Mega Man 8 Mega Man 8 was first released for the Playstation (1) in 1996. It has since been rereleased on the Sega Saturn (1997), the Anniversary Collection (GCN, PS2, XBox), and the Legacy Collection (PS4, Nintendo Switch, XBox1, Steam) Much of this information comes from the Mega Man Compendium document linked from the Discord. Shout outs to all of its authors (Orrsa, Maple, Rollbuster, The Mega Man Knowledge Base, and VGMaps) General Information General Information - WRs The current Original Release any% world record is  50:27 by orsa, played on a Playstation 2 with Fast Disk Speed enabled. The current Legacy Collection any% world record is 49:43 by choc, playing on PC/Steam The most current TAS (read: not current at all) is fractalfusion’s 47:06 . (as stated in the compendium) Route Information Any% The current any% route does Grenade Man first and Astro Man 5th.  This is the most consistent route due to getting Rush Bike in the former and Astro Man being more reliable than Sword Man in the latter. The current any% route shops once, and buys only Hyper Slider (5 bolts).  There are 6 bolts directly in your path (1 in Grenade, 2 in Frost, 2 in Tengu, 1 in Clown).  One of these can be skipped if you so choose, but none of them lose any time to collect. Collecting or not collecting any of the 40 bolts has no impact on the run, outside of your ability to buy items at the shop. Nothing is ruined if you spend time to pick up extra bolts. 40 Bolts  Has a lot of revisits Weapon Swapping The quick weapon switch order is Mega Ball -> Flash Bomb -> Thunder Claw -> Tornado Hold -> Water Balloon -> Flame Sword -> Homing Sniper -> Astro Crush.   Remember you can always press L+R to return to Mega Buster. Mega Man 8 is unique in that quick weapon switching while a weapon is on screen does not cancel the existing weapon.  You can take advantage of this to combine several weapons together and ease platforming. Weapon Information You can see the damage tick intervals of the different weapons in the game here .  The main takeaway from this involves Flash Bomb - if you fire 2 Flash Bombs spaced apart at an interval of 3 frames, then since two weapons cannot both deal damage on the same frame, you only get the damage of a single Flash Bomb. Thunder Claw is a useful weapon for destroying enemies, as it will deal damage on every frame that it touches an enemy on the backswing. Water Balloon has no shot limit, and can be mashed at 30hz.  This is very useful in a TAS setting, and minimally useful in RTA. Homing Sniper can be charged to target multiple enemies at once.  This is useful for refighting Astro Man. For Mega Buster damage values listed on this site, the first value is the damage done by lemons, the second value is the damage done by half-charged shots, and the third value is damage done by fully-charged shots. For special weapons that can deal damage multiple times, the damage values listed on this site are for one tick of damage.  The only exception to this is Astro Crush , since the weapon strikes multiple times on the entire screen. Tornado Hold is unique in that it has two separate parts that deal damage - the fan and the actual tornado.  Below, the first number listed is the damage done by the fan, whereas the second is the damage done by the tornado. Mega Ball deals the same damage whether kicked or not. It is most often dropped directly into an enemy, or put in front of Mega Man to "dribble" like a real soccer ball into an enemy. When moved into during a jump, the Mega Ball will get a decent bounce forward (slow motion gif below - press the special weapon button in mid air and move into the ball - no other inputs needed. You must NOT be holding Jump.) Note after getting the Hyper Slider,  Mega Man will out-run the Mega Ball Mega Ball can be kicked up at a steeper angle by holding "Up" while kicking it. This is most noticeable in the Atetemino (Wily 1) fight. For information on ball jumping, see https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/ball-jumping     Remember you have a dedicated Mega Buster button Your charge level resets when switching weapons or using a special weapon You can charge while another weapon is on screen, such as a Mega Ball being dribbled along  MM8 Version Differences Rockman 8: Metal Heroes The original Japanese release  Mega Man 8 Anniversary Collector’s Edition Original North American release of the game, no changes were made. (Except for shop menu confirm/cancel) Mega Man 8 Anniversary Edition There are two separate versions of this release that are identical in packaging. The difference is noted by whether the disc has a spiral pattern on it like Anniversary Collector’s Edition did or if it’s solid black.  The “spiral disc” is exactly the same as Anniversary Collector’s Edition.  The “black disc” removes the ability to hold start to skip cutscenes and adds in an additional bust shot during the cutscene with Bass in Wily 3. Rockman 8: Metal Heroes (Playstation the Best) Essentially the “Greatest Hits” version of Rockman 8.  Adds in the changes present on the black disc version of Anniversary Edition. Mega Man 8 (PAL) The game runs at 50hz. Based on the first PS1 NA/JP release. Only change is an additional splash was added before the title screen for Infogrames who distributed this release. The SDA run of Mega Man 8 uses this version. Mega Man 8 (Greatest Hits) Repackaging of the black disc Anniversary Edition. No changes were made. Playstation Network Releases The Japanese release uses the Playstation the Best version and the English release uses the Greatest Hits version. No changes were made. Loading times are horrendous, even when playing on a PSTV or PSP with Fast Disc Speed enabled. Sega Saturn Lots of changes to the core gameplay, see  here ( https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pjgshU2U6OQKHQA52zcnNNpZUXIHngfP_tq-9Cax1qE/ )  for some examples. Main things is more enemies, harder enemies, and extra bosses (Wood Man and Cut Man). North America only got one release of this game, Japan received the original and a Satakore budget re-release which are exactly the same. There is no PAL version. Anniversary Collection The loading screens are significantly faster. Screen transitions were altered and are slightly slower for stage selection, pausing, and level transitions. Very easy to lag, where PS1 and Saturn experience basically no lag. There’s an odd half second freeze before every robot master selection and boss health fill. Allows for free early hits on them. Audio pitch/balance/speed for several sound effects and the voice acting for the final set of Robot Masters is too high-pitched. The Xbox version is the only one that allows you to choose between different button configurations.  The Gamecube release has shoot on A and jump on B/X.  The PS2 version has horrible input lag.  Timing hasn’t been done to compare loading times between PS2/GCN/Xbox, but you probably shouldn’t play on this version unless you have to. AC was only released in North America and only one version exists for each console. Legacy Collection 2 LC2 MM8 entirely removes the ability to skip text, so LC2 loses a large amount of time on that. Most loading times are very fast, but mid-stage loads are pretty slow (even with a solid-state drive) and vary based on PC performance. Has major issues with vsync on, where the game will drop to 50% speed even on very capable PCs. The insanely slow text speed negates almost all of the time the faster loads save. The red cross on rush medic is removed. The blue glass during the Frost autoscroller is the brighter color that’s used in Anniversary Collection. Wily Machine plays the incorrect sound effects before the fight starts (the wily tower stage map theme). LC2 changes RNG by preserving it in odd ways. This needs to be explored more, rng manip is theoretically possible but useful setups to preserve values in a proper RTA setting have not been routed. General Tips Ball Jumping Hold the jump button From the Compendium The primary movement tech in the run is Mega Ball jumping.  This is done by jumping in the air (making sure to continue holding the jump button down), and then dropping a Mega Ball at the peak of your jump.  The timing is not precise, and it can be sped up or delayed depending on your needs (gaining height or not). Another useful form of movement tech are money jumps.  These are performed by sliding off of a ledge and chaining into a Mega Ball jump (making sure to keep holding down the button after sliding).  You have an 8 frame window to execute this trick after Mega Man leaves the ledge.  This saves time more or less everywhere since it extends the duration of your slide. Slow Motion Example First jump - hold jump and right, fire mega ball at the appropriate time. Slide "Money" Jump - Slide (down+jump) and HOLD jump. Continue holding jump as you use the mega ball. Other Notes In Jet sled sections (Frost Man, Wily 1), you can perform ball jumps almost any time in mid air by firing a Mega Ball in front of you while holding jump. There are also spots to use money jumps just above spikes or lava, or just under spikes. These aren't much more complicated than the above explanations, however the timing is significantly tighter to not fall to the spikes before ball-jumping, or to release jump before rising into spikes-and-then-still jumping again We encourage runners to get comfortable with ball jumping before going for these strats. Fast Disk Speed & Resetting The Playstation 2 has an option for Fast Disk Speed (FDS) with Playstation 1 games. This is useful for Mega Man 8 speedrunning. Runs with this configuration have their console labeled as "FDS" on the Mega Man Leaderboards. NOTE - This is banned for Mega Man X4, X5, and X6 speedruns, due to those games potentially crashing with "FDS" enabled. Mega Man 8 has no such documented crash issue. Enabling FDS The following steps work on a North America Playstation 2. Power on the Playstation 2 with the disk drive open to access the system menu. Press Triangle. Press Triangle (again) Select fast disk speed and turn it on Resetting Your Run If you use the PS2 reset button, you will turn off FDS and need to re-enable it. The best way to reset is to pause the game and press Select in the pause menu. (You will get a confirmation dialogue before the game resets). This takes you back to the Title Screen, however you cannot pause the game at some points (such as when the intro stage boss is at 0 HP), and you must be in a stage (not the stage select). Always Be Sliding Mega Man moves ridiculously slow. Even small slides add up over the run. However, keep in mind the distance of a slide on a platform. If your slide ends near the end of a platform, jump before Mega Man's slow standing animation. About the Hyper Slider After Duo's stage, runs buy the Hyper Slider to dramatically increate Mega Man's movement speed. Strats on video in the second half of the run typically depend on this speed to work, and your results will be different without it. Also note Mega Man out-slides the Mega Ball with the Hyper Slider. You cannot "dribble" the ball along when sliding at this speed. This is why enemies are typically killed with grenades rather than Mega Balls in the second half (the first enemy in Sword Man, the first Turret in Wily 2). Rush Bike You can jump off Rush Bike by holding up. This includes a "Yoshi Ditch" double jump. Rush Bike lasts for 40 seconds. This time drops by 5 seconds every time you get hit. Rush Bike is fast in the early game, but is largely outclassed by the Hyper Slider in the late game. Intro Stage Intro - General Tips Trees have 6 HP. They take 6 lemons, or 2 lemons plus a Mega Ball. They cannot be easily hit at point blank range, as Mega Man's arm goes through the tree before firing a shot. Remember the Mega ball does the same damage whether kicked or fired directly into an enemy. The fastest way through the last snail on the last slope is to slide into it to damage boost, then continue to slide through to the end. Be careful about the last treaded enemy - it's easy to get hit by it if you move forward before killing it. You need at least 6 Mega Balls for the stage boss. Yadokargo Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 2:3:6 8 2:1 1 4 4 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 40 4 1 4 3 6 Damage Values: Contact Crab Punch Crab Squeeze Crab Bombs 3 2 2x2 3 The strat for Yadokargo is to kick one ball to open him, and then mash balls into his hitbox.  Strat Details Obviously (?) in any%, your only options are the Mega Ball and the Buster. Kick a single ball into the Crab, then slide up to it. Jump into its face and shoot balls into its eyes. After about 4 hits, the shell will close, making its hit box slightly wider. If you do not kill it, the boss will jump across the screen, costing you 3 seconds. Optimally you can mash 5 balls into it before this happens. You must be mindful of the size of the hit box to not get hit when the shell closes. Backups Optionally, for the timeloss of taking damage, you can intentionally damage boost into it while mashing. The crab is much easier to hit "inside" its hit box for the small time loss of taking damage, compared to losing time to the jump. It is possible to kill the boss as it jumps. In this case, it still completes its jump before exploding, costing you most of the time as if you did not land the hit at all. If it does cross the screen, set up to kick a second ball into its face. Keep in mind you can only have one ball on the screen at a time, so set up as appropriate. Bolt Locations - Intro These bolts are in the passage that appears after pushing the Ammoner (the snail) onto the switch. They can be acquired on your first visit to the stage. These bolts are only required for the 40 Bolts category. Grenade Man Grenade Man is first in the current (2014-2023) any% route because of Rush Bike. Also Flash Grenade is a solid weapon You can get an easy Bolt in part 1 with no time loss (any% route), and at least 1 more in part 2 if you need extras for some reason (beginner strats involving additional shopping) Grenade Part 1 - General Tips There are two bolts in this half of the stage. Only 1 is collected in Any% Remember the Mega Ball can be carried in front of Mega Man, letting you charge the buster while killing "dribbling" the ball to defeat an enemy. The first section of this stage is one of the more technical sections of the whole game and demands knowledge of this. Note the first and last enemies are killed with a carried Mega Ball while also charging the buster. (This gif could have added a money jump too.) (Also remember if you have the Hyper Slider - this strat does not work as you will out-slide the mega ball. This fact is only relevant if you load an end-game save file that has the Hyper Slider to practice this stage.) Always Be Sliding. Small slides and money jumps (sliding off a ledge into a ball jump) save small amounts of time that add up (though none are strictly necessary for beginners). You should save at least 12 Mega Balls for the mid-boss, Ururunn. (The giant floating trash eye). General Information The sets of exploding boxes in this stage come in 2 colors. A set of continuous colors will explode if one explodes, and stop at the other color's boxes. Any level of charge shot (half or full) will "pierce" a box, destroying all boxes in its line of fire (this is most obvious at the early giant wall of boxes). Bolt Considerations Any% collects the bolt on the high platform before the mid boss. 40 Bolts should collect the bolt at the start of the second screen as well. (See Grenade Man Bolt Locations) Ururunn HP: 32 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:2:3 3 1:3 2 3 3 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 16 2 3 2 1 2 Damage Values: Contact Junk  Falling Junk Ball of Junk 3 3 4 3 From The compendium Your location in the boss room is believed to affect the chance of Ururuun diving. By staying around the center area of the room we’ve concluded from extensive testing that this lowers the chance of a dive. However this is just speculatory and could be a case of still having too small a sample size.  Depending on if Ururuun is on the left or the right side of the room, we recommend standing in these approximate locations:  (Images of the middle of the room go here) Other Considerations It's easy to have your Mega Balls destroyed by garbage in this fight. Be careful about your ammo (especially in a no reset scenario). Remember you can angle Mega Ball shots by holding up, if needed. It is decidedly faster to kill Ururunn when lower to the ground , however it is RNG whether or not you have this opportunity. It has not been measured whether it's faster to kill Ururunn at the highest point of its swoop or wait for it to float to its normal position. Each "dive" costs about 4 seconds. You cannot damage Ururunn after a dive until the trash surrounding it breaks off and you can see the eye. Grenade Part 2 - General Tips There are two bolts in this section. Neither are collected in any% and one requires a revisit after Sword Man.  Be careful to not drop a Mega Ball on top of the first ladder. Summon Rush Bike as soon as you are up top. Be careful not to drop into the pit near the hammers on Rush Bike. Land on the Red Bomb with Rush Bike to prevent the Joe from spawning (as long as you don't jump again) While it is theoretically possible to Rush Bike Double Jump up the ladder and keep Rush Bike to the end of the stage, it is not RTA easy to do.  Grenade Man - Boss Fight HP: 40 Damage Chart M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:2:3 1 1:1 2 1 4* *Reflecting Grenade Man’s Flash Bombs with Thunder Claw will deal the same amount of damage as a direct hit. A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 0 1 1 1 1 2 Damage Values: Contact Flash Bomb Dash Attack Small Grenades Girders 4 5 5 3 4 Strats   The Buster fight with Grenade Man is difficult to optimize.  Using half-charges is advisable, since they deal 2 damage and take less time to charge.  However, we also recommend opening with a full buster charge, and using a full buster charge after Grenade uses Crazy Destroyer, as this reduces the amount of charge shots needed by one. The fastest Grenade pattern involves him using horizontal Flash Bombs, since he remains on the ground for longer when using that attack.  You can increase your chances of getting this pattern by being on the opposite side of the room from Grenade when he chooses an attack.  However, keep in mind you can only get this attack twice in a row, as he will always dash on his 3rd attack. It is possible to double hit Grenade Man in the refight by hitting him on exactly the same frame with a reflected Flash Bomb and a Thunder Claw.  However, we currently have no setup to do this in RTA. If Grenade Man is killed on the fall in the second fight, his health pickup will despawn and you will teleport out immediately. (PSX release)   Bolt Locations - Grenade Man There are 5 bolts in the stage. Only 4 are collectable on your first visit; the fifth requires Flame Sword.  Only 1 bolt (the second bolt in half 1) is collected for any%. First Half Credit for this image to the MM8 Compendium (https://i.imgur.com/bMoVz45.png). Destroy the blocks in the order of the (white) numbers.  The second bolt is on the high platform before the mid boss.  This bold is collected in any% . Image credit again to the MM8 compendium ( https://i.imgur.com/9aFeEWr.png ) Second Half This bolt requires Flame Sword to light the fuse. The next two bolts can be collected on the first run. Neither is collected in any%, though the second one is quick. If you are collecting the second bolt, ride Rush Bike all the way. Frost Man Frost Man is second in the any% route, and weak against Grenade. The stage contains 2 bolts collected in the any% route. It contains 6 bolts overall, 1 of which requires a revisit with Astro Crush. Frost Part 1 - General Tips Remember that ball jumps are almost free on the sled. Simply hold jump and fire Mega Balls in front of Mega Man. Both bolts are collected in any%.  Ball jumping can make the jump after the first bolt easier/safer at no time loss. The second bolt is not specifically required since any% typically ends up with an extra bolt, but it's in an auto scroller so it's no time loss. The Sled section is a full on auto-scroller - nothing will make this faster or slower. No swag movement is required for the run. Frost Part 2 - General Tips Immediately* summon Rush Bike at the start of the stage. Besides generally moving fast, the bike "Goes through" the ice blocks as long as you don't shoot them. * in 40 bolts, on the second visit with Hyper Slider, slide to the bolt first. "Yoshi Ditch" Rush Bike on the second screen and use ball jumps to climb the tower. The money jump on the smoke screen...screen... is extra tight, since waiting too long results in the Mega Ball being placed on the far ledge. Remember in the jet sled section that you cannot ball jump on a ball fired off screen (mainly the top or far right of the screen), so don't be against the forward edge of the screen. Frost Man - Boss Fight HP: 40 Damage Chart M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:2:3 1 1:1 3 1 1 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 0 0 3 1 1 2 Damage Values: Contact Ice Wave Tackle Ice Punch Block Drop Block Crush 5 2 + stun 4 5 2 3 From The Compendium We recommend using Flash Bomb on Frost due to it immediately hitting him out of i-frames.  Note that, due to Frost having 40 HP, opening with a full buster charge or a lemon does not speed up the fight - you have to hit the boss at least 14 times no matter what. Notes As mentioned, Frost Man has 40 HP and his weakness deals 3 damage. 3x13 = 39, so you need a 40th point of damage. A single flash bomb lingers long enough to hit Flash twice. You can have two on screen at a time, so save your second explosion for his jumps around the room, or gets knocked back from a Flash Bomb. If done well, Frost Man will always be immediately hit when his invincibility frames run out. Bolt Locations - Frost Man There are 6 bolts in the stage.  The two in the first half of the stage are collected in any% . One bolt in the second half requires a revisit, specifically after Astro Man. Thanks to the Compendium for image and bolt descriptions.  Note that red numbers are collected on the first visit, and yellow numbers (the 1 and 2 in the second half of the stage) are collected on the second visit. First Half Near the end of the second tinted section of the first autoscroller, take the top route to get the bolt.  (Editor's note - using a Mega Ball makes the jump after this bolt safer. This safety is completely optional) After the third set of falling platforms on the first autoscroller, simply hold right while falling to get the bolt. Second Half On the first visit, use the ice block marked with a black star to access the third bolt.  On the second visit, use Hyper Slider to reach the first bolt on foot, then hop on Rush Bike. On the first visit, use Flash Bomb to quickly access the fourth bolt.  On the second visit, use Astro Crush to break the ice, then Flash Bomb to access the bolt.   Tengu Man Tengu Man is third in the Any% route, and is weak to Ice Wave. Tengu also takes extra damage from the Buster. There are 4 bolts in Tengu's stage. 1 is collected in Any%, another is the fastest bolt not collected in any%. The bolt requiring a revisit (from Homing Sniper) can be duplicated elsewhere... Tengu Part 1 - General Tips Mind the wind at your back. Going left against the wind is difficult. Ball jumping while facing left at the end of the bubble climb is near impossible. The first bolt in the stage is technically slower than others, but it's the fastest bolt not collected in any% if you need an extra one. Bubble Climb The first half's Bubble climb is simply alternating ball jumps left and right. Remember to jump and shoot to the right at the peak so the wind doesn't kill you. You won't be able to move left (against the wind) into your mega ball.     Tengu - Rush Jet General Jet Tips With the exception of the mid boss, these are auto scroller sections. Nothing you do (such as enemy kill times, again except the mid boss) makes things faster or slower. In the first half, Flash Grenade explosions "zoom off screen." In the second half, they don't. There are 4 set party balls, 2 in each half of the stage. The friend you get from them is random. You can get more party balls to appear by dropping below half health. You "lose" all friends between halves of the stage, and if you take a death. After the mid boss, once you get the bolt and are out of the ship, go to the bottom right corner of the screen for a free small time save going into the bubble climb. Bolts The visible bolt after the mid boss is the only bolt collected in the rush sections in any% If a bolt is duplicated for 40 bolts, the bolt in the ceiling is skipped entirely. Friend Tier List Beat - Hovers in front of you constantly doing lots of damage if you hold charge.  Fastest way to kill the mid boss, since holding Beat in its hit box will immediately hit after i-frames wear off. Eddie - Lobs bombs doing lots of damage if you hold change. Second fastest way to kill the mid boss, only losing time to beat because of the timing of bomb launches. Rush & Auto - Neither of these are suitable for the mid boss, due to reduced damage. i-frames generated from these friends take away the opportunity for something else to deal more damage. In the first half of the stage, it doesn't matter which you take. In the second half, you want beat and only beat. If you get Eddie out of the second party ball, he is a solid second choice to continue a run. If you see neither, the fastest strat is to take damage and force a third party ball to spawn. Shiriko da Gama This page lifted directly from the Mega Man 8 Compendium HP: 33 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:1.5:3 3 1:1 0.5 2 2 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper Eddie Beat 11 2 0.5 2 3 3 Auto Rush 3 1.5 Damage Values: Contact Energy Balls Laser 4 4 16 The best strategy for this midboss involves Beat.  If you have Beat entering the boss, then the fight is simply holding down a charge to position Beat correctly, and placing him inside the midboss.  Make sure you are damage boosting on the boss itself, as contact damage does significantly less than the laser. If you get unlucky and don’t get Beat immediately, remember you can spawn additional party balls by being at half HP or less.  If you get to the boss and still don’t have Beat, we recommend using half-charged Buster shots. Tengu Part 2 - General Tips You stayed in the bottom right after getting the bolt before getting off rush jet, right? This actually saves a small amount of time. Bubble Climb 2 The second half's bubble climb requires a little finesse but can be done damageless. Go to the right a slight amount for 5 ball jumps, then fully back to the left for three. This should get you part way onto the next screen  and the wind. Ball jump to the right to get out - remember the wind won't let you ball jump left, and if you're too far right the ball will explode inside the wall. Windy Screen The window to slide after going under the first platform, before walking/getting pushed by the wind into the pit, is very tight. Use small hops to grab the bolt under the platforms on this screen. It's possibly the most dangerous bolt any% collects (even if it feels easy with practice), and there is no specific reason to collect it other than it is a fast bolt to collect, so you can re-route this if it causes trouble. Swapping to ice wave to kill the birds makes it almost guaranteed they all get hit, where a half charge may miss one. Tengu Man - Boss Fight From The Compendium HP: 40 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 2:3:4 1 2:1 1 6 1 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 0 1 2 1 1 2 Damage Values: Contact Tornado Hold Tengu Blade Wind Ball Tengu Dive 5 0+stun 3+3 4-6+stun 5 The strat for Tengu involves using Ice Wave to hit him, even when he’s not on the ground.  Beginners can often find this difficult and awkward.  Thankfully, Tengu Man takes extra damage from the Mega Buster, so one easy alternative strategy is to use half Buster charges until he comes down, and then hit him with Ice Wave. For a much more advanced strat, check out this video . Also here’s a funny thing with Tengu and Ice Wave. Other Notes Ice wave will only freeze Tengu Man against the ground when he's actually standing on it, either after a swoop or a Tornado Hold. If you hit him before he's on the ground, he will not get frozen, and you won't get your second "Free" hit. As the compendium notes, Tengu has a soft weakness to the Buster itself. Optimally you master the art of ball jumping and weapon swapping to ice to get an extra big hit in, but half charges are a solid way to deal damage. Learn to read Tengu's movement patterns to anticipate attacks and get in his face.  Bolt Locations - Tengu There are 4 bolts in Tengu Man's stage. Only 2 are collected in any% - the visible bolt after the mid boss in part two, and the low bolt on the last screen before Tengu. If the last bolt is difficult to obtain, substitute the stage's first bolt. Special - There is one bolt in the second half that requires a revisit after Search Man. The current rules of 40 bolts allow duplicating a bolt in Sword Man's stage to reach 40, and this is the longest bolt to reach, so it gets cut in favor of the duplicated bolt. First Half At the end of the first screen, either jump on the high platforms with the wind, or ball jump (from the left)   Second Half The bolt labeled 2 in this image is free to collect after the mid boss. It's in an autoscroller, so grab it. The bolt labeled one can only be collected on a revisit with Homing Sniper (Search Man). Fire the homing sniper to release the bolt.   This is the section immediately after the second bubble climb. Platforms spawn low to reach this bolt. Clown Man Clown Man is 4th in the Any% Route, and weak against Tornado Hold*. The stage has 5 bolts, 1 of which requires a revisit with Flame Sword. One of them is collected in any%. Clown Part 1 - General Tips The first half of Clown Man's stage has 1 bolt not collected in any%, and a mid boss. First Three Screens Summon Rush Bike immediately. This lets Rush Bike travel on the second screen, where Mega Man automatically walks to fall into the rest of the stage, saving some time. The indoor toy screen is self explanatory, just shoot the cannons. There is a bolt here for 40 Bolts , easily collected on the bike. Fourth Screen The fourth screen is the train screen. Jump the first gap. The short hop down into the second gap avoids the party ball. We don't shoot the ball because it could drop a small part ball or a Met, which would hit and stun Rush Bike. The third and fourth gaps are somewhat RNG luck based. Just avoid the pit. Rush always despawns on the fifth screen. Fifth Screen Just get to the end. Always be sliding as much as you can. Sisi Roll From the Compendium HP: 32 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:2:3 3 1:2 2 3 3 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 16 2 3 2 1 2 Damage Values: Contact Mini Sisi Roll Toy Soldiers 4 3 0+stun We recommend using Mega Ball on Sisi Roll.  You can either drop it on him or kick it at him - whatever’s easiest to hit him out of i-frames. Notes Astro Crush on revisit? Clown Part 2 - General Tips There are 4 bolts in part 2. One is collected in any% (and is harder to avoid collecting than to collect it). One hard requires a revisit, however 2 are routed into the 40 Bolts revisit. Note that the final screen Clown Climb is on the following page of this site.  You want at least 12 Mega Balls going into the final screen for this. First Screen Movement is very tight to do this optimally because of the bell cycles. Fortunately, the bolt is easy to collect. Optimal Movement Fire one grenade at the Sniper Joe, and one over its head at the balloon enemy. You need to be far enough to the right to spawn the blimp, AND give it enough time to actually receive damage. Money jump to the middle-height set of blocks in front of the cannon. You have to jump before the bell rings, but slide as far as you can (sliding is faster). Use a ball to destroy the cannon, slide along it's block, AND trigger the Circle "OK" block detection. Use an ice wave to destroy the last enemy on screen and slide to the next room. Backups The biggest threat on this screen is landing on a skull block after the bell rings and falling to the spikes. There are a few alternate strats, though the biggest challenge is often reaching the top-level cannon in one bell ring. Making it in two rings is significantly safer if slower, just wait on the last "OK" box before the cannon (or even the X if you're okay with the damage). If you need extra distance to reach the cannon out of your last slide jump, use a ball jump to stay in the air. Either drop a mega ball or 2 ice waves on the cannon to destroy it from above. Fourth (Indoor) & Fifth Screen (The screens between this and the first screen are trivial) Hold left falling onto the first platform. You must be HOLDING  left to fall through the gap. For 40 bolts, On your second visit, ball jump to the left to collect the first bolt, then to the right to collect the second. This is the first screen to leverage fast swaps to Tornado Hold to aid Mega Jump speed. It's also the only time Thunder Claw will not be in your fast weapon swap while you do it. Be mindful of Mega Ball ammo while skipping these ladders. Screen five, use grenades on the sniper Joe. Switch to Mega Ball quickly just in case there's an ammo drop (You need to switch to it anyway). Clown Part 2 - The Climb There is one bolt in this section for 40 bolts. Map For a detailed tutorial video, look here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK5J5iEp4pc   All Climb Strats Start... Slide onto the screen, jump when Mega Man's front toe starts going over the Circle block Ball jump twice to the right through the gap, then once to the left to reach the second level's left X block. Jump at the helicopter enemy. Fire two mega balls - one to destroy it, one to ball jump to the ? block One Cycle vs Two Cycle The trick here for one cycle, is you want to be far enough left to trigger the above level's balloon enemy to float left, not right. This can be tricky, but makes the rest of the climb significantly simpler. For a two cycle climb, use this ? block, destroy the balloon enemy with grenades (note that it floats to the right towards you), then continue ball jumping up Either way, you should aim for the X block on the top level to not fall down. General Climb Strats Get used to wiggling in a tight space to climb a narrow passage way. Know where the "intended" ? blocks are. The two cycle climb is the obvious one, but there are worse things than landing on the last ? block to reach the very top in a race. Clown Man - Boss Fight From the Compendium HP: 40 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:2:3 1 1:4*** 1 1 1 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 0 1 1 1 1 2 Damage Values: Contact Trapeze Kick Thunder Carnival Thunder Claw Wall Strike 4 4 5 2-4 + stun 3 ***The second damage value is actually very important on Clown Man, since his weakness is ONLY the tornado part of Tornado Hold, not the fan.  Hitting him with the fan part will only deal 1 damage.  To facilitate this, if Clown Man is on the ground, hit him with a half/full Buster charge to put him in i-frames, THEN drop the tornado on him. (Needs Testing!) Your position relative to Clown Man is believed to have an effect on his pattern.  If Clown Man is on the ground and you are behind/above him, it seems (based on a relatively small sample size) that he is less likely to use Thunder Carnival.  This strategy needs extensive testing. Notes It is possible with good timing to hit Clown with a Charge Shot to open the fight before he jumps. Hit Clown with half charges while he swings around because it's faster than watching his stun animation from a tornado hold. As noted from the compendium, if you know where Clown Man is stopping, hit him then drop a tornado on him while he's in iframes. Do it quickly so he doesn't escape the tornado. There's nothing inherently wrong with just stun-locking Clown Man with Tornado Hold, but it is slower. Bolt Locations - Clown Man Clown Man's stage has 5 bolts, one in the first half and 4 in the second half. The one bolt collected in any% is pretty much in the way. One bolt in the second half hard-requires a revisit after Sword Man, and a second bolt is best collected at the same time as that bolt, meaning 2 of the 5 total bolts are left for that revisit. The images and text below are taken directly from The Compendium First Half Hop across the gap at the end with Rush Bike.  If you fail it the first time, you get a second chance on the revisit.  If you fail it twice, it’s best to exit and re-enter. Second Half Near the start of the second half of Clown, slide past the Joe.  If you fall down, you can ball jump back up. (Note - both of these are routed for collection on a revisit) Break the barrel with Flame Sword, and then ball jump over to the second bolt. The Climb Use the block denoted with a white star on the left to access the area with the bolt.  The second white star block will take you back to the first. Mid "Duo" Stage After defeating the 4th robot, you skip That Movie then go to this stage. It contains 2 bolts that require no revisits, however in the Saturn release, you must fight Cut Man for one of them. Mid Stage - General Tips There's not much extra to explain about this stage - Ice Wave is a great weapon. After releasing the first ice wave, hold a buster charge for level 2, to destroy the flying enemies Ice Wave cannot reach. If you forget, just spam lemons after the ice wave. Duo Battle From the Compendium HP: 15 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:1:2 1 1:1 1 1 1 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber --- --- --- --- 1 --- Damage Values: Contact Get Ready Energy Fist 4 4 6 Since everything deals 1 damage to Duo (barring full Buster charges), the most important thing in this fight is keeping Duo in i-frames - in whatever way is possible.  For a slightly optimized fight, you can try a “cf-0”-esque strat.  The easiest way to do this is to mitigate charge time by hitting Duo with a Flash Bomb and letting that keep him in i-frames, then hit him with the charge when the Flash Bomb runs out. * cf-0 refers to the intro boss in Mega Man X 2, where a lemon is fired from far away to allow iframes to dissipate, and the player uses that time to charge the buster Bolt Locations - Mid Stage From The Compendium Both bolts in Duo’s stage are up the first ladder.  To get to the right one quickly, use Thunder Claw to swing across.  Note that the second bolt is not as located in the Saturn version - it is moved slightly to the Cut Man fight. Mid Stage - Cut Man From The Compendium HP: 40 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 2:3:4 4 2:3 3 4 4 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 6 4 4 3 2 3 Damage Values: Contact Rolling Cutter 7 5 Cut takes increased damage from many weapons - it’s personal preference which weapon dealing 4 damage you use.  Defeating Cut rewards you with a bolt. Buy The Hyper Slider (This is really here so someone clicking "Next" sees it) After Duo, the shop expands. Menu to the globe at the bottom of stage select to go back to the first 4 and the shop. In Any%, go all the way to the right and buy the Hyper Slider and get out (Triangle cancels out of the "Buy" menu on the US Playstation release, Circle cancels on Legacy Collection 2. There are region differences on Playstation 1 for which button does what). Strats from this point on assume you have the hyper slider, and not having it may alter the viability of sliding strats. I want to say 40 bolts buys the Quick Charge and Stage Exit items as well. Buster Only must eventually purchase the Arrow Shot. Other interesting items include the Energy Saver, which is expensive but allows for more weapon usage (like Astro Crush). It is no longer collected for any% because it takes more time to collect the bolts than the extra energy saves., but there is no reason to specifically not collect it. Good luck Mega Man Astro Man Astro Man is the 5th Robot in any%, the first of the second four. He is weak to Homing Sniper but takes extra damage from Flash Grenade. There are 4 bolts in this stage, all only relevant to 40 bolts. Astro Part 1 - General Tips Screen One "Yoku Blocks" The critical thing is knowing the cycle, and recognizing when to bail out of the speed strat to not fall in a pit. Also remember Ice Wave destroys floor spines. Always Be Sliding. Screen Two - The Maze There is 1 bolt in the puzzle room. Puzzle Skip - From The Compendium Click here for tutorial on skipping the first puzzle room. (NOT RECOMMENDED). It should be noted that when doing puzzle room skip, the pillar does not initially start at its highest point. This means getting the skip first try is a one frame window. However you can lower and raise the pillar which wastes around ~3 seconds to make the trick into a 3 frame window which is much more consistent. A first try puzzle skip with the easier method will save about ~4 seconds. A comparison can be viewed here. Left is the starting position of the pillar, right is after lowering and raising it once. Click here for a video guide through the first puzzle room. Notes The Tower This is a pretty standard auto scroller. Don't get caught in the green slime, and remember you can ball jump. There is a bolt near the end. For the last platform, you can use tornado hold to land on the upper platform as quickly as possible. Astro Part 2 - General Tips Screen 1 - Yoku Blocks Movement on this screen is very tight. Even missing a small slide (looking at you second pit platform) can result in being off cycle and having to adjust, and the enemies in pits are much less forgiving on this screen than the first one. If you end up off cycle, it might be best to wait and clear enemies before attempting to cross.  There is a bolt near the end of the screen. Screen 2 - The Maze There is one bolt near the end of the maze. From the Compendium Click here for a video guide through the second puzzle room. Notes When using tornado to go through the narrow gap after the green switch, you can use the hollow brick in the floor as a visual cue. If Mega Man is standing still, his back foot (looking right) should be directly on the hollow spot to get the tornado to rise through. Astro Man - Boss Fight From The Compendium HP: 40 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:1:3 1 1:1 2 1 1 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 0 1 1 3 1 2 Damage Values: Contact Orb Contact Star Projectile Astro Crush 6 4 6 6 For the first fight with Astro Man, we recommend using Flash Bomb (his soft weakness).  The hardest part of this fight for beginners seems to be dealing with his Astro Crushes.  If you have the HP, you can damage boost through them to jump up and hit him with a Flash Bomb.  If you don’t, the easiest way to avoid it is to note where he stops teleporting, and then stand directly under him - that’s the safe spot.   For the second fight with Astro, it’s easy enough to stunlock him with Homing Sniper.  If he begins by teleporting you can either tap shoot a few times or hold down shoot to target him - the game resets his pattern every time he is targeted by Homing Sniper.   Astro’s health in the refight is also awkward, since he has 40 HP and Homing Sniper does 3.  You can try to mitigate this by ball jumping and hitting him with a lemon at the start, but this strat leaves you vulnerable to getting an unlucky pattern. Bolt Locations - Astro Man There are 4 bolts in Astro Man's stage, 2 in the first half and 2 in the second. They are only needed in 40 Bolts. First Half   Second Half Both bolts are in plain sight. Bolt 4 is passed just before completing the maze. Aqua Man Aqua Man is 6th in Any% and weak against Astro Crush. There are 4 bolts for 40 bolts, all in the second half. This route optimally uses an intentional Game Over to return to the stage Mid-Point Swimming Movement in Aqua is a little different due to swimming. You can mash Jump to swim, but there is no "Hold Up/Down" to control swim height otherwise. To swim at the same height, time your jump presses. you'll need to do this in the spike corridor. Much of the movement otherwise in water section is based around getting back to sliding while navigating other obstacles. Aqua - Part One There are no bolts in the first half of this stage Screen 1 Note that some of the movement here happens at specific moments because of swim mechanics. Pressing jump twice when Mega Man's toe crosses the two lines in the background makes Mega Man's swim strokes carry him over the clam with room for a long slide before jumping to the next ledge. The rest of the squid kills boil down to the 2 grenade on screen limit, so some squids are left alive. Screen 2 - Vertical Climb Open with a tornado hold after moving forward slightly. This knocks the snail out of the water, and helps Mega Man go up faster. Despite having Hyper Slider, the sliding-ball-jump on the next ledge up works without anything special. Just hold Jump. Swimming through the spikes near the end of the screen is less tricky than it looks. Sliding off the ledge is relatively safe but do swim before touching the spikes. Screen 3 Open with another tornado to defeat enemies and climb up faster. Jump up out of the water with Mega Balls and wiggle to jump relatively straight up. Gorone From The Compendium HP: 20 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:1.5:2 2 1:--- 2 2 2 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 2 0.5 2 2 --- 1 Damage Values: Contact Ball Drop Fist Punch 5 4 5 Gorone is a big idiot.  He can dive at any point while making a decision, and his movement is also quite sporadic.  Nearly every weapon does 2 damage against him, so we recommend using whatever weapon is convenient to hit him depending on his position.  For example, if he is above you, Astro Crush works nicely; whereas if he is below you, Ice Wave is a good choice. Aqua - Part 2 For 40 Bolts, and intentional Game Over is used for optimal bolt gathering. There is a branching path with a checkpoint, each paths with a bolt.  First Three Screens Use Grenades and the buster as needed to pass the snails on the first screens. For 40 Bolts, Use Astro your first time through the second screen to both raise the water level, and collect the first bolt. This makes the lower path on the next screen accessible When following movement through the third screen, a few things to keep in mind. Snails falling through the water destroy squids they fall through. Be ready to do ball jumps up to the top (on your second pass in 40 bolts) The second bolt is on the bottom right of screen 3. Vertical Screen Both vertical screens have bolts Walk back and forth between the first row's bombs to lower the counters quickly. Hold left on the second level to fall through the gap between the bomb and the wall. Repeat these techniques going down (holding right against the lower bombs) to reach the bottom quickly. There is optional health here that could make damage boosts on the next screen safer. Last Water Screen The main ways to speed up this screen are sliding on the spike-mines. While not instant kill, they do a significant amount of damage. If for some reason you used an astro crush on this life, collect the weapon refill - you need them all for Aqua Man Aqua Man - Boss Fight From The Compendium HP: 40 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:1:2 1 1:1 1 1 1 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 8 1 1 1 1 2 Damage Values: Contact Water Balloon Water Cannon Water Column Column Splash 6 6 7 8 6 The 8 Damage for Astro Crush is for both hits in a single use of the weapon. Each individual hit deals 4 damage. So be careful not to spam it too fast. You don't have enough ammo to defeat Aqua with only Astro Crush (without the Energy Saver). That's why Buster is mixed in. Crush -> Full Charge -> Repeat.  Just be careful not to Crush too early. Notes Aqua Man can potentially get damage-boosted in either direction by the initial Astro Crush. If you have low health, be cautious with the first Astro Crush, or potentially even open with the Buster shot instead of Astro Crush to better figure out which direction he will get knocked back. Note you should be charging the buster during Astro Crushes to deal damage as quickly as possible. You need all 4 extra charge shots for 8 damage that Astro Crush does not account for. Sword Man Sword Man is 7th in the Any% route and weak to Water Balloon. Sword - Part 1 There are 2* bolts in the first half of Sword Man's stage, only needed for 40 bolts. ONE OF THESE BOLTS CAN BE DUPLICATED IF PLAYING 40 BOLTS WITH THE DUPLICATION GLITCH Sword Man's stage is unique in that it features four puzzle rooms based around the first four robot's weapons. Main Room - All Notes The Grenade shot to start the stage instead of a Mega Ball is because of the Hyper Slider making the ball+slide strat unreliable. You need two Mega Ball jumps for the first ladder, but only one for the top level ladders. Jump out of your slide before the teleporter. This saves roughly a half second per teleporter for Mega Man's standing up and walking animation. After the fourth puzzle room,  you can (full distance) slide back and forth to make the last door open larger. Per Cleartonic, there is no way to skip the puzzle rooms. the midboss Gearna Eye simply will not spawn if one of the locks is still in place. This remains the biggest dream-skip of this game. Thunder Claw Room Ice Wave to clear out the first set of enemies, and a quick switch to thunder claw to hit the switch. Ball jump up the ladders as needed. There is a bolt in screen 3 The jump under the spikes on the last screen is tight to stay on the top route. Be careful about the green bat. Use Thunder Claw instead of another ice wave on the last group of enemies. The Ice Wave will freeze the fire totem forcing you to jump over it, rather than just destroying it. Flash Bomb Room There is a bolt in this section. This is the bolt to duplicate. The gimmick of these rooms is to use a flash grenade to light up the background. The order of back panels in the first three rooms is the order to hit the switches in the final room. This is mostly done by color. Tornado Hold Room The first room only needs one thunder claw to make it over. This may be an easier weapon swap after ball jumping up. Be careful when pushing things in the second room. It is very easy to overshoot the first switch, or to make the second one bounce off the first low wall without making it over. Ice Wave Room The lava is instant kill. Use caution. Gearna Eye From The Compendium HP: 40 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:2:3 3 1:--- 4 4 3 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 6 5 1 2 1 --- Damage Values: Contact Fireballs Hammer Smash 4 4 all Click  here for a tutorial on a (mostly) consistent 2-cycle. Notes As the video explains, Gearna Eye has no invincibility frames when opening and closing. This allows Grenades to deal massive amounts of damage. Sword - Part 2 There is 1 bolt in this section, near the end after riding the lava-boat down the waterfall Sword Man's boss fight calls for a lot of damage boosting, to help manipulate his patterns. Try to avoid damage in this section. First Screen The intended strat is to push the right button of the boat while the lava geyser is down, then ride it to the top. Ball jumping is clearly faster, however it is trickier than it looks. There is a rhythm to reach the top without bonking on the ceiling, and not going too far right into the geyser. Second Screen You have a short period of time to slide across the two sinking pillars without your slide stopping halfway across. Third Screen Intended Ride the lava boat to the right. Once the geysers raise you up, ride it to the left quickly until you can jump and grab the ladder. Keep in mind the boat explodes if it contacts the spikes, which will likely kill the player if your are riding the boat at the time (either by falling into the spikes or the lava) Faster Ride the lava boat to the far right, then ball jump over the spikes and get to the ladder. Fastest This ball jump is tricky for multiple reasons - controlling the height of your jump, making sure the boat goes right, and money jumping before contacting the lava. This saves minimal time so only attempt this if you are confident. Slide off the ledge to the boat. If the boat goes right, slide off the boat and ball jump to the right. Make sure you don't go high enough to contact the spikes, and ball jump around the spike ceiling. You have to ball jump all the way up. If the boat slides left, abort. You can hesitate to make sure the boat goes right (which also gives you less distance to cover too). Screen 4 & 5 Get past the enemies and tornado hold + ball jump up the ladder. Ride the lava boat to the right. Shoot the green bats so they don't knock you into the lava. For 40 bolts, use a Grenade on the rock formation near the end to reveal a ladder that goes to the bolt. You should not need the additional weapon energy for Sword Man Sword Man - Boss Fight From The Compendium HP: 40 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:1:3 1 1:1 1 2 1 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 0 4 1 1 1 2 Damage Values: Contact Contact (Upper) Contact (Lower) Fire Slash 7 7 1 8 Flame Sword Fire Column Stone Drop 4 10 6 Click here for a tutorial on Sword “manipulation” and limiting spins. Notes Sword Man is the second boss, along with Astro Man, who has a soft weakness to one of the first four robot master weapons. Unfortunately, Ice Wave is difficult to hit Sword Man with, so the current route settles on Astro First Sword Man is weak to Aqua Balloon. Simply avoiding his attacks and pummeling his top half with water will end the fight easily, but not necessarily quickly.  Sword Man's "Fire Slash" sword spin takes a significant amount of time. It must cross the whole room, then come back, during which he cannot be damaged. The best fix for this is to get Mega Man on the "short side" of the room to give Sword Man less distance to travel. If Sword Man is within a few pixels of the wall, and Mega Man is inside his hit box against the wall, Sword Man will not Fire Slash. This is the optimal scenario, however you will take a lot of damage in the process. Mind your HP if you attempt this. Try to take damage boosts off only Sword Man's feet when possible, as his lower half deals only 1 damage to Mega Man. For this reason, we suggest tackling Sword Man first in refights later on - you will be guaranteed full HP to start by choosing him first. Bolt Locations - Sword Man There are 3 bolts in Sword Man's stage, 2 in the first half and 1 in the second. None are needed for any%. 40 Bolts has a duplication route. This is the stage where duplication happens. See https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/bolt-duplication for details Search Man Search Man is the 8th robot in any% and is weak to Flame Sword. There are 4 bolts for 40 bolts. Search - Part 1 There are 3 bolts in the first half of the stage. None are needed for any% Immediately summon Rush Bike to start the stage. The terrain is bumpy enough that Rush's speed gets one last hurrah here. The biggest hazard is falling to the bottom of the screen in third screen. Make sure you keep Rush on the top level. On the last screen, "Yoshi Ditch" jump off rush bike and ball jump up. Unlike Rockman & Forte, the "Rhinos" do not deal significant damage (and you should have full HP anyway), so slide-and-damage-boost through it. Ball Jump to the end On Saturn, Wood Man is present here. Wood Man also has one additional bolt than is listed above (making 4 in this half of the stage) Search - Wood Man (MM8) Wood Man is only present on the Saturn version of the game. (holder Page) Search - Part 2 There is one bolt in this section, in the Thunder Claw grappling room over spikes. It is not needed in any% Screen 1 Use Ice Wave as needed to clear a path, and slide through the screen. Mind the closing door near the end. Screen 2 (Vertical Screen) Tornado + Ball Jump up the ladder The Money Jump off the top platform is hard for 2 reasons - you have to jump before touching the spikes, and you have to fire something into the door to force it open. The wiggle from ball to buster to ball can feel weird. Screen 3 Use Ice Wave and slide as much as possible. Supplement your ice waves with lemons against the rhinos. Screen 4 Thunder claw to the left. You should be able to hit the peg without risking falling on the spikes. For 40 bolts, note the bolt is on this screen, requiring a second thunder claw peg. Last Long Screen Main Strat Slide to the right immediately, going under the frogs and turning left to boost backwards. The rest of this screen is Ice Waves while sliding at speed with Hyper Slider. Keep in mine the gate near the end is over spikes and a thunder claw peg. Alternate Strat The last screen is long enough that Rush Bike is plausible. We believe it is slightly slower due to menu time and the hyper slider giving Mega Man reasonable speed, but some may find Rush Bike easier to use. Search Man - Boss Fight From The Compendium HP: 40 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:1:3 1 1:1 1 1 1 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 0 1 4 1 1 2 Damage Values: Contact H. Sniper Bouncy D. Storm Decoy Missile 5 4 5 3 5 3 Fairly self-explanatory boss.  The fastest pattern involves no bushes.  Don’t forget you can hit Search Man with Flame Sword before he moves in the second fight. Notes You can wiggle between bushes to slash 2 at once. For the Flame Sword Flinch animation when catching Search Man in a bush, you can hit Search again slightly before the flames go away. Take advantage of the long duration of Flame Sword's hit box to attack as soon as possible. Search Man's attacks do a fair amount of damage, but you should win the war, especially since Flame Sword cancels some of Search Man's attacks. If needed, Flame Sword can destroy the Bouncing blade. Be careful of these damage totals in refights, if you come to Search Man immediately after Sword Man you may have low health. Wily Stage 1 Wily Stage one is primarily a Jet Sled reprise of Frost Man, with some fancy Thunder Beam grappling at the end. Part 1 - Jump Jump There are no checkpoints on the sled, so be careful. Remember from Frost Man's stage - you can ball jump on the sled with minimal effort. New to this sled section - you can use Astro Crush to pause Mega Man's decent. Keep this and Ball Jumping in mind as backups if things get crazy. The jumps in this section feel tighter than the sled sections of Frost Man's stage. Use extra abilities as needed to help reach the end, and practice timing until  you have something that works for you. Remember, this is an auto scroller, so nothing you do "as a safety" makes things slower....although it is preferred to have at least 6 Mega Balls and 4 Thunder Claws for the final section. Wily 1 - After the Sled You must have Thunder Claws for this section You want to have an extra life going into Wily 2. If for some reason you have 0 Lives left, collect the 1up over the boss door. After getting off the sled, swap to ice wave, slide four times, then use an ice wave. If you are confident in your weapon swapping, quickly switch to Mega Ball, ball jump once, switch to thunder claw in your jump, and grapple the peg. If you are not confident, just proceed to the peg normally to grapple it. Destroy the cannon on the next high platform. You can  grapple the next peg from a standing position on the far right of the platform, though if you hesitate too much, you are likely to get sniped out of the air during this. The fancy way to proceed through "section 3" is a shot hop to mega ball the tread enemy's head, two mega balls fired quickly in the next jump to both destroy the torch enemy and ball jump, then more ball jumps as needed to proceed. From here just grapple to the end. Remember the 1up is there if you need it for Wily 2. DO collect the party ball's ammo drop if you used any mega balls. Wily 1 Boss - Atetemino From The Compendium HP: 40 Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:1:2 6 1:0 1 1 1 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper R. Bike R. Bomber 0 1 0 0 --- 2 Damage Values: Contact Green Box Missile Yellow Box Purple Box 3 6 4 6 6 Purple Bomb Mini Atetemino Fake Atetemino Shockwave 4 5 6 6 Note that optimizing this fight requires destroying all four components of the boss as quickly as possible, as the next set will begin to spawn only after all elements of the previous set are gone.  Your speed and other factors when hitting the boss door to Atetemino will determine how far Mega Man walks into the room. The further left you are, the tighter the window for getting early hit. To do the early hit, place the right side of Mega Man’s helmet on the red line, and mash square while holding up. Notes Nobody knows how to pronounce its name Remember you can hold up to kick a ball at a steeper angle than normal As mentioned above, try to get the early hit. You likely need to move slightly to the left before quickly kicking a ball up at him. Atetemino always starts in "the third" slot (center-right). Find places where you feel comfortable kicking balls into each slot. As mentioned you want to destroy things quickly anyway. You should be kicking balls into openings before he spawns each cycle to help this. This includes destroying the fake Atetemino bomb on the next to last cycle. You can collect weapon energy from the boxes, so feel free to spam shots. The above red line image is good for hitting the "third" slot. The mirror of that from the right side kicking left can hit the "second"/center-left slot. Both edges can be hit with up-kicks from the center. For the last hit, try to be kicking from the center and hope for an early hit. Being centered for the kill as usual gives a quicker teleport out of the stage. Wily Stage 2 Wily 2 is largely a Rush Jet autoscroller, with a twist...and an RNG heavy boss. Wily 2 - Section 1 Since this the rest of this stage is an autoscroller, this is your only chance to "go faster" in this stage. Although part two does feature a death warp, remember that taking hits in part one will cost you some time, even if you needed to lose the health anyway. From The Compendium Click here ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aFw2n1KfcU ) for a video detailing beginner/advanced strats for the start of Wily 2. Stage Start Slide once, fire a grenade at the turret. Slide twice. Ball jump up the ladder. If you successfully quickly jump up the ladder, fire a Mega Ball into the Shield Attacker. It will be turning so this destroys it. Slide once to the left. What follows is a semi-tricky Ball Jump Climb. You need to avoid the Shield Attackers on the way up and watch for the floor spine on the high platform. Use as many ball jumps as you feel comfortable with. Top Level Kill Shield attackers and Joes with grenades and buster shots. For the exploding boxes near the end, we recommend Flame Sword. Keep in mind if you jump and slash, you can destroy blocks below Mega Man...but if you hit a Shielding Sniper Joe with the attack, it will NOT destroy blocks below you. Proceed to the next screen as quickly as possible. Slide to Rush Jet. Wily 2 - Rush Jet This section features a death warp near the end that requires playing much of the stage on low health. It is not required, but does save about 16 seconds. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE EXTRA LIFE BEFORE YOU START TAKING DAMAGE. This section is one long auto scroller. Be mindful that birds and worms do a whole bunch of damage. If you need to take only a little more damage before the end, use the wall climbers firing tiny green fireballs. You are likely to get at least 3 friends to spawn during this section. Although collecting them may make killing enemies easier while you have low health, keep in mind this also produces more drops. You can also ignore them all together. Remember if you take the death warp, your weapon energy will refill, so feel free to use anything you like in this section. Alternatively, remember to conserve Astro Crush if you do not have the extra life. Astro Crush works as a nice screen clearing attack. Homing Sniper (Search Man) also works well for the bats at the end, to ensure they get hit and don't accidently kill Mega Man. The Death Warp After the zig zaggy flight section, there is a large health drop on the ground on a low platform. Just past this in the background is a small blue-violet square on a brown background structure. If you are death warping, position Mega Man on this square to immediately take damage when the dragon spawns. You do not  need  to immediately take damage for the warp to work. You can take 2 or 3 hits (probably more) before dying and it still saves time. As Cleartonic discovered, the checkpoint for the boss fight occurs around here. This death respawns you after the slow "speeding up" section going into the Bliking fight, optimally saving about 16 seconds. Wily 2 Boss - Bliking From The Compendium HP: 40 (20 per wing, 0 in tail) Damage Chart: M. Buster M. Ball T. Hold F. Bomb I. Wave T. Claw 1:1:1.5 1.5 1:--- 1 1.5 2.5 A. Crush W. Balloon F. Sword H. Sniper Beat Eddie 12 1 2.5 1 2 2 Auto Rush 2 1.5 Damage Values:  Body Wings Tail Mine Missile Lasers 6 3 3 6 4 4 The fight with Bliking involves Astro Crushing and using full charged Buster shots. If Bliking opens everything (visual cue given by the engines revving and the flames expanding), you’ll want to use three Astro Crushes. This pattern is best, as it can result in a two cycle. If Bliking opens his wings normally, then the strat varies slightly depending on how many times he’s opened.  If he’s on his first or second time opening, use a Buster charge and then a Crush.  If it’s his third and final time opening, use two Astro crushes. If Bliking opens his tail, you got bad luck.  Roll again. Thunder claw is the best backup for Bliking, if you accidently run out of Astro Crush. Other Notes If you took the death warp, or are otherwise restarting the fight, remember you get a weapon energy refill. Use Astro Crush freely. Astro Crush's 12 damage in the chart above is 1 use of Astro, hitting twice, for 6 damage each time. This itself is really 3 damage to each wing. You need 7 hits (on each wing) to finish the fight. Most normal patterns can connect with Bliking with one pair of hits with barely enough time for a third hit. You have slightly more time on laser beam patterns than on missile launches. Try to get an extra hit in on one of the cycles to reduce the number of cycles needed by 1. If you do see the tail open, you can destroy each with about 4 hits from Flame Sword. Destroying the tail naturally forces the wings to open on future cycles. Of course, optimally, you only get patterns where the wings open. Wily 3 Wily 3 - Part 1 First Screen Ice Wave Second Screen - Climb Ball jumping. Use the middle mine afte rthe first floating time bomb to jump up instead of ball jumping the full distance, to save a mega ball for later. Second Screen - Long Spike Passage The money jump timing is tiiiight. Be on your game. Know Your Backups -  Remember the intended strat is to jump on the last "guts man" rock. Don't kill Guts Man or destroy his rock. You can use  Tornado Hold in a pinch, but you have to be able to jump to it.   Wily 3 - Bass info Wily 3 - Part 2 First Screen Second Screen Wily 3 Boss - Green "Jello" Devil Wily Stage 4 Final Stage Wily 4 - Part 1 - Refights As is tradition, you must fight all 8 Robot Masters again here. The teleporters are laid out the same as the stage select, with the first 4 on the left and the second 4 on the right. Order is not significantly important, though optimal movement involves using a full slide from one bottom capsule to the over on each side, jumping into those capsules to save the stand up animation's time. The strats are largely the same except for the 2 you now possess a true weakness weapon for. Those and other notes are presented below, along with links to the pages for the original boss fights for reference. Grenade Man You now possess Strike Chain. It can reflect large Flash Bombs (though not the three shots he flings during long arcing jumps). Note that if you destroy him after he deploys the Crazy Destroyer to destroy the floor, but before you fall, the original PS1 release does not drop health. https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/grenade-man-boss-fight Astro Man You now possess Homing Sniper, which can trivially stun lock Astro Man. Just wait for him to be low enough to jump and hit, then time your shots. If Astro tries to use Astro Crush, fire Homing Snipers until he stops, then let him enter a new attack. https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/astro-man-boss-fight Sword Man The fight with Sword Man is the same. However, keep in mind this is a damage boost heavy fight when trying to minimize Fire Slashes. As such, we recommend going into Sword's capsule with full health, possibly even first overall. Keep in mind whoever you fight next, you will likely not have full health. https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/sword-man-boss-fight The Rest Frost Man https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/frost-man-boss-fight Tengu Man https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/tengu-man-boss-fight Clown Man https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/clown-man-boss-fight Aqua Man https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/aqua-man-boss-fight Search Man https://goodboyrush.net/books/mega-man-8/page/search-man-boss-fight Wily Himself Wily Machine 8 Wily Capsule 8 This is the most likely place a runner will need to call upon Rush Medic. This has a Red Cross on the PS1 version and is a white box on the Legacy Collection release. Summoning Rush Medic tends to lose about 8 seconds of time, but could save your run. Misc. Other Stuff These may or may not be useful, but they are known. Bolt Duplication One of the bolts in Sword Man’s stage can be duplicated.  This is useful in 40 Bolts (which is essentially the 100% category for this game).  A video documenting this can be seen Here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCRThMDP79o Rush Bike Double Jumps When you take damage while riding Rush Bike, there is a one frame window where you are grounded and can jump after regaining control.  This would save time in RTA (for example, riding the bike to the boss door in Grenade), but it is too precise to do and there is currently no setup to do this anywhere in RTA.  You can see a video of this trick in action here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhbWBU32lNg . Infinite Sword Glitch Destroying a slime enemy with Flame Sword and getting grabbed on the same frame will spawn a permanent Flame Sword hitbox in front of Mega Man.  Taking any sort of damage or using Flame Sword again will cancel the effect.  This is currently not useful for RTA, but you can see a video of the glitch here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLyMGS1ZBIY .