firing, the bubble will not spawn, and Mega Man will simply put a bomb on the floor. This is extremely useful to make the Cloud fight faster.
The bubble also flies up at a steeper angle if you hold up.
Noise Crush (Shade)
This weapon can be charged by firing a shot off a wall to bounce back into Mega Man.
It really only needs Mega Man inside the weapons' hit box to make Mega Man absorb the shot and charge the weapon. This can be done with a quick "shot slide". This technique is used often, especially when a wall is not available such as the boss of Wily 3.
Junk Shield
It's really strong, but super laggy